The Japanese & The Circle Accordian

Are two of my new favourite things.

I made this!----------------------------------------------------------->

I mean it- book binding is alot of fun, and I really hope I can go somewhere with this. The little red book may not look like much but it is in fact a circle accordian and no matter how you want to fold the paper it WILL NOT work. The satisfaction of finally cracking it is ultimately what got me through today.

The second style we acheived was the Japanese style. This actually turned out to be a dissaster, but I reckon I pulled off something decent in the end. I used one of my letterpress peices to make the cover, which is spray mounted onto think cardboard (very badly cut at a little wonky--pay attention to measurements and angles!) There is then another piece of thick cardboard at the back with pieces of plain white paper and more red vellum sandwhiched in between. Take a hammer and nails to one side of it, bash some holes and stitch the whole thing together and you have a pretty decent little book thing. It could be a sketchbook, notebook, photo album, diary... This is why I like book binding so much. I think I have a new hobby.

Letterpress

Yesterday I collected up my letterpress work. At the time I felt like I had acheived so much, and I had exhausted my mind to think of words to press and a good way of pressing them. As it turns out I made a total of 3 whole words...one which I did for fun because I felt like I ran out of things to do. OK-the ink isn't perfect!! But I like the uneven effect. And this was the best thing I managed. The problem is the possibilities are so many it really does strain my poor little head to think of where to start. I would happily try this one again, but make it better.

Professional Tapist

Yesterday we created Tapeface, the tapeyest face of type you could possibly imagine. Inspired by non conforming serifs, this type was fun for about half an hour before it eventually got washed off the wall by the rain and we all ran inside.

This was my original take on Tapeface, which I wrote on a yellow radiator. It didn't stay there long as I was afraid it would melt!

The whole idea was that each letter had atleast one floating, curved serif, although from my attempt we realised that having too many just looked crap. Original Colour scheme...

This was Ben's version. I would say Ben is the ultimate master of Tapeface. We should probably take this one down some time soon. But I really don't want to.

Backtracking...

I don't think I'm very good at blogging. If a picture says a thousand words then why do I have to write about it too?
Fortunately, there's more to uni than just Mondays. There's Wednesdays--which practically means it's now the weekend (for me anyway!) Before I get too set into weekend mode though there are a few things I have ommitted to put up as this is only my second post!

 So here is pretty much the first piece of illustrative work I've done. It's supposed to be an editorial illustration on the subject of the regeneration of Poole. In all honesty I had no idea what to do and this image was the result of an afternoon of copying and pasting. I think I was going for the idea that Poole is a very boring place, especially for young people. Some one in the mini crit picked up on the fact that Poole is full of disease. I don't know if that's strictly true! A little regeneration would do it some good, maybe make it a bit more lively and appealing.

At least it was different to what everyone had done. I never like having my work hung up against the work of others. I know the point wasn't to compare who did the best piece, but that's how these crits feel. They can completely change your opinion on a piece of work you were once proud of. so obviously now I hate this cutty pastey mess for making me feel so insignificant in the crit, but I think it will do. In future I want to look more into hand-drawn stuff and using photoshop to more of its full potential!

The theme of Poole is still lingering but after the course getting off to such a slow start, I think it's starting to pick up a little. I'll feel alot more confident when I've caught up with my sketchbook and can concentrate on the happenings of NOW.

Mondays...

Viscom on a Monday morning.

Enough said.