Merry Christmas!

There's only one day left till Christmas, and obviously blogging isn't exactly a top priority. Nevertheless, I felt the urge to share with you, in true Christmas spirit, possibly one of the best Christmas songs ever recorded. If anything, it never fails to get me into the festive mood:

Bah, humbug x)
Merry Christmas everyone :D

They're Not Out of Time

It has been confirmed: Blur is officially reforming! I'm so happy, I haven't got words! I wanted to post a video interview here on this blog, but it just wouldn't work, so I'm providing you with a link instead, http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1659851007/bclid1755457108/bctid4319131001

I'm chuffed to bits :D

My bad.

I have been informed that the word "redshirted", which I used when commenting Manchester United, is an actual term meaning something completely different from what I meant. I was of course, from a girls perspective, aiming at the colour of their shirts. No offense meant, no offense done, eh?

Sharpen your ears - it's Blur!

I apologize for not bringing you the news before, but knowing you lot, you're probably not updated on these things anyway. Damon Albarn has announced that Blur will get together for rehearsals sometime in 2009 to see if they're "into it". Just to up the news, the reunion includes Graham Coxon as well! After six years of having hardly spoken to each other, it seems Damon and Graham might finally have made up: "Graham and I have been hanging out together a bit," Damon said. "We had lunch the other day. He's great, it's fantastic to get my old friend back."

So even if these recent news can't promise us a definite Blur comeback, I think it's well worth it just to know that the Albarn/Coxon friendship has been restored.

(Battery In Your Leg, one of my personal favorites, and incidentally the last song all four of them played together.)

Me, myself and moi.

Having said that, here's a blogpost dedicated entirely to myself:
I'm thinking about taking a year abroad. Having lived in the same town for 16 years, my life has come to a bit of a standstill. It's time for a change of environment! It's time to set sail for the west and widen the horizon so it fits panorama! I'm young and temporarily insane, and there's no better time than that for a year across the pond. That's right.

Blog on Blog

There's been some negativity going about the "whole blogging thing", and in all honesty the thought of having some strangers unfortunate life thrust upon you can't be said to sound anything but appalling. Still, there are ways of blogging that doesn't necessarily put the entirety of focus on the infamous self; the trick is to write about stuff that might actually be interesting for other people. If, for example, you've got mutual enemies, why not slag these off? That's always a winner.

Skillz - I has dem

Lots of people have asked me "how do you do it?" Well obviously I don't want to give away my secrets, but that's mostly because there are none. With Photoshop the trick is simply to learn yourself some of the basics, and then use them your own way. You can achieve great effects through simply filtering and layering.

Here's a little tutorial I've patched together to illustrate what I mean:

1. First off you need a photo; I've downloaded mine from sxc.hu (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/710131)














2. Make a new layer and colour it white.
Now change the mode to "colour" and the opactiy to 75%.











3. The roses look a bit damp, but that's nothing a little contrast adjustment won't fix. Duplicate your background layer and go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/contrast.
Put brightness to -25 and contrast to +35 and watch those roses come alive.

4. Now duplicate the previous layer and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The size of this file is quite big, so I've put the blur to 10. (Remember this won't apply for all photos, so this is where your "personal twist" comes in. Same goes for the brightness/contrast adjustments.)











5. The last step is actually the same as the first one!
Change the layer mode to "overlay" and you're done.











So there it is then!
Now, if you please, stop bothering me.

















Cheers.

I'll edit you out, you know

Depicting reality is great fun, but photoshopping is even better. Here are some of my own favorite snaps:

Actually the first one's clean. Didn't see that one coming, did you?

And we've Finished!

Needless to say, this looks quite a lot better in real life.
As to how it's made: I've used actual wallpaper for the background, satin for the hair and t-shirt, and... well, paper with some tape stuck on to it (to make it tactile) for the face. I'm a fan of easy solutions, so what?

I'd rather you didn't touch that....

I don't want to get too far into this, so I'll just say that we're working with textures at school, and I'm not very good at it. I have however worked with textures before, only it's been strictly restricted to the Photoshop meaning of the word.

A recurrent texture in my art is the ever lovely paper texture.
It's a very nice and subtle texture which will fit to almost anything.

Another texture I've used on a couple of occasions, is the knitted texture. The use of this texture is more restricted though.

Textures in real life are of course tactile, but like with our project at school, I can't say I'm entirely comfortable with people touching my art, especially not when it's a picture of my face. 

I hope this has been educational x) 

So they Live there or What?

Arctic Monkeys is without doubt my favorite band, and at the event of their "Arctic Monkeys Live at the Apollo" DVD-release, I thought I'd just post this piece I made of them a while ago, to "honor" them (if you could call it that xD). In the meantime I'll just die of anticipation as I wait for my pre ordered "Arctic Monkeys Live at the Apollo Special Limited Edition DVD Box Set".

Don’t be Rubbish, New Design?

I haven’t been myself lately, and as you might have noticed, my blog has suffered. Two Sundays have passed without me writing a single word, and so I thought perhaps it was time I made a valid effort of making a proper blog post. So here you are then:

Yesterday, even though nothing really worked out, like it never really does, in the midst of all the distress, I actually felt a jolt of happiness. I had been asked to make a header for fredstoyva’s blog “The Music Dramatist”, and so I did.

Inspired by the making of Fred’s header, I decided to rework the design of my own blog. Having not touched Photoshop for such a long time, I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to work with, and it felt really good to be reminded.
I hope you will enjoy the new design as much as I do J

Here are some of the headers I made, and might use in the future:

Maintenance down the drain

Well it seems yo won't be getting any proper posts for a while, since blogger doesn't work properly on the mac, and my computer at home has to stay off till we get the electricity working again. 

It was actually quite scary, it looked like the little electricity box thingy was on fire as it shoot sparks and went kntrtnkrtnkrtrnktr. It smelled awful by the way. Good thing I was there or it could've caused the house to burn down! Anyway, I can't stay in my room for now sine there's no light or anything in the entire upper level of that part of our house. 

As we wait, let's look at kittens: 

 

Maintenance

It seems it's going to be a problem posting blogposts from this computer, which means I can't update as regularly as usual, as most posts are posted within school hours.

Further posts will be posted manually from my stationary PC at home (which is a drag.)

How BBC do you feel today?

All right, I've missed my first Official Post post. It was bound to happen, though. Not like it matters.  

Anyway, if we could move on, I've actually got some slightly interesting news today. I've found myself a new favourite Telly-on-the-PC TV-show! It's Never Mind the Buzzcocks with Simon Amstell and those two other blokes who didn't star in popworld. 

For those of you who don't know what Never Mind the Buzzcocks is: bugger off. No, I'm just kidding you, ha-ha. Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a quiz show quite similar to that of Have I got News for You?. Oh no, you haven't heard about Have I got News for You?? Bugger off. 

Never Mind the Buzzcocks, ladies and gents - another jewel in the crown of the BBC Empire.

(This post has been reported by some as offensive, and has therefore been rewritten; not really without the offensive parts, but with an added strained undertone accompanied by some fake laughter in the middle.)

My latest project, if anything

It feels a bit strange calling whatever I post here "my latest work", because I draw a lot, and if every sketch is considered a work of art, no drawing will stay the latest for very long. I'm still going to call this my latest work, because it's the last I spent any time doing.

I've bought a lamp. Thank you IKEA. But this isn't going to stay an ikea lamp for very long. As you might have guessed, my latest work has something to do with my latest buy; I'm going to transfer a simplyfied version of the above sketch to the lamp (!). It's not going to be easy... most likely it won't even work... But I'm young and I haven't used up my mistakes quota just yet, so I'm going for it ;)
Wish me luck. I'll start the project as soon as I can, until then: die of anticipation.

...

I was sitting in the school's reading area after school listening to nme radio. After a while I was beginning to get sick from my gum so I decided to go spit it out. And when I ripped the earplug out of my ear (only one of em works... the plugs that is) I experienced this extraordinary silence. There was nothing but that deep, hollow murmur from perhaps the airconditioner or summat. It was strange.

Just wanted to tell you that :)

(This was written with one hand as I'm eating an apple with the other one.)

...

When Havoc’s at the Door… fundraising

The world is in turmoil – why don’t I worry more? Well personally I don’t care if it’s the end of mankind, coz it might as well be. All these years and all we’ve managed to come up with is global warming and a failing economy. And yes, times are harsh – there’s an increase in people in need of psychological help; blind violence is growing ever more common; it’s been months since there were any green numbers of significance at Bloomberg’s; and in 2012… well I doubt the gods will be “holidaying” here.

But this was supposed to be an angry blog post, and mind you, it should be. People all over the world are living in fear of going bankrupt; one third of the worlds’ mammals are endangered of dying out; not to mention there’s too many people who can’t even afford to feed themselves. And while everybody has to eat, no one is willing to produce food any less than they’re willing to give up their yearly vacations to Spain or spending 2000 quid on their child’s birthday because they can’t be there for them themselves.

There’s something fundamentally wrong with the way we’ve built our world. And I ask myself “what happened?” when something as innocent as a walk in the park can result in being blown up for a cause; getting kicked to death for the way you dress; or being stabbed in the stomach by your best mate over a quarrel that would have been solved within ten minutes of reason. I’m beginning to think our whole society was built on sand ground.

Some have predicted the 30s’ all over again, and ever so dramatic it might seem… well let’s just hope history doesn’t repeat itself too soon. But with red figures everywhere and no white Christmas ahead - four years to go, and who knows, the world might actually have come to an end. Still, I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t entirely truthful when I said I didn’t worry, because I do worry. Not because we might be facing the end of the world as we know it, or indeed the end of mankind itself, but because we all worry. And with a future as uncertain as this, God knows we should.

I'm struggling with the headline for this one

Ever read Sky Doll? If not, that’s probably a good thing. But if you have - wow, Barbucci/Canepa = brilliance.

I think it’s only fair that young artists in search of their own style should be allowed to try out other artists’ styles on the way. Intrigued and inspired by the works of Barbucci and Canepa, it is no secret that I myself have tried to, if not copy, then work upon the framework of their art (if that made any sense to you).

Lately I’ve been focusing a bit more on colouring rather than sketching, resulting perhaps in awfully inaccurate drawings in magnificent colours. My aim is, of course, as always, to grow as an artist. And there is no doubt that learning from the works of Canepa has given me a great push forward – I was anyway growing tired of painting the colour circle.

As you might have noticed from the picture I posted a few days ago, I’m quite fond of the colour red. And as you can see, the colouring of this work is no exception. I started off with a cooler, more pink/grey palette, but changed my mind after the basic colouring, and added effect layers to make it look warmer and softer. To be exact – this picture consists of in total 41 visible layers. To get a closer look head over to http://weallscream4icecream.deviantart.com/art/Not-yet-97002575 for the finished version, and http://weallscream4icecream.deviantart.com/art/Not-yet-plain-version-97013308 for the basic coloured version.

Holidays!!

So it’s the holidays again – ah, the holidays – couldn’t be without them, could we?. I’m spending mine settling in in my new room across the hall. And yes, it is slightly bigger than the last one, if only a few m-twos... If anything, I’ve now got room for my amp as well, so I can finally outplay the horrific sound of my own voice. Thank God for that.

It’s not easy getting used to such a drastic change of environment, but so far I’m quite all right with the result. However, despite of the number of things I’ve done to make this room more like home, there’s still one thing that speaks against me - and which I believe I can never quite get to peace with - it’s the terrifyingly pink carpet that goes wall-to-wall (shudder). 

I probably won’t get back to you for the rest of the week (if I’m not in a tremendous blogging mood), so all that’s left to say is: happy holydays. And for those of you who have to go to school or preschool or work or whatever – so long suckers!

Third Official Post

All right so it's Monday, not Sunday, I forgot. Sorry.

Anyway, in an effort to win more readers for my blog, I’ve decided to let this post be about football. Football is as we all know, one of the most loved sports in the world. And I’m talking about football, not American football, but football, real football.
Now I’m not really that into football to be honest, but I know that it means a lot to a lot of people. And mind you, I’m no novice either; I know the offside rule. Frankly the offside rule was never a problem, and I can’t see why it should have been.

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about was something I read about loyalty to your team. Basically what it said was: “you don’t choose your team, the team chooses you” (ever so melodramatic it might sound). And what I found was: it’s actually true.
You see, I’ve always cheered for Manchester United, when I never really realized why. And this is something that has been bothering me for quite a while, because there’s nothing special about them to me that make me want to cheer for them. I just do, daft as it may sound, because it comes natural to me.

And don’t think I haven’t tried cheering for other teams (including Sheffield Wednesday which I’m still trying to bond with), but how ever much I try, it just doesn’t feel right. Coz the fact remains, whether I like it or not, my heart belongs to that red shirted lot.

Go Man U.
(Kick those Chelsea arses)

Weekly Poll

Do you feel a special connection to a specific team - in which case, what team?

I’m an artist, I can’t work with these amateurs!

I wouldn’t exactly call myself an artist, but I’m always trying to be a better one. Having always enjoyed the occasional sketch and the over-the-average-lucky-photo, I decided quite early on that art was the way to go.

As I’ve told you before, I now have artclasses every week. It’s ten 40 minute classes however, and not eight. I was thinking "4 + 4 + 2 that’s ten... no it can’t be that many, it has to be eight." Sorry bout that.

Anyway, doing artclasses isn’t quite what I’d imagined, but I guess it might have something to do with the revolution of always having to figure out how to make it right all by myself, to being told constantly that I’m doing it wrong. Bummer.

Well, you’ve seen my bird sketch, but obviously that’s not the only thing I can do. For those of you who want to know more about my art, go to www.weallscream4icecream.deviantart.com
Till then, here’s another one of those occasional sketches:

(Oh, and about the title: remember the obscure references I told you about? It’s one of those.)

Second Official Post

It’s Sunday again, and it’s time for my Second Official Post. I have however decided that, in the event of my one week anniversary as a blogger, I will drop my book presentation in order to give this special occasion the bit of attention it deserves.

Because it really has been an extraordinary week; there’s been anger, and there has been laughter; there’s been obscure references, and ridiculously exaggerated language. Not to mention I’ve been slagging off the Queen herself. Yes, it’s been quite the week, hasn’t it?

As you can see, I’ve included a sketch of a bird in today’s post. This bird is not only my latest artwork, but marks the beginning of a new era in my life. An era with new people, new places, and eight 40-minute art classes a week.

(PS: Forget what I said about Sunday being rest-day. I've caught a cold and I'm feeling utterly battered. It's like I'm running Windows Vista or something. In short: I'm miserable.)

Yours truly
Weallscream4icecream.

Weekly Poll
The results for last weeks poll is as follows:
Good 0
Bad 0
Couldn't care less 0
And you know what they say: statistics never lie.

This weeks question is:
Have you bothered to read all my posts y/n?
(Not to worry - next weeks poll will not be about the blog.)

Unofficial post No. 3

So some of my friends from school found about my blog, and guess what – apparently they think blogging is rubbish. One of them even had the insolence of telling me straight in the face “you’re writing a blog?” clearly emphasising the word “you”. Yeah, well, I get it, right, coz I’ve got nothing interesting to say, is that it? Well I’d like to see you try – I mean it’s not like you’re the one who got to the state final in an art competition for the young and promising, and it certainly weren’t you who received 20$ from impressed tourists after a piano concert at an art gallery; just to mention some of the things I’ve been out for.

And you have the nerve to tell me I’m not entitled to write my own blog – due to what, lack of anecdotes? Well here’s to you – I don’t care.

What about the rest of you lot – you got friends like that? They're a right pain in the arse, aren’t they? But in the end, they’re still your friends, not coz you like them, but coz they kinda like you and all you’ve done.

Unofficial post No. 2 (Also known as “WHAT did you call the Queen?”)

During the past few weeks attending my new school, I’ve experienced an increasing lack of interest for schoolwork; a dangerous situation for a young and promising student like myself. Especially when it endangers me of calling the Queen a miserable old hag, which reminds me I'll probably have to edit that text before handing it in ("The Queen" 2006). Worse off was my last (and incidentally my first) English Test in which I managed to add to my answer about James Cook the sentence: “And there’s also the guitarist Jamie Cook (and he’s also from Yorkshire, can you believe it!?)”. That last comment – priceless.

I also called the Americans smug, and came this close to referring to French as a “frog language”. My English grades so far? Pretty gud, akshually…

Unofficial post No. 1

So I’ve realized just how boring it is with a blog that’s only updated on Sundays, and that’s why I’ve decided to post “unofficial” blog posts during the weekdays; hurray! Besides, Sunday is after all the resting day, and I’ll be all… rested. During the weekdays however, there’s a good chance I’ll be utterly knackered and not much fun, which makes me ever more suited for blogging.

So what’s new today? Well, I’ve spent most afternoon watching old episodes of “Have I Got News for You” on youtube, during which I’ve been constantly haunted by that nagging feeling of having to do my homework, which I should probably be busy doing right about now, but I’m writing my blog post so it’ll have to wait. It’s all about prioritizing, you know. I don’t take economy at school. I do take English though, but that doesn’t stop me from writing really long and odd sentences with points pointing back at anything that sounds right if you put the right rhythm into it.

Talking about language, I thank God for spell check, but sometimes I can’t help but feel that those linguistic helpers you find on the net are just… rubbish. Like the other day when I tried translating the word “bore” as in “a bit of a bore” and it came back as “stretcher”. Then again, I always found grammar was a bit of a stretcher anyway… as in bore… You get the point.

Well there you go then: Unofficial post No. 1!
(I trust you know by now why it’s called unofficial.)

Cheers.

First Official Post

(Read the Grand Opening first!)
I thought we’d start with a website presentation, and website of the week is: www.zombo.com
You can do anything at zombo.com! The only limit is yourself. You really need to visit zombo.com. Take my word for it; anything is possible at zombo.com.

Weekly poll
What was your first impression of this blog? Good? Bad? Couldn’t care less? Leave your vote in the comment box (marked poll vote) – the results will be revealed before next weeks’ poll.

Grand Opening

First of all I’d like to state the fact that I’ve got absolutely nothing to say to you… so this’ll be interesting…

Let’s start with some of the things you need to know about me:

Name: I’m a bit paranoid, so let’s leave that, shall we?

Age: While we’re at it, why don’t we leave that too.

Special abilities: I can hold my breath for ten minutes! No actually I can’t. But I do hold the record for the fastest talking person in class, with amazing 2.6 seconds on “how much wood would a wood pecker peck if a wood pecker could peck wood?”

What makes this blog different from the others you ask? Well, nowt basically. But heck, I had to give it a try, right? If every other idiot can, I can too.

Anyway, I’ll basically just be writing about high and low; whatever comes to mind, (so I guess it goes without saying that this blog will contain a lot of rubbish.)

I’ve got some news posts already planned however, most of them revolving around subjects such as art, music, literature and language (It’ll be fun! Honest!)

I’m also planning on having weekly polls and website presentations. Whatever comes to mind :P

This blog will be updated every Sunday.

(Today however, the first official post will follow shortly after, as this is to be regarded as an introduction to the blog, and not a news item after the terms.)