Wednesday 13 October 2010

I Have to Recommend these Books- and I'm not a Reader...

As the title of this blog suggests, I am not a natural reader. 


I actually do love a good read, although during term time, I always feel that if I have time to read a novel, I should be doing something more beneficial.ie. research, blog work, sketchbooks and the list continues...yet, when on a placement this summer at Adam and Eve Advertising Agency, I was recommended these two books. (Both my Paul Arden).










I have to pass on the recommendation, especially to anyone else wanting to break into the industry. They are easy to read, humourous and actually, the content is very inspiring and very true. 

Design Buddy Day and a Very Nice Lunch thanks to AUCB!

I got to meet my Design Buddy today- Richard. Hopefully Richard and I are going to organize some meetings in which he can help and advise me through my Watford application process. After having a downer of a day yesterday, I think knowing I have another contact and some outside support will really be beneficial. I now just need to crack on with designing my website and devise a digital way to advertise a chocolate bar...yummmm.


Maybe flat screen, flat tum!




(If you hadn't guessed, I am quite partial to the odd piece of chocolate or cake) Luckily I am not as focussed on becoming a baker as I am a copywriter!

Anyway, the images below show some editorial work that I did for an article discussing the right for Homosexuals to be part of the Catholic religion. It was quite a controversial piece of text to illustrate, although I did enjoy the challenge. The piece below is a combination of pen and ink, acrylic paint and embroidery. 




This image was based on Darwin's theory of evolution. 


Tuesday 12 October 2010

I am Loving the New Yeo Valley Ad..

My ad of the moment is the new Yeo Valley milk rap. I first saw it during one of the commercial breaks during Saturday's x-factor and thought that it was genius. I love the humour behind it, as well as it being a slightly different approach than 'drink the white stuff'. In the words of Simon Cowell...'it's just so current'.




If we're talking great current ads at the moment, I also have to say how much I like both of the Ikea adverts. The one with the cats and the one about the kitchens. I think they're both very inventive and really show Ikea to be as creative as their ads. Much like the Yeo Valley ad, I think the backing music really makes the advert up-tempo and cool! The cats definitely made me 'HAPPY INSIDE'- and I'm more of a dog person! 



The Ikea Happy Cats...


And the Ikea Kitchen Party!

So Much to do, Feels Like So Little Time...

Today, can only be described as 'one of those days'. I woke up firstly with the sniffles and second, from a very realistic, hectic dream in which I had been awarded a place on my advertising course. And then when I was re-adjusted back to my actual surroundings, things only went down hill. Not a happy bunny.
I am now having to design a digital chocolate bar, whilst contemplating possible products to advertise with my 'swing' on things, finalize my dissertation essay title and work out an interesting approach for incorporating typography into my illustrative brief. I did have a very interesting chat with a lady from D&AD about my future options. And she alerted me to their student awards and advertising briefs- so watch this space.
I also had a meeting at university regarding a new, pilot buddy scheme that will hopefully help me sort out my creative prioties, portfolio and action plan for the next few months. In the mean time, I am going to upload some photos taken on Brown Sea Island. (It was the first time I had used my new DLSR camera)








These are just a few that I have selected. I was experimenting with the different settings, aperture, depth of field etc.


And now I want a big fat piece of




FULLSTOP.



Sunday 10 October 2010

Still Struggling with Cliff but Fred goes Far!

So at the moment I am feeling in an awkward junction in my creative practice- I have one project that appears to moving onwards quite smoothly, while the other one is stuck majorly in a rut. 
Yesterday, I took Fred out again to shoot some more footage for my DVD, and then started to edit it. It has been a really fun process for me as I have never done anything like this before. My only criticism is that I don't have enough technical knowledge to perhaps make the film a little more creative. But as they say...its all a learning curve.


On the other hand, my Cliff Richard for PM campaign is as stagnant as a stale pond, and really does not seem to be progressing. I am seriously at a loose end and am not sure what approach I want to take. I could go down the music route, the religious route or just compare him to some seriously unpopular previous PMs! (we've had enough of them)!


Anyway, on a more positive note, I have found some really funky illustrators via a blog called www.book-by-its-cover.com. 
An illustrator called Hattie Stewart really caught my attention- she has recently graduated from Kingston University and has already worked for some major clients; including Luella, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Illustrated People. Some of her sketchbook work is shown below- I love her funky, crazy bright colours, her wild imagination and her psychedelic style.





Another illustrator that caught my eye over the past few days is a  French Illustrator call Seb Cazes. I love his simple use of colour and materials- using collage and text in a really effective way. His work really inspired me as his style is a similar way to the way I like to work; fine liner, brown paper and a little acrylic paint! His work also incorporates a lot of text, which is another interest/ fascination of mine. I love to experiment with typography and see how far letterforms can be described as art forms in their own right.
The images below show some examples taken from Seb Cazes' sketchbooks.







So for the meantime, I will say ciao and get cracking with Cliff! Ciao..

Thursday 7 October 2010

Fred Goes for his First Outing!

Firstly, I want to introduce  you all the Fred the bear. My housemates and I named him as we felt it only right that he had a name!


So once I had completed the process of cutting fred out, it was time for his first outing- Abi (my fellow housemate and my technological advisor) set him among the streets of Winton. We filmed him in the supermarket, at the bus stop and generally just causing reactions and mischief in the streets. This was the first process- as over the next few days I will position him in various locations before I cut and edit the footage. So far, this has been a fun and experimental process as I am using digital techniques that I haven't used before. 


I have also been pre-occupied with completing my eighth out of 10 application questions. Today I was working on the tarantula one, I finally finished. I hope my sense of humour and originality comes 
across in my design concepts. I fear that the next question is not going to be so easy to tackle...


How to Promote Cliff Richard as Prime Minister?



The above image shows Fred the Bear waiting to leave the house.


Wednesday 6 October 2010

Why Should you Never Under-estimate a Handsome Bear?

Today I was on an almighty mission to get my new illustration brief underway and to use this idea for one of my Watford application questions. 


My idea and my daily challenge was to create a life-sized cardboard bear that would then be put into odd and unusual locations whilst filming people's reactions. My idea was to show that although the bear is obviously harmless, the shock of seeing the bear in random places will cause reactions. Thus 'never under-estimate' the power of the bear and where he might appear.


I am hoping to take him food shopping and to introduce him to the delights of Waitrose, perhaps a trip  in to town and to the local cinema, and who knows...wait and see where he may pop up?


The end result will hopefully be a fun and witty DVD exploring the  potential within film, documentation and perhaps animation. 







The photos above show my initial stages at creating my life size bear. Image 1. shows my very initial outline of the bear, and took me back to my youth whilst relying on the good old OHP- (Over-Head Projector). Image 2, shows the vast piece of cardboard on my sitting room floor once I had developed the drawing using acrylic paint. 


While the paint is drying, I am writing this post, and contemplating whether or not to add white paint to emphasize the highlights? 


The next step will be the almighty task of cutting the bear out before we can let him loose on the streets of Bournemouth Town...

Tuesday 5 October 2010

So as I said yesterday, I am applying for a post-grad advertising course, and todays mission is to come up with a campaign to sell tarantulas as the next 'must-have' pet. I am trying to incorporate my application questions into my illustration briefs at the moment so 1. I can maximize my time more effectively and 2. I can use my supporting and experimental work in my application. My head is buzzing with ideas for typography, spiders, handsome bears (another one of my questions) and cheese...



Monday 4 October 2010



The above images are a couple that I have selected from my Narrative Brief. The theme was Alcoholism and Addiction. I concentrated much of my work around the daily routine of one suffering with an addiction, and the repetitive behaviour associated with such a disease. 
My final piece consisted of a series of photographs of various alcoholic bottles. These bottles exhibit drawings of an alcoholic at different stages through his daily routine. 



Ok, so its been a while since I have added anything to my blog, and today is the day it gets serious. I have been caught up in my application for an advertising course for next year, and therefore have neglected this part of my creative life. My application questions have been taking up all of my physical and mental capacity, yet now I really have to focus- balancing my uni work and my independent work/ projects. In the meantime, I am going to upload some images of my work from last year and other bits and bobs that I have been experimenting with. I hope you like them and that my work reflects my quirky character.


The images above show some T-Shirt designs that I created for a personal brief aimed at promoting healthy eating. This is a topic particularly important to me as I have several dietary restrictions due to being Diabetic and a Ceoliac. I have designed several so-called characters for these T-Shirts, with the ambition to develop them onto other products. I really enjoyed this project as they are relevant, hand embroidered and it incorporated several different skills and materials.