loco for gocco

I took the plunge, and finally bought myself a print gocco. I'm so excited!

To make prints your original image has to be carbon based (eg from a photocopier or laser printer), but if you don't have access to either of those - like me this weekend - you can hand draw your image using a carbon based pen. Very cool.


equipment - PG-11 kit


my first print


closeup

Oh no! I just discovered that my blog settings were stopping people from posting comments on this site! So if anybody has tried and failed, try again now. Some comments would be great! ^_^

Copycat

Seen a few illustrations around lately with a style I really like. Here's me trying to copy them.

The last few days have been great - relaxed and cruisy and fun. Saturday night Pete and I went to 303 High St Northcote for Jo's party, only to discover that we were there a week early! Oh well, we made the most of it and still had a good time. Nice venue too - they sell 3 ravens beer which I really like but is hard to find.

Monday was our 1 year! Celebrating tonight with dinner at Hot Poppy I think :)

Birdy

Rough first attempts at painting with colour

Lines

Hopscotch-esque

Having an awesome day today and feeling really motivated. Have gotten heaps done, including a much put-off illustration for the Havachat book - it's a European street scene centrespread, and whilst drawing it i discovered the magic of using lines that converge to a vanishing point to get my perspective right. I can't believe how much easier it made things!

Anyway, the other day I was having a look at the hopscotch films logo and wondering what font they used. I think it's really quite cool. Turns out it's not a font at all, and that the text was custom made for the logo. Sooo, I had a go at making it myself, and it turned out to be not that hard:

original logo


my name, written with just straight lines


my name, with "round corners" filter applied (10px radius) - it came up a treat!

Shadows & Line Styles

The other day I tried turning one of my sketches into a vector illustration, but this time using a different line treatment and shadow effect. Turned out kind of interesting I think.

P.S. For anyone (if there's anyone) reading this blog - if you've noticed that all my characters kinda look sad/lost/forlorn it's only because I haven't mastered the art of drawing mouths, especially happy mouths - they always look strange when I do them ... ^_^

Paint

Part of my big goal of finding a better place to work is to try and extend my folio a bit and experiment with different styles. I find my work being way too "vectorised" at the moment - too clean, not grungy enough. Not random enough, not artistic enough.

I think a good way to improve is to go back to basics. I want to learn to draw and paint. Do something a little less structured and more random.

Here's me just trying to get a hang of the whole brush thing. It still my same old calcuated "drawing" style but at least it's a start :)

A better workplace

Had a wonderful afternoon with Trinie on Saturday. We went to this great little cafe off Sydney Rd called Ray. It's one of those cosy tucked away places that the locals frequent, and it totally revised my opinion of Brunswick and Syndey Rd.

Anyway, we shared some gossip and french toast, and then got chatting about my work and future goal of finding a good studio to work in. Trinie has plans to set up a little business on the side helping people achieve their goals/dreams, and wants to get as much practice as possible talking to real people... which was great for me! She took down heaps of notes as I described my goal of finding "a better workplace" - she got me to describe all aspects of what it would be like (environment, people, type of work, location, pay) and then we talked about the steps and hurdles it'll take to get there. She knew exactly the right questions to ask and really helped to solidify in my head what I'm looking for, and most importantly, the path to getting there.

It meant a lot to just be able to sit there and rant about myself for a bit and be completely self focussed with a willing ear. Thanks so much :)