Balance

Monday is for yoga.

It starts my week off on the right foot. Or arm. Or elbow. Or whatever other appendage we end up balancing on while sweating (and inwardly swearing) and breathing.
As much as I love it, I also totally hate it. It hurts, it’s pretty hippy dippy and I find it so so hard to just focus and breathe…two things that yoga constantly urges one to do. However, it is for this very reason that I keep going back. I love how hard it is physically but also how challenging it can be to mentally (or in my case: attempt to) switch off the hundred and one things on my internal to-do list. Stepping back and slowing down and turning off can only be good for me. An hour and a half a week really isn’t too much to give, is it?

twit twoo

Haven't had a chance to blog all week, college has been busy and so has freelance work AND it's Valentine's day soon so there's cards to be made and printed and packed off for selling. It's all good though so I've got nothing to complain about really!

Last week in college we started learning Illustrator, which is equally frustrating and exciting. My poor eyes have never been so sore... I need  to stop staring at the computer screen and remember to blink every once in a while! Above is my first Illustrator illustration and I've got to admit I quite like it :)

Happy Weekend Lovely People x

Friday To Do

Now that I'm offfficially on my Christmas Holidays the countdown can begin!

We're having 15 people to dinner on Christmas day; five of my uncles, two aunts, my granny and cousins plus my brothers, myself and my mum. There's never been this many people in our house for Christmas so it's going to be crazy!

(So basically this week I'm going to be my mum's PA.)

I also have yet to finish Richard's present or get one for either of my parents. Eep. 

Then I get to wrap them all and put them under the-so far nonexistant- Christmas tree! Woo! 

Oh and then there's Christmas Eve drinks and giving my best friend her present and making chocolates for all my family and labels for our chutney jars and setting the table and cleaning the house and getting a little freelancer done before the 20th and hanging the stockings and all of that other LOVELY stuff. 

Yum. Can't. Wait. Love.

P.S I got my bike printed onto gift tags and sold them at the fair, they sold like crazy and I only wished I'd printed more. There's always next year*

hotpress take two

So this is what I was trying to upload the other day.

It's an article in Hotpress Magazine... about a dude who served two sentences for drug smuggling in Mount Joy Prison and THAT little sardine tin drawing up there was done by ME!

Basically we had a project in college with an illustrator and the whole thing was a competition and we thought one person was going to win but actually eight of us ending up winning which is nice. My scanner cut off the other lovely illustrations (sorry friends) but well done to William, Alex, James, Dave, Kirstyn, Meg & Mica. It's cool to hang out with such talented folk like you :)

Check our the Hotpress website to see everybody's illustrations for the brief.

coming along

...but not quite finished.

rocking horse winner

We're doing an illustration project in college at the moment for the story 'The Rocking Horse Winner' by DH Lawrence. It's a creepy, set in the 1920's and there's a rocking horse in it...so pretty much cool all round.

We have to do 5 illustrations for the text of the story and 1 for the cover. This is my cover design progress so far... gradually getting darker and darker. (my tutor keeps looking at me and going 'A child DIES.' in this creepy intense way, it's kind of hilarious.) If you haven't read the story, do!

After re-reading the story I realised that the rocking horse is meant to on springs... so annoying. So I kind of had to start again, but I'm much happier with how my new design is going. Here's a sneaky preview:

lecture

The mature students sit closer to the front than I do (and that's really sayin' something) so, naturally, I draw them.

I finally got around to using that rolleiflex a couple of weeks ago. It's beyond uneconomical with film and processing being pretty pricey but I couldn't get over the results. I have NEVER had a first roll turn out so well. It's way more manual than the AE-1 (ie totally manual basically) but I actually found it easier to just aperture/exposure settings without the light metre. I think I rely to heavily on that with the AE-1. It also probably helped that we had some really bright clear days to shoot on (unlike yesterday!)

 

(that's Lauri... he sits beside me in college!)

 I really wanted to do my final storyboards on my laptop. But I just don't think my skillz cut it. It took me like two hours to finish that top bit and my eyes are sooore (on a side note I got them tested today and I need glasses! eek). Back to the pen and paper it is... oh well. 

On a happier note I passed my theory test. Whoo!

storyboards

 

Rough draft of a storyboard for college. (It's that Meteor ad that's on tv at the mo)

I can't decide if I need a couple more shots or not... I was thinking maybe one at the end with all the info on it? Like the logo and the deal that's being advertised? I think I'll try it and see.

P.S If you've got any feedback or anything important I need to consider Maeve could you maybe leave it below in the comments or shoot me a quick email (meldonc@gmail.com). Thanks for letting me submit it on the blog because I can't be there today!

infographic

 

My infographic turned out less info and a bit more like a giant illustrative doodle (although there is plenty of facts squished in there too!). In school I used to make big pictures like this to help me study.  

The above photos show the process from start to finish. I really enjoyed this project and wish I'd had more time to do it, however I am happy with what I achieved in the given time. 

(click the photos to see them up close; taken using the app Instagram)

home

It's so nice to be home. It's almost 2pm and I'm still in my pyjamas (stupidly, cause they're shorts and it's c-c-c-cold here) watching old episodes of Oprah and episodes of One Born Every Minute US that I missed when I was away. My films from the trip are sitting at the bottom of my boyfriend's carry-on bag- which I presume hasn't been emptied yet! I'm going to drop them in later. I love getting photos back... I've forgotten what most of them are of so it's always a nice surprise when the memories come flooding back!

In the meantime here's some scans of my holiday doodles... (the town was tiny, literally nothing to do so now my notebook is almost finished!) 

     claire snoozing/don't those corkscrew bottle openers look like parrots? no? oh, ok.. just me then.

 the boys hair 'styles'/ pool time

 we baked! / the most amazing leather satchel that smells like a farm and only cost 40 euro!

claire snoozin' again

I didn't realise those bits of paper were stuck on my scanner when I saved the images... boo. 

It's always nice to return home after a holiday. Sleeping in my own bed last night was lovely. Although I think my body still thinks it's in Teulada... I had to take off my jeans and change into a skirt because I was over heating! 

What are all your plans for this summer? Plenty of adventures I hope!

P.S

This post took me over an hour to write. Halfway through scanning I realised that the dog barking in the distance was mine! She escaped through the hedge and I finally found her twenty minutes later in a neighbour's garden. Silly dawg.

Go visit!

I just got featured on Hivenn's Sketchbook Sunday. Go check it out... such a deadly feature. I love nosing through other peoples sketchbooks. She's got a lovely blog the rest of the time too :)

Back to sun! Bye! 

one more sleep

I'm going on holidays in 8 hours and 38 minutes... which makes me very

see you all in two weeks.

(there's no internet..whoopee!)

.

I did my first freelance job a couple of weeks ago. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking, which only intensified as I knew the client well and it's always difficult to discuss money, especially if you know them. But I just got over it and kept reminding myself that I was doing a job and that I had to be professional. geeeez.
The job was to design an invitation to the retirement party of an English teacher... and I have to admit the resulting piece has been my favourite owly design so far. (on a side note I can do more than owls... serrrriously I promise!)

I've included some pictures of the finished design and notebook pages of the 'process', if you'd like to see.

 

sorry about all the blurry bits but ya know... internet freaks and all that.

p.s the quote is from Shakespeare, in case ya didn't know!

there'll be sun sun sun

 

I'm going on holidays on Wednesday. 

I am SO excited!

don't

 wait any longer for permission for what you want to do. do it.

Get thee to SWALK!

These, and more, available in Swalk, Royal Hibernian Way.  Just off Grafton Street folks. 

Go!

Buy!

Bicycles

My aunt sent me this beautiful postcard. She always sends post. It's always lovely to not get something in a brown envelope through the letter box. And I LOVE Quentin Blake and bicycles. Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.

hope it's ok that I posted this image... just read this post on the lovely Peonies & Polaroids and am now totally freaked!

twit twoo

So basically I've spent my summer so far up to my eyeballs in owls. They're coming soon, I promise. In fact the printers are, eh well hopefully, hard at work printing them right now. Here's a preview...

 

shtick around to see some more soon. 

ooh alliteration.