My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://rachelsayshello.com
and update your bookmarks.

Welcome to rachelsays... The blog of Rachel Lewis, containing my thoughts and musings on illustration, design, fashion, music, cakey-bakey goodness, culture and things that I generally find cool. There's also a good chance my own illustration work will pop up on here.

All work on this blog is copyright to me unless I state that it isn't. Obviously. Don't do stealing, kids.

So come on in, have a look around, and leave a comment if you like what you see.

www.rachelsayshello.com
contact [at] rachelsayshello.com

Monday, April 27, 2009

Postcard design, More retro fun, exciting...

Firstly, good news: I found out today that my design for the Penguin award has been shortlisted! Which is so exciting. So fingers crossed for that... :D

Next, I finished my self promotional postcard design, which I'm pleased with in the end:

It went through about a hundred different versions but I finally cracked it. I think it sums up me and my style of work quite well :) Just got to finish my business card and website now.

Also, I'm getting on with my Sustainability/Don't upgrade your phone project, I finished the 6 escalator posters and am now working on the 'main' poster:
This is going to be the main element in the poster, with accompanying slogans/text. I'm really pleased with this so far though, it's the '&' logo for Together.com, with my twist on it. Retro-tastic!

So things are going well (work-wise, anyway, don't get me started on the rest of my so-called life), I had my interview at st. martins and am nervously awaiting the result. Still petrified.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Seven Sins handmade book

It was always my intention to make a book for the final product of my seven deadly sins project. However, with deadlines and everything, I never quite managed it. I finished the imagery but just didn't have 3 days spare to complete the project how I wanted it. Which was terribly annoying. Then of course MA applications and Semester 2 took over, so it's only been until now that I've had the time to do this. Having said that, I'm glad I did because I loved it. I haven't 'made' something in so long; I'm always in front of a computer or drawing, but to actually make something physical like a book, work out how all the pages fit together, bind it and everything, was really fun and rewarding. And I want to do more of it; never really tried bookmaking fully like this before.

The idea was to have a collection of the images of the 7 deadly sins I created, along with the inclusion of back up work and variations that were created along the way, to create a kind of sketchbook feel. Also, the whole point of the project was for the sins to be ambiguous, so although one follows the other in sequence (least deadly sin to worst), I didn't put anything that tells the reader which sin is which; just the dictionary definition under each final image. Easy to work out though if you know the order of the sins :)

Here are a few, not all, pages of the inside of the book:


I wanted to use different types of paper, so I experimented with tracing paper and using different stocks underneath, here you can see my original letraset quote on graph paper, underneath the tracing paper, and then the final image underneath.


Again, here I used the tracing paper printed with my handmade text, with the original paint underneath, echoing what I ended up creating on photoshop with the final.

This is my favourite page I think; neither of these pieces of sewing were used in the final imagery, but they helped towards my development of the project, and I just like having the actual sewing in there.

This is the pull out page where I included the actual sewing that I did for the final image of envy. I have it as a pull out because 1) it's clearly too big for the book and 2) it's meant to be touched and looked at. The last pages after this aren't included here; you get the idea.


So, tomorrow I have my interview at St Martins for my MA course. And I am so petrified. It's pretty much the most important 30 minutes of my life so far... I want to do this course so much, I know I'm capable, I'm confident in my work... it's just the fear, you know? That I'll go completely blank and say something silly or won't be able to talk about my work in the way that I've got planned in my head.

I think it's because I remember my interview for my BA at UWE in Bristol, pretty much exactly 3 years ago. It was a massive fail and didn't get in. At the time though, I'd barely really grasped what illustration was and just didn't answer the questions well enough, I now realise. I know so much more now obviously and I could talk about illustration and design and communication all day, probably. But the fear is still there that I'm just going to go "um, because I liked it" or something stupid like that. 'The Fear' is ok though I think because it means I care about it. Because I do, so much, I need this course for the development of my work, I only feel now that I'm just getting into what I do and who I am and how it all relates to my work, and I've got this potential but I'm just not quite there yet. And it's a challenge and I need that to thrive. I love my current course but I feel like... maybe that I've outgrown it? Or that I just need a bigger challenge now. And there's definitely this graphic design element of my work coming out at the moment which I want to explore a lot more, and this course seems to have the structure that will let me do that, and that's quite exciting actually.

Plus living in London would just be....immense. I love that city, always have done. I'm freaked out now because if I don't get in.... well, I just have to. I feel like I belong there.

*explodes in a pile of terror* This is. going. to be. so scary.

Right, the last thing today, is I came across a blog that I'm going to be watching. I found it through Ben Terrett's post at blogs.com about 10 blogs that are important to designers and one is called One Last Thing which is a blog by a girl student called Sian Louise doing graphic design at Uni. Much like meeeee. Except I do illustration. But yeah. Her blog is less rambly than mine and she gets actual real visitors, but it's interesting because Ben's blurb about it was "One of very few students blogging through their course, and female students are even rarer."

*waves* Hi, I'm a female student that blogs. I'm rare, apparently. Woo! Actually, I did have an inkling(sp?) about that because I had a lecture, there was probably about 70 students in there, the lecturer asks how many people have a blog, I was the only one that put my hand up. Get in.

So, I'm going to be checking out her blog every so often because she's a designer and I like the work I see on there. And she's a girl. And we're rare.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

The Secret History: Penguin Design Award

Now that I've sent off my entry I can post here ^.^


I wanted to capture the Bacchanal that the group perform, which I think is the turning point in the book. The colours and silhouetted shapes show the state of mind that they were in, and then the blood and the arm of the farmer definitely hint to the violent act which happens during.

I'm pretty pleased with it; it's taken me weeks but I wanted to get it as good as I could. They announce who's shortlisted on June 15th so fingers crossed.....

I've been so busy this Easter so far; things are coming along despite the lack of technology at home. I hate windows. I want a mac. I hate not having a networked printer. Or Photoshop. Everything takes hours. Buuut I'm getting there. I don't actually know if there's enough hours in the day to get everything done, but there has to be so there will. *explodes*

My entry for the 2008 Penguin Design Award. Thought people might like to have a gander.

Update: I've been shortlisted for the 2009 award!! :D

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

New stuff, awesome happenings, etc

I've been working on my sustainability/mobile phone project a lot recently, it's really coming along. I'm doing a mini branding/advertising campaign, as if it were for the charity Together, which helps people fight climate change. A made up brief but I'm basing it around them because I like what they do. The posters I'm doing are being made as if they'll be displayed in the London Underground; 6 escalator posters that you see as you go down into the tube, giving you first exposure to the campaign and intriguing people with the imagery. A big 16 sheet poster across the tracks on the platform that ties all the visual links together and encompasses what the campaign is about, and then a tube car poster with more text on to explain exactly what the campaign is and what you can do about it. So a coherent campaign that you are exposed to as you travel on the underground.

The campaign is to encourage 16-25 year olds to consider whether they really need to upgrade their phone to the latest model, for the sake of the environment. Using the device of retro/vintage is cool, keep your old phone if it still works, etc etc.

So far I'm working on the escalator posters, these are 3 that are nearly done:




There's going to be 3 more, imagine them in a series as you go down the escalator. No thieving! :)

Other exciting stuff:

After the disappointment of not being accepted into the RCA for my masters ('twas a long shot I know), I found out yesterday that I have an interview at St Martins! Which I'm so pleased about because I really want to go there. The course looks so great. So that's exciting/tres scary.

Also, I now have a website! Well, I bought a name. www.rachelsayshello.com There's nothing on it yet. But there will be! It shall be immense. Or something. That's my May project; once I've handed in all my Uni work, I'm building that, in time for the Degree shows. I really like the address, it's going to fit well with the branding ideas I'm coming up with for myself.

I'm submitting my Penguin Design Award entry this week; I'll be posting the final image on here this weekend hopefully. It's driving me crazy though, all these minute little details that I still can't get quite right. But it's 99.9% done.

Um, I think that's it right now. Oh we had a lecture this morning by the guys at Nolan|Ross (ooo I figured out how to do the | thing!) who are a cool little multi-talented design company. They do loads of stuff, have a look. It was nice to see past students doing well for themselves, gives me hope! :)