Thoughts on business cards

I realise it is important in the business to advertise yourself, talents and work, so I've been thinking about business cards a lot. My thoughts from the start were in the simple category of "something messy" so that is what I did. These are just testers at the moment, I have another shoot around new years. Next time I should really use warm water not cold...

New Facebook page!!

Walk Tall's Aladdin Pantomime!

After jumping at the opportunity to be involved for the second time with Walk Tall last year, tonight I got to see the fruits of my extensive labour!

Went to see the Walk tall Christmas Pantomime of Aladdin this evening, it was ridiculous amounts of fun and laughter, I really couldn't have hoped for anything better! I was so happy and proud to see my hard work on stage being used and soaking up the atmosphere like it deserved to. My wonderful grandparents were able to share this evening with me and boasted my talents to other audience members, much to my embarrassment. After the show I waited for everyone to leave so I could get a cheeky picture with  the set and they put the full beam lights on me. Robbie from Walk Tall came up to me and shook my hand, and even kissed it!! Was not expecting that! We were both so excited and pleased it was a wonderful moment of gratitude and smiles.

Hats off to the cast and crew who did a spectacular job!! Thank you for allowing me to be involved and thank you for a fantastic show!!

UNDERWATER CAMERA!!

As you may be able to tell, I got a little bit excited this week. I got an underwater case for my camera.

Underwater Sony Nex5-N case

I immediately filled the kitchen sink and tentatively put my camera in, and yes those are rubber ducks.

Below are some of the best images I took, and I'm aware they're all pretty bad, but it was my first go and it is a small sink but I was just so excited!!

This is my favourite!

What do you think? Any underwater photography tips or ideas? Leave me a comment and I'd love to hear them!

Creating YouTube artwork for Lord Benjamin.

Creating YouTube artwork for Lord Benjamin.

Creating computer graphics like logos and banners was something I vaguely remember being good at during my GCSEs(in 2010!), but I haven't really done much since that.

This is his favourite video, it shows the title sequence originally made for the channel.

From this I was asked to make a opening sequence, using the font British Quest as influence. Now from my initial ideas and input from Lord Benjamin, I wanted a simple scene with minimal colours and something comical to happen. I haven't had much experience with animation, it's always fascinated me, but it takes so much patience and skill. So I did some research, ways of creating an animation with the programs I already have.

I saw a YouTube Video on creating stop motion videos in Adobe Photoshop and had a go!

Property of Amy Akerman 

This is the initial video I made, I used a black and white illustration, and added some colour in the text. Feedback from Lord Benjamin, he wanted the colour removed from the text and for it to come on screen from the right instead of the top.

Property of Amy Akerman 

To fit into the white on black of the initial logo I inverted the last few frames.

A few weeks after a full renovation on the channel was started, aiming to take effect in March. This was the new opening sequence, as you can see its drastically different from the first design. From this, my next job was to create the logo, beneath are some initial sketches.   

 From these initial drawings I generated this computer graphics, experimenting with size, font, shading and shape.

Here is the final design, it's darker and more shaded, the star is now a like thumbs up, and the text is now black. I look forward to seeing my final designs in the videos.

Re-launch trailer! 

Flickr-ness

Flickr!! I completely forgot it existed, I haven't used it in over two years and I had forgotten how amazing it was!

click here to go to my photo stream!

Here's a taster...

Enjoy! 


All images belong to me!

90th birthday paper roses

90 years of age is impressive and something to be celebrated and cherished, I made these for my great great Aunt's birthday. Especially for woman, flowers are a must, paper roses are something more lasting, these took 7-8 hours and taking that time and effort just makes it so much more special. 

I'm not going to be modest, these are the best roses I have made since I started working with book paper and I'm very proud of them. I hope to have the opportunity to show more skills like this in the future.

Have a great day. x

Photoshoot with thanks to Tim Mead's lovely camera.

Summer quilling

I'm looking forward to getting some new projects underway.

This summer I've had a few little commissions, this is an anniversary card I made for a special couple who are in a long distance relationship between Romania and England.  

For something as difficult and special as a long distance relationship an ordinary card from the petrol station won't cut it. This card is comprised of hand cut book paper about 1 mm wide. The technique used is called quilling, thought to be first used by monks and nuns during the Renaissance to decorate book covers and religious items. It became popular in the 18th century in Europe when woman of class would while away the hours creating work that "wasn't too taxing to the gentile mind". The heart is presented on a background of red handmade paper, on a book of "The English lakes" that is over 20 years old. 

I really love doing things like this, it took about ten hours of solid work, its not easy but I find it very therapeutic. Quilling is a lovely technique for making cards and pictures, give it a try on a rainy day.