The start of Jaime Lannister!

Well, my laptop is still working! I also had a fantastic holiday, I didn't want to come back, who would with pictures like this?

Porto Cristo, Mallorca

The day after I came off holiday I decided to make my back yard a usable space, it's a good suntrap for the afternoon and early evening, and it was just a dumping ground before. Now it's nice: 

Anyway, I've not done much art again since coming back (and I did zero on holiday), but I've been working on Jaime Lannister today:

I did do another Cersei Lannister test on the new paper, and I really didn't like it, so I've gone back to my original paper that I did Cersei Lannister on, and I'll be using that going forward. Plans for next week it to just carry on with this project :) There's a website coming back online, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, it's called Briefbox. They were hacked last year, and took the opportunity to sort out their security, and upgrade the website too. I'll have a look at it when it's back online. The owners post briefs online for you to work on (ie logo design, graphic design, illustration, etc), but they're made-up. It's quite good to use to practise. The old website is still accessible: http://briefbox.me/

I've also come across a concept I like the look of: A bullet journal, you can read more on it here:  https://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/how-to-start-a-bullet-journal?utm_term=.do6YMLDBQb#.brOxvy6M3A

Anyway, I'm off to watch the Canadian Grand Prix (my favourite, Jenson Button has just dropped out of the race as his engine set on fire), so I'll leave you with my Pinterest of the Week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355205688849/ For once it's not anything arty, but I feel like since just before my holiday and after my tolerance to idiots is improving!

Briefbox submission

Hi all, I've finished the Briefbox assignment, but I can't get on their website to post it as it's been hacked! So here it is in all its glory:

I'm still reading Imaginative Realism, and I'm halfway through. I get the concepts he writes about, but I'm not overly bothered by the book. I want to read it to the end this time though. It kinda sucks, as I want to draw a scene from a book I like, but I'm reading Imaginative Realism instead :( I haven't ready any more of Fun With A Pencil, though I hope to start that properly once I finish Imaginative Realism.

Saw an old friend at the weekend (me being my usual observant self didn't notice her until she was practically in my face, haha ;) ), hopefully we'll get to catch up soon :)

I also decided to not join a gym, as I have one at work and can use that when I please. Although I think I need to do some stretching for my back, as I've developed a glass back since camping.

My diet plan is not, ahem, going to plan! I've learned at my weight-loss group that you can make 'healthier' cupcakes using a packet mix and a can of diet pop, they are rather nice!

Madeira cupcakes (inspired by the Great British Bake Off) and chocolate fudge cupcake. Both with chocolate chips

Work is going from strength the strength, it's nice to work somewhere where 1) You are treated as an adult and 2) I genuinely feel useful and needed, not just needed because there's a high attrition of staff... Although I'm trying to put some extra hours in to cover my holidays I had booked for the end of the year, I just couldn't face working late on Friday :) It's the weekend after all!

Feeling rather uninspired

I've been feeling a bit blue the last few days, and can't pinpoint why. Needless to say I haven't done any art, although I am in the middle of a Briefbox project, but it's only concept stages so far, so I don't have anything really to share.

I've started reading Imaginative Realism by James Guerney. I bought the book a while ago, and read part of it, but then put it away and forgot about it. I've since re-discovered it, and I need to do some of the tasks from it.

I also started reading Fun With A Pencil by Andrew Loomis, and again this is another book I've partially read. I think the reason I'm feeling a bit uninspired is I just don't know what to draw!! Before I started re-reading Imaginative Realism though I was half tempted to pick up one of the Terry Pratchett books and draw a scene from the book, or maybe pick something from Egyptian mythology (I like both of these topics). The Imaginative Realism book has also suggested to draw something from the pages of a book, so I think I might try that to get the creative juices flowing again. Also, I'm not totally on board with Fun With A Pencil, as it just seems a bit childish, but a lot of artists swear by him.

I'm also playing the same old broken record of I've been busy this week which is why I've not done any art. To be honest though, I've been to Slimming World (only put on 1.5 pounds for 2 weeks of holiday, quite happy with that :) ), been to see the bestie as it's her son's birthday, been to a pub quiz and then had guests over last night. Maybe I need to become a hermit for a few months and become an art-processing machine, ha!

My mood is usually better after exercise, and I haven't done any for about 2 months now. Maybe I should get back in to something? There's a new gym opening where I live, but I don't want to get tied into a contract again, and all of the bullshit that comes with being at a gym. I've quite comfortable doing something at home, and I'm thinking of getting Insanity Max 30. I don't think I can do Insanity again, month 2 is a killer!

Well, I should have something to share with you from Briefbox next week. If anyone wants to do a Hangout on Google for some sketching send me a comment with the time and I'll try to make it :)

Portfolio work, and one of the greatest gigs I've been to!

After the shameful 2 weeks where I haven't produced any art I went straight to the briefbox site and picked a logo project to do:

I haven't done a logo design before, so thought I'd flesh out some ideas, but I ended up picking the first one I had done:

On Saturday I went to see AC/DC live at Wembley! It's the first time I've been to Wembley, and the first time I've seen AC/DC, and I was not disappointed! On the Friday before I decided to do a quick hand sketch before bedtime...

It did seem to take them a few songs to warm up, but once they were going it was an awesome show. So loud too, it's been 24 hours now since we saw them and my ears are still ringing...

Brian Johnson

Angus Young

Thunderstruck

Hells Bells

Intro

Panorama of Wembley Stadium

Anyhoo, I'm not sure what art I will get done this week, as we're getting ready to go on holiday. There might also be a break on my blog for a couple of weeks, unless I can get somewhere with a decent internet signal to send an update. So just in case I don't update while on my holidays have a good July!

Art expo, hands and general doodling

So, I'm feeling a lot better! Although I managed to shake off my sore throat from last weekend it was promptly replaced with a cold, which I didn't start to shift until Thursday, but then by Thursday evening it was like I had never been ill.

I've been trying to get more daily sketching in, even though I haven't done it every day I've at least done more than what I would normally. On my tablet (which has a stylus so I can draw on it like a Wacom Cintiq) I've downloaded a free app called Graphiter, which is a great little program for sketching on without having to load Photoshop all the time with all of its fancy gadgets. I've been focussing on hands this week, and initially I was just copying pictures from Google using the Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain techniques, which looked pretty OK. However (I had an 'ah-ha!' moment), I realised if I wanted to progress with my art I would need to work out the mechanics of what I'm drawing, not just copy, otherwise if I want to draw something in the future I'll struggle as I wouldn't have learned anything:

Top-left & top-middle are the ones I copied direct from Google Images. Bottom middle is my hand with the fingers foreshortened, that was harder to work out the mechanics

I've also done a bit of general doodling this week, the first was quickly sketching my partner close-up as he's playing a video game, although when he's concentrating he sticks his tongue out and moves it around, so I struggled to get the lips right:

The other doodle I did made up a character while my fella and I were taking turns playing games, I've no idea where it was going at the time, not bad for 10 minutes though huh?

Also I've noticed there's a new Wacom Cintiq that +CreativeBloq have reviewed. It's their most affordable yet, although to be honest if I had a bit more cash I would probably get the Surface Pro 3.

I managed to get to the art expo this weekend, I really enjoyed it, and it's nice having something like that in my hometown, where it's a small town and nothing much really happens. I was quite inspired by a few pieces I've seen, and I thought the art being sold was very affordable, although we weren't looking to buy. Some were ridiculously overpriced though, but I guess that's just my opinion. There was a range of art for sale, all different subjects and mediums, quite a lot of watercolours which, while I think looks pretty, is not my medium of choice. 
It was also my gateway to see what our local Art Society did, and while I enjoyed the art I don't think joining the society is for me. They do have life drawing sessions every Wednesday which is open to non-members, so I may pop along to one of those in the future. I've looked up other art groups in my area, and they're either not for me (ie ceramics) or closed groups. I think if I want to do a collaboration in the future I'll need to do one online. I keep meaning to join a Hangout on Google+ on the Sycra forums but I always seem to miss them (I think because they're over in the states and me being in the UK it's always the time difference).

Anyway, not many plans for next week, will just try to keep up the sketching, and maybe finish my logo, and might try to get a BriefBox done this weekend too.

More art, but starting to focus more on graphic design

I worked a bit more on my canvas last week, unfortunately the picture I took of it was when it was drying, so the blue colour in the middle looks a lot lighter than it actually is:

I spent about another 1.5 hours on this from last week. I'm happier with the clouds on this now, as at least they look like clouds, but I still need to add more shadows and highlights, rather than them just being a flat purple colour!
Something from my first picture of this as well is that initially it looked more like a sunset, and it's actually a sunrise, adding in a little of the green to the sky has helped with this.
However, on this day when I painted it I wasn't happy with the colours at all, eventually I gave up for the evening (rage-quit!) as it was making me more and more frustrated. I've yet to go back to it, I tend to paint on a Sunday at the moment, but we have another Bank Holiday tomorrow, so I will probably paint tomorrow.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I've come across a website called Briefbox, which is where they post fake briefs to give designer something to practise with. I was over the moon when I found this, as I've been struggling to create briefs for myself to keep me busy and boost my portfolio. So this afternoon I've worked on a cafe menu, and the initial design only took 20 mins (which I think is a bad thing). However the brief said they wanted the new menu to reflect the qualities of their cafe (and to be 3 colours max): relaxed ambience. So I opted for a simply elegant design:

I did toy with the idea of adding a watermark, but the 'simple' design I came up with just looked like a child had done it, so I scrapped that idea. I've submitted it to Briefbox anyway, and I'll upload it to my portfolio too.

Week in week out I'm applying for graphic design job near where I live. I thought I might've been in with a chance at one job, but after speaking to the agency the design house wanted someone with good HTML & CSS knowledge. I only have basic HTML knowledge, and no CSS knowledge, so guess what I'm learning now! It seems graphic designers in this country seem to be a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to graphic design, not only does it encompass graphics, but web design, design for social media, etc. Good job I like learning new things!
The agency called me back and said they may be willing to train someone too, so here's hoping I get an interview!

I haven't worked any further on my logo yet, although I think I know what names I'm going to use. I think now I've done something for Briefbox (and my portfolio) I'll get working on my logo.

Anyway, as I've been teasing for weeks, please find below my original logo design:

Why does everything on this blog make white backgrounds slightly grey?

However I didn't like the name as:
1) It was too '90's'.
2) It reminded me of my old places of work

Also, (and again not sure if I've mentioned this), my partner and I think we've finally thought of a company name to run our own mobile catering business, so I get to design not one, but two logo's!

So I have plenty to be getting on with next week, hopefully I'll have a bumper crop of pics to show!