I don't know whether this follows on from my last blog post or not, but something that has been vexing me lately is the abject lack of manners some people display on the phone these days!
More than once recently, my phone has rung and when I've answered it, I've been greeted with, "Hello. Who's this?"
No no, good sir! You rang me! If you're anyone I care to talk to, you already have an idea to whom you're speaking, or at least with whom you wish to be speaking. I don't like being assaulted by a cold caller acting like the Spanish Inquisition.
I've also been rung up and asked a series of personal questions with not so much as a how do you do!
After picking up the phone, I get "Hello. Can I ask how much you pay on your phone bill each month?"
You can ask, madame, but I'm not telling you?
She then had the cheek to ask why I wouldn't tell her how much I spend on my phone bill! When I explained it's because I had no idea who she was or why she wanted to know, she ventured that she was Carla and asked again, how much I spend on my phone.
And hacking me off the most at the moment, is when you ring up to make a mundane enquiry of an organisation. For example, ringing up your mobile service provider to find out when you're due an upgrade. Something similar to the following has happened to me three times in the last week.
I ring up and after navigating their 'helpful' automated phone system (which in the first instance spent about 5 minutes getting me to make simple choices and press numbers finished by telling me that the number had changed and I now needed to ring another number... that took me down the same series of options), I get through to a real person.
"Hello," he says "My name is Stuart. How can I help you?"
"Hi. I just called to check the status of my Direct Debit to Tesco."
"The one last paid on the 21st of November?" Stuart enquires.
"Yes," I reply.
Then... nothing. Not a sound. The line goes silent. I hold off on asking if he's still there for fear of sounding needy. He only introduced himself seconds ago and I don't want him to feel that I've based much of my future happiness on him. I strain to listen for breathing, keytaps, the sound of hurried footsteps and a door shutting, but nothing! I leave it a little longer but still nothing. I have no idea how long checking that would take, if that's what Stuart's gone to do. Surely not this long? Maybe it does take a while. I'll leave it a little longer. Maybe he's talking to me right now and I've just gone deaf and he thinks I'm being awfully rude by not answering, but a quick rap of my knuckles on the desk disproves that one.
Eventually, the fear that I'm actually sat holding a disconnected phone to my ear and how ridiculous I'll feel if I wait this way for much longer overcomes me.
"Erm... hello?" I say tentatively. "Are you still there?"
"Yeah," comes the reply. "I'm just checking that for you."
Then bloody well say that's what you're going to do before you become a mute midway through a conversation, Stuart!! If I can't see you checking on that for me, and I can't hear you, the line could have been disconnected, one of us may have accidentally pressed the mute button with our cheeks, or you may have had an unexpected coronary and died midway through our conversation and I worry, Stuart! I worry. But you don't care!
All it takes is, "Give me a moment to check that," and I'm happy! I know that while you may have gone silent during an audio only interaction, the reason is that you're preoccupied fulfilling my request. Surely basic manners say that when somebody makes a request of you, you don't just blank them and make no acknowledgement of it?!
I might try that with next cold-caller though.
Monday 17 December 2012
Sunday 16 December 2012
In a world of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Texts... what becomes of friendships?
Something that occupies my thoughts these days is our reliance on technology and a worry that it is creating, in some respects, a socially inept and bankrupt society.
For example, it is easy for someone to socialise online now via texts and IMs emails, Facebook and so on. You can consider yourself very well informed on the well-being of your friends having not seen or even actually spoken to them in months. I worry that people growing up used to this level of electronic socialising may be relying on them and not developing adequate real-life social skills, even preferring electronic socialising as it is easier, broader, and yet also appeals to any innate egotism we may have.
I worry we're losing the respect for the wisdom of our elders. Now, when we move out of home and we wonder how to cook that joint, or sort that leaky tap, or what to do about that patch of dry skin, or check that thing on the car, what to do with our baby when it does that thing, or who that President was, we don't need to ask our mum and dad, our grandparents, or other members of our community... when we can Google it.
In a day we can wake up, catch up with the news of our nearest and dearest on Facebook, the news of the wider world on telly and websites, work from home on the computer and web, shop from home at our computer or phone, research trivia and skills from home, learn how to cook on our own. When we worry that we are not socialising correctly, we can check our online help groups and forums for reassurance that we are actually ok and that this is how things simply are in the modern age.
If this is all too much in real life, we have entire games with their own politics, infrastructures, and communities where we can do all of this stuff virtually.
We all know it's actually not that uncommon in a room full of friends who have met up to socialise with each other, to see that they are all on their phones, often socialising virtually with others.I did a full day of workshops at a Halloween Holiday summer club a few weeks ago. The kids there were about 11 or 12 I think. At lunch time, they were mostly sitting on the sofas with their phones in their hands. It made me sad. The teachers made a point of making them go outside and organising some ball games to play. To me, it seems odd that a group of kids who all know each other would need to be made, after several hours indoors, to go outside and play.
I also worry that I'm now becoming officially old and more specifically, a stick-in-the-mud. Maybe I just need to accept that I am indeed now an elder, and accept that this is kids today, and just get on with being part of the grand old tradition of elders not approving of "kids today".
Don't get me wrong, I'm no technophobe... I think technology is great and is exciting and has a great many useful and amazing applications - both vital and less vital. Even the completely frivolous and extravagant ideas. The idea of being able to walk round your house and have pictures, climate, music etc change at the press of a button or less is amazing. A fridge that detects when you're at the supermarket and sends you a text telling you your butter's out of date... marvellous! A phone that detects in a crowded park that a bench has just become free... hmmm not so sure but you get my point.
I just worry for the social implications it has.
And based on no solid evidence but what I have noticed and my own prejudices, I am largely referring to the effect on younger people. I feel posited on a vantage point I'm sure will resonate with many my age. That is, I remember a time when having a mobile phone wasn't normal. When it wasn't expected. I remember even more clearly a time when phones simply weren't capable of connecting us to so many services. You rung people on them. Later you texted people on them too. I remember a time when the internet was a luxury. I remember the magic and utter bafflement when school was connected to the internet. I remember a time when, if I wanted to use the internet for my homework, I had to book a computer at the library. I am old enough to remember this.
I am also young enough to take the fact that I can order, pay for, and listen to a news report made minutes ago with a couple of taps on a screen for granted. I was young as this technology became popular - I am used to it and would feel weird without it.
People a few years younger than me do not know a world where it's almost inconceivable to not have a mobile phone and Broadband at home. Of course technology moves on and what was once exciting and new is soon taken for granted. In this country, a flushing toilet was once never heard of, then a luxury, and now a commodity you don't even imagine not having in your home.
Maybe 'worry' is too strong a word for what I'm doing. It doesn't keep me up at night. I suppose what I'm doing is wondering and hoping the answer isn't bad.
I wonder what effect taking for granted such round-the-clock connectedness to everything will have on people. I wonder if being socially inept face-to-face may soon not be considered a deficiency, as face-to-face interaction is actually far less common-place and much less necessary.
There are too many humans on the planet to exist and maintain infrastructures without the technology to which I'm referring, and this is natural progression. But now, for the first time, we have the theoretical capability to interact with a lot of them from out bedrooms. We don't however, have the capacity to form meaningful relationships with all of those. Our brains just do not have the capacity to store and update information about that number of people on a meaningful and personal level. This, it seems to me, could push people to try to become their own mini-celebrity. They centre social media around themselves and instead of forming deeper relationships with fewer people, they are forming more superficial relationships with a larger number of people.
With increased amounts of time spent doing this, and the simple fact that you will continue interacting on some level with long past the point where without the tech you would have ceased doing so could lead to people stretching themselves thinly.
I'm extrapolating here (quite possibly bombastically) but also, instead of talking about themselves, opening up, and discussing things, people get used to 'updating' about themselves, closing off, and maintaining a publically acceptable persona. They get used to interacting very superficially. The way people interact online spills over into face to face interactions. Sure, technology has always shaped the way we interact and this may be the next step (or it may not be) and the old guard always regard these changes with suspicion. I find this topic fascinating and exciting and fun but I also find myself hoping I like however it will turn out regardless of my musings.
This has been a particularly long ramble, even for me.
For example, it is easy for someone to socialise online now via texts and IMs emails, Facebook and so on. You can consider yourself very well informed on the well-being of your friends having not seen or even actually spoken to them in months. I worry that people growing up used to this level of electronic socialising may be relying on them and not developing adequate real-life social skills, even preferring electronic socialising as it is easier, broader, and yet also appeals to any innate egotism we may have.
I worry we're losing the respect for the wisdom of our elders. Now, when we move out of home and we wonder how to cook that joint, or sort that leaky tap, or what to do about that patch of dry skin, or check that thing on the car, what to do with our baby when it does that thing, or who that President was, we don't need to ask our mum and dad, our grandparents, or other members of our community... when we can Google it.
In a day we can wake up, catch up with the news of our nearest and dearest on Facebook, the news of the wider world on telly and websites, work from home on the computer and web, shop from home at our computer or phone, research trivia and skills from home, learn how to cook on our own. When we worry that we are not socialising correctly, we can check our online help groups and forums for reassurance that we are actually ok and that this is how things simply are in the modern age.
If this is all too much in real life, we have entire games with their own politics, infrastructures, and communities where we can do all of this stuff virtually.
We all know it's actually not that uncommon in a room full of friends who have met up to socialise with each other, to see that they are all on their phones, often socialising virtually with others.I did a full day of workshops at a Halloween Holiday summer club a few weeks ago. The kids there were about 11 or 12 I think. At lunch time, they were mostly sitting on the sofas with their phones in their hands. It made me sad. The teachers made a point of making them go outside and organising some ball games to play. To me, it seems odd that a group of kids who all know each other would need to be made, after several hours indoors, to go outside and play.
I also worry that I'm now becoming officially old and more specifically, a stick-in-the-mud. Maybe I just need to accept that I am indeed now an elder, and accept that this is kids today, and just get on with being part of the grand old tradition of elders not approving of "kids today".
Don't get me wrong, I'm no technophobe... I think technology is great and is exciting and has a great many useful and amazing applications - both vital and less vital. Even the completely frivolous and extravagant ideas. The idea of being able to walk round your house and have pictures, climate, music etc change at the press of a button or less is amazing. A fridge that detects when you're at the supermarket and sends you a text telling you your butter's out of date... marvellous! A phone that detects in a crowded park that a bench has just become free... hmmm not so sure but you get my point.
I just worry for the social implications it has.
And based on no solid evidence but what I have noticed and my own prejudices, I am largely referring to the effect on younger people. I feel posited on a vantage point I'm sure will resonate with many my age. That is, I remember a time when having a mobile phone wasn't normal. When it wasn't expected. I remember even more clearly a time when phones simply weren't capable of connecting us to so many services. You rung people on them. Later you texted people on them too. I remember a time when the internet was a luxury. I remember the magic and utter bafflement when school was connected to the internet. I remember a time when, if I wanted to use the internet for my homework, I had to book a computer at the library. I am old enough to remember this.
I am also young enough to take the fact that I can order, pay for, and listen to a news report made minutes ago with a couple of taps on a screen for granted. I was young as this technology became popular - I am used to it and would feel weird without it.
People a few years younger than me do not know a world where it's almost inconceivable to not have a mobile phone and Broadband at home. Of course technology moves on and what was once exciting and new is soon taken for granted. In this country, a flushing toilet was once never heard of, then a luxury, and now a commodity you don't even imagine not having in your home.
Maybe 'worry' is too strong a word for what I'm doing. It doesn't keep me up at night. I suppose what I'm doing is wondering and hoping the answer isn't bad.
I wonder what effect taking for granted such round-the-clock connectedness to everything will have on people. I wonder if being socially inept face-to-face may soon not be considered a deficiency, as face-to-face interaction is actually far less common-place and much less necessary.
There are too many humans on the planet to exist and maintain infrastructures without the technology to which I'm referring, and this is natural progression. But now, for the first time, we have the theoretical capability to interact with a lot of them from out bedrooms. We don't however, have the capacity to form meaningful relationships with all of those. Our brains just do not have the capacity to store and update information about that number of people on a meaningful and personal level. This, it seems to me, could push people to try to become their own mini-celebrity. They centre social media around themselves and instead of forming deeper relationships with fewer people, they are forming more superficial relationships with a larger number of people.
With increased amounts of time spent doing this, and the simple fact that you will continue interacting on some level with long past the point where without the tech you would have ceased doing so could lead to people stretching themselves thinly.
I'm extrapolating here (quite possibly bombastically) but also, instead of talking about themselves, opening up, and discussing things, people get used to 'updating' about themselves, closing off, and maintaining a publically acceptable persona. They get used to interacting very superficially. The way people interact online spills over into face to face interactions. Sure, technology has always shaped the way we interact and this may be the next step (or it may not be) and the old guard always regard these changes with suspicion. I find this topic fascinating and exciting and fun but I also find myself hoping I like however it will turn out regardless of my musings.
This has been a particularly long ramble, even for me.
Monday 28 May 2012
Productive in the Sun!
Gurch, at The Cornershop in Stratford asked me to draw him a picture of Shakespeare holding a jar of sweets for his sweet jar labels.
The Cornershop is where I used to get changed into the Grim Reaper when I worked for Grimm's Ghostly Tours when I was 14... 14 years ago! Gurch remembered me, we got to chatting and he asked for a toon. I've been stupidly busy with DJing Subculture, Subside, and Velvet, doing Mad Science, and Mad Museum as well as peripheral stuff like networking so it took a coupla weeks from starting it, showing him prelims, acting on feedback, and getting him the final copy but he seems happy with it as I sent it off last night.
I also spent a lot of yesterday designing business cards with moo.com and VistaPrint. The Moo ones allow more creative control so I imagine they'll be for business or guaranteed clients. I've done 3 of those - one for Illustrating, one for DJing, and one for Performance (Stilts, Grinding etc).
The VistaPrint ones, will just be for handing out generally willy nilly and they're a combination of my skills on one card. I'm waiting for payments to start rolling in (end of the month!) before I order them, but they're all saved in my Carts!
And I designed, finally, some flyers/posters on Photoshop. These are for putting up, leaving in shops, posting through doors.
Two slightly different ones. One a general illustration one, one more skewed towards caricatures. Again, I'm waiting for the dollar to come through before actually ordering them.
It's been nice learning and applying some design techniques. It's the first time I've seriously designed anything like this. Maybe this learning will come in useful again soon.
All is well. MAD Museum are keen to get me in over the Jubilee, and I think Area 51 may have some work for me too. I've got a few after school classes with Mad Science this week, then half-term next week. I've done a bit of gardening, so the garden is now inhabitable to sit in and read which has been nice! I've finished my "Perdido Street Station", review here. I'm now reading "I, Partridge", Alan Partridge's autobiography - very funny! And dipping into a book of essays about the morality, legality, artistic merits, psychology and more of pornography - interesting!
All's good.
Right! Now to make sure I know all the stuff for my lesson today and get showered etc!
The Cornershop is where I used to get changed into the Grim Reaper when I worked for Grimm's Ghostly Tours when I was 14... 14 years ago! Gurch remembered me, we got to chatting and he asked for a toon. I've been stupidly busy with DJing Subculture, Subside, and Velvet, doing Mad Science, and Mad Museum as well as peripheral stuff like networking so it took a coupla weeks from starting it, showing him prelims, acting on feedback, and getting him the final copy but he seems happy with it as I sent it off last night.
I also spent a lot of yesterday designing business cards with moo.com and VistaPrint. The Moo ones allow more creative control so I imagine they'll be for business or guaranteed clients. I've done 3 of those - one for Illustrating, one for DJing, and one for Performance (Stilts, Grinding etc).
The VistaPrint ones, will just be for handing out generally willy nilly and they're a combination of my skills on one card. I'm waiting for payments to start rolling in (end of the month!) before I order them, but they're all saved in my Carts!
And I designed, finally, some flyers/posters on Photoshop. These are for putting up, leaving in shops, posting through doors.
Two slightly different ones. One a general illustration one, one more skewed towards caricatures. Again, I'm waiting for the dollar to come through before actually ordering them.
It's been nice learning and applying some design techniques. It's the first time I've seriously designed anything like this. Maybe this learning will come in useful again soon.
All is well. MAD Museum are keen to get me in over the Jubilee, and I think Area 51 may have some work for me too. I've got a few after school classes with Mad Science this week, then half-term next week. I've done a bit of gardening, so the garden is now inhabitable to sit in and read which has been nice! I've finished my "Perdido Street Station", review here. I'm now reading "I, Partridge", Alan Partridge's autobiography - very funny! And dipping into a book of essays about the morality, legality, artistic merits, psychology and more of pornography - interesting!
All's good.
Right! Now to make sure I know all the stuff for my lesson today and get showered etc!
Monday 19 March 2012
Monday Night... not Blue!
Today, I woke up feeling very content indeed.
I awoke at my parents', early for me at 8am. I decided not to roll over and sleep until the hour of the day had at least two digits, but rather to sit in bed read some more of One Day which I am loving. I just read for an hour and a half and was happy. I was glad to find I could remember the ideas I had for my own writing project last night as I walked here and may combine with a drawing project. I've had lots of vague ideas swirling round my head, all interconnected. Last night a flash hit me of how I might connect them all in a coherent and interesting way.
Then I got up, had breakfast with dad, did a bit of paperwork etc, then did a spot of drawing then chatted to dad some more, largely about music which led to me buying 8 Mile for him as I think he'd like it and know he'll never watch it if it's not physically in the house. He wouldn't order it off Film Flex or anything.
I chatted to dad about work and helped him swot up on a test he has to do for work on Thursday. I realised I've started thinking in a much more business-like way than I did a couple of years ago. Last week was very busy what with long days at Mad Science doing schools followed by 3 days with them at the NEC, the last of which was followed by a cracking late shift at Subside, but all of which were done with a developing cold that involved body aches, hot and cold spells, and losing my voice.
I still have the last traces of that cold so it was nice to be relaxed and somewhere as safe-feeling as my parents' today.
After dad went to work, I drew a little bit more until mum got home and she gave me a lift to pick up my DVDs that I'd mistakenly ordered to an old address of mine.
Then we watched some Big Bang Theory and Star Trek TNG together, and now I have come back and done a bit more drawing. All interspersed with chatting to lovely people on my phone all day and listening to new music. It's just been pleasant and I've felt oddly productive for a slow day. I wanted to spend some time with the folks and I have. I wanted to draw and I have. I wanted to sort out the paperwork I needed to sort and I have. I wanted to have some ideas about where to start this writing project and I have. I wanted to get my DVDs and I have. I wanted to read and I have. I wanted to check out some musicians I haven't listened to before and I have. (Gotye and The Word Alive)
All easily attainable goals but I haven't been too lazy to acheive any of them which I often do on lazy days.
The pic hasn't progressed much but here is how it's looking now:
I feel content and able to take on the world.
Tomorrow, I have to drop some paperwork off at Selly Oak Hospital before 12:30 (which will involve going home to get it first! I'm hoping dad might give me a lift. I rarely ask him for a lift actually.) and then I will hopefully be buying a car if I can find one I can afford that doesn't look knackered and hasn't already sold by the time I ring about it tomorrow.
I feel the most optimistic about life that I have in months. It's nice! I feel maybe like I'm actually starting to grow up and take control of my life rather than letting it lead me around and just holding on tight and enjoying the ride. I have a better idea of where from and when my money comes in and I've whittled down frivolous spending a lot and have a better handle on where from and when my money goes out.
I'm now quite tired and looking forward to going to bed, reading for 15 mins or so, then going to sleep before 1am.
I'm starting to feel like a adult for the first time in my life.
And I rather like it!
I awoke at my parents', early for me at 8am. I decided not to roll over and sleep until the hour of the day had at least two digits, but rather to sit in bed read some more of One Day which I am loving. I just read for an hour and a half and was happy. I was glad to find I could remember the ideas I had for my own writing project last night as I walked here and may combine with a drawing project. I've had lots of vague ideas swirling round my head, all interconnected. Last night a flash hit me of how I might connect them all in a coherent and interesting way.
Then I got up, had breakfast with dad, did a bit of paperwork etc, then did a spot of drawing then chatted to dad some more, largely about music which led to me buying 8 Mile for him as I think he'd like it and know he'll never watch it if it's not physically in the house. He wouldn't order it off Film Flex or anything.
I chatted to dad about work and helped him swot up on a test he has to do for work on Thursday. I realised I've started thinking in a much more business-like way than I did a couple of years ago. Last week was very busy what with long days at Mad Science doing schools followed by 3 days with them at the NEC, the last of which was followed by a cracking late shift at Subside, but all of which were done with a developing cold that involved body aches, hot and cold spells, and losing my voice.
I still have the last traces of that cold so it was nice to be relaxed and somewhere as safe-feeling as my parents' today.
After dad went to work, I drew a little bit more until mum got home and she gave me a lift to pick up my DVDs that I'd mistakenly ordered to an old address of mine.
Then we watched some Big Bang Theory and Star Trek TNG together, and now I have come back and done a bit more drawing. All interspersed with chatting to lovely people on my phone all day and listening to new music. It's just been pleasant and I've felt oddly productive for a slow day. I wanted to spend some time with the folks and I have. I wanted to draw and I have. I wanted to sort out the paperwork I needed to sort and I have. I wanted to have some ideas about where to start this writing project and I have. I wanted to get my DVDs and I have. I wanted to read and I have. I wanted to check out some musicians I haven't listened to before and I have. (Gotye and The Word Alive)
All easily attainable goals but I haven't been too lazy to acheive any of them which I often do on lazy days.
The pic hasn't progressed much but here is how it's looking now:
 |
| Click for bigness... |
I feel content and able to take on the world.
Tomorrow, I have to drop some paperwork off at Selly Oak Hospital before 12:30 (which will involve going home to get it first! I'm hoping dad might give me a lift. I rarely ask him for a lift actually.) and then I will hopefully be buying a car if I can find one I can afford that doesn't look knackered and hasn't already sold by the time I ring about it tomorrow.
I feel the most optimistic about life that I have in months. It's nice! I feel maybe like I'm actually starting to grow up and take control of my life rather than letting it lead me around and just holding on tight and enjoying the ride. I have a better idea of where from and when my money comes in and I've whittled down frivolous spending a lot and have a better handle on where from and when my money goes out.
I'm now quite tired and looking forward to going to bed, reading for 15 mins or so, then going to sleep before 1am.
I'm starting to feel like a adult for the first time in my life.
And I rather like it!
Thursday 1 March 2012
Today
Here is the Steampunk piece so far: CLICK
It's going slowly but I'm really happy with how it's looking. Really happy so far!
Today - I am doing some more stuff with Mad Science in a couple of hours. A new school so that should be interesting!
Then later, I'm DJing some rock, metal, punk and alternative at Velvet Nightclub in Worcester for the 2nd time.
Looking forward to that too!
Today, I am liking the artwork of Nam Sang Heun
And I have finally listened to Matchbox Twenty. I like them. Make me think a little of The Black Crowes.
It's going slowly but I'm really happy with how it's looking. Really happy so far!
Today - I am doing some more stuff with Mad Science in a couple of hours. A new school so that should be interesting!
Then later, I'm DJing some rock, metal, punk and alternative at Velvet Nightclub in Worcester for the 2nd time.
Looking forward to that too!
Today, I am liking the artwork of Nam Sang Heun
And I have finally listened to Matchbox Twenty. I like them. Make me think a little of The Black Crowes.
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Steampunk Drawing Update
Here's how it's looking so far!
CLICK!
Quite happy with how it's looking at the mo. Haven't been able to do much more on it but this is what I have so far!
Edit:
And now, I have a little bit more done on it.
CLICK AGAIN!
I'm trying something a little different with this. After laying down just a base colour for each person/thing in the picture, I'll then paint on a single layer that it ON TOP of the sketch layer.
I'm hoping this will:
a) Give it a more painterly style and
b) force me to make tougher decisions and tighten up my thinking while freeing up my style a little.
Also, I have mainly been listening to The Human Abstract (along with The Architects, Cancer Bats, and Abandon All Ships - yes - I'm in that sorta mood!).
The Human Abstract - Fusing metal with classical music in a novel way.
See here: Human Abstract – Antebellum
CLICK!
Quite happy with how it's looking at the mo. Haven't been able to do much more on it but this is what I have so far!
Edit:
And now, I have a little bit more done on it.
CLICK AGAIN!
I'm trying something a little different with this. After laying down just a base colour for each person/thing in the picture, I'll then paint on a single layer that it ON TOP of the sketch layer.
I'm hoping this will:
a) Give it a more painterly style and
b) force me to make tougher decisions and tighten up my thinking while freeing up my style a little.
Also, I have mainly been listening to The Human Abstract (along with The Architects, Cancer Bats, and Abandon All Ships - yes - I'm in that sorta mood!).
The Human Abstract - Fusing metal with classical music in a novel way.
See here: Human Abstract – Antebellum
Monday 27 February 2012
Productive?
Entered a competition to design a cute monster for a t-shirt on DeviantArt today.
If you're a member, check it out and if you like it vote by clicking "I'd Wear This" here - http://capndred.deviantart.com/#/d4r361s
Also joined a couple more networking sites but haven't really sorted out the profiles for them yet. Later.
Watched more 24. Two more episodes left!
Listened to some Gonjasufi, some Grandaddy, and some Handsome Boy Modelling School.
Ones I've had on repeat:
Gonjasufi: Sheep, and Dobermins
Grandaddy: He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot
Handsome Boy Modelling School: The Truth, and A Day In The Life - featuring RZA, The Mars Volta & AG + Good Hygiene featuring Tim Meadows
Choonz!!!
If you're a member, check it out and if you like it vote by clicking "I'd Wear This" here - http://capndred.deviantart.com/#/d4r361s
Also joined a couple more networking sites but haven't really sorted out the profiles for them yet. Later.
Watched more 24. Two more episodes left!
Listened to some Gonjasufi, some Grandaddy, and some Handsome Boy Modelling School.
Ones I've had on repeat:
Gonjasufi: Sheep, and Dobermins
Grandaddy: He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot
Handsome Boy Modelling School: The Truth, and A Day In The Life - featuring RZA, The Mars Volta & AG + Good Hygiene featuring Tim Meadows
Choonz!!!
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Old!
Wow!
Just been flicking through my old LiveJournal Entries.
Very interesting for me. Not so sure about anyone else.
Rather than port them all over here, I'm just gonna link to that old journal here.
http://capndred.livejournal.com/
Just been flicking through my old LiveJournal Entries.
Very interesting for me. Not so sure about anyone else.
Rather than port them all over here, I'm just gonna link to that old journal here.
http://capndred.livejournal.com/
Networking
So I need to make another push at this.
I'm signing up to creative and professional networking sites. Free ones at first and we'll see how they go, and then maybe I'll think about paying for some and seeing if results are worthwhile.
I'm not sure how to use these websites properly yet but now I am on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/curtis-allen/48/9b2/3b5
And Behance - http://www.behance.net/curtisallen
And I've been on PeoplePerHour for a few months now - http://www.peopleperhour.com/freelancers/curtis_allen/portfolio/freelance_illustrator_and_artist/239446
I hope to figure out how to use these to their full potential soon.
I'm also looking into getting flyers and business cards printed up and then repeating all of this for DJing too.
Busy times!
I'm signing up to creative and professional networking sites. Free ones at first and we'll see how they go, and then maybe I'll think about paying for some and seeing if results are worthwhile.
I'm not sure how to use these websites properly yet but now I am on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/curtis-allen/48/9b2/3b5
And Behance - http://www.behance.net/curtisallen
And I've been on PeoplePerHour for a few months now - http://www.peopleperhour.com/freelancers/curtis_allen/portfolio/freelance_illustrator_and_artist/239446
I hope to figure out how to use these to their full potential soon.
I'm also looking into getting flyers and business cards printed up and then repeating all of this for DJing too.
Busy times!
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Steampunk and Space
For ages I've been wanting to draw some proper, honest-to-goodness steampunk characters, but haven't gotten around to it. I think maybe because I'm worried I won't be able to, but I adore steampunk and it will really upset me if I'm not good at drawing it.
But, what with the upcoming Steampunk Ball I'm off to this weekend, spending a fair amount of time explaining steampunk to people, flicking through my 1,000 Steampunk Creations book (thanks Izzy!) I've felt compelled to.
Also, having my head abuzz with ideas for what to do with the cariacature lockets I've just started offering for sale, and the fact that being in the new house has made me feel more inclined to creativity, I've started a new Steampunk themed piece.
It's quite narrative - there's a clear event being depicted in it, which I've realised I rarely do - the exception being my "I Thought I Already Killed You" piece, and to a lesser degree, my "Not While I Still Draw Breath" piece.
For the new piece, I've picked a slightly awkward angle (for me at least - I rarely draw people from this angle) and a lot of the finer details I don't have clear in my head - but I've got colours and emotions, and overall mood I want to convey in my head so I'm hoping the details materialise from these.
Tonight I have pencilled in the main figures, sorted out the larger aspects of composition, and left it at that.
I will be updating my prgress here.
Click HERE to see how it looks currently.
The good thing about having a near enough dedicated drawing space is that I don't feel such a need to get as much done in one session as I can now leave, knowing that when I come back, I don't have to go through the rigmarole of clearing a space and setting up again. I think this is going to aid my productivity no end. Rather than feeling I've got to have a clear few hours to make it worth drawing, I can do just a little in an idle half hour.
Bliss!
Curt -xXx-
But, what with the upcoming Steampunk Ball I'm off to this weekend, spending a fair amount of time explaining steampunk to people, flicking through my 1,000 Steampunk Creations book (thanks Izzy!) I've felt compelled to.
Also, having my head abuzz with ideas for what to do with the cariacature lockets I've just started offering for sale, and the fact that being in the new house has made me feel more inclined to creativity, I've started a new Steampunk themed piece.
It's quite narrative - there's a clear event being depicted in it, which I've realised I rarely do - the exception being my "I Thought I Already Killed You" piece, and to a lesser degree, my "Not While I Still Draw Breath" piece.
For the new piece, I've picked a slightly awkward angle (for me at least - I rarely draw people from this angle) and a lot of the finer details I don't have clear in my head - but I've got colours and emotions, and overall mood I want to convey in my head so I'm hoping the details materialise from these.
Tonight I have pencilled in the main figures, sorted out the larger aspects of composition, and left it at that.
I will be updating my prgress here.
Click HERE to see how it looks currently.
The good thing about having a near enough dedicated drawing space is that I don't feel such a need to get as much done in one session as I can now leave, knowing that when I come back, I don't have to go through the rigmarole of clearing a space and setting up again. I think this is going to aid my productivity no end. Rather than feeling I've got to have a clear few hours to make it worth drawing, I can do just a little in an idle half hour.
Bliss!
Curt -xXx-
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