Hami Hami

This is me....Southpark style.











Heres the link if you want to be Southpark too.

Have a look at these little chaps:
Hami Hami
(So polite.)

Sunday Fripper

Rufous Scrub Fripper

















Well here is another bird I drew. Another Fripper.



The TANGO #6 launch today was a treat. Quite a spicey book. I haven't managed to read all of it yet, though so far I am impressed. Andrew Weldon's comic is particularly poignant, in that it sums up my fears for what may well have ended up in this issue of TANGO - the theme being Love and Sex. It is good to see that the contributors have managed to stretch their minds, hearts and pens beyond a quick tossy response to the theme. Bernard gave a fantabulous speech as is his wont, and the general atmosphere was that of many happy comix folk, with the odd Caleo darting hither and thither.

eggs

Fripper

Click Fripper pic to see animated Quicktime

Tweeting Polka Finch










Heres another tweeter. I'm not sure why I am drawing all these birds. Perhaps it is the new studio set up. I am facing the window at tree branch height and there is a constant fluster of bird activity out there.

Wednesday lunchtime bird

Sooty Hyperion Fripper
















Heres something. I drew a bird at lunch today. Yes. It does appear that he is having a quick 'poo', but it is just an accidental ink smudge I assure you.

What a nice little suit!

Hallo.

Well presently it seems I've somehow corrupted the sound on my showreel...no time to fix it now.

I had a hideous spider dream yesterday. Aided by Arragog and Sheilob. I was in the midst of Sheilob's entanglement with Frodo and Samwise the previous day - I put the book down to eat dinner, during which we ended up watching the second half of HP with the spidery Aragog scene! Later, before drifting into slumber, I finished reading of Sheilob and Samwises battle. Lo and behold my dream was of giant Red-back Spiders. EW!

Lunch.

I have just put up my
SHOWREEL

Presently there is no preloader....so you may have to go and make a cup of tea whilst it loads.




Here is a mild and tiny excerpt of what I am working on at the moment:
ANIM - excerpt - working


Bye

small fat happy puppy

There are certain friends who make me feel just like this little fella.

sketchy sketchy

o

How to be cute

Kyo wa

Here look. A guest artist. Matt SK has provided us with a some light entertainment in the form of a wondeeful story about a chap called Pete, who's head is so large and ugly that it causes discomfort to the surrounding civilians. You may need to click the images to get a closer look.

O



Today I am trying to get it together...and quite frankly shouldn't be doing anything but that. Thats right, I am behind schedule. Eeek. ..mumble mumble mumble wisdom teeth..mumble mumble pain etc. Why are there so many pain receptors in ones head anyway?

Starry Starry Night

Here is an excerpt from a comic I did AGES ago. Starry Starry Night was published in Tango. I've been thinking about character and expression, how hard it can be to capture the right expression in a drawing, and indeed an animation. Personally I find that I have to be completey involved in the drawing, not talking or thinking about anything else. A post-wisdom-teeth-removal-migrane can also get in the way of good drawing.
I was reading the Howls Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) movie-comic yesterday, such fantastic expressions that the characters hold - facially and physically. Each expression delivers the exact feeling of the character with the subtlest of line. The drawings, not just the (animated) movement, express with such clarity a very sophisticated representation of the communication BETWEEN the characters.


Well I am officially now on The Style File. It is a website that showcases Australian book Illustrators. I believe it was set up by the Society of Book Illustrators (SoBI).
Heres the link.

The Style File


I'm moving my computer into my pokey and dark studio today. It'll be a bit of a squish, but it should work. I have a song in my mind, and it won't go away. Is it an 'ear-worm'? - as Stewart would call it. No, its a lovely song, that swoops gently through my mind. An 'ear-worm' niggles and pesters repeatedly. The HIB keeps whistling a radio national show theme tune!

(oh poo. I keep getting spammy coments (since deleted) with people trying to sell stuff! poo stay away spammer)

Whats going on?

The lights went out! Suddenly the maid screamed! Meanwhile back in chalk-board-land, Lilleth's curiosity was caught by a photoshopped top of a church projecting SIDEWAYS into her frame...












illio fridee

Lets go down to the meadows and sing

Here I am. Yes thats me, in a florid format you might say.
Hey, I'm high on pain killers did I tell you? Yes indeed. Its been a blurry few days since the Wisdoms came out. I feel a little pathetic and hopeless as theres not really much I can do..I keep falling asleep. I did try to go without painkillers last night, but alas..I shan't go into details..but there was an 'incident' involving me and a bucket.

Animation company of the week Eesti Joonis Film .
Eesti Joonisfilm
Eesti Joonis Film houses these Estonian filmmakers:
Heiki Ernits
Kaspar Jancis
Mati Kütt
Leo Lätti
Ülo Pikkov
Janno Põldma
Priit Pärn
Priit Tender

See links to a Priit Parn gem.

Karl and Marilyn


I've been watching Norman McLaren animations lately. I feel I could have written so much more about him in my little Animation research paper. Hmmm.

I found this little spook on Studio aka the other day. Heavens to Betsy, he's a creepy little beastie...what ever he is. Its worthwhile finding him on the Studioaka site and watching the animation. I hope they do more with him.
stillnight



Its always worthwhile revisiting studio aka. There are some very talented people who work there. Somehow they manage to imbue advertising with some very inspired animation.

Two wisdom teeth were removed from my head on Monday. I am very giddy and have swollen guinea-pig cheeks.
I'd love to provide you with an image of said cheeks, but for now all I can manage are three fish.

Hi Brownie

Click here o to see silly hoops that jiggle


Click here o to see the dancing skeletons spin in a peculiar fashion

Computer says no

praxinoscope

Oh no. My links to the ANIMA website have died. Due to copyrite issues the site is being taken down.

Anima's GOODBYE

(See now defunct animated links to the right). Anima was the most informative site I'd found on the subject of OPTICAL TOYS. Oh well... I've noticed that David has recently updated his animation notes..and they're, ofcourse, particularly good.


David's animation notes





phenakistiscope


















zoetrope


I have found an old site that shows you how to build a zoetrope with a ZOETROPE pdf to download by Ruth Hayes


Or at Jack and Beverly's theres a 1905 (supplement to the New York Sunday American and Journal newspaper) zoetrope pattern with instructions.

UK Sketchbook excerpt

Here look. This is me when I first arrived in England (a few years back now). I was sick (with something similar to bird flu), and cold. I am in a place called Starcross.

UK Sketchbook excerpt

.




I am eating a flapjack in Exeter.

If my memory serves me correctly, I had just been to an Exeter Animation Festival screening.

dissapointment

She's dissapointed because she is waiting to be animated.





"Stuff you I say little pencil sketch, I'm having a coughing fit."

Somebody gave me bird flu. Now everytime I sneeze, blow my nose, or cough, I get all hot and dizzy. The weekend is proving to be a tricky mix of house guest, work, and feverish trembling. Predominently it needs to be work. *note...this is all to be read in a monotone. The ATOM awards last night proved to be interesting, Mr Quantok mumbled and provoked us through quite a long session of awards. Despite the joys of free champagne and chocolate, I feel that darting around in such drizzly mumbly bumbly cold weather has today made me feel rather drizzly mumbly and bumbly myself.


Checkout Rashman

float

Footie

It is fun to kick things around isn't it.

An escape perhaps...

Sunday afternoon. I am steaming along....working that is. Good music assisting the progress.













Woo.














Went to see an array of Spanish animation yesterday. Lovely rich imaginative stuff. I ate alot of cheese. Saw Mr MacFoozle - he has a new 'element' to his Macinness site. Do have a look, its bloody hillarious. olives

Here is an artist, wafting down the corridor.

Hee Hee

So this little ghost is a bit like a wisdom tooth, when he is settling in for the night he 'plants' himself into the ground.








Hee sent me a link to one of her latest animations. The music is by a Korean band called SweetPea. Look and listen.
SweetPea animation










Here is a link to my favourite Yoshio



Ja ne!

mutter mutter

Drawings ahoy.

...witter witter

If your legs are longer...are you wiser because you can see more?

o

Hallo?

Heavens to Betsy, I seem to be behind schedule today! EEK!





Woo. This site has some pretty little games. Pretty simple....and pretty boring sometimes, but pretty nonetheless. Some have quite engaging soundtracks too.
Orisinal

So far roperunner is my favourite (fourth down on the left) but I think that is because of the music.

I saw this animation last year at the festival, quite amazing on the big screen OiO
Some other short anim links: BAF 04

Oi oi oi, I've found some trailers for The District
The Hungarian animation, screened at MIFF recently. Hopefully we will see it here again sometime.

Aging

I'll just pop up this bloke again for Illustration Friday. The topic is aging - Originally he was drawn to express that feeling you get when there is no bread in the morning for toast, so reluctantly you go out and get some.





I kind of imagine feeling the same as you get old, "Oh dear there goes another hip, sigh...I'll have to go out and get another..."

and so on..

quick sticks

Hello again,

Perhaps this is a good compromise ?
Skeletons_3



bye.

Which is better?

Milty made my skeleton interactive

Which one is better?






These little fellows?
Skeleton Dance 1

Or these pasty chaps?
Skeleton Dance 2

"old-fashioned hand-drawn animation"

Apparently "The Walt Disney Company has killed off its Australian animation operation"

see Article


I seem to be visualising such an event as a Disney style 2D animation. With giant Disney hit men in pest control suits spraying all the animators "killing" them off. The occassional animator makes a break for it and a hit man lunges out and with his foot squishes him into the ground... All orchestrated nicely to the music.

Leaves.

Showreel

Finally I have finished my showreel. I battled for quite some time with what seemed to be incompatible movie settings - It turned out to be a corrupt file that was cruddifying the 'Toots' clips. I'll have to compress it before I pop it up on inkwinks



Today I am sorting out my pix for the StyleFile


These are images they chose:




Anything new?

Why yes, an animated mobile I made the other night. I was trying to make a place for my dancing skeleton. So I thought they'd look good swinging around in a mobile - not mobile phone, silly, mobile spinny thing -
I've popped this little animation onto my inkwinks site, so far without the skeletons because I enjoy it equally as an abstract version. However I will swap it soon for the Skeleton Dance version. It is all very 'tweeny' admittedly. The music used is also on my showreel - a favourite guitarist:
Gabor Szabo. A Hungarian chap, not with us anymore.









I have been chatting with Hee lately, and looking at her magnificent site:
Hee's nest. Also her magnificent watercolours that she has been doing lately.



Other stuff I have been perusing of late:

squarei


disinformation


alex (disinfo chap) burns' blog
I met Alex at a Next Wave forum last year - its taken me a long time to go and check out what he gets up to. Must visit his thoughts more often, very interesting. (Makes this blog look like a little sneezable bit of lint)

sensoryimpact
Raj sent me this link.

David's animation pages on the AIM site


Went to see Buster Keaton films with Blue Grassy Knoll playing live! Was FANTASTIC!