Project Lugia

Hello again!

Time for some more Pokemon goodies!  Yes, I know it's not July anymore, but those little critters are still trying desperately to get my attention!!!

So here's my next 'BIG' project featurning my favourite Pokemon - Lugia!

I had been wanting to design something for a while and after the release of HeartGold and SoulSilver last year, I was determined to do something featurning my favourite Legendary.  I had considered using the boxart images, shown above, at first, but then I changed my mind and went for this:

I came across this rather cool image whilst doing a Google search and immediately decided that this would be my reference design!  As always, here's a low down on how I turned it into a cross-stitch pattern.

This design started life back in April 2010.  It was a slow project to get going on thanks to my depression, and it was not until July/August time that I went back to it.  As always, all my projects start with pencil and ink sketches:

Once I have an ink sketch I'm happy with, it's time to start charting:

Once I'm happy with that, I choose the threads I want to use:

This design uses a mixture of standard stranded thread and DMC light effects -- blends are also playing a part in this design for shading purposes.

Then then tricky task of starting to chart the design into my Pattern Maker software can begin.  When I first started desiging my own patterns, this was the tricky bit. My Sonic themed 'Flying Hedgehog' was particularly difficult, so for future designs, I have decided to start the design by drawing a grid:

I've found that this makes charting large projects so much easier!

I would always recommend using a colour for the grid that isn't featured in the finished design so that it stands out.  Here, I've used a red grid line, which I will delete when the design is finished.

Once the grid is finished, you can start filling in:

When the filling has been completed, delete the grid line.  I initially saved this as two separate projects, one without the backstitch and one with.  I always add the backstitch last -- leaving the colours behind the symbols turned on helps with this!

When the backstitch work is finished, turn the colours off:

And there you have it...the chart is complete, and now the fun can really begin!