Friday 28 January 2011

More Photoshop...

I think I am becoming slightly obsessed with this.. but it's passing the time, so it's fine :)
This one is of the actor Jared Padalecki (plays Sam Winchester in Supernatural)

Thursday 27 January 2011

Japanese Wishing Pot (Christmas Project)

Over Christmas, we were given a project to repackage an item to make it more desirable.
I chose a little pot for £1 from a charity shop.
It's style is very Japanese, so I wanted to create some packaging that reflected this..
I researched some background info into some Japanese traditions and beliefs. I found some information on Japanese wishing Cranes, where if you fold 1,000 origami cranes your wish will come true. I also found a product called a Zen Wishing Pot, where you write your wish onto the scroll provided and apparently it will come true.
Combining both of these ideas, I came up with the 'Japanese Wishing Pot', where you write your wish onto a piece of paper, then fold it into an origami Crane, then place the crane into the pot and your wish will come true.
I created the packaging on Photoshop, using the design on the pot as inspiration.

















Photoshop fun.

So, after creating my little Manga character over Christmas, I have decided that I will try more drawing using my tablet.
I used a picture of Lily Cole and tried to copy it using Photoshop. I think it has turned out quite well (but I got a bit bored once I got to drawing the clothes, so I left it plain.
We are just starting a Photoshop module at uni, so I'm pretty excited about doing that :)

Friday 14 January 2011

Time to come back down to earth..

Haven't updated in a while, but the excitement of Christmas and all the joys of being home seems to have taken over my life. However, the last few days I have realised that I NEED to come back down to earth and face the fact that I am going back to uni next week and I need to get my work done!!! :O
So, I have decided to take a little break from all that (or at least have a bit of procrastination) and bring you all up to date!
For Christmas, I was lucky enough to be given my uncle's old DSLR camera, which is pretty good and I cannot wait to start taking loads of pictures on it! I also got a few other little bits, like; nail varnish; books; lots of socks and gloves (?!); chocolate; and money! (I'm pretty sure there was a bunch of other stuff that I've forgotten to mention, but you get the idea). 
With the money, I decided to treat myself to a graphics tablet, it is one of the best things that I have bought! I didn't realise just how much fun you could have with it.
The tablet I got was the Bamboo Pen & Touch, which gives me the best of both worlds. You can draw with the pen and also use the tablet with your fingers like the mouse pad. With the tablet I got a case (to keep it safe) and a Manga & Comic Illustration software. I have had an interest in Manga drawing for quite a while now and would love to be able to create beautiful drawings that you see in the comics and even on TV, so I am hoping this software will help point me in the right direction, although I'm sure my drawings will never end up as good as the professionals!
Here is a little sample of what I have been up to with the Manga Studio. I have based the image on a picture of myself (vain I know!). I think it's quite a good start, especially as this is the first Manga drawing that I have done on the computer and also whilst still getting used to the graphics tablet.
I shall keep practising!
That shall be all for now, but I will be back very soon to update you with my, hopefully, finished Christmas project for uni!

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