Wondering London is defiantly top in the list of great things to do, when you live in a city always offering something to amuse or wow you, sleeping becomes a whole load harder. I try to take full advantage and often skate or cycle around at night pick a spot and chat with a friend or two, your bound to bump in to a few odd characters to speak to or glare at in amazement but they tend to make the night.

( Little History ) The fountain below is found in Trafalgar square, these fountains are built to keep alive the memory of Naval heroes in the first world war. Trafalgar square is defiantly a great place to sit and day dream under Nelson’s column, with it being the centre of national democracy and protest’s you will always have something to nose on, also for it being one of the top tourist attractions in the world, you might bump into a famous face or two from the amount of filming that goes on.

This wonder was the perfect way to relax after setting up  some new designs ready for print, ill keep you updated on them, till then go have a wonder in your city.

Here are few useful sites to know,visit and get inspired by. ( Click the pictures to visit the sites )

1. Alibaba is site jam packed with Manufacturers, Suppliers, Exporters and Importers. This site can make your ideas find the right hands to build your design emperor, i was given this site by a good friend last year and couldn’t be more gratefull for the information so hopefully this can help some of you.

2. Lovely Package is not rude website even though the name could be read so, this site is devoted to packaging.They have a healthy blog with tons of rich content, not just showing pictures but giving you the feeling your listing to the designer describing the design process as they describe the ideas behind the packaging.

3. Yay Everyday is a online community run inspirational blog. With a real clean layout which i love ,giving you a picture book appearance of great work its a great site to check in the morning with your cereal & coffee, defiantly go check this one out.

4. Highsnobiety. If you don’t already know this site you have alot of blog roll to get through, just like the news teams on tv these guys are first to know be there and report, showing you the fresh crop of news about the high end of street ware.

5. The Daily Street. Iv told you about these guys before, the Homeland version of the news team showing you all the latests street ware brands, events and exclusive all you locals can get involved in, defiantly a site to keep near by.

I could extend the list in to more personal blogs i like to follow but i feel this selection really have something you can learn from and be inspired by so get clicking.

Working with clients is another side to my work, here’s a few handy tips i’v learnt along the way.

I don’t tend to work any of the suffoca characters or style and take slightly more realistic approach working to true life e.g. Animals, elements , this way I am keeping suffoca true to it’s own style .I also get to practice slightly different techniques as well as showing another side to my work.

When i’m approached to work for a client, the first thing which needs to be arranged is a clear way to communicate. The best of course of action being face to face,this way you can to talk over ideas and give the client a instant image. Other ways include skype or aim, I think just plainly speaking over email can some times lead to misconceptions of what the client is really after.

The tricky question of how much?

This isn’t something the client can necessarily do them selves or they wouldn’t be asking you in first place so don’t undercut yourself. If you know its going to take you 10+ hours, put that in the equation, ask your self how much you think your worth on a hourly rate and set your self a target to finish by time/date.

Set up a deposit to cover yourself incase they decide to drop off the edge of the earth, also tell the client the process of your work so they know when they should be getting the sketches, mockups etc, this way you have told them how you work. If they disagree with anything you can talk it over then rather then getting to the end of a project and then they say we wont be paying you till we have sold so many…

When you first start out designing for clients many of them underestimate the work you put in, this is why the describing how you work to them will hopefully set them back a little to think wow they don’t just draw pretty pictures.

If while your working on the approved version of the clients artwork and you come up with a good addition to add to the piece don’t just add it in, go back to your client and propose it this way if they say no you’ve saved yourself the time of doing it and then having to remove it. I personally also like to set up a secure webpage to give the client a chance to check up on the work to see how its progressing. All these extra’s can give them a real great experience working with you and when they next get stuck with a designer who cant see further then his own nose they will think we should just stick to or go to  you instead.

I often like to check up on previous clients too and in many case’s they will say, oh we have this coming up you would be great to have you work on this, you keep yourself in there vision so when they think of a illustration job or what ever it may be what you do , your name will pop up.

Hope this helps some of you, working based on the internet doesn’t have to be less personal then working face to face, its just a case of putting in the time and manners you would working in the flesh.

Me & some friends set off to go a victorian masked night at Southwark Playhouse, so with are face’s dressed up we wondered in the underground club. As soon as we had set foot in the act’s started, from two victorian burlesque dancers, fire dancing, opera singing, bands and more but the most interesting for me was a women named Alison Russell who was cutting silhouette’s with scissors and paper and boy what a job she was doing they looked great, learning from grandmother she’s keeping this victorian art alive.