Cakey Cakey!

Hannah J and I teamed up for epic cake making for Typogateaux. We are awesome like that and so was the cake making day. Here's the fun hectic mess:

HJ Making cake better ;D

KILL IT!

Yum?

Lovely...

TETRIS!

Hannah doing the tedious job of icing....

By the end of it we had made 3 cakes. A practice one. The Tetris letters and the Base.

Then HJ painted the letters with food colouring and added the black lines around it. If we had a bigger baking tray then it would have been longer...but we didn't...OH WELL!
The cooliest looking cake evar!

My Booky Wook

I'm a fidgeter and I can't stay still for very long, so making this was a little hard for me. (even though we where stood up.) It was long and tedious but I don't mind getting covered in glue so i suppose that's okie.

Not bad for my first try I suppose. Please Ignore my kitchen things and various animals in the Back ground. I am not a photographer ¬ ¬.

FEEDBACK! and those questiony things...

Oh yeah, forget to post this. I got 57% for my first module which is a 2:2. Just above average and I am a OK with that!

Honestly, I thought I was on the road to failure with the next stop being re submission. I suppose it comes down to me being rather pessimistic, oh well.

Evaluation Questions from previous Brief.

What problem did you identify?
That there are high burglary rates in student populated area's.

What evidence did you find to support your decisions?

* 75% of students asked know others living in Leeds that have been burgled.

* 20% of students become a victim of crime each year because students own more expensive consumer goods per head than the rest of the population.

* 76% of surveyed students in accommodation have over £2000 worth of consumer goods in their own bedrooms.

What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take? (categorise your research using primary, secondary, Quantitative, Qualitative)

What methods did you find useful and why?

What methods do you find problematic?

How did you overcome this?

How will you address these issues in future?

What research didn't you carry out that would have proved useful?

What five things would you do differently next time?

List five things you feel you have learned about the design process over the past two weeks?

1. 
   

I'm not usually a picky sod but...how is spidey doing that through his suit?

Ahh who cares:

I can die happily....

Research Breif

So this week we have been working in groups. And what a toughty subject we had; Disturbia and Negativity...fun!

We decided that we would work on making students around Leeds aware of the high burglary that happens around student accommodation. It was really interesting becasue I hadn't been previously aware of how high the risk was. Makes me glad I live in my cold cold house.

The solution to the problem was flyers, stickers and maybe a small booklet to inform the public. The resolotions we displayed to the class have a really good graphic feel and I am esspecialy proud of how well the whole thing worked together. (Despite us doing the all serperatly at home.) We made a facebook group so we could share our work over the night so we could give each other feedback and the likes.

Typeface: century gothic with the kerning set to -75
Colour scheme: all shades used had to be taken from specific colour codes e.g. magenta- C878B2 & cyan - 718FC6 ( however we all agreed on replacing the magenta with a darker reddish shade, we also experimented with yellow) Though I had Memory stick problems i.e losing it, so i kept with the pink and blue.
size: A4 - square format 21x21

We sort of run out of time to go out into Leeds and interact with the public domain but this is what the weekend is for, after cleaning of course. ¬ ¬

Our public facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43399120949

Group Blogs:
http://heatherbradleybagd.blogspot.com/
http://www.ianprenticebagd.blogspot.com/
http://katedyer.blogspot.com/
http://mitchgibbonsbagd.blogspot.com/

They're not the greatest looking things in the world but I think they work rather well. =3

What A Mess

Nearly two hours into a photoshop workshop and this is what I produce....I feel so dirty:

The balloons are my own. This is how hard core I am. (note blatant sarcasm)

Anita N Friends...

I'm really into my books and I'm currently reading an on going Horror series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is a series narrated by the title character. At first I didn't think I'd like the 1st person aspect but Hamilton really pulls it off.

Anita lives in a fictional St. Louis much like our own, save that, not only are things like vampires and shapshifters real, but everyone knows that they're real and they are considered citizens of America, much like normal humans. The novels follow Anita's ongoing conflicts with the supernatural as she attempts to solve a variety of supernatural mysteries, come to terms with her own abilities, and navigate an increasingly complex series of romantic and political relationships.

On top of that ir's really gory...A four month old baby being eaten by a rougue zombie for expamle! =D

The other year though Marvel decided they would try their hands at turning the series into a collection on comics. Starting with the first book: Guilty Pleasures. (a vampire strip club ;D)

My best friend in Texas really got me into the series but she didn't know about the comic version untill I sent her one for christmas last year. XD

(Looks so homoerotic...Philip Died though DX)

The artwork is astounding though and I'm really looking forward to getting volume one some time before new year. DX...The second volume, book 2: The laughing corpse (vampire and Zombie comedy club...go figure) has started up and I bought the 1st issue the other week...Can't wait for number 2!

I'm on book 3 now, "the circus of the dammed"...do I even need to tell you what that is...No. I'm terrible with books and comics...once i get into them, I never stop...

Out Trip To Homebase!

I decided to have a research trip to Homebase with my mum today. She needed some new bathroom things anyway and I needed picture of Baths the wrong way round. Besides, the bathroom suites at Homebase are a lot nicer than my own council one. =D

(hehe man toilet...)

(Now I know where my Nana is getting all her doody toilet seats from...)

I also thought those where pretty doody looking...Shame about the packaging though:

At first I thought they where okie looking, but then I sort of went: Uhh, the hell...Maybe it's the graphic Designer in me or maybe I'm just a picky bastard...I dunno, It gets the job done I suppose. Sat in the car I was looking at a Homebase leaflet and I immediately picked out that the photo was pixeltated and they had used the drop shadow option on photoshop...Mum called me sad...

My revenge!

(And my baby brother concealed beanth!)

100 Photo's

This research brief was NOT FUN! At first I thought it was going to be easy peasy and really fun too boot. Alas, i counted my chickens before the eggs hatched. (don't hold me too that, i like throwing random phrases out there.)

But I got it done in the end but I didn't realise that I had duplicates so I'm going to have too look back on that before module submission. Animals are people too so they where put under the poeple category. I didn't want them shoved under objects thankyou very much!

So here they are roughly in uder. The picture of the boy is my brother Kyle as no one else in my family wanted photo's taken...But my brother is a poser so that was rather handy. We where then put into pairs and I was teamed up with Charlotte who I've never really wokred with or even really talked to before. it was good, she's a good a laugh and we evetually got through the day.

We decided to categorise Ross's Photo's my light outside to inside starting with the lightest and ending with the darkest. Ross has a man pout...

And for Pearls we decided to be really really adventurous and catergise her photo's alphabetically. We regretted it...it was a stupid idea but we finally got them all in order on the table. I ate a peanut butter sandwich and we watched everyone put their photo's up on the wall. Jo asked us why we wheren't putting them up and Charlotte said very truthfully that we had no blue tack...God dammit we had ten minute to put nearly 200 photo's up on the walls...

I have no idea what category Lyndsey and Anthony put my photo's into and I kept forgetting to ask. XD

From that catergoisation and the little list of idea's my group and I made I decided to go with Bath time. Why? Because I didn't want to be predicable and so cartoons or superhero's...no matter how interested I am in those category's. Besides, I get to research toilet phobia!

The Black Panthers

So Last Friday a group of us from the course went to the Black Panther expedition in Manchester at Urbis. I went there last year on my ND course and it's such a mad looking building that I had to snap a picture of it.

(The worlds lasrgest greenhouse. Gardeners everywhere experience wet underwear)

The Black Panthers were formed in California in 1966 and they played an important part in the civil rights movement. The Black Panthers believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed and any promised changes to their lifestyle via the 'traditional' civil rights movement, would take too long to be implemented or simply not introduced.

My electives teacher says he remembers the group of black American athletes being sent home after they raised their hands and fist saluted in protest. It must have sent such a rush through the crowd and I wish I had been alive to witness such a bold and courageous movement.

(In the book I'm currently reading the same sort of rights campaigns are being carried out for Zombies and Vampires. "And when it's over Zombie is a zombie is a zombie." This is why I shouldn't be allowed to read horror books and then go visit a museum. -.- But it just shows that this movement inspired not only Black Americans, but everyone everywhere.

I don't know about anyone else but I was appalled that this kind of imagery was allowed in newspapers. Of course at the time, nobody cared for black rights or anybody's rights. Heck woman have only had rights in the last hundred years or so.

It was a really stunning expedition and there is far too much on the political side I could write here. On a graphic design side the pieces where great and the way they where also displayed around the room where very well thought out.

But it's kind of a kick in the teeth that many of these people who campaigned, not only for black rights, but for the general rights of human beings, never got too see Obama being elected...

What? You thought you where going to escape the comicy goodness. Pff.

Visual Studies...

So I really enjoyed yesterdays lesson, mainly becasue I didn't have to cut and stick any more pieces of paper. -.- I was all glued out. DX It was a really enjoyable lesson and we all got a random object/word and of whatever was in the room and we had to record that in some way. I got "Pens" and at first I was like, what am i supposed to do with that...then I stopped thinking and it came to me. So I doodled:

It's supposed to be really random and bad...yes. But I got to draw buildings in the sky and Audrey 2 and my idea was to put the pens up against the doodle and snap pictures of it. That way I would have two forms of media that work together. Like so:

It works, sort of. It's very spur of the moment so It's not as if it's the greatest looking piece in the world, but it's not too bad for what, an hour? Esspeically as Hannah Stol-borrowed my camera to take her own pictures. XD

Nobodys told me I had the goofiest looking grin in the world. ¬ ¬ Thanks guys, thanks...

Ooo and for the "what is a line" brief, I have the cooliest Idea in the world, now If i can just motivate myself to get into it. I hope it won't be too much of a tangent. 0.o

Moduel sumission...

These last few weeks have been crazy. I have never done so much work in such a short amount of time. Unless you count reading the whole of the Marvel civil war back to back until your eye's start leaking. I'm not sure the counts as work though.

I've had briefs that I've loved, briefs I've hated and ones I've genrally just fucked up. The work could be so much better, I feel. And last night I had a small tantrum in my living room and collaspsed on the floor...due to tripping over said unsorted folder. Mother made me take a walk to cool off and I got it with a rock by a ten year old. Yay for my shitty council esate.

I've made some really good friends on this course and I think i've come out of my shell more, unluckily for some people . I'm not the most conventional person in the world and I can't sit still for more than fifteen minutes, but I'm yet to walk out of a classroom and wander like I did so many times last year. This course must be doing something right if you're keeping my attention in tact.

As long as I pass this module, I'm not too fused. I'm not looking for the greatest grade, neither will I ever achieve one for a long long time. But If I pass this year and get onto the 2nd year, I know I'm doing something right.

Mail Shot!

My mail shot was posted in the letter box on Saturday at 3pm...it clearly isn't getting to Leeds until tomorow (Tuesday). This is becasue it freaking snowed at my end of Yorkshire. -.-

I only realised the other night that I had not up loaded anything about my mail shot, so here we go. First I wanted it too tie in sort of with the guardian posters. They kind of did, but as i never fiannlised the colours with the last brief, I have to do it with this one.

I decided to go with somthing simple. I wanted to make a point that it was unbelivieable that it costs less to get a plane from Manchester to London than a train. So I used little signs with the prices conviently on the back.

I did have a little card telling people a quote and an opinion but in my crit they thought it would be a good idea to make it into a train ticket, so I gave it a go. I couldn't belive I found the same font that the actual train company use.
(No counterfitting train tickets Leigh -.-)

It's not as good looking as other peoples but it's good enough for my target audience. Meh, maybe I'll get to illustrate some characters on another brief. I'm sick of looking at trains. Oh wait, i have to catch one in 20 minutes. -.0

Visual Stuff...

This stuff is still confusing to me but I'll give it ago anyway.

Synecdoches: I know what it means, it's just hard trying to explain it. It's like replacing words with something worded visual, for example; I bought myself some tunes or I bought myself a new set of wheels.

But finding something Visual for this is proving tricky. The closest I've found is a picture for a Micra car and on it a man is cupping his groin. It's supposed to convey that driving the micra is like a slice of life...
Testicles = Life
Lovely.

Metaphor: Why am I so stumped with this? The closet i can think of (thanks to never mind the buzzcoks) is 50 cent opening a a bread bag with a lot of money falling out of it. Bread = dough = money.

Metonym: A metonym is a symbolic image used to make reference to something with a more literal meaning. Like Jesus's cross.

And seeing the white house makes you think of the president...I think of a slurring ape but the guys got unill January to hall his crap outta there.

Adam's Font...yet again. XD

Yeah I re did the whole thing. ;D The mock up sheet and A3 piece will be uploaded when I go home as I left my camera cable in my house and I'm at my boyfriends mothers, forgetful leigh is forgetful. Also, I'm not renting an eskimo suit to go back out into that weather.

So here's the A3 poster instead:

(The black looks shit becasue this illustrator is fucked
because for some odd reason all of the colours have reversed.
This is what I get for posting a CMYK format on the Internet ;D Learn from your mistakes...moron)



(The right colours, but now dammed thing is blurry. RAH DX)

It looks, if I do say so myself, a hell of a lot better than the original font and I hope Adam agree's and likes it too. It's called Dammit Adam because he likes Blink 182 and I happen to like "dammit." Why not go for Adam's Song instead? Excuse me, have you heared those lyrics. I don't want the poor guy to kill himself.

(here's the A1 sheet, the first try and my mother slippers)

Angels and Airwaves is crap. By the way...
And I shall have up a post about the mail shot tomorow....Poor blog, I negleted it.

Text to Mother: Don't buy any DS games from now untill January.
Mother rings me 2 seconds later: Why not?
Me: urm...
Mother: I was thinking of buying you proffesor layton for your birthday.
Me: shit I was thinking of buying it for you for labour (it's boring and pianfull, DS games are fun dammit!)
Mother: We can link them up!
Me: yes, just what we need when the baby is being poped out. "I got a high score!" "Your baby Ms. Richmond" "Oh yeahhh...cheers."

I love my mum.

"Look Papa....Fire!"

Here's an a pretty awesome picture my old RP buddy Billious over at Deviantart did for me:

And human parents thought bed wetting was a problem.
Sasha and Leeland. =3
LOVE IT BILLY BOY! <3
I thought it was hillarious that the majority of comments this piece recived was: D'awww cute...
I'm pretty sure Lee's flamible hair doesn't find it adorable!

YAY My Dream Job!

Pff, Literally in my dreams.

When I started this piece I never intended it to turn into a front page of a comic book. o.0 Originally, It was going to be landscape format with Leeland (my marvel OC) on one side and Murial of some sort on the wall. I might still do that, but my mind wanted it to go this way for now. XD

So I made it for the most recent Babel Fish Chapter "The Salmon of Doubt" , which i have not updated in forever . Hopefully the X-mas holidays will give me some time.

Everything was made in Photoshop CS2 including the logo's...I hate bar codes. lol at almost bowling shoes. They where supposed to be high tops.

Visual Studies...Thing

It's bad news when you actaully forget what the hell the brief is called. There must be a bit of paper around here somewhere with the information on but...My house currently makes "How Clean Is Your House" look like Buckingham Palace...Before hand. *shudders*

Anyhow, have some images made out of paper. Blinding Bright Paper!

(It's chair and table you perverts.)

I wasn't so fond of this lesson, mainly becasue I'm not to good with the whole cutting and sticking thing and ahving fun with it. Sometimes it's good to feel like a child but I just could'nt get into it. However, I did like this weeks =D

I made a bunny, a teddy bear and a worm. Life is good.

(I have created a new Digimon. BEHOLD: Plushiemon!)

(I didn't take a picture of the Teddy so have a screaming worm instead.)

Paul Kepple and other such...stuff

So we've been doing a brief of poster design for the guardian articles we researched during reading week. I decided to go with the train quote as it seemed rather relevant too me. Damned rail people sucking away my moneys. ¬ ¬

Anyhow. During the crit on Friday, Johnny, Vicky and pearl all agreed that as my posters had an almost "toilet door man feel" I should try and incorporate that into the poster with the train conductor. I'm going to elaborate on "Toilet Door Man" and ensure you (and myself) that they weren't just calling my work shit.

This is Toilet Door Man:

And his lovely wife in tow there as well. Now trying to think of an artist like this stumped me for a few hours until I remembered about a set of books I had kicking around my bedroom.

I present:

I have tonnes of them, but I remembered about how the artist used those kind of Mr. and Mrs Toilet figures in his work so I went stalk-searching for him. =D

Kepple's website and he has some really funny illustrations knocking about on there. Here are Just a few:

I've changed the colour scheme for my posters as someone colour blind put on my crit sheet that "perhaps change the black." I distinctly remember picking BROWN!

Also, if you type "Cuttle Fish Agrees" into google, my blog comes up first. Failed meme is failed.

I have also found that making Pixel Base Dolls at 3am after a long shift at work is very therapeutic. I am the barmaid that polishes knives and forks at midnight in a haunted pub kitchen. ¬ ¬

"Give me those big anime eye's!"