Always looking for ideas now... I'm about to head off on a lunchtime drawing expedition into the sunshine and lanes of Melbourne. Just before I go, I've been checking out some educational blogs and classroom websites for work stuff, and I came across this amazing image of a carved decoration. Looking at the caption, I realise it comes from the amazing castle we visited this time last year in Denmark. Synchronicity.
I'm drawing every day now, and it feels like all I have to do is pick up the pen and stuff flows out the ends. Some drawings are better than others, but it's not the result so much as the action.
Don't you love that groovy pose of the cherub on top?
June 25, 2009
June 15, 2009
Learning to fly
... with little baby wings.
I once had rather a nice boss, who recognised just how frustrating was the place we were working. Every time we accomplished something against all the odds, she used to say: "Just baby steps. Little baby steps." Every little forward movement was celebrated with that phrase I'd never use. "Little baby steps!"
So here I am, trying out my little wings on the tasks and ideas for the children's book illustration course, and thinking and writing every day, and so it comes to mind. A silly phrase, but so true. Taking little steps - or flops and flutters and bounces, in my case - towards something fun. I don't know what it is, but I hardly care. I'm having fun!
(In other news: I got stuck in the lift again at work today. Popped out for a coffee, to get back in three broken lifts, ran up six flights of stairs; tried every floor all the way back down again, only to discover that all the doors were locked. And after 25 minutes? Ended up at the ground floor again. Cold coffee.)
bing, boing, bong. CRASH.
I once had rather a nice boss, who recognised just how frustrating was the place we were working. Every time we accomplished something against all the odds, she used to say: "Just baby steps. Little baby steps." Every little forward movement was celebrated with that phrase I'd never use. "Little baby steps!"
So here I am, trying out my little wings on the tasks and ideas for the children's book illustration course, and thinking and writing every day, and so it comes to mind. A silly phrase, but so true. Taking little steps - or flops and flutters and bounces, in my case - towards something fun. I don't know what it is, but I hardly care. I'm having fun!
boing, boing.
(In other news: I got stuck in the lift again at work today. Popped out for a coffee, to get back in three broken lifts, ran up six flights of stairs; tried every floor all the way back down again, only to discover that all the doors were locked. And after 25 minutes? Ended up at the ground floor again. Cold coffee.)
bing, boing, bong. CRASH.
June 12, 2009
Verdict: the dog likes
.
Lemon delicious pudding.
After licking the bowls across the floor, he licked the rims of the bowls. Then he licked the outsides of the bowls. Then he licked the floor around the b0wls for good measure.
And you may ask why I'm washing part of the floor at 10:15 on a Friday night?
Lemon delicious pudding.
After licking the bowls across the floor, he licked the rims of the bowls. Then he licked the outsides of the bowls. Then he licked the floor around the b0wls for good measure.
And you may ask why I'm washing part of the floor at 10:15 on a Friday night?
June 11, 2009
Out and about
This drawing is not by me, but it encapsulates what is going on over here. A bit of skipping girl artistic life being gleefully skipped through. If that's fair to say. Now that I've been captured by a cold and forced to sit still, I can tell you a bit about what's been going on.Lots of drawing!
I started my children's book illustration course last Saurday, and enjoyed myself enormously. Since then, I've been drawing every day. Everything from good old mundane things (traffic lights, rubber boots and a pot of anchovies) to wild characters (a dragon on a trampoline).
Also surreptitious drawing of fellow-commuters on crowded trains. One of them clearly paid me back by sharing their germs. (Atchoo!)
Lots of editing
Since I took on this job over six months ago, I've seen quite a few titles onto the page and off to press. The fun part is always choosing the designer, working on the design, getting illustrations (if the book needs it) and seeing the whole thing come together.
Last Friday, there was a little bit of dancing around our offices: the book closest to my heart came out and it's FAB! Super-fantastic material, great cartoon illustrations, fun design and the coolest program for kids to make and analyse videos. If you're a teacher, you need one of these. I've seen a lot of educational books, but don't you love it when one of them falls together so perfectly?
Lots of thinking
I'm still working on the Artist's Way program. This week, I'm supposed to avoid reading, to allow me time to let my own voice come back above al the words, words, words that fill my life (life, life - it's like a song!)
How does an editor not read? I asked myself this question with much incredulity and some angst. Well, very effectively, as it turns out. The funny thing is that my boss commented today on how I am hauling butt this week (not her words). The secret? Write contracts, briefs, emails and harrass people by phone. Next week I'll read.
Lots of organising
My passport expired. My tax returns were a mess. My bookshelves were dusty. My shoes in the closet were in a heap.
Did you notice the past tense? I'm getting to it. It's all going away.
Lots of sneezing
And finally, a cup of Lemsip and a little sit down. Sorry I've been away.
May 30, 2009
Spoonflower fabric
Last weekend, I posted pictures of the first (and my favourite) of the three fabrics I got printed by Spoonflower. Here are the rest of them, and some thoughts about the process.
When I first signed up for Spoonflower and resolved to try it, I became frozen by the limitless potential. (What to do? Oh, what to dooo?) Sound familiar?
I explored what others were doing, and I hunted through all the contests on their blog (quite addictive, if you like voting each week on a favourite fabric design!)
It seemed that there were so many possibilities:
- Should I use it to print large swatches of my drawings onto fabric?
- To print computer-generated ideas?
- Or to transfer my existing (black and white) drawings directly onto fabric in quantities and width of yardage that it just wouldn't be feasible to do on the computer or with a stencil-cut screenprinting process? (If you were around last year, you may remember the glee and enthusiasm about stencils and screenprinting).
I sat down and thought about it, and I decided that the only way to go forward was to do a test. I like telling myself that spending money via Paypal is a test. It makes it feel so noble and elevated.
What I was testing with this batch of fabrics was the colour matching and the effect of different sort of designs. I chose three designs: one with a strong drawn black outline (the teapot), which I had coloured on the computer. The other two were scanned versions of my farmyard stencils, which started to look like a lot of fun when I repeated motifs and played with the placement.
Repeats
It took quite a while, fiddling about with the file to find the best proportions for a repeat (white space on one side of the image turns out to repeat across the fabric). Well, yes, of course it does -- but I found that the repeat was not quite what I expected, and half the fun of the process was tinkering about to get it settled so that I liked what I saw. So, for the folksy village fabric below, in the end I had a long, thin file, with each element in a line, staggered, and lots of white space to one side. When it repeats, it just looks like openly-spaced images across the fabric breadth. Hmm.
I had a small sample of the flying birds print, from a stencil. This one wasn't fancy: just one element, repeated across the fabric in a half-step format. I mucked about with the scale, and what I have got is small birds, perfect for button covering, badges and brooches, or for applique. I only ordered a swatch.
Colours
I had done some reading, and I was forewarned that the colours will be less intense on the fabric than on-screen, and also that the reds have a tendency to shift. I pumped up the colours on all of the designs, and I'm glad I did: the teapot fabric design on-screen is quite strong, but in real life it's lovely and soft, without the colours being flat. Big tick in the box for that one!
The village fabric, below, originally was designed with red, blue and green -- but the fabric turned out a very fine orange, blue and green in real life! Initially startled, I have come to rather like it. (Even if the apples do look a little poisonous.)
If I were serious about this, which I'm not (yet), I would get a colour chart printed, with its number references on each square of colour, so that by formatting my final artwork by colour I would have a real, live piece of fabric to match it against. -And I'd know what I'm getting.
There's quite a lot of discussion about this online, and I found it useful, even if the colour calibration of the machines themselves at Spoonflower is subject to change. There's some excellent resources on the Spoonflower blog's FAQs pages.
The verdict?
I quite enjoyed the slight uncertainty about what I would get. I sure ripped into that package when it arrived, a mere 7 days later! I wasn't investing in a lot of fabric or expecting to match it to existing projects or ideas, and so a certain degree of colour shift was fine by me.
As for designs? I feel that the strong outline of the drawings works best. No point translating one fabric printing medium (stencil) into production: better to play with drawings, colour them on-screen, pump up those colours, and take the risk.
I'm working on my next batch of designs as we speak... Surprised?
When I first signed up for Spoonflower and resolved to try it, I became frozen by the limitless potential. (What to do? Oh, what to dooo?) Sound familiar?
I explored what others were doing, and I hunted through all the contests on their blog (quite addictive, if you like voting each week on a favourite fabric design!)
It seemed that there were so many possibilities:
- Should I use it to print large swatches of my drawings onto fabric?
- To print computer-generated ideas?
- Or to transfer my existing (black and white) drawings directly onto fabric in quantities and width of yardage that it just wouldn't be feasible to do on the computer or with a stencil-cut screenprinting process? (If you were around last year, you may remember the glee and enthusiasm about stencils and screenprinting).
I sat down and thought about it, and I decided that the only way to go forward was to do a test. I like telling myself that spending money via Paypal is a test. It makes it feel so noble and elevated.
What I was testing with this batch of fabrics was the colour matching and the effect of different sort of designs. I chose three designs: one with a strong drawn black outline (the teapot), which I had coloured on the computer. The other two were scanned versions of my farmyard stencils, which started to look like a lot of fun when I repeated motifs and played with the placement.
Repeats
It took quite a while, fiddling about with the file to find the best proportions for a repeat (white space on one side of the image turns out to repeat across the fabric). Well, yes, of course it does -- but I found that the repeat was not quite what I expected, and half the fun of the process was tinkering about to get it settled so that I liked what I saw. So, for the folksy village fabric below, in the end I had a long, thin file, with each element in a line, staggered, and lots of white space to one side. When it repeats, it just looks like openly-spaced images across the fabric breadth. Hmm.
I had a small sample of the flying birds print, from a stencil. This one wasn't fancy: just one element, repeated across the fabric in a half-step format. I mucked about with the scale, and what I have got is small birds, perfect for button covering, badges and brooches, or for applique. I only ordered a swatch.
Colours
I had done some reading, and I was forewarned that the colours will be less intense on the fabric than on-screen, and also that the reds have a tendency to shift. I pumped up the colours on all of the designs, and I'm glad I did: the teapot fabric design on-screen is quite strong, but in real life it's lovely and soft, without the colours being flat. Big tick in the box for that one!
The village fabric, below, originally was designed with red, blue and green -- but the fabric turned out a very fine orange, blue and green in real life! Initially startled, I have come to rather like it. (Even if the apples do look a little poisonous.)
If I were serious about this, which I'm not (yet), I would get a colour chart printed, with its number references on each square of colour, so that by formatting my final artwork by colour I would have a real, live piece of fabric to match it against. -And I'd know what I'm getting.
There's quite a lot of discussion about this online, and I found it useful, even if the colour calibration of the machines themselves at Spoonflower is subject to change. There's some excellent resources on the Spoonflower blog's FAQs pages.
The verdict?
I quite enjoyed the slight uncertainty about what I would get. I sure ripped into that package when it arrived, a mere 7 days later! I wasn't investing in a lot of fabric or expecting to match it to existing projects or ideas, and so a certain degree of colour shift was fine by me.
As for designs? I feel that the strong outline of the drawings works best. No point translating one fabric printing medium (stencil) into production: better to play with drawings, colour them on-screen, pump up those colours, and take the risk.
I'm working on my next batch of designs as we speak... Surprised?
May 26, 2009
Drunkard's path
No, I'm not talking about me. Or anyone else for that matter! It's the name of this quilt pattern -- a classic red and white design from sometime at the end of the 19th century.
The photo was taken by Mr Tacc some years ago, when he was invigilating an exhibition on quilts from Canada and the UK. Needless to say, we talked about that show endlessly, and as he had plenty of time to look at and think about the quilts, he had lots of interested questions to ask and ideas to discuss.
I remember this quilt because I loved the clarity of the red and white scheme, and the way that the simple repeated shape (quarter circle on square) became complicated and fascinating when you looked more closely. It sort of weaves and dances. Drunkard, indeed -- I think it's just someone having fun, or a kid in a candy shop, or me at Haigh's chocolates (isn't that the same thing?) Looking everywhere at once.
I'm thinking about drawing a lot and reminding myself that in order to draw, you have to look. So pardon me if you come across a gal in the street, giving an intent stare at passers-by, clouds and the sky (today I was taking photos on Collins street at lunch). It's just me, and I'm just looking.
May 24, 2009
Good colours
Today's good colours were the muted tones of autumn. Tinny grey sky, dark green leaves and the spots of colour from gumtrees in bloom. I love this time of year.
We stopped at the most excellent cafe for a couple of cappuccinos and some chit-chat. Chocolate croissants appeared, and disappeared almost as rapidly. The dog had his own special bowl of treats.
But what's this? Something in my pocket...
Could it be, a cafe-themed piece of my own design Spoonflower fabric, carefully tucked in a pocket for an on-location photo shoot?
Could be, could be....
We stopped at the most excellent cafe for a couple of cappuccinos and some chit-chat. Chocolate croissants appeared, and disappeared almost as rapidly. The dog had his own special bowl of treats.
But what's this? Something in my pocket...
Could it be, a cafe-themed piece of my own design Spoonflower fabric, carefully tucked in a pocket for an on-location photo shoot?
Could be, could be....
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