Sydney Sketches

Here are a few sketches I made whilst in Sydney. The view from the bedroom balcony where I was staying looked out over the cutest little back street. I really like the gracefull urban decay they have going on here and the little phone wires that criss cross the streets. Its like another time, not quite the steel and glass I was expecting from seeing pictures of the opera house on TV. The Flower is from a tree called a Frangipane (not just an Almond filling). I have since learnt that they only grow in the Syndey area, well at least not Melbourne as the climet is too cold. The fat tree and the cockatoo were in the botanical gardens. There are so many birds and bats in that park even saw an owl on the way home.

The word on the street.

Day 3 of the trip now or so I think. The ol' body clock seems to be in sync now and I'm ploughing on with my photo gathering endeavours almost as planned... despite the premature camera death. I did pack a small backup camera but its battery life is quite shocking and don't be expecting and sexy depth of field, it will be fairly flat snapshots from here on in I think. Unless I can find a new Canon body for cheap or another camera.

I have however seen a lot of cool things as I had hoped I would. It would seem that lots of things are quite considered here. Lots of nice shop signs and logos and lovely type. Here are a few examples of signage I have seen in the past couple days. I love the old surgical shoes place (top photo) that is covered in hand rendered, slightly misspelt advertising. Its a little rough round the edges but full of character.


Its so easy to fall in to the trap of opening your same old font list every time you start a project and after discarding the 100s of useless and darn right ugly fonts, fall back on the old favourites.

This just leads to every project looking the same, just how many times have you seen Rosewood in the past few years .

If you want characters with character why not draw it from scratch? I think its worth the effort.

Well I made it.

Abu Dhabi
Originally uploaded by orac808

I have landed in Oz and dont feel too bad, Im sure the jet lag will kick in soon mind. Flying Etihad was very pleasant experience in general and I would recommend them, very friendly staff and nice planes, especially if you get one of the ones we had on our first leg. It was fully of handy sockets for charging stuff, I don't often fly this far so it was quite a novelty. On a less positive note there have also been two sad casuaties. Shortly after taking this photo my canon EOS300D decided it didnt want to take pictures any more :( it is also making a bit of a ratteling sound when I tilt it. eeek. Also katie managed to missplace her ipod mini (thats right I said "mini") oh well. Im quite gutted about the camera as it was going to be my "thing" on this trip. I do have a back up camera though so all is not lost. Gig tonight, looking forward to it but right now a shower and some brunch are in order. //N

Down under here I come.

Well it has indeed been some time since I'v touched blogger, but im back now with a renewed determination to post more often.

Im going to Oz next week, and if I don't instantly combust upon landing (due to my un-manly heat intolerance) I hope to report on my findings.

With any luck their will be interesting music, nature and culture to keep me entertained. Failing that you get see lots of photos of me drinking stubbys and the like. See you on the other side I guess.

BTW I have no idea who the guy in the photo is but with any luck ill meet him. :D