New project roughs

I am working on a new project for a film competition. The film needs to be about something you love so I chose to do it on yoga. I have to actually be in the film so my friend Theo filmed myself and my yoga teacher friend Anna doing some asanas. The idea is to draw on the footage to show the 'hidden' side of the asanas (what is happening inside your body and mind) which is often disregarded and yoga is seen as a sport. 

Shooting in a studio and directing people proved to be quite tricky and I found myself a bit unorganised so next time I will make sure I am prepared!

'I like yoga' research

Doing some research for a new project! I am getting a bit too excited and anxious about it. Will reveal more soon.

It'sNiceThat feature

It'snicethat.com is one of my favourite art blogs ever and I'm so happy that I was chosen to be the new Student Of The Month! You can read a short interview and see some of my illustrations here. What a great way to start the academic year :)

Online shop updates!

I have added some more prints and greeting cards on my online shop which you can see  here. Really pleased with how the archival prints came out. The colours are vibrant and some prints look almost velvety. Hope you like it :)

Preparing stuff for Etsy

Today I spent the day mainly cutting very nicely printed (and rather expensive) work to sell on my Etsy shop. It was slightly stressful since making a slight mistake could cost money and another trip to the print shop in Brighton. Will package and photograph everything as soon as the weather allows for good photos.

Bye brain

I drew this piece for a campaign to celebrate the World Peace Day on 21st of September. The title of the project was 'If I had the freedom'. You can see more entries here.

Controlling the mind and stopping all thought processes is my idea of ultimate freedom! According to the University of Maryland School of Medicine 95% of the thoughts you had today are the same thoughts you had yesterday and the day before and the day before...

Website update

Have you seen my website? If not click here. I updated it some time ago and forgot to mention it due to all the house hunting business! I am now working with some friends on the 'Julian Boolean' project (very slowly since we are all doing other stuff as well). Hopefully it will come together soon!

I am happy to say that I now have a house in London and I'm all set for the start of the academic year! It feels so strange to go back to school but I'm excited!

HR magazine commission

I drew an illustration for the July issue of HR magazine to accompany a very interesting article on flexible working - working from home. The art director had a clear idea of what they wanted which was a rather traditional doll house with a modern office and no people in the image at all. Placing the house on a hill was my idea based on the fact that no matter how beautiful the surroundings, working from home can often be lonely.

I found it easy to engage with the article since sometimes I work from home too and I'm familiar with the pros and cons. What I wasn't aware of prior to reading the article was that companies now embrace flexible working and give their employees the choice of either working in the office or home. You can read the article here. Photos of the printed illustration coming soon (I am in Cyprus at the moment and it will take a few days for it to arrive from the UK).

Short interview

I was recently contacted by gazette inspiration collector (a lovely arty blog) and was asked to answer a few questions about things I like (I tried to find a better phrase but 'things I like' seems to sum up what I want to say) and my work. I enjoyed answering these inspiration related questions which sort of reminded me of why my work ends up looking the way it does. Some times the work just develops automatically and remembering the reasons why I work using this style and ideas was quite reassuring. Anyway you can visit the beautifully designed gazette blog here and read the short interview here. 

Vishnu the Preserver

I admire religious / spiritual art mainly because of its symbolic nature. I particularly like Hindu images and Indian miniature painting because of their rich color and naive use of perspective. So after I read this bit (well some of it) on Wikipedia about Vishnu while brainstorming for an animation I started this drawing of Vishnu which is sort of my own version of him. So here are a few fascinating bits about Vishnu's iconographic representation (there are a lot of different interpretations of these elements so if you are interested in learning about them it's best if you do your own research rather than take my writing for granted): 

His skin is 'like water filled clouds' and he has four arms which symbolise the four aims of life: pleasure, success, righteousness and liberation. In his hands he is holding a Sudarshana chakra (upper left hand) which represents the will to multiply and also that he is the protector of the heavens. He is also holding a shell (Sancha) symbolising prosperity and a trident  which is a sign of asceticism. Vishnu is standing on a pink lotus in bloom because according to esoteric Buddhism the heart of a being is like an unopened lotus and when the virtues of the Buddha develop the lotus blossoms. The pink lotus is also a symbol of the highest deities. There are countless names and representations of Vishnu and the list of characteristics and symbols is endless so I will probably draw him again in the future!

Planning

Still working on this interactive project with a friend...it is getting there though! Usually I don't plan everything but I haven't got a choice now since I have to explain to my programmer friend what my ideas are and how I want things to work.
It is so rewarding to see my work becoming interactive!

3D Max Robot tutorial

I feel like I am doing 1000 things at the same time. One of those things is  this 3D Studio max Robot tutorial. It's taking me ages, mainly because I do it between other things and usually avoid it because I find it tricky. I find all these 3d software words like lathing, lofting, splines, vertices, polys etc very entertaining!

I am also working on a narrative/storyboard for a new animation while getting rid of a lot of my unnecessary stuff since I will move to London soon. I love giving away my stuff. It's one of the nicest feelings in the world. I used to keep everything, decorate every surface, but after moving a couple of times I realised what an amazing thing it is to own very little.

But for now I will finish spline modelling the robot's head.

Swami - work in progress

Another project I'm working on at the moment with a friend. Nearly finished all the visuals for it and it is going to become interactive soon!

I am having a bit of a crazy day today. I am happy because I got my RCA interview results and I got in (!!!) to do Animation so now I'm finding it hard to concentrate and work. All I've done today was the Eye of Horus on this drawing and a few leaves on the tree.

I've also been trying to arrange pet transport to take my cat to Cyprus so that he can live his life in a house with a garden rather than in tiny places in London and realised what a mission it is (and incredibly unreasonably priced). My ticket is a third of my cat's ticket.

Work in progress - Ecology

I have been interested in green energy and ecology lately so I wanted to make something to express my beliefs on the subject. I think I'm going to make a big illustration or -maybe- an animation. 

I sent an e-mail to Greenpeace to let them know what I intend to do and they sent a really encouraging reply back, which motivated me even more to work on this project.

These are just some of the elements I will be using. I miss working with real materials, I've been making everything on the computer lately so I think I will try making some models at some point and use them as backgrounds for projects.

Julian - work in progress

 

 I watched four documentaries today while drawing this and most of them were about our impact on the planet which left me thinking that I want to move in a secluded place away from it all...

This is probably going to be the main character of the interactive comic I want to create with a friend.

Poolga illustrations

I just put together these two images for a competition by Poolga and IdeasTap (see more info here).

I've been doing a lot of yoga lately so I wanted to do something relevant. To be honest I feel a bit intimated by all the hardcore yogis in the Ashtanga class I've been going to. I've had this neck/back pain from sitting at my desk and drawing too long for a week now and it is really annoying. It actually gets worse when I do yoga, especially when I look at my toes in forward folds and headstands. PAIN please go away!
I have also bought a ticket to go to Pictoplasma in about a month which means I have to finish my animation by then. I am excited cause I've never been to Berlin before and the festival itself seems amazing. Hopefully it will be as good as it looks from their website.

Anyway back to painful Wacom tablet drawing.

Softdrink rider

I drew this weird animal and then I thought something was missing so then I drew the rider. I enjoy drawing relatively quick illustrations but now I think it is time to move into bigger projects!

Yoga for beginners!

I did this poster for Richard who is an amazing yoga teacher and is doing a beginner's course in Worthing. I don't usually make posters/work with text so I found it a bit tricky.

Feature in Omikron magazine

My work has been featured in the January issue of Omikron magazine (Cyprus). We did the photo shoot on a very hot August afternoon so my face looks really shiny.

Tavistock Consulting Christmas Ecard

Tavistock Consulting Christmas Ecard from Daphne Christoforou on Vimeo.

A big thank you to Bari for the music. I think I want to go and live in the illustration :)