I like sculpting. 95% of the time anyway. The other 5% is set aside for the occasions when for various reasons I produce work that to me looks like it was made by a chimp. Using his feet. This can cause despair but my philosophy is it's helpful sometimes to either bring you back down to earth if you're getting sculpturaly cocky (I know what I mean!) or maybe just need to be made to take a break & hold back till you've got something really worth making. Anyway 95% of the time all is well. (read full article)
The scale of personal and societal occurrences over the last few weeks has left my brain feeling like a used teabag. If you’re anything like me, you’re choking on humidity, Gordon Brown has lost all your money, the remote is too far away to turn Jeremy Kyle off, student finance has you waking up in a cold sweat and you won’t be going to see Michael Jackson in July, or indeed ever. But, I have good news! Well, good news if you like to read about the absolute cream of unspoiled musical talent, and the odd gadget. The Fat Blog now has a new contributor, (that’s me, in case you haven’t guessed) and I’ll be covering two of the most important subjects in the whole wide world: music and technology. You can expect regular gig reviews (and the odd account of a club night, Rinse FM’s fifteenth birthday party is on the way…) paired with a healthy smattering of technological musings, and information about what may be coming out in the not-too-distant future (…did somebody say Xbox 720?).
A bit of background about myself is only polite too, I suppose. My second year at GoldsmithsUniversity is on the horizon, as is the arrival of my results from the first year (pray to any and every God you know on my behalf). I study English and History, but don’t pity that, people usually exhale slowly and give me a charitable smile when they ask what degree I’m studying towards, but I’m having a lot of fun and have worn an admirable groove into the sofa at the student union, and, if I’m honest, most pubs in the general area!
So anyway, keep an eye out for me. I’m always open for suggestions aswell so if there’s anything you want me to look at or chase up (I’m not afraid of placing a phone call or twelve to find out the latest for you lot) give me a shout at kirstysimmonds@live.co.uk.
Continuing on from my tips and tricks last week I thought I would do something along the same lines but not necessarily Photoshop based. I talked before about networking (if you are an avid reader you will remember these posts some months ago) and thought it was important to talk about these again.
In the current climate you need to stay motivated and digg your heels in when it comes to not giving up! (Imagine a 3 year old refusing to put back the Percy Pig toy because damn you and the irate shop keeper, they will have it!).....
1st networking: DO IT.
There now thats over.
2nd, remembering who you are & why you are doing what you are doing! For a long time and even still now I get caught up in what other people think I should be doing, what their judgement of success is and how I should be achieving various goals (they have established) in my business. Then I remember, this is about me. I didn't quit a fairly well paid job in fashion to fail. No way. Like I said to someone yesterday, this is something that has to work because I have no other option and if I fail or end up losing what feels like a massive one sided fight right now, man I am going to go down kicking and screaming!!
Fat Talent among other things, has helped keep me motivated, remain in touch with people in a similar business (networking!!) and more importantly have fed my ideas hungry brain and helped to filter the bad from the good. The monthly fashion and music show has introduced me to a whole bunch of awesome people & opened up business opportunities that I just need to start utilising. So this sounds like a huge plug for FT and in a way it is, but you know what, I wrote this off my own back and I think their fab! If you can, get yourself involved with them or a similar organisation. Get yourself a mentor, get yourself connected and follow your instincts!(Well it has been a weekend of tributes with all this MJ stuff so thought I would join the riot!)
I think it has finally hit: there is a gait to my step and I have banished the winter fleece to my wardrobe! That's right: summer is here! And what a relief it has arrived! After a long, drawn out and damn right depressing winter we are finally feeling some warmth.
I love that I can leave the house in a t-shirt. I can don my sunglasses and I can actually work up a sweat. I love sitting out in the parks, feeling the grass between my toes and feeling the full brunt of the sun's warmth.
I do, however, have one objection.
Why do people insist of swanning around shirtless in the park?
Why do people whip out the bikini and lie splayed out as if they were on the golden sands of California?
The closest beach is a good hour and a half from central London - yet I'm still seeing the budgie smugglers (or speedos) on parade.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy the rays, and certainly nothing wrong with making the most of the summer. There is, however, something fundamentally wrong with a sun burnt older man frolicking with his gut on full display. This site greeted me the other day in none other than Royal Greenwich Park. A park, stately in its history, proud in its regality was playing host to a big, fleshy parade of flab.
I realise that not all of us should be obliged to have buff, sculpted abs bodies - nor should we. That being said, any blatant display of flesh outside a gym, pool, water related and bedroom activity, is not really welcome in my book. Particularly when is is burnt to a crisp (a result of not being sun safe enough) and monstrously hairy.
I do not want to become militant about flesh on display, but a certain amount of discretion would not go astray. I am not asking for a full purdah type situation, just a covering up of a stomach that protrudes more than a metre from where it should be!
A blank piece of paper. Occasionaly the most daunting thing an artist will see before them. I'm a Sculptor. That's what I'm best at but I also draw from time to time. I used to draw all the time as a kid & would quite happily sit in my room at night drawing anything i could think of. Obviously being a child in the 80's I was mostly influenced by Star Wars & Transformers & took great pride in my drawings of AT-AT's (or "Darth Vaders dog monsters" as I used to call them until I found out they were called AT-AT's)....(Read full article)
The young & multi-talented A.kay has been writing songs for years and his music is very 8o’s influenced. He loves nothing more than to seek difference,and in his own words..." I tend to create experimental music which is aspired by; hip hop, electro, dance, techno and pop". We found out a bit more about the guy behind the music & fashion label.....
Hi A.Kay, you say your “Swagger and sound go hand in hand” how would you describe them both, as you state Fashion Design is also one of your many talents?
Well I’m really into being creative and also I love to take risks, this relays to my music and designsbecause they are both mirror images of my minds status and also what I’m interested in at the particular time. At present I have a great infatuation with the 80’z era and new rave colours, this can result in some of cloths being really bright or colourful and my music having that 80’s rap / pop dance the feel to it. But please understand I’m here to create quality and honest music! So in 10 years from now I will still listen and be proud! Lol
Who do you think in the music industry is doing big things right now and who if you had the chance would you like to do a collaboration with?
To be honest I feel a lot of people are doing and achieving great things at the moment, arstist such as: Tinchy, Bashy, Dizzee, N-Dubz, Wiley and chipmunk I feel are doing a lot in the commercial side of the game. But then I feel artist such as: Getz, Scorcher, Wretch 32, Kano and Skepta are doing well within the underground / independent label status.
Now in regards to whom I would collaborate with, to be real I would fly to Chicago and meet Mr Kanye West. He is one of my biggest inspirations within this game and I really admire his work. Plus it’s my dream to be an artist that can also collaborate with artists from the states, and create the link between the US and the UK.
PS “showing them that we do have urban talent” lol.
Your track ‘My Plimsole’ looks set to do big things... other than obviously “plimsole” what gave you the inspiration to write that track?
The inspiration of the track was really me looking into my past and also remembering as a child how I was forced to wear them by my mum, then thinking about the big turn around and how it became a new trend. Although they do differ from the ones I used to wear and now we have a big variety, its shocking to see how they have put; Nike, Adidas and Puma in a state of bother. Also because my partner creates some really good pairs for me which everyone asks me for! Lol
Who and what has shaped you into the artist you are today?
I feel as if all the people who rejected me and my ideas before has really helped me to be who I am today. This resulted in me working harder, bettering my skills and also finding my-self as an artist. Along with this close friends and family also have played a big role, plus completing a degree and finding my manager has really enabled my status at present. “I have a really long way to go, but my passion is to continue to create quality and new music of substance” also tobe the UK’s Kanye West! Lol
Plus watching him and his existence within the industry has help me greatly, because there’s; no guns, no drugs and no lies! I seriously feel that your audience and fans need the truth, especially the younger generations.
You’re not signed to a major record label at the moment, how have you started to get your music recognised and your name out there?
Well…………… this is where the hard work really begins! Lol
At the moment I feel my music is promoted by“word of mouth”, I have done quite a few shows and posted my stuff on; Myspace, Facebook, Profile Pic and Twitter. I also have done a video and uploaded it on Youtube, I feel that I’m getting my music and name out there just through people hearing my stuff, but I wont lie it’s not easy! Also where I’m independent, it’s all funded by me and understands it’s not cheap .lol ButI do feel we are doing well, because without no backing a lot of people are aware of the “plimsole” song and more than 1500 people have viewed the video to it on Youtube.
And for our totally random question....if you was the PM what is the first rule that you would abolish?
I would abolish” the sex age restriction of 16”!
I would change it to 18 to give people more time to understand and have knowledge of the implications / consequences behind sex, also maybe this will help to decrease to percentage of under age pregnancy.
Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule and go check out the MYSPACE people!
By now you would know that Fat Talent and Make Me Music have a very special relationship, and one of the perks is getting the new ish direct to your door (you know what I mean).
We only just finished this last night so be one of the first to feast your ears. Not only is it a new single, we give you the remix.
I hate the term 'female producer', really, what should it matter whether you're male or female! It really dosen't, but the truth is, we did dominate the industry 10 years ago when software and plugins were unavailable to the masses. Now days things have changed a long way, and thank God.
Meet Goldy. She's from Leeds (I know, I couldn't believe people actually lived and breathed outside of London either!). Her beats really speak for themselves. When I first encountered her about a year ago she was on that Bass-line sound. I never really liked B-L but her work (no ass kissing obviously) actually made it interesting to listen, which I never thought was possible.
After her B-L dabble she went back to her J Dilla roots and came back with an array of funky soulful vibes which would go down well on any ipod playlist. The other thing that struck me most about Goldy (which unless you're a producer, you probably wouldn't appreciate) is her skill as well as talent. Mix wise she has her sound scape down to a T'. Every producer has their own mix style and preference to where certain elements of the piece sit, and where her strengths lie is in the fact that she doesn't go OTT with the base or allow the snare or high hat to run away with itself. Her samples are also spot on, clipping her audio sections discreetly with little sign of 'over' or 'under cuts'.
At only 18 she's giving producers much older than her a run for their money and considering she's improving month by month it will definitely be interesting to hear her work in a few years time from now. I predict she will only get better and more dangerous with her productions. Artists and other companies will have to listen closely because as we all know, the whack piano man's are getting weeded out, which is great for the rest us and also means no more half hearted 'I need to get the bills paid' productions, or worse still those 'yeah man that beats tight (but it really isn't)' productions.
Check out '90's' and 'Funk Soul' on her myspace...
Other female producers you should already be aware of....
Multi-instrumentalist Neil Thomas is currently working on his debut album. A late bloomer, he began playing music at the age of sixteen and over the past ten years has blossomed into a consummate songwriter and musician (Read the full interview)
Right, thought I better be of some use or of use to some of you, whichever I have decided to do a post about photoshop! So for those of you that don't know, this is a mini tutorial on using adjustment layers. I have used CS3 on a mac so things may differ if using a older / newer version or a PC.
Adjustment layers basically allow you to adjust curves, colour balance, saturation, levels and various other common editing tools by layer, so you can target different areas of the image rather than the
whole thing. This is particularly useful when colour managing an image as you can concentrate on the skin, then the hair, then the background and so forth building up as many layers as you like. Plus you use the brush so can choose opacity and the use of layers allows you to alter opacity as well.
So open your image. Choose the area to focus on. In this case I am reducing the red in the face and the yellow in the background. First your go to the layers palette and select the 'adjustment layer' tool. A new layer will appear with whatever adjustment you have chosen. In my example you can see that I have used the selective colour tool, therefore my new layer is concentrating on adjusting various colour channels within the image.
Adjust as you would but concentrate only on the part of the image you want to change. So in this c
ase I am adjusting the magenta / red in the face. Don't worry about anything else in the image, just the part you want this colour adjustment to apply to.
Once done select the mask on the layer, take the brush tool, make sure black is selected and choose your opacity. I would recommend 50% at first, subtle but it works. Then brush back in those areas you do not want the changes to take place. So, in this case I brushed back in the clothes, background and hair so that the adjustment only affected the face. You can then adjust the opacity of the layer if you wish.
You can also do as many layers as you like. So the next example shows a few more colour adjustment layers and you can see from the mask where the picture has been affected and where it has not. Each new layer will concentrate on a different part of the image.
Once youhave what you want and you are happy with the adjustments you can carry on editing as normal!
PS: For skin, selective colour is often used. However I find that using the hue/saturation tool is just as effective when using layers and just change the hue ever so slightly and the saturation of the magenta.
More random ramblings and tips and tricks to follow next week! If there is something in particular you want to know.....get in touch!
