Now that Lauren’s put the new Moaning Myrtles merchandise up for sale, I can reveal that designing it was one of my secret projects. Lauren contacted me at the end of August, and I designed a new shirt, a tote bag, and a frisbee for her to sell at Wrockstock and other wizard rock shows. While designing them, I was really inspired by Nicolas Saunders’ work, so definitely go drool over his gorgeous designs after you finish reading this.
For the first shirt, Lauren wanted the quote “Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am.” I decided to draw the type in a very informal way and surround it with simple illustrations of things that have to do with Luna. I tried to make it look like a shirt you could just buy in a store, and not necessarily scream wizard rock from every inch of the design.
The tote bag was originally another shirt design, but we decided it was more fit for a bag. I had the idea of using bathroom sign pictograms, but making them specific to Lauren and Nina. I really got to play with iconography, making the lightning bolt guitar strap stand for Lauren and the piano scarf stand for Nina. It’s a design that you only fully understand if you really know the Moaning Myrtles, but it’s also accessible on a basic level to people who don’t know them at all.
The frisbee was very much inspired by Nicolas Saunder’s work which I linked to above. I didn’t want to directly copy his aesthetic, so I stayed away from the grungy style and instead tried to make it look slightly old-fashioned but in that magical way that the films do so well.
Thanks for reading guys. I’ll definitely have more work to show you soon :)