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Tweet tweet!

2009-10-12T20:25:00.011+13:00

I might not have been around my blog or flickr much, lately... but I do tweet a fair bit.

Wordmap via Wordle

I guess this wordmap of my tweets (all 845 of them!) might be considered as proof that I don't say much of use on twitter, but I'm okay with that ;)

If you aren't too cool to have a twitter account, you're not a pesky spambot or creepy stalker, and you feel like adding me, you might want to click here. If not, oh well, I'll see you around ;)

Just like magic!

2009-08-20T20:11:00.008+12:00

Know what this is?

It's a stick of awesome. Also known as a magic pencil.

It really is magical, though. See, it has a multi coloured lead, so when you draw with it, the colours change as it wears down. And don't tell me they're for kids, because KOH-I-NOOR makes a really good one, and I like it too much to be told it's immature.

Anyway, it's been a lot of fun on the class drawing trips we've been on lately. This drawing was from the petting zoo at Willowbank... the goats kept putting their head through the wooden fence, and getting their horns stuck. Fully adorable.

See what I mean? Everything looks better when you draw it with a magic pencil!

Also, I learnt something interesting at the petting zoo: Goats and sheep have rectangular irises. Surely I should have known this, living in NZ, the land of sheep related bestiality jokes... but instead I freaked out when I saw their eyes.... and everyone was like "so what?".

Oh well. I guess it just proves I'm not like these guys, then. Heh.

Sneak peekery

2009-08-07T19:51:00.007+12:00

I have a sort of big presentation for my double graphic design assignment on Monday... but in the meantime, I'll hand out a sneak preview of what I've been up to as of late...

The brief was to team up with the interior designers at course to design a logo and other fun things for a second year fashion students from downstairs. Confusing stuff. But more on that later. Why don't you just look at the pretty pictures while I collapse in a twitching heap of caffeine and misprinted paper?

^ Logo design

Kerrie is a little on the gothic fantasy side of fashion, but her stuff is pretty cool. I figured I might as well go a little more mainstream accessible... hence, you get a logo with eyes growing out of it. She was also interested in mens fashion, so I went for a more unisex logo... I think. Maybe. I tried.

This was a screenshot from the poster as I was working on it. Note that it is zoomed out to 16.7%... I'm surprised I'm able to type at all! There were a lot of branches in the end, I'm so happy with the way it turned out!. But that is for another day when I have regained my ability to control my eyelids.

Seriously. It's 8pm and I'm gonna crash. Goodnight, and see you!

EDIT: Apparently, I was too tired to link to the photos properly, and so this post was actually about nothing for a while. Kimbyfail. Sorry about that, guys.

A little more couldn't hurt...

2009-07-08T00:01:00.006+12:00

I know I rambled on about Alice in Wonderland last week, but I just can't get enough. So I apologise to those people out there that dislike the Lewis Caroll masterpiece... Such as my boyfriend. He hates Alice in Wonderland. He also hates strange remixes that are on the interesting side of things. So if you're of the same animatory and musical preferences as he is, you might want to skip the play button on this one, and go iron your shirts for work tomorrow.

Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. But don't say I didn't warn you.

It's pretty amazing, considering it's composed entirely from the soundtrack of Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Just like the video is made from clips of the movie, too. It's not just a strange, drug inspired trance track like the rest of the genre. It actually has substance*!

As for my holidays, I have been very happy sleeping 12 hours at a time, working minimal amounts and slowly transforming my room from a miniature rubbish tip into the coziest, cleanest cardboard box a hobo could ever dream of! My room is really very tiny, and the addition of a desk has left me with about 1.5 square meters of floor space. Floor space is for losers. But it does mean that I can't dance embarrassingly badly to loud music without injuring myself anymore :(

Actually, that's probably a good thing. I'll have to ask Nick which is the lesser of his dislikes... Me dancing to music that is ninety shades darker than I am, or listening to trancey stuff mixed from Alice in Wonderland?

I guess I'll have to let you know.

*yeah, I know, I know. It wasn't vaguely funny. I'm sorry.

Last day of term...

2009-07-02T23:06:00.005+12:00

Well, in under an hour it will be.

Despite the fact that I have yet to finish my photography assignment, I am here, writing. But, to be honest, I'm very excited about my two weeks of holidays. But, in the meantime, here is a snippet from our most recently completed assignment:

It's a book cover design, I know this doesn't show that particularly well, but it was fun to make. I decided to create the cover for a commentary on the life of Lewis Carrol, of which there are already many books on the subject. Or perhaps I am anticipating the release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Boy, is that going to be an interesting film or what?

I have also recently jumped on the musical bandwagon and joined Last.fm, which is a great tool for stalking other people's taste in music and then copying them cause it's cool. I'm also rambling about this because I really don't want to do any coursework. But still, you should check it out. It's not like you're the one with the assignments due or anything.

But seriously, it's pretty cool.

I guess I should go, I'm going to have to get up super early in the morning. Although 'm not sure if I'm physically capable of such things... I certainly haven't been, lately...

Thank goodness for holidays.

I've got superpowers (Shhh, it's a secret!)

2009-06-17T22:12:00.008+12:00

Just a little class project, where we had to transform ourselves and a classmate picked at random, into a superhero/sidekick team. Being unoriginal, I gave myself drawing powers. I was considering the power of Ctrl+Z, for a little while, but then decided that would be even geekier than drawing powers. So, here's the result:

Complete with jumpsuit and a ridiculous number of pockets. Sketchgirl was the result of my character accidentally locking herself in a magical storeroom on the fine arts floor of college. Finally, after 3 days of entrapment, she was freed by a friend... but not without the strange ability to make anything she drew come to life.

The friend that helped her escape the cursed cupboard, couldn't get away without the infliction of a few superpowers either, and so became The Sellotape Kid. Not only can she beat up the bad guys using nothing but Sellotape and karate moves, she can also find that elusive end of the clear tape, first time, every time. Cool, huh?

Well, I better be off to save the world, in some form of artistic adventure or another! Until next time!

Please be aware that I accept no responsibility for person(s) attempting to accidentally lock themselves in a cupboard in order to gain superpowers. Especially if you're trying for the sellotape one. I want that one, darn it!

*slams cupboard door*

Pour a little sugar on it, honey

2009-06-09T20:59:00.005+12:00

We've just finished an assignment in class for Chelsea Sugar- designing a mock set of ads for the NZ Womens Weekly. So, I went down the Kiwiana route... since everyone in NZ knows what Chelsea sugar looks like, I decided to have some fun. Although, I swear the pink wasn't quite so bright before I uploaded it. Sorry if your eyes are burning.

But, in more important news, I got new boots! I've been desperately needing some new boots for the days where it's so cold that you absolutely have to wear a pair of socks or two, unless you want to freeze your toes off. And because I value what little sense of balance I have without losing the added stability my toes provide for me, I went on a mission.

And returned with these. I love a successful shopping mission. I imagine it's similar to the thrill of killing a bison in order to provide for your starving family, except without the blood and guts. And, they're so stable, I probably could hunt a bison in them if I really wanted to. Perfect!

Another thing I find absolutley amazing is the built in iSight camera in my Macbook. It's just so handy for the times you can't be bothered setting up a real camera that actually takes decent photos. Which, if you're like me, is fairly often.

Unfortunately, these two loves of mine don't get along so well. The above photo merely proves that I should take a little pride both in my photography and in myself. But for now, I'm just going to go with sticking my legs in the air and hoping that my parents don't walk in on me trying to photograph my legs with my computer. That could be a fun one to explain.

Hmmm. Next time, I'll get the camera out.

Stumped.

2009-06-03T11:43:00.004+12:00

Well, I have been a little sick lately. But, I'm feeling better now, and not as stressed as I was before.

And now that my macbook is up and running, the world is right again.

:)

...Bad News.

2009-05-15T19:27:00.005+12:00

I have some terrible news, I'm afraid.

I'm not blogging this from my Macbook.

This is because, a few days ago, I did a silly and foolish thing. After charging my wonderful, shiny new macbook, I left the adaptor plugged in behind the couch, hidden from sight and reach- or so I thought.

Somehow, the dogs managed to bury behind the couch, and my means of charging my macbook has been devoured into 9 separate pieces. My joy has been dashed to pieces by sharp-toothed, heartless monsters.

It is okay, though. A not cheap replacement adaptor is on its way, and I have learned something. The moral of this story is: Terriers are horribly hungry creatures. Do not even attempt to hide a possible source of food from them.

THEY WILL HUNT IT DOWN AND KILL IT

Alive and Kicking

2009-05-08T17:32:00.004+12:00

That's right... I have my brand new shiny Macbook.

This could not get any more amazing. It really is shiny.
I was going to take lots of pictures while opening the box, but I decided to keep my semblance of not being super geeky. Instead, I just took one...

I guess I should just face it. I'm in love with a computer.

Boring Announcement.

2009-04-14T11:39:00.003+12:00

Just to let you know, I've been banned from the computer at home indefinitely. So I won't be around much until I get my own... perhaps a couple of weeks?

Oh well. It's about time I got a mac.

I've got plans...

2009-03-20T11:18:00.005+13:00

Friday, I love you. Saturday, you kill my soul. Sunday, I'm sleeping in, dammit!

That should be my weekend in 9 letters. Hopefully I will return with new shoes, a paycheck and another blog post on the U of Sunday. Only 1 hour to go!

Oh, joy! (Truth vs. Sarcasm)

2009-02-23T23:17:00.005+13:00

I went shopping the other day, and bought something really, really, really cool.

I think one of my favorite things to spend money on (other than shoes) is books. Specifically, ART books. This one is Art Now, Volume 2, Published by Taschen. I would write more about it, but it would be boring without being able to see the pages. It's one of those books you buy for the glory of the slightly strange, yet attractively glossy pictures within. So I'll write about something else instead.

At course today, I was working on a typography design brief, and it's really, really, really cool.

Sike! It's ridiculously tedious, and highly confusing. This is what I was doing today instead of working on it. But that's okay, we should be finishing tomorrow. In the meantime, I think I'm going to go home, and read my book.

Fingers crossed, it will balance things out.

Stupidly fun.

2009-02-21T16:17:00.005+13:00

Well, Ive fallen prey to the latest random photoshop craze that's making the rounds on facebook and other places I frequent. It involves making an imaginary album cover with elements picked at random. This is how you do it...

1 - Go to "Wikipedia."
Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use a photo editing program such as Photoshop to put it all together. You can even use MS Paint :P

Rimi is a Municipality in Nepal, if you were wondering. Also, there are a lot of people on flickr who like flowers.

I can't picture what sort of music this band would make at all...

The last one turned out so amazingly. And I didn't even cheat! Hehehe.

Well, that's my little diversion at the moment. That, and catching up on sleep.

Whimsical vs Eclectic

2009-02-04T13:19:00.011+13:00

That's right, it's the battle of the century (assuming the century started today and exculdes people wearing spandex or carrying guns). Class requires that we make an ink drawing rating our various character traits.

They were (in no particular order): Whimsical, Talkative, Artistic, Unorganised, Eclectic, Selfconcious, and Imaginative. So, which one does this image have more of? Whimsy or Eclecticness? I'd appreciate your comments ;)

That Beep - Architecture in Helsinki
Also, if you were wondering how I come up with such things as monsters playing in my hair, and words coming out of a tea-cup, it might help if you listen to this while you look at it. I really do love this song!

Now that my first assignment is done and dusted, I have to make a list of ten random emotive words, and I don't know why- Our tutor didn't say. This could be interesting...

Where have you been?

2009-02-02T13:57:00.007+13:00

*cough* I'm here now, please, don't be angry!

I've just started back at course last week, and therefore, decided that it's about bloody time to put up the remainder of my work from last year that was marked over the holidays.

This is supposed to be an edgily designed clock. Why I chose.... CHOSE to make it out of wood, I have no idea, but carving those numbers out was far more trouble than it was worth. It turned out okay, but i would desperately like to make it again with only the twelve and six numbers, and a woodworking tool that doesn't keep breaking on you every ten minutes. That'll be the day...

Our painting assignment actually finished earlier than this, I was just lazy and never took it home. We had to create a word out of a group of objects related to it. That makes it sound boring, but it was actually quite fun :)

Can you read it? It's sort of legible. Well, as far as landscapes go, anyway.

As far as making something cool every day has been going, I haven't been doing particularly well. It started when mum took the memory card out of her camera so I couldn't use it, but I had better stop using my parents as an excuse for not doing things. I've mostly been making things daily, but not recording them, so i might just have to upload a whole lot of crap to my flickr and start again from today, perhaps? I now have a camera of my own, which is fairly decent, so i think i might just shut up and start using it.

The time schedual at course has been leaving me with a lot of spare time where, in reality, all I'm doing is sitting and doodling, so it's been pretty good so far. I'm not expecting it to stay this calm forever, though... Not if my super-procrastinatory-powers have anything to do about it.

Holidays and other such things...

2009-01-08T16:32:00.004+13:00

Well, It's been Christmas, and New Year, and I'm trying to shake off the drowsiness that comes with my yearly hibernation of productivity every December. Not that I'm the busiest person normally, but December is always just really really lazy for me. Now that it's well and truly Januraray, I have to prove I have actually been getting cracking!

I actually made some new years resolutions this year, and one of is to make something cool every day.

See? I've been working on it.

My Aunt and Uncle gave me this mini-calendar for christmas, and although pictures of sleeping kittens are very cute, I thought I could make it more interesting. I think I succeeded. I think.

Anyway, I'll be back around here a bit more often now that I've managed to unsluggish myself. Yay!

Random doodles

2008-12-17T09:44:00.004+13:00

I have plenty more where these came from.

I got my marks back from course yesterday. I'm fairly happy, I got 88% overall, which is pretty decent, really- considering most of my time at course was spent making these doodles. I'm going to go in sometime this week and pick up the work I left behind... so there should be some photos going up soon! Yay!

If you hadn't noticed, Christmas is almost upon us! It always manges to creep up behind me in an attempt to strangle me with a string of fairy lights. But I'll forgive it... so long as they aren't the lights that flash in time to the awful Christmas midi music. That would be unforgivable.

Headcase

2008-11-15T14:53:00.004+13:00

Okay. I've changed my mind. Instead of posting nudes today, I'm going to post the two sessions of portrait drawing we had recently. So your imagination will be getting no exercise from me today, if you were going to follow along with my diving suit suggestion from last post. Lucky you (Chuana).

We've been doing portrait studies in class recently, but they've been quite tough- with only a 20-30 minutes for each one. I understand why, though. I offered to model for one pose. Well, it's not really modelling, is it? I just sat in a chair looking at the wall so people could draw my face- that means I did not take my clothes off. Perverts. (Ahahaha just kidding, you guys are great.) But anyway, it really hurts you neck. Or perhaps I was doing it wrong?

Most of these are kinda unfinished, and odd looking, but I'm sure you'll get the idea!

This week is shaping up to be a fairly busy one, as I have to do a group oral presentation, hand in my final drawing and life drawing submissions, go ring shopping with Sandy (heheh) and work on some illustrations, and there's a lot more things I want to do if I can find the time. But, in the ever relevant and fitting words of Arnie,

"I'll be back."

It's Movember already?

2008-11-11T21:00:00.005+13:00

Wow. Doesn't time fly? It's going to be Christmas before you know it!

In other news, I have less than three weeks of course left for the year! Not that I haven't enjoyed it, but I'll be glad to have a break. I think mum's a bit angry that I'm not working full time over the holidays, but I have other things I'd like to do instead, and I'm looking forwards to it immensely (assuming I don't get kicked out of home like she's been threatening to for the last few years. Naaaaah...)

Also, I owe a bit of an apology to the people coming in search of nude sketches: I've been slack with photographing my work lately, I promise I'll do it this week, okay? And an apology in advance to those certain people *winks* coming in search of anything but naked people: I actually mean my previous promise. If it makes you feel any better though, you can always squint and imagine they are wearing diving suits.

Anyway, love you all! Happy Movember!

Well, you know me...

2008-10-27T17:43:00.007+13:00

That's right, I've been busy again. No surprise there. But, instead of apologising, why don't I just show you what I've been up to instead? Will that make you feel better?

Well, that was rather long, wasn't it? Oops. Oh well. Anywho, what you just scrolled past in order to be reading this is my "portfolio" of work done at course so far this year. Because it was one of our assignments to make said portfolio, I thought I'd do something a little eclectic- since I'm sure I'll be returning there to study next semester. If you know me, this is a big deal. I'm sure you're thinking something along these lines: Whaaat? Kim's making a decision about her study? WTF? There is no way that this is her typing that. IMPOSTOR!!!

But really, it's me. If you want proof, I sound like a primary school teacher when persuaded to read out articles from Cosmo's sealed section, my mother loves her dogs more than she loves me, I'm procrastinating about approx 26.333(recurring) things at the current point in time, and I dance like a whorish albino black chick. Definitely Kimby. So what's with the whole sudden-ability-to-make-a-decision-thing?

I'll let you know when I do.

It's my birthday...

2008-10-11T01:09:00.003+13:00

That's right, this is a quick post at 2am on the morning of my 19th birthday. Instead of getting drunk like a normal person, I've just changed my blog's colours and background. Good times, right?

Actually, I had been out visiting people, so I guess it's not as sad as it sounds... Hahaha. I should have a busy day ahead of me, even though I'm not having my party today. I'll throw one later, probably after the uni exams are over... You better get ready, guys!

Current Happy Birthday Tally*: 4

Right... I'm going to bed. Please let me know if there's anything that isn't working, and I shall return in the evening with an update on how my day went, and perhaps some photos, if I can.

*not including via text

Ruby, don't take your love to town.

2008-10-06T17:48:00.007+13:00

There is absolutely nothing wrong with listening to Kenny Rogers. Honestly. Or else, I wouldn't have chosen this song:

Ruby, dont take your love to town - Kenny Rogers

As the inspiration behind my second photography brief. No way. I just really happen to like this song. And there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Right?

Ok. Moving right along. I just happened to have the perfect location in mind, for this song. And the perfect props. And the perfect model. So, even though I have very little clue as how to use a DSLR, my photos still turned out pretty well, thanks to everything else being so perfect.

Now, I'd like to thank some people for their contributions to making these photos look good. You guys deserve an award or something.

Thankyou Almost Perfectly Abandoned Shed for being unlocked, spooky, and almost perfectly abandoned.

Thankyou, Mr Farmer, for saying it was fine after I decided to break into your almost perfectly abandoned shed, and letting me come back anytime.

Thankyou, Grandma's wedding dress, for happily being dragged through dirt, dust, and rusted bedsprings without a word of complaint.

Thankyou Chuck for being my lovely model at such short notice, being very patient with my rubbish camera skills, and for your excellent serious face... when you weren't laughing at me.

Thankyou, inventors of Photoshop, for reasons previously explained in this post.

I would NOT like to thank my spawn-of-the-devil-ish tripod for deciding to somehow loosen itself between every single shot.

I'm sure Kenny Rogers would be ashamed of you.

Holidays are never as long as they should be.

2008-10-03T16:41:00.011+13:00

Especially when you only have one week of them. I still have a fair chunk of coursework I really should do before I go back, too. But instead, I've been trawling the interwebs and drawing strange things... which is, admittedly, what I do every holiday. I even started a new sketchbook!

I was rather inspired by Tristan Manco's Street Sketchbook, a look inside the sketchbooks of a whole bunch of contemporary street artists, designers and other interesting folk who make things that are so visually inspiring things that they excite me enough to want describe them all in such depth that you'll get bored and wander off... so I will restrain myself.

Just.

Anywho, be expecting a longer post on Monday* when I go back to course, and can get a hold of my photos from my final brief for you to see. Come prepared for Kenny Rodgers.

*Provided that I don't explode from lack of describing.

Cooking with Photography

2008-09-16T21:08:00.011+12:00

This blog will teach you how to make bland, boring photos into a tantalising concoction of visual deliciousness!

Take 6 average photos, such as the ones pictured below. No need to worry if they're undercooked, we can fix that up later.

Add photoshop generously, judging the amount by eye. Watch the colour, it should lighten when nearly done. Flip to get the desired effect.

Most importantly, don't reveal your secret recipe to anyone, or else they will realise that you are no good at photography (or cooking), merely crafty.

Garnish with a pinch of evil laughter.

Muhahaha!