Working on Australia Day and sketch

So there's nothing better than spending your public holiday working in a timber yard for double time and a half. Catch is, tradies don't work on public holidays. It's pretty quiet out here.
So my sketch tip to me today is draw from everything - tutorials, sketches, paintings, real life, photography. You'll be using different parts of the brain for each.

Sketches

Sometimes the hardest thing after losing ones confidence is to just pick up your Biro and try again.

I've been losing momentum - and I know I've been losing momentum - getting caught up with how great everyone's artwork is and how I'm not there yet. I read a very simple article on how to be a great artist. It took them about a thousand words to say, "just keep sketching, sketching, sketching..." it suggested to sketch endlessly, on the bus, in the waiting room, always, from reference or imagination.

That's sometimes the hardest part, just doing it. There's no use waiting for inspiration to hit, something to click or to start believingmI'm yourself. Just pick up that Biro and start drawing.

And look! That wasn't so bad now, was it?

The ones above were from imagination (mostly - the face of "The Voice" and the cow from "Girl with a Cow on Her Head" had inspiration from ads and people walking by)
The article also mentioned that one should always practice their flaws. Well, my current flaws is my feet, so today during work (as a check-out chick in a timer yard) I draw some feet on the back of a receipt. So, yes, these ones are much smaller than they appear on screen.

Figure Measurements Sheets

There have been a lot of things coming up in recent days that are great opportunities to design awesome creations, keep me busy, and drive me insane. I'm looking forward to every bit of it!

One thing that I've known in my head (as we were taught in class) is that nothing will be handed to you, and that you'll be responsible for everything you create - providing the labor, the colouring pencils, time sheets, breakdowns. Everything.

I knew that in my head, it's another thing to see it in reality. For example, there simply isn't a measurements sheet that suits my style of pattern drafting. (For example, very few, if any, measurement sheets do Waist to Seat in figure 11, but instead wrap the measuring tape around the crotch. Waist to Seat is just as effective, and far, far less intrusive!)

I think somewhere in my mind I had the idea that pattern drafting was pattern drafting, and that was that. No, apparently not. I looked and looked far and wide across the internet, yet I could not find something that suited the way I do things. So, I had to take it into my own hands.

Firstly was to draw the figure. Every figure that was in similar pose to what I needed was already scribbled with writing, so I couldn't use those. So, from scratch I drew my own figure. It's not as neat as the others, but it suits my needs.

So here it is - my measurements sheet.

Going through old photos (Galadriel Costume)

A friend of mine recently asked me to be costume designer for her fashion shoot "Gothic Forest." I was looking for something to put up on the Pinterest board, thinking that I didn't have any pictures of anything that I had made. When, lo and behold, an old image of my Galadriel costume was found!

Terrible resolution, but it shows the dress well enough.

Oh the tribulations of disposing of assignments

You probably don't have an assignment like this one though...

As you can see, this particular first year assignment takes up white a bit of space. Many people may look at it and think, "there is no way I could make something like that!"

I am looking at it and thinking, " man I was a terrible costume maker in first year!"

Now, alas, all it is doing is taking up space. If any of you scrollers and clickers have an idea of how to get rid of it, please comment.

Truely, it is taking over my work space...

As Far as the East is From the West

The Making of Magic Wands

Because the weather has come out to say hello, I thought creating things outside would be a lovely idea indeed.
For a prize in a game, I created hand-made magic wands. There was plenty of tips on the internet about how to do this, and it was a fun experience.
So, tool list -

• Sticks
• Wooden beads
• Glue gun with glue
• Paint

As you can see, I chose dowel sticks and chopsticks for my wands to create a variation in styles.

To create the forms, I take the glue stick and I add glue in any style. There are plenty of images on the web for inspiration. On the right image, you can see there is already one glued up. 

While I'm outside, may as well make the use of what's available to me. I stuck them in the ground while they were drying. Handy, as the beads had a tendency to want to rebel against being attached to the wand in either direction. Making the shape is ridiculously enjoyable.

Using acrylic paint, I painted on a base coat.

Here are some of the finished products. I didn't manage to catch a photo of the two wands that were given out as prizes, but the other four look pretty amazing. My boyfriend, being well skilled at painting miniatures, painted the detail. He enjoyed looking at the shape and working out how to colour it as much as I enjoyed making the shapes.