Designing a Publishing Brand: Sirenella Press (Part 1)
Meet Sirenella.
She’s the pretty mermaid femme at the crux of my independent publishing brand, Sirenella Press.
Her name, ‘Sirenella,’ is an ode to who she quintessentially is … a whimsical siren and true maid of the visual sea.
Sirenella swims in the fields of my imagination and splashes creativity around in my head. She also loves to draw and to dream while frolicking along my mind’s foamy shores. But mostly, she aspires to share her doodled treasures with those most drawn by her visual charms.
🧜🏽♀️
I dreamed up this Sirenella character, at the very heart of my publishing brand, during the first year of my MFA.
At that time, a digital painting class I was part of required the students to come up with a 1-panel scene showcasing a theme and character(s) of our own making.
The idea was to have something foundational from which we could spin-off as a 6-panel story later in the semester.
I remember the first concept that came to me was one of a beautiful mermaid held captive by the evil ocean king, Carcharodon Carcharias.
As my MFA continued, I never forgot about my character, Sirenella.
I knew I’d do something special with her one day.
Which brings us right back to the design of my publishing brand, which celebrates Sirenella’s backstory and renewed purpose.
As mermaids are fantastical creatures — ones which have captivated the hearts and minds of many creatives throughout millennia — I thought the Sirenella character was well suited for this branding job 🙂
In fact, I wholeheartedly felt her mermaidness was a fitting symbol for a small publishing brand aspiring to share whimsical ideas, tales and rhymes, adult comics, and even stories for children’s books … one day, at least (hey … i gotta dream big, right?!).
So off I went, sketching and doodling what the Sirenella character for my publishing brand could possibly look like.
I narrowed my original concept down to the version shared below:
Though this original version (above) received a positive response upon launch, I needed (and ended up developing) something a bit more simplified.
The newest version of Sirenella is the one I’m using now but I am reworking it a bit more and plan to unveil an even more updated version of the brand more formally in a future post.
Yours in art and creative expression,
PS – Need help with a brand design concept?
Or need a character developed for your visual project?
I can help. Let’s get a conversation started.
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