Christmas Tombola 004: After Life by Pictish Trail

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 04.

While I’m on the subject, Johnny’s new video for “After Life” is an absolute banger and gets a spot in my Christmas Tombola (which I got 3 days into before neglecting).

The 3rd single from his phenomenal Future Echoes album (seriously, buy it, it’s the best thing he’s ever done), “After Life” was recently playlisted by BBC 6 Music and it comes on fairly regularly while I’m working. Hearing your pals on the radio is cool as hell. That bass, man.

For the video, Hankin Films went appropriately nuts. Johnny can be silly on-camera in a really unselfconscious way that’s fun to watch. He reminds me of Adam Buxton in that respect. Loads of great wee moments - finger-guns in time to the handclaps at 1:54 is my fav bit.

Lost Map Advent Calendar Day 17, Merry Pictmas

Lost Map Records are counting down to Christmas 2016 with a great wee online Advent calendar. Every day, members of the Lost Map family share Christmassy things (songs, old photos, oddities) on the Facebook page.

As part of the team, I’m contributing a couple of things. The first is this little Procreate illustration of my boss, friend and king (of kings), Johnny Lynch, aka Pictish Trail, causing havoc amongst the Lost Map elves.

I quickly battered this together when I realised that I wasn’t going to finish my planned contribution in time (it’s now pencilled in for the Christmas Eve slot, yaasss). I wish I’d given a little more thought to the elves and their activities but hey, done is better than perfect.

A bonus of working in Procreate is that it automatically generates neat time-lapses. This gives me more CONTENT to SHARE. When you slap a cover of Deck the Halls by the wonderful CathyMay15 on top you’ve got a guaranteed15-liker on your hands.

Christmas Tombola 003: Kendra

issue wi males that think it's acceptable to comment on how a girl looks when she's mwi am no oot tae be stunnin am oot tae cut mad shapes

— kendra (@auntiekenny_) 3 February 2015

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 03.

Kendra is probably my favourite person on Twitter. I don’t know her and I don’t know anything about her, but she makes me laugh more often than anyone else in my feed.

To ruin the joke a little, you need to read everything in a Glaswegian accent. I just realised that her tweets might be incomprehensible without that starting point.

To ruin it completely:

lit = like
a = I
am = I'm
mwi = mad with it

Christmas Tombola 002: Jerry Hsu

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 02.

Jerry Hsu is probably my favourite skateboarder. This October, he had a part in Emerica's Made Chapter Two, his first since 2010 and kinda-sorta his first full part since 2006's Bag of Suck (he's been battling injuries and, as a result, the 2010 clips all favoured his irregular foot). It's good to see him back.

While the actual part is too new to share, these "b-sides" (alternative attempts / different angles / raw footage etc.) are just as good. I slacked off my board pretty badly in 2016 but, come the good weather, I'm up for a schralp.

Christmas Tombola 001: Smell the Audi

This December, I’m sharing 31 things that I like. This is number 01.

Glasgow's MC Almond Milk (aka my pal Jamie, aka James Scott) & Jay Rolex (aka Jamie's pal Jay who I've met a couple of times and is very nice) released their first album, Smell the Audi, a couple of weeks ago and it's a belter. Listen to / buy it.

I first saw Jamie (aka James Scott / MC Almond Milk) supporting his big brother, Jonnie Common, in 2011 whilst performing as The Japanese War Effort (aka Martin Moog), a side project alongside his day-job as one half of Conquering Animal Sound. Like Jonnie, Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound) has a gift for converting spectators into die-hard fans. Catch him live if you get the chance.

More recently, the Jonnie and Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound) collab, CARBS, let Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) stretch his MC-ing legs. Their album, Joyous Material Failure, was one of 2015’s goodies. With Smell the Audi, Jamie (aka James / MC Almond Milk / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) is off to MC-Donalds, declaring himself Scotland’s Best Rapper*.

Glaswegian hip-hop is a funny one, in that it’s not funny. The scene's proclivity to social commentary is great but has an earnestness that I can’t really stomach. Alex and I once caught a performance by an act so toe-curling that we’re still not over it.

Scotland ya bass

None of that from MC Almond Milk (aka James / Jamie / The Japanese War Effort / Martin Moog / one half of Conquering Animal Sound / one half of CARBS) and Jay Rolex, though. The boys understand how not to be a pure embarrassment and Smell the Audi is one of the best albums of the year.

A music video for “Studz Up” is imminent. I’ll share that too. How great is that album teaser at the top of the page? Both directed by Ciaran Lyons (who’s also nice).

* also Scotland’s Worst Rapper

Trump's Face

It's the 9th of November 2016 and Donald Trump is set to be president of the USA. That's stupid.

I started trying to scribble his face while reading Twitter this morning. I figure it's worth figuring out my Trump in case I ever need to draw him for work. My first attempts (above) aren't great but they really hammered home one thing - Trump's face is gross as shit.

He's harder to pin down than I thought, mostly because his hair is such a scene-stealer that I never paid much attention to his other features. He's got these lizardy little rat eyes and plump wee lips. His collar pulls on his fat neck and makes his whole face look like a deflating balloon. His chin, his ears and his nose are disgusting.

If you're drawing Trump, make him look repellant. He is repellant. He's clammy plasticine. Reducing him to a cartoon haircut is too nice.

All the 3s

In 2001, I bought a bunch of CDs on Fence, one of which was King Creosote's 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I was 18 and had just started my degree.

I can vividly remember listening to the album on the little stereo in our studio after my classmates had gone home. I was working in my sketchbook and it was raining outside.

For whatever reason, All the 3s caught my ear. It's a short, funny song about ageing, specifically about turning 33. I've uploaded an extract here:

33 seemed forever away. 2001 to 2016. 15 years. No matter how you square it, 15 years is a big chunk of life. My 20s hadn't started yet - in 15 years they'd be done and dusted. At 18, I'd barely had a drink. I'd barely had a girlfriend. 15 years was definitely forever away.

The idea stuck in my head and I've thought about All the 3s on every birthday since.

Yesterday I turned 33.

Left: me at 18 (I think). Right: me today, at 33.

What's happened in 15 years? Things: I graduated. I went to the pub. My 20s. I got married. I bought a flat. All these things feel like they happened yesterday. 15 years is no time at all.

I still feel exactly the same. I still own 12 O’Clock on the Dot. I still work in my sketchbook. It's raining outside.

I've got all my hair and I've got all my teeth (going by Facebook, that puts me ahead of some of my schoolmates). I'm carrying about 10lbs more than I should be. Here's a time-lapse of me trying to sort that out:

I imagine I'll continue to think about All the 3s every July. My 33rd birthday'll be further behind me each year and, instead of being some beacon of age, it'll be a memory of my youth (albeit one that I'll swear just happened).

15 years only feels like forever when you look this-a-way. When you look that-a-way, it's yesterday.

Boris Shat It

There's lots of big news going on in the UK. Yesterday's was big enough to compel me to put pen to paper (or Apple Pencil™ to iPad™).

Shitey Boris here spread fairly widely, probably because it's so stupid. He even got politicised TO THE MAX by the amazing Jez Burrows.

Big thanks to anyone who shared him and hello to any new pals.

WIWT: Glasgow International / iPad Pro Edition

The launch of the new, smaller, iPad Pro coincided closely enough with some money burning a hole in my pocket that I had all the excuses I needed to pick one up. I've been long considering a portable setup for digital drawing and, compared to a laptop + small Wacom, the Baby Pro + Apple Pencil was a no-brainer.

While I've not used the Pencil enough to have it sussed, I'm definitely impressed. The drawings I've made on the iPad Pro feel like my drawings and I've already been able to send roughs over to a client that were created entirely on the device.

This quick wee WIWT drawing was made in Pixelmator, one of the many iOS image editors that support the Pencil. It's a good app. One thing that I didn't expect when I picked up the Pro is the potential for working cross-platform. Pixelmator can ping images straight into Dropbox as PSDs, meaning you can open up (layered!) drawings in Photoshop on your Mac. That's incredibly useful.

Anyway, WIWT drawings (What I Wore Today) are a thing I do from time to time. Here's what I wore when I set out to visit some Glasgow International preview shows. The descriptions may-or-may-not be retrospective rubbish about things I was already wearing (and wear most every day).

Also worth mentioning: this post was written, formatted and posted using iOS too. I still prefer to work on a computer, but these wee machines are definitely becoming more useful to the way I work.

Jonnie Common - Kitchen Sync

Jonnie Common has made an album using only sounds from his kitchen! It’s called Kitchen Sync and is available for preorder on Song, By Toad Records as a digital download and as a set of limited edition fridge magnets(!). This blog post has more info.

I've worked with Jonnie on a few things now and he's asked me back to draw some bits and pieces for Kitchen Sync. My work features in Jonnie's promo video (above) but I've also dotted some of my favourites around here as animated gifs.

Because I didn't have much time to spare, these are all first-try little drawings of the different 'instruments'. Some are pretty wonky (bottles, I'm looking at you), but I'm happy with how they turned out.

Once I'd scanned everything, I added a little animation using Photoshop. Again, there's some perspective dodginess going on here and there but I'll hold on tight to my 'don't blame me, I'm not really an animator' excuse forever.

To launch Kitchen Sync, Jonnie is playing a couple of live shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh in early April. I’m 100% positive that they’ll be amazing. Jonnie says he’s gonna go into the process of making the record as well as performing some of the tracks live.

I've had a preview copy of Kitchen Sync for a while now. It's beautiful - all instrumental and ambient and intriguing. It's also got some of the best song titles going: Harder, Faster, Washer, Dryer?.. C'mon! That's textbook JC.

Big thanks to Jonnie for having me on board. Go buy the record.

Skateboarder, Glasgow

I've started drawing people I see around Glasgow. Partly for fun, partly for practice, partly as documentation for something or other. I'll try to share some here from time to time.

This guy was at Kelvingrove skatepark in Glasgow. I was feeling his camo trousers. I'm frustrated that I can't remember what brand of shoes, jumper and skateboard he was rocking.

Someone out there probably knows him. If you do, please keep it to yourself because that's pure embarrassing and I'd like to go to the skatepark without feeling more uncomfortable than I already do (I'm old and not very good). Cheers.

Darkness →

Feeling this trick. Via Thrasher.

Valentine's Twig

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've been drawing in my sketchbook more than usual recently in a conscious effort to get better at, y'know, everything. Last night I drew a twig* and posted it on Instagram.

I put a cleaner version down on paper this morning. It's rare that I'll have a stand-alone drawing these days and I figured someone might like it so I slapped it up on my online shop for £24 (pretty reasonable, I reckon) and pointed Twitter its way. Someone snapped it up within half an hour. Easy peasy.

The whole process went so smoothly that I'll probably try it again in the future. Even if nobody buys anything, it's incentive for me to draw and share more stuff, and that's something I'd like to do.

So aye, follow me on Twitter (@davidgalletly) and on Instagram (also @davidgalletly, and where I'll probably share my next drawing) if you'd like the chance to snag some discounted originals.

* ps. I started a little Sketchbook Blog for posting odds-and-ends that don't belong anywhere else.

Favs! 001

I've been considering making big lists of things for ages - my favourite illustrators, my favourite podcasts, my favourite films etc. The idea got outta control and I never got round to starting.

So instead, here's Favs. Small, semi-regular lists of things I like on a given day.

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1. Bad Machinery: The Case of the Missing Piece

View fullsize

I've only recently discovered Bad Machinery, John Allison's follow up to Scary Go Round (which I never read, despite meaning to for the entirety of its 7-year run) and it's quickly become a must-read part of my routine.

I started sometime last year with The Case of the Missing Piece *, which is still ongoing. The characters have lovely, distinct voices (literally in the case of Claire's adorbs lisp) and, once you're hooked, the interweaving storylines are proper exciting - romance! crime! fights! It's like Grange Hill but good.

2. OXO Good Grips Magnetic Can Opener With Lid Catch

Last Monday I got so frustrated with our crappy tin opener that I straight-up Googled 'what's the best tin opener in the world?'. According to The Sweethome, it's the OXO Good Grips Magnetic Can Opener With Lid Catch (really it's this Zwilling J.A Henckels number, but I wasn't ready to pay £35 for a tin opener).

Anyway, the OXO is a beast and opening a tin of tuna without having to -snip- -snip- -snip- around the lid is the best thing in the whole wide world. £14 on Amazon.

3. 30 Days of Animation by Ashleigh Green

I think I first found Asleigh Green's work on Ello (which I haven't used in about a year). Her deceptively simple illustrations and animations are really satisfying. They, like, click.

Throughout January, Ashleigh posted an animation every day on Instagram. The above video collects them together and adds a soundtrack. Super nice.

4. Sammy Bethune’s Cab Tricks

A video posted by Andy White (@andygsswhite) on Nov 6, 2015 at 3:28pm PST

Sammy Bethune is a skateboarder from Glasgow. I don't know him, although I'm sure I've seen him skating Kelvingrove on some of my skate dates.

Clips of Sammy recently blew up. His approach to cab tricks - sort of a quickly whipped 180 whilst popping - is crazy. I've never seen anyone do them like that before. Fakie 540s on lock!

5. Bit Socket Podcast: Jimmy Shand & his Video Game Band

Also from Glasgow, one of my favourite podcasts: Bit Socket. Bit Socket is about computer games - it's good natured, weird and funny.

The hosts, Scott and Joe, regularly make quizzes for one another. They reached peak-quz on episode 19 where Scott attempted singing game soundtracks in the style of Auchtermuchty's favourite son, Jimmy Shand. The MGS3 cover'll be rattling round your skull on your death bed. Sn'keeta.

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More Favs coming soon. Or maybe not!

* (a note to new Bad Machinery readers - John occasionally drops unrelated strips into the timeline. These come at weekends and holidays and can be confusing if you don't know what's going on)

Captain Haddock En Route

Despite evidence to the contrary, I don't generally go for collectables. I've never bought an action figure as an adult and the few bits of Lego dotted around my studio are my favourite sets from when I was a kid rather than pricey AFOL bait.

Saying that, I did pick up this beauty of a Captain Haddock statue from Tojo in Glasgow. I had spotted him when I was Christmas shopping and couldn't justify spending money on myself at the time. Luckily there were still a couple in stock today and my Santa-cash burned a hole right through my pocket.

Oddly enough, I don't know much about Tintin. I remember that I found the TV series kinda boring as a kid and I know that the comics got a little un-PC from time to time. I also saw the Spielberg version which was fine. Creepy, but fine. Beyond that, not much.

Hergé's character design, though, is beautiful. Haddock in particular is timelessly cool-looking (that pullover!) and this little statue of his iconic, pissed-off stride is about as perfect a translation to three-dimensions as you can get. As an object, it's a lovely thing and it looks better in person than my photo makes out.

I guess buying a Tintin figure without having read Tintin is daft so I'm gonna give the comics a shot. Any tips on where to start (or what to avoid) would be great.

You can buy Captain Haddock for £21 from Tojo in Glasgow (in Merchant City if you live nearby) or from the official Tintin shop. The Tintin in a kilt statue is pretty cool too.