Laura-Louisa

They show us the state of our decay.

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:22:48 -0400

They show us the state of our decay.

Made by Shape

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:56:27 -0400

Lovely little write up by the guys at Shape, Manchester!

http://www.madebyshape.co.uk/blog/laura-louisa-betts

The other day I set up a little website, Facebook page and...

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 05:44:21 -0400

The other day I set up a little website, Facebook page and Behance and today I got a message on Behance from a Brynn Snow, who had featured my work on the website, D2G Apparel, and it currently has 175 likes, it’s mad to think that that many people have seen my work and appreciate it. http://d2gapparel.com/2012/fashion-illustration-2/fashion-illustration-laura-louisa/ There is also lots of other amazing illustrators work featured so it’s definitely worth a look.

It’s definitely worth putting yourself out there to be found.

Out in the real world...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:33:19 -0400

This week I have made a website/online portfolio, a Behance, and a Facebook page, as well as applying for an online shop account. Feel pretty proud of myself… you’ve got to put yourself out there I guess.

Lauralouisa.com

Behance

Facebook

I’ve been approached by a design company with an...

Tue, 29 May 2012 19:03:23 -0400

I’ve been approached by a design company with an opportunity to produce illustrations for them. There has been mention of vector images, so I had a go at using vector magic to transform one of my sketches into a vector image. The result is pretty good, I couldn’t visualise how my drawings would turn out but this has made it possible.

I wanted to do something a little bit more, so I attempted to...

Mon, 28 May 2012 07:08:00 -0400

I wanted to do something a little bit more, so I attempted to turn my book into an Ibook however with very little time it didn’t quite turn out as planned but I made my book available in ibooks as a pdf and it works exactly the same so I am pleased. I decided on the name Circles for my book as it was the most popular “favourite shape” as well as the idea that the people I drew had surrounded me for the past 3 years, and within the big circle, us a group, there were other smaller circles of friends. For the ibook I made a very quick cover, for my actual book I want a plain cover with just “Circles” on it but I had a little play for the ibook. Inside the book I didn’t want to mention the shape thing, as although it was my original concept, through my project I came to realise that I didn’t want to turn my subjects into statistics. I had spent time drawing them trying to reveal their individuality and personality, I didn’t want to take that away with my shape concept so I’ve kept the results to myself other than circle was the majority choice.

Designing the book… With all my illustrations done I...

Mon, 28 May 2012 06:34:06 -0400

Designing the book…

With all my illustrations done I decided to collate them all together in a book. I wanted to keep the book simple as not to distract from the illustrations themselves. With some help from the lovely Hannah I set up a A4 facing pages document. I was originally going to paginate my pages myself and made a mock up book to help me realise where to place my images and text but in the end I stuck with the facing pages document, to save myself confusion and time. Having decided where to put each of my images, and with them all cleaned up to a standard I was happy with Tom Lowndes helped me put the layout together. I printed a smaller A5 version out which I pinned together with paperclips just to be able to flick through and be sure that the book flowed. With a few minor tweaks amended I got the a4 pages printed ready for hand-in I decided not to spend on book printing and binding until after marking when I can be sure that there really isn’t any improvements to be made. All in all I am actually really happy with this project, and proud of what I have achieved.

SSSH...

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:37:00 -0400

…IT’S A SECRET!!!

After a quick chat with Tash running through random words that I had come up with for the name of my book I have now got a title for it. I actually really like it, it’s so appropriate…. but it’s a secret for now.

Sneaky peek…. I had been having trouble with my scanned in...

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:33:46 -0400

Sneaky peek….

I had been having trouble with my scanned in images, I was trying to edit them to make the background appear crisp and white, especially with the images that were a bit crinkly from the amount of water I’d used during production….but yesterday Hannah introduced me to a little bit of magic that Photoshop that I was currently unaware of, but totally solved my problem… a simple little manoeuvre of CMD+L, a little fiddle and then a manoeuvre of CMD+M, a little fiddle and Wah-laaaa! So busy busy editing my images ready to go into my book, with most done, I then enlisted the help of our lovely Hannah again with Indesign and gave me a little tutorial and showed me how to set up my document, as lack of practice had left me clueless…memory…fish.

With all the new know-how and with the layout expertise of Tom Lowndes the layout of the book began. Tash helped to arrange my images in a way that would flow well and then whilst I continued to edit my images ready to be placed, Tom started to put the book together for me, he really does have an eye for what looks good with layouts.

4.45 am, too stressed to sleep… too tired to draw. Whilst...

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:39 -0400

4.45 am, too stressed to sleep… too tired to draw. Whilst I am awake I thought I had better be productive so I took one of the drawings I did yesterday and had a little experiment with photoshop to see what I could come up with. This isn’t something I very often do if at all, usually I just rely on hand drawn methods but I have through my research seen some amazing things illustrators do to their work using digital means so I thought I should probably give it ago myself. If truth be told I didn’t find this the easiest of tasks because it I didn’t really have a vision of what I wanted but I did enjoy building up my image gradually…..and if you make a mistake it’s easy to put right…. easier than traditional drawing/painting anyways.

*apologies if I don’t make sense….it’s late.

I am coming to the end of the road now in terms of my NMP but...

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:48:15 -0400

I am coming to the end of the road now in terms of my NMP but I’ll never stop looking for inspiration….this is the work off an Ukrainian artist called Nadia *your porcelain doll I really like the softness and the colour palette used in these pieces and the combination of traditional drawing methods and digital.

School Placement.

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:06:30 -0400

One of my dream jobs that I posted previously was to be an art teacher. I’ve looked into PGCEs and the requirements to get onto those courses are strict, with fierce competition. One of the criteria is experience in schools, so I went to the teacher training meeting at uni before Easter. I have got some previous experience working in a school with BBC Me and My Movies programme, helping children with filming their own movies, this was at a primary school in Salford and I thoroughly enjoyed it and learnt a lot from the experience. My next placement is a little more daunting as it’s with older children at a high school in Salford. I’ve only ever been to one high school before, which was my own and was private so I am really intrigued to see what a state high school is like and what opportunities are available for the children, I don’t know why but I have always imagined that there would be more openness to creativity there.

Book of Faces??

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:01:38 -0400

As the end draws near for my fellow students I have got another 2 weeks to go due to an emergency operation in the Easter Holidays. Whilst I have these 2 weeks I am still panicking the same as everyone else as there is a lot for me to consider and do before our final show, not to mention hand in too. I spoke to Tash the other day about my work as I had been absent from uni due to my operation and we discussed how I would bring all my drawings together as a whole… in a book. I need to consider the size, layout, and name for my book of illustrations. I have a few ideas but I haven’t decided as yet. One of the names I thought of came from Facebook, which is sadly probably the only way I am going to keep in touch with the majority of my peers as we leave and go our separate ways. I call Facebook “Book of Faces”, this could be a potential name for my book, it’s also very matter of fact.

Emma Lee- I used a blue and black biro, and a bold black pen to...

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:34:39 -0400

Emma Lee- I used a blue and black biro, and a bold black pen to create my original illustration before scanning it in to photoshop where I used tools to remove one of the eyes and add the splattered paint and the writing. My research into Despau’s work influenced me to experiment like this. I am pretty proud of myself, I honestly didn’t think I would be able to do something like this, so I’ve surprised myself. Hopefully Tash and co. will be proud too.

David Despau- He is a Spanish Illustrator and I just think his...

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:10:51 -0400

David Despau- He is a Spanish Illustrator and I just think his work is amazing! His drawing style isn’t that different to mine when I use biro, but he makes them look interesting by not finishing them, and then digitally enhancing them. I have, with much encouragement from Tash begun to learn to not finish my drawings, but I just need to master the right balance now, and experiment with digital as well. I have made a start on this, as shown in my previous post but with practice and more experimentation I hope to master that too. This illustrators work is a huge inspiration to me, as it shows I can do the type of illustrations I enjoy but make them look interesting too.

I reworked my illustration of Amelia in photoshop, my previous...

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:28:00 -0400

I reworked my illustration of Amelia in photoshop, my previous attempt was not very successful, it was too haphazard and without thought. This took a while, but I really like the effect, it reminds me of an illustrator I researched whilst doing my ALevels called Dave Mckean. I never normally use photoshop to enhance my illustrations but I thought I’d experiment and I actually quite the result.

Dorota- watercolour and fineliner. After looking at David...

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:44:23 -0400

Dorota- watercolour and fineliner.

After looking at David Downton’s work it influenced me to do my next drawing in a similar style. Downton as I mentioned in my previous post uses a process of sketching and selection before making his work, something which I unfortunately don’t have time to do, however I did try and keep the idea in mind when producing this piece. Whilst I don’t know Dorota very well and her work is beautiful and colourful, I still feel this black and white classic style suits her. I feel quite happy with my result, another one bites the dust.

David Downton.-he’s been one of my favourite fashion...

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:39:21 -0400

David Downton.-he’s been one of my favourite fashion illustrator since school, I even mentioned him in my application to university so I’m surprised I’ve not blogged about him before. What I love about his work is how natural it looks, in an interview he mentioned that what he leaves out is just as important as what he includes in his illustrations and in fact he goes through a process of several sketches, removing parts of them to see what he can leave out of his final illustration and what needs to remain.

3D-I’ve added daisies to the illustration I did of...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:23:42 -0400

3D-I’ve added daisies to the illustration I did of Michelle. I bought a flower headband and cut it up and applied it to the hat on my drawing. I really like the result, it brings a new dimension to the image. I think it works much better than if I had just illustrated the flowers on.

Laura Pearson, I really enjoyed this illustration because I knew...

Sat, 05 May 2012 13:11:41 -0400

Laura Pearson, I really enjoyed this illustration because I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. Laura’s work often has handmade element or quality, she loves sewing and her blog is called cute as a button so I bought some buttons to include in my illustration and I really like the result, I think it represents a bit of Laura’s personality.