Greetings.

Is it just me, or does it seem like everyone is getting hitched these days?

A bunch of my lovely friends are getting married over the next few months and one of those couples are the gorgeous Claire and Pawel.  I visited them recently and dropped off a little engagement card.

Happy little lovebirds. 

Things have been a tad quiet on the Illustration front recently and it felt good to create something again.  Making this has started the cogs whirring for a bunch of greeting cards, so watch this space.

New Beginnings.

I'm a graduate!  Yes, just over a month ago I donned the very fetching cap and gown and I graduated from the Norwich University College of the Arts.  It feels great to finally finish and I'm proud to have earned a degree from one of the best art schools in the country.We had an amazing degree show and it looked fantastic with so much great work.  We even had Creative Review take a look and we made it onto their blog with some awesome feedback.  Give it a look! (Scroll down to find the illustration review).

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/june/norwich


So it's now a fresh start for me.  I'll be honest, it's a pretty daunting place to be in right now but also exciting.  I think I've lost count at how many times people have asked me, 'so what next?'  Ideally I want to make a living as an illustrator but that's going to take some time.  I'm on the hunt for a job, preferably something creative and I'm also looking for internships to gain some experience.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  Fingers crossed something turns up soon.

On the illustration front I have a lot of work to do!  My studio has recently been a storage room for almost everything which meant I didn't have access to my materials.  But I have it back to it's glorious self so I intend to get back in there and start making work I can sell.  I've found a few competitions to enter and there is a potential commission, so plenty to keep me busy.

On this thread of new beginnings I learnt a new skill.  I taught myself to knit.  Doesn't sound terribly cool, but I knitted a soft toy Hippo and I'm pretty impressed with myself.  Considering when I bought the book back in January I was completely baffled.  It's called 'Knitted Wild Animals' but Sarah Keen and it's full of cute and fun animals to make.  I personally love the moose.  They're patterns but to me it looks like a bunch of code and I was simply clueless.  But thanks to you tube I made some sense of it.  I found a girl online who made it in about 7 hours...it took me around a month.  I obviously don't have the lightening quick knitting stitch down yet!

The reason for the hippo?  I have a brand new nephew who was born earlier this week and he is absolutely gorgeous.  I'm smitten.

I hope Elliott and the hippo will be great friends.

Knitted Wild Animals by Sarah Keen - good little book but a tad tough for beginners like me.  Using it alongside you tube makes life less frustrating.  Knit stitch, purl stitch, cast on, cast off, make a new stitch, decrease a stitch, this was all gobbledygook to me, thank you you tube.

The hippo stuffed and in bits.

Hello hippo!

Elliott's new friend.

Finally, ever so fetching...

Sian (on the right) and I enjoying graduation day.

Norwich Illustration Website.

Only a few days to go until the NUCA 2011 degree show opens.  The private view will be held on Tuesday 21st June and then the public are welcome to visit from Wednesday the 22nd to Tuesday 28th June (closed Sunday).  It will be open from 10am to 4pm.  The illustration 3rd years have a website where we have all posted a selection of our work.  If you'd like to check it out before you visit the show you can find it here, enjoy!

http://www.norwichillustration.com

NUCA Exhibition.

Today I finished hanging my work for the NUCA Degree Show 2011 and I'm actually really happy with how it looks.  I'm proud of what I've made and the direction my work is going and I hope that you enjoy it too. There is some fantastic work in our show and I hope it does well. Here's a sneak peek and I'll post about the Private View, which takes place next Tuesday, soon.  (Oh, and I apologise for the poor lighting in the photos. The room was a tad dark but as I printed my images onto Satin, there was a slight glare with the flash.)

My lovely little corner space.

Cooking Utensil Alphabet.

Illustrations from Molly's Cookbook.

Ident

I'm currently in the middle of preparing for the NUCA degree show and alongside getting covered in dust and paint I've been making an ident. It's an identity, like a logo, for myself and my work which I'm sure will evolve in the future.  Part of the money raised from our Auction is being used to make everyone 500 business cards and mine include an image on the front and my ident and contact details on the back.  I wanted to make my ident fun and simple.  It has to work well in b/w but also colour and in a variety of scales.  So here it is...

A long awaited update.

It's been a while since I've posted anything but life around here has been pretty hectic.  Monday was our final hand in and it's been a bit crazy getting everything complete.  Next step is the degree show, which I'm getting excited about.  Luckily we have a bit of a breather before we get cracking, so I'll post more info on the show closer to the time.  For now, here's a sample of my final solutions.

James and the Giant Peach submission for the Penguin Design Awards.

Pages from my cookbook.  This is an ongoing project.

Wish you were here? postcard project, based on bad travel/holiday experiences.

Auction update.

During a lecture this morning we discovered how much money the auction has raised so far for our degree show. We still have pieces to sell and as I mentioned in my last post the aim was to make at least £500.  The total so far?  Drum roll please.....*insert drum roll noise here.*
Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, a whopping £3,500!!!

That is such a fantastic amount which will go far and will help produce a fabulous degree show.  The noodle poodle was pretty pleased to!