Little Paper Boat

My sting for the Flip Festival

2011-10-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

Enjoy.

This project has led me to discover how much I can accomplish when time is restricted. I managed to tackle aspects of production that I used to avoid or chuck to someone else and I also learnt a little about the way I think. Such as my tendancy to over embellish or the need to cram too many ideas into one thing.

As a treat I will be getting myself a new board Game "Arkham Horror" :)

Heres the site for more info

Its an in depth RPG board game set it the 1920's stories of HP Lovecraft. I can't wait :D

My next project will involve the creation of a character from one of my favourite books as a child, "The Doomspell". So keep your eyes peeled for updates, I'm not giving myself a deadline for this so its going to be a labour of love for my spare time.

Goldfish stand

2011-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Photoshop work from today, had the stark realisation that I can never do as much as I hope to do when I'm still learning all the ins and outs of a programme. Never the less this is the goldfish cart that is going to be in my sting, still incomplete as you can tell from the lack of goldfish in the bags and the shadows need some work.

I also recently discovered these stands no longer exist and if they do they can't give away goldfish as prizes, for the might of the RSPCA descended and said "no this is too cruel to the goldfish, we demand you stop and give away plushies instead". Well thats how it went in my head and I'm pretty sure the RSPCA weren't wearing capes.

So indulge your peepers and constructive critique is welcomed.

Panda girl update

2011-09-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

UV mapping

Close up

Meet Panda girl in 3d she's coming along quite well, though I have only a week left to finish and upload my sting though I'm confident I can get things moving quickly and create something new, fresh and most importantly something I can be proud off the final result.

Girl with a Panda Hat

2011-09-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

(rough version)

(Final)

This is my little girl in a panda hat (with a TV for a head), this was a 2 afternoon sketch about 10 hours.

She will have emoticon faces (still to be finalised) and her best friend will be a cross eyed goldfish. I designed her for a sting for the flip festival for the end of this month.

Hope you enjoy x

Well this embarrassing

2011-09-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

It has been months upon months since my last post and to be completely honest I don't have any excuse which sounds good in my head so I won't bore you with details. It mainly came down to two points:

1) It became too hectic near the end of my last project to post updates.
2) Once the project ended I became quite dis-enchanted with my work.

But now I'm back and this blog will quite likely be changing soon, possibly even moving to a new name so keep those peepers peeled.

First off here's my final film "The Full English"

Near the end we realised we couldn't use two of the three sets we had laboured over and had to do what was possible in the time we had left, though it wasn't completed to the level we intended I'm extremely proud of what we achieved and hopefully in the near future I'll revisit Eggy's strip-tease and re-do it with some class.

I also did a small VFX scene for a friend:

Its my second piece of compositing work and I'm planning on focusing more of my animations around it.

More recently I'm creating a sting for the Flip Animation festival, this will involve a girl in a panda hat and a cross eyed goldfish :D and fun times will be had by all.

quick update on the Full English

2011-03-16T03:36:00.000-07:00

Holly one of our second years finished one of the Frankfurt brothers, the cheeky owners of the club. Here's the little paint job I did on him. its acrylic and clay varnish to give it a cooked sausage sheen with little grill lines down his body.

Tests: the first two are paint, one with glue mixed in one without. The 3rd is clingfilm and the 4th is the clay varnish. Just to see how different materials reacted to the leather.

Little mod-rock fedora's to act as a base (mini block) to model light weight mini hats. Will post the results *crosses fingers* which will hopefully produce good quality stop motion hats.

Here's my recent work for Barry Purves "Young persons guide to the orchestra". These will be part of a mobile hanging over a crib which is the introduction shot for our animation, it will be the only live action bit so it has to look pretty and fit in with the rest of the cut out animation.

This last one will be one of the toys in the animation, we're showing the progression of childhood through a childs toys, all being followed by a butterfly from the mobile.

Hope you enjoyed x

Auditions, tips, tricks and the little things

2011-03-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hello people of blog world

I haven't posted for some time and I'm scolding myself internally for it, I guess I always dismiss updating because I don't think I have enough to talk about, circling back to the feeling that I'm not doing enough which in turn trails of to a very dark and uncomfortable place with no sunshine and only the cold light of a computer screen illuminating my world O_O

too dark? Yes, I think so, so back out and bouncing and happy into the light. Heres a little video to cheer you up from the creator of "pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows".

and just in case here's the Unicorn one as well..........

(Happiness Encapsulated)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok back in the room and back to my update. This week and the week before it has been the treasure hunt for voice actors, we started by putting up posters around the University and in the Drama societys base room. This resulted in absolutely nothing interest wise, dissappointing and as much of a set back as this was ploughing through I contacted two Amateur Dramatic societies Stafford & District Operatic Society and The Stafford Players. Expecting to get a few replies to my amazement we had 16 inquiries, so suddenly we were back on track and had plenty of interest for our two main voices.

Now this week is auditions one date on Thursday the 10th March from 5 - 8 p.m and on Sunday the 13th March from 1- 6 p.m, we chose two dates to give our actors the most flexibility, but one thing you learn from the first time you host an audition is that interest does not always translate to commitment. Circumstances change, people become other wise engaged and others just lose interest, its one hell of a learning curve though you could say every first experience is.

Hopefully the next post will include details of our two voice actors in all their auditory glory.

Apart from voice actor hunting we have been on the hunt for the music for our animated Extravaganza "The Full English" and as of today we now have the music for when our Toastie soldier enters the club and the music for our sultry Eggy strip tease. I could not be more happy as its an amazing feeling to see things progressing and soon we will update our animatic and post it to vimeo and this blog.

For those would be film makers of the animated persuasion and otherwise here are my tips for finding your voice actors and obtaining your music;

Searching for Voices

Advertise yourself, don't always go to your friends because its easy and they won't say no, actors are usually experienced in many different roles and can take direction a lot easier than someone just doing you a favour.
Don't give up at the first hurdle, try a different angle, look else where for inspiration and people
If you cannot pay people make this clear from the offset, instead offer credit on your film, an interesting experience and links from your website to theirs. People will work for free if they're building their portfolio.
Ask for background information and though you can do pre auditions over the phone always make the deciding audition in person. You'll gain a lot more from a face to face meeting and you can tell a lot more about someones character.
Don't host auditions at your own residence. Book out a room, you will seem more professional and won't have to worry about house mates wandering through.
Send your script before the audition so they can get a feel for the characters.
Give and recieve phone numbers, there will always be a point where you need to contact someone quickly and email is not the easiest option.
Never worry if you don't feel professional enough, write down points you want to raise before a phone call and be confident in your mannerisms. Everyone feels insecure at some point so don't worry if your nervous before an Audition, more than likely your actor will be as well.

Music for your film

You will want royalty free music for your production, if your unsure on the difference between royalty and royalty free go here Royalty free music in depth
If you want to enter your film into festivals you can get in trouble if your music is not legally yours to use. There are several good sites for music that I use the main two are premiumbeat.com and audionetwork.com they charge far less than many sites.
Always read the terms and conditions of your license so there are no unexpected surprises after your purchase
You can also contact composers directly for use of their music, sometimes they will be willing to let you use their tracks for free if you explain you are a student and won't use it for financial gain.
Be persistant but not pushy. The worst they can say to you is no, sometimes explaining things further and sending some examples of your work can sway someones opinion.

Heres some visual updates:

Eggy in her robe

A simple Fedora

The start of a grand piano

The beautiful storyboard style of miss Chloe Howley

and finally my concept art of our art deco bar for set design

By the way our sets are really starting to progress the main set is being undertaken by Zeke Ares one of our very capable second years and as of today is being assited by our newest aid James Davenhill. Whilst our exterior set is being constructed by the talented miss Emma Cosgrove. So onwards and upwards my comrades, the next part will involve many compositing tests so I can practice intergrating stop motion and CGI elements, I know what your thinking pure craziness for a newbie compositor like myself but hey what can I say I'm a risk taker.

On my final note all I have left to say is make time for the little things. Even when your drowning in an insurmountable amount of work, taking time for the little things will keep you sane. Though work may seem the most important thing sometimes the relationships you've built with friends and family hold just as much weight as those looming deadlines.

TTFN

Illness, lemsip and Kawaii

2011-02-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hello blog world,

as you can probably deduce from the title of this blog I am ill and I'm writing this blog really just to feel like I'm doing something with my day apart from getting through hundreds of Kleenex and watching crap telly on 4od almost obsessively.

So it started as a normal hangover, you laze around all day in your jim jams feeling a little bit bleh but usually around early afternoon, several cups of tea later you feel back to normal and a little bit guilty about wasting the morning. But it didn't go like that and it was on the journey home down the pitch black M6 I began to wonder why I was feeling so tired and still so bleh.

This morning I still felt bad and I finally have to accept I'd contracted the dreaded lurgy.

(O_O next door are singing....this is quite strange)

The trouble with illness is its so counter productive! I can't do any work, every time I try my brain short circuits and goes "no sorry, can't compute". The day has involved two episodes of "Misfits", two "Beauty and the beast: the ugly face of prejudice", "Love, virtually" a documentary about online dating and "Newlyweds: the one year itch". I'm a self proclaimed advocate of crap telly, especially documentaries that show you quite personal insights into situations and peoples lives. Maybe thats why I watch so much Jeremy Kyle.

I've also been trawling the kawaii blogs for cute things such as these new momiji book club dolls

which I love for their cute little glasses, I want Alex the red head who I think looks like me :D

Here are some kawaii blogs for you other time wasters

http://www.dropdeadkawaii.com

http://www.supercutekawaii.com

(pics of japanese style)
http://streetsofjapan.tumblr.com

http://stuff.icanhascheezburger.com/

This is a website that specialises in apps and products for teaching hiragana (a form of japanese writing)
http://drmoku.com/category/our-products

Though I haven't got much done today illness does give you a lot of reflection time, so I'm thinking of getting a small portfolio together in time for Stuttgart. Project wise we're going to start building sets this week and I'm creating a stop motion version of Eggy for light tests on set while modelling 3d eggy and her three outfits.

So I'm going to go back to forcing myself to get better, as I have a Rob Zombie concert tomorrow night and I will be better for it and enjoy every single moment, because the tickets cost me so much to not enjoy it because of illness would be sacrilege.

Bye Bye people of Bloggington

Posters for voices and our new collaborative logo

2011-02-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

We're going to be putting up the posters around the Drama course in the next few days in the hope of getting our two lead voices and a multitude of background voices. I'm thinking of having a day of voice recording and foley, possibly two to get it all done and out the way then when it comes to sound editing it will be mostly done and hopefully will only have to go back to record more specific sound bites.

The logo is the collaboration of mine and my co-directors business names.

Little Paper Boat + Teacups and joy = Paper Boat in a Teacup

Will start on the modelling tomorrow so will hopefully have some Egg based seduction in the next post.

Essex rock band sketches & happy sunflowers

2011-02-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

Last weekend me and my boyfriend Rafe went down to Essex for our friend Phil and his ex-house mate Chris's joint birthday. It was great to get to see Phil and Liz again, the problem when friends are dotted all over the country is how little you get to see each other because everyone works and most free time ends up clashing. So the Essex house parties are usually those few pin-pointed opportunities during the year where everyone is back together and gets to have a good time with silly costumes and alcohol a-flowing.

I'm a Sunflower from plants and zombies and Rafe is a bio-mech warrior from a game thats name escapes me. Both our costumes were a bit quickly made, last year of uni doesn't leave much time for art attack moments, so there was a lot of quick fabric paint and tin foil.

Here's a more forward shot so you can see my sun flower. I spent most of the night with wine dancing in the corner like a little sunflower. If you haven't played Plants Vs Zombies I fully recommend you do, I bought it on Steam for £4 and it is the most over played game in my collection.

During a rock band session my camera died so I decided to sketch a few people to remember the mass musical session.

Phil - manic on the drums to the left.

Tom - tentative with the keyboard on the right

Grum to the left on the bass or possibly the guitar with leanne to his right.

The lovely Liz to the right with a pair of ears from someones costume

Finally (my lovely) Rafe while he was singing to Deftones.

Presentations and snippets of work

2011-01-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

Just got back from presenting the work in progress to the 2nd years, it was nerve wracking yet exhilarating, I love our idea for 'The Full English' its all planned out and I think our idea is unique enough that it will be remembered at the festivals. I'm feeling really positive about this now and we already have 4 assistant animators : )

Here are two of them, our stop motion girls. So feeling a good vibe from their work and I think we can make a really beautiful intricate set with these guys.

http://vimeo.com/user5481393

http://vimeo.com/user5378742

There is also one more girl who has shown interest and with all three of them I think things will flow a lot easier on the production side. I love the amount of small details that make up stop motion sets, like the texture of the bricks or the small painting hanging on the wall.

Here is where my designs are so far, I think I need to pull a few more long drawing days. Just me, a large coffee, my wacom and series 8 of project runway playing in the backgrounds.

My Egg and she lives and shimmies.

First version of the club logo, I'm probably going to work more detail around the edges and the front doors. I love the the metal work on the door it's my version of some original art deco doors from a cafe in Ethiopia. The top of the doors will have a stained glass motif incorporating cutlery.

A page from my sketchbook full of random little art deco sketches, parts of architecture and accessories that inspire. Note to self : scan, collage, sketch.

These are two of the stronger frames from the start of the storyboard, where the Toasty soldier goes backstage to try to talk to Eggie. Leaving her a mysterious envelope shouting "I know who you truly are!"

On a more personal tone I've been getting loads of books out of the library on fashion, textiles and garment construction. It's always been an interest of mine but not a strong enough one to make it a career. Maybe it will be my little side project that keeps me sane when I get sick of staring at a computer screen.

I've also been making my first ever bag as a place to store my crafty things, it has a beautiful print on it called "Afternoon Tea". Hopefully I will complete it soon and post up pictures.

TTFN

Sarah

Material, storyboards and long caffeinated talks

2011-01-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog world,

so far my new year has been pleashant mix of active and slothful. For example today I have spent in my pyjama's but I've also been sitting infront of the computer with my lovely boyfriend getting my Mom's face painting website done. Not completed yet but getting closer to completion, Rafe scripts and programmes, I design and push things around the screen till it looks pretty.

Here it is so far *drum roll please* ......... Powwow Face Painting

*Pause*

I think Rafe is watching a weird cult/ telecommunications advert dvd O_O ..... beware they are every where ..... sounds like a pyramid scheme...... I don't trust his happy expression..... its Telecom plus : S

*update* its either a pyramid scheme/ scam or the job of a telecommunicator 20 minutes of people saying how they made money and not saying how, you have to contact the person who gave you the dvd to get any info"

*un-pause*

Back to the point I've been buting fabric to create my own little craft bag (a bag to fill with wool, felt, half complete projects and spools of thread) I bought a great pattern called afternoon tea which is dotted with cups, teapots and sugar lumps. I'm going to buy the rest of the fabric back in stoke as there are no fabric shops left in wolverhampton.

I also had a good catch up with Liz from college, it was really great we sat sipping caramel coffee and updating each other on what had happened in our lives. Now we're both on our final year social intereaction just got that little bit harder but we're gonna try and have another catch up before graduation or shortly after.When we went shopping it was just like old times, getting each others opinion in the changing room moaning about ridiculous prices on the tiniest piece of sparkle. Nice to know that the good friends you can just hang out like no time has passed.

On the shopping front I have purchased many pretty things but my most recent favourite is a purse with enough pockets to hide the time space continuim in (oh yea someones been over dosing on doctor who) it also appeals to my bohemian side, the side that wants to dress like a hippy and eat tofu, until I remember I like meat : )

However on the work front there have been many scribbles and here's the first few frames of the storyboard for the amazing animation I will be collaborating with the awesome Emma Bulpitt about the forbidden love of a toastie soldier and his beloved egg. Set in a burlesque theatre ofcourse :D

TTFN

Sarah-mon

Misty Road

2010-12-31T04:58:00.000-08:00

A misty road from stoke-on-trent to Edgmond. Well what I can remember of it as I was driving along whispering "Silent Hill......Silent Hill!" in a weird voice.

HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE OF THE BLOGGING WORLD.

New years resolution:

(It's a 3 part resolution)

To draw each day
Finish my crafty projects instead of just starting them
Launch my own website

Ciao

Birthday presents and the such like

2010-12-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

A few days late as it is no Christmas day, a wonderful white christmas with cars sliding to and from every where quite dangerously. Any way here is my birthday joy in picture form.

The overwhelming joy of birthdays above.
I received:-

Robot necklace
Pyjamas
Oriental serving set
A mouse from the Gruffalo
A sailor-esque t-shirt
Art deco mug
A zombie guide
The first walking dead comic
Bunny suicides book
How to live safely in a science fiction universe
A pencil ring
and finally some chocolates (can't have a celebration with out them)

This is also a hand - made card by my good friend Emma (also known as Teacups and joy) she knows my love of the clangers ....

sorry just had a pause to have an arguement about Doctor Who with my dear mother and her inability to tell the difference between volume and channel selection. >_<

so she decided to make it extra special for my birthday. Which is really nice because when your birhday falls so close to a major event people tend to overlook it. Not on purpose but it just happens when there;s so much going on.

To end I shall just say Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Till next time x

Waiting for my birthday ... : )

2010-12-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just popped a few more logs on the kithcen woodburner. The Beagle was shivering, little mite.

I've just got home today for Christmas, packed more clothes than I could physically wear in three weeks and transported my P.C in its entirety back from Stoke-on-trent. I find it really hard to start writing now a days I used to write so much when I was convinced I'd be the next J.K Rowling, maybe I should try writing 500 hundred words a day then I'd find it easy to translate my scribbly thoughts.

Any way back home and its my birthday tomorrow so pretty excited, I'm turning .... ba ba baaaaaa .... 22. So much more sophisticated than 21 I believe, but its not that much of a difference really, I never have many big plans with it being so close to Christmas. A lot of people have spent their money on presents, decorations and giant turkey's, so very little is left for paintballing or laser questing. Though I did get to see the new Harry Potter with some friends, it has to be my favourite one so far cinematography wise the imagery was just breath taking. Yet there was a scene of a certain sexual nature which never should have been and involved bleaching of my eyeballs shortly afterwards.

I finished my First semester of my final year. Though I learnt alot about time management, the more I look at it the more I think I could have done so much better, ah well onto the next semester.

Here it is:
The Beagle and the Shoe

Sorry only displays youtube vids for some reason :(

For the rest of the night I believe is to be based around wine and comedy on BBC2.

Shall be posting soon about a project involving a burlesque egg called "Mistress Ouef"

sleepless nights so close to deadline

2010-12-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

I have about 6 days left till a massive hand in and such little animation done (and so much left to do)it would make an industry professional qualm at the very sight of my schedule.

I am one of those people who is very good at making lists yet I either under estimate or over estimate the amount of work I can get done in a day, so my notebooks are full of so many to do lists the only one that doesn't make me feel inferior is my grocery list.

A few days ago I decided to get my sleeping pattern in order, to get my full 8 hours and lose the excuse of late nights for late starts. It lasted a day O_O as you can probably tell as I'm posting this at 2.32 a.m. Damn that one day of getting up on time was good, maybe thats why I don't want to go to sleep, afraid I'll sleep in and miss my Animation futures hand in. Thats the minor project which I've been slaving over the last few days and though it looks awesome and brought my folder to a quite substantial size (so much so I think it could be used as a deadly weapon if the situation ever occurred) it has left me irritable incomplete and sleep deprived.

I can't even drink till after my hand in because one glass of wine and my animation turns very questionable :S

Here is one visual achievement, I love my little business card design.

Top = back
Bottom = Front

P.s yes it is me and my mussy hair

I shall now love you and leave you. Sleep tight and appreciate those 8 hours if you are one of the lucky few getting them :)

Over and out x

Jellyfish postcard design

2010-10-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

For part of our Animation futures we have to design postcards to send wit our C.V's . So I went back to the first model I was really proud off when I first started learning Maya.

Meet Jelly she's a little hippy jellyfish who just wants to be loved, she's almost a little personification of myself I made for a project called my small world. After re-creating her in this little pose for a postcard I think I may go back over my original animation and work more on my timing. I realised today theres something special about looking back over past work. Especially improving on what you already have feels more rewarding as the ground work is already all there and your just fine tuning the details.

I'm even tempted to make little shorts with her as she is so awesome :)

Original small world: - Click here to see Jelly in action

p.s ignore the intro and outro it was a last minute requirement so they could all be edited together

Hot cocoa and fuzzy meeps

2010-10-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey guys it has been too long since my last post and so much stuff has happened.

~ I've been to the euro gamer convention down in fair Londinium (expect a post on this soon)

~ My Third year has started like a whirlwind, 3 animations in three weeks. I almost died

~ Only recently everyone had been catching freshers flu and I was quite proud of the fact for once my immunity and I were on the same page of "lets not get ill". All until today when the dreaded lurgy came to smack me in the face. If I'm lucky this will just be a fluey - headache sort of deal, if I'm not it will go straight to my tonsils and lay me out flat for a week.

I'm keeping positive though that I will get better and the world will keep on turning just as it was. I've been really good, drinking loads of water, no coffee or energy drinks which is usually my staple diet for uni (bad I know but hey at least I don't smoke). I've made myself a little hot chocolate to make me feel better, I always make it the way my dad does so it reminds me of home.

Image via Wikipedia

3 tsp of hot chocolate
half milk (microwave)
half boiling water (so its not too milky)

Today has been a day of storyboards and drawing, its strange how long it takes to get back into the swing of things when you spend so much time in front of a computer. The storyboard is for my individual animation based on my puppy Bodie and his love for shoes.

Here's one of my cartoon versions of Bodie, he's evolving through many different versions at this point in time but chunky legs and big nose are the way I'm feeling at the moment. I'm not sure whether he should walk like a normal dog or a more grommit style kind of walk.

And here's me as a fuzzy meep.

Well I should return to my grindstone in preparation for tomorrows presentation. They joy!
If your looking for a new book to read I fully recommend Gail Carriger's series The Parasol Protectorate / Alexia Tarabotti Novel. Ive blasted through the first 3 like a whirlwind, telling anyone who would listen about how concerned I am for the main character. I find its an interesting take on the well over-used Vampire/Werewolf genre combining it with a Steampunk Victorian era, a biting wit and plenty of English tea :)

See you again soon :D

Pirahna 3D

2010-09-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

This was the little comic I created after seeing Pirahna 3D, while I was buying the tickets which Cineworld now sell everywhere apart from the ticket counter. It's absolutely crazy no matter what time of day I go the ticket counter is always closed yet you can buy them at the pick n' mix stand and the popcorn stall but not the one place specifically designed for the distribution of tickets. Maybe its the recession, trying to cut back on staff so they think kill two birds with one stone and only staff the snacks. Well back to the point, I went to stand at the Pick & Mix stall as the queue was smaller to be met with the same gormless expression and drawling speech, as if you've just woken them from some heavy sleep. Only to realise I was being charged extra for the glasses that they always used to ask you to recycle at the end of every screening.

Apparently its not enough to charge you extra for the film but now they want to charge you for the pleasure of seeing it with the glasses.

On the other hand the film was quite good, as long as your not expecting shakespeare its quite appealing. Its b-movie gore and tits ahoy, it made me cringe and jump out my seat at all the right moments. The special effects were a good combination of CG/ Animatronic & visual fx, which really inspired me, so I might try out how realistic you can make CGI injuries.

Reading at the moment: Feed by Mira Grant

Its amazing in detail and I love anything in the Zombie genre that really goes into the science of the rising undead.

Zombie Goldfish

2010-09-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

Zombie goldfish under construction:

I figured why should human beings have all the fun when a goldfish deserves just as much of a disturbing afterlife.

Here's another zombie from a few days ago, I used him to test out a tutorial on inking on photoshop. I'm really trying to get more into my photoshop work since I've been hoarding imagine fx magazines for ages and never trying the tutorials.

"I am still learning" - MichelAngelo

lazy days and chipped nail varnish

2010-08-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

I write this blog wrapped in a big marsmallow coloured fluffy dressing gown, in bed due to the sudden decline in temperature and summer deciding a few weeks of heat was enough for a year. Now the cold is setting in, no longer can you lounge around the house in nought but a t-shirt and jeans, oh nooooo you must now wear three cardigans and a ski hat, turning all the radiators up to full and lighting wood burners a plenty. Until your kitchen reaches the temperature of most tropical countries, then and only then do you relinqish your insanity.

I don't like the cold can you tell?

This is my memory of last winter and as beautiful as the pictures are it was really and I mean REALLY frigging cold, even venturing down the shops had to be prepared for like a trip to the arctic region. any way the sudden change in temp has got me a little antsy O_O

Moving on ... I've been looking at this blog thinking why don't I update enough, to which my brain replied "because we feel we haven't done anything worth posting about", "oh" I said. So in remedy to this I am getting my butt back in the driving seat animation wise. Get this I was so focused about making a website and keeping a blog that I forgot to keep animating!

I mean its all very well and good trying to get your name out there and staring at other peoples achievements, wishing and praying you could be more like them that you forget to focus on your own. So from now on I will focus more on the sweet and tasty product instead of the fancy packaging, because in the end your work should speak for itself.

: )

p.s saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the world and it rocked my tiny white socks off!!!!!!!

Go see it *click me!*

laddered tights and slippery days

2010-08-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Today has been so slippery it has slipped away from me entirely. I got my haircut by the hairdresser I used to go to before I moved to stoke, the trouble is before my parents moved it was only 20 minutes away. Now its an hour at best and to be honest the money I save on the hair cut is being eaten up by the petrol I use to get there and due to my sat nav crashing and a lengthy jam on the M6 I can sincerly not be frigged anymore. This is a lost day that could have been used to do a number of amazing and creative things, instead I sat in traffic and drove around the busier parts of Birmingham.

Bodie aswell today, thats this Bodie below ------

Decided to attack my new tights, laddering them beyond repair so they now will be used to create tiny tight toys of some sort, like this one I bought from birmingham market a few weeks ago.

10p well spent.

However on a lighter note Cex fest was pretty cool, good people and an open bar which you had to buy with cex top trumps, you could get more cards by playing the managers for them.

this is me, Rafe and Hanson on the way to the field with passion fruit rum and energy drink vodka to bring on that party feeling :P

8 hour sleeps and lengthy books

2010-08-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

Good morning star shine the world says hello ... ok I know its not morning but I got in at 2 a.m last night after a night of sobriety for a friends birthday and ferrying friends and boyfriend to and from said party. Not that I'm resentful of being the taxi, I mean I offered and I wasn't going to partake in a drink any way, due to a recent illness and trying to save all my drinking stamina for tonight at Cex fest.
Which is the annual mini drinking festival for the workers of Computer Exchange and their better halves a.k.a moi.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I've been going for the last four years and over those years I have discovered a few key facts to get you through a night in a field with an open bar and questionable portaloo's

1 - Wear old shoes and trousers, it is a field and weather permitting is never the place to wear your new heels

2 - Don't get paralytic through the enticement of an open bar, you will say what you don't want to say to the people you don't want to hear it and arguements are a guarantee

3 - Bring tissues/ water/ a torch and a sense of humour

4 - enjoy yourself

I will endevour to take pictures tonight as well as the last three years I forgot :-S . I've also realised without 8 hours of solid sleep I am a walking wreck and energy drinks can cause more havoc on a dodgy stomach than alcohol can.

Image via Wikipedia

Any way I'm psyching myself up for tonight as this is the first year we will be having our own mini bus to get there instead of being cramped together in one long coach ride picking up every store before commencing on the lengthy trip to the venue.

My recent immersive addiction is this series of books

Image via Wikipedia

Stone of tears by Terry Goodkind

Check out this mans work, his descriptions drag you into another world :-D

the start of a bloggy adventure

2010-07-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well this is my first blog. I guess I'm writing this just because its my first blog and until you get past the first it builds everything up in your mind that the first has to be this amazing, stupendous piece of literature which blows the world away and lands you on the cover of a magazine. Its not though, its just a blog.

When I was little I wanted to be a writer and illustrate my own books that way I could combine my two passions, writing and drawing. Then when I finished my A-levels the drawing part kinda took over and I ended up doing an Animation degree, due to certain twists of fate and me walking into the wrong open day lecture thus hurling me into the new and exceedingly complex art of making stuff move. As I will soon be starting my third year I'm really starting to focus on bringing my animation to a more professional level.I'm going to make my own website, sort of an online portfolio, bring my drawing skills back up to par and expand my knowledge in my field.

So here is my start a blogging site so I can start organising my life and therefore my work.

I get annoyed at my own procrastination sometimes, I feel guilty for not feeling 100% motivated and enthused a 100% of the time. I guess we always see someone who seems to be accomplishing more than we do faster than we ever can.

I will watch a film tonight and start fresh as a daisy tomorrow, all storyboards and photoshop.

Thing I liked: - The small dramatic child who ran into the party I was painting for and screamed "They can't breathe!" hysterically pointing at the bouncy castle

Dislike:- my inability to leave the house on time :(