2013 so far

It would appear that I wrote a post with the intention of updating it while I was travelling....that definitely didn't happen. But I did keep a sketch book and diary etc, which is useful when you have no internet/electricity/computer/sanity. I've just found my sketchbooks from when I was in India and Nepal (and Thailand in the end!) and I will upload some of the sketches I did, which looking back I do quite like and hold a lot of memories to me. They're not all fantastic but they do what a travel journal should do, which is capture the travelling. There are a lot of entries which begin, 'oh dear god, what did I get myself into?!' so I know I had a good time and an excuse to not be blogging. I don't need my sketchbook to tell me I had a good time, my daily daydreams of mountains and snorkelling are escapist enough to remind me. So it is no coincidence that I've just fired up this blog again. I can use it as catharsis for my frustrations. Just as art is catharsis for life. For various reasons which have become apparent, it's time to make life into one big 'oh dear god', I'm not sure how but Woohoo! Below are some small explorations of some ideas I've had...

not bad for continuity

Ok, so it's been.......2 and a half years since I last updated this, so not bad really. But my reason for firing up my literary brain cells again is because I'm off to India and Nepal on Saturday, and I thought it might be good to record what happens there. As people who know me may know by now, this is something I've wanted to do for a loooooong time, so it's quite exciting! In theory, as the day gets closer and the reality dawns on me I'm getting the vomity/shitting myself sensation of terror and the stress of HOW MANY last minute things I need to do. For example, NOWHERE sells an bloody Indian plug converter thing. Helpful. And I forgot the pin number for my credit card. And the thought of needing suntan lotion when the frost hasn't even melted this morning is hurting my head. Oh yeah, and I HATE packing. Procrastination, procrastination, procrastination....babysitting, yep I can do that, Christmas party, yep I can go. More xmas decorations, DEFINITELY. Hmmm successful. But it will be fine once it's done. So I don't know how much I can/will update this while I'm off galavanting in the subcontinent but I will try. I have a more traditional pen and paper, which when I'm stuck up a mountain in Nepal, may prove to come more in handy. Just in case anyone doesn't hear from me for a while, this is the organisation I'm volunteering with in Nepal: Wishing you all a jolly christmas of stockings and E.T. And that X Factor isn't number 1!

Third Year Update

Well, it's been a while but I have my excuses. Third year. busy times...and i had another blog for EMP so i have been neglecting this one. But it's nearly over, which is mental....it's been a long and at the same time short year.
Anyway here's some work from Negotiated Practice, the first unit of the year. Originally I was using the D&AD brief for Illustration as a starting point but the momentum of the project got away with itself and became something more. The brief was to explore the idea of resistance, in any way we wished, pushing our comfort zone.
These were my intentions:
For Negotiated Practise I am combining the D&AD illustration brief and my own professional interests for illustration in the future. The D&AD brief asks the illustrator to create a poster on the theme of resistance, taken anyway they see fit, the only requirement is to challenge the way they usually work.
My way of approaching the project comes from my desire to make people see the ordinary in a different, extraordinary way. The idea of this is to make people see the things in their lives in another light, to consider things outside of their lives
The way this fits into the idea of resistance is to resist apathy, going through life without questioning what you are doing. This approach reflects my own experience in that I have been brought up in privileged circumstances without fear of any sort of persecution and so I feel is an honest way to explore the theme of resistance.

We are Converging

This is my first ever film I've made.......with some interesting results. These are some of the stills from it. I think it could be edited a lot, lot further but I like it anyway, using sound is totally new but comes up with some amazing noise. This film explores the idea of humans converging, evolving, but towards what? What are we evolving for or towards, if anything?

Narrative Illustration- Editorial Article of Stabbing.

These are some illustrations from my last project, which was to illustrate a text in a narrative sequence. I chose to illustrate the emotions of an instance of a stabbing, of which I found an online news article.

Sketches from my recent sketch book.

These are sketches of the sea in Bournemouth on a really really cold day, my hands froze. I was attempting to capture the patterns or movement of the water and the sand. It's difficult.





These are very quick sketches I did when I was on the train from Newcastle to Bournemouth in December. They were really annoying to do at the time but I like them now I look back.






Erm, these are really rough sketches, I guess fashion inspired. I know they're pretty poor but they were fun to do and I love the colour so I like them.





These are just some miscellaneous sketches from my sketchbook, I can't remember for the most part what they're about, if anything but they seemed important at the time.




These are some rough ideas I was exploring, along the lines of maps, information, language and cities and confusion. I am quite pleased with them and the potential for other things.