Improvement and Nostalgia

This week I returned for the first time in a while to my old Deviantart page. Having created it at the age of 15 and not having posted to it in two years, it was filled with work that I was once really proud of. Going back over the 100+ images that were on there though, I marvelled at how much I've improved since then! I've now deactivated that account, but for nostalgia's sake I'd like to put here the few images from that account that I am still proud of. 

Age 15 - I did a project on Rodin and made 3 sculptures of hands; a

child's hand, an adult's hand and an older person's hand. I then did a series

of etchings of piano keys so that the final piece was both 2D and 3D.

Age 17 - In 2011 I kept a series of sketchbooks and resolved to draw one image every day.

Unlike my current illustrated journal, these images were mostly from my imagination.

Age 17 - Another page from my 2011 sketchbook series. This one was drawn at Halloween

and eventually I used it as inspiration for my first year character design university project!

Age 17 - This was the year I really started experimenting in Photoshop.

I titled it 'cozy' and used a 'knitted-jumper' type texture on the image (my first

time using textures!) and I feel very nostalgic looking at it now. 

Age 18 - This I think is my favourite of all of my old drawings. My teacher

at the time was doing a Masters degree in Psychology and she gave each of

us a questionnaire to fill out to help her. I loved the concept 'draw your mind';

it has so many possibilities!

Until next time!

Cardiff in the Rain

I visited Roath Park during one weekend in the run-up to the final deadline of second year. It was a much needed change of scenery! For those of you who have never been, the place is beautiful. You stand on a pier-like walkway at one end of the lake and look out as it seems to stretch on up to the hills in the distance.

The view from the pier across the lake.

It was overcast and drizzly but I was still determined to least snap some photographs. Sitting on one of the benches on the pier, with my bottom getting very soggy, I began to draw.

The clocktower.

An old boathouse at the side of the lake. Seagulls were using the roof as a gathering place.

I had been sitting drawing on the bench getting wetter and colder for about twenty minutes before the light drizzle decided to turn to fat raindrops. I could see the rain coming towards me as the weather front moved across the lake disturbing the water with ripples so I had some small warning to get my umbrella up and protect my sketchbook.

Deciding that this was as good a time as any, I started walking around the lake to find some shelter and do some more drawing from different vantage points. I spied a house that looked like a castle when I was about half way around.

By the time I finished the above drawing, despite the umbrella, I was soaked from head to toe, such was the weather. I finished my cycle of the lake, taking a few more photographs before returning home to a nice cup of tea and dry socks.

View of the Clocktower through the trees.

An Update

I am in Spain at the moment, working as an au pair and yesterday afternoon I went into Madrid to spend a few absolutely amazing hours sketching in The Prado Museum. I've been there once before and can honestly say that I think it's my favourite art gallery in the world. The collections are just incredible! This is also a special year for The Prado - it's the fourth centenary of the death of El Greco, an old master who influenced much of 20th Century art (including Picasso, Cezanne and Manet amongst others). He was Grecian (thus the name 'The Greek') but spent much of his working life painting in Spain. The Prado houses one of the largest collections of his work in the world and they are all out in one glorious exhibit! These photos are of a selection of the sketches I did yesterday from around the museum.

Birds

Following on from last week I've been doing more drawings of animals and birds.

Animals

Since our trip to Bristol Zoo I've been drawing animals non-stop!

Bristol Zoo Gardens

This week I enjoyed a trip to Bristol Zoo Gardens with some of my housemates. We had a fantastic time and, having not been since I was very small, I got rather nostalgic! There have been some new additions since I was last there as well, including gorillas and hippos.

Aptly, for those of you who don't know, the correct collective noun for flamingos is a 'flamboyance'. This little fact makes me much happier than it probably should! I find that flamingos are really quite lovely to draw. I also liked this Komodo dragon. Normally when you see lizards in zoos, they quite happily lie there, not doing very much, but this guy was very active. This both works for and against the artist; there are some great poses, but you only have a short amount of time to get them drawn!

Flash Collaboration

More sharing of work from second year this week. I helped out a coursemate, Steph, one of the stop-motion animators, with a little piece of Flash animation for her film. The premise was that Larry, a Sasquach photographer/enthusiast, has just sporrted a giant footprint in the ground. I animated a little thought bubble to show what he's thinking.

Thought Bubble from Julia Young on Vimeo.

Just a little piece of keyframe animation but it does the job! Go check out Steph's blog to see the making of her gorgeous puppets and all the other stuff relating to her film.