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Udemy - Graphic Design courses

Udemy is a great online resource for e-learning. They offer a lot of courses for graphic design and a lot of them are free! Many of the courses cover the history, theory and practical skills needed to further improve yourself and your knowledge in this area. They have courses for every level to suit everyone.

I think online learning is a really interesting thing to do as its improving your skills from the comfort of your own home and something which you can do in your own time. Meaning its easy to fit into a busy lifestyle. Its definitely something which I have been thinking of doing myself as its always fun to learn something new.

Udemy recently got in contact with me about a great study they have done on what makes a successful logo. The study is really easy to follow with clear sections divided into heading such as colour, shape/dimensions and consumer preferences. It's a good read for anyone who needs some tips on creating a logo or even a refresher for anyone already in the business.

Look on their website  to see more, theres also a tab the top of the browser which allows you to search the courses so you can find exactly what you are looking for. If your an arty person like myself I would suggest looking in the design and photography sections as there are some really interesting courses to do.  

Thursdays weekly Illustration - Roller Girl

Heres my weekly illustration inspired by this old photo album print that I found in my house. Roller Girl! who wouldn't want a pair of bright pink roller skates. 

What I've been working on for my weekly challenge.

I've had lots of ideas forming and taking shape over these last few days. My first step was to research the 1970's as this is what the pattern made me think of first.

My search led me to these...

Space hoppers, roller bladed and the Wombles. The 70's seemed to be about sunshine and having fun outside then coming inside with your 1p pick and mix's and watching the Wombles. I have to say I was really drawn to the roller skates. They just held this amazing rose-tinted dream. I was sold. So taking my 1970s print and my inspirational picture of a pair of roller skates I set to work designing my illustration and planning my idea. 

A new weekly feature for my blog

Ok so I thought I might do a new weekly feature on my blog, to get me "illustrating" a bit more often and also set myself a new challenge.  Basically I'm going to try and create a new illustration every week, by choosing something I find whether it be an object, a material or a new texture. I think after graduating I've been focusing a lot of my efforts on contacting people and emailing. But I want to make sure that I keep myself creating new work and exploring new methods, so I think this blog feature will be a good way to be able to do that for myself. Now I just need to decide a name for this weekly feature.

I think I've already decided what my material will be this week. So sorting out under my bed I found this great old photo album with this beautiful pattern on it! It used to be my nanas, so its quite an old one. I think it looks like a pattern from the 60's or 70's, so this will be my inspiration for this weeks post. I'm going to post my working methods through out this week and my ideas so those will be coming up in a few days.

My recent trip to Bath

A few snaps from my recent trip to Bath last week. It is such a lovely place to visit, I think I went at the right time too, the weather was gorgeous!! There's lots of Georgian architecture and vintage style houses like the one above. Its a good place to go shopping as theres lots of great charity shops and little boutiques. 

I thought that I might tell you a few of my favourite places that I visited incase anyone reading this is going to Bath or gets inspired to. We visited a restaurant called Salathai, which was really lovely. The staff where so friendly and even gave us free desert. Whats better than that! Also make sure to visit The Real italian Ice cream co, especially if the weather is nice. They do so many flavours, the 

biscotti one is delicious.

Unfortunately the Bath Tour buses weren't running the day I was visiting but I would be sure to check this out. Its a sure way to see everything Bath has to offer from a comfortable seat! Other must-sees are The Abbey, The Royal Crescent and The Circus. Another great experience to do in Bath is the Bizarre Bath comedy walk, genuinely one of the best things to do in Bath!! If you do one thing in Bath definitely do this. Its such good value for money too. 

 

I think as well for me being an illustrator, it was a great place to get lost and get inspired. Its just a beautiful city and around every corner is something beautiful to look at. 

University degree show - Creative Swatch

A few pictures from my degree show - Creative swatch. Its so strange that Uni has finally come to an end! I'm looking forward to what comes next. 

Getting Ready for my Uni Exhibition

Really happy that my business cards and postcards have arrived in time for my University exhibition!

Response to "The Crones Eyes" by Kate Morton

One of my all time favourite authors in Kate Morton, I really love her style of writing and how you can just loose yourself in her books. At University in my last semester we where aloud to choose what we wanted to Illustrate and set our own briefs so for one of mine I decided to look at Kate Morton's short story within "The forgotten garden", "The Crones eyes". I loved the imagery of the landscape and the beginning paragraph of the princess running away from the palace and stumbling upon a cottage, the crones cottage. This imagery inspired me to create this illustration. I enjoyed creating this illustration especially the trees!

Roman inspired Calendar - The meaning behind the months

Heres another recent project I have been working on for my final semester hand in at Uni. I wanted to depict the meanings behind the Months and which Roman Gods they where named after. The research in to the Months was quite fun to do! I've never created a calendar before, so I really enjoyed  putting it together in InDesign. I'm feeling quite inspired to make another calendar but using my full portfolio on the different months. Have you made a calendar recently? how did you find it.

Alphabet book of British Quirks

My Alphabet book of British quirks is now complete its been such as fun project, thats taken a while but it was great seeing it all finally come together. 

Vintage jewellery

I'm a really big fan of all things vintage especially vintage jewellery (a love I got from my Nan) For one of my latest project at uni I've been creating illustration to promote wearing vintage jewellery. If you have any pictures of jewellery you love it would be great to see them!! I think vintage jewellery always has a special story to tell. Whats yours? 

Vintage Jewellery Project

The jewellery we wear today is and always will be influenced by the past. Theres not many things which you can say get better with wear but jewellery is one of these things. Past down through families, it gets a new meaning. The locket Granddad gave to Nana, the old chain that your Mum never took off.  

Personally, my love of jewellery came from my family. When I was younger, around eleven years old, I was given a jewellery box shaped like a treasure chest. which looked worn and half damaged, at that age i don't think I had seen anything which looked so aged, so it became like a mystic object to me. Inside contained, relics from my Nana and my Grandma. Jewellery they had worn themselves when they where my age. Costume jewellery which was popular in the past, colourful brooches, little cameos and dangling chandelier earrings. To other people looking through that jewellery box, it might have just seem old, like tat, but to me it was and is one of my most prized possessions. When I open the lid I still get a whiff of perfume which smells like my Nana and what I would have imagined my Grandma to smell like, bringing back nostalgic memories from my childhood. Some of the jewellery has gems missing, chains which don't fasten but to me this adds to the story and makes me like the pieces even more. Borrowing from the past is the new now.

The whole vintage look, is something which is very popular at the moment in our culture, from fashion and clothing right through to a resurgence in antique furniture. I think people have become more frugal and interested in the ideas of taking things from the past and giving them a new spin, a modern take. Heres a few pieces from my collections. 

My Illustrated alphabet

For the past few weeks I've been busy creating my illustrated alphabet, which is to do with all things British and quirky. I've really enjoyed working on this project as its one of the biggest ones I have undertaken. It was great to be able to have the time to create a full alphabet of illustrations, a real indulgence. What things do you do that are uniquely British? Are there any in my illustrations that you can relate to let me know.