I'm still alive!

I promise I will be getting back to this blog! So much has happened in the last 6 months I just don't know where to start :)

Art Workshop in Rome

Rome!

There are only 25 days until I go to this awesome workshop in Rome, planned by Chris Oatley Academy and the Idea Academy in Rome. 

It ended on becoming kind of a pre-masterclass workshop because of the date change of the Story Design Conference that will be in Rome also this fall! And I'm going to that as well :D It's a dream come true, to go to Italy, to meet fellow artists and amazing mentors!

You can read about the conference this fall here: http://www.idea-academy.it/EN/Masterclass/64

Right now I'm just mentally preparing myself for the challenge in this May's workshop which will be plein air and CHARCOALS! 
That is going to be interesting...

I think I have only used charcoals as a child and in few life drawing sessions. To say the least, I'm a novice in these maters. So that + plein air is going to make my brain hurt. I'm sure it's going to be like some of these life drawing sessions where you are trying to make your hand do what your brain says - so hard - that it feels like your brain has started leaking out of your ears.  

But I look so much forward to it. Brain leaking or not - it will be a great practice and experience, and when you are going to Rome for the first time, you can't really complain. I also look forward to meeting some of the Oatley Academy people in real life! Everyone is so friendly on the forums, and I love meeting fellow artists, it's like you automatically like people when you know they also draw. 

So I'm going on a quest this week in Iceland's art supply stores and see if they have what I need for the workshop! (and so that I can practice a little)

February Scrawlrbox Review

A few months ago I subscribed to this really cool thing called Scrawlrbox.
Scrawlrbox is a UK based art supply subscription and it's so much fun. One major good thing is that they ship all over! So people like me, that live in the middle of nowhere can also get fun mystery boxes! And they also send me things that aren't even sold in my country.

I always get my boxes a bit late in the month which is why I'm writing this February review in March...

So far I've been very happy with my boxes! They come in neat packaging, with fun art supplies, information slip, a postcard from an artists and a piece of candy! 

This time around, I got some really neat and handy art supplies. 

-Three Molotow Aqua Twin
-Molotow Masking Liquid Pen
-Koh-i-noor Modulez Aquarelle Pencil 
-Koh-i-noor Flat Brush 
-Molotow Aqua 180g/m Paper 

I just tried these great things out. I did a little ink sketch in my Moleskin sketchbook (not really the best paper for this) but it came out with great results! The Molotow Auqua Twins are really great, I think I'll buy more of them. They have two different tips, bright colours and when applied with water the colour runs smoothly around the paper. 

 The Koh-i-noor- pencils were very soft to use, have some great pigment, you need just a little bit of it to easily apply it with water. A little goes a long way! 

Also I had no idea they made masking liquid as pens, that is the greatest idea ever! It makes masking so much easier, and does not force you to ruin a brush with it. I will start to use masking liquid again. 

So all in all, I'm very happy with the February box. I look forward to the next one.  

Here is a little sketch I did with the pens and pencils: 

Life after university

Last November I was so lucky to be able to go back to the UK and visit all my university friends and graduate properly with a silly hat and everything. 

After my stay there however I realized that I and most of my friends were all dealing with the hard reality of life – or that is, life after university. 

The trouble of starting a generic job (if you even found one) that has nothing to do with your degree but still trying to find your place in life, dealing with the depression of leaving university is really hard. The fear of the huge future that you were supposed to figure out, the successful job you are supposed to find, the great life you are meaning to be leading right now! That should all happen straight after university? Right? So very wrong! 

I have felt this gap before in my life, since the Icelandic school system is different but then it’s mainly a question of which school to choose afterwards. But now I am in the real deal. Life, the universe and everything. 

Universities should be doing a better job preparing us for the real world. All we get are “get a good portfolio and apply for everything.” Well that is not good enough. Where do we start, what should we apply for? What if we start to freelance, what if we get a job, how do I make a contract? How do I set up payments? How do I even get that first job?

The sad truth is that I learned more about the business side of art by listening to Christ Oatley’s podcast and The Paperwing podcast (http://oatleyacademy.com/paper-wings-show/)  that I did in my entire 2 years of illustration and 1 year of digital arts. 

To make matters even harder for myself I decided to move back to Iceland were the market is so tiny, that I have no idea how to get going. All I know is that I want to do art but it’s hard. It’s also weird meeting my non-art friends, their lives seem to have moved so much faster, many with good jobs, apartments, kids and I’m still here just going “I just want to draw”. 

Life can really be complicated, and I’m sure my fellow art related friends struggle with the same things. But I guess the only thing to do is like my mom says: “take one day at a time and don’t overthink the future.”

The Martian, trip to the theater

I just had the pleasure of going to the movies couple of days ago and saw the Martian. I had just heard about the book few weeks earlier and have it as an audiobook on my phone, ready to be played while I do my 'amazing' job at the post office. 

I was glad when I left the theatre, I had a good feeling in my heart, which I don't get so much anymore, after trips to the movie theatre. This was the feeling of just seeing a genuinely good movie. 

For those that don't know, the Martian is a movie based on a book by the same name by Andy Weir. It's about a manned mission to Mars in the close future. The crew is however forced to leave Mars suddenly because of a bad storm and Mark Watney, the main character, is presumed dead in the storm and left behind. However he is very much alive, and he is alone on Mars. 

The movie was interesting, entertaining and visually appealing. It feels realistic, you feel like this group of people could be on Mars right now because the technology is believable and based on technology that we use today or might be seen in the near future. The vastness of Mars in the movie is amazing, you really feel like you are there with Mark, as he deals with every possible problem of staying alive on the planet. 
The acting was good, the story was good (even though the trailer spoiled way too much of the storyline) and the cgi was amazing, you really couldn't tell the difference between reality and computer generated backgrounds. Too many movies seem to forget one of these things, for example in Jupiter Ascending, where you had amazing CGI and visual storytelling, but had a horrible storyline that made no sense. 


I would advice everyone to see this movie, even if you are not into space or technological movies. I have not been this happy seeing a movie since I saw Mad Max. I look forward to listening to the audiobook, I'll take a little trip to Mars tomorrow at work.  

China

China. 

I am still trying to make sense of it. 

My trip was amazing, and I saw and experienced so much that my head is still trying to wrap itself around it. 
University of Cumbria went with around 20 students to stay at Changshu for two week in a summer school program. We had the oppertunity to learn everything from Tai Chi, painting, calligraphy, Kung Fu and dancing. The culture was amazing and even more amazing were the volunteer students that took us around everywhere. I already miss the food, the food is sooo good there and very different from what I expected. Apart from Changshu we were able to visit Shanghai and Suzhou. It also felt quite strange to be white and tall there, people were looking at us and taking photos of us all the time. 

As I said I'm still trying to make sense of all the new things I saw there, I hope to be able to use some of this knowledge into my art, and I really did love the old traditional way of painting in China and wish to practise that further. 

 

New Designers 2015

The New Designers show in London was quite the experience. Taking part in it was so amazing. The show itself is so big and interesting, I met a lot of interesting artists, was amazed by some of them. I would love to do this again, but this only makes me more sure that I am going to apply for art shows and cons in the future. 

The only thing I thought was a bad dissapointing is that the majority of the art based students are grapics and illustrations. I wish there had been more game, digital and animation student there, but I guess in the end this is a design show, and at the moment games and animation do not seem to have a big place at this show. 

But I had a great time, only wished it had lasted longer. Sadly I was not swept away by some amazing employer, haha, but hopefully I will have something to do in the future :)