Tuesday 31 July 2007

New toy


OK so I recently started working with Creative Suite 3 (having skipped straight to it from Creative Suite 1) so I'm not sure if this filter was introduced in 2, and I therefore run the risk of looking soooo five minutes ago, but f*** it. THIS IS BRILLIANT. A filter that actually does something USEFUL (apart from Noise, I like Noise. Oh alright, and Unsharp Mask. And maybe Lighting Effects and Blur. But APART from those...).

Lens Correction. Where have you been all my amateur-photographic life? I can fix the dodgy fish eye on my ancient cheap digital camera! I can make aerial shots of brochures look FLAT. Skew-wiff perspective? Gone! And it even fills the transparent edges left by correcting dodgy fish eye! Oh these Adobe boffins are rather clever aren't they?

I think I'm in love.

Bumblebeez



Aside from the fact that I LOVE the Bumblebeez, I also happen to think their video for Dr Love is shit-hot too. Fat, dancing men with drawings on their tummies. What more do you want? Hmmm?

PS may I also recommend their track Pony Ride? Not such a great video but a TUNE.

Automata II



Also on the subject of automata, and slightly less creepy, I also came across this site: automatashop.co.uk. Absolutely amazingly crafted mechanical theatre pieces of varying complexity, but all with a real sense of humour and some beautiful little touches. This one is designed by Paul Spooner and made by Matt Smith. For some reason the character design reminds me of the work of Belleville Rendezvous artist Sylvain Chomet. Whose film studio, Django films, is based in Edinburgh (budding animators take note: they're hiring).

Check them both out.

Automata


Did I mention that my day job is boring the tits off me? The silver lining is that I get to spend some time surfing the net looking for curiosities and interesting things. Usually helps to type random words into google.

I haven't a scooby why but the word 'automata' popped into my noggin, but it was duly googled (think I was listening to Handsome Boy Modelling School at the time so this may have had something to do with it). Some very, very interesting links resulted. There is a whole industry of artists producing kinetic sculptures, wind up 'toys', mobiles etc etc.

And then I find a youtube link to this fella, Theo Jansen. His kinetic wind sculptures move in a rather creepy fashion but you have to admire the dedication and sheer savant-like capabilities that allow him to 'see' how such a complex mechanism will function AND build it (from chair legs and such). Mind boggling.

Photo by Loek van der Klis

Monday 30 July 2007

The devil gets all the best songs


Every now and then I watch a film that leaves me itching to draw. Like, spend an afternoon with all my crayons and shit out and some weird music on and just draw like there's nothing in my head and all I am is a pair of eyes and ears and hands. The last film that made me feel like that was Great Expectations (mediocre 1998 rehash with Gwyneth and Ethan Hawke, but featuring the fucking amazing artwork of Francesco Clemente). Now I've gone and watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston rather late in the day and I'm thinking about staying up way past my bedtime to do exactly that.

The man is loopy, but when the loopiness or the anti-loopy drugs aren't getting in the way, he is pure, unadulterated, genius. Lovely.

Sunday 29 July 2007

Hi there


Ok so I'm pretty new to this blogging malarkey so bear with me. I need to learn me some HTML so I can customise this page because these templates simply will not do. I'm planning on using this blog to showcase my new work and what I'm up to creatively speaking. I'm also going to be using it as something of a scrapbook of cool stuff I've found that has interested or inspired me. So its as much for my benefit as it is yours. Unless, of course, you think its all shit.

The illustration above is one of my recent 'favours for a friend'. A mural in her jewellery shop as part of a temporary exhibition. I do a lot of these favours for my mates, it doesn't pay the bills but they keep me interested when the day job is boring the tits off me.