Quick design with Dani

Hey all, Dani Dazey here! I'm always sharing how I create Dazey's designs on the insta story and now I'm brining them to the Zine in fun & new ways. I decided to create a time lapse of me illustrating a design for Dazey. A lot of time and love goes into each design and I am so excited to share how they are made. My goal is for everyone to feel so involved in the design process it's almost like they are apart of it too!

I have added an audio tutorial along with the video to give you an idea of my thoughts and design process so be sure your sound is on too. For those who are curious I work in adobe Illustrator and photoshop. I also draw using a Waccom Intous medium sized drawing tablet to give me designs that true hand drawn feel.

The "Local Female Powerhouse" tee should be released in the next few months along with the rest of the "March On" collection inspired by the incredible Women's March that took place January 21st. I used to always get in trouble posting designs before release when I worked at corporate companies, even to the extreme of getting fired for it. But when you run your own business you can do whatever you want! I love being overly transparent with Dazey. It's all about sharing and helping fellow female here :)

Xx- Dani Dazey

When I first moved to LA just 4 years ago the arts district was vastly different. It is growing like crazy as new condos, shops, and restaurants are popping up left and right. There's even some petitions out to change the name since artists can't afford to live there anymore! Gentrification is always bitter sweet. Sadly original occupants are forced out, but the neighborhoods do become more safe and quite lively. What I like about the arts district is all the old industrial architecture and old walls mixed with greenery. Since the arts dist is much less busy than downtown proper it makes it a photographers paradise. Plus the cool cars and motorcycles scattered around made great props HA!

I hope you enjoy the photos below captured with my favorite Lady Quigley! We always trade each other Dazey photos for shooting her other blog looks :)

 SHOP THE TOPS HERE

THE FAMOUS DAZEY FLAY LAY

I've always loved flat lays, but they are often overused and look the same. They are a great way to show product details, so I knew From the beginning I needed to make Dazey's lays special. I began to arrange flowers around the tees for photos and people loved the posts! Now it's something I try to do every few weeks to keep things fresh and cohesive in my Instagram feed. It may seem like a simple thing to do, but there is a method to the arrangement and taking of the photos! Follow along below to see how I do it :)

SHOP THE TOPS HERE

SETP 1) FIND THE FLOWERS

Doing flat lays like this can be costly, so I go to the wholesale flower district in Downtown Los Angeles. This is where the florists get all their flowers and crazy low prices!

WHAT TO CHOOSE?

I like to find a green of some sort to add volume and color to the background. There are some examples above of some awesome green leaves perfect for accenting your florals. I went with a green with small white flowers throughout.

Then your going to need your main flower, I chose to use this bright yellow because it matches my logo and will really stand out! Sometimes I add a second color that matches like a red or pink, but this time I decided succulents would add a nice touch! 

STEP 2) PLACE BACKGROUND GREENS

Find an area with lots of natural light to take the photo. Pick a simple or natural background like wood or plain white paper. First off lay down whatever it is your shooting nice and straight. You'll be surprised at how many wrinkles the camera can pick up. If you can't get it totally perfect that is ok, I'll show you a quick photoshop trick to edit out lines at the end.

Then start to place the greens. I like to do a half or full circle to really frame the tee. Otherwise it looks a little awkward just on the sides. Layer the pieces on top of each other and make it as lush as possible, no naked areas! Make sure it is as even as possible on both sides.

STEP 3) ADD MAIN FLOWER

Now you add the main flower. I usually start with a 2 bunches on each side. I place them in the middle and top of the crest. I made them nice and even again.

Keep them grouped if they are and cut off the bottom of the stems where it's sparse. Then you tuck the bottom stems inside the background green so they don't show! The bottom photo shows what it should look like after this step is done.

STEP 4) FILL IT IN

At this point there are still parts missing the main flower. I go in and cut the entire stem off of the flower and place them face up throughout. This way you can see the flower really nicely and put it wherever it's missing color. I also cover up some of the ugly stems still showing with the little flowers.

I also added my accent succulents. I staggered them for a more asymmetric natural look. You don't have to place the flowers as even as the last two steps either. This is where you go in making it fun and different! Add as many as you have, the more epic the arrangement the better!

STEP 5) TAKING THE PHOTO

Now here comes the fun part! Time to take the photo. I always stand on a chair or directly above the flat lay to get an areal angle. You can very easily take this on your phone, in fact I prefer to over my SLR camera since it's easier to see the screen. I like to center the image as much as possible using the grid feature.

Take a ton, you never know which ones are going to be blurry or off center. Check them in-between and see how the arrangement is looking, I often shift things around while I shoot. I also try and get a few angles after I get the main shot so I have a few options to post.

STEP 6) EDIT OUT WRINKLES

I use the pattern stamp tool on Adobe photoshop to edit out the wrinkles. You can see a screen shot below and arrow pointing to the tool. What this tool does is select and area when you click alt over it and then will move that area over to where ever you click next. I go back and forth from picking up area with "alt" and then putting them over the wrinkles. 

Another trick is to use paint brush and paint dropper a color and on a low opacity and just brush over the wrinkles. Make sure to be subtle with this trick because it can look fake really fast. Adding a grain at the end will also help it look more natural. 

FIN! 

And there you have it, how to make a Dazey flatlay! I know it might seem a little self explaintory, but hope this was helpful in some way. If you do any flay lays inspired by this tutorial please use the hashtag #dazeyflatlay. We would love to check it out :)

Also you can see some more flat lay fun by checking #dazeyflatlay 

The Dazey Lady Contest 

A few weeks ago we had our big Dazey Lady contest! It was amazing and over 100 inspiring girls entered by telling us how they are following their dreams. I was particularly inspired by Juliete of @julzjunkiejewelry because she chose to quit a steady job and school to follow her dreams. What started as a fun project became her passion, and she's damn good at it too.

Check out the lovely video and shoot we did below as well as her entry :) shop her JULZ on www.julzjunkie.com! Also check out the hastag #dazeyladycontest and see the other entries, so uplifting and inspiring! 

 SHOP THE TOPS HERE

Julette's Original entry story:

Hi loves! I'm Juliet, the little 27 year old boss lady behind Julz Junkie. The name starts with my nickname "Julz" and my very first customers would always return over and over wanting more so that's where "Junkie" came in. I figured this was the perfect time to tell you a little about myself for the #dazeyladycontest and how I ended up here.

I worked in Real Estate, Property Mgt and Escrow for around 7 years. I did go to college and wanted to be a Dental Hygienist. That's until one summer I was bored and sick of all my cheap jewelry always tarnishing on me. I've been creative all my life so I went to the local craft store and picked up my first set of jewelry pliers and some chain. I analyzed all the jewelry I had and taught myself everything I know. To be honest it was just a hobby until friends started admiring my pieces. After doing it for a while I noticed how happy I was doing it and started selling pieces on an online marketplace. Every day I would have lots of designs running thru my head and would run home and make them.

At my job at the time I was doodling jewelry designs and losing focus (oops 🙈) and that's when it clicked that I had to go with a different career. Of course my family was a little worried that I wasn't going to start the dental hygiene program and that I was quitting my job, not to mention I had rent to pay. Everyone always said "omg Juliet the fashion world is such a cutthroat business". I figured if I was gonna give it a shot this was my chance and well as you can tell it was totally worth it! Now, my life consist of jewelry 24/7. I also work part-time for a well known Jewelry designer in LA and have learned a lot to apply to my own business. I get home and put all my focus to my brand. I do everything myself and I am very proud of it. Hashtag #girlboss lol Obviously if my lil brand blows up I'll need some help but at the moment I've got it under control 😜 Never be afraid to try something new and go after your dreams no matter what anyone tells you. Don't lose hope because nothing happens overnight, just stay motivated and you will get there. Thank you so much for the endless support, it never goes unnoticed. ❤️Julz

 This Lovely creative is Irene Luna. She attended my Dazey Lady event, and approached me asking to shoot! I thought she had such a unique and striking look; I couldn't say no. I think all the girls I shoot are beautiful and wonderful, but frankly I'm getting a little bored of always shooting your standard blonde California girl. Irene was different, and it was refreshing. Dazey is all about celebrating and empowering ALL women. When we met up to shoot I was delighted with how smart, funny, and confident this 20-year-old girl was. I asked her to write a piece for the new Dazey Zine and she KILLED IT!!! Read her amazing story below, and check out the magical shots we got.

Not your stereotype by Irene Luna:

From the moment my grade school teacher handed my class and I a box to decorate for back too school night, I knew one thing: I wanted my box to stand out, to be different. When people liked blue, I wanted red. When polka dots were in, I was into stripes. When the world was watching this, I was reading that. To me, standing out in a sea of very pretty fish, is by far the most intriguing opportunity. Not to say it was ever an easy option, not in the slightest. (read more below)

SHOP THE TOPS HERE

I always knew I wanted to be a performer, I grew up in theater, and in dance. Undoubtedly, the stage is my first love, and acting my dire passion. I can't exactly pin point the reason that I love being in front of an audience, but I just feel right when I'm in that “all eyes on you” position. So naturally being in front of the little eye of a camera came as a part of that deal. To be completely honest, I never saw myself as the “model type”, therefore I never really thought modeling was for me. I do not have a perfect taut figure (my thighs love each other too much), and I’m a brown haired, brown skinned Hispanic, far from what I grew up thinking a model was. In fact, growing up, being a model to me meant being in the secret society of perfection. Given such an ethnic background and lack of tiny waist genes, I very well knew I could not and would not be able to afford that membership. 

But like I said, I have always embraced my desire to stand out. It has successfully pushed me to strive toward being the odd one out, learning to love myself and the unique qualities of not only myself, but of every person I come across. It hasn't always been easy breezy cheesy toast, of course not. I can't say it's exactly pleasant or easy to be standing in a room full of beautiful girls similar in many ways to one another, while you stand with more resemblance to the chair in the corner than any of them. (continued below)

A healthy, positive, ambitious mindset is a very big part of having the ability to do what you want to do. Deciding to feel good about you, is what makes you feel good about you. Not the approval or fondness of people whom you don't know, if we were to let that dictate where our lives were going we wouldn't get to enjoy the world and the ridiculously awesome experiences it has to offer. And relinquishing those joys of life is not in the cards for this gal. 

I see not being the stereo typical model, as a great opportunity to represent the color of the world, because really if all fish were blue I'm sure we wouldn't be so intrigued with the sea. I know there is beauty in every face, ethnicity, and proximity of our thighs. Being different, and ‘not looking like everyone else’ is now a pretty trendy thing, and it’s quite a lot of fun to be apart of a generation that has such a rad outlook. 

Knowing that the confidence that everyone is able to bring to their own looks, craft, and passions is what is most important. Not being the stereo type, and embracing the things that make you different to the standard, is what adds so much color to the world, gives us all more reasons to connect with one another, and even more reasons to enjoy and strive on this cool little rock we live on.

Xx- Irene Luna  

 Hey Dazey Ladies! So as many of you know I do mini design tutorials on the @dazey_la Instagram story all the time. I've been getting a lot of people asking to save them or put them on the blog since they disappear after 24 hours. When I started one yesterday I took some screen shots and decided to save and re-upload it. I know the video is super choppy and portrait style, so I decided to go more in depth below. I hope you find this helpful and never hesitate to ask questions. Previous knowledge of adobe illustrator is helpful.

This will be for my "march on" collection based on signage I saw at the women's march. I'll be working on designs all week and should be released in the next month or so!

Xx-Dani Dazey

1) Open a fresh adobe illustrator file. I always find 3-4 images that inspire me. Weather it's the colors, fonts, or design elements. I keep them on the side of the frame to reference. The goal is not to copy any of them, but take bits and pieces you like to create something new! 

Start with a base font, something you like that has a similar vibe to the end goal. This will however be totally changed so don't fuss too much :) 

2) Separate the font as a new text box on each line. Then select the first and apply the "warp" effect like shown below. There is a lot of fun options to re-shape the text! Some of my favorites are arc and flag. Here I have applied a different warp to each line as you can see. I like to adjust the fonts to blend in with each other. 

3) From here you select the font, go to "object" and click expand. This will make the font editable. Once it is outlined you can use the pen tool to re-trace these lines. Make sure you have the letters selected when editing. 

4) Here I am about halfway through. Just take it nice and slow one letter at a time. Keep the edit stokes close to the original or it will create a new line instead of re-shaping the current one. Here you can see I'm going for a more funky text and almost melting the letters into one another!

5) Now that I'm finished with the letters I am going to add a text shadow. Not your average "drop shadow", this trick works better :) Duplicate the font and add a thick "stroke" to the bottom one, I have it at 10 points here. Then I took the top layer and made the "fill" white and added a 2 point stroke. Then you just place the top font on the bottom one.

6) As you can see Below I decided to take the bottom shadow and expand it, merged using pathfinder, and then added a black stroke with yellow fill. Then I took the pen tool (better at making straight lines then the pencil tool) and I used to to create the background "beams" by just clicking at each point. All I needed to do was 1/4th of the background and then duplicate it. Then I grouped the background and used the warp tool again to add the "twist"!

7) I then selected the whole design and change the stroke to have a "rough" line by using the "brush definition" tool (you can see it next to where it says "uniform"). This particular stroke option is very thick so I have changed the stoke to 0.25. I have also changed the colors, which I will do 10 more time before print I'm sure haha. 

8) To add a distress I bring my files into photoshop by copy and pasting to a new design file. Then I paste a downloaded "distress" layer on top. This layer is literally just a speckled transparent .tiff file that matches the background. You can download them off of the internet! I usually go in using the pattern stamp tool to define and add even more distress.

9) To get a preview on a tee all you do is find a semi large photo of a blank tee and place the graphic on top. On the right side above layers you can select where it says "normal" and change it to "multiply" on a light tee, or "screen" on a darker tee. This takes away the white box and makes it look like it's printed on the tee.

And here you have it! The finished product :) Hope you enjoyed my first little tutorial post. I do them a lot on the Insta story but this is the first time I've done a big blog tutorial! I plan on doing more along with more legit videos and not the quick phone story ones haha.

 There has been an amazing amount of rainfall this year compared to your average dry California winter. It has been a HUGE help to our drought. The usually dusty hills have been exploding with green glistening grass. In between the rainy days it had been a photographers dream! This is the adorable little Jess. We shot this at the base of griffith park! 

January was just a crazy month I hardly had any chances to shoot! Excited to get back behind the camera and make awesome stuff 2017 :) When exotic beauties reach out to shoot it's hard to say no! This is Cherie and she is visiting LA from Amsterdam. She was scouted out here for modeling and acting while on vacation and is spending the next few months in LA taking classes and building her portfolio. I am obsessed with her amazing hair and striking eyes, a photographers dream combo, right?! 

She's wearing all goodies from our new resolution collection. Designed to make a positive impact on our future. You can shop it HERE!

After much anticipation our big Dazey LA video is finally here!! Dazey is so much more than just a company. Supporting and encouraging fellow females is the real mission behind the brand! We explore the journey Dani took starting Dazey and some amazing people involved along the way.  Starting a business can be scary, but luckily I've had the best Dazey Ladies by my side who you get to meet in the video too! Huge thanks to my babes involved @officiallyquigley, @thewestsidecollective, @nikkiijoiner, and @aldenstimle.

Last but certainly not least big shout out to the badass female director Melissa and her husband, owners of @longhaulfilms! They did and amazing job and made this process so easy and incredible.

Below are some stills and behind the scenes photos the day of the shoot!! We filmed much of it in my incredible WeWork space. The video release came right in time after being a speech winner at the WeWork Global Summit Los Angeles Demo Days event. The winnings included 25k towards Dazey, I was blown away! Such an amazing organization and community I am proud to be apart of. Post coming soon covering the big contest! A special thanks to my boyfriend Phillip for taking these and always helping out so much :)