Organisation Method

This week, my boyfriend had gone to therapy and had come back with information he felt I could find useful too. In these sessions, they discuss ways in which you could overcome stress, and in this weeks, they were talking about ways in which you could plan out your day/week/month more efficiently, in order to help become more organised, which would hopefully result in less stress. As I had struggled a lot through semester one with my timekeeping and organisation, my boyfriend felt that what he had learnt could be very helpful for me within the second semester.

He had been taught a method which I believe was mentioned in a book called Eat that Frog and is called the ABCDE model. With this, you write out a list of everything you need to do, again, this could be over the space of a day, week, month or even a year, but once you have your list, you then start to categorise each of the tasks according to which is more of a priority.

A is a task of highest priority, one that you need to do or will risk big consequences. If there are multiple tasks which fall into this category, you then label them A1, A2, A3 and so on. Within the method, these tasks are known as the frogs.

B is a task which you should complete, but the consequences are slightly milder than with A tasks. These are referred to as the tadpoles because although they are lesser than the frogs if you leave them too long, they will turn into frogs.

C tasks are ones that are nice to do but don’t necessarily have any consequences to them. I see this as being a task that I would prefer to be doing as opposed to A and B’s, but should not as they are not on the top of my list of priorities.

D tasks are ones that you can delegate to someone else. This one may work better in terms of life tasks, as opposed to work tasks as I do mainly work by myself, so don’t imagine being able to delegate my work to anyone else.

And finally, E tasks are ones which can essentially be eliminated from the list and no difference would be made. According to the method, this could relate to a task you wanted to achieve at a specific time, but you feel it is no longer an issue.

The method does go on to discuss rules, but these fall along the lines of only working on the tasks in order, for instance not working on a B task before an A, or a C task before a B. It also mentions that self-discipline is the key to following the method, making sure that you are seeing all of the tasks through to the end, in exact order from A all the way to C.

I do like the sound of this method and do plan to use it throughout the second semester, as I feel it could potentially help me a lot, keeping me organised and hopefully less stressed, as I will have a better visualisation of my priorities and things I have to achieve. I will try creating a list for the day, a list for the week, and a list for the overall project. By creating one for the whole project I feel it would be more brief, but when getting to the day to day tasks, they will be more direct and specific as to what I need/want to achieve on that said day.

Bibliography

Tracy, B. (2001). Eat that frog!. The ABCDE Model.

IT’S CRUNCH TIME!

It’s now a week before the deadline and guess who still has a lot of work to do? ME! But is that a surprise? PROBABLY NOT!

As it has been the holidays, I felt myself falling into the trap of procrastination, using the excuse of “it’s Christmas!” or “it’s New Years!” far too much. Although I did need this break for my sanity, I did feel the guilt when I would just be sitting around not doing work, when I knew full well that I could.

I had started my break for the holidays on the 22nd of December, after completing illustrations and a cover design for the House of Illustration competition and creating potential covers for the Penguin Student Awards Competition. So, getting back into the swing of things earlier this week, on January the 2nd, I realised that I had and still have a lot of writing up to do.

Today, I have only just finished writing up all of the days for Inktober. Although I have made blog posts about each of the days, I felt for academic purposes, I would have to write them up more formally and in more detail for hand-in. So with this project, all I have left to do is to write up the process of making the zines, how I formatted the pages for printing, the different printing methods which I tried, what went well, what had not, which I had decided to use for final products etc. I then need to evaluate the final product and project as a whole, then that should be one project out of the way.

I’m going to be honest now, the rest of the projects aren’t as close to being completed as I would have hoped, and I do have a lot of writing up to do in the upcoming week.

House of Illustration project, I still need to:

Ask my peers for their opinions, if there are any changes I should make.
Potentially make the changes they suggest.
Get the illustration and cover ready for submission in the format the competition wants.
Print and mount the final design for hand-in.
Write up artist/influences
Write up creation process (I did take screenshots throughout, so this should make it easier to recall the steps I took and choices I made)
Evaluate the final design and the project as a whole.

Penguin Student Design project, I still need to:

Ask my peers for their opinions, if there are any changes I should make.
Potentially make the changes they suggest.
Get the Cover/s ready for submission in the format the guidelines of the competition state.
Print and mount the final design for hand-in.
Write up artist/influences
Write up creation process (I did take screenshots throughout, so this should make it easier to recall the steps I took and choices I made)
Evaluate the final design and the project as a whole.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe project, I still need to:

Write up my experiences with the different printing methods, how they work, what I enjoyed, what I did not etc.
Compare the printing methods.
Make new designs with the best printing method (if I have the time to do so).
Evaluate the final products and the project as a whole.

So from this to do list, my plan for the week is to write up my projects whilst I’m at home, then whilst I am at college I will focus on practical work. The reason I don’t want to write up my work at college is because I feel I am easily distracted, zoning in and out of work a lot, often losing my place or sentence etc, but when I’m at home, it is quieter and although there is a potential threat of tv, during deadline week this is not an issue, as stress me is on the ball! Or at least tries to be!

So whilst I am at college, I think I will try to get the final illustrations for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe project, as the facilities I need are within the college, so I feel it will be the best use for my time.

Final Notes

I probably will get all of my work complete in time, but the more that I think I won’t, the more stress I will put on myself, meaning more pressure, meaning more focus on the work, meaning ALL WORK COMPLETED ON TIME. Let’s hope!

I am always surprised at how much work I get done the day before a deadline as the pressure pushes me through, and I always end up handing in on time. Myself and stress just work together well, it’s probably not the healthiest of relationships, but if it works it works! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! But ideally, I’m gonna try better to not leave all of my work till the last minute in the next semester/deadline, 2019 should be the stress-free year!.. Starting January 15th!

Bibliography

Giphy. (2015). Awkward Michael Scott Gif [online] Available at: https://giphy.com/gifs/jOpLbiGmHR9S0 [Accessed 06 Jan. 2018].

‘Twas the week before Christmas…

If you have read my previous post, you will know how stressed I was trying to achieve my deadline for one of my projects, it wasn’t my real deadline, but it was the one I had set myself for that specific project. So, with this week, as it is probably the last week I can do work before getting lost in festivities, and having to clear my workspace away so that, to my mother’s delight, the dining table would be free again for the week between Christmas and New Years. Yes, I work at the dining table as my room is currently under construction and has been for a while, so I don’t really have elsewhere to work. So with these factors, I wanted to put all hands on deck to create 2 covers for the Penguin competition. This included sketching ideas, creating thumbnails for potential covers, then designing them digitally and refining them further.

I have surprised myself during this week, as I have managed to create 3 possible designs for the story Wonder by R. J. Palacio, technically 2 with the 3rd being a combination of both concepts, and I have created 2 possible designs for Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. I did start the process with 4 concepts for each book but have narrowed down my options when it came to creating them digitally. This was due to either time or lack of enthusiasm with the concept, but I do believe I have still given options within designs which would be more beneficial if I were working one to one with the client, but as I am not, and I am only allowed to submit one design per category, I will end up choosing the piece myself or my peers find most interesting or best advertise the stories.

During this week, I feel I have been confident when illustrating and coming up with concepts, however, when it came to adding in the text, I have found a lot of issues with the type getting lost within the illustrations and trying to find ways in which to make them stand out more. When talking to my peers, this was the biggest issue they had spotted, and luckily, one had given me suggestions about how I could improve on this.

From sending my friend all of the pieces shown above, she had circled both of the designs with eye patterns for the Wonder book, then the tree piece for Norwegian Wood and said that these were the pieces that would need to be worked on more as you wouldn’t be able to read them. With the designs for Wonder, she had suggested I remove some of the eyes so that they would be more of a border for the text as opposed to a background. As the pattern was somewhat uniform though, when doing this I felt it looked quite messy in a sense, the design no longer had a flow within the pattern and the eyes just looked more random in their positioning. She had not made any suggestions for the Norwegian Wood design, but she had liked the other option I had made for it, although she did spot a typo so I immediately corrected that. Another friend had suggested that the barcode on the back may not be readable from the design, so I also added in a white box over the design but under the information, so that it would be easier for a machine to read it. The white box was the same colour as the text, so did not look too obscure in the design as a whole, and sort of kept it cohesive.

After making the changes, probably even before then, I knew I had liked the more simple designs better, as they were more solid and there was less to question, for instance, it wouldn’t be a question of “what am I looking at”, “is the text readable”, etc. So the ones shown below are the ones I believe I will be submitting to the competition.

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The Wonder design

For this design, I did like the idea of people WONDERing (ha get it) why there was a duck on the cover when the story is about a little boy named August, but it does link to a section in where the boy is in the Principles office and notices his artwork on the wall. This artwork was for a class project in which the students had to make a self-portrait of themselves if they were an animal, and August had drawn a duck. When the Principle asks him “why a duck?” expecting a meaningful and in-depth answer, August just replies with “Its because I think I look like a duck.” I loved this section when I had read it and although I thought I was not going to try drawing the child, as the blurb of the book specifically says that he doesn’t want to describe himself as “whatever you’re thinking, its probably worse”, I thought this would be a fun way of representing the little boy, without trying to draw the accurate description.

Template - Norwegian Wood.indd

The Norwegian Wood design

There is a section within the book where the character is working at a record store and cuts himself on “one of the glass partitions in a record shelf” that was cracked, he then goes on to mention how the floor is covered in blood etc, so at the time this had made me think of this cover design. Although it had not exactly mentioned a broken record, this is what I had imagined when I had read the section, a record in shards, with a red background which would be the character’s blood.

This may not have been someones first thought of imagery after reading the book, but I felt since the title of the story is inspired by a song by The Beatles, ‘Norwegian Wood’, I felt the imagery was still valid to the story, and in a sense, it could be symbolic to the characters emotions and relationships throughout the story? (Potential spoiler? I’m sorry!) So I do like this design and concept, as I believe it is not an obvious choice and it is somewhat out of the box, but not too far as it still relates.

So still to do, as I have slightly worked backwards during this project, just trying to churn out the final designs as quick as I could with the time I have, I do have a lot of writing up to do. When working, I did have the artists and styles in mind that I wanted to use, but I just need to write this research up properly, discuss all of the choices I made throughout the process, etc, and I will need to make a final evaluation (which I will also post on here). This, however, will probably be done after Christmas, maybe pushing towards after New Years as well, as I had mentioned before, my working space is at the dining table, and during this time, my Mam does like it to be clear. I will keep my progression updated, but if I don’t post during that time, you now know why, so you can just imagine me living my best life, stuffing my face with festive food!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! OR HAPPY HOLIDAYS, WHATEVER YOU CELEBRATE! AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Bibliography

Murakami, H. and Rubin, J. (2001). Norwegian wood. London: Harvill, p.263.

Palacio, R. (2013). Wonder. United Kingdom: Penguin Books Ltd, p.287.

The week from Hell.

Due to my incapability to follow my own timetable, which I had even reorganised after not managing to follow it the first time, this week was supposed to be the last week I had given myself to work on the House of Illustration, Book Illustration Competition, in which I had to create 3 illustrations and a book cover for the story ‘Howls Moving Castle’ by Diana Wynne Jones.

Instead, for the majority of this 3-week project, I spent a lot of time trying to catch up or finish off previous projects that I had fallen behind on. I also decided to work on an illustration which would be a gift for my boyfriends mum. This was supposed to be completed and printed for her birthday in September, but as we all know by now, I can’t follow my own time plans! So I said I would give it to her for Christmas instead, not that she knows (a blog post for this piece will be coming soon). So, the time I should have been spending on this project had been spent on others, but I refused to fall behind on the project starting next week, so I decided I had to finish this one by today!

In what should have been one week of researching, one week of creating concepts and experimenting and the final week creating the final design, I have basically had to do all of this in the space of a week.

When creating my pieces, I didn’t really have an idea of styles or techniques I was going to use, I had thought about artists, but I hadn’t thought about potential ways in which I could apply the styles or techniques to my own work, so basically in the process of creating my pieces, I have just been winging it, seeing “does this thing work? No, not really, scrap it! Does this? Okay, we’ll just roll with it”. I had kept doing right up until now.

I am currently happy with these designs, but I would say I do still need critique and outsiders perspectives so that I can potentially make further improvements. At this moment in time, however, I still have a lot of work to complete within other projects so this one may have to fall to the back of the pack. Because of this, I may not end up submitting my designs to the competition, as I’m not sure if it fits the standards of previous entries in the years before, especially not without further refinement. And since the competition does have a fee to enter, I feel it could be a waste of my money.

Even if I don’t submit these design to the competition, I will still include them in my portfolio, as through this project, I have been able to show more skills with narrative, and I have created more landscape designs, two areas of which I felt were lacking in my portfolio.

SO, what have we learnt from this post? I am my own worst enemy and I only have myself to blame! From this experience, I will strive to keep myself more organised and actually follow my own set time plans. I believe this information will be very important for when starting next semester, as I will try to plan out my time better, using my experience from this first semester, as I feel I will have more knowledge of my pace of working and what I am capable of doing in specific timeframes.

Melon and Lime Comics – The Dishes.

This week’s comic is based on one of Liam’s habits when he comes around to my house. As he eats inhumanly fast, he will always finish his food before me and whilst I’m still eating, he will get up and take his plate to the sink and wash it. Yes, it is nice that he washes up after himself, but no! He should be the guest when he comes to my home, and I should be the one washing the plates! And I would do if he allowed me time to actually finish my own food on my own plate.

dishes

I didn’t really enjoy creating this week’s comic, mostly because I have so much other work that needs to be completed for other projects, and I felt we were pushing for ideas. As we are creating comics on a weekly basis, I do feel that sometimes we will struggle for ideas, ones that we have not already done or ones that other comic artists haven’t already done themselves (that we know of).

I am glad that we came to this concept, as it is a reoccurring quirk in our relationship, and we do feel that others might be able to relate as well. But I do feel I could and should have done better in some of the frames.

As I am currently stressed with the other projects I have going on at the moment, when creating this comic, I had the mindset that I just needed to get the piece done and out of the way, so that I could get back and focus on my other work. So, because of this, I feel I didn’t put my best into it, I felt I very much had the ‘it’ll do’ mindset, and I am disappointed in myself that I didn’t do more and go back in to refine it.

I feel this could potentially be a reoccurring problem when working on multiple projects at once, but in the future, I will try to get rid of the ‘it’ll do’ mindset and put the right amount of effort into our comics. If I’m not happy with a piece in the future, I may hold off on posting it for a week, so that I can refine it further, bettering the quality and standard of it. However, if I do choose to do this, I do not want to fall into the trap of continuously doing it, or worrying too much about every piece, whether it is good enough to post etc so this will be something I have to think about if the issues of this week reoccur.

If you do by any chance enjoy this comic and would like to see more, please feel free to have a look at our Instagram @MelonandLimeComics, we appreciate any likes or follows that we get! I have also made a couple of blog posts about some of the newer comics, so if you would like to know more about the thought processes behind them, and how they have come to life, feel free to check those out too. Thank you!

I Opened up my Own Store!

Using Depop, I have created an account so that I can have a platform that I can sell my work from. If you want to know why I chose this platform you can click here to read my opinions on different selling sites.

As of yet, I have not made a sale through the app, but I have made a sale by working solely through PayPal and messaging the buyer. I was only confident enough to do this because I knew the person, but even then I felt I was being very awkward, as I’m not very business savvy and I am new to this world. But this may improve over time.

So working this way, I still charged the same amount for the product and p&p but in this case, Depop did not take their 10% cut of the payment, but I believe PayPal does still have a charge of 20p per transaction.

Anyways back to the exciting part, this buyer had wanted 2 of my zines, a multicoloured one and a black and white one, and when I had mentioned that I was also selling some riso prints, she had also wanted a wave print. From this buyer, I have made a total of £14.50 (p&p excluded) so I am so happy with this experience.

As I had stated in my previous post, one of the reasons I had chosen to use Depop was because I would be able to have control over the whole process, packaging the products myself and adding little personal touches where I could. So as shown below, are three photos, one of the contents of the order, then the other two are of the envelope. Although I would say the content is pretty standard as to what you would expect when purchasing prints etc, I wanted to personalise the envelope, adding in little drawings of flowers, which would relate back to the zine. I had also added a little ‘thank you’ on the back so that she would see it when opening. These are small personalisations, however, when I had received a personalised envelope from an artist, I felt that they had actually put love into their packaging, an indication that they actually cared about their clients and appreciation in a way.

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I have now sent off the order, hoping that she gets it soon, and hoping that she is happy with her purchase. I also hope that more people will purchase my work, although I was a bit anxious with this one sale, I hope that the more I get, the more my confidence will grow with the process.

This being said, if you would like to have a look at the products I have for sale, you can click here for my Depop account, or you could send me a message on Instagram @Melon.R if you have PayPal and don’t wish to work through Depop.

Just a little update..

I currently have only 5 weeks left of the first semester, before I have to hand in all of my projects for the development module. So, as I have been updating my blog, but not so much in terms of my progression, I thought I’d briefly talk about the work I’ve done so far, what I still need to do, and discuss the goals that I want to achieve, which will be more long-term based.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Research is complete – both directly from the book and my artist research.
I have created a mind map and chose the imagery I’d like to create.
Drawn up on of the quotes, the Wardrobe.
Experimented with digital techniques.
Experimented with different printing methods – screen printing, and adding foils, etching, Linocut, laser cut plate.
I’ve chosen that I want to create the rest of my illustrations with the laser cut plate technique as I feel I had gotten the cleanest results.

Still to do:

Create the other illustration with the printing method.
Possibly edit the outcomes digitally.
Mount them.
Evaluate the final products and project as a whole.

Inktober

I have completed the challenge, creating 31 illustrated characters for each day of October.
I have fixed or edited the designs digitally. Compiling them all into a zine format.
I’ve experimented with different forms of printing – through the colleges normal printer, reprographics and creating some on the zine.
With the finished products, I have begun to sell them online.

Still to do:

Write up some of the days – I have written them up on this blog, however, I feel I need to write them more formally and with much more information, for my actual project.
Write up the experimentation with printing methods. Opinions of the different outcomes of the zines.
Evaluate the final products and project as a whole.

House of Illustration – Howls Moving Castle

Read the book, highlighting areas and quotes that I could possibly illustrate.
Created sketches from the quotes.
Narrowed down my selection and had drawn thumbnails.
Narrowed down my selection yet again, so that I was left with 3 potential illustrations and 1 potential cover.
Started sketching the thumbnails digitally.

Still to do:

Write up artist research.
Refine the digital sketches with traditional line work.
Scan in the line work.
Colour digitally and potentially add a textured overlay.
Write up all of the progression, thoughts and opinions throughout.
Mount/submit the final designs.
Evaluate the final product and the project as a whole.

Penguin Illustration Awards

Read the children’s book – Wonder by R.J.Paolo
Read the adults fiction book – Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
Have thought about the imagery I could potentially illustrate for both of the books.
Have thought about the styles I could potentially use.

Still to do:

Actually start the project, not next week but the one after.
Write up research – from the books and potential artists/styles I will be using.
Form a mind map/mood board of potential imagery I could create.
Create 3 thumbnail sketches for each book.
Refine my choices and refine the designs digitally.
Choose which concept I think is best, possibly refine it more if needed.
Write up progression, thoughts and opinions throughout the project.
Mount and submit the final design.
Evaluate the final product and the project as a whole.

Long-Term Targets

Get better at time management. Thinking more practically, how long will it take me to work on a project, then follow my timetables as efficiently as I can.
Draw more full-length bodies. Over the year I feel I have gotten better at drawing faces, however, I do still struggle with the anatomy of the body, so I do wish to practise more in the future.
Boosting effort levels, getting rid of that ‘it’ll do’ attitude. I believe this can be done by just taking a break from my work then going back to it again with a fresh mindset, ready to make further improvements, as opposed to just being sick of the piece and wanting to just get it out of the way. I don’t think this can be done overnight, hence why it is in my long-term goals, as I feel in a way I will have to train my mind to do this more often, especially during future projects, in college and out.

The Timeplan

9 weeks into the first semester and I’m already not following the timetable I had originally planned within my proposal for the year.

I believe this is due to multiple confusing factors from the beginning till now, one of them being that I have chosen to read all of the books. After finishing The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and realising how long it had taken, (which wasn’t exactly long, but longer than I had initially expected) I decided to start reading ‘Howls Moving Castle’ for the House of Illustration competition, then after I finished that, I started and am currently reading Norwegian Wood, but I still have to read Wonder, both books being apart of the Penguin competition.

Another factor to my confusion is that my tutor has been wanting specific things done by a certain point, such as a statement of intents or the research for the projects, so instead of working at my own pace, following my set timetable, I have been trying to complete them all at once which has not done me very well.

So, with these factors, I feel I have just gotten confused in which project I should be working on, so probably have not done as much as I could have if I were specifically concentrating on one.

SO, with 9 weeks left, (8 now that I am posting this) I am going to replan my timetable so that I can properly concentrate on one project at a time.

newtime — New and Improved Timetable, Starting 12/11/18

Inktober – I have spent wayyyy too long on this project, so this week (and possibly a bit of next) I am going to try round off this project, getting the zines printed, making sure that everything is fully annotated, making an evaluation, and just getting this project out of the way so that I can concentrate on the others properly.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – I know I need time to work within the college, using the facilities available, so I believe I am going to work on this project next week, then break off for a month or so to do the competitions, then during the last 2 weeks before deadline, I will print my final designs and round off the project

House of Illustration – 3 (now 2) weeks from now, I plan to focus on my House of Illustration project, creating a book cover and set of illustrations for the book ‘Howls Moving Castle, over a 3-week time period. This time will be spent on researching, sketching, experimenting, then producing the final designs.

Penguin Student Design Awards – 6 (now 5) weeks from now, I will start working on yet another competition, which again I plan to do within a 3-week timeframe. Again, I will be working in a similar routine/method to the previous project, researching, sketching, experimenting, then producing the final designs, however, this time I will be doing this process with two books, one being Wonder by R. J. Palacio, and Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami.

I hope that with this new timetable, that there will be less confusion, I will be able to focus on one project at a time, and inevitably, I will be able to get more work done.

Melon and Lime Comics – The Routine

One week later and we’re still going, are you amazed? I’m amazed!

This comic is based on my love for my new kitten Wednesday. My partner made a comment that we were basically the same, just constantly eating and sleeping, so he had suggested that be the bases for our next comic, so HERE WE ARE!

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I did have struggles with this piece, not necessarily with the content, but more with the process of creating it, I found it took waaaaaaay too long to create this piece, as my photoshop file would have too many glitches or would buffer a lot, especially when I was trying to colour. Ideally I think this piece should have taken 20 minutes per frame at maximum, but instead, it had taken me 5 hours to finish the whole piece. I was not pleased in the slightest.

I don’t know if this had meant that the file was too large, or whether I need a new computer, but I don’t believe I could have done much else to make the document smaller, and I probably have attachment issues to my laptop, I’m scared to get rid of it and get a new one, which I probably should do, but probably won’t, not until its very much dead.

So, this may be a recurring issue in weeks to come, when I work on the comics once again. Soooo, FUN TIMES AHEAD!

WE’RE BACK! Getting Back into Comics

Melon and Lime comics has been on a bit of a break whilst both me and my partner have gotten back into the swing of college but now, WE HAVE RETURNED! With a comic that gives a bit of an update as to what we’ve been up to whilst we’ve been away.

I’m so excited to get back into the flow of working on new comics again. We aren’t necessarily going to have a set day in which we will post as of yet, as we don’t want to make any promises we can’t keep, however, we will be attempting to create at least one comic per week.

If anyone reading enjoys this piece, we have more content on our Instagram @MelonandLimeComics, so please have a look, we promise there will be more content coming soon, now that we’re back into the rhythm of college, maybe? NO PROMISES! But we’re gonna try! We also plan to create a zine or book over the year, which we plan to release sometime in June next year, so keep an eye out for that too.