Just like magic!

Know what this is?





It's a stick of awesome. Also known as a magic pencil.

It really is magical, though. See, it has a multi coloured lead, so when you draw with it, the colours change as it wears down. And don't tell me they're for kids, because KOH-I-NOOR makes a really good one, and I like it too much to be told it's immature. I got mine from The Drawing Room, but you can get them from Gordon Harris too, if you're in NZ. Whoever said that money can't buy happiness was wrong... it retails for a mere $3.50 NZ.

Anyway, it's been a lot of fun on the class drawing trips we've been on lately. This drawing was from the petting zoo at Willowbank... the goats kept putting their head through the wooden fence, and getting their horns stuck. Fully adorable.



See what I mean? Everything looks better when you draw it with a magic pencil!

Also, I learnt something interesting at the petting zoo: Goats and sheep have rectangular irises. Surely I should have known this, living in NZ, the land of sheep related bestiality jokes... but instead I freaked out when I saw their eyes.... and everyone was like "so what?".

Oh well. I guess it just proves I'm not like these guys, then. Heh.

Things I would like to be better at... #1

Instead of posting up the assignment like I was going to, I realised I hadn't put any of this year's photography assignment up. There is a good reason for this, though... we weren't allowed to retouch our photos like in our last photography assignment. I found this very scary, because I really am not a photography expert.

Our brief required we shoot product photography- using our model's favourite item. so yes, it was a little strange. Just product or just portrait photography might have been better, and I think I ended up with portraits in the end anyway.

Oh well. But really, I should stop stalling and let you get to the bit with the photos, because that's what you want to look at, right?






Just try not to get too excited.






Promise?






Okay okay. Here they are.















We were matched up with classmates for our photoshoots. My model was really great, even though I fail miserably at using a dSLR. However, this explains why I have a much more attractive display pic for everything, now, because of the deceptively glamourous photos my classmates took of me :P

I really am inspired to learn better photography from this, though. There are a lot of amazing photographers I follow on flickr, and I always wonder exactly how they do it. I'm toying with the idea of starting a 365, where you take a photo every day of the year, but I don't know if I could keep it up. I'm sure it would be a good way to get better at photography, but we shall see. A little discipine never hurt anyone, right?

Anyway, here are a few sets and 365's from my flickr contacts that I thought were just amazing (and yes, a lot of them are threadless people, but that's cause they're the best!)

Margolove's summer 365
You should check out her completed 365 too :)

Triangle
I think these are just general photos, but they're lovely

Randy
It's a fully completed 365+1! Crazy stuff.

Rebekka
This set is conceptual stuff, but her other work is amazing too.

Hellopoe
Expat Kiwi with super photography powers.

Rosie Hardy
Whether she's just a marketing ploy or not, they're fun to look at!


I guess I'll leave you to look through those... but don't say I didn't warn you when you feel the insatiable need to get better at taking photos ;)

Sneak peekery

I have a sort of big presentation for my double graphic design assignment on Monday... but in the meantime, I'll hand out a sneak preview of what I've been up to as of late...

The brief was to team up with the interior designers at course to design a logo and other fun things for a second year fashion students from downstairs. Confusing stuff. But more on that later. Why don't you just look at the pretty pictures while I collapse in a twitching heap of caffeine and misprinted paper?


^ Logo design

Kerrie is a little on the gothic fantasy side of fashion, but her stuff is pretty cool. I figured I might as well go a little more mainstream accessible... hence, you get a logo with eyes growing out of it. She was also interested in mens fashion, so I went for a more unisex logo... I think. Maybe. I tried.



This was a screenshot from the poster as I was working on it. Note that it is zoomed out to 16.7%... I'm surprised I'm able to type at all! There were a lot of branches in the end, I'm so happy with the way it turned out!. But that is for another day when I have regained my ability to control my eyelids.

Seriously. It's 8pm and I'm gonna crash. Goodnight, and see you!


EDIT: Apparently, I was too tired to link to the photos properly, and so this post was actually about nothing for a while. Kimbyfail. Sorry about that, guys.

A little more couldn't hurt...

I know I rambled on about Alice in Wonderland last week, but I just can't get enough. So I apologise to those people out there that dislike the Lewis Caroll masterpiece... Such as my boyfriend. He hates Alice in Wonderland. He also hates strange remixes that are on the interesting side of things. So if you're of the same animatory and musical preferences as he is, you might want to skip the play button on this one, and go iron your shirts for work tomorrow.

Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. But don't say I didn't warn you.



It's pretty amazing, considering it's composed entirely from the soundtrack of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Just like the video is made from clips of the movie, too. It's not just a strange, drug inspired trance track like the rest of the genre. It actually has substance*!

As for my holidays, I have been very happy sleeping 12 hours at a time, working minimal amounts and slowly transforming my room from a miniature rubbish tip into the coziest, cleanest cardboard box a hobo could ever dream of! My room is really very tiny, and the addition of a desk has left me with about 1.5 square meters of floor space. Floor space is for losers. But it does mean that I can't dance embarrassingly badly to loud music without injuring myself anymore :(

Actually, that's probably a good thing. I'll have to ask Nick which is the lesser of his dislikes... Me dancing to music that is nintey shades darker than I am, or listening to trancey stuff mixed from Alice in Wonderland?


I guess I'll have to let you know.



*yeah, I know, I know. It wasn't vaguely funny. I'm sorry.

Last day of term...

Well, in under an hour it will be.

Despite the fact that I have yet to finish my photography assignment, I am here, writing. But, to be honest, I'm very excited about my two weeks of holidays. But, in the meantime, here is a snippet from our most recently completed assignment:



It's a book cover design, I know this doesn't show that particularly well, but it was fun to make. I decided to create the cover for a commentary on the life of Lewis Carrol, of which there are already many books on the subject. Or perhaps I am anticipating the release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Boy, is that going to be an interesting film or what?

I have also recently jumped on the musical bandwagon and joined Last.fm, which is a great tool for stalking other people's taste in music and then copying them cause it's cool. I'm also rambling about this because I really don't want to do any coursework. But still, you should check it out. It's not like you're the one with the assignments due or anything.





But seriously, it's pretty cool.

I guess I should go, I'm going to have to get up super early in the morning. Although 'm not sure if I'm physically capable of such things... I certainly haven't been, lately...

Thank goodness for holidays.