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Haven't done a blog in far too long! .... 8 months apparently. I have been pretty lazy to be honest. A lot of things going on, and not really going on. So I guess I will try my best to give you just the highlights over the last 8 months. Back In September I discovered that my Redbubble account (my shop) seemed to be slowly picking up so traction. I have made a few more sales that I was completely unaware of. YAY people want to pay me to do arty things!!! This gave me a bit of a kick up the arse. To try and get back into the way of things. Yes I know I sound like a broken record! Since then I now have my own desk set up at home with everything set up and ready to go. I have been researching local artist and looking at so many things. Pinterest is a wonderfully handy tool. I have even started a new sketch book. As if I didn't have enough... So for a bit of the boring stuff. Since moving in to my house I have been pretending to be a really good cook. I have even been baking! Even using the pears out of my own garden! I more or less stole these from my Instagram, As you can see I have been doing a lot of baking and a lot of eating. In the last 8 months. I have recently made a few very big decisions. I have decided to take the plunge and I have opened my own Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CraicinDesigns At the moment I only have 1 listing. I am still working on a few other things. The listing that is currently up allows for a custom portrait or action scene. Such as previous ones I have created below.  Almost all of these little prints you have seen before but one of them is new.  So one of my good friends, will randomly call me up every so often asking for unique birthday, and engagement gifts. Usually everything he asks me for is themed. Breaking Bad, Fight Club, Jurassic Park. So just when I thought he could shock me. He asked for the above to be made. Just to clarify what the above is. One of his friends took his girlfriend to New York and proposed to her in Central Park. He sent me a photo of the magical moment, when he popped the question. Then asked could I draw the groom-to-be as Venkman from ghost busters, and the bride-to-be as Miss Piggy from The Muppet's..... So I did what every artist does and just created what my client asked me for. While the whole time thinking he is totally mental.I have to admit still an awful lot I am not happy with within the image. It took me a week alone to do the New York skyline and trees in Central Park. So yes. I take completely random requests! I have also been experimenting with a few others. Here is a little sneek peak: none of the above is finished!
It's all just a starting point for me looking into different ways of designing posters for bands, Looking into more detailed patterns, looking into more detail of machines and devices. I am also experimenting with the idea of inspirational quotes and the idea of creating a scene or back ground that is just as powerful as the quote. So It's all happening. Slowly, but surely. I have also been getting back into designing some wedding stationery. I currently have three brides, which is fantastic! one who continuity changes her mind. however it can sometimes be frustrating. I am getting more design trials done and these can be used for perhaps other clients down the road. I am trying to keep a positive spin on things. That's all from me, I will try to get back into writing a blog at the end/beginning of every month.
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So a fair bit has gone on this month. My eldest brother turned 30, which is terrifying!  So happy belated birthday again! The rest of this month has been a bit all over the place! My work got hit by the big computer virus that hit the NHS and hit probably a good few people you may know too. So for the past two weeks I havent been able to design due to this. At the moment I have over 30 wedding designs although at the moment only some have been put onto paper  As you can see some are clearly better than others. I will hopefully have even more to show next month, especially when I am able to get back into the swing of things. Minus design and arty farty things. I havent really been up to much (story of my life). I have just been house hunting  This was a little guy we bumped into while waiting on the estate agent to show. Meet Neill. So yea, I cant really think of anything else that has happened this month..... please enjoy some photos of my fuzzy furball babies Happy Pancake Day! and belated valentines day! So a hell of a lot of stuff has happened in this short little month, all good and I'd even go as far to say great things!  Yep, I said it! and it is all a little scary too. So first of all, I got a promotion in work to starting to design some wedding stationary. I am having an absolute blast! I was a little worried about getting back into things but I have been designing a few things such as order of services, RSVP's, wedding invitations. I even have my first wedding customers. It's all very slow at the moment, the usual you get with clients.... they give you such little information on what they want. So you do your best. Then when you go back to them, they want something completely different. It's all part of the job.  Here is what I designed. The top three designs are in order, wedding day invite, RSVP, and order of service. the bottom three are basically the inside or the other side of these. I even got a new computer with my promotion and everything! before and after It's so pretty! I also had a pretty good Valentines day. If you follow me on instagram you probably already saw it. Came home and my partner just told me we were going to bake. So we made stone age Nordic bread and brownies. I have to admit the Nordic bread was my absolute favorite. So tasty! I think pete has to work on his brownie making skills though :P  Lush! As most of you probably already know, I have started to house hunt with my partner, we've even started to shop for our invisible house. Our little Ikea starter kit.  House hunting has been so stressful! but things are definitely looking up, and keeping me super busy! That's really all from me for this month, next month my post may be a little late due to going on Holiday to none other than....  HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!!  So this month I actually did stuff, not as much as I would have liked but I have definitely done more. So I have been trying to really get back into my design, have actually been revisiting old work. I have also been experimenting a little bit So not too sure if you will recognize any of the above. These are from my British classic design project from university a variation of originals shown below and you can also find them in my store: Annnnnnnnd..... speaking of store, I added 4 of my multi coloured images to my shop, mainly cause I'm still not too happy with 2 of them here is a little snap of what I have added: I also looked back a little to my think happy thoughts t-shirt. I tweaked it a little bit, I changed some of the colours round, I'm still not happy with it. I may even just re-draw the whole thing. Before and After, I wanted to make it a little more warmer and I don't know why, but the moutashe colour was annoying me. I felt it had to be a closer colour to the unicorns natural hair colour. Yup. As I said though I am still not too happy with it, I want to go back and play more with highlights and shadows, or as I said previously just start the drawing again from scratch. I also went on holiday this month to Portugal. Literally the first time I have been out of the UK and Ireland in 9 years. It was stunning. I had a fantastic time, cool beer, hot weather and blue skies. I couldn't ask for anything more. I only wish I had gotten more photos.
My partner and I are even starting to plan our next holiday to Vegas baby! which should be good. This month I plan on just continuing to design more things, I have realised my portfolio is seriously lacking in so many elements. So I am planning to fix that. I also have more work lined up in the form of labels for some local products. All negotiations are still on going so I can't really talk much about it at the moment, but I am very excited. That's all from me for this month. Small summary of this month, I have a new job, new stuff in my shop, I have made more jewelry and I've just turned another year older. So very briefly, I have started a new job, so far everything is going really well I am currently working in a local printing company and learning how everything works. The company print things from flyers, posters, cards, calendars, etc. You name it they'll probably do it.. We get a lot of wedding planner stuff come through on a daily basis as well as some estate agency stuff from all over the UK. So it's been really nice having a nosy at all the designs that come through the door. I already feel like I am learning a fair bit. I have only been there two weeks so far but yea, we'll see how it goes. New stuff in zee shop, remember my bug designs? well i have put them on my red bubble account. Now I haven't finished with the insect designs, I have just been so busy/lazy recently with everything going on I haven't yet finished the whole insect series, but I have uploaded the ones that our finished to my shop. below is some of the items you can buy my patterns on. you can get these printed and just about anything check out my shop by going to the store section on the menu. Jewelry wise I haven't done as much this month as I would have liked but I have now got my own workshop at home. If you follow me on Instagram you'll already know all the fun stuff. So I have created my own workshop, I have started making things here and there and to be honest I have been doing more research and buying tools. First 3 images are just of my workshop it's self, the view from my window and me working away on a few things. last three are the creatures I have been making. none of these are finished as of yet. The birds I and still trying to decide if I should solder the birds together to make a pendent or to link them together to make them three separate pendents. The 3rd image is of the rabbit being prepared for some enameling. I also got some jewelry stuff for my birthday like engraving tools so I am going to try my best and get a bit more work done in the studio/workshop this month. I've also had a little bit of trouble with the enameling but I got some metal work books too so hopefully I'll be able to educate myself a little more. Talking of birthday...  Here is an embarrassing photo of me cutting my birthday cake. I have to admit I am also very much into the new Pokemon Go game, so much so that I have renamed my caterpillar cake, caterpie. Here are a few photos of some of my gifts: (thought I had more photos) 4 colouring in books, which to be honest I have been using and it's actually great fun! I also just gave my partner a list of just some stuff I wanted. He liked one of the T-shirts I asked for so much that he bought one for himself.... so I guess we now have to make a schedule on what days we can wear them so we don't clash. I also got some homemade elder-flower champagne which you can see in the above image of me cutting my cake. I ended just doing a Pokemon Go pub crawl in Belfast. it was..... interesting LOL anyways... I think that's everything I have gotten up to this month.
So this month a lot has been going on, I have finished my flyers for M Mahood Music, I've done a few more buggy designs, I've finished my silversmiths course, I've just come back from Glastonbury, and I've even accepted a new job offer.......yep! So this year at Glastonbury was my 3rd year in a row. Between sleeping under tables on the ferry, the traffic getting into Glastonbury and the mud. I have admit, I am thinking of going elsewhere next year. I have always loved going to Glastonbury, but this year I just wasn't feeling it. Talk about a work out just going to the toilet or even getting food. It was a bit of a nightmare..... DAMN YOU MUD! Music was however fantastic as always! here's a few other pics from the festival. So here's the two main designs I created for M Mahood Music: I'm proud of these and I do feel they reflect and flow in with the logo that I had previously created. Plus I have a very happy client. Please visit and like their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MMahoodMusic/?fref=ts I have also continued on with making some bug patterns, last month they were winged, this month I have been doing more beetles. I am continuing on with these designs and I am hoping to have these all finished and added to my red bubble shop by the end of July. shop: http://www.redbubble.com/people/kerriestuff I also mentioned that my silversmithing course has ended. I have decided that this is definitely an art form I am wanting to continue with and experiment with. In my last few weeks I began to experiment with enameling copper. So using greens, browns and even blacks we experimented with the leaf shaped copper. Although the kiln wasn't hot enough, giving the enamel this bumpy bubbly effect. I feel it really works with the piece and definitely adds texture to the piece. 2nd image here was actually the first pieces I enameled, I put Rose Pink on both pieces and due to the position in the kiln, I managed to get the top one the lightest and the bottom a lot darker. I really love how this worked out, I am planning to turn this into a necklace. The 3rd and 4th images are of an only bit of scrap metal I had been experimenting with. I had talked about it in a previous blog, I just threaded wire through, and then put silver enamel on the copper. It gave the copper this really amazing look, again planning on turning this into a necklace. Here is the original piece before threading copper and brass wire through:  On my last night of my course, I started to make little rabbits. I have to admit it was mainly due to finding other little copper rabbits in my scrap box and getting this song stuck in my head:  My little scrap bunny. So I started making my own little bunnies in hope of enameling them white:  these also really make me laugh, I made a skinny rabbit and a curvy one, keeping up with beauty standards. So yea, didn't get these quite finished but I am thinking about doing a bit more with the white rabbit theme. That's it really when it comes to the metal work stuff I have been doing lately. I am still experimenting away with other things. Although at the moment the workshop space that I use is being moved. So it's putting a little bit of a pause on things.
I also mentioned I have accepted a new job offer, I will be working with a graphic design company, starting in July. I've incredibly nervous about the whole thing but, it's a new venture, so we'll see how it goes. Catch you guys next time. A LOT HAS HAPPENED THIS MONTH! So, where to start. Logo design for M Mahood Music is done, currently still designing flyers but I am incredibly happy with the outcome, even my client is over the moon with it! Which is the most important thing!  Hopefully my watermark isn't too over powering. But yea, this is what we came up with in the end. Very impressed it I don't say so myself ;) created using Illustrator and Photoshop. Here's a few of the logos that I played around with, before coming to the final: As you can see some a lot better than others. But there are many different stages that you go through when designing a logo. I had a lot of fun doing this! My Silversmithing course, has been very off and on, as I am getting to the stage where, to be honest I don't feel like I'm learning. I have noticed there is a huge difference from being at university and doing a part time course. If you basically showed interest in learning a technique and asked tutors in university, or if it was a tutors specialism. They got super excited and were pretty much awesome with showing you how it worked. So yea, I am getting to the point that YouTube is probably a better educator that any college or university, as well as cheaper! Which is a bit of a shame, but at the same time, it has made me hungry for knowledge! I've recently been experimenting with copper. Actually been very impressed with all the amazing colours and although I'm kind of doing it to waste time, I’m actually learning a lot from it: The above is just little pieces I have been experimenting with. Still lots of other stuff I want to experiment with but I have to admit, even experimenting with the different colours that come from the copper. Is amazing, and all I am doing is applying heat in different areas and even experimenting by heating the metal through other pieces of metals. It’s all still very small stuff, but I am starting to think about making sculptures, so who knows my next course could be a wielding course, or my YouTube will be full of wielding videos. I've also been doing more patterns, I have already started my 2nd in the series. I haven't yet put these up on my red bubble, as I am wanting to have at least 3-4 different series of patterns before I do, so here's the first it all it's different variations of glory! So that's basically what I've been up to this month, I have to admit June may be a bit slow as I am mainly just finishing off work and continuing to experiment with metal work. But I am also off to Glastonbury! So I shall also be putting up lots of pictures of that when I get back, But I think I will do my June blog before I leave for Glastonbury, we will see.
Thanks guys for stopping by, keep your eyes peeled for more pattern designs coming soon and more experiments. Please follow me on Instagram, as I am aiming to try and start posting more things on there! So, today I have been seriously finishing things off. I also have so many sketch books that I even weighted them all... 10 sketch books weighing in at 10 kg.......Mental. So I went back and had a look at my shop, now if you were to click the shop tab on my website, it will actually take you to another website called "Red Bubble". This site is basically where I upload my images and I can apply the images not only as images them selves, like posters and things. You can buy my designs on mugs, t-shirts, bedding, pillows, scarves, leggings, phone covers. The list goes on! So today I went through and decided to put up an image of my cupcakes. I decided to actually put up the mixed image. The image is all of the elements of all the suits as well as their symbols. I wasn't happy with the original image so I changed the colour of the back ground to blue, pink and grey.  So the top 3 images are of what I uploaded. the single image above is the original.  This is just a screen shot from the website after I uploaded the pink image, you can see all the different products I can apply my work to. So yea, it's pretty interesting. I also have my final done for my main project. the final for the magazine cover:  Im actually so happy with this, and just to really scare you here are all of the finals from all the projects I did this year: So yea, I have done a fair bit of work this year, and although it was by no means an easy year, I have actually enjoyed it. I want to keep experimenting and doing art. This is just a stepping stone for where I want to be, and yea I'm freaking out about leaving uni and being a real adult. So that's it from me today, Tomorrow will possibly be my last blog on university work for at least a week.
I am hoping to keep my blog up, however I feel my life is very boring. We'll see though. So I went into uni today due to my Photoshop and Illustrator prescription being out of date and as I am a poor student, soon to be just poor. I couldn't really afford to keep my subscription. Not going to lie, pretty heart broken about it. So anyways, I had to re-do my portrait of the eyes open bar-code image. I have 10 different versions of the same image and some really funky looking edits from making the image. So here are my 10 different versions: Some are very similar and there are little changes, but I am glad to say I have my final, although I know things aren't spelt right, I will make this right tomorrow when I go back to uni. here is my final though with all of the incorrect spellings:  I also want to do a little more detail with the type and make it more glossy and even 3D looking, as I want to give it the effect of it being a glossy gold.
The rest of my day I have been writing up sketch books and making sure everything is in order, I am sure that tomorrow will be no different with getting my work to a standard that I am happy with. Today I got a hell of a lot done, everything for the end of year show that I wanted to put up is now up. I had to re-cut some new vinyl for my wall. And now everything is beautiful! I now get to just concentrate on finishing off my sketch books and writing everything up that needs to be done before hand in. I feel like I'm in a very good position, I even feel that I could hand in all of my stuff on Monday. Everyone else in my class is currently panicking and therefore this makes me also panick a little more due to myself feeling calm. Don't you just hate that. Although speaking of things that you hate most coming up to hand in, one of my class mates mentioned to me today was he "can't wait for this to be over, so he can stop feeling guilty about wasting time" Shit just got real! Deadlines can be really good for people or you can crash and burn, I do have that feeling of panic and worry, trying to get things done. It is a little weird when you stop just to breathe and then feel guilty. So anyways on to a more productive and positive note. I have done what feels like a million different magazine covers: As you can see I have been experimenting with a variety of different colours as well as text. I also went a step further with this I knew I wanted to have a bit of colour within the black and white image. However I think the lips actually make it more sexulised. This could however be a poster or even a magazine cover for human trafficking or something within that sort of topic. I however want a more generalized kind of image. So, I took the image from the above, went through all my photos I had taken from this project, and photoshopped eyes in from a different photograph. This was unbelievably weird I can tell you that, straight off.  I have to admit this I think worked out pretty well, I however think that this looks like me, but a little different..... I know it sounds weird but, yea a different version of me. Although when it really comes down to it, as long as it looks like a person, and gets the point across. That is the whole point. So my idea here is a little more self explanatory. I want the eyes to try and look into your soul!, no I just want to eyes to grab peoples attention, although I still want them to look along the lines as realistic, however the more I photoshop this the more and more unrealistic it looks. especially as the eyes are very much a small part of the image, the colour doesn't really pierce through very well, even with the lines of the bar code coming down the face. I however really like the 1st image on the 2nd row, as I think this does grab your attention. I am just currently a little unsure on how to take it further. I am also really unsure on what colours to have my text and I seem to be continuing the same argument with myself on which fonts look the best. I am continuing to work on this even as I write this blog, I have a feeling however I may need to sleep on things and see how I feel about it tomorrow. So yea, that's it from me today.
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AuthorI am an artist from Northern Ireland, I specialize in Photography and Graphic Design. Please follow me on instagram:
@craicin_designs View Bug: CraicinDesigns Pinterest: CraicinDesigns Categories
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