Courtney James

Courtney is a 23 year old graphic designer / illustrator from Detroit, Michigan. "My true love lies with the creation of graphic art and design" she says. "This media has given me the opportunity to accurately express my own personality and depict the elements that make this world so beautiful."

Courtney's illustrations are typically figurative, incorportating organic forms found throughout nature. She is constantly inspired by everything that surrounds her, and this reflects in her work. I love the organic feel that her works have and the contrast between photography and watercolour, reality and fantasy, hand-crafted and digital.

http://punkychicken.com/07/

Computer Arts

One of my favourite magazines is the Computer Arts magazine. It is always packed with information and says what's new in the world of design.

It also says:

Books which are useful
Handy hits and tips
How to find a job in Design etc

There is a really interesting article in this month's magazine about 'creating original artwork in a copycat world', which says what you should and shouldn't do in a deja vu world of design. Definately worth a read!

Emporio Peroni, Leeds

An exclusive shop in the heart of Leeds has been rented to house a single bottle of designer beer (not for sale) and its male model guard. The promotional idea is the brainchild of the Italian makers of Nastro Azzurro beer, which they are heavily marketing in the city.

The Peroni "non-shop" which sells absolutely nothing, is in King Edward Street – at a minimalist boutique store – so exclusive that only window shopping is allowed.

Situated in one of Leeds's most stylish shopping thoroughfares and located just around the corner from Harvey Nichols, Emporio Peroni houses a single bottle of Peroni Nastro Azzurro on a plinth, guarded by a well dressed Italian model who has been attracting plenty of attention from passers by.

The launch of Emporio Peroni in Leeds was celebrated with opportunities for people to win a number of prizes including a VIP night out in the city to a year's supply of Peroni beer.

Promoters of the brew say their 'Salute' team will be visiting Leeds's most stylish venues and offering people the opportunity to try a bottle of Peroni and inviting people to participate in the Peroni style profile quiz.

Richard Walker, Peroni Nastro Azzurro UK Brand Manager said: "We're delighted to be officially launching Peroni in Leeds. Emporio Peroni will create intrigue and excitement amongst shoppers and beer drinkers alike.

"We want to challenge people's perceptions of traditional beer drinking and position Peroni Nastro Azzurro as an aspirational brand that encompasses style, authenticity and quality. As one of the UK's most stylish cities Leeds was an obvious choice for us to launch in."

Posted: Monday, July 09, 2007

(/www.leedsliveitloveit.com)

NAME : Emporio Peroni

COMPANY : Emporio Peroni

VENUE :
Emporio Peroni
7 King Edward Street
Leeds
LS1

DATE : 6 July 2007 - 12 July 2007

Neil Duerden

After finding the works of Alberto Seveso and Caleb (http://calcreative.blogspot.com/) commented that I should check out the works of Neil Duerden... I found some fantastic photo illustrative works which are intricate and organic.

He's a mixed media artist who combines vector artwork with photography. The colours are vibrant but classy and capture the mood of the photograph. I love the way in one of the photo's below, how the flow of the illustrations work with the fabric but also against it creating some contrast. He obviously has a good eye for composition.

Type Posters

Hey - Has anybody else noticed the large type posters which have been placed around the library at University? Some of them are really good! Worth a look... I hope that they stay around for a while, as it's the first time I have seen any of the School of Design's work being promoted. WHOOP WHOOP!

Danfoss Art Award

Found a competition which might be worth entering...

http://www.danfoss.com/AboutUs/Danfoss%20Art%20Award

"The theme of the award is to “Visualise our Values”. You are invited to express our mission statement, values, and aspirations through your artwork. Choose among the eight statements, help us express and interpret them through art. You can see them on the right side of the screen, and you can find a brief explanation on each of them by using the link > mission, values, and aspirations on the left side of the screen. "

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (film)

I went to see the latest Harry Potter film today at the cinema... sad... I know! Having not read the books (hiss hiss) I have only ever watched the films so it would be great to have comments from others who have read the book and seen the film for comparison.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a fantasy adventure film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. Directed by David Yates, it is the fifth film in the popular Harry Potter film series. The story follows Harry Potter entering his fifth year at the magic school Hogwarts. The Ministry of Magic is denying the return of Lord Voldemort and also appoints a new teacher, Dolores Umbridge, a bureaucrat who slowly becomes an authoritarian figure in the school.

The screenplay was written by Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films. Live action filming started in February 2006 and finished in the end of November, and post-production on the film continued for several months afterwards.

I found the visual effects in this film the most stunning (from what I can remember) of all five films.

Tim Burke was the visual effects supervisor, John Richardson was the special effects supervisor, and Nick Dudman was the creatures special effects supervisor. The film required over 1,400 visual effects shots, and the London-based company Double Negative created more than 950 of them. Working for six months on previsualization starting in September 2005, Double Negative was largely responsible for sequences in the Room of Requirement, the Forbidden Forest, the Hall of Prophecies, and the Death Chamber.

A new character in the film, Grawp, Hagrid's giant half-brother, came to life by a new technology called Soul Capturing, developed by Image Metrics. Instead of building the character from scratch, the movements and facial expressions of actor Tony Maudsley were used to model Grawp's actions.

Double Negative have also produced special effects for The Bourne Ultimatum which I have also been to see recently... so I have included the website underneath.

Overall, the film was entertaining and I was biting my bottom lip in parts, but the storyline didn't seem as strong as the others... it was almost a little monotonous at times. I also felt like there was a bit of an anticlimax and the main part of the story seemed to be squashed into a relatively small amount of screen time. As always, the scenery and internal shots were fantastic. There was also some edgy film shots in parts of the film... to give a sense of being there.



http://www.dneg.com/
http://www.harrypotterorderofthephoenix.com/