A Positive Change...?

All that faffing around with paint-splats didn't work - tutors didn't like it, I didn't like it, and in a fit of protest I deliberately chose non-fairly-traded chocolate last week at ASDA. Childish? Perhaps.

However, I decided a comeback had to be on the cards - after giving it a rest for a couple of weeks I re-visited it with fresh eyes, inspired by the empty bottle of rosé Fi had left in my bedroom...

It's far from polished and professional, but it's about as good as I can get it (especially with me theoretically being the wrong side of the deadline). The main changed involved ditching the paint, and containing the whole image as a single graphic on the page, as opposed to having bits spilling out off the sheet. The type is rougher - created by hand and then scanned. The inspiration gained from my wine-drinking girlfriend was simply to make the bottle semi-transparent, so the explosion of colour can be seen behind.

As I say, it's far from perfect, but I'm far more confident with it than I've been with my other illustration work so far. Unfortunately I can't pursue it much further - time is short and deadlines are many.

Chattin' Pollocks

We had a taught session on the importance of blogs yesterday. The main problem with Uni doing this wasn't that it was patronising (which it was), it wasn't that they made us use Pebblepad (quite simply the worst blog/networking site I've ever clapped eyes on), it was that that session justified blogging as work. Hence, this counts as productivity. So here I am, blogging on the work that I should be doing during the time I'm spending blogging about it.

Follow that? Nope, me neither.

This is what my bedroom floor looks like. Being in a poky student room, this kind of dominates the floorspace somewhat - I've already stepped in paint on numerous occasions. The idea has been done a thousand times over - paint splatters/splashes/flicks, call them what you will. It's my Jackson Pollock impression, but without the chain-smoking and the alcoholism. I want to scan this sheet and then blow it up so the tiniest splatters are huge.

The brief is another illustration one - an editorial design to front a piece celebrating 15 years of Fairtrade. My initial ideas all centred around champagne/wine bottles:

Rendering the hands proved difficult, and so I feel it would be best to get rid completely, and to use a slightly more celebratory angle on the bottle such as the one on the right. The paint splatters will hopefully fit in behind the bottle - like with the fruit on the left copy, but with more abandon and freedom.

Of course, what I should be doing now is putting those pieces together, rather than wasting time talking about putting them together. I have my excuses lined up:

1. The paint isn't dry, and I don't want paint on my new scanner.
2. Even if it was dry, the software available on my home computer has spent all evening crashing.
3. I'd much rather blog about my problems than try and solve them.

Hopefully, all will be well by Tuesday when this piece will be handed in, and I'll be able to eat a banana without having a panic attack about the slow progress of my work.