Fail.

I've failed epically at updating this blog!

I have such a ridiculous amount of work to do that I never have time to add stuff here, although I have a long list of things I want to put on here.

I also really want to set up my own website where I can upload my portfolio and keep track of all the work I have done. I'm hoping to have time in January, after my work and dissertation hand in, my birthday on the 14th and a long weekend in Portugal :)

I haven't yet found a site to use to create my website, I've seen other people's that I really like but no link as to what site they used, so I'll just have to look around a bit...

Dolls House Refurb.

I don't know why my dad ever thought it would be a good idea to put a cork floor in the bathroom, but apparently he did, and it has to be removed to re-decorate.

That floor was an absolute bitch to remove.

I had to pretty much pick it apart with one of those scraper things you use to strip wallpaper off the wall.

My dad then sanded it down. Apparently he doesn't trust me with his sander :S

But now the house is doorless and completely gutted ready to be re-decorated.

I'm going to drag my dad to the dolls house shop in Barleylands later today to see what they have on offer in terms of wallpaper and flooring.

I can't afford furniture yet (it's like £20 just for a bed) but I can get all the painting and what not done ready.

We already have some dormer windows to put into the roof, so hopefully I'll be able to get dad to do that today :D

Dolls House.

My dad built me this dolls house when I was really young, about 4.

A few years ago we decided to do it up a bit, make it more of a decorative piece than a play piece.

So we redecorated it all and put in lighting.

My little sister then decided to trash it again.

Recently I found the dolls house again and decided it was time to work on it again.

It's not in too bad a shape, only one window missing from the outside, but it's a bit of a mess inside. I've already pulled up the carpets.

I have big ideas for how I want it to look, it's going to be like a mini version of my dream house.

I just need to find some money to be able to do this!

I've almost decided on how I want it to look. It's going to be very neutral and painted with pale colours, with some feature walls of wallpaper. I'm going for the "shabby chic" look for most of the rooms.

You can follow the progress of the refurbishment on here.

Flower Drawings.

Almost 2 months off already and I've hardly done anything :D

I did however spend a sunny afternoon in the garden drawing some of the flowers my mum has worked so hard on. These are just a few examples from the A6 sketchbook I've been working in. I used a variety of pens and some coloured ink.

The second from last image is on kitchen towel, which happened purely accidentally as I was using it to soak up some excess ink, but it resembled the shape of a rose so I went with it. I think it ended up being my favourite piece.

DIY.

My dad made this for me today.

We went to Homebase and bought a plank of wood and I chose the Fleur de Lys hooks (they were the nicest ones that weren't ridiculously expensive!) We already had paint at home.

I have a ridiculous number of necklaces and I needed somewhere to hang them.

Before this they were hanging off pins on the side of my wardrobe, so this is just a neater and more professional looking version of that.

There's 45 necklaces on here.

That doesn't actually sound like that many, but it sure as hell looks like a lot!

I think I might buy a few more hooks for either side, just to spread the necklaces out a bit more (I purposefully made my dad start put the current hooks in the middle so I'd have space to add more)

However, this is just for my gold necklaces.

I need to find someway of hanging my silver necklaces now! There's another 28 of them.

London Zoo.

I went to London Zoo today.

I saw the monkeys that I said I resembled for my Illustration project.

I'm not so sure anymore.

They're so ridiculously cute!

And that's definitely not me!

I got so excited that there were some there as I'd never seen them in the flesh before.

When I first got to their enclosure there was one in there but it jumped straight into it's den thing in the wall. Rubbish.

I hung around for a bit though and my perseverance paid off because three came out all at once!

I absolutely love them.

My friend got rather annoyed with me because I didn't want to leave!

Dissertation.

So, I decided on my dissertation title.

Investigate the impact of gender on packaging design. In particular, reference toiletries (perfume, razors, skincare) and determine what aspects of gender are evident in these products.

That title took me forever to word.

I tried to make it sound intelligent.

I'm not sure I pulled it off.

I handed all my sketchbook work in today (yay) and the dissertation proposal is due tomorrow morning and then I'm done!

Second year is complete.

I'm now a third year.

That thought scares me rather a lot.

I've got almost four months off now though to prepare for next year, try and get as much of my dissertation done as possible and get on with some of my own personal work.

I've got so many scrapbooks and stuff that I've never finished so they're pretty high up on my list to complete this summer.

And my dad's going to take me on some photography trips.

And I've really enjoyed the drawing aspect of my Illustration module so I think I'm going to make more of a point of carrying a sketchbook round with me and sketching things I like.

I have a Photoshop for Dummies book and an Illustrator for Dummies book. I've never used Illustrator so I'm planning to teach myself some stuff as well.

So even though I have nothing solid planned (except V Festival and a very possible trip to Edinburgh (which I'm extra specially excited about because it was where I was born and grew up)) I think I'm going to have a pretty busy summer!

Logo.

So a while ago I made this logo for my dad's company.

It's used on a large variety of in house products, such as mugs, pens, keyrings etc.

I've made my dad bring me home one of everything and anything that has the logo on.

I get a great sense of pride knowing people are using things with my logo on throughout the company everyday :D

Turns out the logo is now being used in their offices.

In huge lettering on the wall.

Where EVERYONE can see it.

How amazing is that?!

Dissertation.

So.....I'm trying to plan my dissertation.

And I'm kinda stuck.

My first thought for a topic was packaging design, as its something I've always been interested and its a possible future career choice.

But researching this has somehow led me to talking about gender in perfume bottles.

I haven't had any lecturer feedback so far but the idea was suggested by my teacher Tom, so I can't be too far off a decent question.

I *think* I've got a tutorial tomorrow to discuss it, but they've messed up all the timings so I might end up going in and just having to come straight home again.

Hopefully not.

I've got a definite tutorial on Tuesday though so I will at least get some feedback before hand in next Friday.

I've also signed up for a tutorial on Wednesday but I might cancel that one and let someone else have it seeing as I'm being seen on Tuesday.

Oh its all so confusing.

My lecturers are rubbish.

Ach well, to bed. I've decided to get to the library for 9.30 tomorrow morning to get some work done before the possible tutorial at half 12. I never seem to be able to get anything done in halls.

Book Cover Redesign Project.

Another project for university. The module is titled 2D Image and Type. We had to choose 3 books from a list and redesign the covers for them.

These are my final 3 designs for The Talented Mr Ripley, A Clockwork Orange and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

Paul Villinski.

(M)Animal.

My illustrated sequence is done! Very pleased with the final results.

Inspiration Blog.

I created another blog.

On Tumblr.

Find it at: http://hannahfadedrose.tumblr.com/

I figured I'd use that one for things I like, seeing as its so much easier to reblog stuff on there, and use this one for my own work and ideas and stuff.

I'll do a test run and see how it works out.

(M)Animal.

The results of my previously mentioned Illustration modul; (M)Animal.

Inked backgrounds, lines drawn with black Indian Ink and a dip pen.

Pretty pleased with the results, although slightly annoyed the background on the fourth illustration has so much black in it, but I can't be bothered to do it again!

Now just need to decide how to present them...

(M)Animal.

This is what I have to do for my final piece for my Illustration module. It's called (M)Animal. I have to do 6 illustrations of me turning into an animal I look like.

I chose a Cotton-Top Tamarin. I don't think I look particularly like one, but I couldn't think of anything else and my dad suggested choosing an animal that has big hair so this is what I ended up with.

So this is my first and sixth illustration. Somehow I have to bridge the gap between these 2 images. I've had a few attempts but not much luck so far. My technique is to fill the background in roughly using drawing inks, then go over the details with a Sharpie. These images look a lot better scanned in than the real versions. My drawing skills aren't the best so that is how I ended up doing them this way, as I can get away with being messy, and its a lot quicker than if I was putting huge amounts of detail into the drawings.

I have until Tuesday to have an almost complete sequence before a review with my lecturer, then another week to finish them off before the hand in. And the week after that I'll have finished my second year of university :)

With nothing planned for the 3 months I have off over the summer. Erm...

Yulia Brodskaya.

All hand crafted out of paper.

Amazing.

Photography.

I went for a photography trip with my dad today.

We went to Thaxted.

I took photos of windmills.