inspiring designs

Hayden's 7th Birthday Cake

Take Typography Out Of The Box & Play A While

baking, Blog Post

There are many different ways you can exercise those mad typography skills away from the computer, one that is enjoyable and delicious is baking. Make your tasty creations more personal and unique with hand crafted messages on cake, brownies, muffins/cupcakes, cookies, pies crusts and more!

For this blog I decided to feature how I broke out my typography skills with baking. I was inspired by the ingredients of this particular cake and thought to myself:

“why write on a cake with icing when you can try something new?!”

The Influence:

This month my nephew, Hayden, turned 7 years old and wanted me to make him an ice cream cake for his birthday; for the past year his motto has been “Cake Is MY LIFE!” with his amount of enthusiasm towards cake I was more than happy to oblige and made him a lactose free Oreo ice cream/pudding cake.

It was the main ingredient of the crust that inspired me to be a little more creative and try a stencil instead of icing, that ingredient was Oreo Cookie Crumbs.

The Process:

1. Take a piece of card stock, it is thick enough to hold the stencil’s shape, and cut it to fit the surface of cake.

2. Sketch or trace your message into the card stock. I used a slab serif “H” for Hayden to make the letter a bit heavier without adding too much weight to the stem or crossbar, allowing me to have some wiggle room for a stylized “7” for his age.

3. Cut out your letters; I used an x-acto knife, self-healing cutting mat and ruler. Scissors will not do as you DO NOT want to BEND your stencil or it may not be flat enough on the surface to work effectively.

4. Place your stencil onto the surface and press down on the lifted edges so the cookie crumbles, cocoa power, confectioner sugar or whatever you are using to heavily sprinkle over the stencil does not leak or roll under the edges, keeping your typographic play crisp and clean.

5. Remove the stencil, be sure to keep it as straight as possible while lifting all the edges up as evenly as possible to prevent any spillage of the excess ingredients on to the cake’s surface.

Cut out letters from the stencil
Stencil after using it on the cake
The final out come

The great thing with stencil work is that you can choose if you want to use the negative or positive version; for instance, I chose to use the positive space as the letters but could easily of used the negative. This can be achieved by taking the cut out letters form the stencil, placing them on the cake and heavily sprinkling the powder or crumbs over top and carefully removing the paper cut outs; though I felt in this case there was more contrast by using the positive space.

This is a fun, fresh approach to utilizing those typographic skills away from the computer. Give it a try and share your creation with me on Instagram or twitter @noelle_fontaine

Thanks for reading 🙂

Watercolour Pencils

Blog Post, illustrations

 

Ink & Watercolour Illustration by Noelle Fontaine

Ink &Watercolour Illustration by Noelle Fontaine

I have found a new medium to play with, rather a new way to play with an old medium. One that is rather pleasant and easy to do on the go – WATERCOLOUR PENCILS!!!

They are the best thing since sliced bread! You can take them virtually anywhere, map out the colour of your piece, pack up and go, then continue at your next location. For a busy creative who needs flexibility or is constantly on the go, like myself, these pencils are extremely convenient. Also, there is little to no clean up! That being said, once you start to wet the paper and begin your colour blending journey, you still need to wait for the paper to dry.

These pencils are excellent for someone who is just starting to explore the medium, as they are very forgiving and less intimidating than tubes of watercolour paint.

Ink &Watercolour Illustration by Noelle Fontaine
Faber-Castell Watercolour Pencils
Fabrino Studio Watercolour Paper

These Faber-Castell watercolour pencils are the first I have tried, so far I am very pleased with the quality and reasonable price (between $20-$30, purchased at DeSerres Art Supplies Store along with a pad of Fabriano Studio Watercolour Paper). Like all creative tools, the quality of products used can make a significant difference in the final outcome of any illustration or painting; you do not always have to buy the expensive or professional grade products/tools but once you have invested in some, you will notice a difference.

Overall, for a reasonably priced set of 36 colours and being fairly green with the medium in general, I would recommend giving these pencils a try. Even the most seasoned of creatives can have a lot of fun on the go with these babies.

Follow me on Instagram or twitter @noelle_fontaine to see more, you can  also tag me in any of your watercolour pieces to share in the fun!

Thanks for reading 😀

1968 Ford Mustang Illustration

Blog Post, illustrations

This project was done as a Christmas present for my boyfriend’s dad, he is rebuilding a 1968 Ford Mustang – yellow with two black racing stripes & soft top. I made the license plate his dad’s initials with the number of the month he was born & the year (BN•0462).

Something that was very important for this project is having good reference photos – especially to be sure you are basing your piece on the right model. I had 1 car for the model, 1 car for the colour & two cars with a side view that both had soft tops.

A great tool I just picked up from the dollarstore was a water tray with a brush cleaner that holds brushes around the edges. I bought one for facepainting & then picked up a larger one for painting, the brush cleaner works awesome! Before I would use jars and containers but sometimes I forget to take my brushes out of the water and the finished on the brushes start to crumble & break off – this is particularity annoying when the finish starts to flake off onto the pice your painting.

Another great tool is a Staywet or Stawet Pallet, preventing paint waste by keeping paint moist (even acrylics) for days! It is especially helpful when this painting will take a few days to complete. This is how it works: there is a sponge saturated with water placed in a deep tray & some special paper that has soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes before being placed on the wet sponge. Once this is done you can place your paint directly on the special paper (which is also reusable) & when you are either taking a break or putting the paint away for the day you place the lid on top of the tray – be sure it is sealed tight – to keep the paint moist. Just do not leave it for too long where the sponge or paper could mold – this happened to me while in school, I forgot about it for about a month or two & did not clean it our or let the sponge dry out so it started to mold; I bleached the container & bought a replacement sponge & paper set, which are not expensive at all.

Here is the process & final outcome:


This was another experimental piece, I was not too sure how it was going to turn out as my paining skills & knowledge need some work; that being said, I am pleased with the final outcome & think his dad will really like it.

You can follow me on my social to see my projects & process in realtime.

Thank you for reading 🙂