Long, long time no speak. Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
So yea I have to admit I haven't been up to much. I have done a few wee bits and pieces designing some stuff for a few lovely people, and working my wee bum off in my none arty farty job, which suuuuuuuuuuucccckkkkkssss!!!! 
But we all gotta start from somewhere. So yea, I had a fantastic piece of news over the Christmas holidays that a few of my t-shirt designs sold from my RedBubble store! super happy about that! I have decided to kick my self up my own arse and get back to drawing again. Here are a few recent things I've done:

One of my closest fiends went to a wedding recently and asked if I could design a wedding present for the newly weds. What I love about this is it's so different, very much keeping up with pop culture. Breaking Bad, this was a lot of fun to do, I haven't experimented with using smoke brushes in a very long time.....7 years roughly.... So this was a lot of fun to get back to.

I also have been such a terrible friend, one of my oldest and dearest friends is in an amazing band and every single time he had a gig. I couldn't make it due to working. Sad faces all round :(
So to make up for my absence and still embarrass him as I have been doing over the years at his gigs. I made him a cheesy fan girl t-shirt. This is probably the first one of many that I have made that looks professional   

I actually got this printed on about 5 t-shirts and gave them to everyone at my friends annual Christmas gathering :) it was well worth it!
here's their Facebook page:  ​https://www.facebook.com/paperdogsband/?fref=ts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paperdogsband/
​

Please like, share, follow and fall in love.

I've even started to experiment with polymer clay. I have to admit I was very much inspired by Amanda Louise Spayd's dolls:

AMAZING AREN'T THEY!!!! So yea I decided to use polymer clay, watched a hell of a lot of youtube videos on it an thought, yea, I can sooooo do this. I even got glass eyes and fake resin teeth (Spayd actually uses real human teeth, I did hunt the web for them but couldn't find them, and then as soon as I said to my partner, 3 clicks and he found them.... had when that happens AND you've already purchased resin teeth....ANYWAY) I wanted to make my own monster.

When I got my polymer clay I was actually super surprised at how tough the clay was to work with. I have worked with clay before and fully loved it, but the polymer was very much a dry touch clay. Even plasticine is so much easier to use.
​But anyways I persevered and created my snot monster Edger:

Thought this was hilarious as the only good things about him such as his eye and teeth, I didn't even make.... LOL but yea I haven't done anymore polymer clay experiments, because of the clay being hard to work with, it has sort of put me off. I still have loads left over so I think once I come up with a better idea of a monster, Ill go back to it. Until then though I have really missed drawing and making the fan girl t-shirt made me realize that. So I have been thinking about going back to the Illustration Friday competitions.

BUT! I'm going to start off gentle, I really like the idea of a word and building on that, but due to not really having much of a social life, I don't know when Ill get it done so I make use one word for over a month, who knows. I've also been thinking back to my old art that I love and actually really miss doing. Been even thinking how I can improve on the ideas, So don't want to give too much away but, I will say that it will be more physical forms of work rather than a pretty picture. Probably more fine art actually when I really think about it. So yea. This year I will hopefully be more balanced art and work wise and who knows hopefully find another job more to do with my art :)

That's all from me hope you've enjoyed, I'm not even going to make a promise of when I will keep up with the blog. But until next time Happy New Year! :)

Today I got  a lot done. I have re-photoshopped some images, even ordered my deck of cards to be printed for the end of year show. Everything seems to be coming together nicely. 

For my deck of cards I had a choice between my three designs:

I have decided to just show my cupcakes, I have also ordered my monsters to be printed and my cupcakes to be printed to hopefully sell at the end of year show :)

I had also experimented with the idea of having all three of my designs together and the jokers and backs of the deck of cards, I just felt that this looked really strange.

I'm honestly just not happy about it, So I have chosen to go for just the cupcake theme.

I also successfully and finally got around to the re-edit of the "No Say" Coca- Cola image, I also went back to the facebook images and the bar-code ones too, and just tweaked them a little:

I went back into my bar-code portrait, I just made the bar-code look a little more realistic, The Coca - Cola portrait I finally edited to a way I liked it. I will admit the almost turquoise background was a little unexpected. Although I have to admit I rather like it and I think it really makes all the other colours within the portrait really pop. The Facebook images, I simply just went back in and made the "F" lighter and more white to really stand out. I really like all of these and I am really happy with these results.  

This is an update of what my end of year show will look like. I just have to make a choice of whether or not to have my original Coca-Cola portrait or the re-edit of the portrait. I have to admit while l look at these side by side, I actually think the original Coca-Cola Portrait stands out more compared to the new portrait. I will have to ask around and see what others think. I am hoping to have these printed out either tomorrow or Tuesday. 

I am still to buy my piggy banks, as well as dwindling down the slogans or facts I may put on them, although I have to think fast about either paper mache, black chalk board piggy bank and the paint it yourself piggy banks from hobby craft. Again hopefully this will be more items I can sell at the end of year show, hopefully people will want to buy them, I just have to start thinking of how and what way I am going to design them. Which I will hopefully get started on tomorrow.

So, I am very much nearly there, If this was the lord of the rings trilogy, I have just reached Mordor. That's it from me today, hopefully more development to show tomorrow.

So I got a hell of a lot done today, I am almost there to having everything finished up, it's just a case of getting things printed and mounted for the degree show. Today I spent mainly drawing up my jokers for the Monster deck and the cup cake deck. I also went back and fixed my traditional deck of cards. I have now gone online and have managed to find a quote to get them printed. I am just not too sure at the moment whether or not to get multiples printed off to sell, as I am a poor student. At the moment I have worked out that I am able to at least get 3 of the cupcakes and 3 of the monster decks printed. I have looked at my traditional deck of cards and although I do like it. I have realized that they more than likely will not be very interesting to others. I would prefer to get all of the one deck of cards, So I am going to ask around and see what others suggest. I have basically until Sunday to decide. As I had hoped to get them printed out for my hand in. But looks like it's going to take roughly 3 weeks to get them sent here, so yea. Anyways here are my jokers I designed:

I have also decided on which backs I want to have on my cards:

I am not too sure about the cupcake backing, I am hoping to use the jumble of cupcakes, although I am unsure. I have however decided to go with these blue and red backs for the Monsters and Traditional decks of cards. The red for the Traditional and the Blue for the Monsters. 

I am hoping to do more research into the photography portraits I previously done and get them all prepared as well as my cards above for print for the degree show, I am currently thinking of having the below as my exhibition:

obviously With the Cup Cakes I am planning on just choosing one of the suits and I will do the same with the other two suits, then on the fourth line of the cards I am planning to show the jokers choose one of the backings. to display. I was also thinking about even having some vinyl gold coins around the portraits. I also want to experiment again with words at the bottom or along the top of the portraits with facts. Although I already have a feeling that these may be stronger on their own. However I am still planning on experimenting further. 

Even as I look at these now, I have realized I haven't yet bought the piggy banks, I am hoping to also go to hobby craft. Maybe find some cheaper Piggy Banks.... Anyways, to get to the point, I may even experiment and see if I might be able to write facts about how companies exploit people out of money or even just the facts of how money in big businesses are corrupted. I knew my dissertation research would come in handy now!

That's it for me today, hopefully more to show tomorrow. 

So I have completely finished the monsters deck:

TAAAAA DAAAAA!!!!! Ok, so these go in the order of Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, and Hearts. I also went back and fixed a few things I wasn't too happy about within my original, or should I say first design. I am not too sure about continuing on with a 4th and final design for the end of year show. I will plan to, I am just unsure of my time left. Tomorrow I will be focusing on my photography and using the projector. I feel like I am at a really good stage with all of my projects. I am more or less finishing off all of my projects and fixing things that need fixed. In truth, I am actually starting to shit myself. This is go time and time suddenly feels like something I don't have much of.

So today I officially have two sets of my deck of cads completely finished:

So these are all in order of King, Queen and Jack. I have also already started the clubs suit, I am half way through getting my Jack done, my King is already done and I am hoping to get the Queen done tomorrow. So here is my Frankenstein Monster: 

This theme is coming on very well. It's simple, although I think it's very effective, so hopefully this will be completed by tomorrow. That's all from me today, quite a short blog for today.

Today, I started to experiment with the projector I borrowed from uni. I have to admit, it is a little more difficult that I had first thought. Although I did take a few experimental images:

So I randomly got the first image from the internet. I then projected it and.... sat in front of it. Such a science....  I look very impressed, due to not really knowing how the images were going to look, and also being blinded.  I then started to experiment with the bar code images again, however, I found this more challenging as I didn't have a big enough image, then it was too small, then not in the first place, then I couldn't get my camera in the right place. it was a pain in the butt. So here are some of my images from that side of the experiment.

As you can see, these definitely need major improvement. I also reworked my existing illustration characters for the deck of cards project: 

I have also been sketching out my other monsters, although they still need some work. Anyways, that's all from me today, Hopefully a lot more to show tomorrow.

Today has been a productive day! So I got talking to my tutors and I was surprised to find, that actually they preferred my first design that I gave them. They also looked at my coca-cola image and we all agreed, to take out the writing at the top as the image is stronger in it's self the way it is. I also let them have a look at the bar-code images, they didn't even know it was me! We also came up with more ideas for two other designs. So Because the ViewBug challenge is due. I will have to just add one of the bar-code images for my second image. 

Although, I am very glad that my tutors really liked what I had done and want me to expand on it. So much so that they want me to use projectors and project images onto the face. So I now have the loan of a projector. Very excited! I have wanted to experiment with using a projector for ages, so I am really looking forward to this.

I also got started on my illustrations. I now have a completed suit, although there are still some changes I want to make to them. Here is where I have gotten up to so far with them, this being the Clubb suit:

I have to admit, I don't think they all look like they belong to each other. As with the ghost, she is very detailed and there is a lot to her. The Robot and Alien, not so much. So I printed these two images out and drew directly on top of them as an experiment:

I think doing this has defiantly improved how they look and the changes I will make later on. I think that this also makes them look more gruesome. ore monster like and even possibly more graphic. 

Short blog today, so that's all from me.

So my video is finally up, however this isn't my official video. All I have to change however is the music. Which I will fix tomorrow. I am proud of my video, although I'm unsure about showing it at the end of year show.

I also got my images done for the ViewBug challenge, you have already seen the Coca-Cola image I made. I decided to continue on with one of my other ideas with the bar-code. I wasn't too sure but I thought it was worth a shot to see how it would at least look: 

These are my four finals, while designing these, I tried to dehumanize myself. As you can see I tried to remove facial features. In one case I completely covered the face. I purposely made it so you can see some of the facial features through the bar-codes. I am still trying to tie this challenge in with my main project work of happiness and consumerism. Although I still plan to do my posters of my student finance. I plan to start them tomorrow as well as my deck of cards. I have been doing some more sketches. These characters are for robots and aliens:

As you can see, my sketches aren't fantastic. Soooooo I did  some research also  see below:

As you can see I really wasn't too sure on what I'm doing. Although now I have a better Idea, I'm hoping to again get started on my deck of cads project tomorrow also. So that's all from me for today. 

Aaaaaahhhh!!!!! so my video is nearly finished! Putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow. So happy. Just hope it's good enough to actually show people. I have also been working more on my deck of cards project. I have finally assigned all my monsters to each suit and almost completed my werewolf:

There is still a few more changes I'd like to make. For example I don't like the hands or the shorts. There is also a few bits that need fixed, but apart from that I am surprised at how well it looks. I was also thinking if I should incorporate the suit within the character, like I did with the cupcakes. For example the werewolf here is part of the Diamond suit. So like some dogs would have, I might put a little white diamond shape of fluff on the chest.

When It comes to the Unique photography ViewBug challenge, I am still to find a nasty fact about Coca-Cola to attach to the bottom of the photograph. I will more than likely do this when I post this blog. 

I have also sketched out some idea for posters for the student financial help. I just haven't gotten around to start drawing them up in Illustrator. I might actually show these at the end of year show, instead of my video, if the video is too amateur looking rather than professional. I have also been thinking more and more about the end of year show, although I already handed in my draft of what I might do:

As you can see, my Coca-Cola portrait on one wall and my cupcakes on the other. I am beginning to toy with a different Idea though, I might get a few ceramic piggy banks and put them around my exhibition. Depending on how many I can get, if I can sell them at the end of year show that would be amazing. I might even donate the money to the New Blood people. Depends how broke I am by that time.

So I just quickly had a little look at cheap piggy banks on ebay, they are all roughly the same price. I at the moment, if I am going to go with this idea. I really like the chalk board piggy banks, the first piggy bank above.

That's it from me today. hopefully more to show tomorrow.

Today I pretty much wasted it by going from website to website, trying to find a company that would print my cupcake deck of cards, for cheap. It was unbelievably tedious  as I had to make very quick designs of just the numbered symbols for each suit, Most websites were very slow with the uploads, they wouldn't let me edit the images to the way I wanted them displayed on the cards, Some websites stopped uploading my designs after a particular number. I was pretty much like 4 hrs of trying to get the right company to print these. I finally got it sorted. Although for one pack of cards it'll cost me roughly £15. Which sucks, although I think it will be worth it. 

I also have been trying to write my blurb, which will be the little bit of information that will go beside my work at the end of year show. To be honest, this week has been a complete nightmare. Just so much stuff to do and next thing I know a week has past, and the work I have done is not as much as I had hoped to have done. 

I have been looking at the whole planner for the end of year show, even looking at people from the past years, and I hate this feeling I have. I honestly don't feel like any of my work is good enough, the work I have done in my side projects I feel more confident to show than my main project. Even looking through it all, I can see exactly where I have gotten lost. I had originally wanted to do really mad, in your face posters showing consumerism. I am now doing student financial advice. Making a video, I honestly don't feel that comfortable about. I just really really lost.

So looking at the wall planners and everyone else's displays from the past years, I have decided to continue on with the video, and see how it is at the end, maybe Ill surprise myself and it'll be the most amazing thing. Although I have also decided to create posters, which was my original idea in the first place, many tutors have more or less talked me out of it. Saying in the usual nicest possible way, that they didn't think that it was the best Idea. I just feel like I'm drowning. So screw this, I am going to do what I want to do. If it ends up looking shit, at least it'll be my colourful shit and stuff I feel comfortable showing.

I also went back and re-edited my Coca-Cola portrait. I am actually really happy with it and have decided it will be my piece for submitted to the ViewBug unique portrait challenge. 

This is very simple, although I find it very effective and I think it really stands out. I am happy to upload this for the ViewBug Challenge, I plan to do a few more tweaks to this image, such as having a fact about Coca-Cola on the image, and even fixing the hair a little bit. I also finally got round to testing my line drawing skills, to make a ghost in Illustrator:

I am actually so happy with this, I want to fix the eyes a little more. But minus that I am really happy with this. One down, 11 more to go. 

That's all from me today, I am going to do a few sketches for posters for students on financial advice. But the way that I want them to be. I am even slightly playing with