I’ve had a really lovely day today, James, his 12 year old brother and I spent the afternoon and evening at the seaside. We got (a very extortionately priced) train to the seaside town of Scarborough.

First of all, we got a taxi to the Sea Life Centre, which was a waste of money, because it was closed. We were told it closed at 5 but, apparently it closes at 4… Never mind! Very annoying because I am sure that the taxi driver would have known… Grr! I like to remain optimistic, and because we were now at the opposite end of town we got to walk right along the beach. I don’t think we’d have been able to walk that far otherwise, which meant I got to see all the multicoloured beach huts. This was probably the highlight of my day as I took lots of lovely photos! That sounds quite sad, I know, but the beach huts were very cool!

After that, we went for a walk around Peasholm Park I only wanted to go there really because it feels a bit special for me and James. We went there on our ‘non-Valentines Day’ (like the day before or something) and we sat there chatting whilst it was really dark and romantic! Anyway, after more photo taking and several geese trying to eat me, we walked back down to the beach and played with the ladybird kite we bought… I took some really nice pictures of James sat with his brother… Aww!

After flying our kite we got some yummy fish and chips as well as ice-cream. Ate these on the beach, perused a few shops (think rock, dodgy joke/adult shops, tacky gifts and candyfloss!) then bought some crab lines and squid!

Now, I’ve never been ‘crabbing’ before but I really enjoyed it and I could tell the two boys loved it. Even though I was very annoying and wouldn’t let them get right up on the edge…! It made my stomach turn every time they got near the edge of the harbour. We caught two massive crabs, and a whole lot more kept dropping off the line before we brought them in. We put the crabs we caught back into the sea and left for the station.

Now, last time we went, we ended up missing the last train back so we practically ran to the station today to ensure that we got there on time, and luckily made it with literally one minute to spare…. Phew…! We’re back home now, disappointing that I have to work tomorrow morning, but at least I feel a bit more relaxed after my mini-break!

  All About Me

I really do love illustrator and I wish I could use it to it’s full potential. But for now I am content using it to make colourful swirls and drawings with my tablet pen!

I’ve found some lovely sites out there, all very helpfull, full of tutorials. These are my current favorites:

Tutorial Help - Illustrator - a lot of external links. Very aethetically pleasing site!

Veerle’s Blog - Tutorials - another lovely site, bursting with Illustrator tutorials.

Illustration Class - a lot of great articles and lovely work, not just for Illustrator..

Bittbox - fantastic tutorials and explained wonderfully with lots of pictures!

Intotherain - great tutorials for starters and lovely work!

Some great work I’ve found:
These are some of my favorite illustrations that I collected over the last 3 years over at deviantArt.

My Eventfull Sunset -drawcaliber. Lovely.

3 Seconds After - drawcaliber. Simply Amazing.

Tranquilandia - cucharadepalo. Great use of colour and I love the style.

Kingdom - wirestyle. Lovely concept and great colours.

Visit Drawcaliber’s awesome website too. I nearly orgasmed when I saw it - it’s so beautiful!

  Illustrator, Resources

  Illustrator, List, Resources

Work has been mad this week.  I’ve taken on a bit of responsibility now with the pub, I’ve been a supervisor since October and recently have been trained in the cash side of things.  I’m able to open up the pubs in the mornings now!  Well, I’m not 100% with it and I’ve not actually done it on my own yet - as well as there being bits and bobs I am still sketchy with - but I love learning and I do enjoy it a lot more.  I was getting bored of my job until these new tasks came along!

Cooked a lovely tea tonight - pasta bolognese - cooked it all with fresh ingredients and everything!  Yum yum!

Well there you go, some general updates with my life!

  Updates

I asked my Mum if I could have a badge making set for my birthday and Christmas, and she said yes!
Yay! I’ve wanted one for years if I’m honest, I’ve just been reminded if how much I want one. Recently, I saw some really awesome badges in a shop called Snow Home in York. If you live near to York, or like ordering stuff online, I suggest you check it out - It’s a pretty cool shop!

And today I bought a little magazine from Borders called HumDrum Magazine which is one of the most random and peculiar things I’ve ever seen. You get a free badge of a badger with it, another reason why I want to get a badge making machine: I can make lots of random badges for people!

I also bought the latest installment of Computer Arts Magazine, good and bad. Good: It makes me want to do something with my computer. Bad: I never have the skills or software to make anything quite so good as they feature. This then makes me sad.

I’d really love to be able to actually use Illustrator and create something truely fantastic. Oh, I guess practice makes perfect doesn’t it?

Do you subscribe to any magazines? Do you know any good tutorials for Illustrator? Do you have a badge maker, or any good tutorials online for them? If so, feel free to comment!

  Hobbies and Crafts

  Illustrator