Wednesday cleanup

Some days you just need some time off, just have a face mask, just take care of yourself. Today was that kind of day, I tidied my room (which is something I sadly have to do each week) and also, I did my nails!
I love nail art and have made some pretty cool things in the past, I will add pics if I find them.
Today's nails aren't that special but with the rainy weather from the past days I though I needed a little summer vibe. I first used a base coat (cause you don't want no yellow nails), let it dry, applied some sticky tape on my nails and painted over it to just color the tip, which kind of makes it look like you just dipped them in the polish jar ^^
I finished with a matte topcoat because I don't really like shiny nail polish, also the effect of a matte top coat is just really nice.

Welcome back Monday

Oh man it has been a while.
I've been busy with all sorts of things, and I kind of just forgot about this little project of mine, about sharing what I do to whoever finds it here ^^

Lately I have done a lot of drawings, to not pile them up all at once I will start off with a character I worked out recently.


















I wanted to make a simple yet interesting figure to do a movement studies. It's a little aggressive character without any (visible?) arms or legs,but a cape which allows a lot of movement and attitude in the pictures. 
I tried out a total different style of drawing and also I have never actually done these kind of movements, the cape most definitely needs some more work.. But I am kind of proud of what I have so far ^^

... Also as soon as I get home I will add a digital colored version of the character!

Weekend in Munster

2 weeks ago I spent the most lovely day in Munster with my good friend Eliza. She lives in Poland so we can not see each other that often. The weather was amazing, the sun was shining all day. We went shopping till we got bored, then went off to the lake to watch the sailboats.

As always when I travel I brought a throw away camera and the photos we made that day are gorgeous.
I like throw away cameras because I prefer the analog effect to digital, and also I love the mystery of making a picture and not knowing if anyone had his eyes closed or even if it is in focus.
And then there is that moment where you can pick up your pictures from the developers....
Ah well here are some pictures!

(By the way I recently bought myself a new simple analog camera on Ebay,,
I hope it will arrive soon so I can post more messages on photography.)

Bijschrift toevoegen

Monday Presents

Every May it is the same story, crazy lot of birthdays and other parties. And with every party you have to show up with a present. About a year ago me and my friends made a painting for a birthday, and since then we already made 2 more paintings.
Usually we don't really have a plan, we just start to paint and the idea is to just create an amazing combination of ugliness. And of course the person who will receive this beautiful piece of art has to hang in in the middle of the room :)


These 2 weeks I had 2 housewarming parties, and as you might have guessed, for the first one we made a painting.

It was my friend Romi's housewarming and we went all out on this one. But for some reason we are getting better at the painting, it is still a clash of 3 total different styles but the end result (I think) is quite awesome :)

The second housewarming was for my friend Noortje, as we already gave her a painting we had to think of something different. She really likes ceramics from a brand called Blond, but that is crazy expensive. Then one of my friends came with the brilliant plan to create our own kind of 'Blond', decorate plates and cups with paint and make our own crazy designs on them.
It turned out to be a crazy collection, and I do hope she liked it ^^

Oh and yes the naughty plates are not my design, just so you know.

Thursday Panda

Has it been that long already?
About time to add a new post!

Today I went to the printers to drop of my design and -yes- to get it printed. Tomorrow it will be done and I can't wait!

It is the poster design I made for my little brothers birthday.
I worked on it for quite some time and as a perfectionist I can probably find another 30 things I could change. But I decided it was
time to stop editing and I think I made the
right call. And I hope you agree :)

The artwork is created in Adobe Illustrator, for the design of the panda I made a small pencil drawing to get the pose right.

Original artwork: Stefanie Hatzis
Background vector:  DragonArt
Font: Oil Can

Saturday Videos

Last Thursday I finally finished my video,
found the perfect music to fit with the images and the story.

Well I won't put any more words to it, here is the video.

Sunday Containers

Everyone knows the problem with a big handbag, a lot of stuff go in and it is crazy difficult to find the thing you need in there!
That is why I love little pouches, I have a little container for everything, pencils, glasses, creative supplies (yarn,(crochet) needles, beads) electrical wires, make-up. Most of them are just from the store, but sometimes I can not find the perfect one and end up making one myself.

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This Sunday I created a long rectangle envelope, super handy and can be used for everything!

I hand stitched the fabric with a hot pink thread and added a black-pink-white four-strand braided string.  I used a  bright orange bead as a button, it is not the best solution but the best I could find.
The fabric is from IKEA, sometimes they have
a bin of spare pieces which is where I get half of my fabric collection.

I think it took me little over an hour to create and it was totally worth it. Maybe the braid is a little childish but I still like it.

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A different approach is to find new use for an old container.
My friend really wanted this little box but I couldn't just give it in its old ugly state.
I drew on my design with pencil and traced the lines with CD-marker (these work great on any kind of plastic). I added color with commercial markers, they cost about 4 euros a piece but the color is amazing, worth it.

I am really proud of the design I made and I think it would be great to make a t-shirt design out of this. Just keep an eye on my blog and it will come up some day, promise :)

Saturday recap

ohh my I have been overworking myself.
The good thing is that all the things I have been doing will found a great place on my blog.

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Last post I told you about an animation project I was working on,
and I am pleased to say It is almost finished!

I started off with the basic idea for an introduction video for my portfolio site,
with this video visitors will see a short introduction to the website, which will be presented as an exposition.
In the video advertisement papers will float until they reach a character. The character reads the paper, puts it down and suddenly the exposition will appear.


Thestory for the animation was set in a short time, but it took some time to create all the artwork, do the animations and paste it all together.

I did the artwork in Illustrator, usually I draw the figures in pencil before I make them digital, but I decided to try this out and I believe it worked out well.
For now I will show you my color palette and some artwork, I will show the video as soon as the sound design is done.

Thursday Posting

Oh it is really hard to remember to post on your blog.. But good news, I have been doing a lot of things and finished my long time projects! So let's get straight to it.

20120316 - Friday Nails.

This Friday I had a family dinner and afterwards a crazy party, I thought I would do some nice manicure. (Also I was crazy tired and it was either that or just lying in bed till 6 ^^).

It may not be the prettiest thing but the effect was quite awesome, as I put Aluminium foil on my nails!
The first layer was a base coat (I always use it and without it my nails would have looked a whole lot worse) and a second layer of random nail polish. With the polish still wet I put on small pieces of Aluminium foil (which I wrinkled before) and stuck it on.

Stupid me didn't make a picture when it was all fresh and perfect and the Aluminium got loose on some places, it might be better to put actual nail foil on, but for now this was a nice experiment.

20120317 - Saturday Turtle. 

As seen in last post I have been working on a new crochet figure shaped like a turtle.
and Saturday I finally got to finish the little creature, without the shield it looks a little sad, and it might be a little tiny but with the shield it is the cutest thing ever!
I haven't decided on the face yet so for now it is just a faceless monster (still the cutest thing).

20120318 - Sunday Bracelet.

Sundays are for cleaning my room usually, and as always it will take up all day because you just keep finding interesting things! This time I didn't find that much but it was just a crazy mess, it happens sometimes ^^
What I did find were two small pieces of embroidery thread in a salmon/pinkish/orangy color (I have no idea what to call it, but it is perfect for Springtime).

I thought it would be cute for a tiny bracelet so I braided it in a four-strand-braid, started with a loop and ended with a button I found while cleaning - in the exact same color! Sometimes when you create something you just know it will be good, even if it is simple ^^

Thursday Planning

Oh my it has been a while since my last post,
but fear not, I am not sitting still!

The reason is that I have started a few long-term projects, and I do not like to post half-finished products!

So what kind of projects?

The first is a new crochet figure.
As my mum has all different kinds of wool thread, usually I just pick a random type (this time it was a think grey white wool blend) and take it with me.
I started with a shape that could be a dogs head, but then I found the needle I used was too thin and the result was a very solid shape.I found the texture and color would be great for a turtle shell, so that's what I made!

(the Ikea pencil is a size reference ^^)
I really liked to follow my own view instead of copying from the book, and now that I finished the shell I am working on a small turtle shape that can be inserted into the shell, maybe I will even make different colored ones (if I have time).


The other project is for a present.
My little brothers birthday will come up soon (19th fo March), when I asked him what kind of present he would like he told me he needs a new poster, because he hates the empty walls in his room (and his girlfriend doesn't like the sexy-lady-posters he has now).
Of course I could buy a poster, but that is no fun..
As my brother really likes Pandas I have to add at least one panda-like shape to the poster, and after some brainstorming I finally got the most brilliant idea!
But naturally I can not post this until I handed him the gift, but trust me he will love it!

Wednesday Illustrating

So yesterday I decided to make a digital illustration using Illustrator.
Most of the time I work in Photoshop, but I thought it would be good to improve my illustrator skills!
I started off with a pencil drawing, scanned it in and went on from there. I didn't exactly hold on to the original drawing, but I am really pleased with the result.
I might tweak some parts but I think it is good enough to post here :)

I don't know exactly what the meaning of the image is, or the feeling I wanted to capture. The colors and all just made sense and It is just really a result of some nights without a lot of sleep.

Thursday Writing

Yes! Time to do another post,
some interesting weekend that was with party,,,
and friends..
and also a lot of THIS... haha

But as this blog is about the things I create I will now get serious ^^

20120302
I visited my friend Jeroen to for some drinks and to give him his very late birthday gifts. I gave him socks and the drawing from last post, and,, I think he was very pleased with the gift.
And he also had a gift for me.
 Jeroen is not just my friend and an interesting person, this man is the creator of the Munnen.
Munnen can best be described as,,,, ehh,, well just check them out on http://jompie.deviantart.com/

Inspired by his creatures and a Mun made of fabric a friend of his created, I decided to make my own Mun in crochet. I made the shape first and after that I put on the black lines with a sewing needle. Maybe not the straightest line but I like it still ^^
As I am getting better at the technique of crochet it was time to go free-form and create the shape without any guides, and it worked out really well!

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Another thing I created this weekend was a bracelet.
I found an interesting braiding technique called Kumihimo. By using a tool called the Kumihimo board you can lock the different strands of wire. When you move the wires in a certain order a nice tight
braid can be made, this technique works on a lot of different materials which makes it very interesting.
As I do not own a Kumihimo board I created my own from some Styrofoam (but for next time I will make a cardboard one) and an ornament to weigh the braid down. I used embroidery thread because of the brilliant colors, I found the braid a little too thin and therefor I decided to braid around a thick piece of string. 

I am pleased with the result, when you get the hang of it the technique is quite easy and I definitely think I will use this technique another time. 

As I left the bracelet(/friendship band) at the party I can only show a picture of the Styrofoam creation and the colors I used. Sorry for that ^^

I will post a picture when I get it back.

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And sunday was a day of rest. A lot of sleep and slowly cleaning out my room.
For some reason I decided to move a little cupboard from the wall in an angle in the corner and it changed the whole feel of the room, maybe some sort of positive feng shui? I don't know :)

The creation of the day was an old cute silverish necklace I had tweaked by adding a red heart-shaped bead.. As my mood always changes the way I look to color, now that Springtime is so near somehow my colorstyle of the moment is very orangy/ red, any color in that range. 

Might be noticeable in the things I create, who knows!

Friday Drawing

Some months ago my friend Noortje had purple hair and she really wanted me to draw her,
I saw it as a challenge and was thinking about different ways to execute the picture.
At first I really wanted to use the purple color and thought of using Photoshop, maybe Illustrator..
But in the end I just grabbed a bunch of grey pencils and started to reproduce the picture. As it was the first time I made a drawing this realistic, I was a bit worried but I found it worked really well and was amazed with the result.
It may not be the exact image but it does capture the strong eyes she has, and I think Noortje really liked it!

And yesterday I made a pencil drawing of an other friend, 
for his birthday gift I wanted to draw him but so far I haven't found the time to do it.
Because I knew the first one looked real nice I thought it would be a great gift.
It is nearly finished but I will show it after I handed the picture, I do want it to be a surprise!

Here is the picture I made for Noortje (original Photo is done by her mum, Vivian van Oorschot)






















And the drawing I made for Jeroen.

Because he was smoking pipe in the picture I decided to do a reference to Rene Margritte and write:
ceci nést pas un pipe?
Mais non! c'est un Joen
(my nickname for Jeroen :)

Thursday Photos

Some time ago me and my friend Romi decided to do a photo-shoot,
just for fun, for me to have some nice profile pictures
and for my friend to add some work to her portfolio.

Prior to the shoot we(actually just Romi) had decided on a color palette
and some attributes we wanted to the pictures.
Because we didn't think of actual poses there was a lot of improvisation,
but also a lot of fun making weird faces trying out silly shots.

For the shoot we planned to have a lot of make up but what exactly wasn't clear, so much fun we had with 'painting' our faces, but I think in the end we did some fine work!
I must say it is very hard to keep a straight face with a camera on, or to look angry or flirty in a camera, or just to keep the eyes open! haha.

For now I can only show the moodboard we made for the shoot, I will add some pictures later!

20120301

 So here are the final pictures, very strange they are :)

Friday Finishing

So, today is the day,,
finally i found the peace to create my first real official post, starting with a new fun way of 'keeping myself busy'.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when I found a nice book: crochet miniature dogs, by Mitsuki Hoshi. Lucky me found it for 2,50 euro and the little book is just amazing.
Because the technique is described in the book getting started was very easy. I do love handwork and I think crochet is just the easiest thing to do!
With just some leftover balls of wool or cotton and a crochet hook I can just sit in the train, or where ever! ^^
Today I finished my second doggy , I am very proud of it and am eager to start a new crochet figure!


Ohh! If you want to find out more about making figures using crochet, or check out some brilliant figures already made by other people, just Google Amigurimi :)