Foals at the Royal Albert Hall: 28/03/13

Hey all,

So I thought I'd write up a quick post about my day yesterday, as it was very impromptu and really fun! A couple of days ago my friend texted asking if I wanted a free ticket to go see Foals live, and of course I said yes. They're also headlining Latitude Festival, and as I may well be going to that too, this was a great excuse to get into them properly before the festival.

I'd heard 'Cassius' from their first album loads before, as well as 'My Number' more recently, but I hadn't really listened to any of their other music. They were being supported by Efterklang, too, another band who are playing Latitude Festival, so it was definitely worth going to see them.

For 3.30 on a Thursday afternoon, the Royal Albert Hall was surprisingly packed. I don't think (festivals excluded) I've ever gone to a 'Matinee' Concert, which felt a little bizarre but in the end it didn't make much of a difference (And we probably got to watch them when they were slightly less tired, which is a plus-side). I'd never been to the Royal Albert Hall before, and on the inside, it seemed a lot smaller than the huge stadium-size venue I'd been expecting. However, the acoustics in that room were incredible. We were sitting at the front of the seated-section, behind the standing area and the techno-geeks with their laptops, but we could still hear everything as clearly as if we had been right up at the front.

Efterklang were really good, I hadn't heard of them before, but they're clearly making a name for themselves in the indie circles, and quite rightly. I think the highlight of their set for me was the final song, called 'Modern Drift' where Katinka and Casper synchronised vocals, and harmonised over the top of one another. I found a video via YouTube, if any of you would like to watch:

I can confidently say I'm looking forward to seeing them again at Latitude. They were really sweet, smooth and their music worked fantastically in the Royal Albert, where the acoustic was ten times the level of any other venue I've ever been to. Katinka's operatic backing vocals sounded incredible in the Albert Hall.

Foals, too, were great. I recognised more songs than I thought I knew, highlights being 'Inhaler', which they played during the encore, and 'My Number' which they played after their first song to get the crowd going. I was hoping they'd play 'Cassius', a favourite from about four years ago but sadly they didn't. However, it was a great gig altogether, and the Royal Albert was the last place I expected to watch anyone crowd-surfing. But Yannis managed it, clearly not satisfied with staying put in one place for too long, and there was a moment where he surged into the seating area, had a bit of a skip around and then fought his way back to the front. I'm not sure the RAH is the most rock-and-roll place to do that, but each to their own.

Foals, musically were really really great. I'd never expected their sound to carry so well, but I can now completely see why they've been made headliners for Latitude 2013. They have a sound that could easily fill a whole stadium, coupled with light and laser shows to rival Muse. I can't wait to see them again in July!

That's all for now, more art updates soon hopefully!

Annie

xx

A spot of tea and girling

So it's been a slightly more sociable last couple of days, which has meant less drawing and more contact with the outside world, thankfully. I was turning into a bit of a night troll.

Anyhoo, so my friend came round and I decided to show her a picture I'd started for her but never finished (I'm a great, consistent friend, obviously) and then decided to start finishing it in front of her (I'm also really good at hosting.)

So here's the finished product:

Playing around with textures is fun, I feel like it really enhances the drawing (and obviously there's a tea theme with this one.) It's also got an Alice in Wonderland theme because my friend is (quite rightly) obsessed with those books. I'm happy to say it's now her profile picture on Facebook, so clearly I haven't done too badly.

In terms of Photoshop, I used the same soft texture brush from the ImagineFX set I recieved, and then after colouring/shading etc. found this brilliant tea-stained paper texture on deviantart (which you can download here), played around with the opacity settings and the Contrast Levels until this emerged. I'm quite happy with it despite some obvious anatomy issues, but I drew the sketch quite a while ago so I've possibly improved since then.

As an endnote, here is a picture that Emma drew for me in return which I think is much better:

Anyway, off to bed (It's 00:52 and I'm supposed to be getting up tomorrow for Foals!)

Annie

xx

What I Wore (Sketch Edition)

So whilst scouring the web for blogs to follow, I found a little project called What I Wore Drawings, which is adorable. They've even got a book out now, which I'm tempted by but have no money to fund, sadly. Basically loads of really talented illustrators/artists post up a little sketch of what they wore that day, so I decided, naturally at about 2am, to do the same. I know the hand is rubbish but I think i got bored of drawing at that point and just decided to scribble.

So here's mine, with annotations (excuse the handwriting):

Also an excuse to play around with some of my new brushes from ImagineFX, they had loads of pencil/sketchy brushes that I thought I'd briefly experiment with. I don't pretend to be good at matching clothes up/wearing exciting things but I thought it'd be something fun to do while I'm working on my dissertation, which is loong.

Thanks for reading, I've got another pic in the works so check back soon!

Annie

xx

Look who's still up!

Fortunately for me, blogger likes to post in american time so no one can see how late up I am (though I've probably ruined the mystique of that now...)

I just thought I'd post quickly to show you all what hours of not sleeping have produced!

After hours of playing around with my new brushes, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. I usually paint underneath lines I've already drawn, but this time I drew on top of the sketch - it takes a lot longer but I think the product is as good if not better! The brush I used was a soft texture brush from the M Brushes packet I got in my ImagineFX CD, I think it'll be a new favourite!

Anyway, I should really really go to bed, g'night all!

Annie

xx

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ImagineFX and some new brushes!

Man is it cold. We had a bit of a nightmare with the heating earlier that has thankfully fixed itself. I had to sit and draw next to a fan heater for a few hours which was delightful.

Sooo, for my birthday I got a subscription to ImagineFX Magazine, which is (well, they say it is anyway) one of the No.1 publications for digital fantasy/sci-fi artists. And I'd been waiting for ages for an issue, (since the 19th of February, at least), and one finally came. It's their May 2013 issue, which is annoying because i really wanted to get the paper copy of the back issues, but I'm sure I can shed a couple of quid extra.

(Excuse bad-quality webcam image/backwards writing/unshowered hair)

Anyhoo, what I really like about the way they produce it is that you get a CD with downloadable Photoshop brushes and video tutorials on it, so I've obviously been nerding out at my finest and experimenting with them. I took one of the sketches I did yesterday and painted all over it with one of the sketchy charcoal brushes, and I quite like the effect it has. Obviously this is just me playing about and I may never finish it, but here's a snapshot anyway for proof:

Either way, it's pretty exciting (well, for me anyway). I'm going to keep practicing and reading all of the artist features, I'm thinking of doing a few of my own in the upcoming weeks. I'll post up the finished image if I ever get to it!

That's all folks, stay tuned!

Annie

xx

My First Sketch Blog!

So I felt like doing some sketches today, and just went where my stylus took me. I haven't got loads and loads to show, but I thought, on a cold winter evening with not much to do, I'd best actually put some art on this art blog!

Generally I like doing figure drawing and experimenting with poses/hair/clothing when I'm drawing, and especially when I'm drawing girls. I know my proportions aren't anywhere near realistic, but I've always preferred that graceful, fluid style of drawing figures, as opposed to harsh blocks and forced-looking poses.

I'll generally start off with a very very basic figure drawing, like this:

And then it'll be a case of slowly sanding down the lines to make them neater, and adding details like hair, facial features and clothes. My sketches generally end up looking a bit like this:

As for inspiration/intention, I usually don't have any. I'll just start drawing and someone or something will appear. If i'm going to make a full-coloured, refined image out of a sketch, I'll neaten it up a little past where these two are, enlarge the sketch by about 200-300%, and line over the top of it. I don't know whether I'll turn either of these into complete images, I'm happy with them as sketches for now.

More updates soon!

Annie

xx

Snow, Coffee and Fan Heaters

Hey all!

So it's been a pretty dismal few days in terms of the weather here. The UK just can't get enough of the snow, and to be quite honest it's getting a bit boring now. Also, after discovering that it was no less than 21 degrees this time last year, it's no surprise that my Facebook News Feed is turning into an angry weather channel.

So, I've had to keep myself occupied as best I possibly can. How to do that? Nail art!

I never really take much time with my nails, mainly because if they're not chipping off themselves I'm usually absent-mindedly peeling the polish off myself, which I don't even notice myself doing...

But my toes were in dire need of pretty-ing up, and don't worry, I won't go into detail. So I decided to whack out the pink nail polish. Unfortunately I only had red left, and no very tiny brushes, so I wasn't sure how I was going to go about making them look better. Then I stumbled across a Youtube video, which talked about using liquid eyeliner for nail art. It sounds daft, but it actually works pretty well, as long as you slap a few coats of clear polish on top (excuse my weird-shaped feet) :

Obviously that didn't take very long, so I then decided to be even more creative and do some baking. We had loads of chocolate icing and sprinkles left over from a few weeks ago that needed using up, so I decided to be a good Samaritan and bake for my family. That's my mum reaching for one, by the way (I'm such a great cook.)

I'm currently chomping on one as I type. They're pretty damn tasty (if I do say so myself), and I'm not even going to think about how much sugar I put in them, but hey ho - what's life without chocolate?

Anyway, its time to finish this cake and get on with some dissertation work (ugh). I'll hopefully be updating with some sketch blogs/art some time soon, as for an art blog this page is looking pretty empty haha...

Back soon!

Annie
xx