Archive for November, 2011

A lot of the time I cannot be bothered to lug around my DSLR camera with me simply because I don’t usually carry a bag that is big enough to fit it. Not to mention it’s pretty heavy! Because of this, I end up missing out on being able to document outings with friends easily or even just simply snap a photo of something which catches my eye. I know my phone’s camera could be useful for this as well, but a) it’s not a particularly good camera and the flash makes things look pretty bad and b) I’ve been wanting to get back into using film for it’s experimental qualities.

So when I saw the La Sardina camera being released by Lomography, I could not resist having a look! This particular model ticked off all of my criteria- takes 35mm film (for ease of use), has models that come with a flash unit, is able to take wide angle shots (so I don’t have to worry about cutting off the heads of people in photos) and has some very cute pattern variations. I finally got around to ordering one last week and to my surprise, it arrived in the mail today!

It’s so shiny! I love the Cubic’s pattern!

 It comes with your usual book of photography examples, warranty and set of instructions with a poster of sardine cans on the back.

It also came with this random accordion-fold book with the Sardina Cubic’s pattern printed on all the pages. I guess this would make good wall decoration?

And here we have the La Sardina Cubic itself. It comes with a Fritz the Blitz flash unit, a white diffuser filter and three colour filters.

I can’t wait to start using it! I must start stocking up on 35mm film tomorrow…

Now that the markets are over, I’ve been resuming work on some freelance graphic design jobs that have come in. Right now I’m working on some machine button graphics for a company called Freshie. They’re a beverage company who are looking at sustainable ways of consuming drinks, by providing a wide variety of flavours through a refill station unit that looks like a dispensing machine. It encourages you to bring your own bottle to use or you can drink from the paper cups provided by the machine.       

You can visit their website here and their Facebook page here.

Last night I also finished a logo design for a friend’s personal training business:

The initial concept designs (three designs in different colour schemes)

The final logo

I was quite happy with the finished result as I felt that it was the most appropriate out of the concepts I was working with. It’s simple, clear, and I like how the F and the P in the circle allude to the image of a bird (wings, and beak). I do believe I am also having a love affair with Bebas Neue at the moment (sorry Helvetica Neue!) since I found it to be the most appropriate font for the look since my friend wanted something ‘modern, but masculine *rawr noises*.

‘Twas a very busy day today for setting up shop at the COFA Mashed Markets. There was a bit of running around in the morning to get a few last prints done, but I managed to make it for bump-in AND still have time left over to finish trimming the greeting cards before the markets were open to the public!

(There was low fluorescent lighting, hence why it all looks so red!)

There wasn’t a particularly large crowd at the markets, but I was happy nevertheless that I managed to sell a few of my prints as a first-time stallholder. I also bought a couple of prints from my friend Jessica (check her stuff out here), and was kept company by Tim and Edwin, who kept me sane and provided amusing conversation. A huge thank you also goes to everyone who came to visit and buy some of my works!

As a last addendum for this post, here’s the last two in the ‘Matsuri’ series, Autumn and Winter. It took a while, but all four panels are now done!

I’m still plowing through the Matsuri series with only two more seasons left to go, and with any luck, I’ll have them ready for print tomorrow.

For this post though, have a peek at the vector illustration for ‘Summer’:

Autumn and Winter are on their way soon!

The next two days are going to be CRAZY, since I still need to finish some pieces, get things printed and make sure I have packaging and stall decoration. Why all the fuss?

Well, on Sunday, UNSW’s College of Fine Arts (of which I am an alumna of) is hosting the MASHED Markets event, where various COFA students and ex-students are selling their wares. I’ll be officially debuting myself as a freelancer at this market, hence why all the fuss to get things made for the event. It’s pretty much similar to the COFA Spring Fair which has been held in the past, but since COFA is going through re-development, they’re hosting it at another venue. There will also be live bands playing after the markets finish, so for those of you who enjoy a good band, tickets are being sold here.

COFA Mashed Markets
Sunday 20th November
12:00pm – 5:00pm
Oxford Art Factory
38-46 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

Come along and see all the cool stuff at the markets and say hello to yours truly!

In the meantime, you can have a sneak preview of what I will be selling:

I’m still in the process of finishing a series of drawings for the COFA Mashed Markets, so I probably won’t post anything new until tomorrow.

In the meantime, here’s some recent design work I have done.

This poster was done for my local parish who are having a Christmas Festival fundraising event in early December. Since there was a lot of information they wanted to be conveyed, I used this as an exercise in making type treatment look both visually appealing as well as informative. You can all probably tell that I’ve been using Illustrator very often as of late!

Things have been a bit hectic lately with doing freelance work, as well as getting ready for the COFA Mashed Markets. It’s going to be pretty exciting for me as I’ll be launching myself officially as a freelancer. I’ll be selling prints of some old and new artworks which I have been working on for the past few weeks.

Here is a preview of the illustration for ‘Spring’ from the ‘Matsuri’ series:

I love Japanese culture, and have always loved reading about Japanese festivals. I find them to be very vibrant and interesting in the way that they revolve around the seasons. This series was also a further exploration in vector illustration and playing around with a ‘superflat’ kind of style. I suppose the aesthetic is fitting considering Japan is home to the ‘kawaii’ look!

There will be more updates this week, but definitely pay a visit to the COFA Mashed Markets which are on this Sunday 20th November at the Oxford Art Factory from 12:00pm-5:00pm. More on that during the week!

Fillegarcon is finally operational and not just lurking around cyberspace half-naked!

The process took a while, but thanks to some help from my friends and an infinite amount of patience (and wordless screaming and gesturing at the computer), I finally managed to get the hang of WordPress.

I will slowly be getting things up in the Portfolio section, but there will be regular updates of my work and bits and pieces of my life.