Thinking Out Loud. The menial meanderings of Lee Grace

10 mins for the ether

2010-07-20T10:12:00.005+01:00

As I sit and begin to tap on this white, stain riddled keyboard, my brain is overloaded with different thoughts. My trouble is setting a specific direction and sticking to it. For example, right now i'm trying to focus on one subject and blog about that only. Then another thought enters my head - isn't that what makes us human? Apart from our 'God given' self awareness, is it not the fact that we have such random parameters in how we behave a sign that we are truly a remarkable species? Even thinking about this amazes me and fills me with nothing but hope for the human race. I think we can curse ourselves to oblivion and say how bad a species we are, predict our demise and doom, but in actual fact, we may have a new beginning shortly.

Okay if you have read that first paragraph, thank you so much! And secondly I apologise for its messiness!

Over the last 2 years or so, a good friend of mine introduced me to a new way of thinking about numerous topics such as religion, origins and spirituality. Now this was just a suggestion, there was no push, pressure or anything that you'd associate,say, with a religious organisation for example. It was just a general chat about what his thinking was on certain subjects. Subjects that I always wondered about but never spoke to anyone about. This opened my eyes and I wanted to find out more and more.

Some of the topics we discussed were:

• Who made us? Were we a genetically altered species made by extra terrestrials?
• Are the teachings of the bible literally 'gospel'?
• The 2012 phenomenon and ancient cultures.
• The spiritual being and the inner god
• General human elevation and realisation of our being and being free
• Corrupt world organisations and the forgotten human existence

I would consider myself an open minded individual, however it seemed like it was a subliminal block that prevented me from entertaining these great ideas. Being Catholic, as most Catholics, the feeling of guilt is a major setback into being free in body and spirit. Lately, I have tried as much as possible to heighten my awareness to the world around me, become more compassionate and understanding and try to let go of any presumptions or misconceptions that cloud my mind.

To finish, the above is just an opener as to where some of my writings might go. Again, if you have taken the time to read this or anything I write I am extremely grateful.

Many thanks

L

Lets start thinking

2010-06-27T21:51:00.003+01:00

Okay, it's time for me to start getting some words to paper... or in this case electronic pen to electronic paper. I have a lot of thoughts which meander away onto the ether without note. I'd rather they have a permanent home on the internet than be unused no matter how crap they may seem. So this will be the landing pad for them all. If you follow, hopefully one of my meanderings will be entertaining / informative / witty or wtf. Thanking you in advance. LG

Hello from iPhone land

2010-05-24T21:09:00.001+01:00

Seeing I have some good mobile action, I'm just doing a test!

Sent from my iPhone

New Drink Friday: Fullers Organic Honey Dew Beer

2009-10-10T18:23:00.013+01:00

This Friday, its Fullers Organic Honey Dew Beer. I like the fact it's organic, thats a plus. Second, I love honey, so I had high hopes - and it delivered. A very nice honey taste with a full body. Not too heavy either. There is a good bit of drinking in it too, so again like most of these specialist beers and ales, they could do damage! At €3.99 however, I'd have to get a second mortgage to afford a few.

New Drink Friday: Banana Bread Beer

2009-10-02T19:46:00.004+01:00

Back to business, and back to the off licence. This week its Banana Bread Beer from Wells Brewers. I know banana bread in a beer doesn't sound that nice, but it's actually not that bad. But the novelty of tasting banana wears off as you get to the half way mark and it gets a bit dull. The beer texture is smooth with a quite acidic taste to the sides of the tongue. A 3.5/5 for me I think. Nice bottle design though, which is a plus! I couldn't imagine drinking a lot of these, very like Young's double chocolate beer in that respect.

Its evolution baby!

2009-10-02T19:10:00.001+01:00

Lately i have been very interested in the origins of the human race and how we evolved / were genetically modified into being. I have read and viewed a number of sources on the matter,which are very facinating. The idea that we were genetically altered from a more advanced race captures my attention the most. I will write a longer entry on this as soon as im near a mac! Phone typing is sehr annoying!

We are on the go!

2009-09-28T01:02:00.001+01:00

Just got around to setting up my mobile blogger so i can chuck up any random thoughts or pics on the go.Here is a pic of a little car in italy.The thing was tiny!

Test

2009-09-27T21:55:00.001+01:00

Food

New Drink Friday

2009-09-19T12:58:00.007+01:00

The last few weeks I have started a little tradition. In carry out off licence, they have a world beer section / custom beers n' ales. So every Friday, I'm going to try a new brand (there's loads to choose from!) Here we have this weeks and last weeks brands to catch up. Youngs Double chocolate Ale? Sounds disgusting, but it wasn't that bad! Very thick and I couldn't imagine having a few of these, way too heavy. The Holy Grail Ale however was a strong boy, very robust and i'd say 4 or 5 and i'd be singing! Great to see the Monty Python brand there too!

Here comes friday

2009-09-18T17:34:00.002+01:00

What a strange week, just back from holidays in Italy and back in work since Wednesday... but it feels like I have been working a full week! Maybe I'll just take it easy this weekend (again!)

Design Week 2009 Graphic Novel

2009-09-07T19:33:00.009+01:00

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Arthur C. Clarke.

Design Week comes to Waterford City for the 1st time! In the spirit of creativity, our aim is to showcase the incredible talent of contemporary Irish Illustrators. We are calling for entries to contribute to a limited edition printed graphic novel on the above theme.

The theme of this graphic novel is to get an illustrated take on spirituality, religion, science and everything in between. Participants are asked to contribute a 2,3 or 6 pages max story / comic strip about their opinions, beliefs, non beliefs, paranormal or scientific. The selected stories will be published in a limited edition graphic novel.

The topic is quite wide so all ideas welcome no matter how bizarre, although in the event of a large amount of submissions, selections will have to be narrowed down. The end result will be a printed book based on the contributions.

A change of style

2009-09-07T11:44:00.005+01:00

Now that I've moved my design and illustration blog to its main home at , I have decided to make the old blog (this guy) a generic blog for anything that pops to mind, ideas or just ponderings. So at least its not going to complete waste! Would that be considered blog recycling then? :)

My New Blog

2009-05-25T09:10:00.007+01:00

http://www.leegrace.com/blog is now live. This is my new blog. Why not give it a visit.

Pulse rifle for Lee 2009

2009-04-01T17:01:00.004+01:00

A very worthy cause - please help

Hero Needed

2009-03-24T13:09:00.004Z

A bit of a joke around. I love these graphs and charts going around of songs, so i decided to do a few like ads etc. :-)

Fishy business

2009-03-23T20:29:00.002Z

The latest illo for istock. Mr. Fish

Picasso

2009-03-19T13:49:00.005Z

I like this quote. In illustrator.

B.A.

2009-02-22T19:37:00.008Z

Many thanks again to alemercado.blogspot.com/ for the brushes and ink! This is my 1st illustration on the bristol board with ink. Really liked how the paper works with it too. The illustration is of a certain boys school brother (maybe in younger days)... giving the evil look!

Everyone is gifted

2009-02-16T14:22:00.003Z

done in Illustrator - 15mins ish

Succubus - Film Storyboard

2009-02-13T17:30:00.004Z

Hadn't done a storyboard since the Alcohol awareness film in college so this was fun. Its a storyboard for my friend Tommy's end of year film. The film centres on sleep paralysis. It was unbelievably fast, 3hrs for all 4 of them, obviously i would have liked longer but however.

I don't think they are too bad for the time constraints! All crits welcome!

Inner potential

2009-02-02T09:18:00.006Z

the illustration is about discovering your inner potential

Random sketch #1

2009-01-14T14:02:00.002Z

10 mins in illustrator

randomness.

The Serengeti

2008-12-19T15:56:00.003Z

Bit of fun!

Europe by Designers Entry

2008-12-18T00:06:00.005Z

Here are my entries for "Europe by Designers" It is an international artistic project whose aim is to unveil a multitude of images of Europe from the inside and from the outside. Design as the expression of a cultural vision, a political vision or a simple and unposed feeling.

My entry focuses on the Lisbon Treaty, obviously picking up on its negative tones.
I did a good few versions of this before I was happy with what I have now. The originals were a bit corny and overtly detailed to what I really wanted to express. Finally ending up with such stark process hues was a natural progression.

I decided to enter individual but concept linked 3 images which show the Irish flag fluttering further away from Europe gradually.

hope you like 'em

you can check out the site below

http://www.europebydesigners.com.

December sketches continued

2008-12-16T09:25:00.005Z

Sketchbook December 2008

2008-12-16T09:11:00.006Z

An update of some random recent sketches.

Sketch book randoms Nov 08

2008-11-11T08:33:00.003Z

Some randoms from the aul sketchbook

Your Own Private Universe

2008-11-06T11:35:00.001Z

The finished article. hope you enjoy

Get your own - Open publication

Your Own Universe Book Launch

2008-10-31T18:58:00.006Z

I recently did a 6 page graphic novel for design week Cork in the theme of "Your own private universe". Thankfully it was chosen and printed in a book along with other short stories. It will be available at most events over the course of Design Week Cork - so keep an eye out for it! The attached pic is the cover of the book.

It will also be shown in exhibition at Substation, Caroline Street (Beside Scott’s) Nov 3rd-Nov 9th, 10am-6pm. An exhibition of the illustrations from the limited edition graphic novel Book of images and written stories.

The book will be launched at Skketch, Sandquay House, 20 Lower John Street, (Behind the Heineken Brewery) on Monday 3rd November - 9pm till Late.

So if anyones passing through Cork they might take a pop in! I'd love to hear feedback.

Jules on who wants to be a millionaire

2008-10-17T09:19:00.003+01:00

A bit of messing about for a few minutes. Wouldn't he be great on that show?! A hell of a lot of the questions start with 'what'.

Vector of the Month on istockphoto.com

2008-10-10T14:23:00.004+01:00

I recently got Vector file of the month on istockphoto.com. I was quite surprised when I saw it on the webzine, I just caught a glimpse of the cowboys head and went "wait a minute, thats mine!" Hopefully the DL's will come thick and fast! Here is a screen-grab of the vector on the homepage.

Cork Design Week 2008 Graphic Novel

2008-10-08T20:24:00.003+01:00

The last 2 weeks have been taken up with this project for Design Week Cork. The brief is to design a 6 page comic / graphic novel based around the theme of "your universe", quite a broad topic, but i eventually decided on a topic that was quite familiar to me over the years! I used very minimal dialogue, I first wanted it to be text free, but felt people might think "what the hell is this about?" (Mightn't be a bad thing either I guess!).

The printed format will be 210mm x 210mm so, when published, it should look quite interesting. Unfortunately I can't put up any final artwork yet as the submitted work cannot be posted etc. I just finished it yesterday and i'm quite pleased. Hopefully it will feature in the final draft.

In the meantime, above is a dodgy 'in progress' pic from last week.

here is the site

http://designweekcork.com/graphic-novel/

Slang.ie and Slang.org.uk Identities

2008-10-06T19:25:00.006+01:00

I recently designed the identity for the UK version of the slang.ie family. Keeping in tune with the original logo except that it has just got the union jack introduced within it. This identity will appear on the website and hopefully a subsequent book.

Dub Lah page 1 & 2

2008-09-22T09:23:00.001+01:00

The conclusion of the bleedin' storeeee bud

DP Spread for magazine

2008-09-15T14:12:00.002+01:00

An unused DP spread for a magazine that I have done recently. I liked the quirkiness of this layout, but in the end the final one moved to a rigid layout with no illustration.

Some random Photography of mine

2008-09-13T17:30:00.004+01:00

As the name suggests its some random photography i took recently / not too long ago. Its hard to gauge photography sometimes so all comments welcome.

Get your own - Open publication

Sketchbook 13th September 2008

2008-09-13T17:26:00.004+01:00

Here is what is in my new sketchbook at the moment, not much but hopefully i will update this often.

Get your own - Open publication

Tommy's House Sketch

2008-09-13T17:08:00.001+01:00

You can't get as detailed as this when describing your house over coffee!

Dub-lahh number 1

2008-09-13T16:48:00.004+01:00

A comic sketch of some recent events that happened to me, although there are some exaggerations! Guess what it could be?! Next page to follow shortly

Does exactly what it says on the tin

2008-09-04T22:29:00.006+01:00

A few sketched icons i have done for my istockphoto account. Coloured in illustrator

ha'penny bridge

2008-09-04T22:19:00.002+01:00

passing homeless on the ha'penny bridge, sometimes things might happen

Dungarvan view

2008-08-09T02:40:00.004+01:00

I've always passed this view in Dungarvan, so this week i decided to stop into the lay-by and make a panoramic of the view.

Raging Battle

2008-07-15T16:55:00.003+01:00

it can be sometimes

Ferrybank Shopping Centre

2008-04-18T21:14:00.003+01:00

A pic I took of the construction of the Ferrybank shopping centre at the end of my estate. This was about 3 months ago, its nearly done now

Along the trenches of my head

2008-03-05T13:47:00.004Z

An illustration done with ink. I wanted the feeling to be kind of macabre and moody.

Leap

2008-03-04T13:49:00.004Z

More 20 seconds after the initial leap i'd imagine. Think Icarus when viewing this one.

Multiple

2008-02-26T14:51:00.004Z

Illustration Friday: Multiple

The Cheese Chase

2007-11-23T17:33:00.000Z

Again, this illustration was for the fortified cheese presentation. The brief was really mad. "We need an illustration of 2 horses neck and neck near a winning post. The lead horse will represent the fortified cheese company. The second horse will be NPD. They will then be followed by 2 accountants. After that then will be the remaining horses."

It made me realise that I hate drawing horses! But it was enjoyable in the end. Odd or not.

Cheese versus Cigarettes

2007-11-23T17:25:00.000Z

This is an illustration i have done specifically for a presentation. It is to highlight the fact that cheese is just as bad for you as smoking! Of course thats not true, unless you gorge yourself to death on cheese, but it's to highlight a required point. The job was for the proposal of a new 3% fat fortified cheese product. The only kind in Europe apparently. They wanted a colourful, loose style.

The Woods

2007-09-03T21:36:00.001+01:00

Corel Painter

Lizard

2007-07-23T04:00:00.001+01:00

etching in photoshop

The Slaughter boy

2007-07-23T02:53:00.000+01:00

Photoshop cs3

The greatest Trick

2007-07-18T20:33:00.002+01:00

The Omnigraffle

2007-07-18T20:33:00.001+01:00

The thing in the Swamp

2007-07-18T20:32:00.001+01:00

Phot manipulation

Going Business Ape

2007-07-18T20:30:00.000+01:00

Sketch. Illustrator

Tramore 2105

2007-07-18T20:27:00.000+01:00

The Future of Tramore

TV Monster

2007-07-18T20:25:00.000+01:00

Sketch. Photoshop

Uncle Sammy

2007-07-18T20:24:00.000+01:00

God bless America...

Windmill

2007-07-18T20:23:00.000+01:00

Windmill

Storm Trooper

2007-07-18T20:22:00.000+01:00

Concept character

Vector Lee

2007-07-18T20:21:00.002+01:00

Me. Vectorised

Walker Mark 2

2007-07-18T20:21:00.001+01:00

Concept sketch

The Bay

2007-07-18T20:18:00.000+01:00

Revenge of the Nerds

2007-07-18T20:17:00.000+01:00

Sketch, scan, illustrator, photoshop

outpost-418D

2007-07-18T20:16:00.000+01:00

Sketch in Photoshop

New York, New York

2007-07-18T20:15:00.000+01:00

Vectors from Photos

Guitar

2007-07-18T20:14:00.000+01:00

Vectorised on my guitar

Nasty Kid

2007-07-18T20:12:00.000+01:00

Sketched in Flash

Rain Universe

2007-07-18T20:06:00.000+01:00

3D Render in Cinema 4D

You want fries with that?

2007-07-15T02:34:00.000+01:00

Ink, scan and illustrator

Pressure

2007-07-15T02:30:00.000+01:00

Another illustration for Istock. sketch and illustrator

Pick me!

2007-07-15T02:28:00.000+01:00

Another illustration for istockphoto

The gimp

2007-07-15T02:24:00.001+01:00

Bring out the gimp...

The Sheriff

2007-07-15T02:22:00.000+01:00

Sketch and adobe illustrator

Run from Fat

2007-07-15T02:21:00.000+01:00

Adobe Illustrator

Lucky Escape

2007-07-14T21:28:00.000+01:00

Photoshop render

Lost Horizon

2007-07-14T21:27:00.000+01:00

Speedpainted landscape in photoshop

Live Life

2007-07-14T21:26:00.000+01:00

Sketch and Illustrator

Little Brat

2007-07-14T21:24:00.000+01:00

Sketch and Illustrator

Kitten Eating Flatman

2007-07-14T21:23:00.000+01:00

Character Illustration

Jimmy Funk

2007-07-14T21:22:00.000+01:00

Illustrator Character

hunter mech and barmaid

2007-07-14T21:20:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter

2007-07-14T21:18:00.000+01:00

Another submission to Istockphoto

Gym Guy

2007-07-14T21:17:00.000+01:00

Sketch and Illustrator

Giger ate my hoover

2007-07-14T21:16:00.000+01:00

image and photoshop

1st Strike Vehicle

2007-07-14T21:15:00.000+01:00

Painter IX

Excuse Me!

2007-07-14T21:14:00.000+01:00

Sketch and illustrator

Escape

2007-07-14T21:13:00.001+01:00

Illustrator and Photoshop

Enemy at the gates

2007-07-14T21:11:00.000+01:00

enemy at the gates. Sketched. Coloured in PS

Easter Bunny

2007-07-14T21:10:00.000+01:00

Vector illustration of the easter bunny

Cat Skull

2007-07-14T21:03:00.000+01:00

Cat skull. In photoshop

Concept car 2

2007-07-14T18:55:00.001+01:00

Another concept car sketched and markers

Concept Car

2007-07-14T18:53:00.000+01:00

Concept car with markers

Cityscape

2007-07-14T18:52:00.000+01:00

Sketch up city

The Bills are too high!

2007-07-14T18:49:00.000+01:00

Sepuku

Barmaid

2007-07-14T18:48:00.000+01:00

Happy Barmaid

Bad Santa

2007-07-14T18:18:00.000+01:00

Sketch & Illustrator

Acid head

2007-07-14T18:16:00.000+01:00

Colourful montage in painter using various elements.

Supersize me

2007-07-14T18:02:00.000+01:00

Sketched ink and PS