Oh I wanna dance with somebody, preferably a giraffe

A cute little baby arrived a couple of weeks ago.
Such a fun little birth announcement card this was to work on…
As grand finale the illustration was also used for a giclée.
(the name Berk means birch)

 

Sketches:

fox badger by ellen vesters illustrator and graphic designer

giraffe tiger owl by ellen vesters illustrator and graphic designer

 

Final design:

 

birth announcement card by ellen vesters illustrator and graphic designer

birth announcement card by ellen vesters illustrator and graphic designer

Giclée print:

birth announcement card animals by ellen vesters

birth announcement card animals by ellen vesters

Psst… above you can see a blueish print peeking out from behind the giclée’s frame.
It is the gorgeous poster below, made by the talented Zilverblauw.

poster hope by zilverblauw

photo by Zilverblauw

Oh oh oh oh oh… London!

Oh my Gurkenhobel, I thought I would take a little blogbreak and now it’s been a month already!
Hopefully this incredibly long blogpost (which maybe took a week to make in itself) will make up for this lack of visibility.

This month I’ve been up to my ears in assignments and plotting and planning my exciting new venture Urlaub.

The plotting and planning actually had a really nice side to it, when Mr Rockstar proposed a trip to London, to check out other small spaced concept stores (this included us leaving for London on Valentine’s Day: aaaaaw).

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Before I give you my London city guide I’ve got an official announcement to make:

I Finally fixed the send-blogposts-to-my-inbox-thingy!

If you would like to have my blogposts e-mailed to you, you can subscribe via this very impressive newsletter button to the left of you, up in the sidebar.

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

And now for: Oh oh oh oh oh… London!

 

Why did I never visit you before? So close and yet we never met!

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

Thanks to tweeps Karlijn (daily dose of LOL in your timeline guaranteed) and Not so Stuffy (London-know-it-alls) I had access to the best adresses.

For all of you peeps that have had enough of cliche blogger city guides… I’ve tried to spice things up with some lovely no less cliche OMG-this-cool-blogger-has-been-to-the-coolest-city-ever photos. Hehe.

 

Notting Hill, Portobello Road, Ottolenghi

Chique and trendy neighbourhood, as well as home to loads of cute shops selling bric-a-brac and antiques. We went there on Friday morning, to avoid the Saturday hoards.

As far as Ottolenghi’s concerned: Best. Bite. (nuff said)

 

london portobello road

photo Inzumi

 

london ottolenghi

photo Culy

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is quite the touristy spot; so clean and shiny it almost blinds you. Finding Neal’s Yard, tucked away in small courtyard, was a bright and colourful surprise. London felt like summer when we were there, so at Neal’s Yard we took the time to enjoy some sun. The Orla Kiely and Kid Robot shops are nice visits (I’m not so much into Cath Kidston, but if you are, that’s supposed to be a real nice one too).

 

neals yard london

photo Wanderlust Europe

 

Regent street, home to Anthropologie and Liberty

I should’ve could’ve taken pictures of Anthropologie, but hey, I didn’t. I just enjoyed. The Regent street store is incredible. So much attention to decorating. It makes you fall in love and spend way too much money (probably the point to all this hard work).

Liberty‘s is the wickedest old age department store. An amazing old Swisslike building (we saw more of those around Abbey Road) with impressive antique wooden stairs inside: make sure you take those stairs when you’re there!

 

photo Liberty

 

Ma main love East London: Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Broadway Market, Columbia Road

East London has been such a discovery. Filled with the most creative little venues, concept stores, thrift stores, second hand clothing markets, food markets, etc East London you’re the dog’s bollocks (also picked up some slang)!

Broadway Market is where I met my pikapeep Claire Brewster for a nice lunch. She’s probably going to kill me for posting a picture of her.

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

 

South Bank, Tate Modern

Finally we walked the South Bank all the way from the Big Ben up to the Tate Modern, where we looked at art, bought books, enjoyed carrot cake and were blown away by the surprise of night time video art.

Best concert of this trip: Flame Proof Moth (see fifth picture below ;))

 

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer

london city guide by ellen vesters illustrator graphic designer