PPD Meeting 1/11/2011

So I need to start thinking about work placements for my chosen area. I'm really not sure what that is yet. I like the idea of looking into set building and Ive made large scale paintings before at least. Ive spoken to a man called Simon Pell who builds large theatre sets and I may be able to go and join him on a project building and painting a set. More information on that to come.

On top of that is next years Beat-Herder festival which is professional work.

Previous work experience that needs to go on my Portfolio is:

Janet Russell: Designed a poster for tour of Scotland, working with a live client and taking work to printers and getting it sorted.

Jim Woodland: stop frame animation using iStopmotion, working with kids teaching them how to use the equipment. HD cameras, chromakey.

Beat-Herder: sign writing, large scale painting, making, fabrication (rendering, routering)

Evan: setting up an HD projector and cinema screen in pubs, village halls, setting up speakers and amps.


Tony: Cd/Dvd cover, live client, frequently changing brief, putting design together for Jewel Case


Chris: Changing chalkboards for a local cafe

Dirtbox Soundsystem - DJ Set

So I got asked to a DJ set for Dirtbox's 5th November gig at Smallworld in Keighley which is cool.

They are a collective who built a soundsystem, hire it out and put on their own events in Bradford, Sheffield, Liverpool and wherever folk will have them.

I'm pretty happy about this becuase I get a chance to DJ for people who aren't just a group of mates, this is slightly more serious than that... but not much. I'm happy anyway.

Previously I was recording tracks from free streaming networks such as Spotify and Grooveshark but Ive gone to the effort of signing up to Beatport and buying the tracks I want in the interest of making sure they are of decent sound quality.

Edit:

Ive found that beatport is expensive and annoying. You can get a lot of the stuff it sells free and of equal sound quality from other sources. Also, amazon sells the same tunes at half the price.

Statement of Intent - Year 2

This year I hope to develop my skills as an 'illustrator.' I say that in brackets because I'm really not sure whether thats what I'm doing... my intent with it is more narrative. I want to use it to make comic books or art for computer games. So digitalising it is definitely a skill I need to improve on. Illustrator and Photoshop will be key for this.
All that is for my own personal practice though, and a as a professional I want to be a community artist. In order to achieve this I need to be making more contacts, networking and persueing work. I also need to be creating my own work as Ive seen done with successful artists.
Active Arts this year will be key in progressing in community arts, as will my work with Blaize community arts and possibly with Adrian Sinclaire who I spoke to last year in regards to doing some work this year.
By the end of this year I want to comfortable in knowing that I can deal with the beurocratic aspect of being a public arts worker and knowing that I can manage my time effectively and make educated decisions when it comes to legal aspects of such public projects.

Stopframe Motivational Video

This is the video I made today. Woop.

Blaize - animation workshop

Did an animation workshop today at glusburn institute. I was working but spent most of the time doing my own animation which ill post up soon. I worked with plastecine, a stock background using iStopmotion and final cut pro. It was good fun but the point was to teach people to be creative with stop motion animation... I'm not an expert but with Blaize's kit its dead easy. Look at the pictures!

Figure Drawing

So I figured I was going to make puppets or a mural or build summat mental for CommTech but I figure what I'm really going to do is proper teach myself to draw. Ive got a book out thats about drawing costume designs for characters in theatre, I like it becuase it has a simplified version of figure drawing aimed at people who don't draw as their sole discipline. Basically its easier than trying to learn the exact human skeleton and all the muscle groups...

Architecture

Also, I want to start drawing buildings to give myself more practice in perspective and structures, this will allow me to draw better back drops for the characters I create. I aim to build the skills in order to make sequential image based narratives. (comic books.)

In my crit with Matt, I was told to experiment with illustrative technique. To really experiment... This makes me feel better about the whole thing.. I figure Ive been experimental by chucking stuff at paper to make lines and shapes for a while and I enjoy it, but learning to experiment with applying stuff to paper while still being figurative, or like making stuff look like stuff, seems like a logical way forward. I just have a problem when I draw stuff I ask people "what is that?" and they say "is it a cow?" and I say "no its a post box." So you can see where my skills need improvement.

Whey! Also... I want to keep a focus on being able to upscale my drawings always... I want to be able to translate them to murals easily... being able to paint big stuff is important to me as festival art is a real passion of mine.

Cine Yorkshire - Hales Pub, Harrogate

So tonight I went to a pub in Harrogate called Hales and set up a cinema screen as part of Cine Yorkshires North Yorkshire Film Festival. We found some old fabric in the back and decorated the front with it to frame it so it didnt stick out so much. Theres an HD projector behind it projecting the film "Chariots of Fire" which supposedley had a scene filmed in this pub in it.

York Radio were there interviewing people. It was a fun event and paid too so thats good.

I may have work building and painting an arch for their screen which they can set up around it in the future. I dont know yet though... We'll see..

Secret Garden Party Arts!

I've just found all this quality photos of some of the best art I saw at secret garden party!




I find these so inspiring, especially the painting on the stage that looks like old british seaside art. I plan on doing a punch and judy style DJ Boothe for next summers Beat-Herder... We shall see.

I also love the sculptures, the dragonfly is ace, but the giant globe made out of little houses consisting of what looks like old bits of wood and birdboxes is quality becuase it feels like I could actually do something like that if I found a good source of scrap materials.. this year is exciting.



Photo by Lisa Theaker - Extraordinaire.

A bit of graphic design... hrrm.

Right I put together a PDF on InDesign to send off to TestSpace as a proposal for Active Arts.

This is them... I'm not sure if they're good or not but I tried to follow the rule of between 5 and 9 words to a line of text, using complimentary fonts, and following a grid format to create lines in the space.

I used Optima for the headers and Palantino Linotype for the main body as these are from the same family of font and the same designer, a tip I picked up on a graphic design website. I'm not particularly keen on them but they do compliment each other well and it was an interesting experiment seeing the different from the ones I was trying out.

I'd like to try find a font for headers that compliments Century Gothic as I like it and I find it a good alternative to Helvetica seeing as I dont have Helvetica on my computer.

That might sound moronic to a serious font head... but uhh.. I like it. So stick that in yer type set.

Skipton Puppet Festival

So I went to Skipton Puppet Festival on Sunday. It was pretty good. I met a woman called Lenka Pavlickova who hand carves this marionettes out of Lime or Linden Wood depending on what you want to call it. They're amazing to see, I'm not much of a photographer and I dont suppose this images do them justice. I'm definitely taking inspiration from these for Comm Tech.

Her website is linked HERE.



I also saw a traditional Punch and Judy show by a man called Geoff Felix who made his own boothe and puppets. I was especially impressed by his presinium arch, I'd like to create facades for stages or sets in this style. Its done in oils and then varnished I think.

This is a LINK to his website.


These two are a french double act who are keen on circus skills and operate a human size puppet called "Mario" who sings, dances and flirts with women in the audience. His routine involves getting dressed, dancing and juggling which is massively impressive when you consider the performers operate one arm each.

Their blog is HERE.


These two are the Flying Buttresses, just one of the acts performed by Hodman Dodmanott and Sally Forth. They made these costumes when they were just 15. They are a comic act that wander around chatting to people and being generally odd. The heads are operated by a hand and inside the costume and a microphone and speaker to make their voices audible. They kind of resemble hobbits... Hodman told me he's just invented a box that pops open and dispenses buisness cards he can operate from inside the suit. I definitely want to see these guys again!

Link to Website

Here is a couple of photos of a handmade puppet that was part of a small show from the London School of Puppetry, the quality is less so than the others I've shown above, but I think it has a charm and it seems more plausible that I can make something like him in the time I have in the CommTech module.

Summer 2011

So I havn't Blogged all summer which is a bit daft of me. But I've had a great time and learn a lot, mainly thanks to the brilliant Beat-Herder Festival giving me the time, resources and space.






I have upscaled my drawings to sizes of 4ft by 16ft, learn basics about building structures and also learnt to DJ using CD's to a basic level. Although I think this is mostly about building a library of good tunes.



I also did some public speaking at the Beat-Herder and District Working Mans Social Club and put together a daft yorkshire beatboxing act which consisting of singing the first verse of Ilkley Moor Bah'tat then making farting noises.

Active Arts: Rising Sun. 2 Pages

Active Arts: Rising Sun - Aid for Japan Zine cover.

This is a collaboration between me and Lana Johnson.

Dave - The Diligent Rice Sack

A design for the Japan aid day "Rising Sun." Dave is a rice sack who wears the the japanese bandana for diligence. Above is a photo of the one I made and a template for making it.

3 pages for the zine

3 more short intructional pages on making felt things for the Rising Sun Aid event.

Beatherder: Rajazzle!

This year I'm going to be managing the art for a new tent at the Beatherder festival. This is the sign for the tent, its an indian / victorian theme. I am current designing some installations to be made so I will have pictures after July. I'm buzzing about this its going to be brilliant, the above design will be painted up on a large piece of wood to be displayed outside the tent.

Active Arts: Felt Creature Planning

I am designing four or five different felt creatures to make for the japan fund raiser. So far I have a penguin, an aristocrat, a haggis, a turtle and a hamster. Joy.
I'll post the rest up here later.

Drawing Elective: Jon Fox

Again this is highly detailed and highly skilled. I think it is more sylized than the previous artists Ive posted up though. The textures are smoother, there are smoother transitions in tone. Also the colours are calmer. The line work is highly refined and precisional, this seems to be a running theme in the artists I have chosen.

Drawing Elective: Robert Williams

Robert Williams part of the pop-surrealist (or low-brow) movement that came out of the 60's and 70's. I suppose he was around at the same time as Robert Crumb, I like admire the highly skilled painting thats used to twist and exaggerate reality. I think it could be seen as cheesy but I like it. I have always loved typical comic book art as well, the bright colours and precise line work really does it for me.

Drawing Elective: Mark Ryden

Ive known about Mark Ryden since I was about 15 and have always found his work inspiring. I like the constant themes of Meat, Abraham Lincolne and Kids Toys. It is dark and hallucinatory and all his paintings make me feel uncomfortable. On top of that, I believe he is a technically brilliant painter.

Drawing Elective: Gary Baseman

I really like this sort of pop surrealist style and will post another couple of artists in the same style who I really like. Gary Baseman is an illustrator, painter and animator who has been behind animated television series such as "Louis and Louis." I really like his use of colours, they give depth and perspective to the piece. I also admire his fine line work which is really careful and clean. I also like the darkness and fear in his paintings, both these pitcures are themed on mortality, memory and maturity.

Beatherders "New Tent" 2011

So this is all really exciting but I cant post any pictures or say too much because its all so bluddy secretive.

Basically I'm part of a team managing a new tent at the Beatherder festival 2011, were developing a visual theme to go along with it, building making and painting decorations and planning wierd and wonderful activities to go through the days of the festivities.. I'll post more as I can but figured I should at least say this much as its a very important part of my PPD.

Drawing Elective - James Gillray

I know this is cheating, but I wanted to reblog this for an example of an illustrator I like for the drawing elective. Well known political satirist and caricaturist, James Gillray.

What is Viscom?: French Revolution and James Gillray: "The French Revolution began in 1789 with the meeting of the States General in May. On July 14 of that same year, the Bastille was stormed..."

Drawing Elective - Gerald Scarfe

I have loved Gerald Scarfes work for years. His ability to create expression complex characters from simple sweeping lines fills me with awe and is something I aspire to. I went to see him talk at the Ilkley literature festival a year or so back and he was brilliant, but what I realised was, by the age of 18 he could draw in a very technically sound manner. In order to achieve what I want to be able to draw like, I really need to learn to draw technically and quickly and the only way to achieve this is through excessive practice.

I havent even mentioned Scarfes vicious political satire! Which I also love... but since Ive never been such a political person I have always felt like I would leave that to the folk with the strong opinions and use the skills I develop to draw immersive, detailed fantasy type pictures of memories and places that I love.

Drawing Elective

Today was the first day of our drawing elective, firstly I did three drawings of a boot and then I made a wire model from the drawing. Then I did a drawing from the model and then another model from the drawing and continued that process until the end of the day. The image above is the models I made from string, wire and tape hanging from the ceiling in fron the three drawings I did from the models.

I enjoyed experimenting with bleach and ink and had the oppertunity to make drawings from shadows, which I have been meaning to play around with for some time.

Tomorow morning I will go out and do some drawings of buildings in the city centre as preparation for the afternoon session. So far so good!