Something To Tell You

A general if not slightly generic life rule I've been trying to stick to recently. It's kinda hard to follow.

People worry far too much, especially people attempting to break into the art and design world, there's such a strive to be original. Naturally I'm one of them.

Earlier this week we started what is known as "The London Project." (Yeah, obviously I've started uni, a few weeks ago in fact, but I'll get into that another time.) The aim is to do anything related to the Thames, and I mean pretty loosely. That's right, we can basically do anything.

Before we set out to walk to the Thames the other day, our illustration tutor Rachel Cattle gave us a little briefing on drawing, naturally with a few hand outs. The final one simply had a medium length quote, all in block capitals, which read:

"Nothing is original.

Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it.

In any case always remember what Jon Lu Goddard said:

"It's not where you take things from - It's where you take them to" "

- Jim Jarmusch

Now I don't condone stealing artwork, but as I read this I still thought to myself,

my god,

he's right.

E Plethora Yo Chocola!

STILL HERE

Ah I've been drawing in my sketchbook quite a bit recently, so I thought I'd share my current favourite pages. It's been a little odd drawing for myself again I'll admit, but I'm getting back into it. So yeah, enjoy some of my pictorial ramblings from the last couple of weeks!

My odd depiction of Nanna Øland Fabricius aka Oh Land, I've fallen aurally in love with this woman.



Much more of this to come I'm sure, but that's all for now!

FOR LAYERS: THE FIRST CUT

Here it is, the final outcome, We Are Finally Cowboys’ first music video for their first single, “For Layers”

This is what I like to call the “First Cut”

Why “first cut”? Well, some parts didn’t quite make this cut you see.

I drew so many frames….

…but due to time constraints I couldn’t fit them all in the animation for the deadline. Also the song For Layers is two minutes long; you’ve only seen and heard the 1^st minute.

For the foundation exhibition I used my space to basically advertise the music video and let people listen to the full song.

I’ve decided to continue with this project in my spare time, bring back the deleted scenes, and animate the final minute of the song. I’d like you to see and hear my full vision; it’ll be worth the wait.

I promise.

WE ARE FINALLY COWBOYS

The seeds were planted, the band was conceived, the stars are born.

Meet “We Are Finally Cowboys"

Introducing...

Davvy Fantango.

The bastardised arrogant and deluded lead singer stereotype. Donning an eye patch and a Winehouse-esq beehive, he proclaims that his odd skin tone is down to an intentional all over body “zombie-chique” tattoo – but there has been rumours it was down to a bizarre tanning accident. This guy has tattoo of himself on his back, need I say anymore.

...and...

Terabite.

Davvy’s brother, the eclectic recluse behind the music. Wears a mask in a bid to have some spotlight yet still remain anonymous. Personally he thinks the mask is pretty cool. When it comes to media attention he appears to be in a constant state of “coming of age”.

Together they are the indie/synth/western/powerpop/megapop phenomenon "We Are Finally Cowboys".

Hopefully you’ll see these guys a lot more in the future.

When the band concept was complete I set about looking at the process of lip-syncing and the effects of phonetics…

…then began to bring the characters to life.

Lipsyncing test using Davvy Fantango and a line from the Marmaduke Duke song Kid Gloves.

Animation test with Terabite.

With their latest single, "For Layers" soon to be released, they needed a music video...

More on this project ridiculously soon.

INSERT BAND NAME HERE:

Decided to start with some of my most recent work, so I introduce my foundation Final Major Project titled “Insert Band Name Here”

The aim of this self induced project was to take on the dream and create a band, well, I’d call it more of a sub-dream, as people usually actually want to be in the band, probably as the lead singer, not manage it…

Let’s just call it taking on the sub-dream…

Along with creating this band, this virtual band I aimed to create an animation to bring the said band to life.

I did research into what makes fictional characters stand out and the appeal of celebrity musicians to develop my band members.

I managed to get quite a few drawings in my sketchbook, unfortunately I couldn’t scan them in as the sketchbook was A3, and I don’t have a scanner that big, so these crass photos will have to do.

I just tried to look at this project from a humorous point of view, and of course keep Gorillaz out of sight and out of mind.

There's more of this project coming soon, and by soon I mean probably later today, and if not today, there’s always tomorrow…

BACKTRACKING

Now, things might get a little confusing here.

But rest assured, just a little bit. Hopefully in the next couple of months I'll be erratically shuffling through work old and new, and with any luck I'll share them here.

Still got a couple of things to sort out here layout wise, but fortunately I appear to have plenty of time on my hands at the moment. That said, I better not let it go to waste.