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It's midweek and I want it to be the weekend again but I'm going to make the most of it and have made a list of ten ways to have a good day, try them out:
I've just returned from a two-week tour of India. I was there for work, an educational visit to Schools, Colleges, and Universities, to education agents, and education fairs. We traveled from London to Delhi, Delhi to Mumbai, back to Delhi, and onto Bangalore, where I used to live and work.
Being back in India after almost two years was amazing. There is a sense of energy, excitement, and opportunity in the air which was still very much there. The sun was shining, it was comfortably warm for December, and I was revisiting India with a new challenge and aim. I was there as the academic representative for my University, helping our international department in marketing and recruitment. I met with and spoke to students who are interested in design education. I gave talks, workshops, drawing classes, interviews, and portfolio reviews.
It was a tough trip, and we worked pretty damn hard, but I honestly think we did a great job and couldn't have hoped for a better trip. I am very lucky to have the job I do as I simply love it, but getting to travel too is an absolute bonus!! Not only did we meet with hundreds of students who were interested in studying at our University but we had a great time doing it.
We will be following up on all the applications and inquiries next week, but in the meantime, a massive thank you to everyone we met, interviewed, and worked with...it was bohoot acha to be back in Incredible India!!
I can hardly believe it's been almost two years since I said my goodbyes to India, but this week I'm packing the same suitcase and heading off to Heathrow T5 to board a flight right back out there!! Only this time I am going for a much shorter visit.
My Indian adventure started back in 2009, mid-recession. I flew out to India via Singapore armed with a laptop, a suitcase, and a CD of information. I had been employed to help start-up and run a new campus for a Singaporean design college and was semi-prepared for what was to come. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect, setting up a design school isn't an easy job and sometimes I can't quite believe I did it, but it was certainly "bohoot acha" {very good}. I gained a wonderful circle of friends, taught and learned from my fantastically talented students, made a load of memories, got to travel this beautiful country, and returned back to the UK to take on a new chapter and challenge with lots of experience behind me.
Of course, I also found time for beautiful architecture, colourful markets, yummy food like delicious dosa, samba on a banana leaf, and even the Indian version of a cola which is quite the pick-me-up, that or a chai!!
So, almost two years on and I am now revisiting India as an Academic representative of my current University and I can't wait. I will be working to connect them with some very prestigious schools, college and universities in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Over the two weeks I will be giving talks and lectures, holding workshops, school visits, interviewing potential new students and meeting lots of very interesting people, and eating and shopping - I'm hoping.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been producing some drawings to show my students as examples for a ‘Design Communications’ class I'm teaching this term. I always think it’s best to show examples of your own work - that way the students see I can actually do what I’m teaching and expecting of them, and not just pull images from google.
In my opinion, we are too quick to jump onto computers to render our work and there is a beauty in hand-drawn and hand-rendered work - an important skill to grasp before moving on to rendering in programs such as Photoshop, an office standard.
So, I'm sharing the examples with you, taking you through this process, and talking about what I use to render them, and how you can create your own hand-rendered drawings like these.
I have used a range of different ink markers in the past and have built up a little collection ranging from ProMarkers and Copic to Tria. I'm not biased to any brand as colour and ink flow are the most important feature so whatever I have to hand is usually good enough.
I started out with ProMarkers and then Tria before investing in a range of Copic markers.
I recommend investing in 3 to 4 pens to start with - a light and a darker grey, a brown for wood, and if your budget allows then a blender pen too. You can always render into the ink with coloured pencils.
Working with ink markers can be challenging and frustrating but it’s one of those skills that gets easier with practice so make many copies of your work before you ink the final drawing.
I often find that the paper I use can really make a difference in the final look of the image. Poor quality paper will have your ink flowing into each other and run. Standard sketchbook paper, if not thick enough, will do the same and can sometimes become a bit transparent with ink or bleed onto other pages so keep this in mind when working in your sketchbook.
There are ink marker pads on the market but they are pricey. Personally, I don't do enough of these drawings to make that investment so I’ve been using a thick card stock paper that has a watercolor-like absorption to it. Look for watercolour sketchbooks and see what the paper thickness and texture are like - a nice smooth finish is ideal.
Hopefully, this has encouraged you. Give it a try, less is more with ink marker work so try to build up the layers of ink as you go. Render and then stand back, add into the material or shadow and stand back.
If you don’t have a drawing to work on, take an image from a design magazine, draw out that image using a black ink fine liner drawing pen, or just in pencil for now, and start to render it.
Begin with the lightest colours and build up from there, do it in layers like a wash of colour and add in other colours to create shadow and depth. The hardest thing is knowing when to stop.
Back at work for a few weeks and I am already reminiscing about my summer travels. So today I share my few days in NYC, madly rushing around to see as much as physically possible, with you. Personally, I think New York is one of my favorite cities. I've been twice and can't wait to go back. I love the energy, you can really feel it in the air, I love the architecture, the food, the 'cwaffee' and the shopping!! I can go on...
Even though it's a huge city, you get the feeling whilst walking around that it's much more of a personal scale with its different districts and villages. People smile, they say Hi!, they stop and take a minute to ask where you're from...and they are actually interested.
On this visit, I walked my little feet off. I tried to do an area a day but when you start walking you just can’t stop and you know there is something really interesting on the next block...before you know it you have walked miles, and there’s no point getting the Subway back cos you would miss out on more. This is basically what happened and I didn't miss much out.
NYC has it all; the parks, the bridges, the shops, the bars and restaurants, the culture, the fashion, the art and design, and of course the Architecture. My favorite building is the Chrysler (by far), then the Guggenheim, and I love the Brooklyn Bridge but I had a new project to discover this time; The Highline. The Highline is a fantastic project which saw the old rail tracks transformed into a new urban parkland in the Chelsea area. It has access at street level, benches along it with areas of mini amphitheaters highlighting views, paths exposing the old rail tracks, local wild plant life, water features, green living-walls, music, bars, and cafes, lighting at night and is generally a very cool addition to the city.
NYC has an iconic skyline, one which plays hard on our memories, but a very beautiful and impressive one. The Memorial Plaza, located on the site of the former World Trade Centre, is a tribute to the past and a place of hope for the future. It features two large waterfalls and reflecting pools, set within the footprints of the original twin towers, and surrounded by over 400 trees. The project is one of the most eco-friendly Plazas ever constructed and you can really feel that contemplation and reflection are at its heart.
I will leave you with this picture, I think many people would agree that the Chrysler Building is the most beautiful building, sparkling in the sunlight and standing proud over Grand Central Station.
The architecture in Cuenca truly made this city memorable for me. Dating from the 16th Century, much like Quito, its centre is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. Between the traditional colonial homes, the churches, shrines and Plazas, to the 'hanging houses' of the Rio Tomebamba (homes that appear to hang over an old Inca city), there's something to see on every corner. When the Spanish invaded they dismantled the Inca city and incorporated a lot of the elegantly carved stones into their structures meaning there's not a lot to see of Inca ruins.
However, there is now a mixture of buildings to be found showing inspiration from French Baroque, neoclassicism, majestic colonial and more, some with beautifully painted interiors and/or exteriors, and all constructed in different materials. An iconic city which is truly well, bonita, even with its similarities in iconic structures - Notre Dame anyone?
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Architect & former University Lecturer turned Entrepreneur. I help female Entrepreneurs successfully Design & Build their Creative Businesses in Interior Design, Architecture & Urban Sketching.
Hi, I’m Sonia. I help you successfully Design & Build your career and creative business in Interior Design, Architecture & Urban Sketching.
Architect & former University Lecturer turned Entrepreneur. I help Students and Entrepreneurs successfully Design & Build their Careers and Creative Businesses in Interior Design, Architecture & Urban Sketching.
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