Short but sweet

There's not much to report on this week, as I've done no art! I've tried to work on my digital drawing of Cersei Lannister this afternoon, and I've spent a couple of hours working on her hair, but I realised I hadn't done it long enough at all. That's and my laptop crashed, so I've thrown my toys out of the pram and not doing anymore today. My mood isn't helped by the fact I had so little sleep last night due to being in the sweat box of a spare room my nan has. So I'm pretty grumpy today, and in no mood to do art to make up for the fact I haven't done any all week.

On the upside I've bought more paper (although it's still not the same stuff, but it's got to the point where it will never be the correct paper as it's been discontinued, so I'll have to make do with what I have).

I finished the Shaw Academy Graphic Design course, and found the last 2 lessons pointless; needless to say I won't be signing up to their advanced course, nor paying to take the final exam to get my certificate of completion. I have seen a short course to do at a university, but after seeing what this online course was like that I've just done I need to go through the university course with a fine toothcomb before committing money to it.

I'm doing a school holiday art course starting on Thursday for the next 6 weeks which will be interesting, I've managed to get some of my colleagues to join me too.

I've also started following a blog: http://drawboy.blogspot.co.uk/ but I'm finding my blog isn't generating much traffic though Blogger, so I'm thinking of moving it to WordPress and see what they're about.

Anyway, I'm not one for sentimental inspirational quotes, but I'm feeling down in the dumps today, so here's one for my Pinterest of the Week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/494833077785572089/

Cracking on with the Shaw Academy course

I haven't done any work on my Game of Thrones characters this week, as the only day I could go to buy paper was yesterday... and I spent it at the seaside with my boyfriend! We had a lovely meal (he had jumbo cod and chips, of course. I had a crab salad, which I think is one of the best salads I have ever eaten). If you go to Whitby it's worth going for a meal at The Fisherman's Wife. It's not the cheapest place for food, but it's really good. I've only ever been to Whitby twice, and both times I've eaten here. They have unrivalled views of the sea from their restaurant, which was the reason I was drawn to this restaurant.

Anyway, I've been working on the Shaw Academy Graphic Design course still, and was tasked the challenge to produce a logo for an animal shelter, this is what I came up with:

They also showcased my photo merge from last week, which I was pretty stoked about! I've not totally forgotten about doing some art though; I quite fancied painting a watercolour painting today, so I painted my back yard, although this is the first time I've done a proper watercolour painting, it's not great:

I could've picked a nicer landscape...

I also had my first proper yoga class last week, still loving it. I found it harder work than what I was expecting though! I think I'll keep it up for now, also term finishes in a few weeks for the summer holidays, ready to pick up again in September.

Anyway, I have a pretty action-packed week ahead of me: Monday & Tuesday I'm out with work visiting a supplier, I have the last week of my Shaw Academy course to finish, yoga (if there's room for me to book into class), Thursday weather permitting is a team build after work playing rounders and BBQ, and then i's Friday and the weekend all over again! Saturday I'm out in Derby visiting family, so not much time for art, though I'll try to fit some in somewhere.

So, I'll leave you with my Pinterest of the Week, I love the elegance of this illustration, and wiht the bird cage featuring both as an actual cage and in the clothing it makes me wonder if the girl feels like a trapped bird too? https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355206991875/

Robert Baratheon finished

I've finished Robert Baratheon:

But now I've run out of paper, and the paper I've been using is now obsolete! Not sure what I'm going to do... I'm pretty certain the paper is 160gsm watercolour paper as it has quite a thick grain on it, but for now I can't do any more drawings without them being consistent!

I'm still finding the Shaw Academy Graphic Design course a bit useless, out of the 6 lessons I've had so far I've only found 2 useful, as the other lessons are tutorials in Adobe CC (and Shaw Academy also have courses for these programs). I've already done courses for the programs themselves. I'm hoping tomorrow's course is more informative. I'm glad I haven't paid for this course or I'd be really annoyed.

I genuinely enjoyed my introduction to yoga on Tuesday, so much that I've signed up for an actual lesson on Tuesday! I didn't think I was stressed out or anything, but when I left the yoga centre I felt like I was on another planet, I was that blissed out.

Not really much else going on with my life at the moment; July is shaping up to be a quiet month, but then it's all systems go from August through to mid-September. I've booked some tickets for Alter Bridge in November, so I've got that to look forward to, plus my break to Center Parcs in September, and I've just used the Jongleurs Comedy Gift Card my colleagues got me for my 30th (going for the bank holiday weekend in August).

Anyway, for this week's Pinterest of the Week is to showcase other artists: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355206883532/ I love the amount of detail that goes into some of these works; it's the reason things like Studio Ghibli films are so popular and why I love them too.

Robert Baratheon started, and Shaw Academy course started

I've only managed to get an hour in of colouring this week for Robert Baratheon, but I really enjoyed doing his face. I think it's the closest likeness I've achieved so far, and I especially liked colouring his beard:

I'm really going to struggle to get any done this week. I started the Shaw Academy Graphic Design course last week. Lesson 1 I found pointless, as it was talking about the lessons due in the course, and a quick overview of Photoshop layers. Lesson 2 I found immensely helpful, and Shaw Academy have saved the slideshow as a PDF which I've since downloaded (I really wanted this as it has lots of good information on it). Lesson 3 was an on-demand lesson which was released on Friday, and I've only just got round to watching it today (Sunday). The first half I already knew (how to basically use Photoshop), and the other half how to make composite images, and using things like filters and effects. I thought this week's assignment was to make a composite image, but actually it was a test (I passed, 85%), but I decided to make a composite image anyway:

Who doesn't love penguins in the desert?

Anyway, I have 2 more lessons this week, plus I'm attending an Introduction to Yoga course on Tuesday. Together with catching up with friends will leave little time for finishing Robert Baratheon, but I will try!

Anyway, for my Pinterest of the Week, it's kind of art, but also a tattoo idea I've seen: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355206637476/