Hearts Inspire Hearts

Love Hearts, like all of Kristina’s pieces, started from a blank canvas.

In her own self-isolation and distancing from those she loves, Kristina found herself reflecting and sifting through sketchbooks from years past. Delighted, she came across an array of hearts she had illustrated but not yet completed. It struck her, both with tears of joy and sadness. As tragic times have shocked our world, it seems everyone has been affected. Although stumbling upon this sketch, Kristina chose instead to see the good!

This black and white illustration reminded her of the abundance of hearts popping up in windows in Spring 2020. Homes and businesses all around the world seem to be brimming with little hearts, big hearts, red hearts, white hearts and hearts of all kinds. These hearts give neighbours and passersby by warmth and encouragement during an unprecedented time. Perhaps you and your kids have contributed to this joy. Because of this, Love Hearts has in fact – been inspired by you and those you love!

With artistic license, the hearts in this design are representing that connection. These hearts represent your family, your friends, your community – coming together in such a way – to find hope and joy in the small moments of the day to day. Full of individuals that are loving and supporting each other.

This art serves as a reminder that you are in a network connected by hearts. Love is always around you.

Kristina felt it was fitting to complete what she had started. This piece exudes artistic flare, and a brilliant array of colours sure to brighten your day! Introducing Love Hearts.

2D to 3D – Art Comes To Life

A step by step process of how a sketch becomes wearable art.

Step #1 is the backbone of this art – the black and white hearts illustration. Using thin 0.5 mm pen lines to thick brush tip markers, this artist sketch paper allows for crisp and clean lines to pop off the page. There is a looseness among this heart design, which creates dynamic flow and energetic movement. The 9”x12” page is then scanned into the computer at a 1200 dpi resolution.

Step #2 is working on the computer, starting in Adobe Illustrator. A vector file is traced from the original sketch. This allows the black lines to be scaled and/or made into any colour: black, white, red, pink or even angled gradient fills. After further fine-tuning, this file is set aside to start the next step.

Step #3 is where the compiled computer layout begins. The background for this piece is a blend of abstract acrylic paintings. This creates a basis for the texture. Once these are first scanned and then colour-corrected in Adobe Photoshop, they are brought into Adobe InDesign. (It felt fitting to choose a cascade of reds and pinks for this design.) The file gets built up with 30 or so of these layers that each get tweaked and re-tweaked, including; size, transparency, opacity, saturation, feathered, gradients applied, etc. Once the background is just right, the traced hearts illustration is overlayed on top and tweaked until it compliments the layers below. Contrasting angled lines are then added as the final touches.

Each piece sees countless revisions with an incredible attention to detail and an eye for perfection! The final digital artwork allows this piece to have rich depth that you only realize once it’s in your hands. But step #3 does not stop there. This step is actually repeated again a number of times, to create up to 6 or more digital canvases. As in the example of the yoga leggings and capris, three separate files are created: a) one for the left leg; b) a completely different design for the right leg; and c) then another for the waistband.

Step #4 is where the piece begins to take shape. Using highly advanced 3D rendering software, the final digital artwork is accurately placed and guided onto the piece of clothing being created. Once complete, the file is then saved and uploaded to the online shop ready for you to purchase! The final rendered 3D mockup is what you see online when you purchase the product.

Joy In The Journey

The joy in creating something from nothing is at the heart of all of the designs you see on this website.

As Spring 2020 becomes becomes Summer and then Fall, only time will tell where we, as the world, end up. With a pandemic that uproots economies, it somehow – at the same time – is bringing families and communities together. It is helping all of us to see what matters most in our lives, and above shows us that love is always around us.

Images below show a glimpse of how 2D art comes to life!

VIEW Love Hearts Products HERE >>

Leggings Like No Other

Fluid Designs – No Repeating or Mirrored Patterns

Unlike traditional athletic wear in which patterns are printed in thousands of metres before being cut and sewn, our leggings and capris are hand made in Canada, one at a time! With our new sublimation printing capabilities, we have moved away from the need of simple repeating patterns or prints and instead have fluid designs flowing from one leg to the other. There are no harsh borders or restrictions.

Because we make our leggings and capris on-demand, we don’t need to create large amounts of fabric OR create excess inventory/stock, which would potentially end up in a landfill. The small bits of fabric waste we do have, actually gets upcycled into pillow stuffing to further our stance of eco-friendly choices.

Instead of working with limiting patterns, we have a huge advantage with our unique process and technology. We go one step further than we need to and actually create an entirely separate graphic files/designs for: a) the left leg, b) the right leg, and c) the waistband. We never do any mirror printing on any design. (Mirror printing is simply a copy/paste/mirror function in a program, in which in the case of other brands can sometimes lead to ‘odd’ flower patterns in ‘odd’ places. No thank you!) We want you to feel beautiful and confident in all of our designs, all of the time.

Precisely Designed FOR Your Body

We precisely decide where every line, brushstroke, and colour will appear on the final product! We decide which part of the art appears on the calf, the knee, and the bum, for example.

This process provides great flexibility and opportunity because perfectly placed designs create visual illusions to compliment your body. We know how to subtly accentuate long legs with perfectly placed diagonal lines on the thighs. We know hot to create a more slimming tummy by using washes of angled colours on the high waistband.

With Kristina’s decade and a half designing experience, it is hard to beat this exceptional combination of art and functionality! Because the left leg, right leg and waistband compositions are so individual, yet complete as a whole, this is in part why our leggings and capris are so very unique and captivating.

Vibrant Colours Withstand Washing

Using special eco-friendly dye sublimation inks give us an incredible range of colours to work with. Our colour specialists are able to accurately simulate the original colour of the original artwork. We print the 2D mapped out art using heat which transfers the vibrant dye onto our white EcoPoly fabric. Once you receive your leggings or capris, you get to experience the exceptional details in literally every inch of the fabric.

This unique dye-sublimation process also has 100% colour fastness. This means that your leggings and capris will never fade even after years of washing and drying.

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