Welcome to the very first issue of Out&About, hopefully there will be many more to come. Firstly thank you for buying our magazine and secondly we hope that you enjoy it. At this magazine our aim is to be different; we wanted to make a change in the magazine market by creating something more creative and less commercial. We hope we have

been successful. Out&About is all about capturing moments in time through illustration and interpretations, in this issue it’s our teams captured moments of Birmingham, but we hope to see some of yours in here soon. We hope our captured illustrations give you a new view on a vibrant city.

December Issue

“Santa has a bad back this year

so he can’t carry very much”

“Now I understand how you can feel lonely in a place full of people.”

BIRMINGHAMits like a mini

LONDONIt all began with the sentence, ‘it’s just too conventional’ which to us meant too normal, a bit boring, something that wouldn’t

catch your eye in the supermarket and would be discarded without a second thought. And so we moved away from the norm and began to dabble our paint brushes into the unknown world of something more creative. And here is the result! In a world of big brother is watching you, we based our inspiration on how we watch the world, and Birmingham was our first stop. As a quote had been the beginning of our magazine it seemed significant to included them, after all people say the funniest, oddest and sometimes most inspiring things.

Once the idea had begun the next step were including articles that would incorporate our idea. We didn’t want articles in the convential sense of the word, reviews and interviews just wouldn’t fit with our journey through Birmingham. The answer. If the magazine was an illustrative journal of our days in Birmingham why couldn’t our articles be. And so we wrote about the places we went, the people we saw, what it was like. Hopefully we have been successful in not only creating our journey with illustration but also through painting pictures with words.

BIRMINGHAMits like a mini

LONDON

T he heavens opening setting free an

unexpected down pour that leaves

those without umbrella or shelter

soaked within seconds. People scatter for shelter

but it is already too late. We take ours in the

corner coffee shop, following in the line of already

soaking people whose thoughts have followed

our own. With soaked coats creating an ice cold

layer of damp that seeps onto the skin and rain

water dripping from our hair and down onto our

faces we take refuge in a crowded corner. With

hands clasped around hot chocolates to keep

the cold at bay the rain continues to beat down

on the roof. An echoing drum that competes

with the incessant chatter that fills the tiny

shop to bursting point. Conversations float. My

ears flick between the two conversations from

the surrounding tables. They speak in a foreign

language that I do not understand but for a

moment I pretend that I do. My mind wanders

away, leaving the humming coffee shop behind

and I begin to the endless places I should be or

the things I should be doing instead of hiding

away in here. The shop fills more and more until

it seems that it may burst at the seams. People

with shopping bags, babies and buggies, men with

laptops hidden safely under their jackets and

faces that frown to find that their lunch time

refuge has been invaded by hiders from the rain.

An old lady fills in her puzzle while her coffee

goes cold. Babies cry and girls squeal and giggle.

The noise continues to grow. And just when the

place seems like it can hold no more the rain

stops. The drum has finished its song. The sky

clears as though it has been sunny all along and at

the same time so does the shop. People carrying

on as though it has never happened, stepping

out on to the watery streets to continue their

day leaving behind nothing but empty mugs and

plates. Leaving peace and quiet. And us, hand still

clasped around empty mugs of hot chocolate and

just watching the world carry on by.

3rd November 2011, 15.00

“Care to give me the first dance young lady?”

As I was walking towards the

Bullring, two lads approached

me from the Salvation Army. I had

yet to buy a poppy so I let them

continue and we soon started talking

about the fact that England wouldn’t

be allowed to wear the poppy image

on their shirt and how we thought

this was ridiculous. The tallest lad

remarked on how he thinks that

even though our country shows

it’s respect for our fallen heroes, he

can’t help but notice how the 11th

day of November is being forgotten

or dismissed. I looked around as he

said this and noticed for the first time

the extraordinarily large amount of

people ignoring the other stands or

just not wearing a poppy at all.

I was a bit taken back by this

realization and decided that I would

include an image that related to

Remembrance Day as part of my

experiences in Birmingham. I made

this decision because I believe we

should embrace the day in which

our heroes are remembered.

The guys seemed to appreciate the

time I had taken to talk to them

and so I left and walked the route

in which the German market would

be located. After the conversation

I had I was subconsciously noting

what people were wearing poppies

and those that were not. It was very

obvious that the older generation

were the people that seemed to

honor the dead more than the

younger generation.

This is probably likely to the fact

that my generation has no real

connection to those of the war

whereas those of an elderly age may

have lost grandparents or indeed

parents in the war. It seems that

people have now associated the

poppies with a time that is being

forgotten whereas the truth is that

we now use Remembrance Day to

show respect to the fallen soldiers

in the wars happening now.

On my return walk to the station

I wore my poppy with pride and

hoped that the people I passed

would themselves take the time and

pay their respect in the following day,

for we would not be where we are

without those we lost.

rememberwe will them

hour day month

In America train systems are a bit different. You use a machine to

collect your tickets but you rarely ever get checked. Anyways I was with my cousin and he told me not to bother getting a ticket so we didn’t. We did this for a fair few

days after aswell. One morning his girlfriend offered me her monthly

pass to use which I took randomly as it was a nice gesture and it

just happened that that was the day I got checked. How lucky is

that?

Our collective illustrations of the Bull.

Mixed together to create a new look

to an icon of Birmingham

It was the kind of rain that you could hardly see but you

could feel. The rain eventually bothered me enough to speed

walk towards the Bullring. On my

way there I pass the usual Big Issue sellers and charity

workers. For once, I didn’t

see the crazy guy outside Waterstones with his basketball and wearing his headphones, shouting stuff about Michael Jackson and whatever else he constantly shouts about. I was going to H&M hoping but not expecting to see their new Versace collection. As I got there, I followed these girls who had asked where the collection was. All that was left was 3 garments and

a few accessories, so I doub’t ill be seeing any more of the collection. I left H&M and headed to the bus stop via the German Market for a brief look, before I go for a proper look closer to Christmas. It was the usual stuff, the German Beer stand was pretty popular, as well as the Bratwurst stand - which smelt amazing. I passed by the pancake stand which smelt equally amazing, by this point I’m starving, as well as feeling festive. I then headed off home.

22nd November 2011

“Did you watch

XFactor last

night? Misha B

was wearing that

jacket with this

pattern”

you’ve go

t yourself a bargain, love!”

“Twelve bananas for a pound,,

“McDonalds is the diet for students”

“It’s a great place to do business.”

BBC GOOD FOOD SHOW27.11.11

Last year, me and my

Dad visited the BBC

Good Food Show, and we

enjoyed it so much that we

booked months in advance

to go to it again. This time

we invited my cousin Tessa

and my auntie Julie, who

traveled on the train and

stayed over night to get to

the Show as it started.

We got there within

seconds of the opening

time, and after Tessa

and Julie put their bags

in the shop’n’drop. It

wasn’t so busy, giving us

a head start to the stalls,

and more importantly,

the free samples! First

sample, smoked salmon,

next sample, extra mature

cheddar, followed by

cheeses from all over

the world. Like last year,

there was a whole section

dedicated to The World

Cheese Competiton.

Massive tables covered in

hundreds of cheeses that

were recently judged by

chief cheese-tasters. I have

no idea what constitutes

the best cheese, especially

after seeing some hideous,

beastly looking cheeses

being awarded with silver

and gold. There were

some gigantic Babybells,

huge cubes of cheddars

and minature camemberts.

My Dad was outraged

after reading a sign stating

that all of these cheeses

were deemed unfit for

consumption, and that

they’d all be thrown away.

What a waste!

We spent the next few

hours wandering around

endless food stalls,

sampling their produce.

I was excited to try the

Chocolate Wine, but was

instantly disappointed

as it tasted nothing like

chocolate and was just

bitter. Whenever I passed a

brownie stand I was drawn

straight to it, grabbing the

samples, buying a whole

box of them. My aim was

to leave the show with a

bottle of Liqueur - initially

a bottle of Cream Cutie

liqueur, but as they weren’t

here this year, I was on the

hunt for another brand,

just as good. Thanks to

the Thorntons stand, I

managed to buy a nice

bottle of rich chocolate liqueur, I couldn’t turn it

down! I was sold on the

sample. Another drink I

sampled was Flora Tea, an

oriental floral tea. It was

like nothing I ever tasted,

it was so refreshing and

calming, and tasted like it’s

scent, just beautiful, but

I couldn’t give in to the

heavy price tag.

It was nearing 1:00 and

the place was really filling

up, walking pace turned to

snail pace, and you had to

push to the front of the

crowd to try any samples.

But I was prepared for

it, and had a great time

exploring new food and

drink. Dad and Julie were

in heaven, tasting all the

alcohol.

The whole day consisted

of 8 hours walking, tasting,

purchasing, and watching

Materchef live topped it

all off nicely. Will be there

next year for sure -

all 4 of us.

PIGEONSRATS WITH WINGSTHEY’RE JUST BLOODY

WHAT IS ARTI THINK THAT ART IS AN INDIVIDUALS WAY OF EXPRESSINGTHEMSELVES WHILE AT THE SAME TIME ALLOWING THEIR CHILDLIKECREATIVITY TO FLOURISH. CREATING ART IS NOTMAKING A PRETTY PICTURE THAT EVERYBODY WILL LOVE BUTIS ABOUT CREATING A PIECE OF WORK THAT WILL CREATEAN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IN ANYBODY THAT EXPERIENCESTHE ART. THIS COULD BE AS SIMPLE AS THEM LIKING ORDISLIKING IT OR AS COMPLEX AS THEM BEINGINSPIRED OR DISCOURAGEDINTO FOLLOWING AN ACTION. IT MAY CONTAIN

A CERTAIN MESSAGETHAT YOU HAVE HIDDEN AWAY OR A MESSAGETHAT YOU HAVE MADE OVERLY OBVIOUS IN ORDER TO EXAGERATETHE POINT. IMAGE MAKING ART IS GENRALLYA WAY OF COMPOSING COLOURS AND SHAPESINTO A FORM THAT IS AESTHETICALLY PLEASING TO EITHER YOURSELF OR ANOTHER PERSON

ALL IN ALL ART ISWHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE

TheEND of theBEGINNINGWe hope that you have enjoyed our illustrative

journey through Birmingham, as much as we

enjoyed making it for you.

All the work in this magazine is copyrighted by

Out & About and BCU Publishers

TheTEAMMagazine Editor: BECKY GIBSON

Content Editor: CHRIS DEWAINE

Art Director & Designer: HELEN GREEN

Production Manager: BECKY GIBSON

Illustrators: BECKY GIBSON, HELEN GREEN & CHRIS DEWAINE

Main writer: BECKY GIBSON

Featured Writers: HELEN GREEN & CHRIS DEWAINE

Ident Manager: HELEN GREEN