Sketchbook #1, hopefully of many...

I keep posting older things, but I have been trying to work on something new as well, the main thing of which being that I've started a new sketchbook! (Another one... I'm notorious for starting sketchbooks, then quickly becoming disillusioned and abandoning them.) One of my major inspirations at the moment is James Jean (check him out at www.jamesjean.com - his work is truly amazing) and I read an interview with him where he said that he aimed to keep up a steady stream of sketchbook work post art school, where new students were supposed to complete at least one page a day and push their boundaries. It sounded like a great idea and hearing it from the man himself was an added incentive! So, here are the first two double spreads:

Left: white pencil, watercolour and scraps on (really nice, although not so scanner-friendly) wrapping paper

Right: blue ballpoint pen (more inspiration from James Jean) and watercolour

Flying fish are incredible - they really look like birds in some of the reference photos I found! The girl is a take on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", which I admittedly haven't read, but really should do. It's very different from the Disney version...

HB pencil and blue ballpoint pen

Quite a few artists whose blogs I've been looking at take advantage of quiet moments or travelling to draw their surroundings, and I always love those drawings, especially of confined spaces like planes and trains. This was my first attempt at something similar, in pencil, on the plane from Berlin to London. I ran out of time a bit - it's a very short flight! And the blue ballpoint drawing is of the view from my desk at the office in Potsdam in which I usually intern. Hard evidence of what a slacker I am... I definitely need to work a lot harder. I think my co-worker figured out what I was doing though... Busted.

P.S. Apologies for the uneven font on the second page. Typography is evidently not a strong point for me!

G x

Life drawing blitz

It's been a while since my last upload but I now have both some old stuff and some new things to post! It's pretty late and I should be studying, but I can't wait any more!

So, I went home to the UK this weekend just gone and had a great time hanging out with my family and friends for a couple of days :] While I was there I went looking through some old sketchbooks and found one full of life drawing from last year at university, when I attended an evening class with a friend. We'd normally go for noodles afterwards - it's a great combination! I actually originally posted two of the drawings under the vintage-y post, but I thought they'd make more sense here. Anyway, here's the rundown, roughly oldest to newest:

2-20 mins, mixed media

20 mins, Conté on Z's hand dyed paper 

Long pose, HB pencil

Long pose, graphite (re-posted)

Long pose, black smooth pencil (re-posted)

Long pose, HB pencil and coloured pencils

20 mins, HB pencil

Long pose, graphite

And some larger pieces I also kept from the same class (longer poses, assorted media on paper):

I miss life drawing. I'd like to find a class here in Berlin and so far I've come across two possibilities (I don't think they're the same one!). One was a heads-up from a friend, so massive thank you to her for that :] I saw some of her drawings today and she's really talented - I can't believe she's throwing them out because she's got so many! What do the ones she's keeping look like?!

G x

Procrastination can yield results

Well, sort of. I'm at work but slacking off (have to stop doing that) and I was looking at some amazing caricatures on another art blog, which I have now closed without saving the link, well done me. Then I realised I forgot to put up some other older drawings I did, these from my final year of secondary school, for our yearbook. Uploading them now makes me feel a bit better about having nothing else ready to post yet. So here they are, a blast from the past.

From top to bottom: our Head of Sixth Form, the Girls School Headmistress, the Warden (aka the top dog - it's a confusing system) and the Boys School Headmaster. Done in pencil on paper, from photographs. My favourite is the one of our Head of Sixth Form - I spent the most time on it so it's more exaggerated than the others, which came out more like straight portraits. I don't think any of them were offended though, Mrs G. even kept the original one of hers. I really hope it's still in her study, grinning at girls getting told off for wearing too much mascara and too little skirt.

G x

The Many Faces of... it's a mystery!!

This is something new that I worked on for a couple of days over the weekend. It's an illustration for a goodbye card for a friend who's leaving Berlin today, and I managed to finish it in time this time, which I was feeling pretty happy about! She's hopefully coming back fairly soon but this means that she technically won't be living here anymore for a while, which is sad... Going to miss her here :[ Anyway, I hope she likes it - it's a compilation of some of the weird expressions she's been caught on camera pulling while she's been here (there were a few!).

Watercolour and coloured pencil on paper, fiddled around with a bit in Photoshop; referenced using photographs on Facebook.

The final card. I blurred her name out so she won't hunt me down and slaughter me for breach of privacy.

G x

Vintage stuff

Thought first that I'd upload some older stuff that I already have on my laptop. Of varying ages, most recent first.

EDIT: I've re-posted a lot of the images that were here in later posts, so now it looks like it's down to mainly shoes and graffiti!

Pencil on printer paper. This is actually more recent - it's a drawing of a friend that I was doing for him as a going away present. I was in the process of inking it, comic book style, and I was actually very happy with how it was going when I accidentally left it in a bar, never to be seen again... Serves me right for showing off. So all that's left is this photo I took before inking, although I intend to start work on it again for him and try and improve on what I had last time.

Spray and acrylic paint on primed wood panels, summer 2010. These were for a student production of Rent, which itself was amazing; I was really proud to have been a part of it :] The story surrounding their creation is fairly epic, involving drunkenness, theft and (mostly accidental) vandalism, all in the course of one night! I ended up giving them to the site manager of my university accommodation, who hung them in the common room. Apologies, new residents.

Rejected logo design for the show. I like it though.

Fabric paint and pigment fineliner on white sneakers, Christmas 2009, for Z x. We didn't realise the paint was UV until we got the shoe near the Christmas tree lights - cool surprise! Laces to match :]
("Liberty" tag reused for the Rent graffiti boards)

Prototype shoes: fabric and Copic markers on white sneakers, fixed with water-resistant spray, ribbon laces, summer 2009. Now owned by the inimitable VP.

Also, because I like collage <3

For Z, 2009.

G x

What it is

About an official an introduction as it's going to get, so listen up!

Who: Georgie 

What: Art-related blog

Where: Right here 

When: Right now

Why: I'm a student, though not of art. But when I'm not studying my chosen subjects (which is way too often) I harbour secret dreams of becoming an illustrator or pursuing one of a number of other creative avenues. I want to try and get my work, or at least some of it, in one place so that I can get a rough idea of any progression that's going on, and also to hopefully get some feedback on it. So please feel free to leave comments, especially if they're critical - I'd honestly really appreciate it!

Also, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY0A-15JQ8k

Because I think he's the bomb :]

G x