IT'S ALL OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The day my computer broke!

I'm exhausted from worry!!

Today my computer decided to die on me. It fell asleep every 5 seconds so obviously I got nothing done. I managed to back up all my work but I'm not sure I'll be able to retrieve any of my music or PHOTOS (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

My brother took a 4 hour round trip to lend me his laptop because of these deadlines growing out of my ears - I neevr knew he was so nice! I'm behind schedule now but,  doing an all nighter to get back on track.

I officially understand the stress of 3rd year!

Advice Please

I remember D dot Barnett said the background on our layouts shouldn't be white except the odd few of us. I'm not totally sure sure but I think I might be one of the odd few. I though it should be quite clinical and clean. Reminds me of criminal activity, fingerprints etc.

Can anyone give me any ideas?

ADVICE......

NEVER......EVER!!!!

Scan images in at the worlds smallest resolution and then work on them.
It wastes time because you have to go and re-do them ALL!

I learnt a very big lesson!

UPDATE

Looing at Indian passports, everything that is written in Hindi is also written in English. So it seems pointless to then translate everything on my boards....seing as it's already translate.

BUT...if I, write something about my uncle in Hindi, I'll also write a translation for passport too.

FrontCover

Examples of Illustrations and book

ARSE!

Mega spanner in the works!

I've been told that this passport will now cost me thousands. It seems to be the way when you deal with people in India. They say they'll do something up to the very last minute when they say they can't or they change the plan.....that's from experience.

aaaaaaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

it's all part of being a designer, so I'm told.
....so I've decided to create a pastiche of a passport. I guess it gives me more opportunity to change different elements of the passport. I have to make it as real as a real passport though!

I'm determined!!

Still trying to get one made though....but need to work on plan B at the same time, so that I don't get left with nothing.

What we discussed in class today

Well........today was a bit of disaster. My title was admittedly - rubbish.

So Sam the man Harris gave me... "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Bhajis"
I'm not sure if he said "smoking" bhajis but I like "onion" bhajis.

I have to admit I love it. Thank you boy!

My booky wook

I've been doing my research and all this should be possible - getting conformation in the next couple of days. Providing it's possible, it will be pretty simple to do. Basically, designing the stamps shouldn't really take any time. I'll do a quick plan of what he got up to and then each stamp will be a symbol of that.....text based. Send the stamps off to be made which only takes a day and then bingo...bob's you're uncle.
.....see what I did there!!

so....I've been thinking about doing another book. Also as a kind of back up plan. I'm not happy about putting all my eggs into 1 basket.

I want one of these! My mums and my Grans passports.

I know it's looking pretty feminine at the moment but I'm very aware of that!! That's definitely not what I want to do but I like the tactile(ness) and detail of everything I'm showing you. I may be making the book v.OTT, glamorous, colourful, (indian/bollywood) so just checking a few things out.

Still a massive fan of the packaging though. Idea and thoughts very very welcome!!

To sum things up so far.....
there are a few ideas I like but I feel like I've lost perspective so I neeeed to sort that out!

_ shameless
_ bollywood film
_ interactive
_ passport and stamps

going back to the passport, I thought I could nick the outside of a passport and then create the inside from scratch. Looks like a real one but when you look closer, it's got a story.

Anyway, these are just a few pics of styles I like.....aside from the packaging I've shown before. Basically, tactile is what I'm a massive fan of but I don't want to fall back on the very over done sewing thing. Either keep it uber simple or extremly detailed. I'll reference all these images when blogger isn't being so slow.

A HIGHLY ILLEGAL IDEA!!

I went to see a man about a dog and he says he can get hold of a false Portuguese passport for around £200. So now he's going to see if it's possible to get an Indian one which shouldn't be too difficult....maybe more expensive.

My idea was to get one made using my uncles details and then to design some stamps and have them made up to print inside. The stamps would look like the stamps we all have in our passports but would have different text, making up the narrative.

examples
23/04/81 Andaman Islands-smuggling cocaine. Lost my eye
04/11/93 Sri Lanka. Shot in the back. Killed one man.

There is a chance I could go to prison but this is me telling the world so hopefully a reduced sentence.

Comments on a postcard please.

I'm getting ideas form the stories I've been told. Apparently my dad went to visit him in prison and the place was like a battery chicken farm. There was a big room with hundreds of prisoners and a wire fence separating the prisoners and the visitors. Everyone was fighting to get to the fence. They paid the guard some money and he let them sit in his office and chat whilst he brought them some tea and biscuits. I think that's pretty crazy!

Also, when he was younger and his gang went to court,the ring leader sent him to buy some drinks and whilst he was away, another gang came along, and shot them all dead. He was so lucky not to have been there!!

Do you know this man?

I've had another think. I think the fact that my uncle was a criminal is critical when I'm thinking about my book. That might sound obvious but what I mean is, I think I need a narrative to show this because nobody's gonna be that interested in him unless they know exactly what he got up to
Not many people know a one eyed, alcoholic, drug addict, thieving, gangster who killed people and I think that's the kind of thing that makes him interesting

I've just had another idea. How about Where's Wally books? They rely entirely on illustration because the idea is to find Wally...or in my case, an Indian Gangster Uncle. I could apply any type of style to this that I like.

Finding a Narrative and an Illustrative Approach

I tried to think...if my uncle was young now, which famous person or character would he be most like?! From speaking to his brothers I learnt that he was part of the pack but wasn't the ring leader. He told them that he knew what he was doing was wrong but it was just so much fun. He was given immediate respect by everyone without having to worry about the responsibility. They'd go into restaurants without paying the bill and they'd never be confronted because everyone was too frightened of them.



Here are some of my ideas bearing in mind his personality...

*An Indian/Bollywood pastiche of the Godfather films.

*An Indian pastiche of Eastenders (soap opera). The story is too ridiculous to be true! Maybe he was somewhere between Phil Mitchel and Billy Mitchel.

*A regular Bollywood film, he'd be the villain turned good. Also a bit of a love story because he had to leave his life when he was on the run and met his new wife in the Andaman Islands...whilst he was still married.

*A computer game. The classic being on the run, you reach the next level when you successfully kill/escape/rob/beat up.

*An Indian comic book version of something like Beryl the Peril. Can't do right for doing wrong.

*The 10 commandments according to an Indian Gangster. How not to be caught.

*An Indian spoof of Robin Hood. When he was younger he was Big John. But when he got older he was Friar Tuck, he just ate and Drank a lot. Reminds me of the comedy "Goodness Gracious Me"-everything is Indian.

Apparently brother and right hand man to Pablo Escabar (no,1 most wanted criminal in America for smuggling cocaine?) said his brother said "it feels like being Robin Hood"

*Crime profiles - most wanted villains and their right hand men.

*A children's book, something that usually teaches good lessons and morels eg "Peter and Jane"

*Nursery rhymes or Fairy Tales in Brief. 3 little pig, cut the fox and instead there's a gangster in a turban. In every story he'sthe villain.

*Dot to dot - something else interactive

...comments and ideas very welcome!!

My thoughts so far.

I'm beginning to notice that Indian advertising and packaging is all or nothing. Either there's so much to look at, you don't know what to look at and it camouflages what the product really is. Or, it's ridiculously simple, similar to information graphics. I really like both! I think making my uncles story similar to the plot of a Bollywood Movie would lend it's self to the highly ornate, patterned, glamorous style. However, the gangster side of him lends itself to the simple, "this is how it is" style of illustration.

Stamps

Seeing the fingerprint signature reminded me of some traditional Indian, wood block stamps I have, used for textile embroidery. It's the elaborate patterns I like really but they got me thinking about my uncle and how he was always moving about to stay out of trouble. I've never seen his passport but it's either filled with stamps or it's got nothing because he did it illegally.

The fingerprint was the equivalent of a signature


I like that these documents can look so important and official but they're on cheap paper and handwritten.

My Grandads Great Great Great Grandad...we think.

My dad found these books in our house in India. They were in an old chest women used to be given by their families when they got married. He thinks they belonged to my Grandads, great, great, great Grandad but he's not sure, they could be older. Apparently my family were money lenders and these were some of his books that he recorded who borrowed what.

The illustration style below is pretty crude but I think it's really engaging at the same time. It's very informative and quite often, there's no need for words...that's something I like.

I like the materials too. They're often re-cycled papers or very thin plastic just to make the product cheaper.

S.P.E.L.L I.T O.U.T

I love the way all this packaging really spells things out for the consumer. I think it's over the top and simple at the same time.

Images from 100% India by : Catherine Geel,Catherine Levy by Catherine Geel,Catherine Levy.

Indian Packaging

The Gangster Himself

Here he is with his cronies....ok they're not his cronies, they're his brothers but I'm not sure any of them are squeeky clean.

I like the way he's wearing his Birkenstocks too...it's like a hint to the other side of his personality.