31.5.12
D's Freezies
Movie Trailers
The Invisible War (A chilling Documentary on the worst issue for female servicewomen)
Les Miserables (Rusty will do anything to sing...)
Video Game Trailers
Video games have changed. We have the AAA titles and we have phone apps and the middle ground (along with its developers) are fading away. But then there's those games which take a great 'little game' idea and marry it to some AAA, beautiful and well executed art direction and make something different all together. I hope the game is as good as this trailer for Deadlight.
This is not an awesome trailer, but it is a clever post modern one... By the folks who brought you one of the best trailers ever (video game, movie or otherwise), this is Mad Riders.
30.5.12
Photography: A Girl And Her Room
This project is about teenage girls and young women at a transitional time of their lives, alone in the privacy of their own personal space and surroundings: their bedroom, a womb within the outside world.
29.5.12
The Music Box
On the banks of the Mississippi, New Orleans there is a house they call the risin... No, it's called The Music Box; a shanty town that doubles as a living collection of instruments.
Interactive Story: Dragon Brush
A neat looking interactive story book in the works...
Based on a traditional Chinese folktale, Dragon Brush is the story of Bing-Wen, a young boy who loves to paint. When given a magical brush that makes drawings come to life, Bing-Wen must use his art and his wits to outsmart the greedy Emperor.
28.5.12
Advert: From Love to Bingo
A clever little advert by AlmapBBDO using 873 stock images to advertise... Getty's stock images...
27.5.12
Voice Actor Star Wars Redux
Long but marvellous; seven of the world's greatest voice actors team up to retell Star Wars, through the voices of some of their most popular alter egos (and then some) at the Emerald City Comic Con.
26.5.12
BriTANick: Boys Night In
I don't really understand what's going on in this short, but I was laughing out loud (technically NSFW due to some nudity but not 'full frontal') by a performance duo called BriTANick. If you enjoy it, check out their full video blog including a hilarious one with Joss Whedon.
Kozyndan at Jellyfish Lake
25.5.12
Dying man finds support on World of Warcraft
Not exactly a 'feel good story' but a surprisingly supportive article on the usually much maligned video game experience and the positive effect it can have for people... All the more surprisingly on NineMSN.
In the game of World of Warcraft, Patrice Anseline is a level 85 Blood Elf Death Knight called Sackmagraph, of the Dath'Remar Horde’s Hydra guild. In reality, he is a Victorian father-of-three who is facing the painful truth that he may soon die from prostate cancer, which has reached the lining of the brain and is inoperable.
24.5.12
D's A-Z of Heroes
In 2007 I was part of an exhibition called Homage (including fellow Melbourne artists Tim Burke, Maya Graham, Trevor Molloy, Amanda Toniolo and Antoine Toniolo); a group show and tribute to the comic masters and those they influenced. We mostly worked in isolation and I think were all pleased when we saw each others work together, all very different but working in harmony.
One of my works was the piece below called Icon, which was a kind of nod to the singular iconography of the superhero. I wanted to bring as diverse a group of superhero icons as possible into a single abstract pattern; to see if the strength in design cold remain after abstraction and displacement. I chose based on familiarity, obscurity and pure personal favouritism.
I rendered each symbol whole then placed and cropped until I felt I had created a kind of neutral mosaic. In retrospect I probably should have pushed the abstraction further but I think it finished up as a nice piece.
More recently we wanted to make a meaningful and memorable gift for our newly arrived nephew Cameron. I went back to the drawing board with Icon and decided to reinvent it as an A-Z of superheroes for the nursery! It was damned hard finding superheroes for every letter (I began with about half) that had both a definable symbol (not all do) and were well known enough to be worthy of inclusion (thanks to those who I asked for advice!)! I then rendered the remaining symbols and set about repositioning them with a slightly less abstraction than the original.
My hope is that Cameron will look and wonder at these mysterious icons and seek out the comics. I'm not a fan (or even knowledgeable) of all, but some of my favourite titles are there in the alphabet above and I hope that he gets as much enjoyment from them as I do.
Do you know all the symbols?
You can now buy the print here on my Artflakes account.
One of my works was the piece below called Icon, which was a kind of nod to the singular iconography of the superhero. I wanted to bring as diverse a group of superhero icons as possible into a single abstract pattern; to see if the strength in design cold remain after abstraction and displacement. I chose based on familiarity, obscurity and pure personal favouritism.
I rendered each symbol whole then placed and cropped until I felt I had created a kind of neutral mosaic. In retrospect I probably should have pushed the abstraction further but I think it finished up as a nice piece.
More recently we wanted to make a meaningful and memorable gift for our newly arrived nephew Cameron. I went back to the drawing board with Icon and decided to reinvent it as an A-Z of superheroes for the nursery! It was damned hard finding superheroes for every letter (I began with about half) that had both a definable symbol (not all do) and were well known enough to be worthy of inclusion (thanks to those who I asked for advice!)! I then rendered the remaining symbols and set about repositioning them with a slightly less abstraction than the original.
My hope is that Cameron will look and wonder at these mysterious icons and seek out the comics. I'm not a fan (or even knowledgeable) of all, but some of my favourite titles are there in the alphabet above and I hope that he gets as much enjoyment from them as I do.
Do you know all the symbols?
You can now buy the print here on my Artflakes account.
Movie Trailers
Skyfall (007)
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix? Sign me up!)
The Great Gatsby
The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson and Joaquin Phoenix? Sign me up!)
The Great Gatsby
Graphic Design
Pentagram is something of a near mythical centre for design excellence and it's a reputation well earned. I've been lucky enough top see a number of it's members speak at AGIdeas and they really do have an amazing catalogue, and story to tell; which they do tell above, celebrating 40 years of work with a clever little showpiece. Check out their website too...
Established in 1991 by Ken Cato and developed and presented by the Design Foundation in Melbourne, Australia. agIdeas offers an extraordinary program of events that celebrate design excellence and promotes the value of design driven innovation.
Each year agIdeas brings 40 internationally acclaimed creative people to Melbourne, those who have pushed the boundaries and excelled in their area of creativity. They present in program such as design conferences, business seminars, workshops, panel discussions and are present at social engagements.
Broad reaching and inspiring London Design studio Graphic Thought Facility
23.5.12
3 Ways To Design Toys That Boost Kids’ Creativity
As a parent and designer (and toy lover), I found this article very interesting: 3 Ways To Design Toys That Boost Kids’ Creativity on Co.Design
The answer, quite simply, is to take back creative play by reimagining it for the modern era. Kids create, learn, and share their ideas through imaginative play. With pirate costumes, dolls, saucepan drum sets, and refrigerator-box moon bases kids aren’t just practicing for “real life,” they’re training their brains to see new possibilities--building the “what if” skills that will be critical to their creative success in later years.
22.5.12
Video Game Trailer: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens is one of those rare franchises that actually enjoys a pretty good history of video game adaptations and as Aliens is one of my favourite films of all time, I am definitely looking forward to Aliens: Colonial Marines.
21.5.12
More of D's Star Wars Illustrations
A couple of new illustrations for my current game.
Vuul the Socorron Desert Guide and connoisseur of lizard meat...
The crew start a bar (Cantina) room brawl... again...
New Cover
I've been busy trying to catch up on a few classics (in between devouring the Dresden series of books) and had an idea to do this myself (now I've said it out loud, hopefully I'll get around to doing it!) but here's a great Blog by Matt Roeser, a Boston graphic designer who redesigns the covers of book's he's just read!
20.5.12
Neil Gaiman Keynote Address
This is a pretty inspiring key note address by the broad and brilliantly talented author Neil Gaiman with great advice for aspiring creatives.
Measuring the Universe
From 'Measuring the Universe: from the transit of Venus to the edge of the cosmos' an exhibition currently showing at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. I think I did learn something... And a nice little infomation to boot...
18.5.12
Video Game High School (VGHS) : Ep. 1
I'm a late comer to the stylings of Freddie W(ong), video game/pop culture Youtube filmmaker, but this is hot off his press; Epidode 1 of a new series called Video Game High School.
Ken Burns: On Story
A concise but very insightful look into his process and motivation, and a great interview with the documentary makers Sarah Klein and Tom Mason
Fingerings: Judith Ann Braun
17.5.12
D's Neopetsupials
16.5.12
The Lego Gender Gap
Video Game Trailer: The Last of Us
Trailer's Maketh not the Game, but this is a pretty nice little 'teaser' (rather than a trailer) for The Last of Us that certainly captures everything I love as a Zombiephile about Zombie fiction...
14.5.12
Johnson Arms
13.5.12
10.5.12
D's L's Invite
It's my daughter's 7th Birthday soon and she has a 'monster' party planned... I had great visions of creating a stunning invitation with some fun characters in picture frames, like a wall of photos from the Adam's family and thus set about playing around with a few sketches...
However... My daughter, budding artist that she is, saw my initial drawings and decided to do her own... The results were frankly quite spectacular...
Looking forward to doing this little project myself I initially had ideas of weaseling my way back into the role, but after watching her carry that sketchbook around all day, churning out one amazing monster after another; my black heart melted and I instead was content to take a back seat...
We scanned her images in, set her up with Photoshop... And except for a few minor tweaks, the entire menagerie below is all her work!
Note the Zombie (top left) with dismembered limbs and flies and 'smell lines' on the large Zombie (middle right). My favourite is the grey creature (top row third from the left) which was the only one I couldn't immediately identify. When questioned, she informed me sagely that it was a 'mutant koala'.
I could practically weep with pride...
Looking forward to doing this little project myself I initially had ideas of weaseling my way back into the role, but after watching her carry that sketchbook around all day, churning out one amazing monster after another; my black heart melted and I instead was content to take a back seat...
We scanned her images in, set her up with Photoshop... And except for a few minor tweaks, the entire menagerie below is all her work!
Note the Zombie (top left) with dismembered limbs and flies and 'smell lines' on the large Zombie (middle right). My favourite is the grey creature (top row third from the left) which was the only one I couldn't immediately identify. When questioned, she informed me sagely that it was a 'mutant koala'.
I could practically weep with pride...
9.5.12
RIP Maurice Sendak
As you probably know by now, legendary author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, known of course for such children's books as Where The Wild Things Are and his unique, dark but wonderful expressions of childhood has passed from us... Enjoy his hilarious and sharp final 2 part interview on the Colbert Report.
7.5.12
Tribal Photographic Study: Namsa Leuba
Inspired by a trip to Guinea Conakry Namsa Leuba constructs and deconstructs the human body in this photographic study. Check out the full site too.
6.5.12
Installations and Sculpture: Henrique Oliveira
Create a Culture of Innovation
From Co.Design, Scott
Anthony, a managing director at the innovation consulting firm
Innosight, offers a step-by-step guide to How Do You Create A Culture Of Innovation?
3.5.12
Every 45 seconds of Children of Men
Hopefully it goes without saying just what a breathtaking film Children Of Men is. One 'feature' of the film is it's famous long shots, but it wasn't until I came across this little montage that I realised just how many there is; 16 shots over 45 seconds, 6 of those over 90! Alfonso Cuaron's new film, 'Gravity', will have a 17+ minute opening shot- Mind boggling...
Enjoy them above. If you haven't seen it, watch it (before watching this)!
Animated Short: Will
Watch this moving, stunning animated short in a moment of peace away from the office. Incredible: Will
D's Star Wars: Rogue Traders
The following article contains nerdity, reader discretion is advised.
One of my hobbies (or in my case 'Life Style choices') is that I play roleplaying games (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons).
As part of a Star Wars game I'm currently running I use an interesting community site called Obsidian Portal to help me manage my game; essentially a repository for information, rules and player journals. This site has literally thousands of other such 'campaigns' and each month they nominate one site as 'Campaign of the Month'... This Month, it was us... Star Wars: Rogue Traders. Now a big part of that award goes to my players who keep a weekly journal of their antics in the game and it is pretty awesome reading (if you're into that sort of thing) but my contribution, in addition to managing the site, has been the artwork.
Essentially this has been a bit of an epic personal project for me, creating characters and 'scenes' from the game sessions. Below is a selection, enjoy.
One of my hobbies (or in my case 'Life Style choices') is that I play roleplaying games (e.g. Dungeons & Dragons).
As part of a Star Wars game I'm currently running I use an interesting community site called Obsidian Portal to help me manage my game; essentially a repository for information, rules and player journals. This site has literally thousands of other such 'campaigns' and each month they nominate one site as 'Campaign of the Month'... This Month, it was us... Star Wars: Rogue Traders. Now a big part of that award goes to my players who keep a weekly journal of their antics in the game and it is pretty awesome reading (if you're into that sort of thing) but my contribution, in addition to managing the site, has been the artwork.
Essentially this has been a bit of an epic personal project for me, creating characters and 'scenes' from the game sessions. Below is a selection, enjoy.
Movie Trailers
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (A Superhero movie about bats)
Mansome (Mr Spurlock and the search for manliness)
Elena ('Taut' Russian Drama)
Hick (Chloe's at it again...)
El Gringo (Either a violent, Rodriguez/True Romance inspired farce... or just stupid, not sure yet...)
Mansome (Mr Spurlock and the search for manliness)
Elena ('Taut' Russian Drama)
Hick (Chloe's at it again...)
El Gringo (Either a violent, Rodriguez/True Romance inspired farce... or just stupid, not sure yet...)
2.5.12
Bertrand Russell's Ten Commandments of Teaching
- Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
- Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
- Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
- When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
- Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
- Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
- Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
- Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
- Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
- Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
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