Photoshop Progress

Big break!

2011-03-08T10:56:00.003Z

Hello all

I've had a terrific big break, by which I mean I had a terrible time... ah yes. Last February, I was (un)lucky enough to have a stroke. It's quite a serious problem, but luckily I recovered well, that's just me saying it, so not really sure if it was well. I have no real problems remaining, except a slight shaky feeling and weight in my right arm and right foot, but it's not anything serious luckily.

Recovery took a while, but I could have posted here earlier. I wanted to give myself a bit of a break from things, cruise along and make sure everything was fantastic before I return officially. I'm not sure what I plan to do in the future, I have a habit of avoiding work as much as possible so here goes. For the future!

More surprises!

2010-02-13T19:35:00.003Z

Well 2010 is a bit of a shocker - I only managed to get myself another job! Ok, so I'm not a famous designer or artist yet, but I'm at least going to start in the industry. It's a fantastic opportunity where I'll be able to learn more about how things work whilst not spiralling to the very bottom of career existence.

I'm super excited about it, who knows where it'll lead. At the very least I'll get to meet some wonderful talented people who I hope will inspire me to enjoy what I do - whatever it may be! :)

THE END OF THE 365 PROJECT!

2010-01-11T16:01:00.003Z

So I finally made it! 365 photos of myself (in some way or another) throughout 2009 and spilling into the start of 2010. I am amazed I made it, from such humble beginnings of really disliking photos of myself, now *three hundred and sixty five* photos later I've achieved my mission.

Next step? Try the 52 week project (a photo a week), then the 12 month project (a photo a month, but make it a good one!). But I'm in no rush to leap into those just yet, having a well earned rest.

I've been Sarah, and this is my 365 project. Thank you for watching!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-04T12:33:00.002Z

Hello Blogworld!

Creative updates have been a bit slow recently with the holiday season, the day job has absorbed a lot of time as well. But I'm hoping 2010 will be more positive.

I've made some resolutions, I usually don't bother, but as the 365 project is drawing to a close shortly (!!!!) I am determined to continue with something else.

As a result, my first and main resolution for 2010 is:

"Make money from something creative"

This is currently nice and vague, it leaves me open to either a single sale on Etsy, the possibility of a craft fair, a freelance project or even... *drumroll*... new job! I'm hoping for something big but even making £1 from what I love doing would be an achievement, something I wouldn't have considered would've been possible a few years ago, but every little step brings me somewhere new.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope it brings something positive for you all.

The end is nigh

2009-12-07T11:18:00.002Z

Of 2009 that is!

Another busy couple of months have passed. Just finished a weekend of socialising with friends at an event for which I'd done some basic design work, a few signs and nametag stickers and programmes for the day, all themed with the idea of espionage (the party was in its 7th year, so they dubbed it K007). A good time was had, and lots of money was raised for charity. The design stuff seemed to go down well, so I was pleased. It was good to throw myself into a biggish project, just a shame I couldn't enjoy it more as it was worked around normal daytime jobs and other little hiccups. All worked out in the end though, I'll try and get some photos of the promotional goodies up here.

In other news, I entered a competition in Photo 360 magazine (issue #13) with the theme "travel", and to my utter amazement was picked as a finalist! Even more amazing, when the issue came out, they gave all 4 of us a printer as a prize rather than the usual public vote for one winner! Brilliant!

Fribble battle!

2009-10-08T20:41:00.005+01:00

Work has been taking up quite a lot of my time, unfortunately. However I've still been squeezing in some design work as and when I can.

I'm trying to work on a website idea with a friend, it's got some bare bones now which technically I need to work on as soon as I get a few hours to properly put some focus down. I think the weekend is the time to do that one.

However, this week I've been trying my hand as a contestant in the first ever Fribble Battle! The concept is that 8 contestants enter in a contest that lasts a week, 3 rounds lasting 24 hours each, with a day in between for voting/judging. Long story short (details are available on the website here if you'd like a look) - I managed to scrape through round one! Round two is now in the voting/judging stage, and having seen the other entries (anonymous until tomorrow) I'm very much doubting I'll make it through, but it's been great fun, the short deadline was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. 24 hours start at midnight in America, which I think is about 6am here. By the time I'd get home to start my entry it'd be 8pm here, giving me only 8 hours of my 24! Luckily they'd put in a provision for the Internationals like me, so technically I could've tried planning stages out before I got home.

Not with my brain :) Worked out in the end though. I recommend it to all, keeps you on your toes. Must get back in the swing of contests to work to someone else's brief. Just as long as I get some more time....

Sinful City

2009-09-13T20:01:00.004+01:00

Yesterday they showed Frank Miller's "Sin City" on TV. I'm a big fan of the film, the plot confuses some, but it enthrals me and mainly because I love the film style. The desaturated images, heavy contrast, strong angles and dark shadows with the odd highlighted touches in colour - it just facinates me the whole way through.

Tried to create a Sin City effect last night, but didn't have much joy. It needed a specific type of image to start with, and today I searched for something more fitting.

My first attempt I was really pleased with, the stock images used were individually nothing remotely Frank Miller-esq. I didn't want the car to be red, but there was nothing else really to highlight and overall it wasn't too bad. Flickr link to car.

By the time I'd tried my second attempt, I was much happier with the rain effect, but less so about the desaturating of the woman. Flickr link to woman.

A good learning curve overall.

LOTS happened!

2009-09-05T23:21:00.008+01:00

Ahhh, so much to say!

It's been a very busy few months, but the last few weeks especially have some major milestones in my creative career.

Back on the 18th July I joined the "Portobello Market, London" group of the Worldwide Photowalk. I had a brilliant time, photographing people as much as I could as it was an area I knew I was wary of. It felt much safer doing so on a day where lots of other photographers were off doint the same thing, especially in an area like Portobello Market which is PACKED with tourists and shoppers on a Saturday. My portfolio of shots from the day is found here on Flickr.

At the end, we could pick two images to enter into the associated competition, and each walk leader then picks one photo from their group selection which they submit to the next "round". Imagine my surprise when my photo was picked!

I was really proud of my photo, I call her "Purple lady". She was a stall holder, aware her photo was taken as it would surely have been hundreds of times a year by various visitors to London passing through. The instant I took it I knew I loved it. The composition and colours from the view on the camera just made me "know" it was my favourite, and luckily viewing it on the PC later didn't change that. Phew!

Well, some time later, and the winners were announced of the Worldwide round - nearly 900 entries, whittled down by Scott Kelby to 11, one overall winner and 10 runners up. I scrolled down his blog page and got the shock of my life... there was my Purple lady, a runner up! Hee made the following comments about it:

"When I look at this image, I just want to know her story. She looks like she’s led a fascinating life, and has amazing stories to tell. I love the flower in her hair, the look on her face, and the wonderful lighting. I even love the coffee cup—it all adds to the story. The colors work so well together and the composition is spot on. The shot, and the subject, have an awful lot of character. I wish I had taken it."

Ahhhhh!!! Amazed!

Surely that's all? Well no... on a slightly less grand scale, but equally important to me, I was contacted by a guy called Chad who was interested in using my Phoenix Rising From The Smoke image for his band's album cover. My image has a Creative Commons license, so although that technically gives permission for others to use, I love that people contact me too. I like hearing from others, especially if they're interested in using my work. Long story short, I'd offered my services to clean up the image and edit it to their album cover idea and so after a few weeks of emailing back and forth, we reached a result him and the band were pleased with. I really enjoyed working on it, frustrating at times, but exhilarating doing it for someone else. It meant a new dimension when looking at my work, it wasn't just for me, it had to fit the needs of others and I had to interpret the brief given.

I hope the guys go far, check out their Myspace page here - good luck Paradigm Shift, p.s. remember me when you're famous! ;)

Then, finally, there's the ongoing story from my last blog post about the DVD cover. Again, email correspondence to discuss the design and make a few amendments to better suit the product. All source images used were checked for commercial use, and only a few days ago through the post came my own copy of the DVD - complete with cover using my design.

It's been a very, very busy time lately! As a result I decided it was about time I fixed my site properly to make it a portfolio... and after weeks of struggling with a layout I finally reached a point where I could update the URL with the new version. Still needs the "projects" page - where I'll describe some of the progress with commercial endevours, but for the moment I'm pleased to have a better place to show off my work.

The new Sarahg.co.uk - available here!

Anyone else out there wanting to work with me? Please get in touch :)

Update update update

2009-07-03T10:40:00.005+01:00

Update needed! Really. Sorry about that - the world has been a bit busy recently!

With weather being an unusual variety of heatwave for England, it's been heavy heads trying to work through daily tasks. That's not to say nothing has been done, quite the opposite. In the last month I've been working on designing a website for a friend/colleague, as well as some examples of stationery designs which could be of use. This resulted in a neat little payoff which I plummetted in my usual style into other things, notably some more mini easels which work beautifully to display small canvases. My first ever mini canvas painting of a cheery giraffe was recently listed on Etsy.com, testing the water... and shock horror it SOLD!

Amazed, not only money for design work but also an artist. Together with the cover credit for a photoshopped image which was seen on Flickr by a Dutch production company who approached me wondering if they'de be allowed to use it for a cover of their DVD, well it's all a blur.

Would quite like more hours in the day to get everything done, I'm a little behind in my photoshopping, and with the weather so warm the oil paintings have been put on hold (too sticky to concentrate on painting) - but am still keeping up with the daily Flickr photos which at the very least means I'm doing a bit of editing daily.

Finally, the 50th issue of Photoshop Creative is now out, and at least I managed to enter a pic on their "50" theme which got printed, see it on Flickr here.

All in all, I'm feeling a bit more positive about all this design & art work. If only I could make it a bit more of my main income...

Picture and that

2009-03-23T15:59:00.002Z

Added some traditional artwork to Flickr here. Photoshop creations can be found here.

Still not redone the website using own coding. Not enough hours in the day... barely able to get my daily Flickr self portraits up.

Ooops....

2009-02-11T15:52:00.005Z

I am completely rubbish at keeping blogs up to date!

Creativity has been occuring, just not at the scale I'd like. Photoshop/computer has been acting up recently which has been driving me crazy and to tears in equal measures. Despite this, small moments of activity have got some pleasing results.

Recent projects include oil painting. I got myself some water soluble oils a while ago, as well as some small 8cm squared canvases, perfect for starting out and getting a feel for the medium again. I must say I'm really enjoying painting again - must learn patience, I tend to try and "finish" a piece in one evening regardless of its size (some 8" square canvas board was also acquired). Square seems to be a nice shape too, not sure why but I find it easier to work on. To try and practise I've been asking friends to name some album covers they like. This tends to be a good start as it doesn't mean they're thinking there's an end product, it's just a random question. The resulting painting for Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" (Amazon.co.uk link here) was a bit of a surprise as I hadn't expected it to turn out as nicely as it did, even if I do say so myself.

Once I've let all the existing pieces dry a little I'll take photos and add them.

Website - no progress since last I'm afraid. It's in the pipeline, but it's harder to motivate the little free time available to redoing something that is effectively done (just not to the coding I'd like). It's on my list of things to do, so eventually there will be more to tell.

Another thing on my agenda is logo design! This started as a friend asking if I could do some ideas for a new logo for a band he knows. "Ok" I thought, why not, good practise! Did a few little designs quickly to give a bit of a suggested range of styles on only one font as I had little idea about the design they were after so easiest way to get feedback is see what they like of a suggested pallet. Got their feedback - and realised this is a slightly bigger project than anticipated. They're a signed band, not major - yet! A tour in America is due. "Hmm" was my next thought. Rather than a fun little logo for a few friends in a garage somewhere, this evolved into a proper band hoping to use it around the world! Legal minefield when I started reading up on copyright regarding the use of images and fonts. Royalty free images are generally ok for small work, but a big no-no for logos, and font work isn't much better! Have now set myself the task to read up on law & design, as well as now having to work on a logo using entirely my own creative endevours rather than just some images/fonts edited in photoshop. Eeep!

Lastly, I should mention the 365days project I've joined on Flickr. Basically, it's an idea where you take a self portrait (be it your shadow, a portrait, a photo of your hand, etc - just as long as it's YOUR composition and YOUR picture of YOU) every day for a year, edited if wanted, and uploaded. Having a general dislike for myself in photos, this was a challenge at first, but it's now become something fun. Even the bad photo days have Photoshop to rescue them, and I'm really liking the resulting portfolio of images - available here on Flickr. I highly recommend the project to anyone, even if you do your own take on it. It's a nice little way to ensure something creative is set for every day.

Website v2.0

2009-01-04T18:13:00.004Z

Since the last post I got my hands on a copy of "Serif Internet Design Suite 2009" to test thanks to a friend. Perfect for testing on the old laptop which only has the power of a handful of hamsters and can't handle the big flashy fancy programs. To test it properly I tried to recreate my first website idea from scratch. Serif IDS 2009 requires no knowledge of coding or html, and works entirely on a DTP format to move and adjust images and boxes, and was quick to get used to and the results were impressive and looked sleek. Once ready, you then "generate" the website by publishing it either to disk (where it saves on your PC as the html files and attachments) or direct to web.

I saved mine to disk, as I wanted to see how it all looks from the inside, curiosity may have killed the cat, but I'm human - just about. The deisgn is clean, and very easy to use for someone unfamiliar with web design, however since I like to tinker with it all I found one issue. It creates copies of all picture files, and names them with its own random alphanumeric code. Should I want to replace an image I'd started off with called house.jpg, it would have probably been generated out as wp0177tu90.png. Not a massive issue, but when it also generates every coloured background rectangle or shape from within the web site as its own .png, you quickly end up with so many image files you've no idea where to begin.

On the positive side, the resulting website is very fast to create and so I'm using the Serif generated site as the one linked to my domain. Personally I want more control over the web design and I've not yet tested it in various browsers, but when viewing it on my mobile it has issues displaying all the image files which is a pity as it means the menu (which saves out as images) isn't shown.

For the moment, it's a good basic site maker with plenty of easy to use functions and certainly something I will play more with, but it isn't the permanent answer unfortunately.

The hosted site can be found here: http://sarahg2.atspace.com

Revive and restore

2008-12-28T13:58:00.004Z

Yesterday I was determined to create something in Photoshop. I fired up the PC, had the latest PSC forum challenge theme: "Restore", and did some keyword searches for stock images. I was ready!

Four hours later, I'd uploaded some pics to Flickr, done the washing up, resorted my files on the computer, toyed with buying a 42" LCD TV in the sales (still tempted... but don't need a new telly so pointless spending the money even if it could help boost the UK economy), watched a movie, prepared turkey leftovers and looked after a sick kitty. Back to Photoshop for me...

A few more hours later, and the image was complete. As usual, it's not what I expected when I started, but I'm more than pleased with the results:

Time out

2008-12-27T02:20:00.006Z

Well there's been a rather large break in this blog, and indeed with creativity as a whole. Been a strange couple of months, filled with many issues ranging from death, death, death, redundancy (not mine, I hasten to add) and quite a lot of resulting activity in the day job. What little remaining free time existed has been filled with some strange moments of socialising, including film premiers with a King, dressing as a zombie santa at a cult Christmas party, seeing a Bad Manners gig, being an evil giraffe and a fair bit of feeling utterly and completely overwhelmed with existance and quite frankly needing a bit of a kip.

Phew.

I've not forgotten this place though, the blog needs posts and will continue. And the website which was so promising several months ago will be focused on once again soon.

In the meantime, here's a simple edited photo ( crop and zoom blur using Serif PhotoPlus X2) of Buster Bloodvessel:

One small step for me, one giant leap for the future

2008-10-21T15:40:00.003+01:00

At long last! The website is coming underway nicely. A hiccup in the CSS coding has finally been fixed thanks to help from a CSS-whiz friend. Overall it seems to be doing what I want now, and so I just need to adjust a couple of colours to make them easier to read and then it's down to the nitty gritty of actually putting proper content up.

As it stands, I'm going to put a bit of everything up, as I'd like to see what it looks like "full", but once it's all there and working I'll edit it down to the pieces I'm happiest with and prune out some of the less inspired moments of genius.

Now I'm at this stage, I'll hopefully get myself back into a bit of actual Photoshopping too. Finished off some ticket designs for a Motocross presentation dinner, so am in need of a new project to tackle.

Warm fuzzy feeling

2008-10-14T11:38:00.002+01:00

Not much acitivity recently, I'm still working on my website and putting new CSS into practice in that special way where nothing visibly changes but all the source code is different.

I wanted to post something positive from the Mini Space contest mentioned a while ago. I think it's fair to say I've got absolutely no chance of getting anywhere with the competition itself, I didn't really expect to so this isn't a "toys out of the pram" blog with added tears, but I really appreciate the few votes I've had amongst the thousands of entries. PLUS - and this is the bit where I get all warm and fuzzy inside - a couple of people have been kind enough to send me comments saying they like my work. Nothing amazing, but that people who have an interest in Graphic Design more closely linked to a current career (I'm guessing from their profiles) would take the time to say they liked my work is a nice little boost in a world that is otherwise so very competitive.

Must get back on track with it all soon!

Abracadabra.... Zoomify!

2008-10-01T15:57:00.004+01:00

Progress update: The site now has content!

One picture, the self portrait, has been added with the aid of the "Zoomifier", which is a handy little export function in Photoshop that allows you to zoom in to picture on the site. This was mainly a test of what on earth it actually did, but it seems like a pretty cool little gizmo and for some pictures could be a quirky asset. I'll have to see how it looks once I get some other things up there, see if it looks cluttered or not. Time will tell...

A cold week followed by Bacon

2008-09-28T17:00:00.004+01:00

This week, I have mostly been suffering from a cold. It's been exhausting, I've wanted to play on Photoshop as the next issue of PSC came in, plus I'd realised Freewebs were being idiots so needed to switch web hosts which meant I wanted to sit on the computer trying to iron out more things on the site. None of this happened, as by the time I got home I pretty much flopped into the couch with a blanket to rest.

Yesterday was a little different, and involved a trip to the Tate Britain with friends to see the Francis Bacon exhibition. This did the job and inspired me to get myself in gear, and so lots of money was spent on a Bacon book and another Design book to pour over.

Been spending the morning uploading photos, so no progress on PS or the web site yet, but I did manage to make a very messy mess with oil pastels on canvas, resulting in a self portrait that isn't really anything like me, but I like it anyway.

One step closer to mastering CSS

2008-09-21T20:06:00.003+01:00

Well I read the chapters, made notes from the book.. but never actually put it into the current site. UNTIL NOW! I worked out how to detach my CSS stuff and make it just attach to the pages instead of being within it, and then cleaned it all up by renaming the default style settings to things which made sense to me and updating links.

After a couple of hours of scratching my head, huffing and tapping away at the keyboard, I've managed to complete that stage of the project and the resulting webpage looks absolutely no different to before. This is annoying. I did add a link to this blog, but it hardly sums up the amount of effort I put into it - hey ho.

Next I need to work out the layout and make it more visually appealling. Oh, and add content. That'd be nice too.

Life 1, Photoshop 0

2008-09-18T22:33:00.004+01:00

Bah. I've not had the chance to really get down to some PS for a few days now. Destractions have included creative endevours of a regular type (pen and paper... the shock!) as well as a large dose of life getting in the way, but it's not been forgotten.

The artwork 'offline' counts, I think. I'm trying to do a taster diploma course in Graphic Design to get a feel for the whole thing, see if I'm comfortable following it further in life or if PS should remain as more of an enjoyable hobby. I'm hoping the former, but we'll see. Long way to go yet. My first "homework" is to practise quick drawing by making sketches from a TV programme.... at least 5-8 in an episode. Am therefore trying to find something that lasts longer than 30mins and doesn't always show people on screen... my most awkward of sketching moments! I've so far got it to about 3, I get distracted by the show and the realisation that my sketch looks absolutely awful and requires a heck of a lot of cross hatching to cover up the imperfections. Still, I'm going to try and keep it all whether it's good or bad so hopefully I'll see progress soon.

Be free, my Minis...

2008-09-14T21:48:00.003+01:00

I turned the logo into birdies.

Not bad...

Today didn't go as planned

2008-09-14T20:59:00.006+01:00

I had high hopes. An entire Sunday, with no plans. After yesterday being quite a successful PS day I thought today that would continue.

FAIL!

I watched a lot of bad TV, and in my defense I did install some new brushes and plugins onto both laptop and computer, but no actual creating has been done. Which is why I've sat down at 9:00pm in the hope of one glimmer of inspiration... and so far all I have is this:

I call it "The Monotony of the Everyday" in honour of today. I think the lightbulb fits quite nicely....

Fat Cats

2008-09-14T00:06:00.003+01:00

Nearly forgot, I did have some more positive Photoshopping today - following on from a past PSC forum contest entry I did, where I edited a pic of my kitty Joey looking a bit "plump" (top) I gave it a go on another pic of a podgy puddy-tat. Results in the bottom pic.

One day, I'll look back on all this and laugh...

2008-09-13T23:26:00.005+01:00

That's the hope anyway. Some point in the future I want to be something. Something better than what there is now... and to do that, I'm entering as many competitions and practising as much as I possibly can!

It's still not anywhere near as much as I want to, but as long as I get a few hours a week and create a couple of designs then I'm happy.

Recently having acquired some new plug-ins for Photoshop, it's a struggle creating anything when the mystery of new buttons and filters must be explored. Not to mention brushes... I'm not sure I'll ever get my head round it all.

To start off, my current Photoshop projects are as follows:

Design tickets for Motocross Presentation Dinner
Enter MiniSpace competition
Set up portfolio website (also learn CSS... ah..)
Enter the September PSC forum challenge (theme: Movies)

Motocross tickets is going quite well, leaving it to my usual last minute before needing a first draft I put together 7 designs with slightly different elements, all based around the clipart I'd been given. Colours and tweaks will be done when I get more back from Penny and the motocross organisers.

MiniSpace... now this is where things are looking up. Having spotted a design competition on this as an advert on Facebook a while ago I spent a long while kicking myself when I remembered to go back to look, and found I'd missed the deadline by one day. ONE day! ARGHH!!! Then weeks later I saw the advert again, and this time there was a new competion - design a background wallpaper for their website. It's a nice site, looks like it will continue competitions for designers. You can preview entries and if you're registered, vote for them. The top 3 win prizes. I very much doubt I'll even get in the top 100 - but that's why I need lots of practise like this. My profile is here. I've started trying to get ideas but it's going to be a long process...