This is a kigu. It has nothing to do with my work or influences, but it does engage me a lot. It's an animal costume basically in the form of a "onesie"  I think they're amazing. And i really want one, but this particular one is all sold out, this is not good.

It does influence and inspire me in that it's got textiles in it, and making a whole costume would be quite cool to do. "In early 2009, best mates Nick and Tom decided it was about time to inject some fresh ideas into the world of fancy dress. Sick of seeing the same old chicken, sailor and pirate costumes at every festival and fancy dress party, they wanted something unique, comfortable and, preferably, not a complete rip-off! They scoured the world for costumes that would fit their criteria and after a long search, discovered Kigus in the Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan."

This influences me that you can sort of make money doing anything you want, as long as it's a good idea, and to have fun with it.

http://www.kigu.co.uk/

this is peepshow. I really like them. They are a collection of creative people who work in the areas of illustration, art direction, advertising, moving image, set design, mixed media installations and fashion and textile design. They either work together to produce some really cool stuff, or individually. 

They do a lot of projects together too, which i find really motivates me to do similar stuff. I'm not sure if it changes the world in any way at all, but their work does seem to make me smile and be entertaining. 

I really like this idea. 

It was quite a few years ago where 'Peepshow' put together a stall in London. The aim was the 'create a creature, a building, a famous face, or a favourite object" from fruit and veg. I love how it seemed to simply be to make people happy and make them come together. Although, a lot of veg may have been wasted, but the idea still makes me smile. 

I'd like to sort of do the same thing one day.

This is their blog, it's good

Laura McCafferty

 Laura McCafferty uses a combination of traditional crafts and illustration to present her documentation of the world.

I really like the way she produces her work. She usually photographs or illustrates people she sees then uses applique and screen printing to then produce the textured piece, then applying hand stitching it. It's all very nice and girly. And i like the way she works. I really like the different fabrics she finds as well.

This has really influenced the book project. 

I'm really interested in using material and texture to represent the personality that i can hear behind the accents i record. I'm really fond of how the colours clash and how it looks all quite distasteful, something that i'd like to experiment with too.

This is a little clip from the film "Science of Sleep" by Michel Gondry.

It was made a few years ago, and it's not the best film as the plots a little confusing. A lot of it is based on the main character's dreams. So the whole look of it is very playful and a lot of the sets are made from cardboard, which I find lovely.

Michel Gondry often uses ephemeral stuff to make 3D things, which I really like, but feel i'm growing out of it. And i'm not as talented as Monsieur Gondry so my attempts at making 3D things out of cardboard aren't as good.

As well as all the cardboard, I love all the other playful elements he uses, like the costumes and machines that the main character makes.

 

"1999 Air France commercial"

Again, this is by Michel Gondry. I thought i'd put it up for comparison as it's nothing like "Science of Sleep", or any of Gondry's more recent stuff.

I like how simple it is, and it helps me realise that not everything has to be visually complicated and artsy to be good. I also like how it shows the journey of Gondry's work, i think.

This was obviously made quite a while ago, and his talent and technology has obviously improved quite a bit since 1999, but it's still good.

I love this website. ffffound. 

I find it really really handy for giving out some good inspiration and research. It's got funny stuff on it too, so it's entertaining.

About a year ago I went to a chat thing with these two guys who have made up a little collective called 'telegramme'. They were cool and all laid back and nice and stuff and gave some very good advice for budding arty people.

Quoted from their website they "draw, design, screen print, make patterns, collect stamps, post letters, raid skips and are mixing ink most of the time."

The work i've seen has mainly been screen prints. I really like it. It gives the whole authentic rustic look to the piece, and makes it very bold. 

My aim for the book project is to go around interviewing the locals of Leeds. Trying to find the 'born and bred' Loiners, and then the people who have come to Leeds from other parts of the world and UK. And then recording that interview so I can listen back on their accents. 

From that recording I am then going to try and illustrate their accents with typography. If this all goes to plan.

 I'm really keen on trying to use screenprinting as a means of producing the typography. 

I'm going to look at "telegramme" a lot as they work a lot with type too, and their work is very similar to the idea in my head that I want my book to look like.

This is their website. It's nice

This is a piece of work I saw a very very long time ago. It's by a guy called Nick O'Brien, who at the time was a student from Kingston University and made a whole typeface with shadows on faces. I can't find the whole typeface. But luckily found this little piece.

I remember loving it when I was younger. Now I find myself still liking it, and liking the idea, but definitely not loving it.

However, I do find it quite a good reference to our current typography brief, where we have to make a typeface out of basically anything we see.

This is mine. I am trying to make the word comfy. I don't hate it, but I do think I could have tried a little harder. I was trying to be a little sarcastic, as these pictures don't particularly show anything comfy, but this may have just made things confusing.