Illustrator Lessons

This is another attempt at using illustrator to create drawings/work. I think I'm getting to grips with drawing with the pen tool now and using the pen tool to create shapes and curves. Ive experimented with this one after creating the initial shape, using different colour schemes and placing different darker spots throughout the drawing.

Life Drawing

I wanted to try and get back into drawing again and regain some of my confidence. One of the best ways I've found to do that is to attend life drawing classes. So thats what Ive been doing. These are my first attempts. I found it quite relaxing, but also a challenge. I'm really pleased with how the face turned out, as I often struggle to capture facial expressions. I apologize for the bottom picture beign a bit blurry - I need a better camera ! 

Illustrator Lessons

This is my third attempt at a vector/illustrator based drawing. Ive found having an idea before hand really helps, especially when it involves simple shapes. Here I've also used the pencil tool to create the more organic lines, such as the lines inside the cactus or on the floor. I wish that id learnt this earlier as I found the process really easy. I still think my work needs a hand drawn element, so Im going to try and combine the two together when appropriate. I think this style could work really well with editorial work.

I want to try and create more work using different view points and angles though.

Illustrator Lessons

This is my second attempt at recreating an old drawing in illustrator. I think I've done a much better job with this one. I really like the smooth finish that illustrator creates. I think I'm going to use illustrator more for basic shapes like this. I don't think it works as well with a more detailed drawing and its a lot harder for me to recreate. Im seeing signs of progress though.

Ive been trying to find work ( full time ) in design for a while now, but what I've been finding is that most jobs, if not all you need to know how to use illustrator and other adobe programs. If Im being honest my illustrator skills are very basic. So I've set myself a challenge of learning how to use it properly. I've used tasty tuts, which is a brilliant youtube channel for anyone trying to learn.

Ive been watching you tubes videos and going through everything there is on illustrator to try and learn as much as possible. Right from the basic things to more complicated things. Above is my attempt at drawing out an old illustration, just using the pen tool and what I've learnt the past few weeks. Its not the best, but its an improvement from where I was. The pen tool I've found really difficult to use, but slowly I am getting there. I just need more practice and to keep going with it.

Fahrenheit 451

It has been a long time since I last posted on here. I think now is the right time to try and start posting again. I have always been a avid book reader and my aim is to write down my thoughts and respond to each book on my blog. 

"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix before Christ, every few hundred years he build a pyre and burnt himself up, he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over, and it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had. We know the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it someday we'll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. 

Fahrenheit 451 is a book I have been meaning to read for a while. I have finally done so and I must say it was an extremely enjoyable book. A dystopian novel written by american author Ray Bradbury, the book is centered on the main character Guy Montag. His job as a fireman is to destroy books - the discord of all unhappiness in society. 

This story is one of a future with no thought and no questioning, i.e. why do we do things, what is that or whats the story behind that. Society in general becoming bland and emotionless with people unable to think for themselves. Everything 100 miles an hour and instantly explained on a television. Books and anything intellectual have become the source of all evil and the story itself focuses on the idea of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. With that the history of the past gone and people unable to question things and unable to learn from past mistakes. 

This book is very symbolic in my opinion of where society could be heading and the author has some very interesting ideas about the way we live. The quote above is a perfect description for me. We forget and make the same mistakes, rather then learn from them. Books and ideas are the counterweight to that. Books in particular hold such strong power i.e. history of the past, lessons of the past and imagination - the ability to use your mind to transport yourself to another fictional world. People aren't meant to be glued to the tv like zombies, but living real lives and not forgetting about real things - family, relationships..

This world created by Ray Bradbury, is a world lacking in colour and emotion, until the main character opens his eyes and opens his mind to the world around him.“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” 

This book is a fantastic read and I would urge anyone to read it. It certainly challenged the way I think.

The Time Machine

Ive always had a interest in science fiction/fantasy novels. 'The Time Machine' a book written by author H.G WELLS is a book I've always wanted to read. The idea of exploring the unknown and traveling to the future has always fascinated me. From classic films like Back to the Future - time travel, is such an interesting concept.

The book itself is a great read and holds up so well considering it was written over 100 years ago. The book  is an imaginative viewpoint of what society and the world has become in the future. The idea of society almost breaking down and the human race coming to a point where it almost devolves into something less. The main character, known as the time traveller, arrives in a world where small child like adults live in run down buildings of a bygone era. He thinks humans have evolved through technology, where the human mind has become less important in a peaceful world.

However he finds two forms of life the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Morlocks - blackened and only seem to live underground. I love the atmosphere created and the character development of the Morlocks and how they are portrayed as almost monsters. Towards the end he realizes that the childlike adults ( Eloi) are actually cattle and food for the Morlocks. He then travels further through time to a world of giant creatures and a dying planet.

When I read this book, I can easily imagine the world he is in and the characters that are there. I can imagine bright star filled worlds and books like this make me wonder about our own future. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it.