Glitter Skull
Glitter Skull is a passion project of mine that I’ve been using to flex my creative muscles. I’ve heard from many design colleagues and mentors that branding yourself is the biggest challenge out there, so I decided to tackle it. The name “Glitter Skull” came to be the title of this project because one of the Irish meanings of the name Kelly is “bright-headed” and I wanted to add a bit more pizzazz.
I used this project to practice the three mediums/disciplines that I want to continue improving, illustration, printmaking, and lettering. I also wanted to use this opportunity to explore my style. I’m proud of how the identity looks so far, and I’m excited to keep developing it. Some of my process and sketches are included below.
To the right is a time lapse of the lettering process in Procreate. I wanted it to have a traditional serif look while also being whimsical and fitting with the style of the print. The mood board I worked with to develop the letters can also be seen in the video (as well as an accidental cat photo).
The final composition is a simple line surrounding two images, but it brings everything together. Two pieces make make up one identity, and it’s an homage to the way I would present pieces in school. All the pieces from the project mounted on a board to show the complete system.
I eventually realized that I needed some more vertical space to explore and once I gave myself room I landed on my print design. It was important for me to include printmaking, not only because it’s a medium I want to continue working in, but also because it adds a hand-done element to the piece. Having my hand carved design (mistakes and all) as the main image for the identity makes it all much more personal.
It took me a while to figure out how I wanted the skull to appear in the print. This was the final skull sketch, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to bring the glitter to it. I decided to make worksheets out of the skull linework so I could sketch whatever ideas came to me without the endless erasing.
These are a few pages of my initial sketches when I was still getting used to the shape of skulls. All of these studies really helped me find the direction of the piece.
