Is This Thing On?

Birthday.

2012-02-12T19:42:00.003Z

I haven't drawn a picture since August. Last week was Rowan's birthday and I drew him a picture of Bacon and Furry-Bob having a tea party.
I am going to draw more once I have sorted out myself.

And here is Bacon sitting on Furry-Bob. She is very pretty.

My piece of crap printer....

2011-10-18T18:49:00.003+01:00

.....Is broken.

I think I have a printhead issue. Everything isn't working, I've cleaned them a million times and it still doesn't work.
This does not bode well for my 2000 sheets I have to print over the next 2 weeks. I've used 4 ink cartridges just on cleaning and test prints and wasted about 100 sheets of paper on bad prints and quality tests.

These are the horribles it keeps printing. I do not know what it wrong with it and this frustrates me immensely. Moreso because last year this happened with the Epson at college and I had to swap printers. Could be tricky.

This means my stall at Thought Bubble may just be selling misprints for 10p each. Because they are (some of them) kind of pretty, just incredibly annoying.

Constructive criticism please?

2011-08-29T20:44:00.004+01:00

I am going to soon be printing a whole load of Dawky books and was looking through it at areas that need improvement before I do this. I have kind of decided I don't like the colours and I really do not enjoy the texture.

As a result, I've opened up a fine problem for myself: I want to re-colour the whole thing using flats and an entirely new colour scheme.

I don't want to do it if it ends up looking worse than it already does so please, give me your comments and I will decide what to do. Thanks buddies!

This is the current first page, I dislike the texture and how it distracts from the linework, everything is very confused. I don't think I enjoy the blackness either, it's awfully black, it looks a bit like a bad mood.

This is the new version that I made, I'm unsure about the colour choice, I might like it but I can't decide, maybe the blue is a little hefty?
It looks softer which is nice but is this going the right way? I can't help thinking it might be a tad too bright?

Help me please? Thanks!

A bit of a ketchup.

2011-08-25T19:39:00.007+01:00

Hello, I am here.
In the past few months lots of things have happened. I have moved away from Manchester and back to York, I lived back in my Mama's house for a while but then moved into my own house.
I live in the city centre now, it's very nice. My new house is Georgian and very creaky and has an excellent staircase.
From my front door I can see the city walls, the railway station and the Minster and the tops of hundreds of really old buildings.

I have also made the nasty decision to take on more hours at work, thus I now work 5 days a week in a pet shop. It's brutal, but it had to happen.
It has taken me 8 weeks to finally get my new room set up, I now have a studio. An attic studio. Very special. It still isn't fully complete, there are some things I need to get for it, but hopefully by Halloween sort of time everything will be running smoothly.

Much more exciting is that I've remembered how to draw. On Monday I tried to draw but got really frustrated and so I went go-karting and everything was okay in the end.
Today I set about drawing and I have drawn a sad and confused vampire. I will be doing more with him tomorrow.

Here are some photos of my new home and my studio. There will probably also be a picture of my new cat.

This is far as decorating our kitchen has gone. Rowan's mum gave these lovely tea towels, my favourite is the orange one, I think it is very good.

Here is Rowan's room, this is where I sleep, it has a really top fireplace but does seem to attract moths which is a little troublesome.

This here is the back wall of my studio, as far as I've got with decorating it, I have some framed things to go up too but when I hammered a nail into the wall, lots of the wall fell down. I've put off sorting that for now.

Here are more pictures of my studio, somewhat dark but equally endearing. I have a good amount of stuff, but a bad amount for moving with twice in one month.

These chimneys are what can be seen from my window, they are very old and I really enjoy them, often there are pigeons on top.

Here is my new friend, Bacon. I adopted her from the RSPCA and her name was Sophie, but that name is rubbish, so I changed it, she has been run over and is also deaf, she is quite disabled and walks funny. She also shouts an awful lot and wears a bow tie. I love her very much but as of yet, we have not bonded enough to share a spoon.

Is this thing on?!

2011-06-15T22:29:00.002+01:00

It's been a while!

I am back to blogging again now, I haven't put anything on here in months, mainly because I built a new blog for uni and have been so busy with third year that I've had no time for blogging. But I intend to restart this one as of now.

A brief catchup of the current affairs:
I finished the painting I was working on a while ago, still haven't mailed it yet but plan to in the next week or two.
I finished my degree, no idea how I did yet though, I find that out tomorrow.
I have moved back to York and will be moving into a new house in a week.
One of my rats, Steven, died last week. She was very old for a rat and she went gracefully as the train we were on passed through Church Fenton.

Seeing as university has owned my life over the past 6 months, I no longer have anything much to do, I'm attending the day job more frequently but other than that, until I've moved house, not a lot is getting done.
Hopefully, by mid July I'll be set to start doing lots more paintings and things, and will be open to any offers of work people may have, and it won't take forever to do them because of school.

That's about it for the roundup. I think I'm going to draw some comics tomorrow on show-patrol at college, so maybe I'll upload those over the weekend?

YES!

Smello!

2011-03-01T21:43:00.002Z

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this, luckily I have a whole bunch of stuff to put on it, I've just been way too busy to actually do so.
I got a whole load of comics, a painting, a boy in a jar, some photos and a whole load of other treats.
But right now, I'm not organised enough to do so, so instead, I'll leave this here and come back tomorrow with good stuff.

We have A Tale to Tell....

2011-01-20T20:45:00.004Z

Hey everyone, me and my good buddy Jamie have started a new collaborative project and we'd like you all to get involved.

It would definitely be real nice if you visited A Tale to Tell and got involved with the project. We'd also like it a lot if you sent in some of your work to the address featured on the site, so you could maybe join in too, then we can be friends.

Come visit, I think you'll like it!

Better by design. (Seems quite fitting.)

2011-01-11T20:04:00.004Z

I've spent a while planning this out, and an even longer while actually getting round to starting it, and I've now done two full days of actual work on it.
I was going to paint the whole thing but somewhere along the line I got real scared of painting straight onto the canvas as I'm very out of practice with paint. Instead I've started collaging it with paint, building the character and the elements up with layers of paper and then working over the top, which is excellent fun.
The only issue with this method is it takes AGES. If I had the time to do all my work this way, I definitely would, it's very enjoyable and much more intimate.

I really hope I can get this sped up a bit, I'd quite like to finish it by the end of February at the latest but as of next week I'll only have Fridays to work on it, so it's unlikely. The good thing is that there is no rush for it, no deadline or anything, so I can spend a while on it.
I'm kind of starting to like it too much, I'll have to do lots of photographs and scans of it before it leaves to live with John.

Work that isn't for school.

2011-01-04T22:42:00.002Z

I'm doing work that isn't for school! Well actually, I'm not, I'm blogging about doing work that isn't for school. Mild procrastination.

My issue is mainly the fact that my desk is crammed with stuff that I don't have space for here, yet to make any progress on this work I need my desk. Clearing my desk means I'll have to clear my floor to make space for the stuff from my desk but to clear my floor means I'll have to find a place for things from on the floor, that place is my desk. It's a vicious circle.

Anyway, I'm working on a painting which is speedily turning into a collage, as I forgot how difficult I find it to start a canvas and, in turn, how comforting I find it to work away from the end product on little components, eventually attaching them all together to form a big picture.

So now I'm at a dead end. I was going to do some painting tonight but have now found I can't physically do it because it induces panic in me everytime I try to make a start.

Instead, tomorrow I intend to go into town and get some card and patterned paper and start building the image away from the canvas, in the hope that it will all be okay in the end.

My shopping list is as follows:
2 sheets of cream A2 card.
4 sheets of cream A3 card.
4 sheets of cream A4 card.
1 white pen.
1 roll of parchment paper.

Potentially, this list could be expanded to include 3 new paintbrushes, a new set of scalpel blades, some letrasets and some more paint. I think it is wise to draw everything out before diving into the second phase of production.

I was hoping to finish it before the new year, but I didn't start, so now I'm hoping, if I have next week off college like I think I do, (I probably don't) I am going to try like hell to get it finished, it's always nice to have an intense week of project work, especially before going back to school, to get back into the habit of making stuff.

Mainly I need to finish it so I can consider how I'm going to package it, it needs to make it to Texas, this means intense packaging and protection must be involved.

Mousey holes.

2010-12-31T20:48:00.004Z

I left this thing alone for a while because I got mad at it always being here.
Now I have decided more to embrace it as I think it is a nice thing to have here.
It is also the final day of 2010, there are about 3 hours left and I'm a bit unsure if I want the year to say goodbye just yet.
But I am lots looking forward to next year and all it will hold for me.
Mostly I am excited to leave Manchester, the big cities are not for me and my little city of York is always calling me home whenever I am there. As of June, I will be back in York again, as a resident rather than an occasional dweller.

I cannot wait to leave our house in Manchester, Rowan and me are going to try and get a little flat or maybe even something a little bigger here in York. We will have all our things in one place that is only ours and we can do nice things like cook great food and listen to music together and paint our faces and watch cartoons.
I don't much want for a tv, I think we will have the pumpkin one, small and not too visible, just for when it is essential. Essential means interesting documentaries and funny cartoons, on some evenings and weekends.

We are also interested in getting some pets maybe, we already have the ratties, but they will be aged middle-aged to deceased by June. We also would like a dog and a cat but this is conditional to our home. I am also interested in owning some guinea pigs, but I'm unsure if I'd be a good carer to them.

I am really excited for us to go get nice things for our home from car boot sales, Rowan has some beautiful things he has found at those places, I never really have much luck.

I'm also excited but a little scared for school to be over forever. I look forward to the freedom and the non-urgency to do work that is the same always until it is finished. I'm also quite interested in experimenting with jobs and seeing how long I can hold onto a boring job until I get too bored and have to go somewhere new. Or until I get to pursue something incredible as a job instead. I'd like that.

I think I will be seeing in the new year in my sleep, as I have decided that I really hate it every year, so I'm not doing it this time. I might play some games with my family before bed and then maybe read some of my new book, which I'm looking forward to very much.

I hope next year is everything you could ever want it to be.
This is one of my favourite bits of 2010, I hope there is more of it next year:

Sun Chasing

2010-09-03T21:46:00.007+01:00

Over the past two weeks, myself and my superfriend Jamie have acquired a new hobby of 'Sun Chasing.' We like it a lot and we liked it so much the first time we did it that we did it again last night.

These are some pictures of when we caught the Sun last week:

Last week we thought that the strange stench in this layby was stagnant water. Last night we discovered the real source of the stink was a decomposing pig. I will show a picture of the pig when I have had the photo developed. It stunk real bad.

This week's attempt at Sun Chasing was a bit successful but was also a bit hindered by the clouds so we didn't catch as many good colours.

It was good for silhouettes. Jamie's body is an irregular hexagon. Not many people know that.

We found some good woods where there was a bizarre amount of deforestation going on and lots of evidence of shooting. We almost got killed by hicks and there might have been a dinosaur in the woods too.

Jamie found this skull, we weren't sure what it came from, but we had a nice time playing with it. I believe it's headed to Cheltenham to join the rest of Jamie's skulls.

At the edge of the woods we saw lots of bats and a good while perched on top of the car gave us this picture of one, they were very playful and incredibly fast.

Next we went to America, I don't know how we got there but it was very nice. We saw a real owl on a telephone pole and then trespassed on somebody's land to take pictures of this tree. Then took this picture from the road and the owner of the land came to get us. It was ominous. But not as ominous as the windmill and the mist we encountered later on.

I'm very sad that the Summer is now officially over and that school starts again next week. I am also sad that this means no more Sun Chasing until the Christmas holidays. I wish this activity had been discovered earlier.

New Projects. (FINALLY!)

2010-08-16T10:37:00.003+01:00

I've started a new blog, it's over there somewhere.
So now I have no guilt in posting things on this blog, I'll leave my old college posts on here, because I can't be bothered re-posting them over there, so I'll just make a fresh start here today.

I've got some projects in the pipeline, hopefully they'll begin to materialise in early September, I'm a bit reluctant to start personal work before I've done any acceptable amount of Summer work for college. Also, my room in York is no place for starting new projects, so they must wait for Manchester.

I'm going to try and keep these projects updated on here as best I can, as I'm very excited about them.

I refuse to say what they actually are until I have examples of them, sort of a top secret thing, but I'm hoping they'll be good enough to sell and simple enough to ultra-print. There's some hints right there.

Bees.

2010-07-09T21:02:00.003+01:00

Today is my smallest brother's second birthday, he got a lot of lovely presents and got up to a lot of mischief. I bought him some very beautiful books and some incredible Toy Story items. I'm a bit jealous of his Toy Story things, I want them.

I don't get to see him much during term time, maybe two or three times each term if I'm lucky, so I've very much been enjoying hanging out with him more just recently.
Happy birthday, Ollie!

July 4th isn't until tomorrow....

2010-07-03T22:31:00.005+01:00

Hello!
Somebody is letting off fireworks at 22:26 on July 3rd. WHY?! I hate it.

Anyway. I apologise that most of my recent blog posts seem to consist of pictures of my desk, but this one has to be posted.
I went to Scarborough yesterday with Rowan and Jamie and we had a rather lovely day and we found a huge cardboard shipper for Where the Wild Things Are. The lady who had it in her shop window said I could have it for £5. So I got it.

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but it's really, really big. So big, in fact, that the only way I could get it to stay on the wall without using power tools was to velcro it, I used lots of velcro. The best thing is, once I have somewhere more spacious to put it, I can fold it out and have it as a stand-alone model again.

On a sidenote, I think I've just performed a miracle, by feeding the rats some egg, I've managed to get them to go to sleep. This never happens, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

On a sidenote on the other side, I am not currently being crepuscular as I have been at work all day and am very tired. Weekends are for normal sleeping patterns.

I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel.

2010-06-30T10:35:00.004+01:00

I saw The Get Up Kids last night, another band I thought I'd never see live, yet I've now seen them twice in less than a year. They were really, really great.
They make me so happy, nothing at all could change how happy I was last night. The only thing that could have made me marginally happier was if they'd played for longer and if one of the songs the set was extended with was 'Mass Pike.' However, I saw them play that last time, so it's not such a big deal.

The best bit about going to shows, aside from the show itself is when you have to run to get the train afterwards, you always run faster after seeing one of your favourite bands, I may be able to scientifically prove this. Anyway, having powered to the station, I rode home and then got a bus back to my district and then did the second compulsory run, the one back to my house. It's maybe 400m from the bus to my house, with many a tight corner involved and last night I think I beat the home sprint record, it was quick. I think I became infinity.

So yeah, I was infinite and the show was wonderful.

The most annoying thing EVER though, is when a couple force their way to the front and then proceed to make out for the entire show. What is with that?! I'm fairly certain nobody wanted to see them slobbering all over each other, it was made worse by the fact that they were pretty big, together they were a human wall, for vast expanses of the show I was, for all intents and purposes, blind. Next time this happens I'm going to put gum in their hair.

Hang on, Hang on tight...

2010-06-27T17:52:00.005+01:00

I saw They Might Be Giants last night and they were incredible. Possibly the best show I've ever seen, it was far too good.

One of the best bits was when they played 'Why Does the Sun Shine?' pirate style, and when they got everyone to move down to the front of the stage, we were literally two metres from the two Johns! TWO METRES!

These are 'The Avatars of They' and they were the best sock puppets I ever saw, the funniest too, I can't even describe how good last night was.

Instead of trying to describe it, I'll just post this picture:

This is a confetti blast out of one of the confetti guns they had and I swear, when I saw it coming down over us, it was one of the happiest, most joyful moments of my life. Nobody can not like being rained on by coloured paper. I think a ticker tape parade would actually make me cry with joy.

I love They Might Be Giants. Even more now that I've seen them, I thought they were one of the bands I would never ever get to see live.

Happy Un-Birthday, Jamie!

2010-06-17T23:57:00.003+01:00

Last week was the birthday of Jamie, who happens to be one my most favourite friends.
I feel like the worst friend ever because I failed to wish him a 'happy birthday' on his birthday and for a good few days afterwards.
This is not because I forgot, it was on my mind ALL THE TIME! I felt so guilty and horrible for all of the days until I could give him my happy returns (I'm not sure if I've used 'happy returns' in the correct context, as I do not have a clue what it means.)
I decided I would post him a blog entry of a comic strip of the reasoning behind my inability to birthday him.
Happy Belated Birthday, Jamie! I <3 you!

I don't like ska and I don't like funk. But I like skunks.

2010-06-16T22:53:00.004+01:00

Skunks are quite heavy and quite deceiving. They are not, as I thought, fluffy little animals, oh no, they are, in fact, big blubbery things, under that fur is no air, but a solid mass of skunkflesh.
This one is Stinky Dee and I like her a lot. Even if she does kind of smell weird.

Lights.

2010-06-13T23:05:00.005+01:00

Summer will hopefully start up properly next week, so far I've moved home and worked and gotten a little sick, so I'm hoping by Tuesday the holidays will start properly.

Monday is, I hope, going to lead to me completing the re-arrangement of my bedroom, having a second rat cage here has led to so many space issues, I'm actually considering just getting a hammock. Once I've re-arranged the room I'll be able to actually reach my desk and therefore can start on my list of things I want to get done this Summer by way of illustration/dissertation and also personal projects.

I really can't wait to get started on my dissertation, I think I'm going to really enjoy writing it, I even kind of want to make a journal as well.

Maybe tomorrow I should also make some new tapes for in my car, I'm quite tired of my current one, it's very wintry and melancholy.

Leisure plans for this week involve mainly doing more of this:

Me and Rowan have already been to the university and we haven't even been home a week, so if that's anything to go by, it will be happening lots this year and will be documented too.

Summer swallowed us whole.

2010-05-31T21:56:00.007+01:00

Today I have started to pack up my life to move to a new house in a few weeks. I'm moving back to York for Summer next week and will be returning to drag my stuff down the road to Burton House at the end of June.

My packing didn't amount to much, I don't have any boxes, so it was essentially just rearranging. I listened to a lot of Sum 41 in the process.

A few hours ago a very nice cat came into our garden, we treated her with some tuna and milk and then had a very nice time with her hanging about the house. I think it was a 'her.'
I miss having cats around the house, it felt very complete while she was here. I think there is a strong chance that after next year I will move into a home where I am allowed pets and I will get a real old cat. Nice time.

I finished my work for the newsletter poster yesterday, I can't scan it properly on my scanner, because my scanner is a loser.
I tried to patch it together and emailed it to Jo, although I think this photo works better.
My idea is that the boy is feeling very happy that it is Summer, so happy that he could float. He also happens to be flying a kite, as are some other people. Because he is so happy, he feels very light, the kite lifts him and soars up into the sky with him, out of the sky and into the night, where all the stars can be seen because it is Summer and the nights are clear.
I did it with biros, which was interesting, I've never drawn with them before, I'm unsure why I made that decision, it took forever to finish, especially the sky.
I very much appreciate being considered as somebody who could make the poster, although I'm sure Chris will come up with something shiny and more fitting and colourful and whatnot, but I don't mind, I'm just happy that the boy's kite could take him on a trip and that I had something to do for the past few days.

Saturday.

2010-05-17T14:44:00.001+01:00

All we ever have is too much time.

2010-05-10T12:16:00.005+01:00

It's the first school day of not being at college anymore and I'm feeling a little lost.

All weekend I have had the strange panic/guilt hitting me every few hours because I'm not doing any work but I haven't got anything to do just now. Yet my head obviously thinks that after a whole year of constant work, I should definitely have something to do. Puzzling stuff.

Today I'm going to tidy my bedroom, I can finally get rid of all the pieces of paper chopped onto my floor without knowing it's a waste of time because they'll be there again in a few days.
I am also maybe going to take a little trip into town and then I think I was going to the cinema with Jemma. Is tonight lobster night? I do not know.

Last night I saw Built to Spill and Dinosaur Jr. and they were very, very good, I liked them so much.

Soon, maybe this week I'm going to begin work on a kind of commission, but I'm scared to start it in case it takes over my life. I also need to find out some things about the American postal system before I can start, otherwise it might all be a big mess.

I must also get a hold of Jamie and find out about the train and meeting time and general plan for our trip to London, I am excited for this.

Next (F9) Report (F2) Stop (F8)

2010-04-19T21:51:00.008+01:00

On Friday I sent off my Macmillan entry, today Jamie delivered his. I would like it if we could win together. We are going to collect our work together in London. We will do extraordinary things. If we don't win, we are going to have the ultimate rumpus in the Macmillan offices.

These are my favourite pages from my entry:

I like drawing cats and I like cutting things out. I'm a little bit sad that it's over.

Now I am continuing my new project. I realise the reasons I am finding it a bit tricky to relate to the story is because it is about drunken people in a nightclub. I have never been drunk and I have never been to a nightclub. (Willow does NOT count.)
It is for these reasons that the story is proving particularly difficult to illustrate.
However, I've found a way into it and I think it might all be okay, if the postman hurries up and I obtain some black tape.
Tomorrow paint will maybe be put onto cardboard and then my work will begin. Yes.

In other news, my bicycle fixing skills suck and it just makes me very angry. Unfortunately I cannot cycle to college because I cannot mend my brakes. Tomorrow I will wheel it down to the cycle shop and get a pro to take a look. I think I might need new brake cables and maybe even new pads, if they can't be re-aligned. Ultimate pain.

ARRGH!

2010-04-15T16:43:00.003+01:00

I do not like this project one bit. I do not like A3 paper. I do not like sketchbooks....
I do not like them here or there, I do not like them anywhere, I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I am!

I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me.

2010-04-12T20:29:00.005+01:00

I got back to Manchester this morning, it's very sunny, I like it. I also like that I went to hospital today and it was good.

I don't like that I am home alone and it is dark, this scares me a little. The walls are very thin and when I hear the boys next door talking, I keep thinking it is intruders coming to steal and stab.
I am very used to having dogs in the house and I am not allowed a dog here, so there is nothing to warn me of intrusion.

Only this:

Littlerat would make an excellent protector if she was bigger and would get out of my sleeve.

I'm currently trying to think of more ideas for the new project, it is very difficult and I am struggling somewhat.

Two lane highway, four lane truck.

2010-04-07T18:32:00.004+01:00

New project work is taking me nowhere, I'm finding the story virtually impossible to get into, both mentally and visually and it's driving me mad. I have notes but no pictures, no ideas, no nothing.

Also, I won't be in college on Monday, so I'll probably be spending the day ever more confused.

But in other news, if somebody could make this possible, I'd love you forever.

When we are cats.

2010-04-03T23:10:00.006+01:00

It's taken a total of 6 days to do this, how the hell did I manage that?

I haven't made the front cover and I'm not hugely worried about making one. They wanted four double page spreads or three and a front cover, I've done 12 double page spreads. Plus, I have a cat left over for the title page, so I'll do that too.
So it's not like I haven't done enough work. I'm also rubbish at text layouts and typography so I'd probably be shooting myself in the foot if I tried. But I might.

Although for now I want to start the new project, have a life away from my desk, go outside of my bedroom and for once I actually crave human contact. Though that's sure to end after contact with said humans. Also kind of wishing I'd brought my Xbox home but hey...

Big fun, no sleep...

2010-04-02T23:25:00.004+01:00

It's always a sign that I'm very tired when it takes me 20 seconds to work out whether the noise I can hear is rhythmic clapping coming from my speakers or my rats eating something. Therefore I am going to go to sleep.

Not before I quickly update my whereabouts on this project. I aimed to finish it all today but didn't. Sad face. But I have come very close. Happy face.

I've pretty much finished the contents of the book, there is a little bit of finishing off to do but because this will only take a hour at most, it is essentially complete.
I forgot, once again, how long it takes to construct cherry bakewells and the last two pages I've put together have carried around 35 of them between them, so I spent hours on those today. I think it looks quite nice.

I'm hoping to finish the finishing off parts tomorrow night after work, which is easily done. Then the front cover I will try to do on Sunday. Then I'll be finished.

The main question is, am I allowed to put type on the front cover, or does it have to be on transparencies like everything else? If I can't put type on it.....it's pretty much going to be a blank page with a cat?

Anyway, I'm going to sleep. In case you were wondering, it was coming from my speakers.

Tonight if you're awake at all...

2010-04-01T23:18:00.008+01:00

I'm getting so close to finishing this book it actually makes me want to work later, but seeing where that got me last night, I won't.

Today I took a half day break from picture making and went to Whitby with my sister and her dogs, which was much fun. Whitby is a cold place, I didn't enjoy the cold so much, the wind hurt my ears. This was outweighed by the fact that Dexter came with us, none of my dogs actively fetch balls, so I had lots of fun on the beach playing football with him. He also happens to have an incredible beard and particularly fine knee pads. This is he:

After Whitby, we went to Goathland and drove around the moors, in search of the Roman road, which we couldn't find last time we looked for it, and couldn't find again today. We were accosted by quite a few sheep, one of which ran in front of the car at quite a speed.

The moors are very green, which is a surefire sign that Summer is on it's way, this also made me happy today.

When I got home I re-attempted the factory and I succeeded. This is the revised version:

This picture doesn't make it look all that great, but I'm pleased with it, it's taken hours to do and I've also got half way through another factory scene. This means that I only have to make one and a half more pages, plus a front cover. I really don't want to jinx myself but I have a feeling I'll finish it tomorrow.

The only negative that seems to be coming from this book, aside from the crippled hand I've gained from scalpelling, is that now I can't sleep. Ever. I spend from 9am to around midnight listening to music and then when it comes to sleeping I can still hear it, last night I spent 2 hours trying to stop hearing it. Unfortunately I can't concentrate without it, so either way I lose.

Death by Double Page Spread...

2010-03-31T22:45:00.007+01:00

I just reached Doom Point. Capitalised because I've now mapped it as the low point of my life.

Doom Point is the collective three double pages spreads of this book that involve me recreating a factory from what are essentially silhouettes of paper of a very limited palette.

I left them until last because I knew that if I did them first I'd never do any other pages. Now I regret even writing the factory into the story, it's so complicated to make.
It seems that whatever I do to it, it either looks bad or incredibly boring. It's also a mega pain that I've got to make it three times.

I've decided to call it a day today, I've done quite a lot, making the extra stuff last night really helped. Maybe overnight I'll have an epiphany and tomorrow I'll make a beautiful factory. Or possibly not.

This is my first attempt at the factory, which I'm now using as a rough guide and a "how not to do it" sheet.

As of today, it's looking less likely that I'll finish it by Friday, hopefully by Monday the whole thing including front covers and things will be finished. Then I can start the new project. Or maybe even leave my room...

EDIT: I've just looked at the image on the screen and I am now convinced the woman at Paperchase has mailed me the wrong coloured papers. Looking at them in real life, I'm certain she has...FML!

I'm also thinking I should invert the colours. (This is me making notes to myself so that I'll remember for tomorrow. Ignore, if you please.)

I am the queen of cats.

2010-03-30T23:04:00.005+01:00

Today I have worked for 13 hours solid, only stopping for meals. Although, I'm not as much further on with this book as I predicted. One of the spreads took me 5 hours, not happy.

However, instead of finishing another page, I decided to put together the rest of my cats and other cat accessories, such as nets, boats and bikes, which should hopefully massively reduce the amount of time the next pages take me. Although, these ones involve a lot of cheery bakewells and for some reason they take forever to make, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

My desk currently looks like a paper bomb hit it, I keep meaning to tidy up after myself but then what's the point if I'm going to do it all again the next day?

I do sometimes find myself wondering how much more effort I would put in and how much more work I'd get finished if I did all my projects in York. In Manchester I hardly ever work for longer than 5 hours and this usually takes place in college, with lots of stops in between. Once this week is through, I estimate I will have worked on this project for a total of about 80 hours, which is ridiculous.

Macmillan, Macmillan, Macmillan....

2010-03-29T23:06:00.007+01:00

Once again, I've neglected my blog, but for good reason. A quick update is what this post will become.

My Macmillan work is multiplying at an alarming rate. It's my first official day of the Easter break and I have been hard at work all day.

I've made 3.2 double page spreads in one day, I think I've got this new problem called Scalpel Hand, which causes the sufferer to be uncomfortable around pressure points of the scalpelling hand and unable to stretch out the hand for up to 2 minutes after cutting something out. This could cause problems tomorrow if the pain doesn't go away overnight.

Now that I've started, as predicted, I don't want to stop and there is a strong chance I could have the whole book finished in time to enter it. I'm very scared of the three factory images, how the hell do I do those?!

I also have a little problem in that I haven't got enough paper and the Paperchase in York doesn't stock paper. So there is a chance I'll have to make a mission to Manchester. Unless a phone call to the Manchester store tomorrow morning can result in a mail order. Hmm.

All the animals are for me.

2010-03-21T19:12:00.008Z

Today I went with Rowan to the farm, it's becoming something of a tradition around my birthday to go to the farm, we like it a lot. We saw some lambs being fed, goats on pigs, a fantastic sheep, a beautiful cow and even some deer.

This was my favourite goat, he was real friendly and he had a black tongue. I do like goats.

This is Rowan with his favourite goat, he liked this one a lot and spoiled it with much food and pettings. It is also the goat that ripped open my bag of food, thus forcing me to give it all to them as it spilled everywhere. Pesky goat.

This is the very nice big man deer. I think antlers are the best things to ever have, I wouldn't mind a pair myself, everything looks more dignified with antlers. This guy could get away with asking any lady deer out for a spot of tea and they wouldn't refuse. Even a human wouldn't turn down his offer of tea. He's beautiful.

One of my favourite features of the farm is this big old log because it looks like a big old alligator. Usually I climb on it, today I didn't, I had muddy feet and if I slipped I would have fallen and possibly hurt myself, or worse, impaled myself, or worse still, died.

I'LL EAT YOU UP!

2010-03-20T18:39:00.009Z

Friday was my birthday and I had a very busy day. The first half involved a spot of Ian hunting at college, followed by the slowest bus ride ever.
Upon arriving home, I packed up my things and opened the first birthday gifts of the day.
From Nawor, I received numerous things, most notably: a latex Mr Burns mask, which was particularly strange but very much appreciated, I LOVE Mr Burns! And also a signed cd which stirred a reaction not dissimilar to Sheldon's upon receiving the napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy.
After speedy gift giving we almost missed our train back to York, very stressful, and by the time we reached York, after a particularly weird journey, I felt very sick.

I got home and was piled with cards and gifts, lots of very nice things were given to me.
I got most excited about the wolfsuit my mum made me, check this out:

It's real good, and warm, I'm wearing it right now, my kittens like it a lot too.

Because I was at home and didn't have to be at work the next day and had no work to do, I went over to my dad's house with 2 of my sisters and hung out with my brother, he's the coolest kid I know, although he was very snotty as he has a cold.

We had a nice time playing hide and seek, building block towers, playing with Thomas the Tank Engine and chasing each other.

Later on one of my best friends in the whole world, Jamie, posted me a lovely birthday treat on his blog, involving these pictures of me hanging with Wild Things.

I love them!
If you go visit Jamie's blog, you can see the wonderful drawing of Alexander close up, you can see a very naughty cat, some very ugly cats, some beautiful bears AND you can request a day of the year and he will illustrate it for you, what a treat!

I will close this post with a rather beautiful birthday treat I got in the early hours of my birthday, courtesy of my housemates, my most favourite bit is Tom from 4:02 to 4:09, classic.

Photo-cutout-photo-illustration.

2010-03-16T21:26:00.007Z

My current project involves much photography, I am quite liking it.

This picture is one of my final ones for the first half of the project, my favourite one of the 8 I made.

The process I am using is still influenced by Andre da Loba and the 3D work I did for my last project, as well as some new people.

This is the work of Robert Longo, who I have started looking into recently.
Originally I was mainly interested in the contorted figures he produces but then I saw this image and it tied in with the 3D theme again.

Having looked at Longo, I began cutting out the figure and photographing it. After this, I realised I like looking at how the cut out section of the image falls and started trying to capture the movement in a photograph.

I think my interest in blurry and distorted images of movement stems from a preference of seeing an image in motion.
Still life is still life and there is nothing wrong with that, but if the subject of an image is moving or the photographer feels a movement within him/herself evoked by a subject then I think the image should demonstrate that movement.
I believe this is why I like blurred photographs, as they have more feeling in them, and this the reason for my interest in dropping the figure in my image for this brief.

Charles Peterson is a good example of what I'm trying to describe in the above paragraph, which was very hard to explain. Peterson photographed many bands during the 80s and 90s and his photographs are very real and they contain a metaphorical kinetic energy which allows the viewer to experience the moment shown in the photo for what it was, rather than as a perfectly focused, crisp shot which would not hold the same sentiment.
These are some of Peterson's photographs:

Having looked at the work of these artists, I'm now looking at Picasso for the millionth time and other people who I've yet to discover. For the second half of the project, I am expanding the falling figure images and also will be experimenting with making paper models from photographs. I think.

Mothers' Day.

2010-03-14T11:03:00.001Z

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY, MA!

Dantheooon.

2010-02-25T12:22:00.003Z

It was my brother's birthday on Tuesday and I made him this card, the stuff coming out of the hoover is poo and the stuff coming out of my mouth is copious amounts of sick.

It went down very well, apparently even my grandma liked it.

My brother made a second blog post yesterday, which is a cause for celebration as his first one was in May last year. It's one of the things that makes me really happy to read, partly because it's incredibly funny, partly because I can hear him saying it when I read it and partly because it entertains me for a while, he posts essays. Mostly I like it because it's a treat, like going to Flamingo Land when you're 9, it's a rare occasion, but it makes for a fun time.

Pyjama Crisis.

2010-02-13T18:51:00.001Z

This is for my friend, Jamie.

2010-02-08T18:59:00.004Z

Dear Jamie, I said I would leave paper cats on my blog for you, here they are, I don't think they quite beat some of your ugly cats, but I bet your ugly cats can't drive a boat?

In other news, I gave one of my cats a piece of chicken yesterday and she dunked it in some milk before eating it. I enjoyed that.

This is for you.

Much love.

Monster.

2010-02-01T14:27:00.003Z

Saturday.

2010-01-30T10:17:00.001Z

Munch Mania

2010-01-26T20:27:00.005Z

You know things are getting good when you see the work of Munch in your everyday surroundings.

This morning on my way to get breakfast I came across this in our kitchen doorway:

Which in my head, is definitely this:

(Imagine they spin at all times, or kiss in front of mirrors.)
I like it.

Another cat.

2010-01-08T12:05:00.004Z

More cat pictures, this is Rowan's cat, Timothy. He has a very good facial structure.

Kitty kitty cat...

2010-01-07T15:06:00.007Z

I had a good time with my cats yesterday, I chased them all over to take photos, except for one who was very asleep so I got a good picture of her, she looks very long.
The other ones are super small kittens so the act of photographing them was more of a kitten based rumpus, which I didn't mind at all.

This one wanted to help.

C-A-P-S-I-Z-E all the way home....

2010-01-06T17:10:00.014Z

Yesterday the purple boots had to be worn to walk through the bull field, as the snow was very deep.

I enjoy the snow very much, except for when it turns black on the road because then it looks like it would taste like a headache. Everything looks infinitely prettier in the snow.

My favourite thing I photographed in the snow that was a man walking in the road and thus delaying some cars.

My second favourite thing that I photographed was a real good snow mound. Although I have a feeling its a dirt pile covered in snow, we shall pretend it is actually all snow.

My most favourite thing I saw I was a Dalmatian running in the snow, it looked like lots of fast moving black blobs. I couldn't take a picture of it because it came over to be petted and it is never appropriate to put off befriending a dog for photographic purposes. However, if I had photographed him, he would be my most favourite thing I photographed and the traffic man and the good pile would not stand a chance.

By this point we were beginning to lose light so we hurried on home, with a few snowballs along the way.

After snowballing in the bull field, we returned to Rowan's house where me and Rowan and Bryony built a really tall snowman whom we named Henry. I don't know if he is still alive, but I hope he is.

My house currently contains zero apples. -Sad face

2010-01-04T20:09:00.005Z

Hello.
I'm having trouble, after spending most of last term doing unconventional project work in groups and stuff, I've forgotten how to work.

Where to start? I'm going to start drawing some cats and stuff I think. I might even bust out the paints, tomorrow I will get a sketchbook and some new brushes and stuff. Yeah.

This is for you, it's a lighthouse in Scarborough, I photographed it last year.

Cats and rats.

2009-12-28T12:30:00.006Z

Today is essay writing day. I have been up for 4 hours and have still yet to pick up the brief. I hope I can finish it before tomorrow.
Tomorrow is project day. Or so I hope. But it might not be.

Christmas has been nice, I've missed York a lot, I've been doing some exploring and I've found Max, I just have to find a way to get him. I will.

I've also been having a go on my new kittens, I like those. One of them in particular is very good. For a very long time I wanted a ginger cat whom I would name Chester. We now have a ginger kitten called Chester. He is very beautiful. All of the other cats in my house and all of the other ones in our street are going to be very jealous of Chester, when he grows up, he is going to be a very pretty cat. I hope he is going to grow big. I enjoy big cats.

This is Chester doing his best moves.

On the subject of animals, MotherRat is becoming friendly, after 7 months of biting and squealing, we may become friends. I'm working on her.

'Max, don't go, I'll eat you up, I love you so.'

2009-12-11T17:08:00.004Z

I just saw 'Where the Wild Things Are' and it almost killed me.
It's weird when you see something and it makes you remember something you never knew you remembered or feel something you weren't expecting to feel.

It met all my expectations, which were higher than the fort. And I will be seeing it 12 more times at least.

I'm happy that Alexander is still my favourite, that means it was a true representation of the book.

All is love.

"LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!"

2009-10-19T20:56:00.008+01:00

I cannot articulate how excited I am for the release of 'Where the Wild Things Are.'
I've been putting off blogging about it, but having watched the trailer yet again, it's become too hard to resist.

It's going to be incredible, Spike Jonze directing, one of the prettiest sounding soundtracks ever, Jim Henson Company on puppet duty and Maurice Sendak's overviewing.
I aim to see it at least 4 times, I actually can't wait.

The only other thing I can say about it is that if I was fortunate enough to own a wolf-suit like Max's I would be the happiest person in the world. If I had the crown as well.....I don't know what would happen.

COLABEAR!

2009-08-20T22:24:00.003+01:00

Summer Project + Essay = This is highly unlikely to be finished on time.

I'm going to take the year to make it good and then I MAY enter it, but I might just keep it for myself, it's fast becoming less of an entry project and more of an exploration of myself.

Dear Customer,

2009-07-01T13:52:00.001+01:00

I am not void of a sense of humour. You just fail to amuse me.

Mr Andrew Bannecker.

2009-06-24T14:28:00.006+01:00

I was looking through my first year work and found the image translation project, consequently I started looking at Andrew Bannecker's work again, it's very nice. The image above is one that I liked in particular, I'm unsure why, it has clean edges and clean edges are good edges and maybe that's the reason I like it?
I think I owe it to Bannecker for pulling certain things out of me, I've developed some styles of working since working in a similar style to him and I think I gained more from this project than any other.

This is the image in the style of Andrew Bannecker which I produced to illustrate an editorial about texting.

In hindsight, it could be better, the edges aren't clean and that dip in the hill on the left drives me mad but next time I do an image like this I'll know how to make it look better. So I win.

If you click this you can go see more of his work, lucky you!

I heart John Lefler.

2009-06-22T11:07:00.004+01:00

This is a piece of work by John Lefler, it's the artwork for his new album, 'Better By Design.' I like it a lot because of all the things happening in it, there's so much to take in that even if I look at it for a straight four hours, if I looked at it again, a little bit after the four hour viewing time, I'd see even more things that I hadn't noticed in the four hours. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, I think I mean that it has lots of little details on it that I don't notice right away but happen upon at random and they make me happy.

At this particular moment in time, my favourite bit of the whole thing is the spider hanging from the design sign. I don't like spiders much but this one seems quite friendly, he adds an extra detail and I like details, I think everything and everyone should have little details that aren't required but make everything good.

The other thing that I am pleased to see is the extreme use of stars and the many arrows present on the work. I toned down my use of such items after being told it was overkill and they "aren't a required element to any design" by my foundation tutor but now I see this and I think it fully justifies stars and arrows so I will courteously hand back to Nathan all his criticisms and let my stars and arrows out of the section of my hand I've been holding them back in.

Moving on, I will say that I really, really like this and I'm quite jealous of how John can do such amazing things with dots, note the extreme cloud dots and general dottiness of the whole drawing. I also think it's probably the most confusing but also most interesting-to-look-at album artwork I've seen for a while.

To finish, I firmly believe that anyone who sees this should buy this album, it's one of the prettiest things I've heard in ages AND you would get this art as the CD case, which is always a winner. If you hold it and look at it and listen to it at the same time, you'll experience the bit that comes after happy. I don't know what it is, but I think it makes my brain purr.

Hopefully if you click >this< you'll be taken to John's myspace page where you can do some music hearing and look at the artwork in CD format and stuff. You could also say hello to him, he's a very friendly man.

We've got to see a different place, I won't get any other time.

2009-06-21T21:57:00.004+01:00

This weekend I've been at work and have found myself slipping into daydreams quite regularly. As always, the same thoughts are on my mind: Milwaukee 1994, my proposed trek to America and the self hatred for not being clever enough to build a time machine.

I thought it would sum up my weekend quite nicely to post up two America themed comics I've drawn over the past month or two.

This first one is about an internal argument I keep having with myself. I'm not sure if it's just a myth or if it's real, I'm convinced it's real. It seems that all Americans, except those with allergies etc, are very into the consumption of peanut butter.
I don't enjoy peanut butter. Not in the slightest. It makes my mouth feel weird and the smell makes my stomach feel unpleasant.
I have a deep rooted fear that if I can't train myself to eat it, when I go to America I'll be rejected at customs for not being a lover of the stuff. It instills within me the most horrible feeling of dread, considering that if I made it to customs, I'd have finally achieved something that I've been dreaming about for years, only to be forced on board the next flight back to the UK because I can't handle peanut butter.

This is a picture of me doing what I do at least 5 times a day; taking a minute to dream of Wisconsin and drown in waves of sorrow because I couldn't be there in 1994.
For further information view here. More accurately, in this drawing the place in the cloud should be Milwaukee, but that would be a little confusing as it isn't the most identifiably shaped place. Anyway, I think Wisconsin would offer me even more joy than Milwaukee alone, I'd have more space to explore.

My deceased cat.

2009-06-20T21:20:00.003+01:00

I used to have a cat named Charles and he was not the nicest of cats. People in our house were scared of him because he was quite aggressive and would avoid him at all costs.
One day I was thinking how sad it would be if Charles died and nobody cried, how it would be more sad if people were glad he was gone. I decided to make people like him.

So began a long tale of how Charles had a cherry bakewell factory under the shed in our garden and at night he went out to catch them on the fields behind our house, which explained why he was so tired and grumpy during the day.
I wrote the story down and began illustrating it, but never actually finished. This is one of the images from the story, I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to finish it.

Three years ago Charles got very ill and died and everyone in my house was very sad at his passing, some people even cried, but mostly we were just very confused as to how the shops were still able to stock cherry bakewells.

Unpredictable British Weather.

2009-06-19T11:08:00.002+01:00

Real people on real paper..

2009-06-17T11:52:00.003+01:00

Although I draw lots of comics and they are what I most enjoy doing, I also really like making collage images from card and occasionally patterned papers. To make these I draw everything thing out on A4 paper and then split it into coloured layers, similar to the ones on photoshop. I then construct each layer individually so that when I come to sticking them together they interlock and overlay, creating a 3D effect on the page.

I like to make the images how somebody would imagine them, rather than how somebody would see them, so all the figures have layers of clothing and I often put things in their pockets. I'm not sure where the logic in doing this lies because once I've scanned in the image the layers can't be seen. I think I just like to be settled in my mind that the characters I've created are real and that they have things in their pockets to entertain themselves with once they've been through the scanner and are trapped in a flat image.

When you overhear a conversation and really wish you hadn't...

2009-06-16T10:31:00.003+01:00

This is another little comic thing I did after a pretty disturbing bus ride home in Manchester one afternoon.

I was listening to music, at an acceptable, but not quiet, level of volume but somehow an old lady's voice still made it through to my ears.
Unfortunately for me, said old lady was talking in graphic detail about a cyst she had found on her inner thigh. She gave a detailed description and then announced that the lovely folks at the hospital refused to look at it. I don't know how much truth was in the final statement.

Suffice to say that whilst this was coming through my music and I was having visions of the cyst ridden inner thighs of the elderly, I wasn't feeling all too great, put that with the uneven surface of Oxford Road and it wouldn't be far from the truth to say there was bile in my throat.

One of my small friends.

2009-06-15T16:29:00.002+01:00

This is my littlest rat, Wednesday, she doesn't much enjoy being picked up but she loves having her picture taken.

Death by Big Brother.

2009-06-15T14:06:00.002+01:00

I drew this on June 5th, it's a direct response to the ultimate internet spamming that happened on the Big Brother launch night, which led to me having some sort of small mental breakdown.

New Work.

2009-06-14T22:50:00.003+01:00

This is my latest piece of work, it's a cartoon for a leaflet about a zip-wire art day. I enjoyed making it but came across a number of problems whilst doing so, such as dimension issues, photoshop problems and issues involved with overlapping papers.

Build me a time machine.

2009-04-15T14:03:00.003+01:00

I would pay every penny I have, plus all my student loan and all my wages for the next however many years if somebody could build me a time machine and a teleportation device.

Milwaukee, 1994.

It actually hurts to think I'm pretty much definitely never going to go there, in that era anyway. And when I think about how it's possible to go there, it hurts almost on equal levels.

It seems that every few weeks I get this painful blast of sadness over the fact that Milwaukee 1994 is not going to happen. It's a regular thing. It makes me want to scream.

I have got to visit Milwaukee in the next 5 years. I'm going to visit libraries and town halls and other nice places and recreate 1994 in my head.

At least I know that if I ever really need to be sick, like if I swallowed poison or something, I only have to think "Milwaukee 1994" and then vomit, most probably the projectile variety, will certainly happen.

Productive Day.

2009-04-14T21:21:00.004+01:00

I made this today.

My mother has been asking me to do it for a while as a gift for a friend of hers who is getting married on Saturday. So I did it today. I've had quite a productive day. As a result of my quite productive day, my desk is covered in mess, at it's deepest point the pile of mess comes approximately 13cm up my lower arm. I need to clean. A job for tomorrow.

Soup.

2009-04-02T17:29:00.003+01:00

The main subject of this post is soup. Last night my soup tasted like tea and I had to throw it away because I really don't like tea. I don't not like the taste, what I hate about tea is that it tastes kind of ok but it smells fantastic, I don't like tea because it is deceptive. Anyway, regardless of my liking for tea, soup should not taste like tea, unless it is tea soup, which this was not.
Tonight I made a different soup, by made I mean heated up, and it was supposed to be Winter Vegetable, or that's what the carton said. I have no problems with the soup as a whole, it was quite good, a little too thick but quite good. The only issue I have is that it had sweetcorn in it. I don't like sweetcorn in food. When people put it in sandwiches it's ruining a good sandwich. Sweetcorn with gravy, why do people do that? And sweetcorn in Winter Vegetable soup completely confused me. In my mind, sweetcorn is a Summer vegetable. I guess it is probably grown in Winter or something similar, to explain it being in a Winter soup but I have always and will always associate sweetcorn with Summer. So there are two reasons why today's soup is bad, it has sweetcorn in it and it has confused me about the seasonal appearances of said sweetcorn.

In other news, addressed as other news as it is other news when under that main heading of "Soup" as it has nothing to do with soup, yet if the heading wasn't "Soup," I would have started this sentence with "More equally important news..."
In other news, I'm going home tomorrow! I've become quite bored of having the flat to myself and I've watched too many films in the past 2 and a half days, I could actually be the IMDB now.

I want this too:

2009-03-27T08:09:00.002Z

I saw this last night in Chinatown and I think it should be a compulsory requirement in every home.

Screen Printing.

2009-03-26T08:30:00.002Z

Why is it so confusing?!

It's actually quite simple, which is what really annoys me, I know exactly what I need to do and how to do it, but there seems to be a mental blockage somewhere. I think the difficulty lies in photoshop, digitally laying out my print is becoming virtually impossible, I think I'm going to go old skool and do it all on the photocopier today because I've had enough of technology.

I also need wallpaper. I will maybe obtain that this evening.

I want this:

2009-03-24T11:17:00.002Z

Rat on cat on dog, please?

Weekend.

2009-03-22T21:52:00.004Z

This weekend has been immense. Trevor made it a calculated 143 miles, which is an incredible achievment, considering that 25% hill we hit by surprise, not only did he achieve those things, but he overtook 2 whole cars on the ride home along the dual carriageway...good stuff.
I've touched many an animal this weekend and eaten many a non-nutritious item, but all in the name of a day off work, so it was well worth it.

I've also decided that I want it to be the summer holidays now. Right now. I don't want to go back to Manchester, I want to stay in York for the time being because it's nicer here.

This is probably my favourite of the pictures I took this weekend.

Mixtapes and Memories.

2009-03-19T13:41:00.004Z

I've taken pictures of the musical gift I made for LauraKirk, it is as follows.

Mood: Accomplished.

2009-03-17T11:19:00.002Z

I've just finished making LauraKirk's boxset of musical goodness and I must say, I'm more proud of this than I am of any of my work I've done this year, so much so that I want to keep it for myself, it's beautiful.

If LauraKirk reads this, I must banish her from returning to this page until she receives the package because there are pictures soon to go up documenting the spectacle that is this parcel. I've got to go and buy a box to put it in for postage purposes because I'm fearing a jify bag will lead to the destruction of a work of art.

Pictures soon.

I just remembered...

2009-03-15T21:49:00.003Z

How good is this cat?! I took this picture in Waterstones a few weeks ago because I think it's the same cat that didn't exist but actually did exist but nobody would believe me when I said it did. I think it is. It's actually pretty terrifying, I can't decide if I'm more scared of it's whiskers or it's eyes or just it's general aura.

Is this intended as a warning or a selling point?

2009-03-05T12:29:00.001Z

One.

2009-02-05T17:41:00.003Z

Snow.

2009-02-03T15:58:00.002Z

It snowed so hard in York that a sweeping brush was required to clear the cars but the entire task of snow removal proved futile, the snow won.

Another nice picture.

2009-01-22T11:50:00.003Z

I made this one in December, I think it was the 22nd, I named the man Waldo and the giraffe is definitely called George.

Nice picture..

2009-01-21T20:23:00.004Z

When photographs are hard to come by, scanning stuff is very much allowed.

This is a nice picture of my deceased cat that I made at the start of the year.

Cement - Required.

2009-01-14T11:08:00.000Z

I've finally succumbed to the boredom of being back in Manchester and this morning (5 minutes ago) unpacked my NA T-6G Texan Airfix model to begin building.
I had all the bits out of the box and was just about to start organising them into a buildable pile when I noticed I have no cement. So I won't be building it until I get some of that. I don't know how much it is either which is a pain, but if I go to the model shop, I could buy the cement and the paint required for this model and maybe even another model because I need stuff to do. Possibly a big one.

For now, I'm ready and waiting for the arrival of cement.

I'm also awaiting the arrival of my keys. Having packed all my stuff up and got on a train to Manchester on Monday, as we approached Manchester I realised I'd forgotten my key to my room. A nice security man let me in but I technically shouldn't leave my room because I have no means of locking it. The keys should arrive in the post today. Hopefully.

This design dictates the requirements of my new mobile telephone.

2009-01-08T22:13:00.000Z

Correct. For the past few days I've been pondering two subjects.
1) My phone contract is due to expire sometime soon, thus I will soon be acquiring a new contract/phone/communications plan.
2)I really need a new bag.

I need a good bag, with lots of pockets but I'm dissatisfied with what the internet has to offer, so I've designed my own, am in the process of placing a materials order, and have established my mum as chief bag manufacturer.

This has solved the bag problem, now I need to work on the phone issue. Until I get the bag and have used it for a week, I won't know what I'm doing about a phone. I'm definitely getting a new one but the bag will decide whether I get a pay monthly one or a call-making super basic pay as you go masterpiece. Essentially, the bag needs to be in construction as soon as possible, I'm drawing up plans tomorrow, finalising them with mother and placing a bulk order of zips and webbings to create a beautiful, fully functioning piece of transportation wizardry with plenty of pockets.

This is a fraction of the premature designs:

Day Two of Photo Project and problems are arising.

2009-01-02T23:32:00.000Z

It's day two! Today I took my camera with me to Jamie's house where myself, Rowan, Jamie and Harry spent the day playing Guitar Hero, Bop It Extreme, Helicopter, Cheat and Happy Families. The day was finished off with a trip to the cinema. We saw Yes Man. It was not the best.

Anyhow, a problem has come to my attention. It really isn't going to be possible to put up a photo everyday, there are too many variables. For example, if I was to get home very late one evening and was too tired to move or if I was at work all day or just didn't actually see anything good to take a picture of. To solve this, I've decided to post a picture daily, if possible, if not, there will be at least one picture a week, that way I'm not filling up this whole thing with pictures that I took because I had to, but with ones that I wanted to take. Nice.

Also, there needs to be a name for my project, I'm currently thinking of it.

Today there are 2 photos. I've excelled at my task.

This is Jamie's newest cat, Boris, with his ears turned inside out. He likes it.

And this is Jamie demonstrating his awesome yoyo-ing skills.

So this is the New Year....

2009-01-01T16:56:00.001Z

...And I don't feel any different.

Two thousand and nine. I think this is the point where I'm meant to start rattling out new year resolutions and reflecting deeply on the past 12 months. NO!

All I will say is that last night was probably (definately) the best new year. Lots of nice happenings and nice people. Mickey Heater was invisible but I think he was quite confused. I know I was.

New Years resolutions. Pictures. Lots of them. In the form of photographs. At least one per week should find it's way here, possibly more if I get any good ones. I'm also going to buy a BMX and start putting money into the bank account newly titled "Savings for a trek around America." That is all.

This is the first of what may be 365 photos, but probably not.

01/01/2009 - Duncombe Place, 00:18am. Taken by my brother, with no warning.

Jimmy Eat World...

2008-10-10T17:32:00.000+01:00

..Are one of the most beautiful bands to ever grace the planet. FACT!

Recently I've been listening to them a lot, I've had lots of their music for a long, long time but haven't listened to it for a few years and then over the past 3 weeks it has found it's way to my ears.

There's something about the music that makes me feel like my heart is actually on fire and that I can do anything. It's inspiring, energising and somewhat hypnotising. There's also the songs that I can relate to, the ones that mean different things for everyone, but when a room full of people hear them, they all feel something and hold thousands of tiny connective currents.

I don't know my exact reason for writing this about the band, but I guess it's because right now, listening to them, I feel like I could run to America, without stopping, they're like a fuel. A very beautiful, heart-combusting fuel.

A day of produce.

2008-08-15T21:41:00.001+01:00

Today wood was bought for shelves. Three small shelves were built. By Sunday I should have 7 or 8 shelves up in my room and it will officially be finished. Nice nice nice.

My super productive day did not only consist of shelves. I rectified the big mess I'd made of my project. It took me all afternoon and cost me £5 in coloured card but it looks very pleasing, I'm impressed with it. I now just have to add the text and then that picture is complete. Then there's a sketchbook to be made and 4 more drawings to do but we don't talk about those.

My left hand feels mildly arthritic from holding a pen very tightly for the most part of the past 2 days.

Speaking of bodily concerns, I'm also concerned about the peeling of my trucker tan. My entire right arm seems to be wilting, it's horrendous. Maybe I'll get some moisturising stuff. Or a loofah.

Summer project.

2008-08-14T22:15:00.000+01:00

My Summer project just went very wrong. It was going so very well. I spent 5 hours drawing the sea onto the paper with a biro and my hand currently feels crippled. However, tiredness got the better of me and I attempted to add the tennis ball into the image using biro and it is now very horrible.

Tomorrow I intend to go the paper shop and buy lots of paper and collage the bits where I've gone wrong. I hope it works.

Tomorrow is also the day that, in theory shelving might finally happen. It most probably won't. By the end of the weekend were the words offered to me today. Nice words.

Today I got a chair. So I can sit at my desk. A manager's chair. This title makes me want pie charts and a pointing stick. Unfortunately I have neither. But I DO have my documents box, which is a surefire sign that I'm due to receive a pie-chart pretty soon, I'd say.

I has a room.

2008-08-07T23:03:00.001+01:00

YEAH! I finally have my own bedroom. And it's almost completed. The paint is very much on the walls and also very much green, almost like sitting in a plant. By chance, my bed is just the right height to sit underneath, so despite my room being the smallest room ever, it's also the coolest because I can hide under my bed! It also has an airvent which can be used as a fridge!

Today I acquired weird stuff.

2008-08-05T00:00:00.000+01:00

I went to Travelling Man today and bought more stuff. While I was walking about the place gathering up things to buy while arguing with myself.."...if Tin was here, he would not allow you to spend this much.." but alas, Tin is unfortunately no longer with me so I spent an ungodly amount on books and comics and a keyring.

Among my items was a comic I plucked from the back issues box for 50p. I thought the cover looked nice and so I bought it. It was David Lapham's "Young Liars", issue 2, "Suicide Dreams".

It turns out it was weird.

When I got home and read it, it kind of made sense. Until the last few pages struck and I read them over and over but it made no sense. Why were they dead? Who killed them?
I was also unsuitably disturbed by the subtext. WHAT IS THAT?! WHY?!

Everyone should go read this comic. It's WEIRD!

Today's dose of Weird.

Yoghurt: Moist or Wet?

2008-07-07T21:05:00.000+01:00

In a bizarre turn of events it would seem I am heading off to London tomorrow. Or at least it did a few hours ago, now it seems I have received no further information on this trip so....maybe I'm not?

Now for an argument and explanation. I was watching Loose Women today. That in itself is a fine thing to say. Normally if I watch this I quite enjoy it, it's a group of middle aged women ranting about life, it's somewhat entertaining.

However, today, they went too far. Basically they said that the youth of today who spend hours on the internet "doing social networking" have no social life and are unable to talk to real people because the people they speak to online are "faceless." My "I disagree" face came out of hiding and remained upon my head for the next 15 minutes as they went on and on about how socially void teenagers today are, in a more polite way of saying it.

I very much disagree with this and come Thursday there may be a letter on it's way to the Loose Women explaining the why I disagree with it. But probably not. Confrontation SUCKS!

But for now, a problem that came to me as I ate a yoghurt earlier. Whilst swallowing I noticed that although the yoghurt was wet, it left my mouth feeling quite dry. This is not what troubled me. The trouble came in the form of is yoghurt really wet? Or is it just moist? Or just cold? It's definitely not wet, you don't get the same feeling when you spill yoghurt on you that you get when you spill water. So what is it? More to the point is it solid or liquid? If it has lumps of fruit in, they are a solid and thus the yoghurt cannot be described as solid as compared to the lumps, it really isn't.

To end: What is a yoghurt?

The Moon is Down.

2008-03-13T20:30:00.002Z

Last night I saw the best thing ever. As myself and Nawor were driving home, we looked out of the car window and saw the moon. It was exactly as it is in a child's mind. Huge, yellow, smiling and mesmerising. It was possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It wasn't full, it was a crescent, leaning back as though it was resting, poking out from around a cloud. I'm quite certain it had a nose and eyes as well.

The thing that struck me about the moon was the size of it. It was huge, incredibly low in the sky and glowing like a glow in the dark yoyo. As well as being quite awestruck by the moon, I was also quite scared. It was so big and seemed slightly threatening in the way it was hanging over us, but then the fear melted away when I reminded myself that the moon is actually a very friendly celestial body.

In conclusion, the past month has been quite full of fear but now all the fear is outweighed by my love of the moon and my need to visit it, I hope I can before I die.