Little Red Comic Strip

Final outcome, Little Red Comic Strip. I was very pleased with my work for this project and the final outcome. I've also actually really enjoyed doing the work for this project which is important to keep motivated to get the work done.

Pictures Without Words: Little Red Comic

For this project i had to illustrate Little Red Riding Hood using a minimum of four illustrations and no text. I've currently been inspired by the works of cartoonists such as Jime Woodring, Jason and Hergé. I therefore decided to tell the story in the form of a comic book and using the simple ligne claire style. Here are some of the initial drawings and sketches for my ideas:

Jason

Norwegian cartoonist, influenced by his work for my current project in which I have to illustrate Little Red Riding Hood.

Jim Woodring

Frank & Pupshaw:

Pages from Wodrings sketchbook:

Essay

Currently writing an essay about designer toys, mainly focusing on James Jarvis. However really like Gary Basemans work and was interested to find out Jim Woodring has also released toys based on his cartoon characters. I've been heavily influenced by Woodrings work, for another project I’m working on. Its good having a link between the project and essay has helped me to keep focussed on both rather than them individually.

Black & white Frank toy by Jim Woodring. Theres also a colour version

Somebody Somewhere Wants a Letter

Right for this project we I had to choose a person to send a letter/package/whatever to. To cut a long story short I ended up starting this project quite late due to various personal reasons. So I ended up choosing Wayne Rooney for reasons I’m not quite sure anymore. Anyway I decided to bring elements of his personal life into the work as well as his sporting career.

I also decided to design a football badge to represent him. I really wanted to embroider the badge design onto a t-shirt. However time was against me. I did manage to hand stitch the design which proved very difficult due to the level of detail in the design. If I had more time I would of like to have use an embroidering machine to sew it on.

In order to get the work finished for the deadline I decided to use Illustrator. I created a postcard with the 'Wayne Rooney' football badge on. I am pretty pleased with it as not only did I get the work done in a short amount of time, but I also got to develop my Illustrator skills a bit more.

Trip to Dubai: Burj Khalifa

The architecture in Dubai is amazing and the fact it has the tallest building in the world just puts the icing on the cake.

The Burj Khalifa stands 828m/2,717ft tall and has the fastest elevators with a speed of 64km/h, or 18m/s. The elevator ride its self was an amazement, like something straight out of charlie and the chocolate factory. Then stepping out to the view of Dubai was truly mind blowing.

It was also interesting to learn the background behind the design of the Burj Khalifa. The whole building was designed with organic influences and actual shape of the building is based on a six leaf orchid flower. Like the arabesque patterns, the design of the Burj Khalifa has been drawn up using shape and pattern.

Trip to Dubai: Design Influences

I recently took a trip to Dubai not only was i blown away by the heat, but i was equally amazed by the architecture and design Dubai had to offer.

The malls themselves were full of beautiful features to look at. I'd often find myself walking around looking up to the ceilings and due to the vast size of the malls i seemed to find something new each time i went:

Although Dubai itself is quite a modern city i was very interested in the traditional Islamic art. In one of the malls i found a small museum which talked about the origins of Islamic art. I learn that the most distinguished type of Islamic art was called the Arabesque. It is a fusion of pure mathematics and the art of space to create a geometric art. The patterns are apparently designed to encourage deep thought and spiritual contemplation. I thought this linked nicely to the 23 project i had completed just before i went to Dubai. Although in a much more modern and a much less spiritual way.

Anyway here are some examples of arabesque being used which i found on my travels:

Pathway Project, Part 2: 23

For this project the brief read: 'Based on a simple number, produce a black and white image. Your number must be based on the concept - CRAFT & TECHNOLOGY

I wanted to incorporate the bottle top collection (final found an actual use for them). I chose 23 as it is one of my favorite numbers and therefore it would be a nice idea to include my favorite collection. So i began by simply playing around with the tops to form the number 23:

I liked this idea of playing with shape to form the number. I drew a grid and experimented with different shapes to make up 23. As i was doing this i wondered if i could use 23 squares to form the number 23, and after a few attempts i found it could be done.

from this i photographed the bottle tops, cut the printed paper into 5x5cm squares, and photographed the new arrangement to create the final image:

I'm really pleased with the final outcome, i like its quite a simple but clever idea. I also like that it looks almost like its been made digitally when in actual fact its just pieces of cut out paper.

Pathway Project, Part 1: Bottle Top Collection

For around just over a year now i have been collecting bottle tops. I first began collecting them with the intention to use them within my work, as time went on it became more of a habit/obsession. I'm quite a hoarder anyway so the collection grew and grew and now i have around 500. As the collection grew i had to keep changing the container i put the tops in. It began with a small make-up bag, then progressed to a wicker basket.

I now keep them in a sweet tin (which is almost full):

I think what i like about keeping the bottle tops is how different the designs can be. A lot of them have quite decorative typography and imagery on them which i find quite interesting. I like when i come a cross different design variations of the same drinks. Some Examples:

The tops often have colour variations to indicate types or flavours of the drink, but I think its interesting when there is a variation to the actual design. This could indicate a newer cap so new design.

Here's some other examples that i like the designs of:

I think some of these have really nice typography such as the 'Sam Miguel' and 'Sol' caps. I also really like the 'Corona Extra' because of the use for deep blue and green, the typography on that one is also quite nice.

I HATE it when the top has been bent when its been removed from the bottle. Or when the use by date is printed on the top.

I thought while i have been looking at collections and archives it would be interesting to split the bottle tops into different colour groups:

There's almost a weird nostalgia with collecting these tops. Certain ones remind me of different people. Its also interesting to see what was most popular and and when there's only a few of a certain bottle top that's clearly been an unpopular drink and so never bought again.