Drawing Challenge: Day 30: The End

Daily Topic: [A congrats banner for finishing the challenge]

Characters completed: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 8

And that's all folks!
I know this one isn't a letter but I really wanted to do one that had all the letters (in order) just to see what it looked like and this seemed like the obvious time to do it. Hope you enjoyed following along on the drawing challenge and enjoy the shiny new Barnes-Roberts Creative website!

— the new Barnes-Roberts Creative website! —

Drawing Challenge: Day 29

The long awaited second last drawing has finally arrived! My sincere apologies everyone. Freelance clients and job hunting stuff took over for a bit. But it's here now! And hopefully with some exciting news tomorrow. But for now, enjoy this Japanese wood block inspired J for Japan — a country I've wanted to visit for years and with any luck will visit in the near future. 日本にほんとうにあそびに行きたいです! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ (<— that's me wishing really hard)

Daily Topic: [A place you'd like to go] Response: [J for Japan]

Characters completed: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 28

Daily Topic: [Anything] Response: [C for Cards]

Characters completed: A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 8

Day 28 — cards! Love 'em. And yes, there's actually a full deck there.

Drawing Challenge: Day 27

Daily Topic: [Someone Something I love] Response: [T for Tea!]

Characters completed: A B D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 8

T for Tea! It could also have been for thunderstorms since I also am very much in love those (and am happy to be back somewhere that gets proper ones). Both things make me happy though. In fact, I love drinking a delicious cup of tea while sitting on our covered porch watching a good thunderstorm. 

Drawing Challenge: Day 26

Daily Topic: [Something you don't like] Response: [O for Oranges]

Characters completed: A B D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S U V W X Y Z 8

Funny(ish) side story. I was watching a TV show that I like it, and on the show one of the main characters is getting a thank-you present from a bit character he's just met. The bit character — not knowing him or what to he likes — gets him a box of oranges because "who doesn't like oranges?" and all I can think is "... *cough* That would be me."

Drawing Challenge: Day 25

Daily Topic: [Scenery] Response: [A for Autumn]

Characters completed: A B D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S U V W X Y Z 8

Back at it

Finally feeling recovered enough to resume the challenge (I've been sick for the last week) so keep an eye out for a new drawing later today.

In the meantime, check this out — the blog's getting views from around the world! It's pretty cool to see that people in places like Hungary and India and Croatia are checking out the blog. Thank you for tuning in!

Screenshot of the October stats taken last week.

Drawing Challenge: While in Process

Doing that music one took a lot out of me apparently and I've been getting sicker and sicker all week. As a result, no drawing today. Instead, enjoy some more shots of past drawings in the works. My apologies for the less than awesome iPhone quality photos.

Escher: Day 16

Illusion: Day 20

Music: Day 23

Yin Yang: Day 24

Drawing Challenge: Day 24

Daily Topic: [A Couple] Response: [Y for Yin Yang]

Characters completed: B D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S U V W X Y Z 8

A simple and subtle Y for you today. Instead of the traditional dots inside, these are the characters for 'Yin' and 'Yang' (hopefully in the right spots). Enjoy!

And don't forget to take a guess at the lyrics in the M for Music post! There are still a bunch left to get.

Drawing Challenge: Day 23

Daily Topic: [Something you need] Response: [M for Music]

Characters completed: B D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S U V W X Z 8

Sorry this one took so long everyone! This one got a little away from me, I was just so into it. It wasn't meant to take up the whole page but then it did... Can you tell I love music?

Anyway, the point is I love music and got carried away with lyrics in this one. So the bad news (last time, I promise) is that this is another duplicate letter. The good news is, it's a challenge! All the text are lyrics from different songs that I really like. I'm curious to see who, and how many people can guess what they are (without Google or any other digital aid).

Give it a go! You can write your guesses in the comments section and you definitely get bonus points if you can get them all! There are 27 total but there's one only a handful of people could possibly get (*hint, hint* to those people) so I won't count that one. Some are new, some are definitely not. Some are well known, some are not. Good luck!

Drawing Challenge: Day 22

Daily Topic: [Something you miss] Response: [V for Victoria]

Characters completed: B D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S U V W X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 21

Daily Topic: [Something you want] Response: [K for Kitten]

Characters completed: B D E F G H I K L M N P Q R S U W X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 20

Daily Topic: [Something Orange Random] Response: [I for Illusion]

Characters completed: B D E F G H I L M N P Q R S U W X Z 8

You'll get something orange later (albeit under a different heading) so I did another topic of my choice instead. Notice the ambigram up the middle of the "I" — yes it's kind of a weak one, but it's still an ambigram! For a first go, I think it's not bad.

Drawing Challenge: Day 19

Daily Topic: [Something New Favourite Mythical Creature] Response: [P for Phoenix]

Characters completed: B D E F G H L M N P Q R S U W X Z 8

So the "something new" topic seemed boring to me so I went for this instead. Seems much more interesting in my opinion. And besides, a Phoenix is kind of something new... Reborn from the ashes and what-not. No? I tried. ;p

Either way — and despite what I think about favourites in general — the Phoenix is definitely a favourite mythical creature of mine (I am kind of a fan of mythical creatures anyway though). And if you're not sure about the mythology behind the Phoenix, check out the Wikipedia run-down.

And yes, I know I've already done "P" (coincidentally for another animal — the Penguin) but fear not. The other letters are coming!

Drawing Challenge: Day 18

Daily Topic: [Just a Doodle] Response: [Q for Quirky]

Characters completed: B D E F G H L M N P Q R S U W X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 17

Daily Topic: [Favourite Plant] Response: [W for Weeping Willow]

Characters completed: B D E F G H L M N P R S U W X Z 8

I love Weeping Willow trees and have for years. No idea why but it was a good excuse to work in that W.

Drawing Challenge: Day 16

Daily Topic: [Inspiration] Response: [E for Escher]

Characters completed: B D E F G H L M N P R S U X Z 8

If you don't know who M.C. Escher is, I highly recommend checking out his work. He's an exceptional artist most famous for his optical illusions. My favourite works of his are the ones that kind of blow your mind because they don't make sense (or sometimes they make too much sense) so this is my daily drawing for him.

Drawing Challenge: Day 15

HAPPY HALF WAY MARK!
(I know the 16 on the right is confusing but if you count it out it makes sense. 15 drawings down, 15 left to go)

Daily Topic: [Family Portrait] Response: [N & R for my parents (and a little L for me)]

Characters completed: B D F G H L M N P R S U X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 14

Daily Topic: [Favourite Fairytale] Response: [U for the Ugly Duckling]

Characters completed: B D F G H L M N P S U X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Works In Progress

Today's letter is coming later today, but in the meantime, enjoy some pictures of previous letters in progress:

Day 12: Diploma

Day 13: Naruto

Drawing Challenge: Day 13

Daily Topic: [Favourite Comic Manga] Response: [N for Naruto]

Characters completed: B D F G H L M N P S X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 12

Sorry for the delay everyone (D for delay?) — have a weather sensitive house project on-the-go and it took up the better part of my day yesterday (and will today too). I think I'm going to have to switch to a drawing-every-two-days challenge. I can do the drawing-a-day but it doesn't leave me much time to work on my website (or have a life) which was part of the original point of this. So starting this weekend, look for a new drawing every other day.

Thanks everyone! And if you're enjoying this, leave a comment! I'd love to know that I'm not babbling to myself. 

Daily Topic: [Most Recent Accomplishment] Response: [D for Diploma]

Characters completed: B D F G H L M P S X Z 8

Drawing Challenge: Day 11

Daily Topic: [Turning point in your life.] Response: [8 for Grade 8]

Letters Characters completed: B F G H L M P S X Z 8

I know, it's not a letter. To this, I say: There are 30 days in this challenge and only 26 letters. It had to happen at sooner or later. :)

Drawing Challenge: Day 10

Daily Topic: [Favourite Candy] Response: [F for Fuzzy Peaches]

Letters completed: B F G H L M P S X Z

I'm not huge candy eater at anytime, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be these. I'm more of a salty person though - give me a bag of chips any day!

Drawing Challenge: Day 9

Daily Topic: [Favourite TV Show Holiday] Response: [X for Xmas]

Letters completed: B G H L M P S X Z

Yep, that's right. I'm completely doing my own thing on this one. Fav TV show? Not right now (it may feature later, we'll see). And yes, I'm using the annoying short-form for Christmas. That way I can sneak in the X since I was having trouble finding an organic spot anywhere else.

Drawing Challenge: Day 8

Daily Topic: [Favourite Animated Character] Response: [M for M-O (Microbe Obliterator)]

Letters completed: B G H L M P S Z

Drawing Challenge: Day 7

Daily Topic: [Favourite Movie] Response: [Z for Zombieland]

Letters completed: B G H L P S Z

Drawing Challenge: Day 6

So again, not my necessarily my favourite book (there are so many I like) but it's the series I'm currently working my way through. If you haven't read it, I definitely recommend it! The TV series is awesome too but some things get changed from the books (and it's just so much further behind the books).

Daily Topic: [Favourite Current Book] Response: [G for Game of Thrones]

Letters completed: B G H L P S

PS - Tomorrow's post will likely be quite late as I'm going out of town momentarily and won't get back until later tomorrow. It will be there though! And here's a hint: Zombies.

Drawing Challenge: Day 5

Daily Topic: [Best Friend] Response: [B for my friends]

Dedicated to my oldest group of friends from Vic -  I think you all can pick out who you are. :D I have other friends that I also wanted to include but then it got confusing and I didn't know where to draw the line, so I stuck with the group that I've known the longest. I miss you all!

You're probably wondering why the letter B. No, not all 7 of these friends have names that start with B (as much as that would be an awesome coincidence). It's from the very, very early days of university when a bunch of us were in res together. It's simpler not to explain except that it was our group name - hence why I'm using it. Otherwise I would've been doing a bunch Js, As, and a K-L-S. I want to get through the whole alphabet but not that fast!

Letters completed: B H L P S

Drawing Challenge: Day 4

Daily Topic: [Favourite Place] Response: [H for Home]

Letters completed: H L P S

"Home is where the heart is."

Drawing Challenge: Day 3

For these "favourites" I'm taking some liberties. Partly to try and get through the alphabet, partly because I'm just not a favourites kind of person. I like stuff. Lots of different stuff and food is no exception. I like lots of different foods and enjoy trying new ones. In this case, Sushi happened to be the one that immediately came to mind (probably because I just went out for sushi the other night).

Daily topic: [Favourite Food] Response: [S for Sushi]

Letters completed: L P S

Drawing Challenge: Day 2

Daily topic: [Favourite Animal]  Response: [P for Penguin]

Letters completed: L P

Drawing Challenge: Day 1

Welcome to day 1 of the challenge! At the top of each post, I'm going to include the daily topic, what my answer is and what letters (and perhaps numbers) have been done. I'd like to try and do the whole alphabet, but finding answers that start with X and Q might be a problem. Enjoy today's drawing brought to you by the letter L!

Daily topic: [Yourself] Response: [L for Laurissa]

Letters completed: L 

30 Days of Drawing

I don't know if it's a residual feeling from so many years of trudging off to school every September (some years more willingly than others) but something about this time of year always makes me feel like I should be starting something. Maybe that's why I'm taking on an extra self-assigned challenge in the middle of job hunting and settling into a new city.

What's the challenge you ask? Well there are two parts: Redesign and relaunch the Barnes-Roberts Creative website, and get back into sketching.

How are they connected? Through the creative inspiration that strikes only in the wee hours of the morning. Here's how that thought process went:

Problem #1: The Barnes-Roberts Creative website desperately needs a facelift but keeps being sidelined in lieu of things that have actual deadlines. Solution: Give it a deadline! A public one so that I'm accountable.

Problem #2: Find the inspiration to get back into sketching. Solution: A drawing challenge!
(side note: this was partly inspired by a friend's blog that does a fun twist on the drawing-a-day challenge. The blog's on hiatus but you can still see their awesome creations on When Creators Collide)

Combine the two and you get a 30 drawing challenge to countdown the launch of the new Barnes-Roberts Creative site!

To connect the two even more, I'm putting a graphic design spin on the drawing challenge (I'm using this one if you're interested in following along: 30 Day Drawing Challenge). Rather than just drawing each of the items on the list, I'm going add a typography twist by sketching the first letter of whatever it is in some typographically interesting way. Et voilà! Two unrelated goals connected.

A tad crazy? Perhaps. Will it work? Indeed. So get ready for 30 days of sketches!

The official countdown will start this Monday, September 17, 2012.

See you Monday for drawing #1!

Happy Easter!

Celebrating Easter Graphic Design Style. (Brought to you by Jessica Jones of How About Orange blog)

- Design Alert -

Rebranding the Brand

The Barnes-Roberts logo and page I created while still a student has been staring at me pleading to be re-done for about a year now. On a whim of inspiration after talking to a fellow classmate, I came up with this new BRC logo which I think better reflects myself and what I want Barnes-Roberts Creative to be.

And while riding this creative whim - and not without a little motivation from Facebook informing that I had no choice but to conform to their new timeline by the end of March - I also took it upon myself to bring by out-dated Facebook page into 2012. Finally. 

And so without further rambling, I introduce the new Barnes-Roberts Creative logo and the updated Facebook Page to accompany it: 

Barnes-Roberts Creative Facebook Page
 

And with this, the incessant guilt trip provided to me by the previous BRC logo can finally be put to rest.