Oh blimey I used to love Comic Twart. A twitter and website collection of images drawn from a given theme each week. I used the weekly subject to test out new apps or tools I'd not tried (for example - the that week updated vector tools in Pixelmator for Chel above...) But mostly I joined in each week to try to emulate and lift myself to the skill level of the chosen few who were featured on the site. ...and every Monday there was 'the wait' while the new subject was uploaded... Nowadays it's Sketch Dailies which has taken the place of Twart... again there are some extraordinary pieces of art in the Twitter feed as a result but nowadays I have far less time to join in. This morning I saw a couple of lovely Portrait of the Artist pictures and this happened on the Surface I'm supposed to be finishing up paperwork on. Very much a portrait of my week, more than my year, so maybe I'll get to revisit it post Ofsted.
But I do miss Twart... Sometimes I think the only thing I know how to truly do is draw. That's unfair and untrue of course, I teach with stats that are almost all on the 95-100% bracket. I youth work and can read a room of 100 kids and know where to stand to be most effective - where the trouble might be or who looks like they need to talk. I organise events for 50+ students to work in a range of places, demonstrating tablet art and touch screen apps. In the most recent residential trip the college did I managed to place 49 people in sharing rooms right first time with only one change needed... I've become a bit of a ninja at that side of things and the students and I have comfortably shown our skills in front of a million people over the past two years. But the least good thing? Paperwork. Excel just makes me feel queasy and sick so I avoid it. And the second least good thing? Ofsted are in my college this week. And, as good as I am at the things I'm good at, I know I'll be judged on the things I am not. I am an elephant being judged on his climbing skills. I've been in most days this week (a lovely sunny half term) sorting, printing and tidying. But this morning I just needed a five minute drawing break. Hence this: Drawn on iPad mini 2 using Adobe's experimental Eazel app. It's not for everyone, and it can't do everything, but as an interface it's unique and fascinating. And, of course, coffee. There's been a lot of that. This weekend was, amongst other things, a far too quick run past MCM Comic Expo. I've got a lot of love for that show, its got a huge energy and vibrancy and the quality of Cosplay is extraordinary (Cosplay being fans of particular shows, films and games dressing up as close to their chosen character as they can). The students were all gutted we couldn't try and do a third MCM showing this year (we've done it the past two years) but time was just horribly against us (in fact their final day for handing stuff in is today and, true to form, some are leaving it to the last minute). We've done a few cosplay orientated shows and they're all fab, a huge amount of fun to be a part of and the people involved are universally fan and wonderful. I've no idea what our next show will be, although there's a couple I would LOVE to do but above are a hint to the next thing I want to being into what we do. Extreme close ups focusing on the quality of the costumes. Below is a video I did a couple of years ago at our first MCM. It was a fab day and remains one of my favourite shows the students and I have done. Being the continued adventures of picture that I was determined to keep playing with... I think it's finished but who knows, I do have a habit of picking up the iPad mini and loading up the image file for a few more minutes of noodling about with.
Up and Star Wars have both been huge influences on me. Star Wars - the first three not the worst three - was my childhood encapsulated in a range of collections and Up, well, I do seem to keep coming back to it in pictures. It is a lovely film, so not a surprise - more of a surprise is that, for some reason, I have next to no interest in Inside Out. I'm sure it'll be a wonderful film but something about it leaves me cold, which is sad. Maybe, finally, I'm growing up. Man I hope not.... I am my own worst enemy sometimes... I get space, headspace or time to draw so infrequently that I snatch at the opportunity and post immediately I think I'm finished. Witness the above reworking (woke up at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep so thought I'd spend some time with Mr. The Emperor). Versus this picture above. To be fair it was an image that I thought of late and wanted to definitively post on May the Fith... (See earlier blog for more details on that one...) Don't think I'm going to rework much else of the picture. The Death Star has had a bit more play that said, but I like the rough detailing/texture of the balloons... I may change the text in the original (although I've no plan or idea in mind), but whichever way round I'm going to try not to post anything until it's done. ... doesn't mean I'm not going to post the occasional work in progress pic though :)
My current smart phone is an HTC one M8. I love it for a number of reasons - general design, sound, has the best screen for using styli on and so forth... Today, and most days in fact, I drew on it (painted -mostly- on the bus from Woking to Guildford with the t-shirt added shortly after): And sometimes (this morning as a matter of fact, and most days too) I used it as my main go to camera: Which I love loads. I'm fairly aware that the M9 has a better camera, which I'd love to make use of, but new phones don't come my way too often, I'm generally a generation behind. Regardless it's a top phone and well deserved the many awards it won last year. As an art and photography device? Well worth using. If you have one you should give Didlr, ArtRage, Corel Painter, Type Drawing, Snapseed and more a go. A number of my students seem to think Face Fusion is the funniest thing ever as well. You should try that too... ... for me at least.
I don't get invited to the cool parties that often, so it's doubly galling that the opening of Shake Shack East London, which I was invited to as a prior artist in residence of the fabulous burger bar, fell on a day that had college evening duties I couldn't escape from. Grrrr, etc. Which probably added to the tears of cheesy sadness which underpin the picture above. Who knows, maybe there will be an equally cool happening soon which I can get to. (Drawn on Surface Pro 3 using OneNote app). I'm a sucker for texture, and insects, and macro photography... So, when it turned out that a pineapple, chopped up for a compost bin, had a gloriously odd fibrous texture? Well... it did have to be photographed with my HTC One and super secret uber cool add on. I was also given a dead wasp to photograph... I'd love to do butterflies one day... but hey... that's an impressive stinger.
All photos taken on HTC One m8 and edited, a little, in Snapseed. Sat in a shed... ...drew this. And yes... I should have been doing paper work at the time... :( sigh.
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