I've moved!

I totally forgot to update you all that I've moved blog, in case you wondered where I went. You can now find what I'm up to (including my completed Game of Thrones project) at https://kimberleykirk.wordpress.com/

Ned stark finished

I've got round to finishing Ned Stark:

I'm not sure who to work on next, my plan was to have Ned & Catelyn stood together, so I'll need to add her into this drawing.

From my local library I borrowed a book: Reading through the Starting a Business in 7 Simple Steps. It seems OK, but as I just want to be a freelance artist much of it doesn't apply to me (such as employing people, I'll be on my own!). I think I have the basics understood now. I'd like to get a few paintings/drawings in my local art gallery, but I can't paint, and I'm not sure my drawings are good enough (I'm thinking of things like the Portrait of a Boy (http://kimshibbybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/portrait-of-boy-finished.html), and the cat (http://kimshibbybob.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-cat-is-done-evil-will-not-triumph.html))

Aside from that, I don't have much to report on. As I spent so much last weekend (and went clothes shopping yesterday) I'm pretty skint. I'm only at work Monday - Wednesday this week, due to my car going for an MOT on Thursday, and then we have a long weekend as it's Easter. If the weather is good I want to go to the seaside, or go for a bike ride, if it's rubbish I'll hammer some more of these Game of Thrones drawings. I was hoping to have these finished for when season 6 starts, but as that's in a month, and I've only done 6 line drawings so far I'm gonna be pretty stretched to achieve that. I'm going to colour these in with coloured pencils, and I want to experiment with recording myself. I need to get some of these line drawings onto paper to do this though.

Well, that's enough rambling for one week, I'll leave you with my Pinterest of the Week, and it's one my well-known loves :) : https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355205268962/

Cersei Lannister finished, now struggling with Ned Stark's hands!

So I finished Cersei last week:

And I've made a start on Ned Stark, although I'm struggling to draw his hands, so I've left them off for now:

I went for my night out in Sheffield last night, and it was a blast, I had so much fun! I think everyone else did too. We went to a place called The Smoke for food, followed by a bit of light-hearted gambling in the casino next door (I managed to make £10 stretch for nearly an hour!). After that we had some more drinks and danced the night away. I don't feel too rough either today, especially because I mixed my drinks: rum, prosecco, wine and lager! Although I've found I have no patience for anything today, so I've kind of given up on Ned Stark.

We also went out on Friday night to our local pub, where a band called Smells Like The 90's was playing, and the music was very good, the singer changed his voice to sound like the bands they were covering, and we have everything from The Verve, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine and Nirvana.

Our lottery numbers didn't come up for the Irish, so I'll have to keep playing and hope for that win.

Well, I have no plans for the coming week, my boss's boss is leaving on Wednesday so the whole office is going out for lunch. I'll leave you with my Pinterest of the Week, the colours and level of detail is stunning! https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204907823/

Struggling with Cersei Lannister

I've spent quite a bit of time on this, but I'm struggling with her face, and also her hand holding the wine glass:

I've spent more than an hour on this

I also know I need to sort the wrinkles out on her sleeve. I'm not sure if I'll get round to finishing her tonight, I went out for a meal and drinks with the family last night, and I'm feeling a little tired from it :)

As it turns out last weekend I managed to play 14 hours on Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, as well as do other things such as cook a Sunday roast and wash the windows! I've only managed a more respectable 5 hours this weekend.

I've seen something else I'd like to buy in the future. I have some good conversations with my boyfriend on my drawing skills, and he's always telling me I'm better on paper than I am digitally. The Wacom Bamboo Spark seems like a good investment, and I will probably buy it one day. There's a review here: http://www.creativebloq.com/hardware/review-wacom-bamboo-spark-11618921

Something else I've agreed with my boyfriend is if our 3 numbers come up on the Irish lottery again then we'll go to the British Grand Prix this year.

Well, that's it for this week. I have no plans during the week, but I'm going out with my workmates for an afternoon in Sheffield on Saturday. I don't think I'll get too drunk, but you never know!

And before I forget, here's my Pinterest of the Week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204907532/ I've bought a watercolour set, I wonder if I can paint something as nice as this?

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

A little bit of art...

I've not done much more in the way of art this week, but I did give the picture of the fluffy cat to my best friend as her 30th birthday present. I've also had another idea I want to start, I want to draw all of the main characters from Game of Thrones, although I'm not sure if I want to do them in a realistic style or a cartoon style. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I have done a few quick sketches of bunnies doing yoga poses. It's a series I want to work on, as everyone seems to be into cats these day, I think bunnies are just as cute!

Bunny (child's) pose

Tree pose

Downward bunny (dog)

My idea from last week that was spawned from my dark mood hasn't been touched. Although I'm pretty sure I could've finished it by the weekend, as the week got progressively worse for me at work. I'm learning from my mistakes though, and it's only one person that winds me up (although she winds me the f*ck up!), so I'm not too bothered. I was really tired last week, so it made me really emotional. I'm over it now though:

Not really

However, I feel like I'm going to go into a food-coma, as I've been to an all-you-can-eat restaurant and made a pig of myself.

Anyway, if any of you feel like you're stuck in a creative rut the following might help; my Pinterest of the Week! https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204608653/

The cat is done, evil will not triumph

I finished the cat! Her name is Milly, and she is the spawn of satan:

Don't let the fluffiness or cute eyes deceive you, she will claw your eyes out the first chance she gets

I really enjoyed doing this piece. There's something incredibly satisfying drawing art traditionally rather than on a computer, however traditional art doesn't have an Undo button (and I had to rub out most of her forehead to redo the eyebrows, yeah, those wispy little white strands). I've even had approval from my peers for this, so it must be good!

On top of the colouring pencils I bought I've also bought some chalks and some wax crayons. More on that on a later post...

The amarylis hasn't bloomed properly. There's 6 flowers in one head, and I think it's just so crowded the flowers won't open properly. And it looks like it's dying :(

I have a couple of ideas in the pipeline for some art (the wax crayons above being one of them), but I need to get a few more bits. I wanted to get some fixative spray for the above artwork, as it's done with graphite. It's a good job I didn't buy the 'fixative spray' from my local stationers, as what they think is fixative spray is sprayable glue!

And lastly is my Pinterest of the week, what this artist does on such a natural and tiny space is incredible: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204564003/

Cat WIP

I think I'm over my laziness now, I've been working today on drawing my friend's cat today (she tasked me with it on Monday as I didn't have any ideas on what to draw), and I have a few progress photo's:

Milly, the spawn of satan

I've quit Facebook again, as I spend way too much time procrastinating on there. I'm still on Twitter though. Funnily enough, I do feel like I've got more done since quitting Facebook.

I bought a new colouring pencil kit the other week (a half decent kit this time, not cheap pencils), and I haven't used them! Instead I've been using the kit my parents bought me for Christmas, the cat pictures above have been done with a graphite pencil only. I have an amarylis, and I'm waiting for it to bloom before using my new colouring pencils. It's nearly there:

How many flower heads?!

In November I bought 10 yoga classes at my local leisure centre for £10, which is a bargain. However, the site I bought them from stated it was for yoga, but the leisure centre stated it was for Pilates. When I arrived it had changed again - to Stretch and Tone! Whatever, I enjoyed the class anyway, and even after going to the class on Thursday I'm still aching today. I've also been doing a daily yoga practise using the DoYouYoga Youtube video's, however I can't do them for a little while now as I put my back out today.

Anyway, I'll continue with the picture of the cat and see how far I get. I'm also going to try upgrading my laptop to Windows 10, I'm really apprehensive about it as when I upgraded my tablet the integrated Wacom pen driver wouldn't work anymore. Plus, the tablet kept crashing, so I reverted it back to its original operating system. Here's hoping my laptop copes with the upgrade.

One last thing that I nearly forgot, it's my Pinterest of the week, hope you enjoy! I think it's really pretty https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204375006/

New year, not new me

Another week, another lack of excuses of why I haven't done much art ;)

I'm feeling more lacklustre than usual at the moment, I think with it being Christmas time and lack of routine has left me feeling a bit bummed out. I'm a creature of habit. Good job I found this infographic:

I'm also a bit bummed-out about my financial situation. I'm not broke, far from it, but I'm trying to save up to buy my own house, and it's proving a lot harder than what I though. I've been renting for 3 years now, and I had hoped to have my own house by now, but I keep spending money on going to the pub and on holidays. So I've called up my nearest and dearest and told them we will be hermits this year. We *should* have a half-decent deposit saved by the end of the year.

Here's my doodling I did with my new sketching kit. This is purely done with a pencil, then inked. I'll do a cleaner line version when I get the time, but I want to colour this in.

I've also made progress on my dragon, not sure if the cave looks cave-y enough. Also the rabbit is kind of lost now:

Well, that's about it for this week, of course I will *try* to make more art... but we all know how that turns out with me! Last but not least, here is my Pinterest of the week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/175640454195289005/

Here be more dragons!

I carried on with the Schoolism videos, and I spent quite a lot of time on the 'fur' videos. I quite like drawing straight fur, but curly fur is quite difficult. I also felt like I spent way too much time on fur, so towards the end of the video I glossed over the last points. Then it was back to the dragon.

So I've spent quite a lot of hours refining my dragon. I feel like it was worth it, although I was feeing pretty down about it earlier today. It's nothing spectacular, but I feel it's a pretty good effort on my part:

Please excuse the giant rabbit. I wanted to get the silhouette down before I called it a day with this today. The rabbit won't be that big when this is finished!

I'm not sure if I'm going to get the Schoolism course finished. I have learned some key points already though, even if they're not the ones I'm supposed to be learning! I've learned that:

• Making a small thumbnail as an extra window on your screen helps you see the bigger picture while working on small details
• Use lots of reference
• Try to make sure whatever you're drawing has virality ie is cute/clever, etc
• Make sure you're drawing is clear and concise, the 3-tone drawing is good for this
• Always start with big brushes and work down to small for finer detail. Seriously, I never realised how useful this was
• I can pay for all of the tutorials I want, but unless I learn the basics and use basic techniques I'm never going to get better!

My writing course is going OK, I'm a week behind now, but I'm not stressing too much about it as this course is free, and it restarts in January anyway. If I get behind on this course because of my Schoolism course it's not a big deal.

I follow InPursuitOfArt on youtube, he posts some pretty good videos about being in the art industry, and I've just watched one of his recent ones this weekend, it's driven home a point to me that I don't need a Wacom Cintiq with state-of-the-art computer to be a good artist: https://youtu.be/1rg2c8FPf2E

And my Pinterest of the week is the following, hope you enjoy! https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/164386055/white-rabbit-print-rabbit-time-rabbit?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share

Quick mid-week update

Just a quickie, my Schoolism subscription starts tomorrow!! So I might not be doing my daily drawing for a couple of months, but I should defo be producing something, even if it's not daily.

Also I've signed up to a free course called Start Writing Fiction with FutureLearn (through Open University). Whilst I love drawing I often struggle to think of a back story for my drawings, which can make them seem a bit pointless. So hopefully this will help me think up new ideas, which will then help me think of things to draw!

I've still been doing my daily drawings this week, and will share with you all on Sunday :)

Week 4: 1000 days of drawing

Hi everyone :) I'm back off my hols and I did no drawing whatsoever, did you really expect anything different? ;)

I was back on it as of Monday though, and have been drawing every day again:

22. Something you miss. Pizza! I miss this so much due to dieting, but since eating clean since Feb if I do eat bad my body hates it!

23. Something you need. I always need more sleep, I've been poorly since the end of my holiday, and last week really was a struggle with sleep.

24. A couple. This is my boyfriend and I dicking about at a festival a few years ago

25. Scenery. This is a sunset at Queenstown, New Zealand

26. Something you don't like. I hate tuna! Raw, cooked, steak, tinned, blegh, it's all disgusting

27. Someone you love. This is a very unflattering picture of my boyfriend

28. Anything you like. The stuff I was thinking of to draw I had already done before, so I thought I'd draw a quick chibi-style of my boyfriend and I on our cruise last year

I've also been looking at arty things on the internet, which I'd like to share with you. The following link makes me feel extremely patriotic, although you should watch it to find out what the UK has given to the art world! http://www.creativebloq.com/creativity/englands-cultural-history-91516907

Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to take part in Inktober. I'm drawing every day anyway, I'm not sure drawing in pen is going to help my skills. I am finally starting to learn what I like drawing, I like drawing portraits, and I really enjoyed the scenery piece. I'm always blown away by amazing concept art for games and films, I'd love to be able to draw something like that one day, but for now I'm pretty happy drawing from my photos :)

Week 3: 1000 days of drawing

Hi all, it's getting late on Sunday evening, and I've had a very busy weekend redecorating my house and packing for holiday (again)! I've also found 4+ hours to draw today, and it's substandard, I'm not happy with it.

Anyway, before I go to bed I'll share with you this week's drawings. I'm still enjoying the daily challenge, however I'm having a break from it this week. I'll take my tablet on holiday with me, but I doubt inspiration will hit as I'll be in the pub for most of it! Maybe I'll do what this guy did... http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/07/michigan-tech-student-drunk-designed-plane-twitter-viral-mark-keith

15. Family Portrait. I ran out of time to add the facial features, but on reflection I'm glad I didn't as I wouldn't want to you see them, or for me to do them an injustice with this image!

16. Inspiration. I was trying to use Bobby Chiu as inspiration but it wound up nothing like what he produces, oops! I was also playing around with a different brush option in Photoshop. I'm not sure if I like it yet.

17. Favourite plant. Mine is the daffodil!

18. Just doodle. Did this at the pub while doing a pub quiz. Everyone thought I was being antisocial!

19. Something new. This tomato was picked fresh off my tomato plant just before I drew it. Now it's been peeled and put in my freezer for later consumption.

20. Something Orange. I don't really own anything orange, but a suggestion made to me was to draw The Orange Box. I spent far too long on it though.

21. Something You Want. This was quickly rushed, as I want to go to bed. However I want to be recognised as an artist, although the above is symbolic of an art gallery I don't necessarily want this to be how I'm recognised (although I wouldn't complain)!

1000 days of drawing

Sadly I haven't found any time to work on Tea Dogs this week... because I've been doing these instead!

Day 1: Draw yourself. I rushed this and to be frankly honest makes me look like a character from the first Sims game!

Day 2: Draw your favourite animal

Day 3: Draw your favourite food

Day 4: Draw your favourite place. This is Whitehaven Beach in Australia

Day 5: Draw your best friend

Day 6 (WIP): Draw your favourite book character that hasn't featured in a movie. Guess you guess who it is?

After being inspired by this dude over on DeviantArt:
http://cryptid-creations.deviantart.com/art/Daily-Paint-1000-Made-it-554497415
I've started making a list of things to draw daily. I've found loads of lists on DeviantArt, but to me they're all a bit daft, like one day I'd have to draw 'sadness', so I'm making my own list :) Which I may or may not share, but doing this has sure as hell kept me accountable this week! I am a day behind though... as I didn't do any drawing yesterday!

Anyway, just to catch up on other news this week, we have a Bank Holiday this weekend, so I'm not at work tomorrow! Although work is still awesome :) And it's only 2 more weeks until my next holiday, bring it on!

I finally finished Imaginative Realism, and I'm sad to say I really didn't enjoy it. I'm now reading a book I got for free on Amazon called Bad Metal, which seems to be OK at the moment. And Terry Pratchett's final novel was released this week, although I'm still a few books behind before I get to his latest one.

And for Fat Fighters I lost a pound, which isn't as much as I was hoping, but better than nothing :) Not sure what will happen this week, as I went to the pub yesterday and had too much to drink...

Well, I've done about 5 hours of drawing with some procrastination thrown in for good measure. I've no plans tomorrow (unless I decide to paint the kitchen...), so I should get Day 6 & 7 finished tomorrow. Here's to a good week!

Not coping with Windows 10...

As you may know, I own an Asus VivoTab Note 8, which is like the poor-man's version of the Wacom Cintiq. Last weekend I had the option to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 10. I was so excited I upgraded straight away without researching if anything would be affected on my tablet.
The pen function does not work anymore.
And it's not isolated to all VivoTab's; some work and some don't! Unfortunately mine is in the 'don't' category, and now I'm looking on the internet to find ways to fix it. By the sounds of it though I'll have to wait for an update to fix the driver. However I keep getting sidetracked, especially with Google Hangouts at the moment.

Needless to say I haven't done any art. I actually cracked out my notebook and pencil earlier today, as I've had an idea in my head for a few days and wanted to get it on paper:

It's supposed to be 2 dogs sitting at a table enjoying afternoon tea. I've also been toying with the idea of having humans on leads so it's like a reverse situation, but I think if I drew that it would come across a bit weird. I'm not even sure where I got the inspiration to draw that from, or why I even would, but I figured I like tea and I like dogs so why not combine them? I'll have to get on my Wacom Bamboo to flesh it out. At least I still have that! I need to start drawing things that inspire me more, to hopefully get into a better groove for drawing. I just feel like I've had an art block that's lasted for far too long now.

I washed my car yesterday, and listened to something on Youtube to try and inspire me to do something with my life... the link is here, and it's well worth a listen: https://youtu.be/GakfEmYBukQ

I haven't read any of Imaginative Realism this week, I only read at night and I'm been so tired when I've gone to bed this past week I've just gone straight to sleep!

I'm back on Fat Fighters now :) We have a party for Slimmer of the Year tomorrow, so I'm going to take some cucumber cups for the party (thick cucumber slices, seeds scooped out to make a 'cup', then filled with a mixture of low-fat cottage cheese, garlic and chives).

So, here's to another fab week at work, and to me getting out of my artistic rut!

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!

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!