From Travel Memories to Landmark Art: London Edition

This post is part of my “From Travel Memories to Landmark Art” series, where I revisit destinations I’ve travelled to and thoughtfully reimagine my designs with intention — creating work that feels more authentic, original, and uniquely mine.

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Okay. So London.

This is the one that started it all.

Not only because it was my first design ever — but because it was the first one I completely tore apart and rebuilt from scratch.

And here’s the wild part…

It was one of my bestselling designs.

The stickers? Sold like crazy.
The ornaments? Customer favourites.
It was doing really, really well.

And yet, I still knew I needed to change it.

Why Mess With a Bestseller?

There’s something slightly unhinged about redesigning a product that’s already performing well.

Like… why would you mess with that?

But every time I looked at my London landmark design, I couldn’t unsee it.

I relied heavily on widely used clipart — the same Big Ben silhouette, the same London Eye graphic, that same red bus you see everywhere.

And don’t get me wrong — it worked.

But I realized it didn’t reflect where I was creatively anymore. And it didn’t feel original.

If I’m building something long-term, I don’t want my work to feel interchangeable.

I want someone to see it and know.

That’s SimplyBlessedShy.

Raising My Own Standard

But I knew if I wanted my landmark art to feel more detailed, more realistic, and more uniquely mine, I had to raise my own standard.

This wasn’t about chasing trends.

It was about building something I could stand behind long term.

And that meant starting over.

About The London Eye

If there’s one element that tested my patience the most, it was the London Eye.

Removing the background cleanly, re-adding all those intricate lines to that wheel — it was tedious. Painfully tedious.

There were moments I thought, “Why did I do this to myself?” Serious questionable life choices lol.

But once it came together?

cue angelic music “Ahhhhhhhhh.”

The extra effort was totally worth it.

And it proved to me that I was capable of more than I had been allowing myself to create.

Growth You Can Actually See

When I compare my original London design to the reimagined version, it’s night and day. Fo’ reals.

Not because the first one was bad.

But because I’ve grown. Soooo much.

My editing skills have improved significantly. I have more tools under my belt — and I actually kinda know how to use them 😋.

That growth allowed me to really refine the details and build something that feels more realistic and intentional.

The updated London landmark art feels so much stronger. So much more thoughtful. Aaand sooo much more aligned with the artist I am today.

Why I Took the Risk Anyway

Redesigning a bestseller was a risk.

But it was also the moment I committed to originality over comfort.

London became the creative reset that changed the direction of my entire collection.

Once I rebuilt it, I knew I couldn’t go back to creating the way I had before.

City by city, I’ve been continuing that transformation.

And next up?

Paris!

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You can explore my growing collection of landmark designs here → Landmark collection