Last week a few of us attended a health and nutrition class:

Miss Nutritionist - How To Stay Energised Monday - Friday at WeWork Soho, London.

Free Soul: @freesoulsistas was at the event, promoting their whey and vegan protein blend in a delightful choc shot.

For more information check out their amazing website: www.herfreesoul.com

There was also a display of bright pink and green protein bars by Dynabites. Strong, coconut in flavour made by Miss Nutritionist herself.

Plenish had an array of products, including their delicious Cashew Milk. I have been using this all week on my over night oats, giving my breakfast a creamier texture. Knowing it is organic gives that added feel good factor to it to. I have not yet tried the rest of the range, but I would certainly like to!

Miss Nutritionist, aka: Rosie Millen, is a fully qualified Nutritional Therapist.

In 2014 she developed a health condition called Adrenal Fatigue aka Burnout and has been on a long journey of recovery ever since. 

The class was specific to staying energised in the workplace. 

Starting the class talking about blood sugar levels and where we believe we are on a scale of 1 – 10. On the scale: one being low energy and ten being high energy. The majority in the class were between 5 - 7. She suggested three things to be vary of in our diet:

- Sugar - Caffeine - Alcohol

These stimulants can trigger the release of adrenaline, providing the body with a quick burst of energy as it causes the level of sugar in the blood to rise. This rise can also serve to give the brain a boost and we may notice improvements in mood and alertness. However, this ‘high’ is soon followed by a slump, leading you to feel sluggish, lethargic until your next sugar / caffeine fix.

She suggested that throughout our average work day, out levels should be consistent rather than relying on the above. 

Many of us rely on that morning cup of coffee or tea to wake us up, to keep us going through the morning and to provide a boost for the mid-afternoon dip in mood and energy. While this may appear to be a pretty harmless habit, it is by no means the ideal solution to slumping energy levels and it can have a negative effect on our health.

Rosie mentioned that coffee is actually an anti-nutrient, which actually blocks the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals, such as B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron – nutrients that are required for energy, immunity, stress management and cardiovascular and bone health.

Reducing your caffeine intake:

1. Cut out coffee. Do this gradually to avoid headaches and irritability linked to withdrawal. If this proves to be a huge task and a near impossibility, stick to one cup per day and make sure you drink it with food before 2pm. Coffee is a very heavily sprayed crop, so choose an organic brand if possible to reduce your intake of chemicals.

2. To help with balancing blood sugar levels and prevent the rapid fall, have a balanced complex carbohydrate and protein snack. Some nuts or seeds, oat or rice cakes with hummus, cottage, cheese, chicken, turkey or avocado. Coffee is often drunk when blood sugar levels are low.

3. Drink plenty of pure water – coffee is a diuretic that can cause dehydration. Drink 2 glasses for each cup of coffee.

4. Try alternatives such as chicory, barley or carob-based drinks, they look like coffee and some of them taste very similar; experiment and find one that suits your palette. Also try dandelion coffee (great for supporting the liver), herbal and fruit teas.

3 Ways to reduce stress at work:

1. Start your day with intention. Awareness is key when it comes to managing stress, so starting your day with intention in the form of a 10 minute meditation or writing your intentions for the day will help you be more aware that day. 

2. Take 10. Whether it’s a stroll around the office, a herbal tea break or a trip to the loo to do some breathing exercises – anything that breaks the stress cycle. You can set alarms at two intervals in the day – one mid morning and one mid afternoon to take 10.

3. Take a full hour for lunch and get out. If you can step away from the stressful environment and change scenery this will massively help to reduce stress levels. Looking out onto the horizon makes you feel a sense of perspective and breathing out slowly for just five seconds automatically reduces cortisol and stimulates the calming hormone DHEA

Rosie also touched upon journaling as a form of therapy when things feel too much, one way of getting all your frustration out. Also, using an interesting traffic light system to prioritise your day-to-day activates.

- Red time = Chores that need doing - Amber time = Meeting with a friend - Green time = Me time  - making sure each day to find some

…

Protein intake 

According to Miss Nutritionist, a good rule-of-thumb for your intake of protein is – approximately for every One kilogram of body weight should equal One gram of protein. If you weigh 60kg you should aim to include 60g of protein. 

Other helpful tips through the talk 

- For better: sleep, skin, health – the way forward is a Gluten-free diet - For more info on a Gluten-free diet, research: Dr. Tom O'Bryan 

Useful tip when looking on the back of food labels: anything ending in 

- AZE is an enzyme - OSE –is a sugar

Overall, I feel like I knew a lot of what Miss Nutritionist was getting at, but she touched upon things in greater detail and gave me that top-up knowledge I feel like I needed, to help me get on track and reign in on those bad habits I haven’t left since Christmas.

For more information about Miss Nutritionist go to: https://www.missnutritionist.co 

How to vectorise from your sketch in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Speed art, illustration timelapse on HOW TO VECTORISE FROM YOUR SKETCH IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR AND PHOTOSHOP

DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION: www.michellehird.com and www.michellehird.co.uk

Vitality - Magazine January 2018

Spending most of October – December, Art Directing Vitality magazine and it's finally here! It has been such a challenge, especially after suffering from health problems halve-way through November. However, once I returned, I was straight into the project, making the finally touches.

Disney took the lead with the front cover, though this issue was a flip mag – so my smoothie bowl concept (featuring my hands!) was on the back/front (however you see it!).

Thanks to Seven's amazing picture team, this was my first time hiring illustrators and liaising with photographers. Having to choose the style that will dictate the look and feel of the mag was a bit of a strain – but very exciting at the same time. Normally, I am on the other side of the project; creating illustrations or graphics myself, so it was quite the paradox. I found that being represented by an agency myself, I had the technical knowledge to know exactly what to ask for and how the process works. It was extremely insightful to work with photographers, as this was out of my comfort zone. I found once I was in their presence, I needn't of been worried at all. Creating mood-boards prior to the photo-shoot was the key and going in there with a solid idea of what you want helps massively, yet being open to direction from the photographer as some elements of your idea may change for the better.  

Seven Swans a Swimming

I was given the task to illustrate and animate (loosely!) my companies (London based agency: Seven C3) Christmas E-card to send to clients.

Based on renowned Christmas song; The Twelve Days of Christmas; ’Seven Swans a Swimming’, I created the swan character in an almost Noma Bar illustrative style into the subtle shape of a ‘7’. I purposely limited the colour selection so it would lessen the file size of the e-card. I only wanted subtle movements to take place: falling snowflakes, the blinking of the swan’s eyes and flapping of the wings.

I haven't written anything recently about Binx the Jinx. Since August, I feel like my life hasn't been my own. Selling more than 200+ books I couldn't be happier, but after all the fuss of promoting my book once it was released and things have died down, I want to keep the same spirit I had when it was all so fresh.

Binx the Jinx is one of my biggest accomplishments and inspires me everyday. Using the character Binx throughout my artwork keeps me motivated and encourages me to keep things alive. I love finding new and different ways of expressing my character and using Binx for my new Cat Christmas Card Collection is a great outlet for that. Having only added them 24 hours ago, I have collected over 10+ purchases already!

Thortful, where for the past 18 months I display my HELLO LGBT brand. A range to broaden the greeting card market for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders only community. Is now a home for my Binx the Jinx collection. Thortful have been incredible at listening to my ideas - even though they can be quite vague, they have helped me find solutions.

I hope this helps inspire fellow creatives who are either procrastinating or in a creative slump...go get your idea today!

A group of us went to “Nicer Tuesdays” last night (confusing on a Monday I know!), a monthly talk curated by http://www.itsnicethat.com (cheers for the tickets Scott!). Attached is a picture showing us having fun.

Anyway, here is a re-cap from a really diverse series of shot talks.

Josh McKenna

He is responsible for the Instagram sticker (below) that was created for Pride this year… He talked about the journey it took him on, from the 6 day commissioning process through to it being implemented at Instagram's physical space at the celebrations in Trafalgar Square, and the main visual across their campaign around the celebrations.

Takeaway: It shows the scope and impact illustration has when commissioned for the right audience. Due to it’s success, it’s now a permanent sticker on Instagram.

David Bailey

Not that David Bailey, but the head of UX&D at the BBC. He spoke about GEL, their ‘Global Experience Language’ which you can find out more about here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gel/articles/what-is-gel

He spoke about the bespoke typeface ‘Reith’ (below) that the BBC have recently commissioned to work across their all their channels (TV/ online, everything). He spoke about the importance of the BBC having a stand out but impartial voice, why they chose a ‘humanist’ typeface and the cost advantage of doing so. It’s been rolled out over all the BBC sport channels and will be fully implements in about 18 months (I think he said!).

Takeaway: I wasn’t aware how many brands have their own bespoke typefaces (Guardian was the famous one in the design world, but ITV, ABC, can’t remember the rest), which shows the importance of brands having a bespoke and fully immersive visual language.

Holly Blakey

A dance choreographer, spoke about her transition into commercial work, how her peers took to this, and how she plays with gender stereotypes and sexuality through dance and performance.

Takeaway: The stand out video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ooAYT2uFRk

She didn’t show much commercial work, but highlights how brands are investing and experimenting in different creative avenues. Not Holly’s work but reminded me of this Gucci campaign and the impact dance can have, particularly in fashion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3m-feTXo4E

Thank you Baker Street Blog for my wonderful interview, it brought tears to my eyes! @alicelfreeman @matthewjamespublishing @TinyTreeChildrensBooks

This Monday I have just gave my first story reading of Binx the Jinx at the Foyles in Chelmsford, Essex. I have to say, although the majority of my audience was children below the age of 5, it was the single most terrifying thing I have ever done – yet the most satisfying!

Foyles had set up the kid corner so I was sitting central and the children were sat on bean bags surrounding me, along with their parents behind them. I gave my reading five times in total (which was a shock as I originally thought it would be the once!) and each time I felt I got more confidant.

Each time I finished a reading, I would sign the book for the children/parents whom bought a copy. Everyone who turned up to the reading seemed to have a good time and the books sold out so it must of been a success! Come 2nd September, I'm so excited and prepared for my Liverpool reading now!