A Great Discovery

Last week my friend told me about this website called postcrossing.com, where you can send and recieve postcards across the world. So i signed up and was given some addresses of people to send to, my first was to America (then China, Dubai, The Netherlands, Germany) and as soon as your postcard is registered as 'recieved' you will get sent a postcard from another random user.
I recieved my first postcard from Yolanda in Amsterdam a couple of days ago, very exciting ! and i cant wait to recieve more ! some people request certain types of postcard but on the whole its a chance to get creative and learn more about the world.

I highly recommend to get postcrossing now - there's no pressure, if you only send 1 card you'll only recieve 1, it's as simple as that.

I think this will give me loads of inspiration and ideas for my work, i love it when you discover something like this :)

You've Got Mail!

Ironically 'You've got mail' the film was on tv the other night, i've never seen it, but was assured by a friend that it didn't match up to the original Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan combo Sleepless in Seattle, which i watched a week ago and yes it's an all time favourite.

Back to the matter in hand, i've been trying to encourage my family/friends to send me post and i've had some response but not as much as i would have liked. I've given old envelopes a new look by adding to them, sticking extra stamps on for example, i like the way this adds to their story. An idea that i plan to work on is taking used envelopes and collaging with images and drawings that relate to the contents of the envelope/letter.

New "Post"

This postcard i found pretty much sums up the theme of post, i've been looking into stamps, letters, envelopes and postcards. I guess my purpose is to try and encourage people to communicate through post more, i'm not saying technology isn't as good (here i am on the internet, and i text and facebook as much as the next person ) however i think post is so much more personal. Recieving something through your letter box, guessing who its from by their handwriting, checking the postmark to see where it's travelled from; post has a journey and a story and i find it really interesting.

Look Who's Back !

"And the award for 'Worlds Worst Blogger' goes to .........ME !"

I've been away for quite some time, yes i have plenty of excuses (most of which aren't worthy)however i'm back and i'm turning over a new leaf!
Its been a long summer, and although i haven't churned out as much work as i'd hoped i've done some bits and pieces. Following my Self Directed Module on "Post" i've been collecting stamps , writing letters, sending postcards and cutting and sticking alot . I've found old photographs, interesting books, and an amazing scheme thats got me posting across the world.

So much has inspired me, and i have a lot of ideas whirling around in my head- i want my final year of my degree to be something special.
So tomorrow i'll start showing you what i've been doing , and i promise to keep updating more often :)

Time's Up! It's The End Of The Line

This is a glimpse at the proces i went through in this project. Experimenting with ink, and type and layouts.

Overall i really enjoyed this project, i learnt alot about the issues surrounding our oceans and what The End Of The Line campaign is trying to achieve. I thought using ink would be difficult but i actually really like it as a medium and will definately be using it again. The most unsuccessful part of this work for me was how i put my ideas together in the best way possible. I came up with some great conceptual ideas and some really beautiful ink marks but both didnt work together. Perhaps this colaberation of ideas will come more easily over time and with more experience.

Fish thoughts in February

Tues 26th
Saw Rob Ryan’s Lecture today, his work is so amazing and intricate. I would love to try some similar paper cutting, it looks very time consuming but the overall effect is worth it. I don’t think it would work for this specific project but maybe I’ll try it out in the future.

Wed 3rd

I think having a talk about my work so far has really helped. I seem to be on the right track I just need to start pulling all my ideas together. I have lots of ink experimentation, which I have really enjoyed doing. Equally I enjoy coming up with conceptual ideas- although its been quite hard to come up with a refreshing idea when I only have fish, the ocean and fish hooks to work with.

A particular image of fish swimming in a circle up towards the sunlight on the oceans’ surface has really inspired me. It’s a very natural and beautiful image and using swirling ink lines and cut out paper fish I can see this potentially being really strong.

Thurs 4th

Talking about my work yesterday got me thinking, and using my main idea could work. If turn it upside down it has a much more negative effect, instead of swimming up towards sunlight the fish are swimming downwards, like they’re going down the plug hole.
Plug Hole- this is a great way to link in the idea of water and fish, the state of the world’s oceans is literally going ‘down the drain’.

What’s important now is to experiment with some layouts, different ink techniques, and really see how this image could work on a book cover format. I feel positive about this and think it could work well.

Wed 10th

Working with layouts and drawing thumbnails has really helped me move forward, but now I’m stuck again I cant seem to pick one! Hopefully this decision will come soon J

Fri 12th
I’ve had my last illustration session and I feel quite positive about my work, but there’s still a lot to do. I’ve got a busy week ahead, and I’ve got to hand in my work 2 days before the deadline. Fingers crossed I get it all done.

Tues 16th
All my work is done- as much as it can be. I have had printer problems, as usually, which has really cut my time down. I really hate printers and technology sometimes, but this is what happens when you leave things to the last minute. Hopefully what I’ve done is good enough, can’t wait for the relief when I hand this in.

Fish, fish, fish, ink, fish, fish....

Ever since i watched the documentory for The End of the Line , i can't stop thinking about fish.
One of the messages i took from the film was that the ocean is a beautiful place, it showed some great visuals of fish and how all sea creatures live. Experimenting with Ink has given me some really delicate and obscure outcomes, but i'm trying to relate this to what we find in the ocean.

I will post some images up soon, although me and my scanner are not on good terms at the moment. In the meantime i'm off to watch The Little Mermaid, another way to experience what is going on in the water world.

To Fish Or Not To Fish?

I have had the breif to my Professional Practice Module for over a week now, and its starting to sink in. It's about a campaign project called "The end of the line" , the world is over-fishing and we're running out of fish fast!
My illustration task is to design a book cover (front, back and spine) for The End of the Line by Charles Clover. I can only use ink, in black and one other colour, and i must create my own hand-drawn type.
So my first thoughts were to research the campaign, and play around with ink. So for the last week i have done just that , and i have learnt new facts about the fishing world and i have discovered some really interesting and effective marks through using ink.

Today i watched the film documentory from the campaign. I feel guilty for having salmon in my freezer and tins of tuna in my cupboard. Running out of fish and how that effects the worlds' ecosystems and oceans is scary- the scale of the problem is much larger than i thought. It was a great insight to watch this film and see whats really going on across the planet.
I'm going to research into fish species that have severely decreased, i want to see what they look like so as i can interpret this accurately through an illustration.

I had no idea how big a Blue Fin Tuna was - Finding Nemo did not warn me about any of this! :)