I am so ill. On Friday I felt like I was coming down with the flu, after coughing and sneezing my way through the week. I was thinking I was getting on top of it all and today I’ve been coughing so bad I’ve actually vomited. I know, so attractive I thought I’d share. Very charming I know.

But the bad thing is that due to me being laid up, I have progressed very little in my work, so I thought I’d just come on here and write a bit. Try and distract me a bit from my current state, so I apologise in advance as this has a tendency of turning into a bit of a rant.

Anyway, I was reading an article by Josh Madden, on Evil Monito(http://evilmonito.com/author/josh/). He wrote an article about luxury necessities. Things like Channel loo roll. Its crazy, but it does make a point. It tells you what people will spend money on if it has the right name or logo on it. Its crazy. But I guess that’s how powerful logos can be. I mean, its getting that right design, which people can relate to that specific company or product. I suppose that would be one of my aims as a graphic designer to create a successful logo. And have it actually do its job.

The fact that people will follow a logo blindly. A factory in China, makes two pairs of trainers, one pair gets a Nike ‘tick’ sewn on the side, and the other one is plain, and gets sent to the a budget store. The budget one will sell for under £10, where the Nike one, will cost at least £35, despite them coming from the same place. Which is completely crazy. People automatically think that  if they pay more money then it has better quality. But more often in reality, its the tiny label which advertises a company that you are paying for.

Its rather disconcerting that in this day and age, especially with the whole recession thing, that people are willing to blindly spend so much money. Is it good advertising that a television has went from a luxury to a necessity, or is it brainwashing? Have we been told what we need, rather than us deciding for ourselves? Its difficult to find out which is true, whether we are actually making our own purchasing decisions, or  are they already made on our behalf?

It is a very worrying thought, with all the advertising now in society, how many decisions are of our own free will? It is crazy, when you think about it. For instance Coca-Cola is one of the worlds most popular brands. Now, when you walk around you daily tasks, notice how heavily Coke is advertised. Its in the canteen, on the sides of bus shelters, in magazines, on TV and as on websites. That’s not counting that whenever you go into a shop which sells newspapers, they have shelves of Coke, and possibly even a branded fridge. So whether you actually look at these blatant advertisements or not, you subconsciously take in the information. So when it comes to lunch time and you need a drink, the good old Coca-Cola, jumps straight out at you, because the advertising has worked. So is it free will that you buy that Cola, instead of a Tango?

I don’t quite know. It is free will in a way that, yes you do decide to purchase particular product. But the sheer volume of advertisements pushing that product into your face, that does also affect your decision.

Its happened again, already. I have no motivation,I’m having to force myself to do this animation. I have to hand it in finished, on Friday. Fingers crossed it’ll be done on time. Gonna try and do some tonight.

I was going to do it last night, but i was distracted cause everyone in my house was awake. Usually its silence when i go home from work , and it means i can sit in the dining room and get work finished. But not last night. They were all everywhere, and making way too much noise, which is no good when i am so easily distracted.

I am planning in doing a lot of overtime at Sky (call centre) over the next few months, because I could really do with having some extra funds, especially for buying new supplies. A lot of the paints I have, are either run out or have dried out.  I need to get good quality materials. Which I really need. Might get into drawing again. I love art.

First off. what about this heat. It is unbearable, I’d rather it was winter all year round. This is crazy.  College was unbelievably hot.  At least its cooler here at work.

I was working on my animation today, which, thank god, is finally coming together. Its getting handed in on Friday, completed. So it looks like I may hand things in this semester. Woo hoo. I know Im repeating next year, but at least if I do some of the stuff, the second semester wont be quite so stressful. Hopefully.

I am trying not to stress out, and am just trying to get my animation finished at the moment. If I look at all I need to do, I will totally freak out. Which I do like to do, apparently. Im gonna try and get my animation sketch book done tonight when i fiinsh work. And that’d be another thing out of the way.

I have a list, and slowly Im making my way through it.

To do- Finish animation

               Do animation sketch book

              Evaluate animation project

              Finish McDonalds

               Present in final boards

             Make corrections with Graded Unit

             Evaluate Graded Unit

             Present in final boards

            Burn aniamation to CD and design cover

 

Looks a lot more when its written down

After speaking to friends and my college mates, I had been told that it can be difficult to get a response from companies when looking for free samples. But I emailed, concentrating on the fact that I am starting a new business, and missed out the fact that I was a student. It seemed to have worked because I have two companies who have already got in contact to say they’ll send me things.

That is pretty deccent, no one else in my class has got anything. But I think that that they don’t bother about  students as they don’t want to waste their time, with people who are not really bothered about graphics or art as a profession. And they will send it up free of charge. So quite pleased with myself.

Tips for getting what you want, say that you are a new business, and leave out the student stuff. Also saying that you will promote their company to anyone who requires it.  I suppose it can mean business to them, so its kind of like promotion for them.

Other than that, there has been no process at all today. My brain thought it would have more fun downloading music today. I’ll try and do stuff when I go home

Have I said how much I hate this time of year?

Well, I do.  Its approaching the end of the college year, and stress levels are at a high. Saying that, I do have the habit of working myself into a panic, when ever I catch sight of a deadline. But, hey, I suppose thats something I have to get used to when I’m trying to get myself established in the Graphic Design industry.

One example of my panic, is my animation unit. I should be concentrating on finishing the actual final animation, but no. I decide that it’d be a good idea to restart my sketch book, because its not fluent enough and shows no flow of thought, or where I got my idea from. So rather than fill in the missing pieces, I start it all again, in a completly different sketch book. I guess some times my intellegence takes a leave of absence.

On  an extremely high note, I have been asked to design work for an American metal band, and they are going to pay me. I have to send concept drawings away to them by the weekend. Which is another thing I so when I least need to. I get freelance work, when I can’t cope with college work on its own. I just need to learn how to cope with the level of work I seem to throw myself into.

I am hoping to do more  updating from home, or at least college, where I’ll be able to get more examples of my work up on show. Which would be very nice. But, alas, I tend to update this whilst I work at my job, in call centre, which for the moment is the only thing bringing any cash into my life. But the issue is, at the climax of the college year, and when I am getting people approach me for work, is it really such a great thing that I work Monday to Friday evenings, as well as college during the day? I know I could really need the additional time to work on projects, but I can’t survive with no money. I have bills to pay.

Just have to work harder at designing things, so that can, one day, be my soul profession. Hopefully

I didn’t blog yesterday, for one reason and one reason only.  I was so demotivated I did minimal work, till I got home. And I was up till 3.30 am doing it.

Its not as good as it sounds, I mean its not me being keen, its me being lazy and distracted. Not good. But today was ok, spent 5 hours straight finishing The Crucible project. And it has to be said, I decided to start afresh, and it was the best idea ever. I am happy with it, rather than do the keyhole idea, I had already produced. But I decided to base the idea around a gabble, seeing as much of the play is based in the courtroom.

It got a lot of attention, as a lot of students (college and visiting school kids) said it was great. And all the tutors seemed to like it too. So I felt something I havn’t felt for such a long time. I had pride. I was proud that people liked it. I’m proud that I can put it up at the end of year exhibition and be happy about it. And that pride, has given me such a buzz.

I want to just do more work, but alas the day(evening)  job is first.

No classes today, but decided it would be a good idea to head into college and work, rather than stay at home and do nothing. I say nothing, but I’d just end up playing the X Box.

I worked on two of my projects today. I worked on a re-hash of my work for animation. This includes research on other drawing styles, like Anime, and basically exploring how animation is made. The reason I am doing this, is because as usual, I look at my work, and dismiss it as rubbish, which I think it is. So the only logical thing for me to do, logical in MY head, is to start again. Which would be great if I had a lot of free time, and didn’t have as well as college.

I also did further developement on the Crucible project, where I experimented on the malet (gable) idea. Trying to get a better final product than the original one I came up with. Trying being the main word

This is the second day of me being super-inspired.

I had web design first, whih included me getting my web information together for Scott, who is designing my web site. And also learnt how to make a photo gallery in photoshop. I’ll be honest, I never had a clue photoshop could do that.  So I can always say thats my one thing I’ve learnt today.  But I know I still have a hell of  a lot of hard work to do, if I want to meet my deadline. But I can believe it can be done.

Maybe.

Also had the McDonalds project today as well, which I also made some progress on.

I know they are not finalized, but the idea is that it is supposed to be natural (hence the leaf). It is supposed to be aimed at getting a new range of customers through the door. It has to be said I am a vegetarian, and hate everything McDonalds stands for. So this, as I have said previously, is  quite a struggle for me, to try and be balanced in my representation of the mega-coproporation, as hard as that is.

Going to start attempting again, to animate my worm. So,  hopefully that doesn’t go too bad. I don’t really mind animation, so its just the matter of staying focused, whcih I seem to be doing quite well in today.

The only thing is, that I need to do as much work as possible in college, seeing as work kills any motivation I have. No suprize there, call centres do that to people