Tell us a little about your piece?

I usually tend to focus on people and characters in my work and rarely do I illustrate animals of any sort. After a recent trip to the zoo I thought I'd step out of my people based comfort zone and incorporate some of the animals I saw into this pattern. I didn't want to make something that was too quaint so the combination of neon colours and bold shapes as well as a few chilled out animals brings this piece together. I loved working to the restrains of a square or a rectangle for each of the patterns or animals, and fitting it all together and seeing it grow was like piecing a puzzle together.

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What was the most challenging part of the brief?

I usually work with scissors for most of my work and I've often found using a scalpel feels unnatural to me, but the Excel ones were easier to use because of the round handle. However it did take a bit of trial and error to get some things cut the way I wanted, but it was a good sort of challenge, and my lines are a lot neater having relied on the blades. .

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What part of the collaboration did you enjoy the most?

The moment realised there was more than one blade option to work with and how that could affect the patterns I was making was a particular revelation. The whole process of making a pattern was very therapeutic too. 

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How did you enjoy working with Excel Blades, tools?

They served me really well as someone who's a scalpel novice. The tweezers have become a staple in my day to day work and I'll definitely rely on a scalpel a lot more in the future than I did before. The whole piece is neater thanks to it!