Plan plan plan... list list list

No time left at all... made a detailed time table and I am currently making "THE TO DO LIST OF ALL TIME AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN" and no doubt this list will carry on being added to as the time goes by and the amount of things to do keeps multiplying.
Since I feel like absolute poo today I am doing more typing than a typist in a typing factory! Catching up on PPD and recording everything.
Only 5 weeks left (not including Easter Hols) and 3 of those I will be at Jules B doing my work placement (which I am looking forward to quite a bit). The Easter break is going to be no break at all but it will all be worth it in the end :)

Anyway... back to work...

Infinite Personality

Today... in fact just minutes ago we had a presentation from Dave McDonald, the design director of Infinite Design in Newcastle. It was all about getting your first job in industry and how to stand out amongst all the other young new designers!
Dave has been in Graphic Design since graduating from Newcastle College in 1996, and has since worked for 2 leading design agencies in London. However London was not his cup of tea (I can't imagine myself in London either as I don't particularly like the place...) Anyway... Dave has worked at Infinite for 9 years and has some brilliant work to show and many stories to tell. He has produced work for Dance City - major input into the actual architecture of the building, as the brand is an extension of the look of the building i.e. the windows and interiors. Other big names include Metro, Northern Stage, Futureheads and End Clothing.
There was a LOT of advice to take on board and it has made me feel a little more relaxed about future interviews/portfolio advice etc. There were 3 main points, each with their own keywords:

• Personality
• Relaxed 
• Professional 
• Honest 
• Portfolio
• Genuine
• Confident
• Receptive
• Passion
• Brave 
• Committed
• Positive

If you receive negative or constructive feedback on your work don't argue back, take the ideas, write them down and learn from it! But on the other hand, do stand up for yourself and believe in your work, sometimes design work is one persons idea of fab but someone else's idea of absolute pap!

One thing that stuck in my mind was to do personal work, it keeps you sane to do things you enjoy amongst all the job work you will have (once you have aced the interview and impressed the employer) and freelance work for friends on projects you have a massive interest in and you know you will create something awesome. This helps massively to give your portfolio your personality!

BE YOURSELF!

A negative thing is that sometimes you end up doing mass amounts of work and then some poo face can just say they don't like it and then you get screwed over... hopefully this is more rare than having a happy customer!

I've been thinking...

Been puzzling over what I think I should do in the future... after getting a BA (hopefully)! What job can I see myself doing? I've always loved to draw and illustration is something I have thought about many a time... I also love photography but I think that is more of a hobby considering I didn't take Photography as my degree...
Anyway, my friend Max gave me this book to look at 'Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2011' so I flicked through to the illustration section and came across illustrating for cards :) Since I make cards already (Eljaypea Creations) and graphic design has given me a good knowledge of layout and colour etc. I reckon I could produce some nice designs.
I'm thinking that this could be one of my aims for my BA course :D

First Attempt

Decided to have a go of digital painting... it looks pretty awesome when other people do it so I thought why not give it a try!?
Tried to follow a tutorial on youtube but I didn't do all the layers... maybe next time. But here is my attempt:

definitely liked it better before I added colour

need to work on Gradient Maps and all that jazz

So there you have it! Next stop will be a whole face!!!!!!!!!

Colours

I've been thinking today about colours...
It was rubbish weather today when I looked out of the window so I wore yellow!!! It actually really helped my mood... every time I caught sight of the yellow out of the corner of my eye it made me think of sunshine and happy stuff!
So I think it could be helpful to use this in future projects, think deeper into colours linked with mood and maybe create a final outcome (or a few) which are meant to portray different moods!?...
Or maybe not... just think typing...

This yellow is lush!

Oo this could be helpful when deciding on colours for logos and stuff... depending on the target audience and the mood to be set.

Another EP cover :)

Tomahawks For Targets have once again asked me to do their artwork for their second EP!!!

Quite a different look to the first Maggie Thatcher, hand drawn artwork. 

They knew exactly what they wanted, and this is what I came up with:

I used Illustrator to create more of a clean edge than hand drawn look, which I feel has worked really well to produce quite a clinical image, suited to the stationary. The blood was meant to look quite violent, but I kept it darker to make it less of a focal point. 

It is loved by all :)