Sad Times and Great Music

This is going to be a post about my abysmal week, and music.

I'm currently listening to Florence + The Machine's latest single, Breath Of Life, for Snow White and The Huntsman. I really need to see the film, but right now the music is more important. I love listening to Florence, the music is so powerful, so sorrowful, so meaningful and deep... It speaks to me. Wow, that sounded like a horrible cliche, sorry, but it's unfortunately true. I really do love Florence. It's just so beautiful. Here's Breath Of Life, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROtBbOcdFxo

I usually favour bands with amazing lead singers, starting with Orgy, with lead singer Jay Gordon (great electric voice), and then moving onto A Perfect Circle, with Maynard James Keenan, and then moved on from A Perfect Circle to Tool, simply because he was the lead singer for that band, too. And when I say 'Moved on', I don't mean I left the band behind, what I mean is, it became another favourite band. I mean I started listening to them, like a musical evolution (and Maynard's voice is absolutely amazing, by the by).

ANYWAY. Let's go back to my abysmal week before we push on about music.

It started out decently enough, I started a couple of commissions that I had taken due to a complete lack of finances (still dealing with that one), I've finished one of the commissions now, but I won't post it up here. I haven't been paid yet, and I don't want to risk my commissioner finding her final piece and not paying me, that would be very not good.

On Monday or Tuesday, I forget, one of the pipes in the bathroom burst, luckily while we were all at home, though it was fifteen minutes before we managed to turnthe water off, by which time our bathroom had flooded, there was water coming through the light socket and the ceiling in the hallway, and half an inch of water on the tiles on the hallway floor.

So that was that.

But compared to the news that I recieved later in the week, the burst pipe was completely pushed out of my mind, and looking back it seems inconscequential.

I had a couple of job interviews, one of which got back to me today to tell me that they didn't want me. My mum called me on Wednesday evening to ask how they had gone, and gave me some awful news. I won't type it up here because of family politics, but it's really rocked me, and the emotional fallout is taking it's toll.

It's be alright, eventually, I just need time to process it, to find, to discover what I'm going to do with the news, and then face my family.

Anyway, let's end this one a cheery note, and hit 'replay' on Youtube one more time, because oh man Florence... Your music is so powerful, I love it.

I read an article just recently on twopaddocks.com, Benedict Cumberbatch (along with a long list of celebrities) gave a top ten music list, and I read and listened to them all (and liked them all, more importantly). I really wanted to make a list of some of the bands that he listed because I liked them especially, and wanted to look into them a bit. So, for starters, The Macabees, because 'We Grew Up At Midnight' was really nice to listen to. I know, nice isn't a good descibing word, but this is my blog so what I say here goes. I really loved Claire de Lune by Debussy, too, such a beautiful tune, it made me want to learn to play it on the piano, too. Stone Roses were great too, 'I Am the Ressurection' was good to listen to, but mostly, out of all of the songs, it was Radioheads's 'How To Disapear Completely' that really got to me.

Maybe it was the desciption that Benedict gave to accompany the song, explaining about the horrific carjacking that he and a couple of friends were submitted to, and the song playing in the car, acting like a sountrack to this horrible event. Maybe it was because of the really awful news that my mum had given me that was playing heavily on my mind, but it just shook me. Sitting on the sofa at one in the morning, fighting sleep, feeling solemn and thinking about life, the universe and everything. Well, I listened to it, read the description and has tears in my eyes. I don't cry often, but lately I've been giving in a lot more to my emotions, and the song really helped with that. Here's a link to it, do give it a listen, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZq_jeYsbTs

Right, I guess I should leave you with some good news, eh? Well, dad and I are going to see the Natioanl Theature's Frankenstein at Cinema City in Norwich on Monday, and then on Tuesday or Wednesday I'm heading over to the private viewing of the year three illustration exhibition. Not just to see some excellent art, but because I want to be able to see the kind of work that we need to have produced this time next year.

So next week will be good. I haven't heard back from the other job interview yet so wish me luck, I think I need some right now.

Moving On...

So okay, where do I start? In the midst of financial crisis and bad news in the family I'm somehow still here, chugging along like a trooper. But forget all that, you're not here because you're interested in my personal life, you're here for the art.

We've been told that we can pretty much make up our own summer project, so for mine I'm pretending for a bit that the book that I'm working on is a comic, so for different chapters I'm illustrating the comic covers! Fun times : )

These are just sketches, obviously, I don't tend to consult references until I start the finals (and then they get good), but anyway... The first one would probably be for the second to last chapter, that's Acheron up there. Below that, a few Seth and Quentin ideas, and finally a Quentin on his own. After that we have our fabubulous four with Suwa leering over them, and last but not least Varis, with the three other main characters chilling out on his antlers.

Yeah, it's an odd book, but I swear to God it's better when you read it, I can't do it justice in a blurb, I really can't.

As well as that, I've finished my final draft for a letter that I'm sending to Benedict Cumberbatch asking him 'round for a cup of tea. Erm, wish me luck?

Presentation tomorrow, wish me luck

Pictures taken by my group of our final books. Aah, where do I start? These last few days have been difficult, it took us about 4 hours yesterday to decide on a name for the book, to decorate the covers, to write our names on the insides and to add the little tag on the inside with a little info about it. How ridiculous, I've never worked with anyone more indecisive. The plan had been to then work on our presentation for thursday (tomorrow) but at about half past two, three in the afternoon the girls decided to call it a day. We'd clearly been working too hard.

Hell, so, okay. Today when I arrived I found them all sitting around the table looking over the pieces they'd all written seperately to read out during the presentation, we'd all given each other different parts to talk about. I immediately walked to a computer, signed in and opened up Powerpoint, there was no way I was going to sit around for another half a day not making any progress. They all followed me over, and we finally got to work.

I put the powerpoint presentation together with some input from the others, and after it was all done we ran through the presentation together and timed it. We all agreed, after we were done, that it went well, so I disapeared to the loo. When I returned they told me that they weren't sure about what I'd written, I happened to get the 'What we would do if we had the chance to do this project again' part of it all. They told me that my part made the group sound a bit 'shit' and that I hadn't put them all in a very good light, they asked me to re-write it and gave me some examples of what to say.

They had already lied about the costs for the bookmaking, something that I hadn't had any say in as I had been down in the printing lab re-sizing our work while three of the girls went out and bought the bookbinding materials. I refused to lie again, I am an incredibly honest person, my mum says I'm honest to a fault, meaning that I will be honest even if it gets me into trouble, I suppose.

I wrote a very short, very sarcastic re-write in my sketchbook, left it open on the keyboard and walked away, I needed to calm down and I needed to be away from them. Not long later I recieved a text from Sophie Harvey asking if I was alright, I replied that I was just trying to keep calm, and that if the girls (Sophie, Camilla and Emma) wanted my piece changed they could re-write it for me, and I would read out whatever they wrote.

We then had a break for lunch, and then afterwards ran through the presentation again, and the piece that they had written for me was so full of grammatical errors that it was hard to read. I'm not perfect at spelling but I don't forget to put full stops at the end of my sentances.

I've re-written it, it's a lot more me now, but I'm still not happy with it. The idea of writing something about what  you would change if you re-did your work means pointing out what didn't go well, and what went wrong, and they've made this project sound like a cakewalk. I'm not happy, which is why I'm writing this here, I'll be including screenshots of my blog into my P.D.P, so hopefully the right person will read this.

Sophie Harvey and Anneli Garton have been brilliant during this whole project, and I have absolutely no qualms with them. Sophie, Camilla and specifically Emma, on the other hand, have been very difficult.

Water water everywhere

Finished...

I really like this one, and the one with the two characters with the dragons running through the woods. Hope I can put those two in the book, I'll talk my group 'round if they decide otherwise.

I. Am. Knackered. I think I learned something about my style when I did this, though. I like this simplistic, flat colouring, it's faster and easier. Not necessarily more fun, just quicker.

Space Man- or Woman.

Gosh, where do I start with this? Well I think it's too dark, that's the only issue I have with the picture. My issue now is with my group, and one girl in particular, 'Blondie' who I now know to be called Emma, but for the sake of my sanity I call her Blondie anyway because she aggravates me so bloody much. But anyway, let me explain.

So we have a group on Facebook for this group project, so that if one of us says anything we all know about it, good comunication is key right? Well, I should have realised something was wrong when we were sat in a workshop last week in class. I was sitting accross from Blondie, Brunette (Camilla) and Sophie, and they were discussing the project and coming up with a name for it and talking about the format, and I was sitting, listening, and slowly realising that I was basically eavesdropping on my group making decisions without me, because at no proint did they turn to me and say, 'What do you think?', understandably this made me angry.

But it got worse, we had planned on meeting up on wednesday to have a group meeting, but I had also planned to go to the cinema with my friends that afternoon, so I said on the FB group, I probably won't be able to stay for the whole meeting because I'm going to the cinema, and Blondie got up on her high horse and said, 'Is going to the cinema more important to you than getting your uni work done?' and after about five minutes of feeling like Hulking out I replied 'I'd rather avoid an argument, I'll talk to my friends and rearange it so that we go in the evening.'

So I talked to my friends and rearanged it, so that we would go in the evening at 7 instead of the afternoon. So Wednesday afternoon swings around and we start the meeting and she's. Not. There. She didn't show up to the meeting, after what she had said to me the previous day. I was furious! Who wouldn't be? And when I got home to look on Facebook Sophie had caught her up on our ten minutes bloody meeting (because we couldn't discuss much more because she. Wasn't. There) and she hadn't even apologised for missing it!

So yes. Blondie and I don't get on.

Anyway, I have one more illustration to finish today for the crit tomorrow, which means I'll have five finished ones, of which my group can pick two for printing and to be put in the book. I am... ridiculously tired, and hungry despite the fact that I've eaten, and cold because I haven't slept enough in the last two days and I just... I'm still angry, but I'm just too tired to do anything about it.

Well, I hope I'll have calmed down for tomorrow mornings crit so we can out this book together because I really just want to give this girl a piece of my mind. Maybe I'll do it once we've all handed in our portfolios. This project has been an excercise in patience. I don't like working in groups, I can do it but I don't like it. still, I'd do it happily if it was a job. Maybe if I was getting paid for this project, eh? Mores the pity.

Green is the new black

Another illustration completed. I'm not sure about the green, but it's late and I'm hungry. If it's still bothering me tomorrow I may play the the colours a bit, we'll see. Now I need to have something to eat, then I'm going to try to keep working. It's late but I have a deadline, so. Luckily I'm not too tired so that helps : )

Dragon Issues

I finished this on sunday, but only today did I finally get around to adding the white outline. I think I may scrap the mermaid illustration for this project, I wanted to do two like that, with that much detail, but I just done have the time. I'm about to finish a fourth picture, so if I scrap the mermaid one I can do two more that are just as simple, and hopefully have them all done by friday. We'll see! That's the plan anyway.

Unfortunately there are three girls in my group that I'm not getting on well with, it would probably help if I learned their names but I'm pretty bad at remembering names, and the project ends soon so, we'll see. Basically, they're being pretty ignorant about printing costs, and selfish when it comes to expecting illustrations to be finished.

Our teacher Sue suggested we do two final illustrations each, that way we have twelve pages for our 'book', but these three girls seem insistant on having 10-15 illustrations each, and there's six of us in the group! We have a limit of £6 to spend on printing, there's no way we'll be able to make a 30 page book, it'll cost much too much. So I'm working to get five illustrations finished, and I'll be talking through printing with them tomorrow. Part of me wants to leave it, to stand back and watch them flounder and fail, and if I were in another group watching them from afar then I would, but damnit I will not fail because they've overestimated this.

Which leads me to another thing, the amount of work they expect the rest of us to do in such a short space of time. One girl in particular is churning out 15-20 illustrations a day which, personally, and this is a matter on oppinion, I think are pretty crap. They look like she spent five minutes on each one, which I think is ridiculous. We're supposed to be working on self promotion, and doing the kind of work that we want to do when we finish university. There is no way that I am putting something that I spent so little time on into a book that we could potentially send out to publishers, because I don't want them to think I'm rubbish!

I don't know, I want to have the confidence to tell them this but I'm not a confident person. Let's see, maybe I'll find the balls to stand up to them and put them straight, explain the situation and hope that they start understanding that as nice as a thirty page book would be it;s not the quantity that matters, but the quality.