Merry Christmas everybody!

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you all have a lovely holiday, and have a very happy new year! Bring on 2016!


P.S. are you kids looking forward to a visit from Father Christmas and all his little helpers? ^^ xxx

Kindle Fire HDX - Autodesk SketchBook - Digital Paint - Review

During my travels, sure I could sketch in a sketchpad, but I didn't want to be completely cut off from painting digitally. So on investing in a Kindle Fire my thought process was that I could kill several birds with one stone -

1) having something to read on,
2) having something that essentially could act as a personal computer,
3) something to Paint and Draw on!

I used an app called 'Autodesk SketchBook', it's free and it's pretty good but you pay a small fee to unlock more advanced features (to replicate a normal digital painting program much better).

However, painting on Kindle is a bit like smudging paint around a canvas with your bare fingers (even when using a stylus). It's Jittery, unresponsive and generally very frustrating to work with. You'll find yourself constantly drawing and erasing areas you didn't intend the paint to cover. You can create nice artwork, but it's a bit like two steps forward one step back the entire time, because the stylus just never is precise and accurate enough.





Nevertheless, I've soldiered on with a few pieces and did come out with some nice artwork, but I feel that drawing these on my normal Macbook with Graphics Tablet would have taken a lot less time (maybe four times quicker).

So my conclusion? Definitely don't rely on digitally painting on your Kindle, it just isn't developed enough to work properly for that. I have heard that this isn't the case with painting digitally on Ipads, so maybe it's worth trying, though I have no experience of that myself so couldn't say for sure.

Overall? 4/10 - I'll be sticking to my beloved Macbook and Intuos Tablet for now :)

All the best,

xLouisax

Miss Mouse

Here's the completed version of my latest masterpiece, I think I posted some WIPs of it a couple posts ago. Basically my favouritest kind of thing to draw, plus it belongs to a series, so keep your eyes peeled for more!

Beauties

I bought this set of 25 Beauties a short while ago, and they live on my desk so that I can shuffle them about and look at them all he time. I love them dearly and I'm a little bit obsessed with them so I thought I ought to share some with you!

They're a card set featuring famous women through history (I love this kind of stuff!) so not only is it educational and inspiring (there are little blurbs about them on the back), but also they are gorgously illustrated.

Here are a few of my favourites <3

New years resolutions and Interning

Happy new year!!

This time of year is always great for reflecting on all the things you have or haven't achieved since last new year, which can be either very depressing or very encouraging. I definately didn't achieve the yearly 'lose a few pounds' order, but I'm glad to say that I did achieve all the less menial goals I set for myself - to get a good grade for my degree and get myself an internship. Well, I got a great mark for my degree and now I'm on my second internship!

Right now I'm interning at Sharkius Games which is really cool and right at the heart of the so called Silicon roundabout in London. I'm having an awesome time making artwork, mostly for their Facebook game Me to You: My Place (you can play it here also!) Better still, everybody is super cool and very talented and I've been learning a lot from the whole experience.

Here's everybody doing the Fonz!



Eyyyyy!

By this time next year I think I'd like to have a job that I'm happy with and generally have much improved palette of art skills. But that's only 365 days away so let's just see how it goes!

xLouisax

[EDIT]

Recently we had 30 seconds of fame in this TV report!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16387725

Gilbert & Sullivan characters = Period Costume!

I recently went to a car boot sale selling an almost complete set of Player's Cigarette cards, featuring Gilbert & Sullivan characters!

Coming from a very musical family, I've grown up to seeing my parents performing in the majority of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, which is actually how they both first met. Although I didn't really understand or appreciate the shows as a child, now that I am older I have grown to appreciate them for their light-hearted and ageless comedy, as well as the beautiful range of costume eras they offer to period costume geeks like me!

My favourite shows are probably The Pirates of Penzance, Gondoliers and The Mikado, the latter perhaps being one of the most famous. Here is a few of my collection of the exquisitely drawn characters.

And aren't there here two very significant characters for me! Below is the sweet Rose Maybud from Ruddigore, whom I was named after! (Louisa Rose Brooks)

And here is the character Robin Oakapple, the first role my Dad ever played on stage, and one he has played again countless times since. He actually looks a little like this drawing too, wooOOOOOoooo!

These cards have been added to my ever growing collection of objects related period costume, and remain upright on my desk for at least a full working year! :)

Hope your all good,

xLouisax

Graduating & Interning!

Earlier this month I finally graduated! You may now refer to me as Louisa Rose Brooks BA, with a first honours degree! It was a beautiful ceremony and we all looked awesome in our robes! I'm so proud of myself and all of my classmates who did so well, I wish the best of luck to everybody!

Me with one of my favourite tutors Mike Nicholson and my best friend Michelle Siddall.

I've also spend the last month interning at a company called Naked Penguin Boy doing my absolute dream project. I can't say much about it (that would give it away now wouldn't it! :p) but I'm pretty much being a mini-games artist, concept artist, level & puzzle designer and I'm even doing a little animation! It's made me realise that this is what I want to do for my career and I'm really looking forward to my future. Best of all I've been challenging myself everyday, and have faced some of my biggest (drawing) fears, such as rock faces and foliage!! AAAAAH! :D

I've been enjoying myself tremendously at Naked Penguin Boy; it's a wonderful place to work in one of the nicest areas in London, and I will be sad to say goodbye to everyone there! :(

Also they've just recently released a new game for the Blackberry Playbook. It's called Dunky Dough Ball and it's a pretty cool and addictive little game so If you have a Playbook check it out!

xLouisax

UCA Final Degree show 2011, Graphic Design - Long Live the Art School.

Me with my newly professional bras, on the way to our successful futures!



My final degree show went quite well, I enjoyed the private views! Here's the image I exhibited in a tiny A3 frame, next to a billion other A3 pieces. It's promotional artwork for my game Maidens, Pirates, Steampunks & Zombies.



Que the embarrassing photo by my Dad- I can't even reach my picture! lol



The hustle and bustle of the private view (me talking to Rian Hughes in the bottom right corner!).



To be perfectly honest, the only thing that I was disappointed with about the show was that I felt like one of the few students that were ushered into a corner and hidden, like I was something to be ashamed of. But you know, so what?! I LOVE the work I do, and without sounding like too much of a pompous arse, there are plenty of other people in the world who like my work too! So there, I will have an awesomely successful career dang nabbit! XD

xLouisax

Eat Me Magazine - Issue #5 April - Charles Darwin

Fancy reading a bit about food culture? Why not try Eat Me magazine, volume 5!

Haha, I'm sorry, I'm not actually being sponsored by Eat Me, I just really want you all to buy this magazine, flick to this page and be like:

"OMG that's amazing! It's definitely the best drawing I've ever see on Charles Darwin EVER!! I'm so proud of Louisa for drawing for this article, she's so talented!... Wait a sec, he's that bloke on the tenners, my life suddenly makes sense!"

It is quite a good mag actually, and it's got a nice picture of Ainsley Harriott on the cover.

Oh Charles, you were fun to draw. You have one of those cute old man faces. Plus you went on a five year voyage which technically makes you a pirate - pirates are COOL!

xLouisax

Geek Game for Girls - when History met Zombies

Maidens, Pirates, Steampunks & Zombies
Dress up Game!



Maidens, Pirates, Steampunks & Zombies is a quirky new Dress up Game, featuring the option to ‘Mashup’ some of the more boyish and overlooked genres.

I challenged myself to make this game as the Final Major Project of my Graphic Design degree at The University of the Creative Arts, Epsom. A true labour of love, it gave me the excuse to study not only the gorgeous aesthetics of 18th and 19th century fashions, but also the culture and ideas behind some of the coolest fantasy genres on the planet.

The majority of Dress up Games at the moment only tend to feature modern fashion, Justin Bieber, or Unicorn-riding Princesses, vomiting rainbows. Though we can all enjoy such frivolities at times, for just one moment, come over to the dark side. Bring out the geek within and make your own Pirate-Steampunk-Zombie-Lady!

Click HERE to play the game!

Let me know what you all think!

xLouisax

Zombies Zombies Zombies!

Recently I've been making the zombie graphics for my Dress-Up game, which have been fun! I read a book about zombies and drew and analysed a few zombie features.

The zombies glorified by Hollywood films are called 'Romero' zombies which are the ones that are viscious and hungry for human flesh. Because 'Romero' Zombies are essentially a fairly modern idea based on the Zombies created in George Romero films, I wanted to create modern zombified clothes (because they are the true zombies) but also have zombified versions of the other costumes, because it mashes everything up which is the theme of the game.



I learnt that zombies look best with sunken in eyes, torn off lips and pale faces and they don't usually wear shoes? Oh yeah, and their clothes are ripped or in the least covered with blood (from their own wounds or from their victims).

So here are my zombies, complete with complimentary Zombie head (which you can select in the game. :) Also a couple more accessories:









I am just about to put the zombie stuff into the game but here is my game so far, you can now select different backgrounds and turn the music off if it shivers your timbers.

xLouisax

Skeleton Game!

Hey how's it going?

I've began setting everything up in Flash for my game. The buttons make noises and stuff!

Please click here to play the skeleton version so you know what I mean ;p.

However....

I've hit a massive wall in terms of programming my interface. It was to be that the user selected a glossy button to select a section of clothing. This section of clothing would then appear to the right on the Dresser Mirror, and provide the option to flick through the inventory. On choosing an item, the user could click on it and it would appear on the doll, tada!



I think I figured out how to do this, however, it's not working the way I need it to. There's a way to use buttons to load external files, but they all load in different places because each file image is slightly different! Basically it doesn't work, short of individually programming 100 different sources, it's certainly not on a timescale I have.

Therefore, I need to alter my interface a little. I feel a little disappointed that the interface won't be exactly the way I wanted it to be, but trying to program it that way has completely baffled me and my peers.

Also, here is crying shame reject number one:



It was such a nice clock!

xLouisax

Louisa Rose Brooks Portfolio

Hi guys, here is my current mini-portfolio.

Open publication - Free publishing - More brooks

xLouisax

Pirate Dress-up!

Been researching the internet, books and films to create my Pirate costumes for my Dress up game. The 'Golden Age' of Piracy was between the mid 17th and 18th centuries, so most traditional pirates are portrayed as 18th Century characters.



I was reading up about famous female pirates such as Anne Bonney and Mary Reade. They had amazing adventurous lives as Pirates and it's no wonder why it's such an exciting and popular genre.

If you search female pirate in google, you'll mostly get sexy adult pirate costumes, which is something I could go for with my dress up game. However, like the other genres, I want the pirates to have substance and some kind of historical standing aswell.

Anne Bonney and Mary Reade were known for dressing as men to disguise their sex, and they were so fierce and good at fighting that usually no-one usually questioned them - that is until they got preggers.

So, I basically need some 18th Century male fashion mixed into my pirate costumes, in order for my doll to be a 'realistic' female pirate. :)





And here are my current Pirate outfits!









xLouisax

Steampunk Dress Up

Here are my Steampunk costumes for my Dress-up Game!















Pirates next! :D

xLouisax

Cycling Pick Me Up!

I went to the Pick Me Up exhibition the other day, during a wonderful day-visit to London! It was all pretty good work but there was one illustrator who really caught my imagination, Takeru Toyokura. He featured a set of wonderful images, lovingly cut out in felt and paper to make amazingly detailed and surreal imagery.







I love, love love! Look at the buildings! They look so real!

To see more of his beautiful work, check this out:

<3

I also liked Kate Moross's Alphabet of Games Titles, hehe.

The day was rounded off with an amazing bicycle ride around Hyde Park. If you've never used a Barclays bike around London, get one and have a cycle around, it's awesome! Not too expensive either.







xLouisax

Dress up Game Progress

18th Century Lady - COMPLETE!

Here are some screendumps of the new stuff and a couple of close ups.











Steampunk

Yes, I have begun my next section, Steampunk. It's a genre based on the idea that if the Victorians had digital technologies such as that we have today - how would they look? Machines ornately decorated with brass or wood. In terms of Steampunk costume, it's based on 19th century fashions (<3) but with a technological twist. Steampunk fashion is usually all about buckles and goggles and big thick gloves.

I began by looking at some lovely real-life Victorian fashions, as I do not want all the Steampunk costumes to be totally ripping off existing designs. Of course, I have also been looking at and sketching some really cool Steampunk costumes that are already out there.





And so the journey begins...



xLouisax