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.

Renly Baratheon colouring finished

I managed to do this one in 2 takes, not sure if I'm getting quicker, or more slack with my detail (I can be such a 'glass is half empty kind of person sometimes):

I've done the line drawing for Robert Baratheon, which I'll be colouring in this week.

The big news of the week has been the referendum in the UK, whether to stay in the EU or leave. After the votes were counted 52% (just over 1.2 million votes difference between remain and leave) were in favour of leaving. I voted to stay in the UK, and feel a bit disappointed that the UK will leave the EU. However, both my boyfriend and myself are still confused even though everything has happened (he voted leave). I've been of the opinion 'If it isn't broke don't try to fix it', but other countries in the EU now want to leave the EU, which suggests the EU has problems. Also, my boyfriend now regrets voting leave, as do many other people who thought their vote wouldn't count! It just feels like people voted to leave to stick it to the man and didn't research the facts (although from the Leave campaign they didn't have many facts to research). It's all a bit weird, and even now people are quitting the Labour party, and over 3 million people have signed a petition calling for a second referendum (where were these people when voting was happening?!). I'm not happy with the decision, but that's democracy for you, but I feel like the margin that the leave campaign won with should've been more than 52%, it just seems a bit indecisive to me.

Anyway, apologies for the political post this week, I wouldn't normally do it but the referendum could seriously affect my future. Something a bit more relevant to my blog, I'm starting a free graphic design course with Shaw Academy tomorrow, it runs 2 webinars a week for the next month, and I'm excited about starting!

I'll sign off with my Pinterest of the Week, it's good to see with practise and dedication you can improve in what you want to do: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355205789845/

First Game of Thrones timelapse has landed!

I've had a week off from the crazy drawing, I've been pretty busy at work, so it's been nice to have a break during the week. I have started colouring Cersei Lannister in though, although I'm concerned it doesn't look like her:

I also came across these common problems posters for graphic designers, they're quite amusing: http://www.creativebloq.com/posters/posters-sum-designer-problems-111517875

Aside from that there's not really much to report on, so I'll leave you with my Pinterest of th Week, the colours are so vibrant on the first piece! https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355205709830/

Stannis Baratheon finished, also Renly Baratheon is done too

Well, I've really got my skates on this week, I've finished two characters from my Game of Thrones epic drawing quest:

Stannis

Renly

That's all of the Baratheon brothers finished! I totally forgot to draw any poses this week though.

Hopefully some of you more eagle-eyed readers noticed I changed the theme on my blog. I've gone from the vibrant, orange, in-your-face colour scheme to something more muted and subtle.
Some of you may have noticed the theme change, but did any of you notice the new web link I added to my blog? It's in the menu on the right-hand side. I have my own website now! Granted, it's a free website, and it's very basic, but I have one, and it showcases some of my work. Go check it out: http://kimberleykirk.wix.com/illustration

Something I bookmarked a couple of weeks ago is the following web link: http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/master-art-figure-drawing-new-artists-model-21619041 I'd love to get one of these but can't stretch financially to afford it. Especially as my wooden mannequin is rubbish. Guess I'll have to keep using my pose app on my phone for now.

Also, the amarylis has come back to life, and looks better than before! not sure why it's come back, but it's welcome in my house:

And on a final note, here is my Pinterest of the week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204907501/ Daffodils are my favourite flowers, and I have a bunch in bloom where I live. Also my boyfriend bought me a bunch last week, and they've all opened. You may remember a post where I sketch a daffodil on my tablet using a free app, I didn't realise how grey I made the final picture! http://kimshibbybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-lady-in-greyscale-and-daffodils.html

Scaly things

Last week I kind of cheated with my dragon. I wanted to draw scales, but couldn't be bothered to draw every single scale individually, so I made a custom brush and painted them in. I didn't think it looked too bad.
The next Schoolism video showed me how to paint eyes and scales, so I've gone back to the drawing board with the scales on my dragon and refined them:

It looks subtly better now. Oh, and I did some work on the rabbit! I will probably shrink it even more though.

I'm hoping to get the Schoolism course finished now, I'm on lesson 7 out of 9, and I still have 2 weeks to do it. I've also quit Slimming World now, so I'll be getting my Monday nights back. I'm also still a week behind on my writing course, and I'm still as blasé about it as I was last week.

Nothing much to report on from the past week. I have a busy schedule for the next 6 weeks (including, but not limited to: work visit's, seeing my nan, Xmas party, work away-day, Amsterdam and Xmas to name a few!). I think December will be a quiet month for drawings, as I'll be so busy, I'll try to get some things done though.

Also, I've come across a few websites where you design something, and if you upload it to a particular website it can be printed on things like phone cases, cushions, you can earn a commission from it if people buy it! Let me know in the comments below if you're interested and I'll post the links next week.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for this week, I've re-discovered a playlist on youtube, it's called a Study Playlist, but it's good for having as background music while I draw: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx65qkgCWNJIs3FPaj8JZhduXSpQ_ZfvL It's totally not my style of music, but sometimes I don't like listening to someone sing while I'm studying/drawing as I find it off-putting.

And here is my Pinterest of the Week, hope you have a good week everyone! http://lisapace.com/files/2014/07/1601284_802860943081664_2679415269977914934_n.jpg (sorry, I have a thing about rabbits)

Another quickie...

Sorry for the lack of material this month, I really am finding it a struggle to find time to draw at the moment! I can't believe it's the 28th of June already...

I started at my new job on Thursday just gone. Handing over everything in my new job was every bit as stressful as I thought it would be. Starting was equally as stressful, I've gone to a large company where there are lots of employees, and I was also invited to a team-building event after work on my first day. I felt like a lemming stood in the Rounders playing field, but the BBQ they put on was nice. I got on well with my new colleagues better by the Friday though, they seem like a nice enough bunch :)

I am so envious of their designers as well, as they do proper designing, not the half-arsed repro attempt I've seen in both of my long-term jobs in the past. One lady was even drawing owls and foxes for some promo material. So jealous. But they've all been to Uni, and I haven't. I can see now why no company would employ me as a designer. But I quite like my new job, it's all about being organised, which I love doing.

In other news, we're slowly getting ready for going on holiday. The trailer tent was put up properly for the first time in our local park on Tuesday:

I'm glad we've got all of the arguments out of the way now! I just hope the weather doesn't turn typically British while we're away. Also, as part of my leaving present from my old job my colleagues got me the following book. I've had a read through it, and it's frickin' amazing, it's definitely coming with us!

They also got me a Festival kit full of goodies like a bright pink poncho, cleaning stuff like shampoo and baby wipes, lip balm, glow sticks, etc, it's really cool. Also a nice box of chocs (already snaffled) and some bottles of cider. The sales reps who looked after me got me a bottle of rum (they know me so well).

I do miss my old work friends, but I really am quite anti-social. After going out with some of my colleagues for a leaving meal and with the gifts everyone got me I feel I really missed a trick not socialising with my old colleagues. I'm going to make more of an effort with my new colleagues (whether they like it or not, ha!). I have let my old colleagues know about some good perks I get with my new job, but I've not heard back from them :( Oh well, if they don't want to abuse my perks after I'm gone I'm sure I can get them used instead :D

Well, aside from Fat Fighters tomorrow I don't have any plans for the week ahead. I get to finish 30mins earlier than my last job, so there really should be no excuse for a lack of art next week. I think I have a bit of an art block going on at the moment, but I'm just going to find things to draw to get me back into the swing of it.

Until next week!

Only a quickie

I haven't done any art this week.

Nothing. Nada. Zip.

2 reasons for that, number one is the usual 'not found time'; again I've been out every night in the week just gone, and I have no intentions of slowing down! I think I have plans for every night this coming week as well. I'm itching to draw, but I'm barely getting time to sit down at the moment. I'm hoping when I go on holiday I'll have loads of spare time to sketch. I'm certainly taking my tablet, and a pencil & paper too.

Also, I've found last week to be the hardest at work since being in that job for nearly 4 years. Handing over to someone who doesn't know our systems, or our customers, has been absolutely draining. I don't think it's been handled properly. Normally my colleagues have a shuffle round of accounts, so the newbies get the easier accounts, and the more experienced get the difficult accounts. Not so in this case, they're very short staffed where I am at the moment, also my replacement looks promising so they've just done a straight swap, the poor soul is getting all of my work. It also doesn't help that she has tomorrow morning off work, I have tomorrow afternoon off work, and my last day is on Wednesday! I hate caring so much sometimes...

On a better note I was given a day pass to visit one of the holiday villages of where I'll be working, so I've gone for a visit today, and all I can say is Wow! I can see why guests love this place so much. All of the staff look really happy too, so I'm hoping my new job will be good!

I finished the Leonardo Da Vinci documentary. I'd got most of the way through it by my last blog post, but finished it off yesterday. There wasn't really much left for me to watch, Peter Capaldi was good in it acting as Leonardo Da Vinci.

So, sorry for the week of bitching, Turns out this blog post wasn't a quickie! I'm not sure what this next week is going to bring either!

30 days of lacking!!

Well, I've had a better stab at drawing more this week:

Random lamp study

Quick ornament study

Another hand study

30 days of graphic design. Redesign the nearest shop's logo. This is only a quick sketchy idea

30 days of graphic design. Pick 3 designers and make a new design mixing their styles. I chose Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister & Paula Scher 

I've also watched a film, Inside the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci, which I've found immensely interesting. For example he was an illegitimate child, and because of this received no formal education during his childhood, yet to look at his sketches you'd think he'd completed an engineering degree at university! It's another proven point to me that you don't need to be educated to a higher standard for something in this industry (although I'm sure it helps of course).

I'm not sure if I'll carry on with this particular 30 days of art/graphic design, as I feel it's not drawing. While I enjoy making the initial sketches I don't have the time in the day to make a fully refined drawing every day. After coming home from work, eating dinner, etc I'm lucky to squeeze in an hour to sketch (and most days I don't!). There's loads of other '30 days of art' out there, so I'll find one that will give me the motivation to finish it!

Anyhow, not long now until the first holiday of the year, but first we have AC/DC to see before that in a few weeks! I only have 1.5 weeks left at my current job, it's all happening at the moment!

I have a new job!!

So, the announcement I teased you all with yesterday is that I have a new job! I'm going to be working for a prestigious holiday company in their design studio, as an account executive, but with a more hands-on approach to the artworking side of things.

So yeah, probably not any news to you guys but a big deal to me! I knew last Wednesday, but I'm had to keep quiet about it until today.

I will still be 'arting' and writing my blog every week, I enjoy making art, and this blog (kind of) keeps me accountable to do something on a weekly basis.

30 day challenge, logo completion and an annoucement!

Hey all, I've done a little more art this week, although I've had a headache pretty much all week.
I've watched a random video on Photoshop on how to draw smooth lines, and it pretty much boils down to doing it quick, and drawing from the elbow, not the wrist. I knew this before (the wrist thing), but never really applied it, so I've been practising with the motion today and guess what? My lines are better :)

The kickstarter campaign for Schoolism has finished, I think I'm starting mine in October. I've been watching a few of Bobby Chiu's vids on youtube this week, so talented!!

On twitter I noticed in my feed a behance page called The Pocketbook of 120 tips from featured creative from the design world. I'm not far into it but there's a pretty decent 30 day drawing challenge. So day 1 is to tell you I've started. Let's call that yesterday. Day 2 is today, and although I kind of started it yesterday I've done most of the work today:

Make a logo of your face with your name which describes your personality - smiley and bright! I did want to use bright purple text, but it was lost in my brown hair

So for the week ahead (it'll be interesting to see if I do all of these!)
Day 3: Make an illustration of your favourite number
Day 4: Choose 3 awesome graphic designers and try to make a new design mixing their styles.
Day 5: Redesign the logo of the nearest shop.
Day 6: Choose 2 objects. Mix them.
Day 7: Make a logo for an astronaut's umbrella shop.
Day 8: Draw something with your left hand.

The link for The Pocketbook can be found here:
www.behance.net/gallery/24768773/The-Pocketbook
And it's on a Creative Commons license :)

Oh, and I think I've finally finalised a design for my logo!! Although I'm torn between 2, so please see both below, let me know if you prefer one over the other!

I was eating dinner yesterday and heard something fall over in our bedroom. My canvas I've been working on had fallen over. There's no damage to the canvas or the frame, but I've now put the canvas away as I have no motivation to finish it right now.

The London MCM Comic Con was last weekend, and I really wish I had gone. I've not been to the one in London, but I've been to the Birmingham one, and Collectormania in Milton Keynes. Both have not been great. There's a really good convention on when I'm on holiday, there are so many Game of Thrones stars there, and we'll be nowhere close to go :( I've even looked into getting a little flight from where we're holidaying to London, but there only do 2 flights a day, one there and one back, so it's not worth it. Oh well, there will be more cons in the future.

The trailer tent is coming on nicely, we picked up a bottle of gas from our town, hooked it up to the little oven that came with the trailer tent and it works fine! The lights don't work though, I think we'll need to buy a light board to make the trailer road-legal. While I was at the shop buying gas they also sell a small range of tools, so I managed to get a drill bit for drilling a 30mm hole for my brewing buckets so I can get a bitter and a lager kit brewing. Although to be honest since I started Slimming World in Feb I haven't been drunk since then, so 2 beer kits will probably last us into next year!! We're supposed to be having a heatwave next weekend, I've asked the other half to get the summer clothes out of the loft, I wonder what clothes will be too big on me now?! That's the nice thing about losing weight (I've been overweight for 10 years), I can buy clothes that actually look good now rather than fit for funtionality, and I get a massive confidence boost to boot!

Anyway, I have an announcement to make (which I can't make until tomorrow, all will become clear). It's probably not a big deal for anyone reading this blog, but it's a huge deal for me. I don't know who reads this blog from my twitter feed, as I have friends and colleagues on there, so I need to keep it secret until tomorrow. And for anyone wondering (and for the people that know me), I'm not pregnant!!

Being ill and not doing much art, more research

I've been lazy again this week and not done any art except a small logo mock-up for my freelancing (which I will post at a later date). I've also been ill since Friday (nothing serious, just a sore throat but it knocks me for six...), and usually most of my art time is on the weekend, and I've just not felt up to it :( I have been doing some browsing and researching instead though, which I will share with you :)

A few months ago I downloaded the Freelancing Handbook by +Creativebloqq, which is immensely hepful. I've printed my own version and scribbled and highlighted all over it, and this is what properly kickstarted my interest is going freelance. Now there is a new book, although I've not downloaded it yet: Pay Me or Else free e-book at http://thenuschool.com/pay-me-or-else/ I'm not affiliated with CreativeBloq at all, but I follow them on twitter and they usually have something of interest for me to look at every day.

I've been toying with the idea of doing an art collaboration after inspiration in my home town where someone has opened a venue for this kind of thing (although it seems to be for sculptors). I've also been toying with the idea of joining the local art community. They have a free exhibition at a church where I live, I was going to go this weekend but I really don't have the energy to talk to people with me being ill right now. Hopefully I'll get down there this coming weekend.

I've also decided I don't draw enough AT ALL, so I am going to try and make drawing a daily habit, even if it's only 10 minutes. I've found a community on DeviantArt which seems cool, so I'll give them a go: http://improvementdaily.deviantart.com/

Also I know my library do free magazines, but they've never had a good selection. However I checked again this weekend, and they now have Artist's & Illustrator's, and Imagine FX :) So I can now read these magazines for free, happy days!

Anyway, last week I forgot to show you my WIP of my Rainbow Art & Design logo, please see below, enjoy!

Well, that's all for this week, I was contemplating sorting out my greenhouse, but I haven't got the energy to do much at all today (it's taken me 3 attempts over the day to get this blog entry written!), so I'm going to watch the re-run of Britain's Got Talent, have a bath and have an early night, hopefully I'll be better next weekend, have a good week!

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!