Mikael Lovell
The Birthday Collection
Mikael Lovell launched in 2020 by Founder Madison John. The Birthday cards was the second collection released on March 2020 with 5 coloured cards and 4 lined illustrations. The idea of the cards is to represent people of colour and size with the flexibility that each card can be used for any family member or friends. Whether it’s sending it to your Aunt, Friend or Mum the cards doesn’t specify who the card is for. All illustrations were created with Adobe Illustrator.
With Madison’s Nan dying a few years before she wanted to ensure that she will included in one of the collections. I asked her to give me a photo and applied the image the best I can as I knew how special her nan was to her. The best part of this illustration was her reaction and love for it,
I captured her beautifully.
Probably one of my favourite illustrations. It took awhile to get the smile and eyes just right but it turned out amazingly. You'll notice that on the coloured version the child's eyes are open, the original sketch for this was that the eyes were closed. We applied this on the black and white version as I think an embrace with 2 people having their eyes close shows a form of love and intimacy. The feeling of just being there and treasuring one another without distraction. I really enjoyed working on the dreadlocks and the curly hair and once the colour was added I couldn't believe how it turned out.
We both agreed that a brother and sister or cousins was a much needed option, a card that’s not very easy to find. I had a few ideas for this, kids playing together, dancing, singing but to me the sweetest picture of my brother and sister was when they were embracing each other (which doesn't happen anymore they just fight) and I thought most people would probably agree with me. Luckily I was right
The first illustration I worked on for the birthday collection, I think this also took the most edits. The hair probably took about 10x before I was satisfied with the curls and volume, I cannot even remember how many time I coloured this and changed it over and over again. This was the best seller during the first year of Mikael Lovell.
The family illustration allows a better flexibility on the card. Surprisingly this illustration did not take as many retries as the rest considering the amount of characters is double.
All cards as still available for Purchase on MikaelLovell.com Instagram @Mikaellovell
