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)

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 :)

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!

We're Snowed in...

This weekend I am meant to be in Cambridge, collecting the clothes and stuff that I need over Christmas that I couldn't take home on the train.. BUT I am stuck at home because of the snow. However, all is not bad. I have spent the day with Alex celebrating our one year anniversary making a chocolate log and watching TV, that definitely beats driving in the snow!

mmm... I am now going to indulge myself in chocolatey wonderfulness (I can't see this cake lasting very long!)

Print & Process

I am pleased to announce that tomorrow I will be handing in my print module at uni and I am daring to say that I am finished, however, I am slightly worried that I have missed something out. But fingers crossed I haven't!

We had to produce a series of prints from a line in the song, 'Desolation Row' by Bob Dylan (My Chemical Romance have also done an excellent cover of this song).

I chose the line, "Memories in a trunk."

Now this is obviously referring to a case of some sort, however, my mind thought of an Elephant's trunk and my ideas spiraled from there...

I decided to make a series of lino prints telling the story of the life of an Elephant (very simplified).

As part of the assessment objective, we have to make the prints we produce into a bound book format. I have always wanted to be able to make my own books, so this has got to have been one of the most exciting parts of the project for me!!

Below are some of my favourite prints from "Memories in a Trunk":

 Here are some photographs of the "Memories in a Trunk" book I produced:

(The book has been covered using Calico fabric)

And here are some photographs of the practice book I produced, which I am fairly pleased with:

(This book has been covered with fabric designed by Amy Butler) 

Lastly, I want to show you a couple of prints I produced as part of my experimentation with different print processes:

This is a lino print I produced from a drawing of a Ballet shoe:

And this is a screen print I produced of a drawing of acrylic tubes:

:)

Yesterday, I was happily hoovering my room with Henry the hoover, that had strangely been sitting in the living room for several days and not in his cupboard. (I just assumed my flat mates were being lazy and didn't put him away after they had finished using him).

When I went to put him back in his cupboard, there was another Henry already in there!!!!

I thought something magical had happened, but my flat mate kindly pointed out that someone from down the hall had lent us theirs because ours wasn't sucking up very well. :(

I have put the two Henry's back in the hoover cupboard as I fear they may get lonely without each other! I wonder how long it will take the other flat notice we haven't yet given back their Henry?

On the theme of couples, I would like to share with you our very much in love penguin couple :)

They are just too sweet! :)

Lastly, I would like to leave you with something that baffled me this morning.

I opened the second door on my advent calendar to find this chocolate shape?!

What is it? Am I looking at it the wrong way round??

To me, it looks like a monster with very large teeth.. not very Christmassy at all!