2009年9月30日星期三

This way up

It was played in the 6th LIAF programme 3.



by Smith & Foulkes

I was attracted by this short animation because of it's plot, there was only a process to send the coffin of an old woman into the earth, however, there was a series of small things happened on the way which made the short film wonderful, there was a careful making of details on the facial expressions of the two characters. I like the way of black humor being used in the short film, it has won the laugh of audience in the cinema.

About Smith & Foulkes

Since teaming up with executive producers Chris O’Reilly and Charlotte Bavasso at the Nexus studio back in 1997, Adam Foulkes and Alan Smith have gone on to develop a reputation as one of London’s top directing teams, receiving a 2009 Oscar nomination for their 3D animated short ‘This Way Up’.

Their commercial work includes spots for Coca-Cola, Honda and Observer has also brought them many awards and accolades including a Grand Prix Award and Gold at the Cannes Lions, a Grandy at the ANDYS, an ITV Award for Best Commercial, several BTAA Golds and Silvers, BTAA Craft Gold awards, the Platinum Award for Creative Circle and 2 Golds, 5 Silvers and 2 black pencils at D&AD. Honda ‘Grrr’ is the most awarded commercial in the world from 1999-2008.

Film and broadcast credits include the film title sequence for THUNDERBIRDS and an animated film within a film’ for DreamWorks/Paramount’s LEMONY SNICKET: A SERIES OF UNFORUNATE EVENTS. They also directed several sketches for the BBC’s animated comedy show MONKEY DUST.

Nexus Productions

Bill Porter

On Time Off / 4'30" 2008



This is a short clip from Bill Porter's graduation animiation at the RCA, and it was shown in the international animation festival programmme 3.

Drawn from life and from his memories of working in an ice cream cafe in Cornwall, these images form an animated landscape that takes the viewer on a journey through fire and ice cream and micro-dramas between strangers on a sweltering holiday beach.
Sound design by Shervin Shaeri.

I like the color he used in the animation, he bravely colored people's skin pink, and different tones of red. I like the way he made people look like in a delicate watercolor painting, the images are flowing like water, however, with some careful details depicting the different gestures and facial emotions.

I also like his idea that making connections between fire, icecream as metaphor to the hot weather.

Web: Bill Porter

Bill Porter is currently based in London working as a freelance animation director, animator and compositor after recently completing a master's degree in animation.

MA Animation, Royal College of Art / 2008
BA Illustration, Camberwell College of Art / 2006
ND Fine Art, Cornwall College / 2003

2009年9月29日星期二

Up



If you say travelling and taking risks is to see the views that you haven't seen, to experience a plenary life that you haven't even been able to think about, then encountering and holding together with you is the most gorgeous risk I have ever taken.

This is a potential word by grandma in the movie.

“Thanks for the adventures.” She wrote in the last page of her diary.

This movie is both for children and for adults, it's the adventures and funny characters part for children, and the obscure affection part for adults. This is what makes this pixar movie more meaningful.

I do admire the careful and delicate making of cartoon characters of pixar company in Disney, they use bright colors, vivid characteristics, careful and touching details.

Coloring images for children

This summer, I took an internship in Qingdao press, in the department of children's education, I helped to color the line drafts which were created by drawers.

Those three are of my favourate ones, I only did the coloring part.





There are certain rules for making illustrations for children, some of the widely accepted ones are, the characters should always look cute and friendly, with innocent gestures, big heads, delicate colors etc. They tend to use tiff format to make the coloring, and in CMYK color mode. They always adjust the color of the skin to the same color value, like C 15%, M 10%,Y 0%,k0%. I did lots of coloring and re-coloring work in three weeks time, and I learnt some techniques, also my memory of childhood has been awaken in the process of coloring. Also, I learnt that, there's a mass production running, so time is always limited, the persuation of quality is always ignored facing the huge tasks. Creativity is not very much encouraged in press, in this aspect, making our own children's books can be a good solution.

Gay Icons

London is an open, multicultural place, in which contains all sorts of thoughts and genres, people holding different values can live happily in such a city. It really surprised me when I found so many pages about gay and lesbian clubs on Timeout London magazine, and when I see real gay couples' intimate relationship in public spaces, when I see this exhibition- gay icons.

A gay icon or LGBT icon is a historical figure, celebrity or public figure who is embraced by many within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.Qualities of a gay icon often include glamour, flamboyance, strength through adversity, and androgyny. Such icons may be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgendered; they may also be closeted or open with their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Historical icons are typically elevated to such status because their sexual orientation remains a topic of great debate among historians. Modern gay icons, who are predominantly female entertainers, typically garner a large following within LGBT communities over the course of their careers. The majority of gay icons fall into one of two categories: the tragic, sometimes suicidal figure or the prominent pop culture idol.

Wikipedia-Gay Icon

The exhibiton:

Gay Icons explores gay social and cultural history through the unique personal insights of ten high profile gay figures, who have selected their historical and modern icons.

The chosen icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, have all been important to each selector, having influenced their gay sensibilities or contributed to making them who they are today. They include artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney; writers Daphne du Maurier and Quentin Crisp; composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Benjamin Britten; musicians k.d. lang, the Village People and Will Young; entertainers Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Savage and Kenneth Williams; sports stars Martina Navratilova and Ian Roberts and political activists Harvey Milk and Angela Mason.

Their fascinating and inspirational stories will be illustrated by over sixty photographic portraits including works by Andy Warhol, Snowdon and Cecil Beaton together with specially commissioned portraits of the selectors by Mary McCartney. McCartney. All are set in a striking exhibition design conceived by renowned theatre designer, Robert Jones.

Pollocks Toy Museum

Pollocks Toy Museum

Location
1 Scala Street
London W1T 2HL

Pollocks Toy Museum takes its name from Benjamin Pollock, the last of the Victorian Toy Theatre printers. Set up by Marguerite Fawdry who bought up the stock of Benjamin Pollock Ltd., after trying to buy one small item for her son’s toy theatre.

Benjamin Pollock’s original shop at 73 Hoxton Street,
Shoreditch which unfortunately was subject to bomb damage in the Second World War.
The present museum has been at Scala Street since 1969.

Nearly every kind of toy imaginable turns up here from all over the world and from all different time periods. It’s a fascinating exhibition of toy theatres, teddy bears, wax and china dolls, board games, optical toys, folk toys, nursery furniture, mechanical toys and doll’s houses.

2009年9月26日星期六

the 6th London international animation festivel

Web:LIAF

BEST OF LIAF09
Muto

The new short film by Blu
an ambiguous animation painted on public walls.
Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)

Blu Sketch Notebook

This is the best result of the london international animation festival.From Blu's website, I found that he had done graffiti around major cities in Europe like Berlin, Barcelona, Milano, Beograd. He painted them, photographed them, made videos with them, animated them. He had used walls and the surroundings as a whole, he had used them to created characters, to give life to those things, together with the technique of technology, he created art in a solid and vivid way.

I was then inspired by him, and felt passionate about making sketches, and thus turning my own characters into various media, they could be illustrations on my wall, they could be on badges, they could be on cards, on tees, they could also even be crafts.

Claire Richards

Claire Richard is an artist and illustrator. She illustrates children's books, paint kids portraits, design cards and make groovy toys. She paints with bright watercolours, oil paint and digital. Her art is inspired by childhood memories and kids she meets.

I came across her website by incident when I was actually researching Claire White, and I was then fancinated by her bright style.





These pictures are selected by myself from her online blog, I really like the light and bright colors she used, and there's a tone of innocence in her drawing that make me admire this style.

Web: Claire Richards Art Blog

Cartoon Museum

I visited Cartoon Museum twice when I was in London this summer, and I made notes and drawings for the ones that attrated me on the second time I visited,as below:


The couple on the left and the bird on the right are from two different drawings. The couples were actually on the court of their divorce, I especially like their facial expressions as they are really ironic.It has used simple lines to convey the emotion so well.


Those two are also from two different drawings.I especially like the jumping man on the left, he stands out from the whole drawing in which there were many figures.The exagerrated posture and dressing made him unique and lovely.


The top two are from the same drawing, in which there was a mysterious atmosphere, each of the figures in the drawings were however unique. It has used different thin and fat figures, accurate facial expressions to varify the different characters.

Web: Cartoon Museum

Address:
35 Little Russell Street
London
WC1A 2HH
England

Introduction:
There are currently about 900 works in the collection. These include original cartoons, caricatures, drawings, sketches and letters.There is also a selection of eighteenth century original prints. Some rare books featuring the work of cartoon artists are also included in the collection.

Collection details
Design, Film and Media, Fine Art, Literature, Social History, Weapons and War

Key artists and exhibits

* Rare and original artwork on loan from The Beano, the Dandy, and Topper including The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy the Whizz, Desperate Dan, Beryl the Peril and of course Dennis the Menace.
* Classic works by Gillray including The Plum Pudding and, John Bull - taking a luncheon, and The Zenith of French Glory.
* Cartoons in 3D including Gerald Scarfe¹s memorable Chairman Mao, Scarfe's caricatured original leather armchair from 1971.
* Cartoons by Larry, Kipper Williams, Tony Husband, Nick Newman and many more.
* Emett¹s working ‘Fairway Birdie’ (made by this eccentric cartoonist whose wacky contraptions appeared in Chitty Bang Bang, and at The Festival of Britain.)
* Classic war cartoons including Sir David Low¹s ‘All Behind you, Winston’, and Bruce Bairnsfather¹s, ‘If you know a better ‘Ole...’
* Colour mural painted by top cartoonists including Steve Bell, Dave Brown, Martin Rowson, Peter Brookes, Chris Riddell, MAC and Hunt Emerson.
* Annual cover drawings by Carl Giles featuring the Giles family and his immortal Granny.

2009年9月25日星期五

Simplicity and complexity

Chongchong's website:

http://www.likefar.com/chongchong/index.html
http://www.chongchong.net/

Chongchong's idea about simplicity and complexity

The drawing process is about getting from simplicity to complexity, and the other way around. 

At first we draw with single lines, like lifedrawing or linedrawing. Soon we discover that the power of single lines is not enough as visual expressions, the sense of solid and reality is not enough. So we improved our tools and techniques, we drew from charcoal drawing, to gouache, oil painting, the expression since been enhanced, the documentation make drawings more like real photos. 

There's a difference between beginners and experts, that is, if they could draw deep down into a painting.However, these details can not be restrained, they are not delicate and careful depicting, but to find out the points that make you interested in, and to make them terrific. It is not only a sort of ability to find such points, and it's also the reason why personal art style has formed.
 
When you are able to draw into complexity, then you return to simplicity. The lines are still lines, however, with a totally different spirit. Because the simplicity is based on complexity, is based on dissecting and selecting. If there's no such process, simplicity is just simple, but with this process, simplicity is simple and deep.

Travel Illustrations-3

These illustrations are done by Chongchong, who is from Chongqing,China,the editor of CPCW.
She's into traveling, photography, drawing and crafts.


I've shot several unique icons of toilets using camera, however,using illustrations is also a fun way.


Putting colors into images when necessary is a good method to stress the importance.


A bit exaggeration makes the image more vivid.


In my previous illustrations, I'm lacking of this sort of scene drawing, this tells a story, it is a direction that I'm going to develop myself into.






Changing the actual size of objects can make the image more interesting.


This one is really really similar to the one that I have done, which really surprised me:)

Travel Illustrations-2

Bookcover:

Title: Turkey travel illustrations
Writer: Peiyu, Zhang
A geography teacher in Zhongshan Girl's high school of Tai Wan.
Enjoys drawing while travelling, she's been to Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey,Czech, Austria and Hungary. She's been awarded one of the"Asia-Pacific creative teachers".

Pages inside:


Peiyu's drawing materials:



This book was done by Peiyu Zhang when travelling to Turkey for two months.She has documented all her travel experience and adventures of mind in this travel diary.She's got lightening, enlivening texts and elegant, amusing illustrations.

The picture books that are popular among markets are almost only with illustrations, however, this book has included texts, index,page number all hand drawn by writer herself. So this book has somehow been unique from picture book publishing.
As a travel book, it is lovely and sincere. Unlike the overall travel books with landscape photos, this one was done with elegant and careful illustrations, vivid texts and many details of the writer herself like travel maps and daily expenses. So this book is both worth appreciating and its functional as well.

2009年9月23日星期三

Travel Illustrations

I did use text and illustrations to make record of my trips to Shanghai and Beijing this summer, it was my first time trying to document my own experience by using this combination.I haven't learnt anything about others works on travel illustrations, and I get interested in this area by doing more research.

Below are my works:








From my illustrations above, I used quite a lot of texts instead of images, which I suppose could develop more texts into visual language in the future.
I mainly drew objects and architectures, but used texts to tell stories, and I think story telling is the next step I can develop myself into.
I could make more research about others work and finally make my own book.Blurb is a good website which can help you make your own photo book:http://www.blurb.com/

2009年9月22日星期二

Chinese Posters



 

web:google books 

I came across this book in the store of tate modern gallery, and was fasinated by its content. I was surprised that there could be such a book in an outstanding gallery in UK, and it drew my attention on the relationship between politics and arts.

A strong relationship between the arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power,occurs across historical epochs and cultures. As they respond to contemporaneous events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of controversy and even a force of political as well as social change.

web: wikipedia

I'm particularly interested in the relationship between politics and arts in Beijing, because I've seen a lot in the modern art in Beijing, and I will do more research later on.

2009年9月20日星期日

Lonely passenger's mystic banquet







From www: Sina Blog

Those are from "catridgebox" picture book store in Beijing, it was uncle Lan's new book release day. There were handmade puppets everywhere in the store, it's a great feast for the eyes.


Story by: Lan Huo
Illustrator:Cocoidoor

It is the first handmade puppet picture book released in China.

About uncle Lan:

He takes loneliness to everywhere in the world, just like when he was trvelling, he takes loneliness everywhere in the world into his stories.
No matter his fairytales, music critics or small novels. Trains, hotels, journeys, all about encountering and farewelling, they are one's destiny.

2009年9月19日星期六

Jimmy

Jimmy , B.A. in Fine Arts, with a major in Design. Since 1998, Jimmy published several illustrated books with amazing originality and multi-faceted narratives. He had set a fashion in creating and publishing illustrated books in Taiwan and then international markets. Utilizing images as a refreshing form of literary language, Jimmy creates in his works poetic frames that emit charms and appeals.

So far, his books are translated into English, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean and so forth. Being the most popular illustrator author in Asia, creating lots of fantasy and touch hearts cross all generation. Immersing in his works is just like to go into Jimmy's inner world, his inviting stories reflect our real life, more and more people are intoxicated by his vivid strokes and his magic realism narratives. Now in Asia, "Jimmy" is like a pop of a new life style.

From www: Metapedia

Below are the books I've read and like written and illustrated by Jimmy.









Making picture books for adults

Jimmy Liao's illustrated books about people coping in the modern urban world have been a big hit with office workers, housewives and other adults.

The picture books are popular because they touch on common feelings of being alienated, stressed out by work or fears about losing jobs and loved ones, readers say. Most of the pages in the paperback books -- usually the size of a cocktail napkin -- have one line of text and a clever, cute or whimsical cartoon-like drawing that advances the plot.

From www: Taipei Times

Unlike modernism trying to present the truth of world, postmodernism aims to create new world by languages. Jimmy attempts to replace the sole meaning of fixed language; instead, his use of illustrations can boost imagination. His whimsical and poetic moments gave birth to beautiful ideas, which are transmitted by pictures. There would be various interpretations and understandings of the same picture book and they all depend on reader’s personal experience. In a postmodernism age, picture plays an important part of communication, and it is able to leave a blank space for free imagination. That is a crucial feature that pictures books of Jimmy can translate into several languages and touch people of distinct cultures.

From Jimmys own articles, I found that he's not good at remembering numbers or dates, however, he's quite good at remembering scenes and pictorial information. Many of his pictures in his novels came from his dream or a short period time of pictorial memory. Also, he felt forced to draw when he first started his career, all his characters were tools for him to make a living, he didn't have any sentiment on them. Until he got very sick, he had to fight against destiny, he started to miss his characters, and started to put his real emotions inside them, and this gradually made him become a master and get successful afterwards.