The first hour of my lesson with Brian was spent sitting in a group, supposedly discussing our ideas for what we are/were going to put on our non-Christmassy Christmas cards. It didn't go well at all though, and we all just sat there, bemused as to what to say. I couldn't really understand how it was helping, but Brian thought it would. However, finally, Brian told us to go back to what we were doing if we wanted to, since he know no one was gaining anything from the group discussions.
I got on with my work for a while, before showing Brian a booklet that I had created as part of my Biennial task. He seemed to really like it. I also showed him the designs I had on the computer. He said that he'd seen one of them already, because I'd left it on his USB pen. Although it had nothing on the actual document saying it was my work, he said that he instantly knew it was. I asked how, but he said he just knew. I took it as a compliment.
A little while later, about 30 minutes from the end of the session, he came over to me again and pulled up a chair next to me. "You fancy doing some work for me, mate?", he said to me. I assumed he meant a task similar to the one that Daniel had given me regarding the Biennial booklet task, but oh no, it was much better.
"How do you fancy working on a job with me?", he said to me and this was music to my ears.
"Sounds good to me", I replied.
"Well, what it is, is you know Topps?"
"Yeah"
"Well they want us to design some new cards for them and - tell you what, let's go over here" and he took me away from the rest of the class so he could tell me more about this project.
"The project is to design some cards called Football Rules and on each card is a picture of a player, and on the back is something describing that player, like 'Determined' or 'Positive'. Stuff like that. Now what I want you to do is come up with some ideas for how you think they should look and if there's any money in it, then I'll pay you if your ideas get used. How's that?"
"Sounds great", I replied, calmly, whereas inside I was thinking "One of the people who I respect the most for his skills and creativity has just asked me to work with him on a real live project AND get paid for it!". I can't quite believe it. I can't believe that he's actually asked me to do it. I'm extremely appreciative of his offer and absolutely flattered that he thinks i'm good enough to work with him.
We sat talking about the project for at least 25 minutes. He said that tomorrow, he'll get all of the stuff I need on CD for me so I can get going on it. He said that the deadline for the project was the end of September, but they're running behind with it now so the new deadline is the middle of October. He said that he knew I work fast and can come up with the goods in a short amount of time.
I left his lesson feeling rather damn good. Ok, I've yet to actually get paid or truly work on the project with him, but the sheer fact that he's asked me to work with him is a prize in itself.
At lunch, I sat outside to get some fresh air till 12:30pm, and then Jamie and Mike met me. I invited Jamie out tomorrow to Southport to the fireworks displays and he said that it sounded good and he might come. I invited Mike too, but he said that he was working, but he thought that it sounded really interesting. Jamie said he'd call me tomorrow to see whether he was going or not.
I had my lesson with Daniel at 1pm. It was quite boring really. Well, no, the 90 minutes wasn't, actually. He had brought in some girl's sketch books who is now at university. My God they were good. Packed with ideas, colours, textures, etc. He said that she got distinctions throughout the year for all of her work because it was that good. It was incredibly intimidating seeing her work. Drawing development is an important part of my course and it's passed by keeping good sketch books. I think i'm going to find it difficult to fill a few sketch books with all of my ideas. I'm really not the type of person to collect examples of images and whatnot that I like and stick them down. I just forget to. I'm hoping that maybe Daniel, along with the rest of the tutors will really really push drawing development enough that I'll start getting into the habit of doing it.
The printers in the Mac room are awful. There are two in there and neither work. Plus, they're only A4 and only one of them is colour. I had to print out some of my Biennial work, but it's on A3 and since there aren't any A3 printers in the room, I ended up going upstairs to another computer room to print it off on there. However, that printer wasn't working either. What the hell do I have to do to find a decent printer! Daniel said that the technicians know perfectly well that the printers don't work, but they've just not done anything about it yet. It sucks.
4pm and I was off out of college. I had brought the trainers which I had bought two days ago with me and was going to get a refund or exchange them. I tried on another two pairs today and I think I've found some that I like and are comfortable enough to wear daily. Plus, they were �10 cheaper. I've not taken the label off them yet, because I don't want to ruin my chances of taking them back if they're no good, but as soon as I put them on in the shop, they just felt right. There was no discomfort at all with them. It was if they had been mine for years. I'm hoping that I'm not just being deluded here.
Once I got home, I came online for a bit. Laura wanted to use the computer at 7pm, so I took the opportunity to start getting some ideas down onto paper for my Topps project. I sketched out five designs for what I thought the front of the card should look like and five designs for the back, then filled the sheet with notes on each. I'm pleased with one or two, but because they're only sketches and I have limited drawing skills, they don't look all that good. I know they will in Illustrator though and Brian's very much a conceptualist so I know he'll be able to see past my crappy drawings and know what i'm getting at.
In addition to the cards, I also drew a card container. Brian didn't ask me to design it, but I thought it might be a nice accessory and if nothing else, it's good to get some practice in drawing.
Tomorrow morning, Brian said that he'll come and find me and take me out of the lesson so he can tell me more about the Topps project. I'm very thankful for that, because it means I don't have to spend as much time in 1/13. The morning session on Friday is always horrible. As I've said, it's tiny, has no windows, and it's just not a nice enviroment to work in. I've never produced anything good in there.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow quite a bit now. I have the Topps project to look forward to and I also have Southport to look forward to, regardless of if anyone comes with me. I'm going on my own if I have to. There's a fairly good chance I will be doing so too, which sucks, but I'd still like to see the firework displays. I'm hoping it will be worth my while going.
