Twit terwooooooooo!

So err... HI! Happy New(ish) Year!

Well, I haven't been the busiest of bunnies creatively and life has certainly got in the way of things, but that is about to change. This bank holiday weekend is going to be full of finishing of my zine, That's Logic. It's been over a year in the making due to family issues, financial issues and work commitments so I am very excited to be finally letting it out in the world!

In other news.... This week I made these owls. I was given the set to sew them together from a friend for Christmas. and absolutely LOVED making them! Here's a couple of photo's :)

 

So, hopefully I can get back into the habit of blogging, buuuuuuut we'll see.

Til the next time.

X

Glaciers melting in the dead of night, And the superstars sucked into the supermassive

Weeeeeell, where to start....

Lots has happened in the past month, so here goes with a few pictures...

 

Lots of goodies I have received  and bought.

My parents went to St. Ives to visit family and left me behind to work :( They did bring me an AMAZING mug back though with my favourite character ever from my favourite book ever.

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR 

Eric Carle is also one of my favourite illustrators. I love the collage effect that he uses.

Next up is an ongoing project by Oyunga Gombo-Ochir. Her obsession with beards has led her to make her own. Check out more about the project HERE and I will be blogging more about it next week!

A lovely ginger beard to match my new(ish) red hair.

The Foxtrot Collective - the big machine.

"Released on 18th July, the first issue of The Foxtrot Collective combines the talents of 26 young designers in one unique print set." This is a project put together by Sam Perkins/ @TheCubb

The mix of designers is great and below are  few examples of my favourites :)

 by Stickypop www.stickypop.co.uk

 Miss Miah www.sumayah.co.uk

by James Pryor www.jpryordesign.co.uk

Simon Wild colouring book

After seeing this nifty little book on Thereza Rowe's lovely blog, I IMMEDIATELY sourced it down and bought one. Sadly mine hasn't seen any colour yet, but I may start taking it with me on my journeys to work :)

Get yourself one from HERE


Tigz Rice - Bitten

 

So last but not least, I bought Tigz Rice's amazing new picture book that is loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I say loosely based because any of you that know Tigz's work, will know light heartedness and happy endings very rarely, if ever, feature in her work!


So that covers my month really.

Til the next post ! X

A year on....

I've just been looking at my old posts and came across this post from November last year . It was the day before my 22nd birthday and I'd set a few goals for myself.

1. Eat lots (because my doctor says I am severely underweight :/ ) A month ago I discovered that I am lactose intolerant and swapped from drinking normal cows milk to LactoFree milk (which takes out the natural sugars in cows milk!). I have put 4lbs on in weight because my body can digest the milk properly :) Yesterday I reached a milestone weight and the only way is up from here on in!
 
2. Explore lots (because there are a lot of amazing places around Rotherham and Sheffield that I never knew or had forgotten all about.)
In January I went to Manchester for the first time, to see a musical. I've been twice since then to see bands play. I went to London for a few days for a proper visit (mainly to see The Gaslight Anthem play!) and can't wait to go again. I went to Durham to visit a friend and explored the Cathedral. I went ice skating in Leeds with a friend in February. I went to Leeds Festival in August and I went to Leeds again last week for some staff training! I love Leeds. So, I'd say I've done a fair bit of exploring and visiting this year. 
I will be going to Durham again next month and then visiting America in December! There's no wonder I never have any money, is there?!
 
3. Experiment lots (because I just can't settle on one style of working and will go through the contents of my room before settling!)
I'd love to say I've been experimenting more, but I haven't been motivated enough. I am getting back into drawing again now though.


I don't think I've done too bad with these resolutions. There's so many more places I want to explore and I really want to start collaging properly, so I shall add them to the resolutions for the year to come and will hopefully be able to update on progress this time next year :)


 x

I Remember When You Told Me, Live Like I’m Dying…

Well it has been ages since I have blogged so here’s a bit of an update.
The deadline for That’s Logic has come to a close, I have picked the final pieces and made a running order. The next step is to add it to InDesign and give it a proper format. It has been great to see all the different takes on typography from a wide range of designers and artists from around the world. I can’t wait to get it printed now. It will be available for a small charge, hopefully at the end of July/beginning of August……
I went down to London last week for a few days, mainly to see The Gaslight Anthem who were INCREDIBLE! So incredible that I hope to see them play in November too…. We went exploring anywhere and everywhere. The Tate Modern threw up some interesting surprises and I was particularly inspired by the works of Julião Sarmento and Alberto Giacometti.


  “Mehr Licht” (Goethe’s dying words - in English ‘More Light’)

We went to see The Clothes Show live, which was a great hour of a fashion catwalk show mixed with some great dancing, a bit like a theatre show! The London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, China Town, Soho, Covent Garden, The GIGANTIC Topshop……. all of it was just fantastic!
I loved London so much that when my search for design jobs lead to London, I was more than happy to explore the possibilities. So who knows, this time next year I could be blogging from the Capital :)
Off to put the finishing touches to my CV now.

T’ra!


(Oh! and the local competition I entered….. I won the Under 25’s award. So proud and excited. I won £75 worth of vouchers to spend in an art shop! Could be very lethal ……..)

I fear God because everything dies babe, got a gun in the back of my car.

So how is everybody this bank holiday?

On Friday night I went to see Biffy Clyro at the O2 Academy in Sheffield. It was one of the best gigs I have seen! I mean, I am aware that I say that every time I see a band play, but I was watching from the balcony with two lots of 20 hanging speaking right in my view. We could see the drummer, Ben, perfectly and occasionally his brother's hair could be seen. Unfortunately we couldn't see the main man in his purple jeans as much as we would have liked. He was hard to miss when he was in view though, especially kneeling at the front of the stage, playing his guitar, with his microphone on the main floor and swinging it round for the crowd to sing in to. Given all this, it was still an immense gig. I don't know if I could have been as positive had it been a different band playing. I have to say though, I do love Simon Neil and his purple jeans.

The main highlight for me was the stripped down version of 'Machines' . This song reminds me of some really hard times from last year and never fails to make me cry. Seeing it live blew me away. It really is one of my favourite songs of all time. I really cannot wait to see them play again at Leeds Festival this summer.


Yesterday I went to see my work in this year's Rotherham Open Art Exhibition. I drew a picture from a photograph of my Grandma from when she was 20 years old. It is a drawing that means a lot this year as my Grandad passed away in March and it is a photo he has had by his bedside since my Grandma died 16 years ago. We were given a pile of photos of my Grandads. Some of them I had never seen before, others I had. I don't remember my Grandma that much as I was only seven when she passed away, so seeing all these photos of her was like getting to know her all over again. It was a strange and emotional feeling looking at my Grandads belongings; letters he wrote from Burma, his wedding certificate, but having a photograph that meant so much to him of someone that we all love so much, means so so much more. This is why I felt compelled to draw it for this years competition. It won't have the same meaning next year. For now, it is the perfect time.

I always feel proud to see my work hanging in a gallery space, but this year means even more than ever. I love the sense of achievement, especially after the buzz of meeting a deadline right at the last minute. :)


A few weeks ago I bought a pack of three mini moleskines and decided one will be for patterns, one for general sketching and the third for text. Yesterday I filled most of it with quotes and my plan is to take a different style or typographer and use it on each quote. My aim is to fill it in a day at a time, so watch this space, I may just actually get round to it this time.......

Enough from me tonight, might watch the snooker for a bit longer then I'm off for some sleep before a day of work tomorrow.

Night all x

Illustration Rally blog and project.

I came across a great little blog last week on the alphabet.

"Illustration Rally is a massive international rolling collaboration which takes a theme and runs with it!"

And roll with it they do. Having seen all the letters so far, I was so eager to join in and very disappointed to find I'd missed the chance to enter into this theme. However, I've got my name down for the next theme and very much looking forward to it.


You can find the Twitter page here and the actual blog here. 
Go look and get involved!!

Being as though I LOVE LOVE LOVE collage at the moment, I couldn't help but show you the 'B' entry by Natsuki Otani, one of the creatives who started the experimental collaboration, along with Joanne Young.


Here's to hoping there are many more running themes for the blog!!

And over the sirens of the police cars, you can hear us shout, the streets are ours!

So, I'm not very good at the whole blog thing.
Or churning out lots of work and ideas thing either for that matter!

I have had plenty of hours at work over Easter at the chocolate shop and it has kept me from working on anything other the That's Logic Zine. The zine, however, has been picking up pace rapidly. I have been receiving submissions for it and it has now been featured by the fantastic @KatyCowan on the Creative Boom website here.  Get involved if you haven't already, there's still time left!

I have a couple pieces of my own work in progress. Well, very very slow progress....

I have a new piece of work in the Alas_Icannotswim zine, well it's the front cover this time :D

In other news, I got to go to Durham last week to see a friend from uni and we went to see The King Blues in Newcastle. Going back to the O2 Academy brought some great old uni memories back. The band were incredible. The floor was bouncing well before The King Blues even came out. I haven't stopped listening to Save The World Get The Girl album  yet and I am certainly looking forward to the new album being released! A definite must see if you get the chance!!

Bring on Biffy Clyro next Friday night!!

Til next time!!

x

That's Logic.

So it has been quite a while since my last post and while there isn't anything particularly important to report, I have been working on a zine project over the last few weeks. Yes, that's right, I have been creative aswell as spending my time eating good chocolate ..... um I mean WORKING with chocolate!


It pretty much came about when I was reading

Indie Publishing: How to Design and Produce Your Own Book and was completely bowled over by the green and pink zine that Michael Perry and a group of creatives created on 'Science' in the space of a weekend.

I have taken the name from my university Final Major Project book based on typography and Alice in Wonderland and have put it to a zine I have been inspired to make!

'That's Logic.' is going to be a zine based on many interpretations of words/type/letters. The response so far has been bigger than I expected and there are some great designers involved. I am very excited now to see how this is going to turn out.

I am still looking for any kind of creative people (writers, graphic designers, poets, illustrators, typographers etc......) so if you are interested please take a look HERE and get involved.

Please SPREAD THE WORD :)

X

A daily addition of pattern and type.

Ahh, the moleskine. Too expensive for me to buy but a great gift.

My attempt is to fill the book with as much colour, pattern and typography as possible, with different media and each day if possible....

 

 

 

Till next time .. XX

Wreck This Journal.

Happy New Year!!

Well, seen as though everyone else is back in the swing of blogging, I thought I would show some care to my blog too. I have even revamped it a wee bit.

About 8 months ago I saw a website encouraged people to wreck their journals/sketchbooks, so I decided I would chuck mine in the washing machine to see how much damage I could cause. The journal then met with the tumble dryer and it became a bag full of crinkled page and scraps. Some bits were glued back together in various ways, the other bits are in bag in the corner of my room waiting to be looked at....

As a Christmas present, I got an actual journal with destructive instructions on each page. This journal is currently being put through its paces by myself - I fear for it once I get taking it outside .... actually, no I don't at all hehe

So, here is my current progress ......

 

 

 

Above: Said Cracked spine, selotaped up at present to make life easier :)

It seems I had quite a collection of stamps from my uni collage project!

*In Progress*....

 

 

 

 

And last but not least (for now anyway.....) .....

 

I have drawn in glue, but glue is clear, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I have done it !!

XX

Kind, kind people.

Sooooo, I haven't got very far with my last month's goals after a really good start! Think I am going give the goals a miss now and start again in January. It has been hard to fit anything round the hours I have been working, though I have had a couple of productive mornings so far this week.

I have been very lucky to have had my work featured in the second edition of successful 'zine, Alas I Cannot Swim, run by one of my friends from uni, Katy Shambles. It is worth trying to get your hands on one of these as it showcases the work of young writers and designers from around the country.



I did some design work for Sheffield Music Scene's 1st birthday mixtape and the design actually got printed to disk. Very exciting stuff! Sheffield Music Scene are a group of people working to showcase Sheffield's best music, putting on gigs and spreading the word where possible. Visit their website to see copies of their online magazine, news of gigs and some other mixtape covers by moi.


Annnnd finally, designer Ky Wilkinson has very kindly featured my work in his blog, along with some very kind words about my work. See his great work at his website here at http://www.kywilkinson.co.uk




Thanks to everyone mentioned above. To say it means a lot is an understatement.

T'ra! X

Dave Leonard.

I got some great postcards in the post today from illustrator, who was the year above me at the University of Sunderland, Dave Leonard. I love his characters and the huge amounts of bright colours.

To see more of his work visit his website or facebook page.

"The great thing about your last journey is you don't have to pack"

I found the above quote when I was reading an interview with Tony Benn in the Guardian earlier this year, probably when I was packing up to leave university life and Sunderland behind. I hate packing with a passion, but this quote by Benn's mother is very very true. Thankfully!! :)

I found a lot more things when I was de-cluttering my room at the weekend. I found photos of my GCSE work (below) and I remember feeling very happy with it at the time but looking at it now it looks a bit rubbish. The picture here is of my display shown in the great art hall that used to be in the middle of all the class rooms at our Comprehensive. Unfortunately they re-built the inside of the art building to make the classrooms bigger and took away a great displaying space.


I have uncovered many many quotes that I am going to work into typographically and a also some ideas to try out in regards to adding more pattern to my work.

I am still trying to get last week's typography piece finished but it's being proving very hard. Having spent all weekend clearing out my room, I then started a great new job on Monday and worked most of yesterday too but hopefully I will get it finished this week.
My plan to go to Clifton Park and draw every week this month has been put on hold this week as today has been my only day off and it has rained most of the day. I also had to wait in for a delivery guy so I could sign for a parcel. Said parcel didn't arrive until 3:30pm so it has been a bit of a wasted day.


And with that, I am off to tidy up the house and ink some letters.




"Justify your reason and want to go out and draw. Find a subject of interest." - Mike Ritchie

Why?

Well it is only 9 days into the new month and I am getting on well with my goals this month. I have already finished The Mighty Book of Boosh, which I have had a year and it was well worth the wait. It feels very wrong to say that I am not too clued up on The Mighty Boosh, but after reading the book I think I will be adding some of the DVD's to my Christmas list. I found the book to be very inspiring and just as funny as the few episodes that I have manage to catch!

Also last week, I went on a training day for my new job which was very exciting and now I can't wait to get started. I went to see Muse with a friend from university on my birthday and they were just INCREDIBLE. I never used to like Muse. I am so glad that I gave them a listen because I would have missed out on one of the best concerts I have EVER seen! I got to see my best friends for a meal to finish off an amazing birthday week.

Another target was to complete one piece of typography a week and last week, this is what I did; completed a piece that is very similar to my final major project work that has been in progress for a few weeks now. So, here's the final piece...



I am pretty happy with it but I know once I get back into the swing of things I know the quality will be increased.
This week I am going to be working on a letter which has his own little character that I started when I was sat on a train back in June.

Also on the cards this week is a trip to York or Leeds to visit the art galleries there and also some Alice in Wonderland drawings. This time, instead of taking the poems and working on them typographically, I am going to draw the characters in my own way. I am looking forward to the challenge!



I best get a move on!!
T'ra X