Defragmentation

Today I had a bit of a shock to discover that my hard drive was full. While clearing up folders and a good old bit of defragmenting I stumbled across some of my old college work.

Some photos from various projects throughout my youth: 

Life Drawing:

The following was an interactive project on Jasper Johns. His famous "number series" paintings are consisted of many layers. So to represent this idea of layers I created a huge mobile. The numbers hanging down appear separate; but when viewed in different ways seem interlinked. I projected spotlights covered in coloured acetate to mimic the explosion of colours he uses throughout his work. 

This was the set up I used to create the final images:

The sun and I are not on the same wavelength

Today is a wonderfully hot day. The sun has decided to come out and tease us all again. So I had the brilliant idea of filming my last scene with the curtains and the window open...

Now half my images have different exposures. owrjngoaurengrin. Yes. Fuck.

On the bright side (ha) my animation is nearly complete! I will keep my progress updated. But for now, it looks like a have a tedious date with photoshop...

Bringing plasticine to life

I'm very excited. Set aside a whole day to finish the set design for my robot's house and animate it, and now scene one is complete! My little robot fell over several times due to a rather terrible design flaw of having a head too big for it's body and very small feet, but all in all she/he's coping very well.

Yesterday I popped back home and raided my dolls house for furniture. My old model of robot was a tad large for the chair so made a smaller version without the original wire skeleton. 

My excitement will have to wait until monday though to see the finished scene after it's been through FCP. 

Here is the set before I got it all grubby dragging plasticine balls across it:

woo!

I apologize. I don't speak pineapple.

So many adverts leave me feeling like i've missed the punch line. However, not these. Proof that simple is often genius. 

Robotics

What a horrible day. Rain AND gale force winds, that kind that make you entirely blind because your hair decides to blow in every direction possible. I struggled to find a good enough reason to leave my nice warm bed to subject myself to these harsh conditions. So I very cleverly decided to stay at home and do my project here instead [my other housemates were not so clever and came home shivering, leaving small puddles in their wake]. 

Anyway, so new brief: Man, Woman, Machine. I have been asked to create a sequential narrative embracing the three of these. My idea: to animate a robot who is unsure of it's gender. It will try out stereotypical traits of each, and eventually realize that it will never be more than a lump of metal and circuitry. Poor sod. 

Dug out my animation books I have received every year for christmas since I expressed my love for aardman. Tried my hand at making an amateur armateur out of wire. The skeleton for my robot. In pictures:

 I have a funny feeling it's head is going to be too heavy for the rest of it's body to support it. Hmm.
 Approximately 0.7 seconds after this photograph was taken it fell over. Oh Dear. Looks like a smaller model is in order. Cute though huh?

I've just run out of tobacco. Looks like i'm going to have to brave the weather after all...

How to smash a skull

Set my alarm for 3am to put another layer on the pinata, forgot how hard it is getting up this early (unless you're awaiting an airplane fight, in which case it's all quite exciting and you probably never slept in the first place). I awoke this morning to find it all a little soggy, so dug out my hairdryer and did my best.Moment of truth, snipped the balloon. The papier mache layers I had spend hours building up deflated with the balloon. I could have cried,  but after a cup of coffee and several agitated  cigarettes later, I decided a better reaction would be to stuff it with more paper. Oh dear. My beautiful, crumply disaster. 

Drew a skull on it to fit in with my response. It's vacant eyes seemed to be staring up at me from it's soggy exterior, wondering why i'd spent so long making essentially a wrinkled ball of london papers.

Took the deformed head in anyway, my receiver seemed to have fun tearing it apart. 

Home Decorating

New project. I am responding to a message consisting something along the lines of "If I ever see a certain person again I will break every bone in their body". Lovely stuff.

So i've decided to make a pinata, which my receiver will break, thus venting their anger.

Went and bought some balloons from that amazing 99p store in Elephant shopping centre. Somehow you always seem to find the perfect things that you're not looking for in there. Got home, laid out my collection of newspapers i'd stolen earlier from one of the paper men that permanently look a little spaced, plunged my hands into a rather attractive bowl of paste and began my pinata. My first attempt, how naive of me to think those cheap, rainbow coloured balloons would withstand the weight of my amateur papier mache. And this is how my room now looks somewhat how a creche would look like if Gary Glitter ever visited. 

So attempt two. Not taking any risks this time I buy industrial strength balloons with those elastic bands attached that make that incredibly satisfying noise when punched. Only problem is now i've left it so late it's 12.54 and i've only got a couple of hours left till I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep on my keyboard wondering why I stayed awake writing this post. Oh dear. Updates tomorrow. 

DYNAMIC

Today the "Dynamic 7" created a short one minute documentary of our given word. Surprisingly enough "Dynamic". Anyway, armed with a camcorder and fueled with caffeine and nicotine this is the bi-product of our antics whilst out terrorizing the media block and causing havoc in the corridors. Enjoy.

Tattoo Designs

On Tuesday I attended a house party. After all the wine had been drunk, the cigarettes smoked and the bad tunes played, we talked tattoos. Even though I could barely remember anything at this point, the name Valerie Vargas imprinted my memory, a tattooist currently working at Frith Street in Soho. The following day I browsed through her website and was so inspired by her realistic, detailed designs that I had to grab my pencils and start drawing.

For a couple of months I have been lusting over a swirl like design for my ankle. I've now re-drawn it, added a timepiece necklace that seems to never leave my neck and a couple of characteristic leaves. Vastly improved (and astronomically glad that I never got round to getting the other design done first) The result is below:

I just realized the clock reads 11.40 as oppose to 7 (lucky number). 

Oops.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a girl in Brick Lane with a unicorn tattoo wrapped around her upper arm, slightly hidden adding a small level of mystery to it. It was beyond beautiful. 

I've been considering getting a horse design for a while now.

So, similar concept, wild horse tattoo design. Live your life and never look back. 

The next two designs are inspired by Valerie Vargas. Thought I would try my hand at a couple of portraits. 

Simple gypsy pin up tattoo design: