Lucky Lucky

Entry #30 - Lucky Lucky

Yesterday I mentioned that you have to create your own luck sometimes so I pursued that today. I chose to use several 'lucky' symbols from different cultures, I actually have an eye and beetle. People also pray when they need luck to happen in their favour so that also needed to be drawn.

The tree represents the growth of luck and sometimes when you're on a good streak of luck it just keeps going and your luck goes from strength to strength.

As mentioned yesterday, today's entry is the LAST one I'll be doing in this series. I will continue making things but just not to a daily deadline. So there may be a new project heading on here soon!

Enjoy.

Thumbs Up

Entry #29 - Thumbs Up

Because yesterday's entry was about being angry, upset and whatever else I wanted to create something that showed the person was trying to reverse their emotions. Sometimes when everything is going the wrong way you just have to pick yourself up and try to create your own luck.

The arrows represent the new direction that the person wants to take but their thumb down is how they really feel. There is no expression on the face because there is no real need for a personality on the person, they represent everyone.

Tomorrow's entry is THE LAST one I'm doing! A month's worth of drawings a day (does that even make sense?) is enough and I'll just carry on drawing to no deadlines.

Enjoy.

Emotional Food Chain

Entry #28 - Emotional Food Chain

Today's entry, although linked to yesterday's, is quite a loose link to what I uploaded yesterday. Leading on from the 'chain' of the chicken to egg to fried egg I began thinking of chains and what kind of chains there are. I wanted to do something to do with anger and emotion so I just searched (on you know what) for 'emotional chain' and found an article! So I knew it wasn't something that I had made up. I then began thinking about what would link anger to emotion and instantly thought of relationships. Relationships, whether they be with family or lovers, cause us to be angry at some time or another. This created the 'chain' link that I needed.

The differently coloured borders represent the roads that you travel on when you are arguing with someone, sometimes you just go round and round without actually targeting the real cause of your disagreement. This 'real cause' is what is inside his head, the relationship and it's faults.

Enjoy.

The First

Entry #27 - The First

Once again I was struggling to extract inspiration from yesterday's entry. After staring at the description I entered it clicked, oyster's are (majorly) eaten raw so that nwould be my theme - rawness.

Although I had my theme, the image didn't immediately come to mind. Thinking it over though I thought about what is raw? Eggs! Then drawing influences from one of my earliest entries about the food chain, I decided to pursue that same train of thought. Chicken and egg leads to a fried egg of course.

Enjoy.

The World Is

Entry #26 - The World Is

Thinking of something to do today was quite hard actually, I didn't really see any inspiration leaking out. However, after thinking about it I noticed that I mentioned my cat looking out onto the world all time. Although this whole 'world' concept provided quite an obvious illustration, I didn't want to pursue this. So I decided to think about what ideas or concepts can be developed from the idea of the world. I thought about phrases and the classic 'the world is your oyster'. There was my inspiration.

I wanted to keep it quite simple (the colours anyway) and try to instil the feeling of being tangled up, because the world is pretty tangled isn't it.

Enjoy.

Stars

Entry #25 - Stars

Moving away from the 'opposites' concept I decided to follow the whole cutesy bunny rabbit theme. But instead of doing another rabbit I thought that a nice kitten would be perfect. This was influenced from last night when I was sitting in my room and my cat Sylvie was just sitting there in the doorway looking out onto the landing, it looked like an ideal image.

Initially, the image looked a lot different in my head but it just didn't work out when I started drawing. The balloons are photographs that I took yesterday because they were flying over our house (it was the balloon festival yesterday). The cat is just looking out of the door onto the world, the amount of time my cat just sits there and does that is incredible.

Enjoy.

Opposite

Entry #24 - Opposite

Yesterday's post hinted at the theme of binary opposites so I wanted to follow it today. For some reason I instantly thought of a  rabbit. Not sure why but that is what I started drawing straight away. The tricky bit was trying to enforce the whole 'opposite' part of the piece. I asked around at home and apparently the opposite of a bunny rabit is either a bear, a furry spider or a leech. I thought that the bear would be the most appropriate to 'head up' the rabbit so to speak. Through admiration and because I liked the idea, combining the two together is almost as a result of Sandra Deickmann's combining of two animals in her giveaway competition. I could even go as far as saying that this entry is of direct influence of her work but let's not get too carried away, ey?


I'd like to come back to this one and give the animal some texture or different colours, not sure why I just feel that it's missing something.


Enjoy.

Twisted Words

Entry #23 - Twisted Words

It's being put on today because I think i'm going to be travelling tomorrow and therefore won't have enough time to draw.


Following on from the whole success and road thing I realised that in order to reach the 'top' you have to climb many 'mountains' and battle against a lot - emotionally. That is what today's entry draws on from, people are always trying to screw you over and I presume that you have to deal with a lot when climbing the ladder.


I also drew influence from the Radiohead song 'These Are My Twisted Words' as that kind of thing is what I presume goes on in business.


The selection of words relate to love and how it works/doesn't work etc etc and the whole air of the piece is quite confusing which is what your mind would be dealing with in this kind of situation.

There is also another side to this entry, emotions. The character has to be very reserved and strong minded showing no emotions, that is why the tears shown are not coming from their eyes but from inside as they have o bottle everything up.


Enjoy.

Revolution

Entry #22 - Revolution

Because I was illustrating empires and success I started thinking about the fact that you can't just walk into it (well some people do but you know what I mean) and you have to travel some distance to become 'successful'. This travelling, to me, wanted to be represented by a road. No a road that we see every day but a road inside your own mind, your own goals being transferred into an mental 'road'.

Therefore I felt that someone being entangled in their own road would be a nice way to illustrate today's theme - revolutionary roads. I didn't want to call the piece that title simply because of the fact that there was a film called the same.

Enjoy.

Empire

Entry #21 - Empire

Today I've taken the happiness route and tried to illustrate the concept of 'belief'. I wanted to show a person physically demonstrating their success and that their own belief has led them to the position that they are in today.

I initially wasn't sure how to show this concept in visual form but I was lead to the idea of showing off a sort of 'empire' with the person at the top of it or showing it from a vantage point like you see in Hollywood.

Enjoy.

Tenterhooks

Entry #20 - Tenterhooks

The first thing my mum said when I showed her today's entry is 'you might as well slit your wrists now' so I assume she's not the only one thinking that that's where this blog is heading. Trust me it's not, i'm just following the themes and what you see is (what I think) a natural progression!

Okay, today's entry is a development of the notion - hinted at by yesterday's piece - of someone being on their last legs and you not being able to help them. I aimed to demonstrate today that the person has realised their faults but it is just too late, hence the holding on to the chair with finger tips.

I wanted to keep the personality of the person to a minimum which is why they are in an almost cartoony style. The idea wasn't to put a real person in their shoes but just to develop the theme. The 'halo' around the person signifies the hope that they have in themselves, firstly from their belief that they were not doing anything wrong initially and secondly their belief that they will be able to escape the 'darkness'.

Enjoy.

My Friend

Entry #19 - My Friend

I've got the 'Elbow' album 'Seldom Seen Kid' on repeat at the moment and that is the influence for today's entry. In particular the track 'Some Riot' because the opening verse just warranted something doing in my opinion. It goes like this (and is written on the piece):

A friend of mine grows his very own brambles
They twist all around him 'til he can't move
Beautiful, quivering, chivalrous shambles
What is my friend trying to prove?

To me this strongly hints at a person turning in on themselves and almost self destructing infront of your eyes. They are doing something which to them fells right but you just know that it is harming them and there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening.

I wanted to keep the image simple but illustrating the point (literally) so I took the route of using an actual (photographed) hand and then digitally produced 'brambles' and roots to demonstrate the growth aspect. The link between today and yesterday is the friendship aspect, the man, turtle and gorilla had some kind of relationship inside that lift and today's entry is about a relationship between good friends.

Enjoy.

Three In A Boat

Entry #18 - Three In A Boat

After yesterday's confusing post I had to find some kind of inspiration for todays. I realised that I hinted at things that don't make sense and that is kind of the central theme of today's entry. How does a turtle, a gorilla and a man in an elevator make sense? Hopefully i'll manage to find inspiration tomorrow for something which warrants more than a paragraphs worth of explanation.


Enjoy.

Nonsensical

Entry #17 - Nonsensical

Yesterday's entry hinted at things being out of their comfort zone because of the unnatural setting that the monkeys were in and this led me to the parable 'like a duck out of water' and thought that would be a nice avenue to pursue. Therefore I was led to illustrating some ducks somewhere completely abstract of course... The image doesn't really make sense which is kind of a direct signification of what my head feels like today after a very large drinking session last night.


Enjoy.

Take The Lead

Entry #16 - Take The Lead

Leading on from the 'cheaky' theme hinted at by yesterday's entry, I wanted to illustrate a cheeky monkey in quite an abstract background. This was because I didn't want to just draw up a mock rainforest or an environment that you would usually see them in because that would be conventional and quite boring. After showing my mum the image she said that I should include a little baby monkey and that's what I did, it just adds that extra little bit of story and depth which I now felt was necessary. 

Enjoy.

One and One

Entry #15 - One and One

Today's post is quite a cheaky take on how males and females treat love. I think that woman are always living 'in the clouds' and no worries enter their mind, it's all happiness. Whereas men will stay practical and try to realise what a relationship will mean to their lives. You are always seeing men saying things like 'trying to take football away from me would be like cutting off my right arm' or something equally ridiculous and woman talking about how they've 'planned my ideal wedding ever since I was a kid' etc etc.

The link between today's and yesterday's posts is the development of the concept of 'roads' and how this translates into life and different paths we take and with whom.

I wanted to mix techniques (hand-painted, digitally painted) to try to emphasise this difference and keep the theme distinct. The background is also very simple as I did not want to detract from the focal points - the two people.

Enjoy.

All Roads Lead To

Entry #14 - All Roads Lead To

Today's image is different from the rest, it's on a square canvas. My mum complained and said 'why do you always work on long thin backgrounds?' so I decided to change my ways and here's the result.

Leading on from yesterday's hinted concept of 'freedom' I was compelled to explore the idea of 'roads'. What are roads? Essentially all roads are endless and the possible 'journeys' (I hate that word) that can be had are limitless. That is why I decided to leave the beginning and end of the roads empty, with no end it's up to you to decide which memory/dream you'd like to insert into the pathways and therefore the piece can be adjusted to whoever is viewing it.

Enjoy.

Expansion

Entry #13 - Expansion

It took me forever to actually create something worthy of uploading and I was starting to turn insane just looking at the screen waiting for something to happen.

On a lighter note, today's piece takes the concept of 'growth' to formulate something which makes a change from the darker images of late. The conceptual aspect of this image is the hands 'releasing' all the elements and allowing them to be 'free'. It almost represents the start of all things known as the big bang, but lets not get too pretentious.

I decided to use the birds, butterfly and flower because they all represent happiness, freedom and a release of some sort.

Enjoy.

Everything Else Is Just Progress

Entry #12 - Everything Else Is Just Progress

Yes, it is another dark piece but that's just the way things work around here.

It follows on from the previous ideas about our world being taken over and this is evident through the use of blacks, reds and dark blues. Today's animal of choice is a bird, in particular a pigeon, hiding in one of the trees keeping an eye on you.

The people at the bottom of the image are the followers of the new generation and have no choice but to obey. Like any other movement, the 'thing' in charge believes that what they are doing is best and that is why the harsh slogan is inside a speech bubble shaped like a heart - they have your best intentions at heart. The text/balloon string reads 'don't get any big ideas...you'll go to hell for what you dirty mind is thinking' (from the song 'Nude') and this emphasises the powerlessness of the followers and how much control the leader has over them.

Enjoy.

Keep The Wolf At The Door

Entry #11 - Keep The Wolf At The Door

There are two interpretations of today's theme which develops on from yesterdays idea about man taking over animal's world. However, today is the reverse - a world ran by animals, and in particular wolves. Wolves are scary and so is a world ran by animals so I decided that they would be a good choice to include in this piece.

The first image shows a fence guarding off the scenery which is the old 'man run' world and how it is being banished and confined whereas the wolves have freedom of the world.

Image number 2 shows the spiny, sharp teeth of the wolves closing in on our world from the top and bottom and allowing their management to flourish.

Enjoy.

At Sea

Entry #10 - At Sea

As I visited Kent this weekend (in particular, Beltinge, Ramsgate and Broadstairs) I thought that today's piece had to be influenced by this in some way. I took my camera so wanted to integrate both hand drawn/painted, digitally painted and photographic materials to create an interesting contrast.

The name for the image has been influenced by Simon Armitage's poem of the same name. 'At Sea' is about an argument of sorts and today's piece follows suit somewhat. As commercialism overpowers these once quaint little seaside towns, there is an evergrowing 'argument' between nature (birds, insects etc) and man and his proud carbon foot. However 'nice' and 'pretty' these towns may be, they are not what they once were and the first residents of the towns are now forced into being 'owned' by man.

In terms of how does this link to yesterdays, ants are known for travelling in 'armies' and this is similar to how the starlings featured travel - in large groups. A further similarity is the beautiful nature in which both armies travel and work - ants in their unbelievable strength and workmanship and starlings in their tremendous coordination.

Enjoy.

Watching The World Go By

Entry #9 - Watching The World Go By

(First of all, this is being submitted today because I am travelling tomorrow and cannot see there beig any time to sit down and creat something new.)

Now, my mum loves nothing more than to sit in the garden on a hot summer day. Recently she's noticed that there are armies of ants digging up our patio stones. Although this is quite annoying as there are mounds of sand piling up, she enjoys watching them at work - hence today's inspiration.

The link between this piece and the last is the development of knowledge and how it can be seen visually. Ants are so small yet so unbelievably clever and well coordinated its just fascinating.

Enjoy.

Your Own Knowledge

Entry #8 - Your Own Knowledge

After yesterdays thought centred piece, I drifted onto the subject of knowledge and what knowledge is. To me knowledge is scary and even trying to define it seems like an impossible task.

Today's image focuses on one particular aspect called 'The Knowledge' - the cabi's knowledge of London and London inparticular. That is why there is a simplified tube map inside the man's head supplemented by selected tube colours for the background stripes.

Short and sweet.

Enjoy.

Thoughts From The Underground

Entry #7 - Thoughts From The Underground

We don't know what we are going to get until we actually go to the underground, whether it be buskers, trouble or something brand new. I tried to instill this in entry #7. The question raised in my mind was where is actually the right way up? You all know the phrase 'the grass is always greener on the other side', well is it? And is it better just wanting things to be better than to actually visit them and be disappointed?

The link between today's piece and yesterdays is the underground link and things being beneath us and out of our control. In particular the word 'subterranean' stuck in my mind and one search of google define provided me with these two sentences:

• being or operating under the surface of the earth; "subterranean passages"; "a subsurface flow of water"
• lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed (especially being kept in the background or deliberately concealed); "subterranean motives for murder"; "looked too closely for an ulterior purpose in all knowledge"- Bertrand Russell

I particularly liked the 'lying beyond what is openly revealed or avowed' part of Russell's quote and think this is a great avenue for imagination.

Enjoy.

They Died For You

Entry #6 - They Died For You

A darker piece, which as I explained to my mum was kind of inevitable considering what goes on inside my own head. But that's another story altogether.

This image is a direct influence from a particular paragraph in the book 1984:

"At this moment his mother was sitting in some place deep down beneath him, with his young sister in her arms. He did not remember his sister at all, except as a tiny, feeble baby, always silent, with large, watchfuleyes. Both of them were looking up at him. They were down in some subterranean place - the bottom of a well, for instance, or a deep grave - buit it was a place which, already far below him, was itself moving downwards. They were in the saloon of a sinking ship, looking up at him through the darkening water. There was still air in the salon, they could still see him and he them, but all the while they were sinking down, down into the green waters which in another moment must hide them from sight for ever. He was out in the light and air while they were being sucked down to death, and they were down there because he was up here. He knew it and they knew it, and he could see the knowledge in their faces. There was no repoach either in their faces or in their hearts, only the knowledge that they must die in order that he might remain alive, and this was part of the unavoidable order of things."

Sorry, I know it's long but you just wouldn't understand where i'm coming from. The paragraph states that his missing mother and sister were somehow below him in a dream yet I wanted to flip this viewpoint because it is he who is living the almost hellish lifestyle and perhaps it is him who is beneath them.

It is the darkness which helps to portray this mundane, boring lifestyle in which he lives. I feel that the two quotes really resonate and provide the best insight into what the piece means. They read:

"down in some subterranean place - the bottom of a well, for instance, or a deep grave - but it was a place which, already far below him, was itself moving downwards."

"they must die in order that he might remain alive, and this was part of the unavoidable order of things."

Again I have twisted the paragraph somewhat as his mother is exceptionally tall/big which is the opposite to what he feels in his life. She is still there even if he cannot see her.

Enjoy.

Inside Outside

Entry #5 - Inside Outside

A little late in the day but nevertheless here is my fifth entry of the project.


After yesterday's piece about staircases and ones own opinion, I was led into to thinking once again about our childhood and wondering what lie inside our cupboards under the stairs. I was always creating little imaginations of what was inside my own cupboard under the stairs; sometimes dark, sometimes light-hearted. This piece takes both dark and light sides of what could be under your stair cupboard, represented through the grungy wallpaper textures (found at lostandtaken) and the light hearted giraffe, balloon and bright colours. The use of doors as visual blocks to the cupboard makes you try and work out what exactly it is that is being represented in my cupboard. What would be in your cupboard?

Enjoy.

Welcome To My World

Entry Number #4 - Welcome To My World

Today was tricky to not only find inspiration from yesterday's piece but to actually create something worth uploading. I initially went down the route of darkness and designed an image which focused on the nightmare aspect of tales as children. This didn't quite work as a whole so I focused my attention on the line from the poem used previously which used the word 'world'.

In this image, I'm inviting you into my world hence the empty 'unknown' waiting for you at the top of the stairs. The buildings have been kept as plain as possible simply because you have no idea of what awaits you at the top and therefore should not be influenced in any way.

Enjoy.

If All...

The third installment - If All...

When I was thinking of what today's topic would be last night I asked my mum for some inspiration with regards to yesterday's drawing and she reminded me of this old rhyme:

If all the world were paper,
And all the sea were ink,
If all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have to drink?

Although I've never heard of it I thought it was  perfect for today's inspiration. So I cracked on with thinking about what it could look like, I knew that I wanted to use spiny trees. This was because I wanted to instill an eerie feel about the piece because as children, we were scared of the rhymes/stories we were told as our imaginations wandered. The visual link between today's picture and yesterdays is the cheese hanging on the trees and the cheese featured in the previous piece.

Enjoy.

The Production Line

Here is my second installment of the project titled -

The Production Line

It's quite self explanatory, the various products that can come from the cow. The udder, instead of the glands, I have used a photograph of human fingers. This is because although everything in the image is 'natural' is has to be obtained through unnatural, man-made methods. It kind of sums up how we live today and what we are surrounded by. The use of strings two tie the udder to the products signifies the loose link between nature and the man-made goods that we buy and consume. How close to realism is what we eat/drink?

How does it link to the previous post? Well we need milk in our tea don't we, which led me to thinking about milk and then cows. It all developed from there.

Relax

Entry number 1 - A lovely cuppa tea

Initially very hard to think of a subject for my first piece, I just thought 'what do I like?'. What immediately came to mind (most likely because I had one infront of me) was a lovely cup of tea. So I grabbed my camera, I wanted to keep the focal point very clear and realistic, and took a simple photograph of the mug I was drinking out of.

What came next I cannot explain. All the extra bits on the piece just 'came', I didn't plan any of it and the explanation for it would be limited. However, in saying that, the scraggy and unevenly drawn hand represents all that we are told is bad. I'm certain that i've read somewhere that tea causes cancer (amongst everything else) so I couldn't just produce a completely joyful piece. Opposing that, the smile represents quite clearly the enjoyment that we gain from a lovely cuppa. Enjoy.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Now, this is the first entry.

Unfortunately there is no work in this post, that will start tomorrow. I am just reiterating what the plan is.

Every day I will post a fresh piece of work and you are all welcome to suggest the subject/praise/criticise me - after all this is just a test. Each new piece will be related to the last in a 'word association' style.

Eventually, I plan to print the best pieces on high quality paper (maybe even a frame) or make some t-shirts.

In the meantime, check out my (temporary) online portfolio of all my other work - websites, photographs, posters, logos at

http://newmedia.leeds.ac.uk/ug08/cs08lo