Along with Lizzy Stewart (his partner in crime), illustrator / graphic design whiz Jez Burrows has a particular knack for making me jealous. His work hits the nail on the head so consistently that the conclusions he reaches can seem both impossibly difficult and blindingly obvious. You'd never add or remove a single thing from anything he does and I guess that, in a way, defines them as perfect.
Anyway, Jez is moving hoose and is closing his online shop this week. As a result, he's added some old/rare stuff and has a sale goin' on. I picked up a few prints yesterday including one very similar to the above Miserable Giant*. I recommend you go, go, go because the prices are low, low low. You have until Sunday before the shop closes for a 'long time'.
*I wanted to link through to Jez's Flickr so I couldn't show the exact one I bought
I don't think these are particularly obscure (I discovered them today via the 'explore feature in Google Reader), but l'd like to share them here anyway because they're so brilliant.
David Thorne has posted Ten Formal Complaints In Six Months that his co-worker Simon Dempsey has made about him in their office. In them, Thorne is revealed to have a flair for antagonism that brings to mind Tim and Gareth's micro-feuds in The Office mixed with a little Reeves & Mortimer surrealism ('researching wasps' is genius).
I think I've seen a few odds & ends of David Thorne's other work over the years, but this 'piece', (if you could call it that) has motivated me to dig a little deeper as, on the whole, I don't know much about him. Think I might pick up his new book.
The images I've posted are probably my two favourites but have a nosey at all ten and a bunch more silly, funny stuff on David's website, www.27bslash6.com.
Since listening to the special John Gruber / Merlin Mann episode of The Talk Show last week, I've kinda been nerding out on Disney stuff. Their discussion about The Magic Kingdom completely reignited my fascination with theme parks, rollercoasters and Imagineering.
At its best, Disney's attention to detail goes unrivaled - did you know that the reason you'll never see a pirate in Frontierland is because everything is built on top of an entire network of corridors, allowing staff behind-the-scenes access to every part of the park? Did you know they foreshorten Main St USA both vertically (to make the buildings seem taller), diagonally (to make each side of the street lean in and 'frame' the castle in your vision) and horizontally (to make the street feel longer as you enter the park and longer as you leave). The lengths they go to for effect are nothing short of incredible.
My heart, though, belongs to one attraction in particular. Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris. The ride that some argue saved the park after its lackluster early years. That ride (it's important to distinguish the European version of the ride - the older US versions are far less ambitious) became a passion and a hobby of mine after my parents took my cousin Lynne and I to Disney when I was maybe 11 or 12. The atmosphere, the design, the bloomin' big cannon on the side flipped me out bigtime.
Before then, I was already obsessed with rollercoasters. I'd draw them, dream about them, pretend I was on them when riding my bike. I used to record every glimpse of them on the telly, from lame segments on daytime shows ('there's a new ride at Alton Towers, let's see if Eamonn can handle it') to a couple of full-blown documentaries about rollercoaster fan-clubs that I would watch almost daily. Every night, I'd patiently recreate Nemesis or The Pepsi Max Big One on Rollercoaster Tycoon, tinkering away in the way only geeky young boys can. To this day I can't quite explain why I was so consumed.
Space Mountain, though, was the best of the best. I knew this. I knew it wasn't the most enjoyable ride (older, wooden coasters are the most fun), I knew it wasn't the scariest (at the time, the Dragon Khan in PortAventura boasted the most inversions and the most intimidating silhouette) but, despite this, I knew it was built with pure imagination and love. I knew not one inch of its design, its accompanying artwork or its operation hadn't been poured over by The Best People In The World.
The reason I knew was because I had seen Shoot For The Moon (above), a BBC film that followed the construction and opening of the ride. It was the centre of my obsession. To this day I still know it by heart. A wonderful documentary that mixed really geeky engineering and design stuff with beautiful archive footage and a ton of interviews. Through Shoot For The Moon I was introduced to Jules Verne, Le Voyage Dans La Lune and retro-futurism. I learned about the Space Race, the power of art direction and, most importantly, that behind every great, fun, exciting thing there's someone (an adult - who've thought?) who's job it is simply to make their imagination reality.
I guess I could cite Space Mountain as being a major influence on my 'career', as weird as that may sound. I didn't know it at the time, but by watching that film over and over I was immersing myself in ideas, illustration and design. Seeing the man behind the curtain revealed made things more magical, not less. Biology doesn't ruin the 'mystery' of nature. Astronomy doesn't ruin the 'wonder' of the universe.
Shoot For The Moon is available on YouTube (in 5 parts) and I can't recommend it highly enough. Nostalgia is no doubt clouding my judgement, but trust me, give it a watch. If you're in any way involved in a creative profession, you'll find something of interest. It's great. You might even get a little hint of the Disney magic that's so easily forgotten once you've grown old and cynical.
This is my second What I Wore Today drawing for this blog. If you don't understand, there is a Flickr group here started by the illustrator Gemma Correll that accepts open submissions of self-portraits depicting the clothes you're currently wearing. I have been posting up my artwork there for quite a while now and I find it provides a perfect little mini-project for those times I'm suffering from block or simply just want to make something. Go have a look, there's some amazing stuff from more serious fashion illustration to more dorky, humorous stuff.
I just battered this illustration together quickly. It's not great, but it's better than nothing and, quite frankly, I did it just as an excuse to draw. I need practise. I need practise drawing and I need practise writing (I would like to be a really good writer). You don't get out of a lull by sitting about watching telly and you don't make better art by not making any art. Putting together a self-portrait gets you into a kinda reflective mode and it almost seems like it might be appropriate to accompany such drawings with a personal, diary-like post but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
Ah, I dunno. Maybe it is a good idea. Maybe every time I draw myself, I'll write a little something about my life. Hell, I could make it up if it feels too personal or honest. Righto David. Starting now, with this picture and these words, I'm gonna go into autobiography mode with my What I Wore Today drawings and this decision, while not exactly soul-searching, is plenty for this evening.
Above is my debut as a music video director for the single You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night by the very fine Kid Canaveral. It was animated, filmed and edited by myself with some help from Alex and Fergi - particularly in the dancing kitchen scene.
I've posted about this clip before on my old blog but, happily, I have new reason to post it here. I have just recieved news that it will be featured in the BBC Music Video Festival 2011 and will be shown at The Forum in the centre of Norwich, from the 19th of September to the 1st of October - on bloomin' giant screens no less.
'Chuffed' doesn't explain the half of it. Having an animated film shown by the BBC is one of those things you dream about. Yeah, it's rough around the edges. Yeah, it was made with sellotape and fishing lines in our messy wee flat. Yeah, I don't really know how to work a camera. You know what? I don't care! We had the most fun ever staying up until 5am making the video and I'm still very proud of it.
Filmmaking is something I'm growing increasingly fond of these days, in part due to being a complete novice and knowing it's ok to make mistakes. I'm always looking to find time to knock together a new video and if anyone wants to work on any projects, get in touch. You'd make my day.
For more info on the Kid Canaveral video, I did an interview about it a while back which you can read here. You can also watch and subscribe to whatever other nonsense I make on my YouTube channel. Big Thanks to Johnny at Fence and Kate Canaveral in particular for all their help with this project.
Quite a wee while ago now I was asked to illustrate the writer David Boyle's essay Small Is Spendid for The Idler. Today, I received my copy and was happy to see my drawing Church, Steeple, People right there on page 52.
I always find it crazy to see my work in a publication. It never gets old. Sometimes it makes me really happy. Other times, when I'm not particularly happy with my work, I find it to be quite a heart-wrenching procedure. Thankfully this time it turned out pretty good. I was really worried about seeing this illustration again because it came from quite a dark patch, work-wise, when I was pretty unhappy with everything I was putting out and in need of a break (or a slap). The thought of anything from my 'crappy period' being out in public, especially in an edition of something as beautiful as The Idler, kinda bummed me out. Now I'm feeling better about things, I'm glad I did it.
So yeah, the latest issue of The Idler, Mind Your Business, is out now and can be picked up on their online shop here or at all good, um, Idler stockists I guess. It is a beautifully put together book-like magazine full of interesting and funny comics, essays, interviews and more. I've not had a chance to flick through it yet but I imagine it'll be living on my bedside cabinet for some time to come.
This illustration marks a little transition for me. While I might have changed it a little had I to do it over, conceptually, I think it's really strong in the context of David's essay. I got away with it! I can now finally say goodbye to a period of (mild) doubt, (mild) stress and (mild) misery and take a step or two towards a more productive and happy chapter in my life. Always forwards, never backwards.
This evening I spent a little time putting together a Gocco screenprint for an upcoming project with Jonnie Common. I can't show too much the now but I think it'll be a nice wee thing. Gocco printing, and I guess screenprinting in general, turns you into a little one-man production line. It's completely satisfying - probably because there's no denying that you're being productive. You literally produce stuff. Rows and rows of prints appear before you where once there was nothing. It's great. If Gocco consumables weren't so damn hard to come by I'd make one of these things every week. A UK supplier would get so much business it's scary. Keep your potatoes skinned here or on JC's site for more info in the next week or so (obvious hint: it's a combined music & artwork package). For an early heads up, you can either follow Jonnie or follow me on Twitter.
After seeing Jamie Beck's pretty cool animated photographs (basically carefully planned animated gifs) a few weeks back, I wondered if I'd be able to recreate the effect myself. Armed with a tripod, a video camera, iMovie and Photoshop, I discovered that I could.
The above image, while not groundbreaking, represents a fun wee hour of problem solving that I'm really happy with. It turned out pretty good, eh? Now that I understand the process a bit, there's a few ideas I'd like to try out that could work out great. When I find the time to go on a wee photo hunt, I'll post them up here. Isolating animation in a clip like that is a really peculiar effect. I guess we've HD video to thank for making these things possible - when a still frame can pass for a photograph, you can do a bunch of cool stuff.
These 'animated photographs' are kind of interesting. They elevate the humble gif - an old, mainly forgotten, format, with its 256 colours and grainy feel, to something new. Sure, there have always been a ton of gifs generated from funny video clips, but pre-planned and considered gif photoshoots? That's a little different. I've a feeling that Beck might've started a wee trend here - we might be seeing these things in site mastheads and accompanying 'virtual' magazine articles before long. That is if the lengthy post-production editing isn't too off-putting.
Also, I mainly like my photo because it captures Alex drinking tea, playing on the computer and listening to music on a great wee day-off we had. She thinks it's creepy, but I dunno, I think there's something nice about it. Like one of those magic Harry Potter photos made real.
Stoppit and Tidyup is a cartoon I remember fondly from my childhood. Created by Charles Mills and Terry Brain, the guys behind one of my all time favourites - Trapdoor, S&T was a short-lived series that followed the lives of the weird and wonderful inhabitants of Do As You're Told. It ran in 1988 for 13 episodes on the BBC.
I didn't love Stoppit and Tidyup the way I loved Trapdoor or Portland Bill or Mysterious Cities of Gold, but it definitely had something that kept it with me. The introduction used to fire up my imagination - the weird music, the Terry Wogan narration and, most of all, the seemingly endless (to a 5 year old) parade of fascinating characters just made me want to grab a pencil and paper and draw some monsters.
The characters, that was it. I couldn't get over how cool they looked. At that age, I knew a little about how animation worked and understood that they were drawings that someone had sat down and thought up. How could someone draw something so good? They were perfect to a little kid like me. Clean Your Teeth's teeth were so white. Hurry Up was so fast. As for I Said No, well, he was just the biggest thing in the whole wide world. I loved him the most - the way he completely filled the screen and looked so utterly pissed off all the time. You can check out all the characters in the intro to this episode:
As an adult, rediscovering the show through a YouTube nostalgia trip (best thing about an Apple TV btw - can't beat watching Raggy Dolls on the big telly), I've got a new appreciation of the brilliantly inventive character design in Stoppit & Tidyup. So many great monster ideas. The stressed-out Take Care is great - forever flapping his tiny wings to stay in the air, the aforementioned Clean Your Teeth too - all swaggering by like he's the man.
The best, though (and by best I mean creepiest), is Go And Play, who I've posted above. My new favourite. A silent man-child of a thing dressed in tiny white shorts (pants?) and carrying a toy-train. He skips everywhere, his too-adult looking legs move him around slow motion, his dead eyes and blank expression make it seem like, for a guy called Go And Play, he doesn't much care about having fun or, well, anything at all. He's all spaced out and weird. I love him.
I tidied up a screen grab of Go And Play to illustrate this post. If doing so is against a copyright rule of some kind, I'll happily take it down. The idea and original drawings belong to the creators and I only use it out of love and respect for a great bit of character design. It makes me want to draw monsters again.
This video did the rounds a few weeks ago, but I'm posting it anyway because I just rewatched it. Monty Python's Terry Gilliam explains, in a completely honest and straightforward manner, how he put together his famous cut-out animations for Flying Circus etc.
What I like most about this video is how simple he makes it look. The young Gilliam actively encourages you to go out and make your own versions, in exactly the same way (or differently, he doesn't seem to care) as he did, without being at all precious about his creations. Despite being behind some of the most instantly recognisable, even iconic, animations ever made, he acts like 'ach, I only do it this way because I'm lazy. Anyone could've made these stupid things'. It's a lovely, inspiring and encouraging attitude from a brilliant creative mind. Now I feel a bit dumb for not having made the Monty Python intro.
I originally found this clip via Drawn (who found it via KC Green on Twitter).
We're on the train back from Edinburgh. Alex is sitting across from me. She's reading. Our carriage is about half-full with festival goers. Teenagers swear too much on public transport. Alex had bought me tickets to see David Sedaris for my birthday. He was great. Like a lot of people, I discovered his work through This American Life and instantly fell in love. I was super happy to get the chance to see him in person. He read from his books, articles and diary. Man is he funny. The thing I enjoyed most about the talk, though, was his voice. What a voice! An unbelievably sweet and charming kinda Winnie The Pooh thing that doesn't even seem real. I'd kill for a voice like that. When I talk, it's the worst. A horrible slow drone that I've been self-conscious about since high school. David Sedaris gave me voice-envy. When he curses, you can't help but smile. After the reading, we waited around to get a book signed and to say hello. We were pretty shy, but he chatted away regardless. He asked us about Stirling and drew us a picture of a dog coming out of a turtle shell. We also ate some Mexican food and drank some Coca-Cola.
I am very happy to announce my participation in a new project here in Glasgow. Recoat, the fantastic gallery in the West End have assembled a 10-strong team of artists and they only bloomin' went and asked me to join. Pretty swish, eh? I'm completely delighted and honoured to be involved because, honestly, the other 9 dudes and dudettes are way good. Waaaay good.
Team Recoat, as we are known, consists of: Al White, David Galletly, Death Rattles, Elph, Fist, Kirsty Whiten, Mark Lyken, RueFive, Susie Wright & Syrkus. I will try to get a post about everyone up here over the next few weeks. We will be working together on a variety of projects throughout the world over the next year.
To simultaneously launch the project and to celebrate their 4th birthday, Recoat have put on an exhibition of limited screenprints designed by each of the team members. Four Four Two opened on Friday the 12th of August and will run until the 4th of September. There are 10 prints going for £80 a pop including this effort, 'Submerge', by myself:
The opening party was brilliant as always - the buffet at the Lansdowne afterwards was a particular highlight. Damn those onion rings were good. Damn, damn, damn. Big thanks to Amy and Ali for all their hard work in putting on the show, thinking up the project and for running one of the countries finest galleries. Love those guys.
Stop by the space to have a look or, if you can't visit in person, all of the gear is available in their online shop. The show also features an extra wee section full of other prints, drawings, paintings and things by the team - good if you're hyped on Scottish street art and want to pick up an original piece.
If that wasn't all, the Team Recoat prints will also be making their way down to Nottingham as part of the Nottingham Festival on Friday the 19nd August at the Lace Market Gallery. There will be live painting and talks and things too (I think). My details are a bit sketchy but go have a look if you can, especially when people are around. Seeing Elph paint live is something special. Me? I can't make it. Ach.
The details once more:
FOUR FOUR TWO
Recoat Gallery
323 North Woodside Road
Glasgow, G20 6ND
Runs: 12/08/11 - 04/09/11
TEAM RECOAT
Lace Market Gallery
25 Stoney Street
The Lace Market
Nottingham, NG1 1LP
Runs: 19/08/11 - 03/09/11
As this is a new blog, my readership is pretty low so any tweets, mentions, shout-outs, links, likes and reblogs will be very much appreciated as they will go a long way in promoting the work. Thank you and have a nice day x
I'm extremely happy to announce the launch of Master of None, the new album by one of my favourite musicians Jonnie Common. Not only am I hyped about the music, but I'm also chuffed because Jonnie asked me to provide some artwork for the cover.
It's been a nice little collaboration, with me sending through a couple of drawings (my Dog drawing & a new pattern) for Jonnie to go crazy over with pink neon. The end result has a really awesome feel to it that neither of us could have created without the other's input. And isn't that, my friends, the point?
Master of none goes on general release on Monday the 1st of August through Red Deer Club and Glasgow folks can see Jonnie play a special album launch gig tomorrow (Sunday 31st) at the Captain's Rest in the West End. I'm gonna stop by to catch the show & to doodle up a little chalk sign for the venue, which is a first for me. Stop by if you can, he's one of the best dudes to see live.
I'm really proud to have been involved with this project. I think I've been into Jonnie's stuff for pushing 10 years now (which is scary) after I picked up one of his Down The Tiny Steps 'Picket Fence' CDs while I was studying. Not to be too much of a sook, but I've long said amongst friends that if I had any musical ability (I don't), I'd want my stuff to sound like Jonnie Common’s. He has an incredibly playful, sweet and funny way with lyrics and a seemingly bottomless bag of unusual instruments, sounds and squelches. Check out the very lovely Photosynth:
I would have preferred to have got this post up here a little sooner, but damn, my life has been busy recently. Nothing bad or serious, but my artwork has had a little break and I'm only now getting back into it and getting my head around what I want to do next.
My future output may or may not involve this blog, but there will be more to see and to read soon.
Recently I've put on a little weight, got myself all unfit and lost my enthusiasm for drawing due to doubting my abilities. I'm at a low, you could say.
This doubt is further exasperated by the fact that, after my unplanned break from drawing, I'm rusty. Drawing rusty is frustrating. It makes you hate drawing. A classic vicious catch-22.
So, after recieving a new sketchbook for my birthday, I've decided to give it another go. To draw just for the sake of it. To forget the mistakes and concentrate on the process. I have tried this before, and failed, so I dunno if it will work. I hope it will.
One of my first few Frozen Synapse games against my friend Steven.
Yesterday I split a 2-for-1 offer on Frozen Synapse with my friend Steven. Above is one of our first games (which I won - check that one dude doing all the work). A really positive review in Edge made me want to check it out. After seeing I could get 2 copies for £18.99, I picked it up.
The game is pretty interesting. I have a few issues (Mac mouse input isn't great, tutorials could be better, controls and timelines should be much easier to understand), but on the whole, it's a superb little brain-twister. You play in turns, simultaneously planning out your moves and predicting what your opponent might do next. What happens if my friend moves his sniper there? Oh, I get shot. Better try something else. That kinda thing. The amount of bluff-calling and second-guessing makes it play more like poker or Warhammer or chess than a top-down shooter.
Chess is a fitting comparison when you consider how you play Frozen Synapse, too. Because it's a game of turns, you don't need your opponent to be in-game or, hell, even online to play. You simple mark out your next move, confirm your actions and move on to something else. The game will then notify or email you once the opposite side has completed their part. It's brilliant, the best feature by far. It allows you to play a surprisingly complex little game as casually as you'd check Twitter or play sudoku on your lunchbreak.
If I were a reviewing man, I'd give this 4/5
UPDATE: Frozen Synapse is now available for iOS. There are great versions for the iPhone and the iPad.
