I created a 2010 calendar for Printhouse Corporation and jelly. jelly bring together a collection of original and fresh talent from around the world, from live-action directors, illustrators, animators and web/flash developers. jelly organised the stunning illustrations for the cover of the calendar and each month.

I am really fascinated by some of the illustrations. Below are my favourites.

Illustrations

Front Cover

The illustration for the cover by pokedstudio is one of my favourites! Do check out their website. I could not help myself to download and use one of their (free) wallpapers.

February

Illustration by Steve Scott.

April

Illustration by Jo Bird.

May

Illustration by Karen Cheung.

June

Illustration by Migy. Festive for the month of Glastonbury.

August

Illustration by Fabio Coruzzi.

October

Illustration by Toyzmachin. I am fond of this style and the colours used.

December

Illustration by Matt Johnstone. In the spirit of another festive season ahead!

More about the Calendar

The whole calendar is matt laminated. Spot UV have been used on the title of each month. To make things a bit more interesting, I added Spot UV to a few elements on each illustration. It add some texture to the over all look and feel. The illustration below  for January is by Brand Nu.

On the illustration for September by Sandra Suy, I used Spot UV on all the black bits.

The last page of the calender is 20mm longer. This allow to show the logos of the two companies through out the year. A charcoal background colour was used for bottom part (22mm high) of the back page. The logos are in Spot UV only. The rest of the back page has a light cream background colour with information (text in same charcoal colour) and contact details about the two companies.

Only a limited amount of the calendars was printed. Luckily I got my hands on one to entertain me all year around.

I am really happy about my find on Brain Pickings, where they listed top 10 cross disciplinary conferences. I joined PechaKucha 20×20 group on Facebook and went to their second London event at The Archers. PechaKucha means chit-chat in Japanese. The 20×20 is a presentation of 20 slides while talking for 20 seconds about each slide.

PechaKucha Night started in Tokyo about 7 years ago as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. It has now moved its way around the globe, covering 268 cities. The event is open to any topic to talk about. Photography and art seem to be the most popular.

The Speakers of Event #2

In Nerys Mathias‘s 20 slides, she showed off artwork of more explicit nature in mediums such as photography, painting and illustration. Including work of Marlene Dumas.

Trashed is the new online platform for teenagers to get creative! It is packed with news in the creative industry in the UK. Teenagers can also pick up new skills for projects and get access to work experience placements and workshops.

I enjoyed Valerie Pezeron‘s illustrations. Her style is the kind that I am rather fond of. She also presented it well with a bit of wit. She went through some of her archives and shared the beginning of a new project she is working on.

Bruno Wizard from the The Homosexuals / The Rejects presented with a lot of passion. Entertaining photos and (quick) stories about their career and friends of The Homosexuals.

Martin Barrett is an artist who likes making apocalyptic installations/art. At the event he preferred to share his experiences hanging on a rope off a mountain in mid air. The photos that he had in his presentation had stunning views of different mountains all over the world.

Jane Kellock has a lot of experience in the fashion industry. She is a trend forecaster, designer, writer, lecturer and creative thinker. I fully regret the fact that I missed out on this presentation {blush}.

Zoe Holloway showed some of her photography and shared the stories, with some travel related. She is also making tees from photos of street art.

Richard Adams talked about the new School of Communication Arts 2.0 that will be opening soon, operating as a not-for-profit organisation. It is a school that will focus on the practical side of things to prepare talented students for a successful career.

Minxy McNaughty ended off the evening on a high note. Very entertaining, excellent sense of humour and I loved the way she presented the slides about Deptford. I so want to go to Deptford!

It enlightens me to hear a person talk so passionate about his/her work or hobby. It really opens up a personality to grasp and appreciate. There was also enough time during the evening for socialising and getting to know some of the attendees, sharing the same interests and passions. From what I have heard, there is a PechaKucha Night every second month. I am already looking forward to the next one!

There might be some browsers where my Polaroid photos are not going to display/work the way it should… updated your browser (IE is not too kind with this post).

My family lives in the southern hemisphere. Making a turn at the south point of Africa was not in the itinerary for 2009. What to do for Christmas? 2007 I was on an adventure of my own through Belgium. 2008 I went to Prague. I have not been to Paris before. “Christmas in Paris” sounds nice. Busabout from Radical Travel offered a great itinerary.

Thursday, 24 December 2009

My first day of holiday was an early rise to make it in time for check in from 7:15, at the Busabout headquarters in Victoria, London. With a group of over 40 people, 7:30 sharp we were ready to hit the road to Dover, UK. The guide introduced himself and gave us a bit of inside track and history of Paris. After mostly sleeping on the bus, everyone was happy to mingle on the ferry, crossing the channel to Calais, France. The approximate 1.5 hours was enough to stock up on coffee, brunch and the necessary shopping in the duty free shops. We reached Calais, France at about 12:30 (GMT +1:00). The snow was still thick in the country side and a bit fog on the road. We made a 20 minute pit stop to make it in good time at our accommodation, St Christopher’s in Paris. Most people did not waste too much time freshening up for a welcome drink, that was followed by dinner. After dinner we were back on the bus for the guide’s own ‘Paris by night’ tour, taking in all the sights the great city has to offer. The bus made a stop at the Eiffel Tower and in time for the light show. We had to wait 20 minutes before our group could head up. All the entrepreneurs trying to sell souvenirs was more overwhelming than the rain at that time. The view from the middle was colourful with all the lights from Paris. Unfortunately, right at the top we ended up in a cloud, with absolutely nothing to see half a meter away.

Pit stop on the way to Paris

Light show of Eiffel Tower

Absolute top of Eiffel Tower

Friday, 25 December 2009

Xmas day! Clear blue sky! After a quick breakfast for me, it was time to get out and about in the breathtaking city. First we head out to the Château de Versailles for a wander around the spectacular gardens and a mid-morning snack. After Versailles I decided to have a wonder along Avenue de Champs. From The Obelisk of Concord, through all the Christmas markets, making a u-turn at the Arc de Triomphe. After sunset, dinner at St Christopher’s was a traditional roast meal (including Foie gras) and all the trimmings. Not long after the Christmas dinner, armed with a couple bottles of wine, we head through the little streets of Montmartre filled with artists and restaurants. From there we had to climb a (great) few steps up Montmartre hill to get a closer look at Sacre Coeur. The Sacre Coeur looked amazing with the spot lights over the famous white finish. From the front of Sacre Coeur, a great view of Paris can be seen.

Château de Versailles

Avenue de Champs

Arc de Triomphe

Sacre Coeur

Saturday, 26 December 2009

After a few baguettes and strong coffees it was time for the day’s itineraries to start. I jumped on a Fat Tire bike and experienced Paris in a pack of over 40 bikes through streets and parks of central Paris. The tour guide has been living in Paris for over 8 years and had a great knowledge of the history of the city and other interesting stories to go with the scenery. All the bikes were parked for lunch in Tuileries Gardens. Then we head off with our bikes to board a river boat to see Paris from the water. Passing places such as the Grand Palais, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Louvre Museum, Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame. By late afternoon we dropped off the bikes and there was a little bit of time to stray off the pack. “The National Lampoons Louvre Trip in 60 Minutes” had to fill this gap. With limited time we had to make a bit of a run through the Denon and Sully area to capture at least the most popular pieces; Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and The Winged Victory of Samothrace. The evening was topped of by dinner at a local French restaurant Le Marmite. The onion soup (with a layer of cheese on top and pieces of french bread underneath) is highly recommended!

Fat Tire Bike Tours

Notre Dame

Louvre

Le Marmite

Sunday, 27 December 2009

Au revoir, Paris!

Update

When I downloaded my photos of Paris (cut and paste), all of them was corrupt. I was rather upset and disappointed without thinking clearly. With a lot of good advice and suggestions from people I was able to retrieve my photos with MjM Free Photo Recovery Software. It worked like a charm. All the photos in this blog post was taken by me. View more photos of this trip at my Flickr Photostream or Facebook.