I love browsing through art and design blogs over a morning cuppa. They’re a great source of inspiration and I’ve discovered a lot from reading through their articles and features.

In no particular order, here are my current Top 12 Art & Design blogs. Feel free to add your own favourites in the comments section below.

Noupe Mag — www.noupe.com
Stylish showcases and articles for digital designers and developers

Creative Boom — www.creativeboom.co.uk
Creative inspiration, industry news and freelancing tips, plus a fantastic directory of creatives

Unurth — www.unurth.com
Beautiful street art from around the world

Lost at E Minor — www.lostateminor.com
Featuring inspiring art, design, music, photography and pop culture.

Digital Arts — www.digitalartsonline.co.uk
Inspiration for digital creatives

Inky Goodness — www.inkygoodness.com
Showcasing new and emerging illustrators

Specky Boy — www.speckyboy.com
Articles and showcases for web and digital designers

Design Week — www.designweek.co.uk
Design industry news and job listings from across the UK

Computer Arts — www.computerarts.co.uk
Design tutorials and articles from the world’s leading digital art magazine

Thunder Chunky — www.thunderchunky.co.uk
Featuring interviews, news and artwork from the world’s most interesting artists.

Design Juices — www.designjuices.co.uk
Interviews, articles and showcases featuring all things design

Juxtapoz — www.juxtapoz.com
Online version of the contemporary art and culture magazine

I added a new art print to my online store this week. The piece has been put together using the illustrations I created for a Sound/Art collaboration with Bobbie Gardner and Leon Trimble earlier this month, for Birmingham’s Flatpack Festival.

The artwork has been beautifully printed by James Boden at GicleeCanvasPrinting.co.uk onto a high quality, colorfast A3 paper using some of the best fine art printing techniques available. I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out!

There’s a very limited run of 20 available — all signed and numbered. If you’d like to get your hands on one, visit my Big Cartel store @ stinajones.bigcartel.com

With the end of the financial year just around the corner, things have been busy in the studio with lots of projects coming to an end while gearing up for some new ones.

April is off to a great start with three new web projects booked in, a cover feature in this month’s Area Culture Guide, plus a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of my work in the upcoming Collab Nation pop up art shop in Bristol.

With the pop up shop opening in just a few days, my Sunday was spent putting together a selection of choice prints and creating a spaceman robot doodle, while listening to copious amounts of super chilled tracks on Spotify.

This one of a kind piece (featured above) has been hand drawn onto high quality Somerset Velvet paper, with little painted star raised up and affixed onto the end of a piece of cotton.

The shop will be up and running in Cabot Circus throughout April and the piece will be available to buy from the store from Friday, alongside a fantastic range of pieces from the other artists involved in the project.

It’ll certainly be worth a look if you’re in the area this month. For more details — keep an eye on their Facebook page.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook have probably seen a few sneak peaks of the Sound/Art collaboration that I’ve started working on with with Bobbie Gardner and Leon Trimble, to be shown at this year’s Flatpack Festival.

I’m pleased to announce that the illustrative, musical backdrop is now well underway and will appear at Kismet Café on the 17th March, where a chill out space will be hosted for those in need of a little respite in between events.

Come ‘pull up a kotch’ and join us for seasonal herbal teas, freshly made cakes, films, sound and animation all out together especially for the day.

To find out more about the festival, visit - http://www.flatpackfestival.org
or RSVP to the event on Facebook.

The key difference between pixel and vector based graphics is how the image is structured. Pixel based graphics are made up from lots of tiny physical squares (or ‘pixels’) where as vector graphics are mapped out using mathematical equations which calculate where the edges of the shapes sit in relation to one another.

As an example; fonts are always created using vectors so that the colours can be changed efficiently and the symbol can be easily scaled up to any size without losing quality. In contrast, digital photographs are always made up of pixels, which allows for a much more efficient blending of the colours as each physical pixel block can be coloured individually — rather than each shape being mapped out and filled with a gradient, as it would have to be if it were made up using vectors.

In a lot of cases, the format of a graphic can be identified quickly by it’s file extension — files ending in .AI or .EPS are vector based graphics, where as files ending in .JPG, .BMP or .PNG will always be pixel based graphics. There are some file extensions (such as .PDF) that overlap in this area  and the quickest way to check without access to graphics software is to zoom into the image as far as you can — if the image doesn’t lose quality then it is almost certainly a vector based graphic.

Vector vs Pixel illustrations

When speaking specifically about illustrations, both vector and pixel techniques are used and I often use a combination of both for my own work depending on how the image is going to be used and the style I am looking to achieve. There are pros and cons to both formats and it’s down to your illustrator to determine the best format for your project.

If the illustration is intended to be used as a web graphic, I always export the finished image as a pixel based graphic so that it’s compatible with the HTML code — but if the illustration is to be sent through to a sign maker to cut out of vinyl, then exporting the image in vector format is always advised as the machine can use the settings to map out the shapes before cutting.

In any case where the finished file needs to be supplied in pixel format, the choice between creating the illustration using vector or pixel techniques is purely down to the artist’s personal preference as vectors can be converted to pixels almost instantly, where as recreating a pixel based graphic in vector format can be a much more lengthy process.

When commissioning an illustration, forward planning is the key so it’s always worth mentioning how you hope to use the graphic in the future in order for your illustrator to create the work in the most efficiently scalable format for your project.

If you are looking for any advice on which format is the most suitable for your project, feel free to drop me an email.

Working closely with the jewelery designer’s ideas, I created the above character design — a girl named Pepper, with her pet bird named Mint.

The illustrations were then placed into the logo design (featured below) which we will go on to be used across all of their online and printed media.

It’s been a pleasure working alongside Pepper & Mint’s Boutique on this project, so I’m stoked that my design agency will be continuing to work with the store over the coming months to create a whole range of digital and print marketing materials. I’ll be unveiling more artwork featuring Pepper & Mint as the project unfolds, so keep an eye on the blog!

It was far too cold to spend much time playing out in the snow this weekend, so I decided to spend my Sunday in the nice warm studio creating a cute Valentines themed illustration, to give away to one lucky winner on Facebook next Thursday.

This A5 piece was hand drawn onto high quality Somerset Velvet paper, with a little raised heart painted in acrylics. The artwork comes framed, ready to hang and would make a lovely Valentines gift for someone.

To enter, simply click here to visit the image on my Facebook page, then hit the ‘share’ button and post the image to your profile, before commenting on the image to let me know you’ve entered. If you share the image on multiple profiles, you receive additional entries into the draw.

All of the sharer’s names will be put into a hat on Thursday evening, with a winner chosen at random and announced on Facebook and Twitter. The winner will need to email me their postal address on Friday morning if they’d like their piece to be posted out on the same day, so it arrives just in time for the 14th February if you live in the UK.

Good luck and happy sharing! <3

Having well placed illustrations within the design can often add a unique and appealing edge, while having just the right impact on it’s target market. With so many great examples out there, I thought I’d put together a showcase focusing on some illustration based package designs that have inspired me recently.

The studio is back in full swing now after a lovely break for Christmas and New Year. First on the agenda was an illustration I created for issue 2 of the very awesome, DisColouring Book.

This unique colouring book is aimed at a wide audience from kids, to those of any age with an avid interest in art. It’s filled with original artwork from some of the hottest urban artists on the scene.

On her Facebook page, publisher Sophie Edwards says, “Colouring books have never been just about colouring in and keeping within the lines. They provide visual information and and can tell complex and beautiful stories stimulating your imagination. DisColouring Book takes this concept a step further, inviting you to draw outside the lines and add on your own ideas to the images, making yourself the story teller and going in any direction you choose.”

With the first issue fixed firmly on my Christmas shopping list — I was stoked to have been asked to appear in the second issue, which will be available for sale on the 14th February this year. You can purchase a copy for just £5.99 directly on the Facebook page and either keep it as a collectors item, or buy one to colour and collaborate with the artists featured.

I love getting involved in creative collaboration projects like this. If you have a project coming up that you think I can add to with some illustrations, please do contact me.

2011 has been a fun year for freelance projects.  It’s been a lot of hard work but rewarding none the less as there have been so many highlights to smile about as I make plans for 2012.

Some of the most memorable projects from this year include the Illustrations created for venues in Birmingham City Centre, my summer spent doodling on whiteboards with HTC Mobiles at UK festivals, the daily doodle projects and the increasingly fun Collaberation Nation projects I’ve been taking part in, plus many more character illustrations, web graphics and print designs created alongside some fantastic clients and collaborators. To see some of these projects, check out my portfolio page or browse the projects on my blog.

I really can’t thank everyone enough for all the commissions, support, collaborations and positive vibes this year — 2011 just wouldn’t have been the same without you all. If you’d like to work with me in 2012, please do contact me to arrange a chat!

Have a very merry New Year celebration everyone! x