Natalie Smith (former oddball) Illustration

L.N.L.D (session 3)

2012-02-07T23:51:00.000Z

Burrrrrrrrrrrrr...... cold int it?

Anyway despite the weather I made it to my third session of Late Night Life Drawing, (it should have been my fourth, but last week it hurt to stand as I had strained my back the night before doing some vigorous hoovering............... make of that what you will, but it's the truth).

So yes, Session 3, same guy as last time (who I now know is called Steven), still no sight of this illustrious hat.

We had a VERY eclectic compilation CD this week... which turned out to be the main topic of conversation... the conversation being how God-awful the compilation was - Cilla Black was on there.
Nobody owned up to creating it.

The highlight was when that song 'Jai Ho' from Slumdog Millionaire came on, I swear there was a point when everyone was drawing in unison. When it finished a lot of rubbers came out.

The lowlight was when I made an inappropriate comment and made it awkward.
Turns out next Wednesday being Valentines Day only "the singles" will be there, I said they should "all model for each other and make it interesting" - this was the wrong thing to say.

I don't like what I've done this week... but here it is anyway, in all it's prawn-like glory.....

This bit is salvageable..... maybe?

Late Night Life Drawing (session 2)

2012-01-25T00:39:00.000Z

Well it's been a whole week. My second life drawing session has come and gone.

It was a man this week.

He chose a CD of what can only be described as "love making songs"... which was a bit distracting, confusing and nauseating all in one... bring back the panpipes I say...

ANY-way.... I just stuck to black pencil crayon tonight, wasn't in the mood for getting all inky this close to bedtime.

Seeing as though I was on my own, I decided the second session would be the perfect opportunity to "mingle" a word which makes me cringe as previous experiences would suggest this isn't my strongest area of expertise.

Anyway I got chatting to an architect who was very nice and filled me with the illusion that I'm actually great at introducing myself... this was quickly shattered by a nonsensical ramble about how I'm trying to give up coffee (I'm not), and then a painfully short conversation which actually ended with me squinting at something in the distance and walking towards it to escape the silence.

Next week I think I'll use a) proper paper b) coloured pencils and c) some form of cue card.

One Month Makeover

2012-01-24T18:11:00.000Z

As many people do... I like to pick up shiny things in the street, and also collect lots of little bits of crap...

On Christmas Eve sat in my parents' house, I decided it was time to do something with all this junk and gave my childhood dolls house a make over. It has taken me exactly one month and now........ it is a wizard house.

This is exactly how the 7 year old me left it, when I decided to hand over the keys and grow up....

And THIS is what it looks like now... TA DAA!

This is the Zoology Room....

And the Inventing Room/Observatory

Machines...

The Study and The Potion Room.....

The Lounge

And The Room For Looking Into The Future... admittedly this needs a snappier name.

And finally the secret/magic bits....

ooooooo magic...

So yes.... here it is. Not QUITE sure what to do with it now, but it was fun making it :)

Little Bit Rusty

2012-01-23T00:52:00.001Z

So I've joined a "Late Night Life Drawing Class".
It's only a fiver and you get a free cup of coffee... plus it's about a ten minutes walk from my flat.

I definitely felt a bit rusty. I had to get someone to position my easel and embarrassingly my Indian Ink had dried up... someone asked me if it was my first time :(

But after the panpipes kicked in on the CD player I was away.... Felt really good to get my hands dirty again and not a clipping mask in sight.

I may even go the whole hog and purchase some willow charcoal.

Anyway, it's every Tuesday. Apparently there's about 5 models on rotation and they all choose their own music. I'm looking forward to seeing what we get next week.

Hopefully I'll look back at this and see some progression...

NYC

2012-01-03T22:56:00.001Z

HAPPY NEW YEEEEEEEEEAR!!!

What a hectic week! I can't even count the number of busses and trains I've been on in the last few days, sod saving money, next time I head up North I'm DEFINITELY renting a car.....or stealing one... either/or.

Anyway... Just before Christmas my boss sent me on a "business trip" to the Big Apple to... (and I quote) "Visit the big department stores, soak up the atmosphere and come back all inspired for designing next year's range"...... WHAT?! .... I'm not even joking 2011 has been the luckiest/craziest year of my life!... Obviously all those snails I helped to cross the road as a kid have finally been recognised cos things are going great......

*touches wood, looks up for ACME anvil falling from the sky/lightening bolt *

It was a bit daunting just getting off the plane with a list of shops and the name of a hotel... so I did what any other self respecting tourist would do.... zipped up my bumbag, got out my camera, started walking and hoped for the best.

I finally got my film into the shop today, so this is what my Lomo brought back......

The Monster Engine

2011-12-05T19:35:00.000Z

Have you seen this?

Painter Dave Devries takes doodles drawn by children and renders them to make them into "proper" illustrations.

It started when his niece would often fill his sketchbooks with her own ideas, he began to look at them and wonder how far he could take them by applying his comic book style. He projected the original drawings and traced the outlines then began to fill them in with shading and rendering to create the surreal characters. Over a decade later, this project has turned into 'The Monster Engine'.

These are some of my favourites, but you can find the rest at 'themonsterengine.com' (although I can't get the site to open).

Still, pretty awesome idea......

Wear It Pink Day

2011-10-28T19:13:00.000+01:00

Today was 'Wear It Pink Day' for breast cancer. To raise a bit more money at work we also had a pink bake sale.

Now... I'm no Nigella, but at the back of my mind I could hear my Mum's distant voice calling out the ingredients of Victoria Sponge.... "4 ounce of maaaarrrrge... 2 eeeeeeggs... sieve your flour Natti love"
so I thought EVEN I could make fairy cakes - I was wrong.

They looked fine, but were hard enough to knock on the table and embarrassingly were the only cakes left at the end of the bake sale *sob sob*.... anyway....

I decided to make 26 cakes one for each letter of the pink alphabet and make toppers to illustrate this. I thought this would be obvious, but AGAIN embarrassingly I had to explain this as well. Overall a complete failure. Cake Fail.

However, everyone else managed to raise quite a bit of money for a good cause.

Happy Halloweeeen!! (nearly)

2011-10-26T22:12:00.000+01:00

Thought I'd give pumpkin carving a go..... turns out..... not easy....

http://vimeo.com/31156273

Couldn't Resist...

2011-09-28T21:50:00.000+01:00

I realise I never post any of my own work anymore, but that's because I get distracted with much better things like these two books....

The first one is 'Rhinos Don't Eat Pancakes' the latest collaboration from Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie. (the pair that made 'Dogs Don't Do Ballet' - that I've talked about before).

It's no secret that I LOVE Sara Ogilvie's work... I'll bang on about it for hours... in fact I bought this book without even opening it, as I didn't want to scare the good people of Tesco with my inevitable, massive happy face... and it didn't disappoint!! :D

And the second was a book I picked up on a day trip to Stroud called 'Bridget Fidget' by Joe Berger. Not wanting to offend people from Stroud, but reading this book on the train home was the best part of my day :s

Anyway..... a genuinely funny story with exciting and inspiring illustrations.... I think there's only 5 colours in the whole book..... You can see from the snippets below just how great he is capturing emotions in his characters. I loved Bridget. Can't wait to find some more of his books.

Oh... hello paintbrushes :)

2011-08-28T18:43:00.000+01:00

So..... since moving to Cheltenham which is aboooooout.... 3 months ago? I've not done ANY drawing or painting outside of work, which surprisingly I'm alright with, but I just got a twang the other day to get out my watercolours and a nice square brush and see if I still knew what to do with them.

With this in mind, I was heading home on my normal route past 'Del Boy's' which is a little greasy spoon caff dedicated to the 'Only Fools and Horses' character (which incidentally do epic bacon butties) and remembered inside they've got various bits of memorabilia hanging on the walls and I thought...... I bet these people would like a watercolour of Del Boy Trotter....... so that's what I did.

I haven't actually given it to them yet, I'm just picturing me walking up to the counter and shouting "I PAINTED YOU THIS!" followed by lots of awkwardness. I will do it though.... I'll buy some lunch or something and do it casually as I'm walking out the door.... yeah.... that's what I'll do.

Hold On To Your Hats Kitsch Fans

2011-08-25T19:26:00.000+01:00

It's Christmas at Meri Meri at the moment. For the last couple of weeks I've been sat in the sunshine whistling Jingle Bells and cutting reindeers out of paper... anyway...

Yesterday someone casually said... "Have you been downstairs in the cafe next door yet?..... we go there every year for inspiration".

So I went inside this tiny, chintzy tea shop, went downstairs.... and this is what I found.....

At first I thought I'd been sniffing my marker pen too hard... but no... next door to my studio there IS a secret grotto full of the most weird and wacky German blown glass ornaments known to man. Cheltenham IS bonkers like.

There's just baskets and baskets of the stuff...

and the closer you look the better it gets.

I got a bit hysterical.

Then a bit scared and decided to leave

Although... I have been back twice since and bought some things. The creator of this.... madness said to me (as he was wrapping up my purchases) "Of course there'll be a lot more at Christmas time, people don't like it if you go too OTT too early".

If you would like to see this for yourself... and I SERIOUSLY recommend you do, as these photos don't do it justice, then visit: Well Walk Tea Rooms in Cheltenham (then pop next door and see me) :D

I've been a bad bad blogger :(

2011-06-19T14:40:00.001+01:00

Hellooooo! :D

Sorry I haven't posted anything in weeks, I've just been a tad busy what with the move/new job and all.

I have stumbled into the best job in the whole entire world... like seriously. It's so much like a dream it's unnerving, I'm still waiting for the catch, or for someone to find out that I'm actually a big fraud and I don't know the first thing about design... but... so far so good :D The best news is the greetings cards that I've designed have made it into the release, so all going well they'll be on sale in John Lewis next year!! ... how crazy will that be?! My mum will DEFINITELY put that one on the fridge.

Anyway... one of the BEST things about Cheltenham is the weekly Sunday Flea Market at the Racecourse, (for any Prestonians... it's like the tat market with extra arms and legs). I love it there, and today I bought a big red rusty tin and a 1960s children's book for 40p!!!! I'm so proud of it.

Afterwards I went into a book fair, tutted at the one pound entry and found another 60s children's book about a train, I was just about to say, "ow much for yer book love" when I noticed '£95' pencilled on the inside cover. It was at this point I realised everyone was wearing tweed, and a big sign saying "LIMITED FIRST EDITION BOOK FAIR". I whipped out my purchase and showed the woman... she held it by the very very ends of her fingertips, grimaced and said "charming".... so I'm guessing 40p is about all it's worth, but it's still fabulous!

have a look.....

Ridiculously Exciting News

2011-05-10T22:43:00.002+01:00

Last month I was contacted by the greetings card company Meri Meri and asked if I would be interested in trying out for a full time position in their company as a junior designer. I was set a trial project and today I met the team, presented the work, and got the job!!!!

Walking into their studio was literally like... this.

Everywhere you looked there were tables of ribbons, buttons, jewels, coloured papers, glitter - I can't believe how lucky I am to be allowed to play there everyday and call it work!

I start next month, so right now I'm packing up everything I own into bubble wrap and relocating to the gorgeous city of Cheltenham... and the second thing I'm doing is moving my boyfriend RIGHT in with me - NO MORE long distance relationship! :D

If you've never come across Meri Meri before, check out their website: http://www.merimeri.com/

Everything they design involves some kind of embellishment or construction, so it's going to be great to learn a whole new craft - I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!! :D

©2011 MERI MERI. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

LDN, NYC

2011-05-07T01:04:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I started making these little designs thinking I'd maybe get them printed onto some mugs, I also have a half finished TKO and..... what ever Paris abbreviates to.

But more exciting stuff got in the way :) .... MUCH more exciting!
So I'll just upload what I've done so far as my recent posts have been a bit shoddy of late.

Lol

2011-05-05T17:46:00.000+01:00

Sorry... I'm in a very stupid mood today.

I've been working solidly on a project for next week, and just needed this little comic relief..... I realise I'm lowering the tone, I guess it's more of a Facebook post, but that particular avenue of pleasure has been closed off.

Street Party Crasher Extraordinaire!

2011-04-29T21:12:00.000+01:00

What a day!!! ........ what. a. day.

I am officially adding "party crashing" to my list of hobbies... I visited 6 in total.

Saw: bunting, flags, banners, balloons, face paint, fancy dress, sausage rolls, cakes, sandwiches, hats, socks and sandals, a miniature train?!, volleyball, cricket, a dog wearing a Union Jack neckerchief :) ..... hopscotch, confetti, errrr.... BBQs GALORE!, and generally lots of happy people - Britain didn't let me down today.

I also did the world's worst sketch, here's a section of it, and some photos of my day...

Dirty Little Secret

2011-04-23T15:28:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I woke up in a cold sweat panicking because I remembered I needed to buy a black and a white pencil crayon. When I got home with my purchases, I took a step back and just LOOKED at the extent of my pencil crayon "collection".

First of all... I try to keep them sharpened and in colour order. I do this by tying them into bunches with elastic bands. The thought of scraping through piles of jumbled pencils to find a particular colour genuinely causes me feelings of anxiety.

On a scale of 0 - Pencil Perve, this is probably moderate...
so I use a lot of pencil crayons and I like to keep my things tidy.. so what?

Next we move on to what I like to call my 'Pencil Retirement Home', this is when a well loved pencil has got too small, or has broken, or wont hold it's lead anymore. As most people choose to throw these away I guess I slide on up the scale to 'high risk'. I keep these old pencils in various "Misc" storage boxes... here's one of them.

Finally... and I think it's safe to say this is where I'll be setting off the sirens, I HAVE been known in the past... to hold onto the pencil leads as I can't bear to throw them away. I would just like to say I DO NOT DO THIS ANYMORE... however... I have kept the ones I saved for old times sake :s

I just needed to get that off my chest, thanks for listening.
If anyone knows of any Pencil Addict hotlines I could call.. that'd be nice.

It's Getting Worse

2011-04-16T14:38:00.000+01:00

More from It's Getting Worse.... click here :)

Typography Card

2011-04-10T19:58:00.000+01:00

I've been messing around with some hand drawn fonts recently, with the intention of entering the latest Tigerprint Competition... This has been sitting on my desktop for a few days now... mocking me, as I've had a string of unfortunate events this week. However onward and upward.

Hummm... I don't think this will be my final design.... but it's what I've come up with so far.

ps, I WILL stop using that aged paper background soon - I've just grown attached to it's little mottled face.

Do You Know What I Haven't Done in Ages?

2011-04-09T20:38:00.000+01:00

Just.. sat down and drawn some stuff..... I used to love drawing stuff.

So here's some stuff...

It's a collection of tat that I've bought at either charity shops or flea markets - and believe me, there's A LOT more where that came from. My bedroom is starting to look like the set of 'Steptoe and Son'.... god... that's actually REALLY depressing.

Wild Horses

2011-04-04T19:10:00.000+01:00

Mother's Day card for my Mum.... she likes wild horses.... that and Cat Stevens (before the Yusuf thing)..... and probably Cat Stevens riding a wild horse would go down well too.... I digress.

This week I will be mostly reading..... Fred Blunt

2011-04-01T19:16:00.000+01:00

I bought a children's book today illustrated by Fred Blunt called 'Old Mother Hubbard'.... and it's great!! I love it, can't believe I've never come across him before.... being the creepy Waterstones loiterer that I am.

Anyway when I got home I went on his website and blog and found a load more good stuff.

Check it out: www.blunt-illustration.co.uk/

Look Look LOOK!!! :D

2011-03-31T14:43:00.000+01:00

IT CAME!!!! :D

Unfortunately I'm on my own in the house all day today, so there's no one to show... or take the obligatory "person enjoying the book" shot.

So I'll just have to make do with a blog post and these wobbly (balanced on a table top) photos - still.......YAAAY! :D

What is the matter with me?!

2011-03-29T02:53:00.001+01:00

Is anybody else genuinely excited for the Royal Wedding?..... nope!

Well I am, and I'm appalled at myself.
I have no idea where this sudden patriotism is coming from, but I'm genuinely excited. The other day I was QUEUING in TKMaxx to buy a commemorative china mug... luckily I came to my senses, put it back and went to the pub.

Ordinarily I think the Royal Family are a bunch of inbred, horse-faced tossers, but apparently... I can put this aside for a good ol' British knees-up, and on the 29th of April I WILL be attending a street party and waving some sort of flag - I don't know where yet, but there's got to be someone else out there who's feeling the same.

I do love a bit of kitsch.... and right now I'm in overload.

Sketchbook

2011-03-26T03:35:00.000Z

New Year's resolution number 10 was "keep a sketchbook", I've been neglecting this one... (not as much as number 4 though *shudder*)

However I have been doing it a bit..... mainly to look busy when my Dad walks past checking his watch... oh look... it's 5 past WHY HAVEN'T YOU MOVED OUT YET?!!!

Anyway, it's not brilliant but I thought I'd post a couple of offerings from today's lot.... I've been looking at a lot of Sumi-e art recently I think it's starting to creep its way in.

Me agaaaain :D Endpapers this time

2011-03-23T22:30:00.000Z

.... I resisted the urge to upload a photo of me wearing mine... I didn't however resist the urge to tell you that I made one :s

Better?

2011-03-23T00:37:00.000Z

I decided to rework some of the pages of my book, and just rejigger the rest, I got rid of everything that looked obviously "Fill Tooly" and replaced it with hand painted colour which looks loads better... and to be honest what I would've done in the first place if I wasn't so god damn lazy.

I didn't add backgrounds to every page, just a suggestion of sea or horizon line seemed to do the trick, but when I looked at all the pages as thumbnails there was a definite gap in the colour towards the latter spreads, so I went all out on this page and it rebalanced the flow.... do I sound like a hippy?!

Anyway... old

...new

It's Getting Worse

2011-03-22T22:10:00.000Z

At the moment I'm working for an online blog on modern culture called 'It's Getting Worse'.

It's a really great site owned by a group of post graduate writers, who each have their own creative (and equally entertaining) style of commentary.

The thing that I like best (apart from the fact they let me do some illustrations for them).... is that from first glance of the unassuming features (TV, film, music, sport, etc.) and the informal style of writing, you would have no idea of the direction you're about to go in. Suddenly an article from the 'Film' section goes into areas of maths and physics that would normally send "arty types" like me running VERY fast in the opposite direction.

For example, the first two articles I illustrated for them covered: postmodernism, French New Wave Cinema, causality and particle physics..... quiiiiiite a big step for someone who's been drawing pirates solidly for the last month.

Still... it's all good experience for me and I will be hopefully illustrating for them regularly.

You can see my work in situ by following the link below...

http://itsgettingworse.com/

and see the 'Features' icons and masthead I designed all nicely displayed together by clicking here...

http://itsgettingworse.com/reviews/

Competition Entry

2011-03-21T01:28:00.002Z

This is what I'm entering into The Cheltenham Illustration Awards competition 'Tree Time Tales'. The brief is to illustrate an old tale which still has relevance in today's society.

For some reason I instantly thought of a story my Grandma used to tell me at bed time about an old woman who lived in a vinegar bottle. Without going into the whole story (with voices and sound effects) it's basically about a woman who is never satisfied no matter how much she owns, and in the end she pisses off a fairy and it magics her back into the vinegar bottle.

I thought the general moral of not being greedy and materialistic is something still relevant today, and illustrated it as if it were based on a modern day woman.

So yes..... hopefully I'll be getting my hands on that £1000 prize money and I can blow it all on shoes!! lol... joking.

I made a picture book :)

2011-03-17T04:44:00.001Z

Well... here it is.
Please do tell me if you spot any typos, unfortunate croppings, or anything that could be potentially damaging to a small child.

Also... if you have any suggestions for improvement that I could steal and pass off as my own idea that would be nice.
I NEED a critical eye, because to be honest, I've just been having so much fun making this book I've forgotten aaaaaall about the design aspect. Hope you like it.

The Penultimate Page

2011-03-16T21:27:00.000Z

I given up trying to crop secretly.... BAM!
It's nearly over now anyway :(

Two pages left!!

2011-03-16T00:21:00.000Z

On Second Thoughts...

2011-03-15T01:30:00.000Z

Maybe the odd shooting.

White Flag

2011-03-14T20:03:00.000Z

There'll be no fighting on any ship of mine.

Turns out... I DON'T need sleep

2011-03-14T04:06:00.000Z

I couldn't wait until tomorrow to make the next page... it's the one I've been waiting for since I drew my thumbnails :D The next page however is gonna be a total bitch.

This isn't the best bit :(

2011-03-14T01:35:00.001Z

.... I wasn't able to crop my favourite part without giving too much away... I like having a secret it's fun :)

Pants and Socks

2011-03-13T03:24:00.000Z

My favourite bit of today's page. Seven pages left!! :D ... and a cover... and a title page... oh yeah - and the endpapers.

Snip Snip

2011-03-12T00:42:00.000Z

Here's another little... "snippet" from my Children's book.... crab... pincers... snip... no? - oh never mind.

From my new picture book

2011-03-08T02:13:00.001Z

I pretentiously say "my new picture book" like I already have a best-seller on the shelves.... I don't. But a girl can dream can't she!

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

2011-03-04T21:51:00.001Z

My Day:

Woke up early decided to see the AOI Images 34 exhibition.
Phoned The Gallery to make sure it was DEFINITELY on - it was.
Looked for directions.... too hard... decided to wing it.
Got the train to Liverpool - sat next to a fat woman eating crisps.
Got the train to Blackpool - terrorised by 2 flying pigeons stuck on train.
Got to Blackpool, instantly got lost.
Asked lots of people how to get there, followed lots of hand signals.
Walked for miles.... Found gallery.... Needed a hug.
Exhibition had been taken down by mistake, people were cross.
I decided to join the cross people, left name and number.
Felt surprisingly chipper..... went to do some sketches.
The whole of Blackpool promenade closed for maintenance.
Drew a crane.... got the buzz.... drew some signage.... got too cold.
Went Charity shop riffling.... bought some old tat.
FOUND THE TRAIN STATION - first time... ate some Monster Munch.
Got the train to Liverpool - read 'White Noise' by Don DeLillo.
Got the train home - finished 'White Noise' by Don DeLillo - good book.

Justin Bieber Naked... that should boost my hits

2011-03-01T05:37:00.001Z

.... or disappoint a few teenage girls - sorry

HAPPY 1st of MARCH!!
Yes... I realise this isn't an actual holiday, but I've decided to make it one. It's about this time of year that I completely abandon all efforts to maintain my New Year's resolutions and slip back into my comfortable old ways. I normally spend all of January living the life of a nun, all of February hating the person I've become, and all of March making up for January and February..... but NOT THIS YEAR.

So if like me, you've cracked and failed, come and celebrate the 1st of March with a herbal tea and some meditation exercises.

Made another quick little square to mark the occasion... It includes images of some notable events that have happened on this day. I really wanted to make reference to "National Pig Day", but couldn't bring myself to look at one long enough to draw it - they knock me sick.

Fabulous Fun with Fonts... and alliteration

2011-02-15T02:54:00.000Z

Over the last two months, every time I've finished an illustration, I've copied all the fonts I've used and pasted them onto this square... don't know why exactly, but it looks (to quote my mum) "kinda snazzy" lol
I might do it again in another couple of months if I've got enough.

Significant Other

2011-02-15T00:48:00.001Z

So... this personal project I was talking about is actually stolen from the latest 'Varoom!' magazine.

It's a project called 'Significant Other' where five illustrators were asked to re-interpret a piece of work that has been significant in their life or work.... basically that image you can't forget.

I got to thinking what mine would be, and there are loads of images I can't forget, 'The Scream' by Edvard Munch, 'Up and Down' by MC Escher, Rolling Stones 'Forty Licks' album cover... LOADS in fact (I wont bore you with my own list)

But the one image that has always haunted me is 'The Three Ages of Woman' by Gustav Klimt.... maybe it's because I identify with the woman... maybe it's because I like the simplicity/honesty of it... maybe it's because I just think it's a beautiful image... but most likely it's because it taps straight into my fear of getting old.

Anyway, I re-interpreted it in my style best I could, but paid homage to the original by nicking part of the pattern. I also wanted to bring in more of the personal element by using myself as the woman, so for authenticity that's me as a baby and my grandma (because let's face it, that's where I'm heading). Can I just say, the sight of yourself holding yourself as a baby is pretty creepy.

My life explained in 3 photos

2011-02-14T14:53:00.000Z

At the moment I'm working on a new personal project, and it's requiring me to sift through hundreds of old photos.... anyway...
I found these three particularly amusing, as they explain so much of the way I turned out.

1) The difference between me and my sister, even though we've always been treated EXACTLY the same and followed such a similar path in life.

2) My love and pride of being part of 'The Ginger Club'.

3) My parent's continual support of self expression, as captured by this photo of me at a fancy dress party... I'm the snowman... and just behind me is Phantom of the Opera.... my sister.

FLY MY PRETTIES..... FLY!!

2011-02-13T03:39:00.000Z

Check out what I did today......

Nearly didn't happen though! I've been waiting impatiently for these postcards to arrive for a couple of days now, and this afternoon a postman knocked on my door and said...
"Hiya love, I forgot to tell you... I put a package in your garage yesterday 'cos you were out"
.....Torrential.... rainfall.... is what happened last night, I. was. FURIOUS.
I finally retrieved my parcel and was about to cry when the box was literally so wet, it fell open, but luckily by some miracle, all the postcards were fine inside :D a tad warped.... but aren't we all.
So yes, here they are: 2 sets of 2 postcards (front and back) enveloped up and ready to go... I licked every single one of them... and then arranged them on my bed with a little help from my old friend Mr O.C.D.
Anyway, let's hope after their troubled start in life, they don't come to an immediate end via the shredder.

Love Is In The Air

2011-02-04T00:46:00.000Z

I love this time of year. Every fibre of my being wants to hate Valentine's Day, I kind of agree with the whole "it's a corporate invention blar blar blar.. just a big tacky marketing ploy"...... but I DON'T CARE!! Every year I bake "love cupcakes" and twirl around seeing bluebirds.

What's wrong with dedicating a day to the one you love?
Yes... I know we shouldn't need a greetings card company to get the ball rolling, but being British and all, most of us need a jolly good shove what?!

So here's my contribution this year. The pigeon one is a bit dodgy, but... it was just something to keep me occupied while I wait for my postcards to arrive from the printers :D

Life without Facebook

2011-01-17T14:34:00.003Z

So... since removing Facebook, I've developed a strange little hobby.

For some reason I've started drawing eggs and decorating them. I do it on the train... while I'm waiting for ink to dry... in an evening before I go to bed, and generally when I'm procrastinating... and you know what? it's quite therapeutic and addictive.

I can only deduce that this complete mindless waste of time is what has replaced updating my "status" and sending people YouTube clips of kittens falling asleep.

Either that or I'm possessed by the ghost of Fabergé.

I really encourage everyone to get off facebook and see what curious hobby arises.

Typewriter

2011-01-14T21:16:00.001Z

Part of a new commissioned project I've got going at the moment.

New Website!!!!

2011-01-09T21:40:00.000Z

nataliesmithillustration.com

Hallelujah! I finally got it up (easy)

Feel free to click every button, view every image and try all the links... I think it should be running smoothly.

This is also the first outing of some of my new work - exciting!

Want Me Or Love Me.... I'm Easy

2010-12-28T03:44:00.001Z

Everything sounds better when it's o-matic

2010-12-28T03:43:00.000Z

Heaven, Hell and an Exhibition

2010-12-28T03:41:00.000Z

Churches, Trains and Pyramid Hallucinations

2010-12-28T03:39:00.000Z

a bit of the old in out

2010-12-28T03:37:00.001Z

Honey.... I'm hoooome

2010-12-28T02:42:00.004Z

Well hello! Sorry I haven't posted anything in months... I've been locked in a room having a quarter-life crisis... it's been enlightening. I decided to restore my life back to factory settings, and got rid of everything... my day job, phone numbers, facebook, all previous posts on my blog... but don't worry, it wasn't a rash decision. I'm starting fresh and it feels good. I once said I've run out of new leaves to turn over, but luckily I found a small squashed one, so I used it.

I PROMISE I'll get some of my new work up soon, and my website WILL be back to full working order in the New Year. Not to bring you down or anything but I was convinced 2010 was the worst year of my life, then I found all these photos scattered in various files from the last 12 months and decided it wasn't so bad after all... Thought I'd share them with you.