Duck, duck, goosander.

     I've spent hours today trying to get the image I had in my head onto a bit of paper and after a total restart and a whole mess of erasing I finally got the gist of it pencilled out leaving me free to spend even more hours meticulously adding trillions of tiny dots that have quite possibly driven me insane which would explain this massively long sentence that lacks any discernible pauses or punctuation.

     This is it so far.. 

Check out how small my desk is.

     It's not quite done yet and I may even attempt to change the colour of it using a computer like what all the other boys are doing nowadays. Maybe.

Treecreeper.

     For the past few days now I've been frantically Googling pieces of information that I got from Wilf, trying to come up with something I can make into an image. Unfortunately, I find buildings insanely boring to draw, even really cool ones. However, one of my favourite stories of Wilf's took place on Reddish Vale; Stockport's very own wilderness. And, following another epiphany dream, I concocted an image in my brain that wouldn't make me want to kill myself through boredom after spending hours on it.
     I set about researching Reddish Vale; how it looked back then and what birds there were to be found (the story was about birds if you didn't guess). I even paid it a visit and saw myself a heron, which is weird since it's cold as balls out this time of year.

     Anyway, I discovered there are actually a whole bunch of gnarly birds that convene there, not just feetless pigeons and gulls..

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Cormorant

Kestrel

Goosander (this one is dead obviously)

Grey Heron

Kingfisher

Treecreeper

     Those are but a few but they're probably the prettiest and have the best names (treecreeper is my favourite).

     Obviously I haven't referenced any of these images but they're from the internet so I'm sure you'll be able to find them.

Wilf.

     Today I got up wicked early, after around half an hour of sleep, and ventured through the badlands of Stockport to visit Whitehill resource centre and have a nice long chat with a stranger. Somehow I managed to contain myself the whole way there.
     Despite bricking it beforehand (since I have very poor conversational skills and don't like people that much) I actually managed to enjoy it somewhat. I spoke to a really nice chap called Wilf. He told me a ton of stuff about his school and early work life and we even had a laugh.
     I'm slightly more optimistic about this brief and once I've read through my notes and researched some of the areas he mentioned I should hopefully be able to get something drawn.

History is history.

     Received yet another short brief, this time for an outside client: Age UK Stockport.
The aim of the brief is to work towards a heritage project that they have designed by gathering the memories and stories of elderly people with dementia at the Whitehill resource centre and producing an image based on a quote or anecdote.
     Since this is a 'heritage' project, the image should also reflect a historical building or place/area in Stockport.
     After receiving the brief we went on a historical walk of Stockport town centre and discovered that most of the historical sites and places of interest were either something else nowadays or just weren't there anymore. This is going to be a challenge.

Frictionality.

     Got a nice fresh brief last week that involves some cross-pathway group work which essentially just means I have to work with some graphic designer types for a while.

     There were three options for what we could do specifically for this project of which I chose the one titled "Fiction & Reality". It's a gapingly wide open brief that calls for concept based experimentation and creativity, which is a far cry from my comfort zone of sipping liquids in the dark and bashing out drawings.

     Over the weekend I've been poking my brains around and hoping some ideas would drip out; unfortunately they all either seemed too small and boring or too big to be achievable in the two weeks we have. Until I had a dream a minute ago and came up with a possibly half-decent one.

     Since I only have contact with one other member of the group at the minute, I'll have to wait til Tuesday to run it by them all, but hopefully there'll be ideas bouncing about all over the shop and we'll be able to get some kind of a show on the road.

Snazzy New Briefs.

     The Art of Protest - got this brief a couple weeks ago to start working on alongside another that we receive tomorrow. The idea for this one is to pick something that you care about enough to have a bit of a protest about and then make/ perform/ draw something that does just that.

     In the end I decided to go with the occasional discrimination people show towards tattooed individuals that results in not getting jobs, having to cover them up or being made redundant etc. Mostly I picked this so I could draw and research tattoo related things and include it as part of my uni work, but also because the more I think about it the more it pisses me off. 

     The idea at the minute is to produce a catalogue/ handbook of sorts, documenting different tattoos and their "meanings" written by an employer of some kind. It sounds more effective in my head than now I've written it down so I'll probably change my mind around sixteen times before the deadline.

     Here's what I've been upto so far:

Dagger heart (Do Not Hire), Pen and watercolour.

Swallow (Non Conducere Haec Persona), Pen

Cockerel (I Steal Things), Pen and watercolour

Bat (Work in Progress), Pen

London: Go there.

      I got back from sunny London town a couple of days ago, tired, sore and hungry; but happy and in one piece. It was awesome in every sense of the word.. Allow me to bore you with semi-meticulous details.

     The first place we visited was the Natural History Museum. After having my bag searched for alcohol by a seemingly blind security lady, we spent the next few hours gawping at the jaw-dropping array of stuffed animals and skeletons as well as the slightly more boring but nonetheless enormous array of rocks.

     At the crack of noon the next day we sped across the city at a frenetic and sweaty pace to find the inconspicuously located Hunterian Museum. It was fantastic! Amongst it's display cases it had everything from horse nipples to human babies: an undeniable plethora of inspiration. I could happily spend a fortnight living between the exhibits drawing and scrutinising and return a week later equally as amazed. Unfortunately photos weren't allowed so I've pinched some from the all-knowing Google for you to enjoy/ be sick at, depending on your disposition.

New born crocodile, Hunterian Gallery (Royal College of Surgeons)

Kangaroo foetuses, Hunterian Gallery (Royal College of Surgeons)

Octopus, Hunterian Gallery (Royal College of Surgeons)

Human foetuses at varying stages of gestation, Hunterian Gallery (Royal College of Surgeons)

     To calm ourselves after all this excitement we ventured to, among other places, the delightful Crobar in Soho where for the next few hours we drank, admired the rather cool decor and drank.

Kick-ass stained glass, Crobar (Soho, London)

Says it all really, Crobar (Soho, London)

     On our final day, after all these lovely, eye-melting sights, we made one last trek across London to meet our favourite illustrator/ tattoo artist Scott Move at The Circle tattoo studio in Soho. We spent about five hours there chatting, browsing, listening to rad music and being tattooed by the man himself. It was bloody brilliant.

Axewound bear belly tattoo, 2012, Scott Move

     Here are five juicy gems of knowledge I gained from our little getaway:

• In London (particularly on the underground) it's perfectly acceptable to push someone out of the way rather than go around them - it's just common sense.
• In the posher areas of London; tattoos, piercings and dressing like a handsome vagrant will get you pointed at by children and stared at by their mothers.
• If you have a railcard and plan to use the rail, put two and two together and don't forget to take it with you.
• Belly tattoos hurt alot, even if you have glistening, rock-hard abs like myself.
• London is awesome; go there with your best friend and do all the things above. Twice if you have time.

The Line is Dead..

     The "Imaginary Beings" project I was set culminates tomorrow at 4pm so I thought I'd spew forth some of my progress (the parts I remembered to document).

     The creature I picked was the mysterious and mythical "Pelican". I imagine most people know what one of those is, but the myth that goes with it originates in Egypt, which, along with the following image, was the catalyst for the theme of the entire project.

Title unknown, 2007, Library of Congress

     As part of the project I was required to design and produce a screenprinted wallpaper. I decided, after hours of contemplation, that I wanted to incorporate three stages/ characters from the story as well as a symbol or two. After further hours of tracing, organising into a sort of grid formation and impulsive stipple shading to top it off, I finally got my work onto screens and spent yesterday afternoon making a delightful, three-colour, bleeding pelican/ dead baby bird wallpaper fit for any home or office (I'll add pictures at a later date).

     I also had to produce a 3D model of my chosen character. I originally intended to produce a paperfold creature for this however, having made a sort of prototype of my design I decided that it was too geometric. So now I'm sitting in my room, partially clothed and putting the final touches on a pelican made out of bits of ripped up brown paper and Pritt-stick; much better.

Discussion Forum

Where is the content? Where is the comment?

     In an article for Creative Review back in February of this year, Lawrence Zeegen: Writer, Illustrator and Dean of Design at University of the Arts London, poses a rather controversial  'question' as to whether or not the modern Illustrator conveys any message or meaning within their work.

     To illustrate his quite frankly one-sided argument, Zeegen speaks of the juxtaposition of a billboard by Shrigley (depicting a raised fist with the words "fight the nothingness" in his own signature scrawl) and the annual contemporary art fair "Pick Me Up" where, in Zeegen's opinion, up-and-coming illustrators are doing just the opposite: creating meaningless illustrative "eye candy" for the enjoyment of others within the illustration community.

     Though I do see some truth in Zeegen's argument; does there need to be an explicit meaning within every piece of illustration work you see? Can it not be enjoyed without it?

     Personally I find that, although subtext can indeed make an image more interesting (particularly in advertising and communication design; coincidentally an area in which Zeegen specialises), ambiguity or perhaps even a vague hint towards an unclear or non-existent meaning are far more intriguing. Illustration (and art in general) is, in my opinion, far more appealing when there isn't something to 'get' but instead an opportunity for the viewer to make of it what they will through their own personal interpretation.

     All in all, it made for an interesting insight into the mind of an advertising and communication designer. However, given that the article consisted almost entirely of brash, intentionally biased opinion, the only thing I really learned of was the arrogance of the writer.

Exciting News!

     Well, exciting for me anyway. As half the people on my course look forward to the New York trip in a couple of weeks, I get to to be childishly giddy about the quest to London that my best friend Charlie has organised for us.
     As if being in London isn't already enough of an adventure, we plan to visit a whole bunch of galleries, bars, museums and such including the Hunterian museum, which, if you want to have your mind blown clean out of your face, you should definitely visit.

     On top of all these frivolities, we also get to visit, talk at and have a bit of an interview with one of my all time favourite illustrators, Scott Move AND get tattooed by the chap.

     If you're not totally jealous by now then you're not reading hard enough.

Don Gootens

     Been drawing my arms off recently, but so far I've failed to whack any of it on here.. so I've decided to do just that.

     These are the beginnings of what I intend to be some sort of triptych for the brief I got set at the start of summer. Obviously there will be another panel to go with these two and I also plan on doing a couple of smaller, more detailed panels to go with it.

     I've spent a fair bit of time on this project so far but since I can smell the deadline I suppose I'd better give it a bit more attention and try not to let personal work takeover too much.

     Have a look at some of my older work and more recent endeavours here if you fancy.

Adrian Baxter

     I don't know how I ended up on this guy's facebook page, but I do know that his work is amazing. There's a ton of time consuming detail and texture rammed into his drawings and the majority of them are black and white, have weird/ occult subjects and are riddled with symbolism. What's not to like?

     I recommend you stalk him on facebook.

Luke Jinks

     Recently came across some delightful flash sheets by Luke Jinks. He studied illustration in Bristol and is now a tattoo artist at Infinite Ink in Coventry. 

     Quite like the traditional tattoo style of these and the contemporary aesthetic that's somehow mixed in. Think it might be the muted/bright contrast in the colour scheme.

     For more bits by him click on this.
     To see some of the tattoos he's done, have a spy of his facebook page.

Guy Le Tattooer

     Found this chap whilst perusing the internet the other day. He recently had an exhibit in Paris which featured several silicon moulds of his arm that he had then tattooed and framed.
     I really like the realism of them; they look like an actual dude's arms have been pulled off and preserved in formaldehyde. Plus I'm obsessing over tattoo as a medium at the minute. Lovely.

      Click here to see a bit more of his work.