And So It Begins... Again

Day 1. Semester 2, 2015

Current Inventory:

• 2 packs of 3-ply tissues
• 1 throat spray
• 1 water bottle
• miscelanious books and textbooks
• lots of stationery

So dear readers, seems I have gotten sick again and just in time for varsity. Which is quite unfortunate seeing as second year parking is so far away from the School of Arts. But that's okay, I will survive this week one way or another, hopefully whilst recovering in the process.

Anyway, back to varsity vexes. I've survived semester one with fairly decent marks and have made it through to the next half. It's quite exhausting being back, and not just because of the runny nose. I guess just the state of mind you have to be in to do well at varsity is quite exhausting, as well as the amount of concentration and focus you need to have to get through one lecture.

So today I decided to write a handy dandy list of varsity hacks that will maybe make your life a little easier!

HOW TO BE A GOOD UNIVERSITY STUDENT 101

1. Go to all of your classes if you can. Last semester I went to every single Art History lecture and the lectures helped me more in the exam than all of the reading packs could have. It might be a pain, but you're paying tuition fees to make a career,
2. Take Notes! Whether you like to type them out or write them in a notebook (like me), taking down  notes will benefit you so much when it comes down to exams and assignments.
3. Now on that note (sorry I cannot resist a cheesy pun), keep your class notes organized! It doesn't really help you if you take all the handouts and making notes without being able to make head or tale of it afterwards. Thanks to Pinterest, I've found a few little note-taking hacks that really worked for me! One of the most useful things I've learnt is making an index on the first page of your notebook or document. Number your pages and add them to the index after each lecture. It helps so much knowing what page to find certain topics on!
4. Colour Coding: Ok I know this one isn't for everyone, but I've found that colour coding my subjects and study notes makes them far more appealing to look at. Not only that, it also makes it a lot easier to organize all your information.
5. Pack your stuff the night before. Check your timetable and make sure you pack all your material the night before to avoid the early morning rush! Getting to university is stressful enough without realising you forgot your assignment on your desk this morning. 
6. Keep a diary (Or at least a calendar app), take down deadlines and mark them as soon as you know them so you don't end up forgetting to submit assignments.
7. Always check your student email. Seriously.
8. Arial. Size 12. 1,5 spacing.
9. Good grammar will get you far, always use spellcheck and proofread before submitting anything!
10. Procrastination has led to the failure of many a promising student. As a good friend of mine once said "The sooner it's done the sooner it's done"

 Until we meet again

Talia

From Start to Finish: The Garden

So dear readers, I just finished another drawing last night and thought that I would share the process behind it, seeing as I haven't done that for a while. Just for the sake of being thorough, I use Unipin pens, and all of the sizes available. I hope you enjoy these behind the scenes images of my drawing!

As always, any work of mine needs to have a solid drawing to start off with. I use a 2B pencil to sketch in the outlines and compose the image. (Why 2B? Because 2B or not 2B, that is the real question)

I started out by filling in the darker part of the sky. To get the tones here I use the 0.05mm, 0.1mm and 0.2mm pens.

Here I started filling in the darker areas of the hills so I could gauge how I should go about toning the sky. I started using a 0.3mm pen to fill in the darker areas. 

Now that I had a set of dark values to compare to I started filling in the rest of the hills and grass.

Now that the lower part of the landscape is complete, I can figure out how much toning the sky and clouds need.

Here I start blocking in the sky, using mostly the 0.05 and 0.1mm pens

Here the sky is completely filled in, you can see I left a few areas plain to contrast the busyness of everything else.

After adding in the foliage and a few final touches, we have a completed drawing!

Until we meet again

Talia

May The Force Be With You

Strength. It's a funny word. It can mean so many different things, it can be interpreted in so many different ways. To some it can mean brute strength, as in being able to punch and kick and shift the world around you. To others it can mean not falling apart when things go wrong. It can mean defying reality during a crisis or being able to hold your ground. To me strength has a pretty simple, but also quite a flexible meaning:

STRENGTH (unclassifiable into a single category)

 A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH, BOTH INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY

 During my life I've felt weak, and I've felt strong. What I've noticed is that strength manifests itself in different ways each time, and it very seldom shows itself in the same way twice. Strength for me is something internal, something that kicks in when most needed and marks a point of change in my life. I never feel the same once that inner force has shown itself.

I'm currently at an in-between phase in my life, quite far away from the last point I found my inner strength but haven't reached the next point just yet. I feel like a point is approaching where I need to be stronger than I have ever been before, for not only me but also for my future. For now all I can do is train myself and prepare myself... and perhaps just wait.

Until I reach that point again, there are of course a million things to get done.

Until we meet again
Talia

Behind Every Great Artist

Hmm, today feels like a good day to do a blog post. So I have returned after a few days of indulging in buying art supplies, which I have not done in ages... Mostly because I've had all the supplies I've needed for a while. If you're somewhat of a stationery nerd, or an artist, you would have experienced the overwhelming excitement of seeing all the shelves filled with useful stuff...

And then you would have experienced the heart-sinking experience of seeing the price tag that art supplies and stationery command. It is the conundrum every artist and creative type experiences at some point, you need good supplies to make good art to make a living, but you need to make a very good living to get those supplies in the first place. I know I am fortunate enough to be able to get good art supplies as a student, I just haven't really taken advantage of that opportunity until now.

But the great thing about art supplies is that most of the time you can find them for a bargain if you're patient enough to look. In South Africa, there aren't that many art stores around, but the ones that I do frequent quite regularly have their Set Sales every year, in July and August. So instead of splurging during the year, I just wait for the sales. It's not like the art supplies change each season and your size is gone by the time the sale starts!

So whilst I was looking around and practically drooling over all the beautiful art supplies, I had a sad realization. I wouldn't even bat an eyelash spending the amount I did on my art supplies that day  if it were on clothes or superficial luxuries, but I did do a doubletake with the art supplies. That made me feel so pathetic, which is more important? THE ART STUFF!

So now I have resolved to making sure I invest in material that will help my art career rather then spending my money superficially on things I actually don't need. And I started my investment by starting my own small (but growing) set of Copic Markers. And after playing around with them for a little bit, I can say the investment was definitely worth it, and until the end of August, hopefully more art supplies will be finding a home among my desk drawers.

Until we meet again
Talia

P.S. If you haven't noticed the new feature, check out my new art page on the blog : Art & Other Creative Items