Sports Free Folksy Friday (& answer to last week's post)

Aahh crap!! Epic fail as the kids would say. It appears that last week's 'guess the theme' post was entirely unsuccessful, which looking back at my explanation of how the game worked was fairly understandable.
I didn't get a single answer from anyone and when i tried it on the other half the expression on his face was beyond blank, so i think i'll pass that first one off as a trial run.

Okay so the theme and overall answer was Films. 'How?' I hear you scream:
Set 1 answer = 4 Weddings and a Funeral
Set 2 answer = Planes, trains and Automobiles
Set 3 answer = The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Set 4 answer =  Clockwork Orange

Perhaps it would have been easier if i had advised people to visit the image link for a clue as to what the pic represented and maybe if i started with the last one first. Hindsight and all that.
Anyway maybe i'll try another one on you when i get time.

Reet back to business then & today i've done a straight Folksy Friday post.
I don't know if you've noticed but there is this thing happening called the Olympics. Haha off course you have, you can't miss the flipping thing its everywhere.
Well to be a total cynical, miserable git i'm dedicating my FF post today to the antithesis of sport.

Sit back and put your feet up:

Down with sport, up with laziness!

Why not grab a beer, but don’t walk to the fridge too fast though or it may count as exercise.

Watch some t.v. (no Olym***s allowed)

After all that hard work you’ll need some fuel. Time for a snack:

or two:

Phew its all too much i need a lie down.

Erm...... what time is the opening ceremony again? ;)
Byeeee

Etsy 'Guess The Theme Game' Showcase

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was planning on doing some Folksy Friday posts with a bit of an interactive element just to ring the changes. So this week i've created a product showcase/game just for fun. Unfortunately due to some major issues with Folksy's search facility i.e. it being totally crap and more often than not the searches bringing up unavailable items, I have opted to do this using Etsy seller's products instead.

If you want to play along its simple:
There is a common theme running between these 4 sets of items. To guess the overall theme you need to work out the phrase, title or word etc from the combined images in each item set. Then the answer from each set goes to making the overall theme. Think about what is in each image or what the main item in the picture could symbolise.

I will reveal all in next Friday's post so please don't comment on here with your answer. However if you think you've got it & want to let me know feel free to tell me your answer via my Facebook wall here: http://www.facebook.com/LucyFarfortIllustrator or here: http://www.facebook.com/lucy.farfort Alternatively you can tweet me: @lucyfarfort
Good luck!

SET 1

SET 2

SET 3

SET 4

Inspiration over the years

Due to time constraints i've not got round to interviewing another artist for my 'Pleased To Meet You' interviews for a while so I thought I would do a little post instead today on some of the artists that have influenced my work over the years.
Some of these (particularly the manga artists) are early influences that shaped my work from when I first decided I wanted to be an illustrator and some are more recently discovered artists who's work inspires me.

Hayao Miyazaki
I first discovered this illustrator/animator's work when I was about 14 having been sent thought the post Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro) on VHS from a manga pen pal, obviously this was a long time ago when pen pal's still existed. The penpal was Italian so the video was the original Japanese dubbed into Italian, therefore i didn't really grasp that much of the story although got the gist and was absolutely captivated by the imagery. I've since then seen pretty much all his films over the years. Anyway if you don't know about this guy already then you must get on Google now!! Other search engines are available :)

Rumiko Takahashi
I read lots of Rumiko Takahashi's manga (Ranma ½, Urusei Yatsura) when I was about 15. One of the reasons why I loved her work so much was because she was one of the very few BIG name female manga artists. She was a real inspiration being female in a very male dominated industry and I very much admired her for that.

Arthur Rackham
A very famous English illustrator from the late 1800's/early 1900s. He illustrated many famous children's books such as Grimm's Fairy Tales, Alice in Wonderland etc. He was a big influence on my work when I was at Uni.

Lisa Alisa
An artist I discovered around 8 years ago. I just love her style probably because its quite Japanese influenced. I really love the bold colours and the way she makes a painting look like digital graphics.

Matt Sewell
An awesome illustrator who produces really beautiful, what I would call street style work. He is another artist i got into quite a few years ago, probably around the same time that I found Lisa Alisa.

Anke Weckmann
A contemporary illustrator who's work is really unique with a very folk inspired style. She is one of my favourite illustrators at the moment.

A non post

There must be something in my stars or planetary alignment this month because over the last two weeks i've had quite a number of commissions for various projects, online sales and offers to put work in places. I have nothing for months and  then suddenly loads of work, amyway i'm certaonly not complaining the opposite in fact its wonderful and long may it continue.
I'm thinking if my luck is up i should probably go and get a lottery ticket :)

I was very much intending to do the first of my 'interactive' Folksy Friday posts today but it turns out they're a pain in the butt to organise so i just don't have the time today. The creation of my fist post is underway though so i'll try and get it out next week - promise!

In the meantime to keep you sweet, ha ha ha i thought i would post the first finished (minus a little detail that would give to much away) picture book illustration for which you saw the work in progress earlier on in the week. I'll be starting the 2nd one today.

Till next time. Byee!

In progress

Well i couldn't resist giving you a little preview of the first illustration i am working on for this picture book commission which i mentioned.
To give a little more background to this, i received an email from a lovely lady who is a teacher and has written a very sweet little story for which she was looking for an illustrator and was pointed in my direction. I was very excited to get the email *YIPPEE!* as children's book illustration is what i have wanted to do for a long time (along with half the planet i think).
She doesn't have a publisher for it yet so we agreed it would be best if i just did a few illustrations for it in the first instance, so that she could send these along with her manuscript to a publisher.

So i've now started on the first of 4 and this is the outline image for it:

I can't really give away much more about it at the moment but hopefully in a few weeks time i'll be able to tell you some more about it.
Reet i better get on!

Folksy Friday - The Big Smoke

I had a number of ideas for today's post theme following on from a recent lack of inspiration.
In fact I had a brain wave and came up with a novel little twist for future posts to give them a kind of interactive element. So from next Friday onwards these FF posts may take on a new format - well for a few weeks at least.
Anywho back to the present. Today's theme is London inspired by the upcoming London 2012 Olympics:

Well i hope you enjoyed the picks, time for me to scoot. Taxi!!

This week i have mostly....

...been making circle graphics from my new 'Whatever the weather' clip art set:

...and creating a poster for Made In Newcastle's Summer Market:

....and later on this week i'll be working on some illustrations for a children's picture book which i am very excited to say i have been commissioned to do some images for :) Yay!!
More on that to come.