steevilweevil

Obligatory update

2010-04-06T01:20:00.000-07:00

Where the hell have you been? The past couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful. I've been shuffling along slowly through the work I have, and even then a big chunk of that seems to have vanished into thin air. A certain client has disappeared off the face of the earth and taken my job with them. So now I've got a lot less work than I should have, and the work I do have I'm really not enjoying. I'm still not happy with any of my drawing efforts, and every attempt only leads to frustration and broken pencils. I'll keep trying of course, but it's hard to work when everything ends in a hissy fit.

In other news, my band is playing a gig in just less than 2 weeks. How crazy is that?

What is this "spare time" of which you speak?

2010-03-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of Graphic Design. Currently I have about 5 or 6 projects running (depending on how you look at it), ranging from illustration to web design to animation to art direction. Some of them have started, others are just about to start, others are waiting for a later date. On top of that I'm trying to organise a gig for my band for my 21st birthday next month. OK well that's almost sorted, apart from a venue, but that's a pretty big part of the sorting it out thing.

Anyway, I really want you all to go check out this mega important project we've got running. Along with some of my coursemates, I'm inviting my favourite designers to donate their work to haitees.com. Haitees is the name of our project, which involves us printing and selling said work on tee shirts through mysoti.com to help raise money for Haiti. If you've got a minute, go and check out the work we've got, and keep an eye out for more work coming up. If you're after a tee shirt then think about us, if not then why not tell your friends about us?

Either way I'll love you forever if you can support us!

A busy day is a good day.

2010-03-02T15:04:00.001-08:00

Today I've not stopped, and it feels good. I've been so panicked lately about this "Professional Enhancement" module, but it seems to be coming together quite nicely. I've managed to find people through a part of my university called the Venture Matrix, which is basically a simulation business environment in which students are able to set up businesses and trade virtual currency. I've found a tutor who's producing a website to raise awareness of Human Trafficking, and he needs illustrations etc to complete the website. There are sociology and psychology students who are doing the research, web developers producing the website, then me and my Rob producing the visual aspect of the website. Potentially there's also conferences and presentations to go with it, and maybe even a book later on, so that's pretty good going!

Then from signing up to the Venture Matrix, I've had someone ask me to design a newsletter, and having seen their previous editions, there's plenty to be done! So that's 2 things to be getting on with.

Meanwhile, in my own time, I've been planning a music video for Switching Off by Elbow. I started it because I was thinking I'd have nothing else to do, however that's not so true any more. No doubt I'll do it when I can, but I can't say when that will be.

Otherwise, Death Rides a Horse are getting fairly close to playing a gig now. OK well not that close, but we've got 3 tracks completed, 3 tracks short of any vocals and one that has barely started. That's enough for a gig at least, maybe a cover as well if we can get one down.

Oh and another thing. A group of friends and I have had a few designers donate their work to our upcominc "Haitees" project, in which we'll be having their designs printed on tee shirts and sold through mysoti.com to raise money for the Red Cross' Haiti Relief Fund.

It's been a pretty awesome day.

We have lift off

2010-02-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

steevilweevil.com is ready for your judging eyes.

Re-Hash

2010-02-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Been going through a mini-crisis the past few weeks. I got my feedback for the majority of the work I've done so far this year and, well, it wasn't great. It basically told me that my portfolio and it's contents weren't so excellent, and it started to panic me a little. I was just about on the verge of withdrawing from my course until September so I could find the time to sort out my life pretty much, since I expected there was no way I would find a placement or any sort of work which I'm expected to between now and May. However, with some convincing, I decided to give it another push. I'm spending the next week or so redesigning my website and CV and anything else I'll need to send off to potential companies. If all goes well, I'll manage to find enough work to get me through to the end of the year.

Here's to hoping....

Oh...Hello there....

2010-02-04T08:16:00.001-08:00

Sorry I haven't spoken to you in so long, it's just, I've been going through some things recently and I just thought it better if we didn't speak. It's not that I'm not interested, I mean, we always get on and I feel so comfortable talking to you, but I've just been so busy with other things, I needed some time alone. I don't want you to think I forgot about you, or that I was trying to avoid you, you're always on my mind and to be honest all this time away has made me feel terrible.

I just wanted to tell you that I'm here now, and I want to set things straight. There's a lot of things I need to go over, things that were left unfinished, things I need to fix, just so I can show you who I really am and what I really do. I really should be with someone else right now, someone I can help, and someone who can help me in return. But I feel like without clearing up everything from before, I'm just not ready to move on. There's a lot that needs doing, and I'm going to make sure it get's done, because now I have the time.

University is being a dick.

Update

2010-01-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

This week, I have been mostly designing a flyer and a poster for a metal night.

Oh and look at that, it's Monday, Here's the first playlist of the month...

YOU SLUT!

Happy fuckin new year.

2009-12-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

With less than 23 hours of the decade to go I can only look forward to it's end. That's not to say it's been a bad 10 years, I mean what with them mostly being spent growing up. It's more that I'm looking forward to 2010. This year particularly has been an interesting one, it peaked some time last week, suddenly plummeted some time around tonight, but will stabilise some time around midnight when the year ends.

I think I've been through a fair bit this year, I've had an immense dose of luck showered upon me and it was what I really needed. Looking at everything I have and comparing it to what I don't have, I think I'm in a pretty excellent place at the moment. But there's always room for improvement. And so I have set myself some resolutions:

1) Draw more. I aught to be posting a drawing every day or something, so I'm doing quite pathetic really.

2) Read more. I haven't completed one book this year. I'm not exaggerating, I really wish I was.

3) Put on some weight. Sick of being this rakey featherweight, it's about time I got my BMI up.

4) Sort out my social confidence. Speak to people and make friends and stop being so shy.

5) ensure this here band works. It's going really well so we just need to keep going the way we are and all shall be awesome.

6) I forget what this one is.

So here's to the future. May we all hope it isn't as bleak as it looks from here. Let's make the most of it.

Uuugh

2009-12-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

I woke up today at 2:40 and felt horrific for it. I've completely missed out on any sunlight for the day, and it's messed up my clock. Sure I needed it, the last 2 weeks have been messy and my sleep pattern was already a mess to begin with, but I'm so dependant on the sun. Without it I get so miserable, and considering I've pretty much gone without any social interaction since yesterday morning I'm not the happiest bunny in the world at the moment. Feeling a bit lonely I guess. Sheffield gets miserably lonely over Christmas without it's students. I remember coming back on New Years Day once, on my way back from Derby to Manchester I stopped off to drop by my house. Granted nothing is open New Years Day but wow it was dead, really creepy and depressing.

It's not so bad though, band practice in a couple of hours, might try squeeze in some Christmas shopping early tomorrow, then off back to Manchester.

And seeing as it's Monday, have some music.

Merry Christmas!

Sheild my face for you are my master...

2009-12-20T05:11:00.001-08:00

Amplifier are one of my all time favourite bands, they've got such an enjoyable sound and they're work is so cleverly done and with such unique qualities, they really are a pleasure for the ears. They started up in December 1999, and so last night they were Celebrating 10 years of being awesome. They recently released the Eternity CD as part of the celebration; 6 previously unreleased tracks from the very earliest days of their career, recorded purely for the love of music never with any intention of being a release. There were 300 copies, I have number 13.

Unfortunately this gig was In Manchester on a Saturday. Normally a gig being in Manchester isn't a problem for me, but for some reason there are no trains running late on a Saturday night from Manchester to Sheffield, so there was no way I could be there.

That was until a friend of mine, the legend that is Mr James Wilkes, informed me that his friend had had to pull out, and that he could provide me with a place to sleep after the gig, so I was sorted.

I headed down to Manchester Academy and met James outside where he handed me my ticket. It was number 13. We went inside and dropped our jackets at the cloakroom, I got my ticket from there. It was number 31 (dammit so close!).

The gig itself was amazing. A set list of never-before-played songs and top hitters, it was so good and obvious that the band were really happy to be there. So memorable.

After the gig I headed for the merch stand, where the band were selling their t shirts and posters. I got myself a HUGE poster and a t shirt, and had a chat with Sel (singer/guitarist) who remembered me from the picture I posted for the Eternity CD, which was quite flattering. I got my poster and ticket signed by all 3 members of the band, then headed over to the Oxford pub for the after party, which was also awesome.

I wasn't in the best state, I'd been up late several nights in the past few weeks, and I have a bit of a cold at the moment, and after a couple of pints my guts were not so happy, and decided my diaphragm needed to spasm a bit to teach me a lesson. Fucking hiccups. Me and James grabbed a table and drank for a while. The table was table number 13.

But the highlight of that part of the night was Mike Vennart, lead singer and guitarist of Oceansize came over to speak to us, since he already knew James, but this was the first time I'd spoken to him directly. When I told him I was the guy who'd done those animations for the Frames DVD, he got really excited about meeting me, it felt like the roles were reversed, yet I still managed to sound like an arse, I forget what I even managed to say, but it wasn't anything useful.

Needless to say, I had the last laugh.

I don't get html

2009-12-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

I just really don't get it, html, css, ymca, what ever it is people code in these days, I just don't get it. I'm supposed to have some sort of portfolio or website done by the end of this week, and it's not going well. I've been trying to use indexhibit for the website layout, but that's not so useful when you're working with videos if I'm honest. Or maybe it's just me. Either way I don't get it and I don't have time to learn it really. So I'm doing yet another flash website.

On top of that I need a CV, and that too is challenging me. It's hard to present animation in any format other than some kind of digital platform.

Anyway, it's Monday, have a playlist.

Autumny

2009-12-11T06:08:00.001-08:00

I made my Autumn website. And it's now the first thing to be hosted on steevilweevil.com

Yep that's right, it's there, up and running, live for you all to see.

It's not perfect I know, and it might take a while to load up so just give it a second. There's a few errors that I'll fix when I feel like it, but right now I'd rather not think about it. All I've done this last week is work on it for the deadline. I've enjoyed it as a project, and it was an excellent chance to learn something new. I'm definitely a lot more comfortable with the basics of action script now than I was when I started this. And overall I think I put quite a lot of effort into it, even recorded the music for it myself (at about 4am the morning before the deadline).

My to-do list now looks something like this:

Open the curtains, why are my curtains closed?

tidy this room, it's a state.

Presentation for our studio visit on Thursday

Portfolio and CV for Friday

and also for Wednesday when Ian Anderson (Designers Republic) comes in to look at them

Draw an ark

Do something with 100 a4 pieces of cardboard

Do something with this huge piece of card on my wall

Maybe do something with the wall at the back of my room (It's too blank)

Find a company who will take me for a placement

Laundry

Find somewhere to keep my hamster over Christmas

Make some music

Sleep (knew I'd forgotten something)

Grow up

Start a family

Live happily ever after.

Monday

2009-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

means music.

Have a bone gargler of a playlist.

I'm currently animating a whale.

How are you?

2009-12-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

I've got a mentally busy 5 days ahead of me. I was hoping to go and see Battles tomorrow night, but now I'm too bogged down with work (and broke). Having said that, I wasted some time and made this yesterday, ironically as a hint to stop wasting time.

I've got a playlist, it'll be melting your face on Monday, if you care to listen.

Cartographer

2009-11-30T11:06:00.000-08:00

I made another playlist. It's probably the most eclectic list ever because I'm the most eclectic person in the world. Way more eclectic than you anyway, and that makes me superior. But you can be just as eclectic as em if you listen to my playlist.

KLIKKY

I'm carrying on with work but at a worryingly slow pace as always. It's getting there though, so no need to panic.

Oh and I signed up to Tumblr recently. I'm using it at the moment to collect my favourite things on the internet, and if you want to see what those are, go here.

Wassup?

2009-11-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

So I haven't updated this week as I've been busy driving myself up the wall (not) doing work. I've got a portfolio and website and another website to sort out at the moment. I've just bought steevilweevil.com and shall soon be developing that as my own personal hub of information so that I can look all professional n stuff.

Also, the three men collectively known as Death Rides A Horse....my band...have just acquired a practice room. We'll be churning out noise like an injured dinosaur in no time.

And, as it's Monday today, have another playlist.

WASSUP?!

Also, I've just opened up a tumblr account where I post all my favourite things that I find on the internet. Be sure to check it out.

Playlist numero 1

2009-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna start making weekly playlists on spotify, partly because I just want to, partly because I want to give people an idea of what I've been listening to and maybe influence others, and partly so that I can look back through these playlists, and maybe in the future remember a particularly special week in my life.

so playlist Number 1 is right here. This one is just a selection of favourites to start off with. It's fairly easy going so don't be scared now. Don't forget you need spotify to listen to it, but I'm sure you're not stupid enough to have not got it already right?

STE'S SPOTIFY LIST 1

I'm making a "Playlist" tag on my blog there as well just in case anyone is ever going to try finding them.

Steevilweevil takes over

2009-11-06T12:45:00.001-08:00

Today I made my new email address and switched it to be the new listed author of this blog, then kicked off "youdoiron". That was a crap email address, good riddance. For anyone who does email me, I'll still get my emails forwarded to my new address, so there's no worries there. This one just takes me one step closer to having a coherent internet identity; vital in the industry.

Next of course comes a website, which shall be happening quite soon. Yes! This blog shall serve merely as an appendix to a real website, which will make me look more professional and less like a rambling tit.

Before then though I'll be producing the Autumn website, which shall be a beautiful online experience, both emotional and educational. For example, did you know that the monarch butterfly travels over 2,000 miles each year during autumn from North America into Mexico? I sure didn't.

If you're lucky, and you usually aren't, I might post some images this week. Yes! Images! That don't require reading! You lucky lucky (but probably not that lucky) things! For now though, enjoy these Autumn photos (click to embiggen).

Yea that's right, A nobbin' Kingfisher!!

Dear God I need to get on with some work!

Autumn/A moment of inspiration at 2am

2009-10-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

I’ve always had a love hate relationship with Autumn. It’s a strange melancholy time of the year. It used to be that it would feel like the death of summer, but as the years have gone by, it’s become more an indication that summer isn’t coming. And as I watch the sun sink further behind the architecture of the city with each day, it seems that everything around me follows suit with the trees and loses its colour. The sky is stained a permanent gray and not a single shadow is cast during the cruelly short days. The bustling crowd in the streets seems to lower its chin towards the damp, rain soaked concrete, faces hidden under woolly hats and bleak umbrellas. The whole city shuffles by mournfully as it tries to get in from the cold.

But if anyone was to lift their sunken heads for just a moment they would see that even between the sullen concrete faces of the buildings, on the paved paths where the beauty of nature dare not tread, there is a special charm, a warmth within the cold, which only appears during these months of transformation.

It’s in the knitted scarves wrapped around the beautiful people that catch our attention, the ones who stand out from the dreariness, who seem to silently boast about their warmth. It’s in car headlights reflected in wet tarmac, the parallel rows of dots that get longer as the evening darkness creeps into rush hour, until the only light on the journey home comes in lines of red and white. And it’s knowing that that journey home will take forever, but once you’re on that bus you discover a warmth so comforting you pray you never reach your destination. But when you do, and you’re forced to see your own breath once again, you know that in a few moments you’ll be home.

And home means so much more during Autumn. That’s not just a porch light anymore; it’s salvation, an indicator of safety, a beacon of warmth in the freezing darkness. Behind the increasingly difficult-to-open door awaits family, friends, a lover, a cat, all more happy to see you than ever before, or just the comfort of some warm joggers, a duvet and a huge mug of hot chocolate. Once you’re home, you feel so ready to call it a day. So what if it’s only 6:30. The sun is down and the moon is up, so let’s just get comfy and warm, there’s no reason to leave the house.

But to really see why Autumn is so special, you need to get away from the perfectly sculpted greys and blacks of the city. Maybe the countryside is too far away, but you can always get to the park. When I was younger we would visit the park almost every week. Over the space of a couple of months it would change its colours like a giant chameleon; each week it was different. It was only a matter of waiting before conkers would drop from the trees in their spiky jackets, so I could join in with the squirrels and gather the biggest ones I could find.

In the park, there’s a certain feeling of peace which overwhelms. The trees sound different as the leaves dry out and fall off, and the wind picks up as the air cools down. It’s so easy to feel alone in the park; everyone else will shy away into the warmth of home, even the trees, with their bare branches seem too dormant to notice you. You find yourself alone in a huge open space, and your mind expands until it fills every corner of the grassy space before you. You think to yourself, “This space, it’s here for me.” and in the loneliness your mind opens up and starts to tell you all those things it’s been keeping secret over summer when you were too busy enjoying yourself to stop and spend time together.

It just doesn’t seem right to feel down in Autumn, but it’s not right to feel full of joy either. No, Autumn is a time of peace, it’s a time when all those extra layers of clothes make you feel like you’re protected and separated from the rest of the world. But the warmth doesn’t come from these layers, the best warmth is found when you sink so far into your own mind that you disconnect from the frosty reality.

Autumn seems to make everything move faster and slower at the same time. The feet move as fast as the cloudy blanket overhead, as fast as the sun slides along the horizon, but the mind takes it’s time, like the frozen snakes of traffic that light up the darkness. It melts down like the mushy leaf-litter underneath the trees and burrows into the dirt where it finds the peace it’s needed for so long. And it’s this peace that gets us through the sombre season that is Autumn.

Work in Progress

2009-10-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Remember me mentioning that music video? Well, it's starting to materialise now. Slowly. I've had word from the other guys involved that videos have been shot, and some should be coming my way soon for me to start working on. There's no longer a deadline on this but I'll let you know what happens.

In other news, I'm back in university like, properly now. We've got a brief and everything. Well, more we've been told to write a brief, and my mission, if I choose to accept it, is design a fully functioning website for myself, plus some extra animations to beef up the whole thing.

For the extra works I've taken a lot of inspiration from Radiohead and their "Blips" for Kid A, ie; I'm going to make several super short clips to fill the website.

I've no idea how I'm going to go about doing the website, but I'm thinking maybe something a bit like superbad.com or any other ridiculously complicated website which leads the viewer through a random succession of pages as it slowly eats their mind. Should be interesting I think.

Weevils really really are coming.

2009-09-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

I told you. But you wouldn't listen. Yesterday I went up to my room to find this guy wandering around my room, climbing my computer speakers and hiding under my laptop and all that. So I took lots of photos.

he had these big adorable eyes, I never thought I'd say that about an insect. I also got some videos of how he walked, with intention of making some sort of flash feature that could be applied to this here blog/a future website. Probably just some weevils walking around the bottom that you can pick up and move around with your mouse. He kinda reminded me of a robot when he walked...

After getting all this I left him outside with another one I'd found in the kitchen. When I went out the next day to go to the shop, I found 2 dead weevils on my doorstep. Oops :(

Dear Post Rock Fans

2009-09-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

I am writing to complain about your behaviour at a recent "Explosions in the Sky" concert which I attended. I found your lack of physical movement during even the most energetic and climatic moments in the music disappointing, and can only question why you are attending such an event in the first place. Please understand that if you do feel any need to move during a concert, this is perfectly natural and should not be resisted. However if you do feel that reacting to the music is a poor way of demonstrating your ability to appreciate the pretentiousness of your favourite music, please be considerate and make room for those who want to enjoy live music.

Also, please put your camera/camera phone away. Your photo's will not be good, your videos will be even worse, and I'm sick of having to watch my favourite bands through a 3 inch LCD screen. I highly recommend you focus on actually enjoying the concert whilst you are actually attending it, rather than saving it for later when you get home and listen to a horrifically distorted .wav file, explaining to anyone present that you are aware the sound quality is poor but it was awesome when you were there.

Yours

Steve

This is not the time to be drawing sea horses

2009-08-23T14:56:00.000-07:00

but sometimes one gets carried away.

hey how's it going?

2009-08-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm getting pretty sick of August personally; I have no money and everyone is all "woo Leeds fest" at me. WELL I HOPE IT RAINS AND YOU GET FOOD POISONING AND SWINE FLU.

In other news, I made this for Dei Machiavelli.

Rest in Peace Les Paul

2009-08-13T14:15:00.001-07:00

If it hadn't been for the guitar that bares his name, I question whether rock n roll would have ever happened, or at least been the same. With that, plus his multi track, he pretty much shaped the sound of music today, it really wouldn't be the same without him. And I can't think of anyone more dedicated, I mean; here's a guy who, after shattering his arm in a car accident, had the doctors reconstruct it so it was permanently in guitar playing position. Massive respect for that.

So this week, I have been mostly working on a logo for my brothers band Dei Machiavelli which is looking lovely already, it's a nice piece of typography and some paisley sorta floral patterns. It's got a lot of work left before I can call it done but I'm enjoying it, I could sit and draw these paisley patterns for hours and hours, the only problem I'm having is keeping it consistent but not repetative, I've found a nice way of doing a couple of different flowers but it needs a bit more than that I reckon.

Also, it appears my band prospects are just around the corner, got some people lined up, there's some material on the table, just gotta wait for everything to come together then we can start working on it, which should be in motion before the end of the month.

Which is nice.

You've got a brass band.

2009-07-28T13:03:00.001-07:00

A while ago I put an advert online saying I wanted to play some drums. I've been playing guitar for about 9 years or so, and played drums every now and then since. somehow, drums came a lot more naturally to me. Back when I was 12 or so, my friend had been taking lessons for several months before i decided to join him. Within a few weeks I was ahead of him. Unfortunately I had to move school, and the drum lessons got left behind as I carried on with guitar. I still played every now and then, covering greenday songs with a friend and generally messing around, because I still loved it so much.

Unfortunately, I'd had little in the way of a constructive reply, until last thursday, when i got a call from a woman who worked for a company called "Shine TV". She told me that they were working with a brass band in a place called Dinnington near Sheffield, who were looking for new band members. They would be filming from an audition for new members and onwards as the band worked towards making it to a higher level of some kind. She told me I should come down on Sunday and audition, and I said yes.

Brass bands are hardly my favourite form of ensemble, but from a musical stance, I saw it as a chance to learn something new, an experience I could learn from. I made my way up to Dinnington that Sunday, and after filling out a few forms and waiting a while, i was lead into a large hall where I set up a drum kit, then sat before a panel of judges, one of which was Sue Perkins from the telly. They asked me to play what ever I could play, and asked me if I could play a drum roll, which i did surprisingly well despite my lack of practice. I was then asked about musical terms like "pianissimo" and "fortissimo" which I couldn't recall straight off the top of my head. It's been a long time since I studied any music theory, and these words are buried somewhere in the back of my mind.

I walked out of the audition, gave a quick on camera interview, then waited to be recalled. I walked back into the hall a few moments later, along side 2 brass players, and 2 other drummers. The end result was the other 2 drummers would be going into the main band, and I would be going into the "training band" so that I could improve my music theory before going into the main band, which couldn't be more perfect really since it means I can improve my music theory which I have been hoping to do for a long time. Unfortunately, it won't include the music theory behind key signatures and tonality and what not, which really if I'm playing guitar is vital....Could this be another reason to shift over to a drum kit???

So at some point in the near future you'll be able to watch me playing drums on a brass band-based reality tv show on BBC2 featuring Sue Perkins! Lovely stuff.

In a more design related area, I've lately been obsessed with black and white animals. I've drawn a series of little illustrations of different black and white animals; panda, magpie, penguin, killer whale, cow, zebra, and still to come; skunk, lemur and badger.

Here's a cow to keep you momentarily entertained.

We got a live one

2009-07-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

Turns out I'm still alive. I survived not having the internet for over a week, OK so I still managed to check my facebook (yea I signed up again), use MSN messenger, and read my emails from my phone, but it's not the same!

The reason I've been offline is of course because I've just moved into a new house. It's a house 3/4 filled with designers, and the last quater, for now is a temporary tennant, so we're still not properly filled up yet. It's a nice house, the area is a bit manky looking, but I lived around here in my first year and it's not bad. My room is tiny, but I've managed to fit everything in because there's plenty of storage, I just need to keep it tidy.

Despite having lots of work to do, I am, as always, stuck for something I can be doing right now. I've got ideas and I've got tasks but they're all waiting for other things. The music video is all planned out and I'm just waiting for more info so I can get on with it, and the Cuba project is going nicely, we have a logo and everything planned out, so we just have to get on with it really.

I'm also enforcing more frequent drawing, I've had a couple of ideas, which will probably end up on t shirts, including this one...

The story behind this one being I saw someone wearing a t shirt that said "rock and roll is here to stay for ever" but at a very quick glance, the folds of the fabric almost made it look like it said "for tea" and I thought, "that's pretty funny" then I realised it was my idea, so I'm making it

Just what I was after!

2009-06-15T11:18:00.001-07:00

So like a blessing from "God" I've been asked to produce some animations, thanks once again to the Oceansize message board, only this time it's for a music video. I'm really excited about this, obviously. It's going to be a lot of work, and definitely challenging, but really good no doubt. The story line is really interesting, and the music is really good too so it's going to be great to work on. It's also MEGA points for my course, especially going into third year it's vital I get things like this to do!

Unfortunately, I'm not going to give too many details yet, since I'm not sure what really can be given away n all that, you'll just have to look out for the final piece won't you?

Sup blog bitches...

2009-06-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

I'm just here to plug my friend Kun and his new blog. He's just set it up so watch out for his work coming up. He's a fellow motion designer on my course and an excellent photographer, so keep your face over there yea, apart from when you're reading mine obviously.

Small update

2009-06-11T11:23:00.001-07:00

So I've managed 4 of them there narrow drawings so far. I'm most happy with the penguins, I'm least happy with the eyes.

something new to play with...

2009-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

So we were getting rid of some old stuff in work, boxes, points of sale etc. when I noticed some kind of old highlighter point of sale with some tester paper stuck to the front. I thought to myself, those tester papers could be interesting actually...so I took them home with me.

so they're an odd size, I have 2 of them, and they're about 40 pieces each. My plan is to use one horizontally, and one vertically, and draw something new on each one, to make a collection of oddly framed images. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it because they're such an odd dimension, so I'll have to think of things that will fit within the space provided. We'll see what happens I guess. I'm going to try for one a day, but you know me....we'll see. I'll call this, for the sake of a tag, narrow.

Beep and Dua

2009-06-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

So tonight I discovered Omegle. It's pretty cool, basically it drops you into a conversation with someone at random. So far tonight I've spoken to a trainee nurse in Hong Kong, given some guitar tips to Anton in Sweden, learned some Finnish words from Liisa (and forgotten them), nattered about Britain's Got Talent with a guy in the USA, and shown a gay guy in Israel that not everyone is homophobic. Interesting stuff!

At the same time, I've been thinking up some ideas for Beep and his tee shirts. At first I was thinking, he didn't look "cute" enough, maybe he needed to be a bit more out of proportion, bigger head, little stumpy limbs. Then I thought, why make him so cute? Guys are less likely to buy "cute" tee shirts, but girls would more likely prefer them no? So I thought, why don't I give Beep a girlfriend? Then I can have the slightly more masculine and the feminine, then everyone is happy!

So his girlfriend, thanks to Sarah and Isaac Asimov, is called Dua.

That is all.

2009-05-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

A while ago one of our tutors recieved an email from the Museum Of Original Clothing who invite designers to send them their work, which they then print on to tee shirts and sell, and the designer gets a bit of cash for it. What a lovely idea I thought, and although I don't get the impression anyone could make massive money from it, it's worth it no? So I was thinking what I could put onto a tee shirt, and I couldn't find much seeing as most of the work I do, at least the stuff I've done that I've liked, has been moving image. Then I remembered my robot BEEP. It would be better if I could think of something that BEEP could be an acronym for, but I can't. You try it.

I'm surprised I didn't get this on here before, it's probably because the work I did was all in the wrong format and I'm yet to change it. Basically, we were asked by a nice man called Tobt who likes money, to design something that could go inside his shiney new building where designers would work. And this is what I came up with...

No, not just a picture of a robot, he can do stuff. My intention was that he would be displayed on a screen, or maybe between several screens, and he would spend the day wandering between them, being all robotic. Then inside the reception of the building would be a keyboard and a mouse. A user clicks on this mouse out of curiosity maybe, and all of a sudden, Beep looks up at you and says hello. But what is it for? Well once you've got his attention, you would be able to ask him any questions about the Electricworks building, or maybe you need to know what time the next train to Leeds is, or if there are any upcoming events, or where the toilets are, or whether Joe Designer is in today, and if not what his contact details are, or maybe you want to order a pizza. All things willing, Beep would be able to provide all of this. He'd be like an electronic receptionist.

But it doesn't stop there. Robots are built to carry out functions, but Beep is built with a heart. If it's Monday morning, maybe he's a bit sleepy. If it's friday night, he might have already started on the lager. Maybe he's bored because nobody has played a game with him for a while, so you might need to play naughts and crosses with him before he'll work for you. There would be a range of different items you could give him to interact with. He will probably like you more if you give him a guitar or a jetpack or dress him up in a dinosaur outfit, but if you're the guy who left a hive of angry bees on his screen then you'll be getting your help from somebody else!

Maybe it was too ambitious, most likely I didn't explain it well enough on my presentation board. Either way, I wasn't picked and Beep is still sat on my had drive feeling sorry for himself. He wants to go out and play, he wants to make friends!

So I thought this tee shirt company could give him a new lease of life. I'm going to give him a little bit of a polishing, make him more "cute", give him a bigger head make him all puppy like. Then I can put him in a veriety of costumes and poses, and Beep can come to life!

OK so it's not the same as him being an actual interactive robot on a screen, but it's something. I may build him up further when I actually know how to, but for now, tee shirts shall be his platform.

The times they are achangin'

2009-05-22T13:00:00.001-07:00

So tonight I deleted my facebook account. I say deleted, technically, unless you went into your profile, untagged every photo, deleted every friend, cleared every information box and uninstalled every application, the facebook beast does not die. I could just log in and it would all be back like waking from a dream. However I think things will be better this way.

So now, without being distracted by Joe Nobody posting his results for "how many mind numbingly pointless quiz things can you do in one hour?" and being informed that 6 of my friends are fans of "life or sleeping or money or being drunk or sex or some other obvious generic shit", I can get on with more interesting things like giving this blog a make over, writing music, drawing etc.

At the moment I'm slowly getting on with some work for this Cuba project. Our first job is to produce a catalogue for the exhibition, as well as all the signage, advertising and exhibition space. So it's all hands on deck in the ideas department for now. I doubt I'll post anything visual on it until the whole project is done, so you'll just have to wait won't you. In the mean time, I'm working on my drawing, and here's how it's coming along so far....

I call that one, "Giraffe, Triceratops, Weevil, Helicopter, Jeff Goldblum".

New peojects

2009-05-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

So at university I've offered to work with a few others to do some design work for an exhibition in October. There's a lot of stuff to do so we're splitting it between a few of us. It's an exhibition of photography and poetry on Cuba, so we need lots of Cuban...stuff....should be interesting!

Meanwhile, I'm starting my own pad of paper project. I've got a massive wad of A3 paper, and I'm drawing something new on it every day, filling each page over a week or so. The first one, so far, has a giraffe and a triceratops on it. I'm not sure what to draw today, but I'm sure something will come to me, and I'm always open to recommendations! I'll put anything on it!

Summer

2009-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

So I’m currently sat on a train that has cut it’s way through the vast expanses of concrete I call Manchester, out into the quieter suburbs and into silence of the countryside, under the cover of a beautiful blue sky, as it chugs its way to Sheffield via numerous quaint little villages. The last week had been a tough one no doubt, but it marked a turning point.

This summer is going to be a very important one. It is during this summer than I really have to think about where I want to be next year, the year after, and well for the rest of my life really. I’ve done everything I need to do for my course (minus a couple of tutorials and feedback sessions) but that doesn’t mean I can stop at all. I think this summer is going to be a chance for me to do all the things I’ve been meaning to get round to. I’m going to really work on improving my drawing, and discovering my interests. I’m going to have to be determined and put a lot of effort into it though, I may have four months before I have to be back in university, but that isn’t a long time when it comes to developing skills. I also really need to work out how I’m going to work once I finish university, where I want to go, who I want to work with etc, and how I’m going to go about getting to that point in my life.

In summary, my plans for this summer; draw, draw, and draw some more.

The country side really is beautiful.

This is the end, my only friend

2009-05-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

So in about 8 hours I'll be handing in my final piece for my second year of university. It's been a hectic year, full of trials and tribulations, both inside and outside of the course. I'm currently sat in a room, which was previously my girlfriends room, then my ex girlfriends room, and as of tomorrow, my room, I'm chatting on Skype to some guys who for some unknown reason I didn't get to know all that well before the last few months, I've watched my results change dramatically between modules, and when I haven't been on coursework duty I've been practicing guitar for a band I joined last month.

Tomorrow draws to a close a big chapter in my life, and I think I'll never really get my head around everything that has happened. There's been a heavy mix of ups and downs, and I think at the moment I'm somewhere inbetween.

Tomorrow is also a new start, the opening of another chapter, and I'm excited to find out where it will take me. I have plenty of hopes and goals, and only time will tell how they will go.

Enter; Year Three.

Scratch that...

2009-04-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

There's no way I'll have this done for 5th of May. No way at all. I've spoken to a tutor since so many of us are so far behind, and she told me that what we need to do is focus more on the development parts, show some research etc. and not worry about the final piece as much.

So I'm going to finish this over summer instead. I was told I could carry this piece on into next year but I really want to see this finished so I can do something else next year instead.

For now, all I have to offer is this drawing of a shuttle on a launch pad. Enjoy!

Uninspired? Lacking?

2009-04-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

I certainly seem to be. The biggest problem I've had for as long as I can remember is coming up with ideas. When I'm given a brief, I can usually come up with something fairly quickly, especially for animations etc.

But it's drawing I'm struggling with. When I'm at work, I like to take a pad of paper with me so that I can doodle on my breaks. Doodling is an excellent way of practicing drawing, really any chance to put a pencil on paper I should be taking and using. I should be drawing on every surface I see, but I'm just not.

My friend Tom used to sit with me in school, and he would doodle through reams and reams of paper. He'd come up with all kinds of odd characters and images, many of which have left me in fits of laughter. I however, never mastered this.

I used to have such an active imagination when I was young. These days, all I seem to do is look at other work, or look at a blank piece of paper. I'm sure everyone who creates any kind of art feels the same when they start a piece, you've got this white rectangle staring at you and nothing coming out. I just never seem to be able to get past that, and it's really ruining any attempts at improving my drawing.

Also, especially when in public, I get really nervous about drawing. I can't get comfortable, I don't want anybody to see what I'm doing. Then when something finally does come out, it's rubbish and I hate it, and I can't carry it on.

I'm trying so desperately to improve my drawing, but nothing is coming out. Nothing at all.

shuttles woo!

2009-04-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

So I've drawn some more frames for my animation. I really should be testing out different materials for each section, but for this part I'm going to stick with my ideas because it's a very effective section. I'm using a fine liner to draw around the shuttle, and a brush pen to fill in the background. I think the strokes give it a nice sense of movement. So here's 18 frames of it. I've drawn out a few more, but my pen has run a bit dry so you'll have to enjoy this second and a half of teaser for now.

Look at it go!

Some drawings

2009-04-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

Some drawings what I did...

This one is some kind of lizard thing.

This is a monster that has to carry its head around on these puppet strings that extend from it's fingers.

But I showed it to someone upside-down by accident, and they told me I should draw it the other way round, as if the strings were kind of like spiders silk, that it used to catch its prey. So I did. Unfortunately the upside-down drawing, doesn't look as good as the first drawing when it's turned upside down. I also gave it crab legs.

Enjoy!

Digipak Done

2009-04-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. You'll just have to trust that it looked good.

It was printed about twice the size it should have been though, so the booklets looked a bit offset, but I was fairly happy with it all the same.

Just an essay and an animation to do over the next month. My tutor told me I need to try out a lot more ideas for my animation, which is true, but I fall in love with my ideas so easily and I'm reluctant to try anything else. Which is a terrible habit, definitely something I need to get out of.

I'm working on it. Lots of work to do!

Digipak

2009-03-27T04:05:00.001-07:00

So I've got 3 modules running together at the moment, and today I'm working on my "Prep for level 6" in which I have to write up what I want to do next year. The problem I've been facing with that one is that I have to present what I write in some sort of relevant way. Of course, there was no way I was going to produce any kind of animation or motion piece in...well about 2 weeks. It just wasn't possible. So, go me, I found a way round it.

Instead I'm going to produce a 6 panel digipak, which is basically a card based CD case that folds twice into panels, with the CD in the middle one. It's 6 panels because the design flows onto the outside as well. I'm thinking I'm going to do the panel hand drawn, just for the fun of it really. Then inside each of the 2 sides will go a little booklet, one for the "Context" questions, and one for the "Content" questions. Then I can use "Content/Context" for the title, and have the questions as the track list on the back.

There will however, be no CD. One of my pet hates, as a designer, is this shift towards mp3's and Youtube etc. With everything moving onto the internet, I'm losing my canvas. Where the CD should be, I'm simply going to write "Sorry, this content is only available online.

I just wish I'd been around for vynal

I've done 14 seconds of footage...

2009-03-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

...Aren't I great?!

In Motion

2009-03-24T11:38:00.001-07:00

I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. By a week on Friday I'll have to have completed my "prep for level 6" module, in which I explain what I want to do in my final year of university, and turn it into some kind of piece relevant to my area, so some kind of motion work. This will most likely take the form of a video interview, or an audio interview over some kind of animation, I haven't decided...I will very soon though as I'm rapidly running out of time.

On top of that is an essay, which I think I'm OK but it's still more work in addition to what may be the most difficult project I've had to date; the Alpha Waves animation.

So far I've produced the animatic for it, which looks something like this....

You have to imagine the music I guess, I didn't want to put it on for copyright reasons. I'm intending on showing the final one to the band themselves if I can, so hopefully I can get permission to use it....as far as I know it's legal but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

In other news, two of my friends have opened up their own blogs over on wordpress. Tom and Callum both study multimedia technology at Leeds Metropolitan University, which is quite closely linked with what I'm doing as well.

You can see Tom's blog here

and Cal's is here

Also for Tom's "Friends" page I made a little animation. This came from a video of us playing in a field ages ago after staying up all night wandering around the streets of Bury. Some content may have been edited.

Alpha Waves

2009-03-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

So for my next project, I've been told to do literally what ever I want. So I'm aiming for a hand drawn animation to accompany "Alpha Waves", the first track of My Vitriol's "Finelines" album. I've picked this song because firstly it's only 2:17 long, which is a fairly reasonable time given the time I have to do this in. Secondly it's because it has always triggered a synaesthetic response, ie. when I listen to it, I see things, namely space shuttles and space exploration stuff.

So for the next 2 months, I have my work cut out. On top of an 2 essay type things, I'll be spending every waking hour drawing space shuttles. Wicked!

Critical Point

2009-03-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

So this week I've been given a new brief, or more accurately, been told to write a brief. Daunting!

This is an excellent chance for me to experiment and discover what it is that I want to do, because there are pretty much no rules. Obviously I need to give my piece meaning and direction and purpose; I have to be able to justify my work, but otherwise it really is open.

I've decided I want to focus on traditional media for this. I want to make an animation which is either completely hand drawn, or relies hevily on hand drawn or hand crafted techniques, so anything from pen on paper, to claymation, to collage, to what ever else I can think of. Of course that isn't to say I will completely deny digital technology any involvement in this work, to be honest I don't see how I could, but what I really want to do is avoid the temptation of the simplicity of flash or after effects, and get back to using my hands. In my opinion this area of animation has been slowly diminishing since digital animation became so available, in fact most of the work we do on my course relies on it, so I really want to break away from it and do something different.

So I've got my technique mainly pinned, all I need to do now is decide on what it is my animation is going to be, which is the wider angle of it. My first thought was to do something music or sound based. I find a lot of the music I listen to tends to create an image in my head. If I concentrate enough, I start to see moving images, it takes me to an imaginary place, a situation, a story begins to unfold. So if I could interperate a piece of music that does that, then I could potentially create something very personal to me. It would probably turn out to be very abstract and experimental, but it would be interesting to see where that could go. Alternatively I could write a piece of music and create an animation for that, or use ambient recordings, like an audio recording taken in the middle of the night in the city, or in a park or anything like that.

So for the rest of this week, I'll be trying to find a piece of music which not only creates an image in my head, but also something I can express through this animation, a meaning, a message, what ever it is that I am thinking or want people to think about. I have a lot to come up with.

All this, and it has to be finished by May, so my animation isn't going to be more than a few minutes long. Plus I have an essay to write and I have to decide what it is I want to do next year, I've got quite a lot on at the moment!

Workshop funnery

2009-02-27T04:34:00.001-08:00

I've just spent 2 days this week working with Karsten Schmidt learning to use processing and Java code to create interesting screen based works. It was great to see just what is possible with just a few lines of code. I have nothing to show at the moment, and because I didn't have a laptop I wasn't able to do much work, but what I saw was great. There were a few other people who ended up producing 3D prints, or some sort of device that reacts to its environment, like a sound-controlled animation.

Unfortunately I wasn't around on the last day to see how the Arduino kits were used. Arduino kits, from what I can gather, are electronic chip boards, which you can use to control all kinds of things. As a very quick example, Karsten wrote a short piece of code telling an LED to switch on for one second, then off for one second, then sent that to the board and let it run. I'm presuming what they did later was apply the codes written before, such as the audio-controlled one, to the Arduino kit, so that maybe the LEDs lit up according to sound levels, or something more imaginative.

From what I can gather, this sort of technology, with the right skills, can be applied to just about anything, and when I get the chance I'm hoping to learn the Processing language a bit better, and who knows what might happen! It's really open and limitless, so it's a great resource to exploit. I just wish I'd had something to show for it!

Past and present.

2009-02-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

So before we boldly go into the future, let's take a look at the past. I've done lots and lots of work, so I'll pick out the most successful and see where we are.

Going right back to 2006/7

I really discovered graphic design during my A levels, these are some pieces illustrating architecture in Manchester. I did these before I really discovered typography...

Here's some guitars I did later that year.

See what I mean about the vector stuff? It's all I did. As a result, my drawing skills slowly faded. I left my pens to collect dust as I got to know my mouse better. Sad sad story.

Here's some pigeons mixed with a veriety of prehistoric life

After this, I moved to sheffield to study graphic design at Sheffield Hallam University. I wouldn't consider it the best univeristy but the graphic design course has so far taught me quite a lot, and I've definately moved on. The first year didn't really give me much to show. For this piece I was told to "map a game" so I mapped a game of Jenga...

Then there was the final module, in which we were asked to create an animation set to a piece of music, illustrating three words which we associated with the piece. I found this very exciting indeed. Unfortunately, instead of the Boards of Canada piece some people got, I ended up with a Bach piano piece. I wasn't happy with this, but I felt the outcome was pretty good. This is where I began my love/hate relationship with animation and motion graphics. My three words were "Sarah" (my girlfriend who plays piano), "flow" and "light" and this was the final outcome

For the main part, I used hand drawn images, which were traced from original video footage, then scanned in frame by frame and added to flash. I used these, with the black and white colour scheme, to reflect the traditional style of the music, and because piano keys are in black and white, and wanted to make that association. The rest was simply me discovering motion tweens and other features of flash. I was really happy with how this came out considering I'd never used flash or had to create an animation like this before.At some point that year, as a totally unexpected surprise, I was asked by my all time favourite band Oceansize to produce some animations for the menu on thier live DVD, after one of the members saw a smaller version of the below animations in my avatar on their fan message board. After the heart attack had stopped, I got myself into photoshop and produced these animations. I used photoshop because by this time I hadn't discovered after effects, which probably would have been much better. (click on them to see them move).

Those are smaller versions of the final animations. When I got my copy of the DVD, I was, to be honest, a bit disapointed. I'd set the framerate to 20fps, rather than 25fps, and although on their own they looked really good, next to the stuff in 25fps it looked quite glitchy. None the less it was accepted and used and I was honoured.

So now I'm in my second year, focusing in motion graphics. At the moment I'm working on a web design piece for a charity, however I'm not allowed to publish anything online since it's a genuine industry brief (in competition form). All I can say is that I'm currently rotoscoping over several seconds of video, and although it's not really that much, it's taking ages and boring the face off me, but I'm looking forward to the final outcome. Also for this I'm going to have to learn actionscript coding, so I'm looking forward to that too.

In the meantime, I'm also designing a logo for a band called Inertia Blooms. One of the band members said he was redesigning the website, and needed some help with the graphics. I'm not sure if they'll use the one I'm working on now, since he did one himself, however I've enjoyed doing it, and I'll see where it goes. I'll be putting that on here when I'm done.

That's all.

Weevils are coming...

2009-02-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

"...Riding on horseback, with pointy sticks in their hands and fires in their hearts. The weevils are coming, and they will not hault. Today dawns the voyage of one weevil, who foresees the world ahead of him. This is the story of Ste the Weevil..."

Or Steven McCarthy, Steve, Ste, etc. I'm 19, almost big boy 20, and studying Graphic design at university. I want to be able to watch myself progress, I want to be able to look back and see just how much I've grown. Like the pencil etchings on a door frame, this blog exists so that I can look at how things have changed, and reminisce, and wallow in my own self improvement.

At the moment, I am striving to improve my drawing skills, whilst learning new ways and new mediums through which I can use my creativity. When I started this course, I had my eyes fixed squarely on illustration, but since then I've discovered the joys of animation and motion graphics. However, my interests and intentions still sway somewhere between the two.

Maybe I'm just keeping my options open. Maybe I'm just a mixed up teenager who doesn't quite know what he's doing yet. Either way, I'm creating a wide veriety of work and trying to incorporate a wide veriety of technique, and as a result, I'm discovering my own path.

So I guess this is my documentation of my journey along this path, starting today. Eventually it will become clear just where I'm heading, but for now, I'll just follow my instincts.