The Paper Cinema...

Have just got back from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park after seeing The Paper Cinema. A brilliant lo tech mix of drawing, projection and live music. Nic Beard is the illustrator responsible for the inky drawings, the stories on display today are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World' (Dinosaurs, Explorers and big bad Apes, 'what's not to like') and a self penned imaginative story 'Night Flyer' with bicycles, trains and lost love. I was transfixed and can now watch close ups of ink drawings all day long if necessary.

Paper Cinema...

Check this out, they are performing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park tomorrow (6th Dec)... http://www.thepapercinema.com/

New Moon...

I watched Moon on DVD last week, by far the most interesting and captivating film I've seen in a long time. Sam Rockwell carries off the roll/s with grace and I liked the difference from Solaris, ( and Defying Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey) in that it's not a superior alien intelligence creating space mirages, which is kind of what the trailer alludes too. And the sound track by Clint Mansell is excellent too. Damn, have probably ruined it for anyone who wants to see it without spoilers. Rent it now.

Airborne Royalty...

A composite photo of the view from the apartment we stayed in Keswick at the weekend. We had a great view of the mountains and of Derwent Water. I also saw Prince Charles helicopter taking off, he had spent the night before, turning on Keswick Christmas lights. I tried to take a photo of the night before, this was the best I got doing the security man shuffle...

Christmas...

Detail from a Christmas card design for The Faceless Company. I don't want to spoil the image by showing too much here, enough to say that that Snowman will never smell carrot in the same way again. In the mean time we're off to Keswick for a short break with parents over the next few days. Time to mooch, eat, drink and draw, hopefully avoiding flood water and disaster.

Snail Doodle...

Part of a commission I'm doing today involves a tiny snail to be in there somewhere...

Wake Up...

Machinarium Demo...

Talking of things great I thought I should share this too... beautifully drawn and fun to play, just point and click.

Death Day...

Sam Hiti is a great artist and although I have been following his blog closely he has managed to keep this under wraps... until now!

Babel On...

Not strictly part of my Horror Film watching over the Halloween period but I did watch Babel and it was horrific. I admired the storytelling, but like the previous two films in the trilogy, (Amores Perros & 21 Grams) it left me feeling depressed. I guess its the randomness of fate and destruction of lives which gets me down, my drawing is of the two Moroccan brothers on the hill side about to release the near fatal bullet which connects the film's stories.

Horror Films 03 The RUINS...

When I went to Blockbusters for my 'Five for £5' deal this was the only other Horror Film I could find on the shelf that I haven't seen. After watching the trailer I had low expectations of this twisted tale of tequila fueled young people seemingly hunted down by... an ancient Mayan Temple. Low expectations indeed. The film delivers on all fronts and has some genuinely queasy body 'invasion' moments. Sympathy's for the victims emerge when you realise there is no way out from the scenario, even when they do what you think they should be doing if it was you caught in the same situation. Digging a bit deeper into the history of the film, it comes from a 'Best Seller' Novel, Dreamworks and Ben Stiller... see what horror hides.

Horror Films 02 HALLOWEEN 1&2...

I watched both these via the BBC iPlayer where they look old and not really that scary. The prototype for nearly every horror film from America since? I might have seen them on release and remember thinking, nothing seems to happen. Late into the night I endured the hammy acting and seventies tank tops that is until the last few minutes of Halloween 2 which actually got good, then it sank in, this is a slasher movie. Michael Myers surley has the smallest knife ever bestowed upon a movie zombie villian.

Horror Films 01 SHROOMS...

Part of my Halloween celebrations involved, as well as eating huge homemade vege pies, chips and mushy peas, watching scary films. Over the next few days I'll show you drawings from the ones I watched. Today I start off with the twisted tale of mushroom fueled young people seemingly hunted down in a spooky wood.... SHROOMS.

I do like fantasy and horror films. They are the home of invention and ideas because people expect so little from them, that is where the pleasure lies. When something surprises you whether an idea or an image, that is when the film lifts you off the sofa and into their universe. Films, especially fantasy and horror films employ a lot of creative artists and it's usually from that that aspect I am looking at how the film works. I don't get scared at what I'm seeing, be it galleons of gore or the soul of a child haunting an orphanage, I'm too busy working out how they did it, why it works. Saying that the trend for endurance torture a few years ago (Wolf Creek, Hostel etc ) did make me feel queasy... and a bit bored.

BIG Draw Event...

Wednesday was the Big Draw event at Westgate Studios. Over 40 people joined in drawing to live music throughout the evening, on the papered walls of the Project Space. The evening went well and I spent four hours drawing, I drank far too much Guinness in The Hop afterwards. Standing two floors down on door duty listening to Dave Hanvey playing the Melodeon, and as the music flowed down the stairs, past me and onto the Kebab and Booze addled Westgate Run, I thought, just for a moment, this could be Paris. More pics from the event here at the Westgate Studios Blog.