DAY NINE

Since I was a little girl I´ve always enjoyed making stuff with my hands. I would spend hours making a scale model ship, or drawing or just making gadgets for my toys. I normally had my sister to share these activities with, specially when it came to making gadgets for our toys. 

Recently I´ve become more aware of the fact that I spend too much time before a computer, and that I miss making stuff with my bare hands. That´s the reason why a love going to the print studio so much, although my poor economy has kept me from attending to it. But I did a lot of thinking when I stopped getting work to do as an illustrator and maybe it was the time of expanding my possibilities by trying new things. So...I decided to take a short course on model making at The Central Saint Martins.

The course is called: Scale Model Making, and the teacher in charge of that course is David Neat, who wrote a very practical book on the subject called Model-Making: Materials and Methods. I already bought his book, I want to be ready for his course, and I´m extremely excited.

What really pushed me to make this decision was a website I came across a few months ago. On this site I found a massive collection of videos from people who make artisanal products. They inspired me so much that made me remember the time I used to spend on just making things, and it reminded me of how much I missed it. In fact, every time I feel down I turn to this site and play a few videos, they really cheer me up and make me think that I can also do it.

So I really urge you to check it out, cos it´s really encouraging!

>>http://thosewhomake.com/

DAY EIGHT

It´s been a few days since I last updated the blog, sorry! But it´s been crazy lately, since I´ve started my new temporary job in a state agents company. I hope I find something in my field soon, cos this is definitely not my thing.

Anyways, I still had time to browse the internet in search of culture, and in that journey I came across the new Black Mirror series, by channel 4. It´s first episode from series 2 told a story about loss, and how technology aimed to fill that void. It is interesting how films and short films have tried to bring to discuss this topic, films like A.I., Black Mirror or the shortfilm by Mireia Pérez and Sonia R. Serrano; The Bioginoid.

The latter told the story about a lonely guy who steals a bioginoid from the company that he works for in order to have some company. Both, Black Mirror and The Bioginoid can be watched free online without any legal issues:

>>http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/4od

>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwQAPaS-sOU&list=PLED563E6ED5C660B7

DAY SEVEN

For the time being, and since I haven´t been able to get any projects I´ve decided to take a temporary part-time job as a commercial in a states agent. It might be interesting and might get me some new connections for future projects, so it´s still very positive news. I´m happy cos I´ll be useful, and I will still have time to work on my own projects and it will allow me to go to the rowing club, if I end up joining them!

I´ve been keeping up my running and I feel healthy. Now I must focus in doing my job well and getting fit for the rowing team. I´m also going to be helping my dad with his shoe drawing. He´s a shoe designer in spain, he works too hard and has no time for himself, so I´m going to be helping him to redraw the sketches on to photoshop. That will also be interesting, I would like to offer him the best of myself and I will try to improve his drawing ways.

I´m reasonably happy today, specially when I listen to this band: Icona Pop, they are two girls from Sweden. They sound great and they are so sexy!

>> http://www.iconapop.com/

DAY SIX

I´m excited today. I might join a rowing team! I used to row when I was in Uni and I enjoyed it a lot. It´s a good idea to join some kind of team when you are freelancing, cos it´s a way of meeting new people, since this kind of job is so solitary this is a way to get to socialise with people in a more close way, rather than just by email or phone.

I will go to the docks for a trial on Thursday, see what happens! It would be cool if could join the team and start training hard again to keep fit and healthy.

For today´s recommendation I will suggest you watch PES´ Fresh Guacamole film. PES is Sarah Phelps, and this is her most famous short film:

 You can watch more of her stuff in her website:

>> http://www.eatpes.com/

DAY FIVE

I´ve finally finished the home page of my new website and one of the projects´ site.
It´s looking cool, although I know myself and I know I will soon grow tired of it and will want to change it again.
I still haven´t applied for any jobs cos I really want to have my website updated, but when that moment comes I will check on the It´s Nice That jobsboard, cos you can get really interesting job offers, from award winning studios, here you have the site:
>>http://itsnicethatjobsboard.com/

I might try to go to the Royal Academy of Rt to visit the current exhibition. There´s an exhibition on Manet´s paintings and it´s something you cannot miss! He is one of my favourite painters of all times, don´t be fooled by the people who consider him to be an impressionist, he has nothing to do with them but the fact that they shared the same period in history. It´ll be on until the 14th of April, for further info you should visit their website:
>> http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/

Edouard Manet: Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, 1872

DAY FOUR

Ok, I admit that it´s not really day four...it´s day 6, but I didn´t have the time to update the blog. New people have moved into our humble house in Massingham St and we´ve been trying to bond. Also, I had a birthday party to attend to yesterday...but ok, it´s not good enough, I should keep updated.

The good news is that I´ve been contacted by an old friend in Barcelona who wants to start a new business, and she wants me to design the logo for her company and to get involved in the design and update of its newsletter. It sounds quite exciting, and I can put all my effort on it cos I´m not working on anything at the moment but my website, so that should be cool.

I´ve been watching some videos lately on print making and they kind of reminded me of how much fun I´ve always had when making my own prints. I think this should be a great time to get back to screen printing and get some tees done, just for fun, but also to get some benefit from it. When it comes to printmaking in London I always go to Sonsole´s print studio, it´s a cosy print studio in Peckham, ran by a very nice spanish girl. It´s not at all expensive, and Soni is always there to help out when needed. Also, they ran courses for beginners for £80!

You can check their website for more info:
>> http://sonsolesprintstudio.co.uk/

DAY THREE

It was tough getting up today, but the weather helped a bit, cos today it´s quite sunny for a city as London. I´m still waiting for my IKEA stuff to be delivered and my back hurts like hell cos I don´t have my table and chair yet...

Yesterday I finished all the thumbnails to my new website, and I´m about to start developing its Index. Let´s see how it goes, cos it´s been a long time since I had to make any programming :S

Anyway, for today I recommend  one of my favorite sculpture´s work, Jock Mooney. He studied in the Edinburgh College of Art, his work is colourful and funny!

He is also an illustrator and makes these very cool compositions, I´m a huge fan of his work!

>> http://www.jockmooney.com/

DAY TWO

If you are going to become a freelance, and you are going through a period when you haven´t got any projects to work on, or even if you have, you should come up with a good excuse to get up early and make the most of the day.

This could be going for a run in the morning, or go to the gym, or meet someone for breakfast. What I´ve started doing is going for a run, I ran today for 25 minutes around Victoria Park and it made me feel great and ready for the day!

Right after the running I got down to work, and started preparing the thumbnails for my new website. It´s very important to keep it up with the exercise and the good diet, or you will gain weight in a blink of your eyes, and we don´t want that. Working from home can be very advantageous for your health if you are determined to keep up with these two things.

So... First day running, hoping to keep it up and working hard.

Today I knew about the work of a great artist which caught my eye powerfully, his name is Salao Coboi and he works mostly with resines, this is his website:
>> http://www.salaocoboi.com/

GENERATION H

DAY ONE

This is officially my first day as a real freelance illustrator and designer.
The first thing I had to do was get in touch with an accountant, cos of course I have no idea of how things work in the UK and it´s always safer to go with an accountant who can help you set up a business.

My former bosses and now friends, the guys at Shotopop Ltd, suggested me to gor for their own accountants, March Mutual. My accountant is a real star, she set up a business bank account and a personal bank account at HSBC. She also helped me to deal with the PAYE people and talked to them in my behalf, I trust them very much. Their wage is £75 a month and they take care of everything to do with your paperwork, also, they have a online programme to help you organise all of your expenses and invoices which works really well.

Now I´m working on my website, cos I need to update it with the work I have been doing whilst I was an intern in Shotopop, and take off all of the shit I´d done as a student. I need to replace all the fake projects, I mean the school exercises, with real projects for real clients. It´s been such a great experience interning for Shotopop, I´ve learnt so much, and they´ve helped me gain so much experience. I recommend doing a few internships before taking the chance of becoming a freelance, cos it gives you a much more mature perspective of everything, and you will learn how to deal with clients.

Anyway, I think I should start going for a run every morning, cos otherwise I will be gaining weight so easily!
Starting the running tomorrow, and working on the website today!

PLAN FOR TODAY

1/ Sketch for website
2/ Go to visit Sonia

I´m sure I can do both before the day is over!

For my first post I will recommend this blog where you can get lots of inspiration 
>> http://0porciento.com/