merry christmas

a fish with a see-thru head!

this is a post i might regret in the morning, but i like to live dangerously..
so ive stayed up, intending to pull an all-nighter (im a late starter when it comes to getting down to work, but once i start its difficult to stop as i fear ill revert back to being all "non-chalent but actually really stressed")
what have i been doing? (for the few out there who might care..) well... ive been gathering lots of loose ends from various projects and trying to make them look presentable:

i plan on binding all these pieces into some sort of book to make it easier to plough through.. though the thought of bringing it in makes my back ache.

im at home in wilt-shire atm and the whole family is here .. which is both lovely and sort-of-not-so cos for some reason, although the festive season brings the family together, and kind-of makes it ok to greet strangers, (peck-em: not so much) i find that all that merry-ment, iceland prawn platters and whincy weather; the repetitive scarving and de-scarving and the cracked lips you force into some sort of smile actually induces prickliness in some people. i say some.

but before u label me a grump, note that aside from this i actually really quite like christmas, and all its sellotaped, tied and festooned twinkliness...

its a frugal christmas this year, but that's ok. actually, i'd much rather have one thoughtful present than several not so thoughtful ones.

anyways i saw a fish with a see-thru head! not in the flesh obviously (or scales or wateva) but on "decade of discovery" on the bbc (i think u can still catch it on i-player)

and what look like the eyes are actually its nostrils ...

there was also a hot pink millipede, and a stick insect longer than my arm.. yeah, interesting... who needs aliens?

bored?

http://www.stories-in-my-pocket.blogspot.com/

other blog

collections project continued ...

did i mention that we're designing a catalogue for a museum? choosing items from the exhibits and working with type and image to create a catalogue? i chose the natural history and the v&a museum of childhood.. but as it stands ive been focusing all my efforts on the nat.history one..
actually i finished it today (finally, and just on time as its due in tomorrow..) here are some photographs, the logo and then the actual pages:

i printed it on a white paper that has a slight shine to it.. nothing overly exciting, no frills.. i wanted it really clean, delicate and simple, so that the drawn elements are allowed to speak for themselves, and to be honest because i've been liking plain and simple atm...
so yeah, overall im quite pleased with the outcome, there are definite changes/alterations i would make (layout, little tweaks, paper experimentation, content etc) but generally im liking the overall look and feel of this little pamphlet in my hands... we'll see what happens..

night.

collections project

i'm just in the middle of typing up my notes from the museums ready for tomorrow's typography workshop and been working on adding type to various images.
i visited the natural history first as its quite a nostalgic place for me, and for some reason was drawn to the taxidermy animals (next to the blue whale) with horns and antlers and spikes and stuff..
i decided not to use photography in the this catalogue because a. i don't have a very good camera and b. a photograph of a dead animal posed as if alive is all you need, so why go see it? its not like an antique gold vase that needs close inspection to get a real sense of it. Yes to get an idea of scale and splendor its best to see these animals close up, but there is possibly less wonder or intrigue, no price tag or makers stamp.
so i just drew, something im enjoying at the moment..just quick doodles and sketches which ive just been adding text to and experimenting with..

the actual text isn't always relevant to the image or makes sense as i was just getting a feel for how type would look next to my images and experimenting with compositon.. it was a case of cut and paste job and a photocopier, with the acception of a few..

anyways need to get back to work..



deer/elephant/addax/rhino

some sketches/doodles from the natural history museum in prep for the collections project.. brb..

image project

so i visited the science museum and the imperial war museum, we are designing souvenirs..

i basically just filled up the page with little things that caught my eye, which turned out to be things like nuts and bolts and anything that looked like it could be embellishment or adornment like badges or text, lights, anything small and colourful..
i liked the fact that the attachments or fixings (dunno the word) for the pipes and things were these lovely pastel shades ... im sure there's a logical reasoning behind all of this like "this one makes sure u can breathe" or something but i loved that they looked like badges or brooches or something.. almost like jewellery or badges of honor etc..

on to the imperial war museum, (along with the hoards of camera toting war paraphernalia fanatics) i also looked at the idea of adornment or decoration, focusing on little details from handpainted designs to more practical things like screws and name plates and chains etc..

again i filled pages..

ropes, badges, nuts, numbers, words, patterns...

names, borders, chains, wheels..

so i looked at the idea of decoration and tranferring these ideas on to paper products like letter papers...

using snippets from my drawings to add a special touch to ur letter ... nice idea?

so yeh, with the research from the science museum i did a similar thing...

then experimented with the idea of jewellery designed along the space theme... be a glamorous geek...

i made lots of little prototypes (below for some reason) and ended with this:

admittedly this isnt a great picture (the item is actually quite pretty) i'll insert a better one later...