MANILA, Philippines - Florals? For spring/summer? It ain’t groundbreaking, but Charles & Keith breathes new life into our fave flower pattern by collaborating with designer and illustrator Raxenne Maniquiz for the launch of the summer 2017 collection at The Playground, Bench Tower.
The brand also took the opportunity to launch the digital campaign #CharlesKeithCurates which aims to highlight the works of different people who inspire with their art and technique. For 26-year-old Raxenne Maniquiz, it’s all about finding the balance between traditional and digital media. She complemented the pastel hues and embroidered details of Charles & Keith’s new collection by adding touches of parrot tulips, freesia flowers, eucalyptus green and monarch butterflies to her digital illustration. For this project, she even had to learn basic animation to better convey her process of building layers to make an image.
Back to basics: Raxenne starts off her illustration by sketching with a pen and paper.
While studying advertising in college back in 2011, she never thought of getting into graphic design, let alone digital illustration. One too many campaigns and sleepless nights later, she started getting into digital illustration and is now a full-time visual creative. But her exposure to traditional media in the University of Santo Tomas very much engrained in her the notion that sketching on paper should always be the first step in every design project. She then proceeds to tracing and sketching digitally and tests out her colors. But when asked which is the most important part of her creative process, she noted two things: keep creating and post your work online. She is currently a designer for Plus63 Design Co. but most of her freelancing work, including this collaboration with Charles & Keith, is commissioned through her Behance and Instagram accounts. Those are what got Raxenne to where she is right now, and these might just be the #protips that you need to get started too.
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For more information, visit charleskeith.com/curates.