Well look at that!

In case you hadn't seen the discreet message underneath my picture on the left, I now have a website up and running! I KNOW! exciting right!?! You can view all my work and contact me via one of those cool message thingies :) Go on, take a look and let me know what you think.
                                                         
                                                           http://www.merlehunt.co.uk/

Farewell fine friend.

Today I finished clearing my desk in preparation for dismantling the studio next week for our degree show. It only feels like yesterday that I was posting pictures of my desk on here at the start of the year! Since then is has served my uncomplainingly as I systematically piled more and more mess onto it's large surface area. I honestly don't know when I'll next have a desk so fine.....or, indeed, have a desk at all! I should really have a movie-montage-moment here with pictures of all the good time me and my desk have spent together. Instead, here are a few pictures of my desk after it had been completely gutted (I thought that would be less cheesey and more.....hard hitting, poignant, really evoke the sense of sadness ;)

Everything comes in twos!

I've noticed that I always seem to post in twos (a boring observation perhaps but I felt like sharing!) and today is no exception. Here's a poster design I did using one of the illustrations I made for "The House of Bernarda Alba".

Some more bookcovers.

Although I was fairly pleased with the book cover I designed for The House of Bernarda Alba a short time ago, I felt it was worth pushing a little further and so I've done three more versions. I actually only like the one with the orange writing (I think the other two are a bit weird!) and I might use this one as my final. What do you think?

Page layouts

Here's what my illustrations would look like if they were actually really and truly published! I think I should be hired right away ;)

The Final One!

Here are the final pages of my sketchbook for my final illustration for my final project which I've been working on for these final months at uni! What a scary thing to have to say. I really am going to finish in just over a months time...............let's just focus on the illustrations for now! Drum roll please........

Look what I did!!!

I'm very pleased with myself! I have sucessfully managed to create a book cover which looks half decent in photoshop. Hooray for me :) Here's the first one I did for the Penguine Design Awards which set me on the road to book cover love in the first place!

Second is the one I did for my final uni project based around The House of Bernarda Alba which I've been working on for the last few months (the project, not the book cover!)

Printing with Lithography

I've been very excited and pleased to have spent the last couple of months (on and off) in the print room while learning, and experimenting with, lithography. I started by using stone Litho which is a very long process and complicated. Then I found out about plate litho........basically, while stone litho requires you to grind down the surface of a very heavy (for anyone of average strength) and large stone and then to  transfer your image, cover it with weak acid, then in stronger and again stronger acid until you start printing, plate litho allows you to draw directly onto the plate (it's a bit like paper) with pretty much any materiel you like, bond it with heat and then you're ready to print! a LOT quicker! I've enjoyed the process and bellow follows the results (well, some of them, the actual printing is so quick for both processes that I've ended up with hundreds of prints).

Sketchbook update....at last!

At last, and not for the first time, I have found a quite moment to once again apologise, to myself as much as anyone! for this long delay in updating my blog and to then subsequently update said blog. This time it is a continuation of the sketchbook work for my ongoing project The House of Bernarda Alba. Mostly just thumbnails and rough sketches though, so I'm not sure of their actual interest value. I thought I'd share  anyway, if only to appease my own conscious.