Week 3.2

Did some more work for this week, not sure if its better or worse than my previous designs......I seem to find that as soon as I start a new piece of work I no longer like the old pieces, well not dislike, just kinda lose interest in them. That normal? I dunno.

I find my self doing certain things over and over when working and these things are:

1. Using the same safe fonts over and over
2. Using Live Trace quite alot
3. Scanning through the layer effects
4. Duplicating shit if I get stuck
5. Using the same texture...
6. using long, thin canvas's

I dont know whether this is just the culmination of all the skills ive learnt coming together to showcase my vast knowledge of graphic design or just being lazy with things that I know will look cool and save me having to put in more that a couple of hours on a piece. This is something thats been bugging me quite alot recently....

Anyway, heres the work ive done which will probably take up most of my blog because they are so long. Oh yeah, I exhausted all my ideas for 'new stock on the block', so ive got some new ones in there.





Not too bad actually.

Night night.

xx

Week 3 at Uni

The title for this weeks brief is completely in our hands but has to communicate something in the area of 'New Line' or ' Just in' etc. After, asking my genius girlfriend (she really is), what she thought would be a good tagline for this project she replied.

"New Stock......NEW STOCK ON THE BLOCK"

After pissing myself for a second I realised this is a perfect tagline for the target audience of Urban Outfitters, something funny coupled with cool imagery = Urban Outfitters consumer eye catcher. I started work straight away on a few sketchy ideas before we got a crit from our lecturer.

I liked the sketchy look from the felt tips and the colours worked well, so as the quick fixes worked out quite well last week I thought i'd try it again and scanned it in. I played around with the cubes and put them into patterns and brushes etc and it had a really cool effects. I have a couple here :


I really want to use the brush I used more effectively, but at the moment all I have is poor attempts at drawing octupuses. I guess ill put something up if I make something pretty, failing that i'll put the octopus up for comic relief. ANYWAY, check out these two beautys that i've been working on today!


This robot here was made from those shitty cubes I drew on the first image.....I think it worked out rather well.


My work was mentioned as one of the pieces that stood out to the Urban Outfitters member of staff last week, which is awesome! However, I do know rob (the guy who set the brief) fairly well so this could have had something to do with it..... didnt stop me from feeling dead smug though.

Hope you like the work thats pouring out of me recently, maybe ill try and get some comment thing working to get some feedbk......

Work has begun in my final year of study. Since being away, the course has changed around alot with lecturers shifting places and a new regime implemented having an awesome effect. The lecturers are excited to bring in new,fresh and inspirational briefs and have kicked it off nicely with a brief from a former student of my course at Huddersfield, who now works for URBAN OUTFITTERS EUROPE.

www.loeber.co.uk

We have been set 1 week briefs to complete imagery for all the people on their mailing list to alert them of the offers......on offer. The first week was for 'FREE SHIPPING', but I had flu that week and am embarrassed by the work......here it is anyway I guess



The second of which I am at the 'work inprogress' stage is '20% OFF', and its going considerabley better....I think.



This shouldnt be this colour..... I dont know why this happened.(above)



So this is the fruits of my labour up to this point and they have all been "quick fixes" really. I hope to put so hard work into one piece over the weekend to soothe my conscience.

Flyer done at short notice for the bar I now work at 'VERVE', check out the offers then come get a delicious mojito served by yours truly

The London Police

So, I finish work, braved a monumental rainfall and went to meet my girlfriend Katie and her friends in a bar. After a bit of social time it came out that they had their own art gallery/space for exhibitions

Of course...

Anyway, it just so happened that they were in the process of setting it all up and were having previews of the artist showing at that time. I had no idea from the name who these artists were and so just took it as being able to go see some art and most likely get a beer out of it, if it follows the usual Amsterdam art show fashion. However, I had an idea of who it MIGHT be from an explanation from Jamie that went a little summet like

" really clean graphic, smiley face type characters. Its pretty hard to avoid them. They pop up all over the world"

Turns out I did know them, and they DO get everywhere even my dear Stoke-on-Trent. Anyway heres some pictures from my girlfriend Katie.


Most people will probably have seen these guys work scattered about, if they have been to stoke, I cant imagine there are many places that havent got their hands on. HOWEVER, you may not have seen their canvas pieces. They are SO MUCH COOLER. The London Police are comprised of two guys who have completely contrasting styles, one of which you generally dont get to see which I think is a great shame because the work is truly amazing.

Katie looking cuter than a bunny in shoes.

This was a wall of photographs taken every 15 minutes for a day, or something along those lines by each of the artists on Queens Day ( ill blog what that is another time). Pretty impressive.

As I was saying, the art you dont get to see if you catch their work on the street is the amazingly detailed and techical work of Bob. The depth of scale that he brings into the pieces in contrast to the strong character designs truly lets you get lost in the pieces. I was lucky enough to meet Bob and have a beer with him, and he was genuinely a nice guy who had all the time in the world to let me ask all about his work and get a photo.


Its amazing how much respect you have for an artist after you meet them. Im sure whenever I see their work again I will reel off this exact blog post and bum them and myself.

NDSM.PIANO.PANTHER.FASHION.

NDSM (maybe it was four other letters,but NDSM sounds about right), is a HUGE warehouse that you have to catch a boat to get to which holds office space for the likes of many creative studios including Dolly Rogers and also happens to have a wicked ass skatepark in it. I guess its better to let them actually explain it in detail....

'A former shipyard on the northern banks of the IJ and larger than 10 football fields, the NDSM wharf is now a center for underground culture in Amsterdam. This huge area contains the NDSM hall, a hangar-like structure 20,000 sq. meters in area and 20 meters in height, the 6,000-sq. meter Docklandshal and two historic ship slipways(Hellingen) housing workshops and artists’ studios.'




Anyway, I came here to help out on a photoshoot of a Student called Missy who was building a fashion portfolio ready for interview at highly acclaimed fashion School based in the city I called home, Arnhem. (www.modearnhem.nl)

NDSM had completely different photoshot oppurtunities wherever you turned and made for the perfect setting (along with a few added extras)for the diverse range of clothing that missy had designed. I was there to help out with such things as moving the sets around, directing the light reflector, holding bras for models and general mooching about, and I gotta say I did a pretty fucking awesome job.Check it:

The photoshoot was done by Morten (seated in the photography chair), and good guy with killer camera skills...

Rogers couldnt resist playing with the props.

Photoshoots are not as glamorous as one is led to believe.But this model nailed it without any hissy fits whatsoever.

I wasnt lying about having to carry the bras...

The photoshoot ending up taking almost all day and some of the evening but the results were worth the effort and it was a real fun time, for me anyway. I wish Missy the best in her University plans. Here are some of the fruits of our labour:




After a whole day of photoshooting I couldnt contain my inner model and it just burst out of me and straight down the lense and into modelling history.

So, I guess its been a long time since I posted anything and I bet everyone is like 'I cant go on like this....... I NEED to know what Sean has been doing!', well fear no more I am back from my trip to Holland and have a Great British Bucket load of time to look back at the time I spent in the Nederlands and document that shit before I start University and literally forget about everything that happened.

Before I go on to post "that shit", I guess I should really reflect on the Placement year that this blog was pretty much started for....and maybe I should actually contact my lecturers about this so that the students can actually see it rather than just using it to show off to my nearest and dearest....

In short, I cannot recommend any of my work experience jobs enough. They have allowed me to both enter and win competitions against top design agencies in Holland, witness and help to build a Cardboard office/fortress, create a typeface 6 foot squared in size made out of clothing, experience professional photoshoots, pitch presentations to clients, learn from leading creatives, experience a creative working year, work along side coders, freelance for several months ,see Europe and help to build a decent and enjoyable working future for myself.

But most importantly meet some of the most awesome,kind,funny,wise and down right weird people in my lifetime. So, get off your ass and get a placement, do an alternative placement, go on a exchange year to Finland or Poland. Fuck it, go straight on to your 3rd year if your passionate and driven enough you probably wont need a placement. But all I can say is I had an awesome time and I hope this blog will reflect this and inspire people to do something exciting, the bragging rights alone make it worth it.