School stuff

There has been a lot of freshers-week stuff going on that I haven't been too preoccupied with so far, except for the first week's international gatherings. I guess I've been to enough of these to know the gist of it. That is to say I haven't been very anti-social, yesterday I saw Mumford & Sons at an in-store show in East-London and was about 4 people away from the actual tiny stage, so that was brilliant. Did see David McCaffrey and Joe Banfi later the same evening at "The Social", a lovely venue not far from Oxford Street. Plus I got myself some kick-ass high-heeled Doc Martins at a vintage store, which was a bold choice considering it's me, but I got a discount and everything so it was a good match. They look smoking too btw, and it's making me want a leather jacket to complete the bad-ass set. I might've gotten one right there, if I wasn't such a cheap-skate..

Other stuff I've seen? Well.. I went with another new friend to The Tower of London and was a proper tourist, and another day we went to a party +, also in London. Did manage to miss the tube though. - and then the train. So expensive cab fare = yaaay! Lovely.

My flat is a good mix of two Americans, an Indian girl, a guy from Nigeria and a girl from China.  No other Norwegians in the flat! Which surprises me as there are SO many here. But my flat is all postgraduate students so I guess the norwegians are mostly undergrad?(Doing their bachelors).

Today was actually the first time I was on my campus, which is Knights Park, the FADA(The Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture)'s campus. Very Artsy, and very comfortable enviroment so far. + what looks to be a very relaxed bar(!). It was just an English language session for international students, and even though I consider myself proficient in spoken English, I hate friggin grammar rules. I mean.. Do I really need to be able to come up with "phrasal verbs" at a moments notice? I don't even remember what the different tenses are. :] I just read and watch tv and then I just learn what's appropriate to say and what's not? Oh well, it works fine as long as I don't limit myself to 17th century classics. (My english turned extremely posh and weird the last time I did that). 

Random photos to try and cover up what feels like to me to be a massive text post!:

Block/Flat

One of three foxes that roam the grounds at night

Part of the pretty grounds

In front of The Tower of London - White Tower

Same spot as the one before, different view.
And yes I have a wonderful fisheye lens which my sister + fam got for me < 3

Project: Deck of Cards #4

Derek Hale from Teen Wolf. Played by Tyler Hoechlin. He will be playing the part of the brooding Alpha King of Spades. I'm being a perfectionist with the actual Spades symbol, so the Graphic design part will come at a later time!

Project: Deck of Cards #3

A little update: I leave for England in two weeks from today! Super excited and devastated at the same time, just about what I expected to feel right about now... I've had a full-time summer job these past two months, so there hasn't been time to really think about it, but now it's dawning on me and I feel exceptionally motivated! Thanks to the job I now have more work experience and a new computer! Yay me! + It was a very friendly place to work and I got to manage the in-house printer shop for three of the 7-or so weeks, so definitely no regrets.

Other than that I have a little thing to show you who might be stopping by. Hello there! *goofy wave* It is potentially an update on my little project of playing cards that I have mentioned earlier on the blog:

Process shot

Another Stiles from Teen Wolf illustration! I'm so predictable, I know. I'm contemplating doing him as an ace of spades central image, insted of a mirrored one as a jack, cause he's pretty much the ace of the show (see what I did there). I was doing it in blue/white, but the standard black/white one seems a bit more classic and clean.  Care to share any thoughts?

Stiles.

I might've turned into a full-fledged Teen Wolf fangirl. I must say though, I don't regret it. At all. Inspiration is always welcome! This is a digital painting/portrait of my favourite character, Stiles Stilinski. Funny as hell.

Reference picture

I spy

Mikhael Paskalev - I spy from André Chocron on Vimeo.

Shake that booty. (Love this song)

Frida Amundsen - Closer from André Chocron on Vimeo.

Just one of the cutest video I've seen lately! I was squeeing. Seriously.

Drawing male profile

Project: Deck of Cards #2

"A playing card is a piece of specially heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper,  cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling.

The front (or "face") of each card carries markings that distinguish it from the other cards in the deck and determine its use under the rules of the game being played. The back of each card is identical for all cards in any particular deck, and usually of a single color or formalized design"
(...)
"Though specific design elements of the court cards are not relevant to game play and many differ between designs, a few elements of the English pattern are notable. The Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts, and King of Diamonds are drawn in profile, while the rest of the court are shown in full face; these cards are commonly called "one-eyed".
(...)
"The King of Hearts is the only King with no mustache, and is also typically shown with a sword behind his head, making him appear to be stabbing himself. This leads to the nickname "suicide king".^[27] The axe held by the King of Diamonds is behind his head with the blade facing toward him. He is traditionally armed with an axe while the other three kings are armed with swords, and thus the King of Diamonds is sometimes referred to as "the man with the axe". This is the basis of the trump "one-eyed jacks and the man with the axe". The Jack of Diamonds is sometimes known as "laughing boy".^[28] The Ace of Spades, unique in its large, ornate spade, is sometimes said to be the death card, and in some games is used as a trump card. The Queen of Spades usually holds a scepter and is sometimes known as "the bedpost Queen", though more often she is called "Black Lady". In many decks, the Queen of Clubs holds a flower. She is thus known as the "flower Queen" (though in many playing cards from Germany and Sweden she is depicted with a fan)"

- Wikipedia

Stuff to inspire:

There's more here: http://pinterest.com/kjeri/cards/

Oh my there's some really cool stuff out there! 

Stuff I'm considering: Doing a fandom deck. I like the idea of having as few colours as possible, and having the light/dark contrast really graphic(and awesome, hopefully). Let's hope I don't spend too much time oogling these! ^^

Project: Deck of Cards #1

 I've been pondering for some time now of what could be a fun, decent sized project for me to do during what might well be my last school related summer vacation. I apparently spent too much time thinking because suddenly I found myself with some extra weeks of work from what was only supposed to be a three-week thing at a printers office. Not that I'm complaining, I wouldn't be able to get a new lap-top which I'm currently browsing for without it. I've just decided to put this up here and hope that it will make me more inclined to work on it when I'm not at -work-.

We were given a project my first year at my Artsy upper secondary school (11th grade I believe) to make a few cards out of a deck of playing cards inspired by a era in art history that we'd learnt about. At least that's about as much I can gather from my notes. This still stands as one of the most inspiring assignments I've ever worked on. I was at the peak in my anatomy phase and slightly tilting towards the uprising emo "scene" (I never went all the way, I got as far as loving My Chemical Romance, photoshopping pictures to death, dying my hair dark red and wearing stripes and black tulle.)

Yup, pretty much. This isn't that bad actually. BUT! But my point was: I once worked on a kick-ass project and I'd like to try again! After 5 more years of creative education I'm bound to have improved.. right? Well first off I think it would be fun to show my original research and result! (All writing is in Norwegian)

So let's see what I might accomplish with a second try! Don't expect it to be done in a jiffy, I'm working full time at the moment after all!