Kawaii, Oh My

First off: If you're not busy this week, head down to the Vyner Studio! You may recall me mentioning that the pieces in the entry below were being done for an exhibition - well, they're on show there as part of the Tea Party Club's 5th Anniversary event! Check it out!

I'm still going strong with the Embodiment project, but I think my Moleskine (notebook) is getting a little tired of watercolour washes over and over again. Taking the hint from my good friend Addy, I bit the bullet and ordered from Modes4U.

I ordered a couple of 10-pack deco tape sets (very cheap at about £3 per pack) and, as I'd just received a paycheck, some adorable stickers. They posted them out to me within a couple days, and got here today - super quick for overseas shipping!

They also threw in an extra deco tape (Rilakkuma-themed) as a thank you for ordering from them. How sweet! As well as journalling my adventures, deco tape is also good for sealing packages or adding a bit of cute to thank-you cards. With good prices, excellent shipping and customer service, I'd definitely shop again with Modes in the future.

As for Embodiment spreads, as I've not done one of these posts in a while:

Includes the laminated Loli conbadge I'd done for myself at the event.

Even things like business cards and packaging for teabags cannot escape my journal!

And, to top it all off - my Three Lolifriends image was used as a design for the back of a compact mirror for the Tea Party Club's Sunday tea party event. One of my Lolita friends, Jennifer, was kind enough to take a photograph for me as I couldn't attend the Sunday tea party:

I'm well chuffed!

Mascot Mania

Sorry for the scarceness as of late again, folks. I've now broken up for the summer and am now doing 1) a lot of sleeping, 2) sorting out for moving my stuff back home, and 3) working before I lose my job due to the company being bought out. I'll be going through my A to Z sometime soon, there's some work in there I'm really proud of, so I'd like to show it off.

Right now I do want to talk about these guys, seeing as the design community seems to be quite divided on them:

I've not really been keeping up to date with London 2012 until recently. I do make an effort to watch some of the Olympics when it rolls round (at least the opening ceremony), but that's as far as it usually goes.

It was only in the last few weeks I saw these on the front of a bag of sweets (like I said - not been keeping up to date) and thought "lumps of metal? Mascots? What?", and I evidently wasn't the only one. These two have been met with a lot of criticism, but they've grown on me. Admittedly I find the weirdest things adorable, so I might not be a good judge on this, but they have a really cute Monsters Inc/Pixar feel to them and probably wouldn't look too out of place in a Pokemon game either. I also like the colour schemes, they're interesting without being too over-the-top.

I'm still not a huge fan of the style of animation used in the cartoons. Something about the style just looks a little flat to me, and the backgrounds/human characters just look incomplete compared with the 3D and detail of Wenlock and Mandeville themselves, who are animated very well. I think if it were in the hands of a company like Aardman, it would have been immediately recognisable (who hasn't heard of or seen Wallace and Gromit?) as well as full of British charm - the animation here does seem to lack that warmth and detail. Still, the first one in the series (linked above) does manage to get me smiling when Wenlock's clowning around and posing, and Mandeville "barks" back at the dog. N'awwww. They even sound like Pokemon!

In conclusion - to each their own but I'm not quite sure what everyone's in such a tizzy about*. Olympic mascots are meant to be a bit silly and cheesy, as they're not even aimed at the folks who design them - they're there to appeal to kids and try to get them learning or enthusiastic about sport, and given that they seem to be a hit with the young 'uns so far, I think they're doing their job.

* - Maybe it's money-related? The Illuminati? Well, I for one welcome our new shiny, adorable cyclops overlords.

They're Here! Business Cards!

Well, they've been here for a little while, now - but now I have some time to review them! The business cards I received from MOO.com are here, and I've spent a lot of time examining them ...

I sent three designs off to them - 50 cards each, and they made it to me in a matter of days (put it this way - my expected delivery date is still four days away, and I've had these in my grubby little hands for just under a week). The online "designer" was fairly easy to use, although I'd not found the template I was meant to have used as a guideline. Because of that, some of my cards turned out a little differently than I expected (although nothing major). I've saved the template for future reference, as I wouldn't mind going with MOO again - my designs will need tweaking if I do, though.

This one is my favourite of the three. It accurately represents my style, my love of doodles and my site (in other words, this blog), while looking fairly stylish. The design background is slightly off-white, which I think has worked nicely. On a few of the cards, though, there is a small white line around the edge - a small printing error. Not too noticeable, though.

There's a small blue line below Elizallustration's face, but it's actually quite grown on me. I love the contrast of the red, white and blue, and I was right to go with the blue background. The text on the back is slightly off-centre, but that's me being a bit of a perfectionist. The text is otherwise nice and readable (something I was a bit worried about, with a portrait-orientation card). 

Elizaillustrationdoodlething's face reaches the bottom of the card. Having these printed also helps me find impurities in the drawing (such as scanner/ink marks), to remove them for future reprints.


All in all, I'm happy with these bad boys - they're not bad for first-time cards, and I wouldn't mind going with MOO again - I'd just have to watch the template and bleed.

REVIEW: Everything We Miss, by Luke Pearson

*Warning: May contain spoilers*

Today, I received my copy of 'Everything We Miss', by Luke Pearson. This is the first graphic novella I've ever purchased, and I wasn't disappointed. I bought it on pre-order, and Nobrow included two free postcards as well as the free poster.

What immediately drew me to it was the preview - seven pages that portrayed many emotional points of view. The main story of Everything We Miss - a failing relationship going through its final stage with paranoia, nisunderstanding and disagreements contrasts vividly with the many abstract, fantastical and often childish happenings around the couple as they remain absorbed in the other and the crushing reality. The contrast is really charming and, although quite dark, often comforting.

The two 'settings' (reality and the fantastical) aren't the only thing that contrasts - the white, black, and various shades of orange are bold and stark. The cartooniness and simplicity of the art style lends itself to the fantasy element, but the characters' believable expressions and the strength of the lines compliment the element of reality. It fits together nicely, and expresses the confusion and restless emotions surrounding a newly broken relationship.

The conversations between the two throughout the book are incredibly human - you can imagine their tone of voice, their moods, their reactions and poses as if the interaction was taking place in the room you're sitting in. I found it very difficult to not be moved by them, and see both sides of the story (and how olive branches extended by the other are easily missed). The instances where we see glimpses of the stories of other people around them living life are also very easy to relate to. "Everything We Miss", to me, has two different meanings - the little details we just don't see in life, as we're too busy with our own issues and goings-on, and how a couple going through a rough patch or a breakup pine for the idyllic days of the 'honeymoon period' in their relationship. I won't give away the ending, but the last panel really sums up the title of the book and is a fitting ending to a sad, and very moving story.

All in all, this was a well-written, wonderfully illustrated read. If you get the chance to pick it up (see below for the link to Nobrow's shop), do so - I recommend it.

"Everything We Miss" is available to order here.

Luke Pearson's website (with regular blog updates) is here.