Tuesday 15 December 2009

Competition Brief

We were set a competition brief in uni a week or two ago, which isn't due to be handed in to the client until April sometime, but for uni we had two weeks to produce two outcomes for our lecturers and peers to asses. We were asked to design two book covers for a Puffin book and Penguin Book, the books being Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Patrick Suskind's 'Perfume the story of a murderer'. I know there is a spelling mistake in the authors name and the image desperately needs to be re-done on the 'Perfume' cover, plus the typeography on the 'Alice's adventure in wonderland' cover needs to be completely re-done..! Anyway here is what I came up with within the two weeks we had. I shall update them over the christmas holidays make ammendments to get them all sorted nice and early for the real hand-in in April, but for now you can take a look at my first designs bellow.



Alun.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Individual Print Work Outcome

Here is my final design for the individual print work we were set as part of the Sustainable:Me brief. It has very close links with our group print work and uses similar methods to raise awareness of sustainability to working professionals out there on the market. If the brief was not hypothetical and was to be a real live project, I would distribute my design to working professionals via a mailing service.



This piece of design is targeted at working design professionls in industry and would be made using 100% recycled paper, soy inks that use much less petroleum this being a whole lot better for our environment. It has no bleed so there would be no inks wasted in the process of making it, and finaly the deisgn packages itself by using seven folds and two tucks to create an envelope..hence the text 'this is not your ordinary envelope' on the outside. The inside of the design contains the title 'thinking is a renewable resource' a quick explanation of what the design is about and then it carries on to raise awareness of myths about recycled products that may have detered designers from using them in the past.

I hope you like my design!

Alun.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Quick Flops...

Bellow are two designs I was asked to produce for a group of UWIC third year Events Management students. They needed someone to brand a vending machine that sells "Quick Flops" which is the product they have had to re-brand, they also needed a simple poster design, so I was happy to help them out plus it's good work experience for me. I don't really like the Type on the vending machine but that's how the group wanted it.
I hope you like them!

Alun.

Monday 23 November 2009

Sand Drawing..!

This is amazing..!



Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist, She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

Hope you enjoyed!

Alun.

Friday 20 November 2009

First Term Of Uni

The first term of Uni this year is going really well, we were set a brief with the title of SUSTAINABLE ME, we had to produce two group outcomes, one as print outcome and as a website using either Adobe Flash or Dreamweaver, we were also set the task of doing an individual outcome, which we were given the choice to decide what medium we wanted to produce the outcome in. At first I was really interested because we were learning a whole load of things I bet most people never knew about recycling and sustainability. For a while in our groups we were unsure of how exactly how we were going to produce a good solution to the brief, which didn't really help with my motivation towards it.

It's now about six or seven weeks since the brief was set and things are really getting on well despite not 'hitting the nail on the head' and really getting started with both groups for a week or two into the brief, it really has come together very nicely in both my print group and my web group. I am also really enjoying my own individual piece of work. It's good because I really never thought I would get my head around using Adobe Flash, but the website we have constructed which is very near to completion, looks wicked as does the print outcome! There's only days left until the hand in but i can't wait to see our final outcomes...!

Bellow are two screen shot's showing my print and web groups work in progress,




I hope you enjoyed..!


Alun

Friday 16 October 2009

A Little Bit Of Carmarthen Skate History

I logged onto my Youtube account to have a quick look around see if there was anything decent to watch and struck gold! Bellow is a video filmed and edited by Mike "Tidy" Pearson, who used to live in Ferryside which is near Carmathen, he started filming with skaters and has now become quite well known for it. Mike now works for howies in Cardigan. I have skated in Carmarthen for about eight and a half years an have skated with Bryan for at least seven. I've only ever see him skating in Carmarthen over the recent years where it's not really possible to skate too many spots anymore, but watching some old school Carmarthen skate footage was a treat..!



I hope you enjoyed the video.

Alun

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Cardiff Bay Barrage Illusion

I have known about Felice Varini's illusion art work in Cardiff bay for a few years but thought I would share it on here with you because I think it's brilliant, large scale art illusion at it's best. You have to find the exact spot in this Bay barrage to see the illusion perfectly, like in the first photo below. The other two photos show you how this "art installation" looks, when viewed from other places. For more of Felice Varini's work click her name or click here.



I hope you enjoyed this post!

Alun

BCN 09

It's been another long time since I last blogged so I thought I'd better start catching up with what's been going on recently.

Me and six friends of mine took a week long holiday in Barcelona over the summer holidays from the 5th until the 12th of august, our soul reason out there was to skate, enjoy the beautiful weather and to have fun....which I'm sure we all did. I have already been to Barcelona two times previously to this trip but think it will have to continue with at least a once a year visit! The sights are beautiful and the architecture is unreal for an example click here to see. If you have never been you really should go, and if you're a skater you have to go! Bellow are some pictures to feast your eyes on.


Duane Wilson: Frontside Flip.
The street party atmosphere every night at Macba.
The view looking down Les Courts.
Everyone chilling after a long session.

We also managed to borrow a friends vx1000 video camera to capture what went on but due to a friend of mine Nick Richards being unorganized and lazy I still haven't had the footage to edit or even capture onto my mac ready for editing even though the holiday was over two months ago..! So as soon as that's finished it I'll post it on here but until then you can watch last years video bellow.



That's all for now!

Alun


Monday 3 August 2009

Prague

Its been a long time since my last blogg..! This is due to a few reasons, but mainly because the internet at my home address was to slow to post anything!

I recently took my girlfriend Rose on holiday to Prague in The Czech Republic as her twenty second birthday present. The main reasons for going to Prague with Rose was because of the wonderful architecture and the amazing sites and views that I knew we would both enjoy, and to soak up the atmosphere of another European city.

Trust me it was all of the above..! The food was delicious, there was a friendly atmosphere everywhere we went, the architecture was beautiful and the sites and views were outstanding! Below are five out of the six hundred pictures I took whilst we were out there..!

I hope you enjoy!

Alun.


This is the amazing view from an observation tower.
Above is a view from the river bank of the The beautiful Charles Bridge which is one of the most visited sights in Prague.
Above is a picture I took of the gothic St Vitus Cathedral.
This is the view from Charles bridge looking up to Prague castle.
And finally my beautiful girlfriend Rose.

Tuesday 2 June 2009

The UNCU Crew

I was scrolling through myspace and thought you might like to see this.

It's the profile for our Graffiti group, The UNCU, Which is a small group of graffiti artists in Carmarthen.
The UNCU consists of 'Starscream', 'Skaface', 'Stove', 'Weetie' and 'line Damage'. The aim is not to deface or vandalize property, unlike the general interest of chav's in the area, who tend to write something in car paint in a dirty scrawl! The intention is to make something that was once depressing and un-intresting into something a bit more colourful and alive!

I am a part of this group, but have not been graffin' for a while because of a running with the police, resulting in me being arrested then de-arrested(No idea why but..lucky for me!). They did however, take two full sketch pads of drawings and about £60's worth of spray paint off me, which I didn't get given back. My graffiti name is 'Weetie', and you can see two of my Pieces in the pictures bellow.

To see the profile of The UNCU Crew, and too see more pictures click
here.

Alun.


Monday 1 June 2009

Jim Phillips





Here are two really good illustration from a guy named Jim Phillips.

Jim has been designing graphics and illustration for over twenty years now, some of the things he has designed for include skateboard art, surfing art and rock posters. I think the screaming hand is one of his best pieces out of what I have seen. To check out more of Jim's work click here.

Friday 29 May 2009

Extreme Sheepherding..?

This video is quality, check it out..!


Whoever came up with this idea is a legend! Its obvious the sheepdogs were very well trained, some clever minds behind the video and some brilliant editing skills.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as i did!

Alun

Thursday 28 May 2009

Owen Howells Photography

One careful lady owner.

Sam Thompson-Bluntslide.

Stormy St Govans.

Brooklyn bridge with Manhattan, New York.

Above are some brilliant photographs taken by Owen Howells, I have know Owen on a personal level for several years now, we first met in Carmarthen when he was filming a Pembrokeshire skateboarding scene video, and asked me if I would like to have a section on it. Since the release of the video 'Don't Walk' in December 2006 Owen has concentrated on his photography rather than film making, he has developed a unique style and a very good reputation for himself, shooting a variety of different themes. You can see more of Owens’s photography on his website by clicking here.

Alun.

Zach Johnsen Illustration


Here is a really good piece illustration by a guy named Zach Johnsen, the title of this illustraion is 'life under the power lines'. To view more of his work click here.

Alun.

Spike Jonze Videos

Here are two amazing videos to watch, both have been directed by the famous Spike Jonze. If you have not yet heard of him you should really check his work out.
If you skateboard you will without a doubt like the first video, but even if you don't I'm sure you will appreciate it! The first video is the intro to a skate film that was released in November 2007 by a shoe company called Lakai the video is called 'Fully Flared'.

The second is the music video to a song named 'Drop' by a really good hip-hop group named The Pharcyde. A lot of other people have ripped of the idea behind this video but this is the origional. Check out the videos bellow.

Alun.

Lakai Fully Flared Intro.


The Pharcyde 'Drop" music video.

Anyone For Some RJD2..?

Rjd2 'work it out' video.


Rjd2 'ghostwriter' this is not the officail video for the song.



Here are two music videos from one of my favourite music artists, Rjd2.
I really like his different approach to maikng music and have been a fan of his musci for about 4 years, his song 'smoke and mirrors' is one of my top favourite songs out there. I also really like the song 'work it out' and i think the video for it is amazing, it includes a guy named Bill Shannon who was born with a degenerative hip condition. Basically his legs cannot carry his own weight and so he has lived most of his life on crutches. He has developed a new way of moving through life using a skateboard and crutches. Though this may seem like a recreational hobby , it is simply how Bill maneuvers throughout the day.

I hope you enjoy the music and the videos!

Alun

Nighttime Photography




Above are a few photographs I took while I was out on a late night photography mission the other night, this is the fist time I have played about with long exposure times so they are nothing to write home about.

Alun.

Face Templates.


Got some spare time on your hands..?

Then check this out,
It's great fun and can take hours away from your life if your not too careful! It's part of the Converse website, they have given you five different face templates to do draw on. Above is a quick example of what you could do. If you have a graphics tablet it's even better because your designs look better than using a mouse or track-pad. Hope you enjoy it!

Alun.

From
www.converseskateboarding.com/face/

Monday 25 May 2009

My First Blog!

Hi guys!

As this is my first blog i am not really sure what to blog!
Sooo.....I will start by giving you two YouTube links to look at, they are two skateboarding video edits I made between easter and june last year. The first link is a short video of leftover footage that I had not used in anything, and the second link is a video that was filmed in one week while me and few friends were on a skateboarding holiday in Barcelona last year.
I hope you enjoy them..!

Alun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BciMutD4Kzs&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djo2ji4mHPM&feature=channel