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Showing posts from September, 2015

Wordless Wednesday #2

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Wordless Wednesday

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£16

Thats how much the little piece of gold they want to put in my eyelid would roughly cost if I was to buy that weight in gold lol 1.2 grams to help keep my eyelid closed. No pictures because, eww they are not nice to look at, even tho they would just be cutting a slit into my eyelid, its still eww :p The problem of not being able to close my eyelid might go away before the surgery, but if it doesn't, gravity and the little piece of gold help the lid to stay shut. Met someone today actually in the x-ray department who had the same thing done and she said it helped a lot. Once they do the surgery I will have a black eye for a bit they say, so will probably get some odd looks and question about who I've been fighting :p

Finished Snowy Owl

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I swear this is different from the last post lol Added some shading to it, probably should have left it alone, but I wanted to see what it would look like. One thing I have difficulty with  when using these plates is shading, a lot harder to get gradients with the thinner bendy plastic compared to the harder plexi-glass. Now onto a the Barn owl :)

Music Monday

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Snowy Owl Update

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All the feathers are done now, just need to start the shading. Not sure yet how dark to make it, but def. need to darken the left side (facing the screen), to try to round the bird out more. He/she looks a tad lop sided lol

Sunday Sketch

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Seem to have owls on the brain it seems :p Quick little Barn Owl drawing. I have a few etchings I want to start of Barn Owls, but need to finish the Snowy owl first or it will never get done :p

Book Wrap-up Sept, 26 2015

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Finished only one book again this week, must sleep less and read more :p 50 Designers You Should Know by Claudia Hellmann My rating: 3 of 5 stars Basic over view of well known designers/design companies, nice colour photos. Good to use as a starting point into famous designers but only as a starting point, since the topic is huge and there are so many designers out there. Still reading The Dark Forest , but its over 500 pages and I only have about 50 to go :p Damn Uni work getting in the way of reading :p 2015 Reading Challenge Jennifer has read 73 books toward her goal of 90 books. hide 73 of 90 (81%) view books

Etching Update

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Almost done with all the feathers and then I need to decide where to add shading to to try to make the bird look less flat. Since I am back at Uni, I will probably be doing a lot of these smaller etchings since the big ones take up way too much time to get one done in a reasonable time on top of Uni work. And I'm running out of bird photos, so will have to try to get to the zoo soon before it gets too cold.

Flower Friday

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Some really pretty white lilies today :) Which reminds me, I need to see if I can get some different lilies to plant next year so I have more than just pink ones to get photos of :p

Throwback Thursday Art

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More sketches from 2003. A bird dragon cross and just another dragon. Seems like all I drew back then was dragons, but I did draw a lot of other things, mostly animals but not always dragons.

Wordless Wednesday #2

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Wordless Wednesday

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Etching Tool

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So Julie asked me in a comment on the last post what I am using to etch and I can't remember if I mentioned that before. This is a metal scriber that I had John grind the ends down and then temper one end. It keeps a sharp point for a long time, as the many stab marks on my fingers show :p And the owl at the moment. I wanted to have more finished, but its a little dangerous using the above tool when you have a coughing fit :p

Snowy Owl Update

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Getting there, almost ready to add the shading to his face :) I like how quick using these plastic plates can be, but I don't get as much detail with them as I do when I use plexi glass So, while finishing with the thinner plastic plates is a lot faster, you sacrifice detail for speed.

Music Monday

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Finished Mood Board

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Finished the  Mood Board from yesterday. meh ran out of ideas for it and looks too jumbled. I think that is why I am not a fan of mood boards, they either look too jumbled and random like this one, or look too clean and perfect :p And I have more of them to do, on different topics tho.

Sunday Sketches

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More quick dragon sketches done in Painter . I think at the end of the week, taking 5 minutes to quickly sketch something is going to help me de-stress after a week of uni :p Don't have to worry about deadlines or research, just have to draw something.

Mood Boards

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I will be the first person to admit I am crap at making mood boards lol I just never know what to put on them so they make some kind of sense for the topic/theme/idea etc that you have to make one for. There are more images to put on this and some more tactile things as well since the main character is blind, putting touchable objects on the board is a good idea. But yep, not the easiest thing for me to do without really second guessing myself. This is due Monday so need to finish it for then,even if I end up having to go to the doctors for what ever type of plague I seem to have come down with. Great timing. Not even back a week and I get sick :p

Book Wrap Up Sept, 19 2015

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Didn't finish anything this week due to it being the first week back and busy finding out what we are going to be doing. Going to have to probably read a lot of art books to make up my reading goal for the year. Which might be a good thing because art related books need more reviews on Goodreads and everywhere else actually. Still reading The Dark Forest , on page 266 so about half way done. Update on Goodreads: "taking a bit long to read due to uni but liking it more then the first one. seems easier to read, the writing flows better" And a new book for me that I saw a booktuber on Youtube talk about and thought it looked like a good book to have.  Goodreads link :) I have alot of 20th century design books to have a go reading threw this week, but will probably not get all 5 finished :p We are encouraged to read a lot on this course, so thats great for me. Means I still get to read, which I love but also hopefully learn about art history/deisgners

Small Draft Horse Update

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Almost done with the body of the horse and then onto colouring the tack. Hopefully get the body finished this weekend but depends on if I get some research for Uni finished first. (Which includes watching the last of the Daredevil episodes I have left :p).

Friday Flowers

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Dahlias I think for this Friday. Might be some other flower but I can't remember. Been so busy with the first week back at Uni, but the week has flown by so almost forgot it was Friday. Think I have caught the plague, so need something pretty to look at. Seeing this makes me wish I had the camera I have now when I took it. Picks up way more detail than the point and shoot. Still pretty to look at tho. Almost look like they have been dyed to get this bright orange, might be natural tho. And a pink bunch :) Should probably try to draw close up sections of some of these. Obvs not a flower, but a cat in a bird bath waiting for a meal??:p

Throwback Thursday

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Me at less then one with my Uncle, (one of dad's brothers) before he broke his neck and ended up in a wheelchair. I was a very pudgy kid lol I just noticed you can see my extra finger in the photo, there are not many around where you can count my fingers :p

Throwback Thursday Art

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More dragons from around 2003/2004. Told you I use to draw a lot of them :p I really like this one, not sure why I didn't finish it at the time. But, I probably could draw something similar to it now and see how it turns out.

Wordless Wednesday #2

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Wordless Wednesday

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Mind Maps

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So I did say I would post what I have been doing at Uni, but really all I have been doing is watching Daredevil and trying to make a mind map for the show. The mind map still needs a lot of work, but it is a start. I really didn't like making mind maps for the longest time, but this software makes it a lot easier for me to make them. But it also makes it a lot easier to create huge images since there is no size limit or word limit, so are really only limited by the image size you can print. The basic purpose of the brief is to make a model/object related to the show, nothing too obvious tho, that would get someone interested in watching it. What does model making have to do with Graphics you ask?? Good question. We are going to take photos of the model and then make a poster for the show from the photos. I have a few ideas, but they are probably too cliche and boring to really work well for a poster.

Snowy Owl #2

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Need to add more shading to its eyes, but coming along slowly. So I spent my day at Uni watching Netflix for a project lol Very odd, feels like you are doing something you shouldn't be for school :p

Snowy Owl #1

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The start of a Snowy Owl etching :) This is going to be on one of the plates that Rolina sent me since there is less chance of the plate snapping taking it back and forth to Uni so I can work on it at lunch. Looks like a very angry bird :p

Music Monday

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Really like this cover from the band people love to hate :p

Sunday Sketches

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Another quickly sketched digital dragon.People might get sick of seeing dragons, but they are an easy thing to draw and also useful when trying to learn how to use Painter. Just messing around with filters in Photoshop. Not going to promise it wont be another dragon next Sunday lol

Dog's Best Day - Bretagne (last of the 9/11 search dogs)

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Enjoy Bretagne...you (and all the others) earned it

Weekly Book Wrap-Up sept, 12 2015

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Finished 1 book and  1 Graphic Novel this week and managed to start The Dark Forest. Hopefully next week is a better reading week, even if I only manage to finish The Dark Forest I will be fine with that as long as it ends up being  good book. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany My rating: 3 of 5 stars ghosts helping to fly a space ship? Interesting linguistic discussions but too short to really get into the story, things felt really rushed. A lot of this is so absurd even for sci fi lol but I think thats what makes it entertaining to read at least. The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen My rating: 2 of 5 stars Nice art and an interesting story idea, I just didn't think it was done very well. Too much of the live fast die young idea and really didn't find myself wanting to read more to find out what happens. View all my reviews    2015 Reading Challenge Jennifer has read 72 books toward her goal of 9

Draft Horse Update #4

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I need to think of a title for this besides "Draft  Horse". I did say I was going to try to get this finished by now, but I took a day and a bit off of work since I figure I go back to Uni next week and will be very busy soon so should take a bit of a break from work. Need to darken the ears a bit now that I see a photo of it, but other than that, really liking how it is looking. Probably just jinxed myself now by saying that lol

Flower Friday

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My hydrangea broke a few months ago after a really strong windstorm and I did try to get this to grow roots, but nope it died. Got some nice photos of it and the main plant is still alive so should have some more flowers next year. Love how all the colours blend together. Love how much detail shows up on my camera lens. Still wet from the storm. As usual, photos taken by John since I can't see properly to take photos, even with auto focus on. I figured out the best way to describe my vision. If you have ever been swimming and opened your eyes under water, that blurry out of focus look is how my vision is at the moment. Getting better but still messed up.

Throwback Thursday Photo

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Me at almost 3 at Xmas with mom's dad. I think that is a Tonka toy I am holding. There were no boy's toys or girl's toys in our house, if it was a toy that was all that mattered. If I have the dates right, this isn't that far before he died considering he was buried on January 3rd, my birthday. Yes, I have always found that odd :p The wall paper is certainly of its time, but I have seen similar in a lot of the DIY stores lately. Why?? lol

Throwback Thusday Art

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Surprise, surprise another dragon. I think the head decoration was inspired by having recently seen a peacock somewhere :p Not 100% sure of the date but probably around 2003 since it was in the same sketchbook as the dragon.I really like how I tried to make the Rhino look wrinkly.