Inskcape Illustration 1

RSS Cardboard Box drawn in Inkscape

This looks like it will be my new hobby- I'm beginning to get really into graphic design elements now. Love looking at other peoples logos and app user interfaces, it really is an interesting perspective of design that I never really consider as something someone would be employed to do. Anyhow, this is one of my first fully blown projects in Inkscape that was purposefully as a learning exercise. It's essentially more of an illustration, that certainly demonstrates the 3D rendering power that can be gained even from simple tools.

It would be much easier if a) I had a batter laptop and b) I had Photoshop though. In both cases, I could do with some more cash. With that in mind I will have to keep improving and make do with what I have at my disposal!

Nighthawks... The Disco and Night Club

Edward Hopper's Nighthawks Original (edited) - I do not own the Nighthawks image

Just did a quick and rather simple edit which turned out quite interesting. More of a parody work than anything serious, just a bit of fun I thought! Made a bad choice for the disco light source position which doesn't look very believable, but all the same fairly effective I thought! Essentially created an alpha channel in the blue, with the coloured gradients below plus the disco light gradient. 

Logo Designs Are Improving... Slowly

onfabrik - German Web Design Company

onfabrik - German Web Design Company

iOS app icon for jipio, stylising their logo

Finally I'm using vector drawing software, but I have to use the free stuff still. Inkscape is serving me fairly well so far for fairly routine stuff, which I can then rasterise with effects using Paint.NET... which I adore by the way. None of these designs were considered (in fact all eliminated) so I will need to continue practicing and hope for the best! But still, my skills have vastly improved over about the past 3 weeks!

i.materialise: A Success!

Finally received my 3D prints that I drew in SketchUp at least a good month or so back, printed by i.materialise in MultiColour plastic. They look absolutely magnificent in the flesh! I can't think of many better and more personalised gifts that you could present someone with really.

Albelli Photo Books: My first go!

 These are so worth it. I would really advise anyone who has got enough high quality photos to hurry up and try this out now! The book is worth about £25, (about £30 with P&P) but I was lucky enough to get a £15 voucher from Amazon UK randomly. Funnily that's the only reason I had even heard of Albelli in the first place!


The book itself is really easy to create. So long as you are of an average capability in something like Word, you will be able to familiarise yourself quite quickly.



 I chose to get the personalised photo cover, but you can also choose from plainly coloured textures such as linen etc. You really can't go far wrong with whatever you choose.

 As for print quality... as you can see below it is excellent. So long as you are not hugely upscaling the size of images the quality will be perfect, just as detailed as something you would get out of your home printer. I would also recommend the gloss paper which I opted for, which really finishes off an all round beautiful product that is completely personal and really satisfying!!

Krave 'Massive' Logo Design

This logo was entered for a design competition for an Updated logo for Krave Night Club. It was unsuccessful, but it one of the first designs I have put together. I was happy with it and think it could certainly be used on its own for a night club of some other sort. Need more practice with graphic design, but lets be fair; I can't afford PhotoShop....

Logo Design

Logo for i.materialise

Logo for i.materialise

i.materialise are a Belgian company that deal in the emerging business of user defined 3D printing. Their customs receive CAD designs, the i.materialise team tweak it and then they manufacture with the wonderful process that is 3D printing. There is a really strong and positive focus upon the social aspect of design work, where people can even sell their own 3D printed designs from an i.materialise vendor of their own. Their website makes use of an ever changing logo in the top right corner which is always a user submitted design. The casual and friendly ethos put forward by the logo perfectly reflects the approach of i.materialise. I am currently in the process of having two MultiColour plastic designs being manufactured right now! Hopefully they might even accept my logo to be used as one of the many that are already employed right now.

More Filtering!

Blackberry InstaPhoto and Photo Studio filters

Fine Art 8



'Desperation' - Impasto Acrylic layer with original photograph

This was a photo taken a very long time ago, on what I remember being a very cold, dark and bleak night. I am informed it was the 13th of November by the original photo. It was one of many images taken (around 100) on an evening walk around a nearby reservoir to me with all the accompanying undergrowth on the prescribed route around. I recall on that night thinking the venture was a complete waste of time; that was until I discovered this remarkable technique anyway! I wonder what the chances would be of me finding this exact spot again? 

I truly believe that exposing myself to such an incredibly bleak and austere situation really contributed to the mood and atmosphere of the photo. This experiment was part of my individually pursued project titled 'Outcasts and Loneliness', of which I have already blogged an image from ('Loneliness'/Fine Art 1). The main artist influences, appropriate to the project title, were Alberto Giacometti and Vincent Van Gogh. Exploring the life of Van Gogh much more in depth, more books than Internet, really does bring up so much more about his life. His sacrifice of such a tragic and socially-deprived life, in place of his creative contribution to the world, is absolutely incredible. The many little stories revealed by the letters to Vincent's brother Theo track and amazingly emotive journey that achieved so much yet ended so soon.

Design Work 1

soulR-fm - Block modelled from MDF

Photography

A scanned in photograph that was taken in the 1940s by my great uncle, John Blezard, who was at the time in Egypt during World War 2. He took a large amount of photographs in his time there. With this photograph, I applied a Lomo Lens R filter in Blackberry Photo Studio, creating more contrast and also making the image appear to be colour. 

CAD Modelling 2

SoulR-fm (April 2012)

A CAD model of the solar powered iPod Holder, Charger and FM Transmitter I designed. Will post more pictures of the product later. FYI, the album being played on the iPod is the debut album by the British Progressive Rock outfit King Crimson (1969)

Fine Art 7

A very experimental image created with the aid of a Trust Wireless tablet. Composed of several layers created in between GIMP and Paint.NET image editing software.

Fine Art 6

A simple digital image that was rather serendipitous. The faint layer was on an illuminated computer screen, with the darker image (on paper) simple laid over and photographed.

Fine Art 5

'Hope'- Acrylic on Watercolour paper and Charcoal sticks (May 2011)

Inspirred by the surrealists who pioneered automatic drawing; namely Andre Masson and Joan Miro. The charcoal was added to the completed painting to generate an accentuated contrast, portraying the array of interleaving emotions and subconsciously informed expressions that fittingly reflect the subject's mood.

Fine Art 4

Filtered section using 'Memories' on Blackberry Photo Studio. Section from abstract acrylic on canvas - pallette knife and brushwork

CAD Modelling

The second Bauhaus School of Design - Dessau, Germany

Modelled in Google SketchUp

Fine Art 3

'Egypt' - May 2012

Acrylic on Framed Wood (out of shot)

Fine Art 2

Acrylic on canvas with Lomo Lens R Filter from Blackberry Photo Studio

Fine Art 1

'Loneliness' - Feb 2012

Edited photograph with scanned impasto layer