New Project! Picture Book and other Goodies

So i missed out on my post last week, why? Because i had nothing to show.

I just couldn't decide what to work on and do next and when i had decided there was nothing really to show except for some compositional ideas.
I thought lino prints? more screen prints? a book? editorials, the list was never-ending, so i decided to just go for one, that being a picture book.

I've done a fair bit of work over the past week and a half, from creating my story, compositionals, dummy book and now i'm onto the four (maybe six...) final spreads. I only have 9 weeks left and i'm worrying even though i've already done two projects (the angora work and screen prints) The life of a student!

I drew out loads of compositional ideas, photocopied them, then ordered the best ones, it was really quick and convenient to work in this method.

To the top left of this image is my dummy book, which includes all my final compositional sketches, and here i am working on a collage of the boat which is a part of the first spread i'm doing.

I've also worked on creating some business cards (seen below) I used Moo! and got the Minimoo cards. I chose to have a range of designs which makes them exciting, and on the back i used hand written text for my contact details etc. I'm looking forward to New Designers in London that bit more now!

This week i also put together a portfolio site too, using Cargo. I'm still in the process of uploading my work but it's a very nice professional website to use and looks clean and easy to navigate. The only thing is that you have to apply for an account, but this ensures the quality of work on their website!

http://cargocollective.com/hcoote/

That's it for this week, hopefully next week i'll have these spreads done and i'll be underway with the Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2014 brief...not long to go.

Blurb Book [Review]

So i said i'd do a post when my book came, and it actually came in around 2 days after dispatch! From America to the UK, that is astonishing.

This book was printed on Blurb.

The book was very well packaged, maybe too well packaged as i really struggled to get it out. I noticed that because it had no bubble wrap around it, on the back cover at the bottom it had accumulated a few dents from the tight packaging or shipping... i wasn't too pleased with it!

This is the colour trade book, and it's a fantastic size, fitting nicely in the palm of your hand. The cover is nice and the print quality on it is very good! Though careful if you print black on just white, ensure the image is 100% cleaned cos you will see every little mark. 

The print quality is flawless, and looks great on the uncoated paper. The only problem though with the uncoated paper is that it is slightly see through. So if you don't have full images on the page in full colour, you can see through onto what is on the next page.

Because of this, for my final story book which i've decided to do, i will opt for a photo book and the better quality paper! 

This is still a great book, and i love the way it feels.

It's simple, cheap but professional.

This book would have originally costed me around £21, however because i had a discount code it came to approx £6 - i cannot moan at that price! 

I would not have bought this book for £21, mainly due to the dents in the back, the slight bit of glue on the end papers and the see through paper which takes away from its flawless finish; i would probably pay between £10 to £12 for this book - and the £4.99 postage on top is value for money (delivered by fedex).

However i am very pleased with it as its purpose was just as a reference book for myself for when i write stories.

It is somewhat fulfilling having my work printed professionally and seeing it in print for the first time!

Thanks for reading.