I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

Recently I went to Seven Stories in Newcastle, to visit the Jim Kay 'Harry Potter' exhibit before it was taken down. If you're not familiar with Jim Kay's artwork, then I strongly recommend you get Googlin' because he is AMAZEBALLS. He is the artist that has created the artwork for the newly released 'Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone' illustrated edition, and is now working on the others.

Anyway, it turned out to be a bit of a day out for me and the family. We went to a vintage fair at the Biscuit factory which was very interesting. I've never been to a vintage fair before so it was cool to see all the newly recycled/old brands of clothes that I remember from when I was younger. I had my eye on some Levi shorts, but unfortunately my curvy shape doesn't allow me to fit into any pants properly (super tight thighs/baggy crotch).

We then headed on over to Seven Stories, my sister Charlotte and I went in while our parents went for tea in the Cluny next door. The attic room was decorated with huge cardboard prints of Jim Kay's 'Diagon Alley' from the book, with an assortment of house robes and hats. These MIGHT be for the little kids, but that didn't stop us from taking full advantage and documenting our maturity with many selfies.

"You're a wizard Chloe!"

Seeing the Diagon Alley illustrations blown up was very interesting. You could see so much detail Jim Kay had added into the drawing that would be hard to notice in the smaller version. The designs were so wacky, it gave the buildings so much character that really brings that childhood magic to life.

The floor below was the actual set up of Jim Kay's original illustrations, which we visited next. The walls were covered in his early sketches in various media, but mostly pencil.

A rough 'Ron' sketch

Early 'Albus' sketch

'Fluffy'

These character sketches are so amazing to look at. To see his interpretation of all these characters that I once imagined through reading the books and watching the films, really reminded me of being so lost in the stories when I was younger. Even his sketches are so incredibly detailed, I would imagine a huge amount of time were put into these drawings captured the character perfectly.

There was a short film playing of Jim Kay talking through his process. He gave a small tour of his studio and showed his piles and piles of rough sketches. I love hearing illustrators talk about their work, I find it very inspiring, especially when you're feeling unconfident.

Again, if you haven't heard of Jim Kay, then i HIGHLY recommend you look up his work, or if your'e a big Harry Potter fan then go buy the sexy illustrated version because it really is beautiful! Also if you're a fan of children's book artwork, or illustration in general, you should check out the exhibits at Seven Stories.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

A Look Back

Hey all! Apologies for my absence for the last month, I've been wrapped up in those awkward adult problems like "getting a job". Safe to say, it's not been a fun month! But let's crack on with a little blast from the past...

My final semester at University was by far my favourite. Mostly because we had one project that we had complete control over and was an opportunity to have creative freedom.

I've always had an obsession with things like fairy-tales and fables etc. So I decided to illustrate a children's book of fairy tales, but take it back to the darker original story that were once more of a warning to naughty children. Although my lecturers loved this idea, when it came to drawing actual gore they weren't so keen... Which was my whole point but yeah, whatever... So to avoid the goriness but keep it dark, I wanted to keep the backgrounds very black, outlines are white and reserve one colour for each story.

So the stories I settled on including were Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid and Sleepy Hollow.

This is my first page from my Little Mermaid Story. This is probably the image I'm most proud of, because I'm usually awful at drawing human figures without making them look like some kind of troll. Maybe it's because she isn't completely human but I think she looks pretty decent! This is also where I figured out how much I love using this collage affect with my colours. I'm not a pro with colouring so I tried out just creating blotchy backgrounds on separate paper, scanning them in, messing about with Photoshop and the affects I got as a result were great!

I wasn't too fond of this page from the Little Red Riding Hood story, but it seemed to be everyone else's favourite. I wanted more time to add even more detail into the trees and the background but alas, the deadline loomed. The wolf in this image is very much my strongest point and I was very proud of him looking so damn fierce.

Finally my image from the Sleepy Hollow story. This was my favourite image from that chapter. Again, I would have loved to have spent another day in redrawing Katrina (bare in mind she was drawn and redone at least 6 times, damn woman just wouldn't look right), but there will always parts of your work that you'll just never like. I used the college affect on the filigree and flowers, which is again my favourite part of this whole image. I really must remember to use this affect in my future work!

Just incase you are thinking 'WHERE ARE THE WORDS?! WHAT KIND OF BOOK IS THIS IF IT HAS NO WORDS?', the images I am showing are from my book but these are the Photoshop images. The text was added on in InDesign where apparently I couldn't save that as separate images. But if you peer down below you can see my little collection of photos from my finished printed book.

I LOVE the way it turned out. Obviously being on such a rushed deadline, there are parts I would love to redo and this could be a great project for the future! But for my first attempt at a book printing, I think that went really well. Well done me!

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Happy Valentines!

It's Valentines Day! A day where everyone seems to either over gush on social media about their other half, or wish death on others who do so as we are single... Really this is a day to share love with everyone, your mam, dad, friends, everyone you love! No need for any bitterness or sickening statuses, just share your love with all!

I've never been massively into Valentines Day myself. The day perks me up because it's a positive day all about love and that's always nice. But present-wise, I'm happy getting a card but no need to go all out. Though my boyfriend did do amazing and made me a little basket of gifts (best boyfriend ever). I decided to test out making my own card this year. I took a lot of inspiration from Rob Ryan in my design and I'm actually really happy with how it turned out.

As you can tell, this is not a generic Valentines card. I wanted to design a more personal, alternative card that suited us as a couple more than just a boring, samey-kinda card you find in all the shops.

I am really happy with how it turned out, being the first time I've tried something of this style. It's given me inspiration to create more of this style of drawing. Let's get to brainstorming some ideas! But anyway...

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I hope you've all had a great day.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Mr Boris

I haven't had much experience in Adobe digital programmes. I'm not a complete noob, but I'm also definitely not super swish at using them. Also I haven't been able to practice with them since leaving university due, to being poor... BUT I have finally been able to afford Photoshop, so now I can muck around editing my work.
So let me introduce Boris-

Boris is a ginger, fat, fluffy, independent cat, who don't need no man! I originally finished Boris almost a year ago, using watercolour paper, inks, pencil and fineliners. But I've always felt he needed something more to him.

Now I have Photoshop, I decided to experiment with some background patterns. I need more practice but I quite like how it turned out! Hopefully I can work into more pieces of work and get them posted soon.

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Trash Panda's

Raccoons seem to be hated animals in the places they live. However the UK don't have any raccoons and I think they're adorable. Weird, stripy, little mouse-bears, that love to dig in bins. How can you not love 'em?!

It's The Coon!

I love experimenting and drawing animals and this week I have been constantly googling raccoons. So I thought I'd bash out the coon!

Thank's for reading!

Chloe x

Bye 2015!

So that's another year gone! And it was a good one! I finished my last projects and graduated University, I have maintained an awesome relationship with my boyfriend, I'm starting to get more ideas for creating art and I have finally been able to afford Photoshop! All in all, it was a good time. But now it's 2016 and time to create new goals for myself to attempt in this new year (but maybe not complete as I should). So here we are-

1. Books...
The basic of everyones resolutions every year... I agree, so boring. BUT, I haven't really evolved much in what I read since being a child and picture books are still my thing. I believe now that this is because of my love for children's book art and the fact that I would love to go into that one day. I just cant thoroughly enjoy a book unless is has some amazing art inside of it. But even then I find myself procrastinating and putting off the reading part, so this year I am determined to read all those pretty children's books and graphic novels I have bought and ignored!

2. Let's fly away!
I am a major sufferer of Wanderlust. And yet I never act on it. I have a list longer than the length of my body of places I would love to go in the world, which probably is most of the earth. I'd love to say I shall go on many trips this year but I have yet to find a full time job to fund this habit, so instead I shall commit to committing to trips! If I inevitably cant afford such things then I will plan out a trip I would love to do. I will research daily plans, expenses, hotels etc. and this way it will force me into getting on with it!

3. Take more photos (that aren't selfies)
I try to do this all the time but I just never manage it. I would love to one day have a biiiiig photo album (or several) filled with memories from being young. Although it's hard to get many of those exciting snaps when you sit around binging Netflix on a daily basis, so I'm gonna have to force myself outside and be sociable! I WILL have pretty photos! I will!

4. Playing with new medias
This is probably a given for all creatives who wish to move forward really. I always feel like I should be settling into a preferred style and then conflicting feelings of I should be expanding my practice first. Stupid brain and it's unwillingness to calm down. Though I do plan to practice painting a lot more, along with pencils and maybe even collage. Practice makes perfect.

5. Keep the weight off
One thing I did achieve last year was dropping over a stone in weight and gaining a healthier life style with Slimming World. For me it isn't about the number of pounds I drop and more about how the weight I'm losing impacts my confidence with my body. I am in no way saying one body type is more attractive than another because it isn't, but for me personally I really didn't like myself when I was heavier. I didn't feel attractive at all and was constantly uncomfortable in all the clothes I wore. But as soon as I saw the weight disappearing I started to feel more confident in myself. So in the new year I plan to keep up this life style and not fall out of plan like many do.

6. Food is friend not foe
Another link to Slimming World is that since I've been on the plan I've been forced to get out of my lazy cooking habits and try new things. I wouldn't say I was super lazy with cooking before, but I definitely am not one to try new recipes and mostly stick to what I know and not experiment. Now I have to plan out meals in advance, try new things and I want to keep that up in the new year too. Don't just stick to the same meals, make more effort and try out lots of different meals and foods you could love!

7. Keep some money in the piggy bank
Another given that everyone plans to do. Since I don't work much now it's basically impossible to save any money whilst also paying for food, travel, board etc. So even though I know I cant right now, I am promising myself that as soon as I find myself a better job I wont just go mental and spend it on pointless things and actually start saving for a future home/holiday/whatever I want do to.

8. Stop over analysing your shit!
Another constant problems among creatives that I think will never fully go away. We're all guilty of over-indulging on Instagram/Pinterest etc. and making ourselves feel crap by looking at other peoples work and wishing we could do that. I know doing this as well as other things has really affected my confidence in my drawing. Sometimes I have too much anxiety and over thinking makes it too hard for me to touch pen to paper, which is very frustrating for me trying to create a portfolio. But thinking of new blog post ideas gives me motivation for more drawings, no matter now simple they are. So hopefully this year will be a time to build my confidence in my own abilities and create pretty things!

Gorgeous Pinterest find

So there we have it, my goals for 2016! I feel like they're quite realistic so I shouldn't make any excuses for not following them. Alas we shall see!

Thanks for reading!

Chloe x

Sometimes when you're stuck for motivation, you need a good inspirational quote to keep you going!

Chloe x