Skeleton Hurricane

Today I felt like creating a skeleton look as I havent done one of them in a while.

For the photo I wore my long blue wig, although it looks black in the pictures as it was a black and white photo. My dog eddie also wanted to be in some of the photos too.

I used a mixture of snazaroo black facepaint and maybelline new york colour tattoo 24hr in the colour timeless black.
I am a massive fan of the colour tattoos as the product really does stay on for 24hrs. At first I wasnt sure about using this product as I have used products before which said 24hrs and they did not last well, but I thought I might as well try it and im so glad I did.

They come in many different colours and are easy to apply, build up and blend around the eyes. This is a product I would definitely recommend to anyone who is wanting a good long lasting eyeshadow.

Lush Butter Bear

I am a massive fan of Lush and I was super excited when they brought out there Christmas products.

I love the butter bear so much because it leaves my skin feeling silky smooth!

It doesnt turn your bath a different colour, it just fizzes and melts into the bath water. I always enjoy a bit of colour in my bath so I mix in a bit of The Comforter bubble bar to add lots of bubbles, sweet smells and pink bath water!

I cant help but think the butter bear is the same as the butter ball  and I think maybe they are the same, its just the butter bear is in the shape of a bear for Christmas. Either way I'm still in love with this product and will definitely be buying it again next year!

Black and white

I love messing around with effects on pictures but I dont really work with black and white a lot of the time. Today I wanted to try and create a look specifically working with the black and white photography. All I used was maybelline new york colour tattoo in black and just smudged out a few little areas to add shade.

Steampunk bodyart

I have been wanting to do this look for a while now but have never got round to doing it. So last night I had some free time to do some bodypainting.
It was inspired by steampunk and I used a mixture of snazaroo facepaints,Maybelline tattoo colour and bennye eyeshadows.
I also used beads and little metal circles to stick to my face too.

Blind/observational drawings

Today I have been practicing both blind and observational drawings.

Blind drawing is where you look at a face for example and without looking at the piece of paper, you draw their face. I enjoy doing this because it teaches my eyes to look carefully at what I am drawing more than worrying about how the actual drawing looks.

I also did some drawings of whats around me. I am not the best at drawing landscapes and whats surrounding me so this is good practice for me.

Ring making

During my time in metal work, I got the chance to learn how to make a ring. I did try to make it so it would fit my finger but unfortunately I made it too fat and big. I decided to thread it on to a necklace chain and wear it as a necklace instead.
How I made the ring:
★I first measured my ring size. Then wrapped wire around the ring measurer, cut it then unwrapped it so that I got the right size.
★Next I measured the wire on a piece of metal and cut the metal to the same size as the wire. The piece of metal is going to be the ring.
★I then used a blowtorch to heat up the piece of metal until it was a red cherry colour. Then placed it in cold water to cool off.The heat makes the metal soft enough to bend.
★I bent the metal into a circle so that both ends touch together. Using a smaller blowtorch  I soldered both ends together and placed it in cold water to quickly cool off. If you touched it after soldering, you would burn yourself. Plus without the cold water, it would take a while for the metal to cool down enough for you to work on it.
★I then placed the ring in some (not too strong) acid for a few minutes. Then when I took the ring out of the acid, I rinsed it in some water and dried it with a towel.
★Next I used different size files to file down any bumpy places. Especially where its been soldered. That will be the main place to file.
★Lastly I used a very powerful buffing machine to smooth the ring and make it shiny.

What makes a good design?

While i was making some jewellery today I was thinking about what makes a good design, what makes a good product and why are we attracted to these products? So ive created a list of things that people could think about when creating a product.
★profitable
★Affordable
★It suits everyones needs/client requirements
★Good quality
★Sustainable (material that wouldnt run out easily)
★Asthetic (looks presentable)
★upgrade
★unique design/product
★Eye catching
★Sensible design/realistic goals
★Colour coordinated
★Multipurpose
★Quantity (limited edition)
★Clear/organised drawing/design of the product
★Theme (vintage, modern,futureistic,minimalistic,Quirky/original
★Enough practice with the product to make sure its perfect before selling it

Steampunk Glasses

Today I bought some jewellery wire in the colour gold to play around with and to see what I could make out of it. I love steampunk style jewellery so I thought id try making my own. I used old beads I found laying around in my room. It took 2 days to make and I mainly made it to wear as an accessory for my hair and although this piece is slightly delicate, it is still wearable.

Human rainbow

Today's look is very colourful. I havent done many colourful looks for a while so today I decided to use my Ben Nye Lumiere Grande Colour Palette to create this rainbow explosion on my face. I also wore my new pastel coloured wig to add even more effect to my look! I blocked out my eyebrows using normal glue and nose&scar wax. I love this look because Im not one for blending in with the crowd and if I could look like this everyday, I would!

What is a portrait?

Before I started art and design I thought a portrait was a straight forward painting or drawing of someones face and it had to look like the person you were drawing. When I took GCSE art, I studied portraits and the teachers were strict on me getting the proportions right, so it was drilled into my head that they have to look like the person.

After starting art and design, I have now realised that portraits can be very abstract and not have to look like the person you are drawing. Collage is a very interesting way of doing portraits because you could make an eye massive but have the rest of the face small and it could mean someone is good at finding things.

It is a very clever way of doing a representation of part of someones identity.

Blue Hair

Ive always wanted blue hair but I dont want to damage my hair with bleach, so I decided to buy a blue wig and im loving it right now!
Its very long and it goes down to my waist but ive always wanted long hair so im happy with it.
The lipstick im wearing is MUA velvet lips in Reckless.

Photography Workshop

The last workshop I attended was only for a day. This was a photography workshop.

I thought we would just be taking pictures of things and looking at different angles and lighting but there was a lot more to it than what I thought.

We went outside and took some photos. Then we printed them off and using different materials,  we had to make the photo touchable. As if a blind person was touching it and we had to interpret the object into touch.

Although I learnt a bit from this workshop, it didnt really inspire me to do photography. I did learn that even a blind person can be a photographer though.

Fashion/Textiles Workshop

This workshop was on fashion and textiles and I attended this for a week.

We had to research different fashion designers/artists to help us with the activities we were doing. I found doing the research gave me so much inspiration about what I could do in the future. I tried to research designers with more of a unique look as I am not one for blending in with the crowd and this gave me ideas on outfits I could possibly create in the future. 

I researched Alexander McQueen, Lady Gonzalez, Sophie Soni and Vivienne Westwood.

One of the activities we did was to create an outfit out of a paper bag and different coloured paper. Some of us even made the outfit reversable which I thought was amazing.

Overall, I enjoyed this workshop and it has given me ideas for the future.

3D Art/Metal/Jewellery making Workshop

One week I attended a 3D/Metal work shop. One of the activities we got to do was we got given an object inside a black plastic bag , paired up in 2s and one of us had to feel the object and describe how it feels while the other one had to draw what they thought it looked like.

After that we had to make the object out of paper, still working from the description our partners gave us. Then when we had finnished, we got to look at the original object we had felt.

I thought this activity was rather interesting as it really got me thinking about using the right describing words to describe an object.

The next day we were in the metal room and we got given little pieces of metal and copper. We could use most of the machines in the room to give the pieces detail. Then we nailed them onto a block of wood.

I found this day very exciting as I have never used them kind of machines before and I also learnt that sometimes you have to soften a piece of metal by heating it up with fire to make it possible to bend into shape.

Fine Art Workshop

Last week I attended a workshop on Fine Art.
First thoughts I think of about fine art:
★Drawing
★Painting
★range of materials/media
★Film
★Sculpting
★Conceptual
★Expressive
★Experimental

They explained the kind of things you would get to do in fine art and all the different medias you would get to use.

As part of the workshop, I had to research some different artists whos work linked into the things we were making. The 2 artists I researched were Zadok Ben-David and Mia Pearlman.

We had to make a 3D object out of paper and then draw different pictures of the object using different medias. I used acrylic paint, Ink and charcoal.

Overall, I really enjoyed this workshop and have learnt so much from it.

Zombie mouth

For this look I had to make some fake bumpy skin.
How to create the skin:
★apply 2-3 layers of liquid latex to a flat surface.
★apply a 4th layer and sprinkle oats all over the latex. The 4th layer of latex should make the oats stick.
★wait for the 4th layer to dry and then apply another 2-3 layers of latex over the oats.
★leave it to dry by itself or use a hairdryer to speed up the process.
★peel the latex off the surface and apply a powder over both sides of the latex to prevent the latex sticking to eachother.

I then measured the skin around my mouth and cut it to the size I wanted. I then used liquid latex to stick the fake skin onto my face. Then I used a red colour from my mehron bruise wheel and applied it to the fake skin to make it look red and sore. To finnish the look off I applied fake blood all over the fake skin.

Harley Quinn

This is a harley quinn inspired look using only snazaroo facepaints. I wanted the look to be very creepy and twisted as Halloween is in a few weeks and its my favourite time of the year!
To remove the makeup I used a normal face wipe and then used a facial scrub to make sure all the makeup was gone.

Burlesque Inspired Makeup

After watching the film Burlesque, which stars the ever so glamorous Cher and Christina Aguilera, I really got inspired to try out some looks. Today I wore a short black bob wig to create a kind of 20s hairstyle without having to do anything to my own hair. I used mainly Ben Nye makeup for the eyes, eyebrows and cheeks. I used an MUA lip liner and mixed it with some Ben Nye eye shadows for my lips.

Interesting Illustation Article

I found an article on an artist who travels the world and paints not only what he sees, but also what he smells and feels too. I found this article interesting because it was useful for me to learn how he works and how he interprets different sounds and smells into his work. It was also interesting to find out that he likes painting places but doesnt like sitting where everyone can see him, he likes sitting in his room and looking out of the window.

Fallen Angel

I love body painting and I have found the back is one of the best places to work on because it is smooth, wide and flat.
I used snazaroo facepaints from a fancydress shop to paint on the wings.I used normal face wipes to remove the wings after and I told my model to have a shower to make sure all the paint was off.

Decorating jars

I was feeling very creative today. So I decorated some jars using a hot glue gun and some old nail polishes for colour.
some of the colours I had to mix together to create the right colour but the glue dried really quickly. 

Visual Communication

This week I have been attending a workshop on Visual Communication.  Doing this has made me more aware of the different signs and lettering around me. I have noticed I am picking out differences between logos and I am thinking of different reasons as to why they have chosen that certain type.

One thing I had to do was draw everything I see In a kitchen cupboard. I found it difficult to copy the letter so they were the same, But I still really enjoyed it too. It has inspired me to try and draw more everyday items.

I think the most interesting part of this workshop was learning about all the different ways you can type a word and also how the style and colour of the word should blend in with the actual product.

Overall, I have learnt so much this week and it has made me more aware of what's around me.

Sara Fanelli

I find sara fanelli's work rather interesting. I like her use of colour and texture in her pictures.