Any of you who've kept an eye on my DeviantArt page might have arrived at the conclusion that this is the time of year when you could expect another round of blue-pencilled introspection in the form of some Knowing It's Called Aspergers drawings. You would have been right. But you may also have noticed that said drawings haven't happened.
Well, it's been five years now. As of the 6th of July this year, I've lived for half a decade with the notion that it isn't just me being an unfortunate and inexplicable freak of nature, it's part of the autistic spectrum and as such is a known and documented phenomenon and not a unique failing on my part - and after half a decade of chewing over the idea and figuring out how it fits in with everything else, it finally seems to have normalised. The drawings were, in essence, about how I felt on the subject, but now I seem to have assimilated it into my status quo and no longer feel much about it at all: "ah, that time of year. How do I feel? Um... no different to how I felt when I wasn't thinking about it." Hence no drawings; there's nothing to draw this year.
I thought it might have been nice to have one or two "I think things are winding down, so here's a little coda"-type drawings to conclude the series, but I spent most of July (on and off) thinking about the question, and couldn't come up with anything to draw as a coda that wouldn't have felt like a tired re-tread of the previous 44 pictures. And in retrospect, I think the 44th - Day 1475 - serves well enough as a finale to the project.
I'm going to have to start putting something else on my DA page, aren't I?
- The Colclough
Showing posts with label Drawing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drawing. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
It Also Animates!
I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was given a Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet as a Christmas present, and I showed off my first piece of serious Bamboo-based artwork. Today I decided to move ahead with another semi-related project which I've been thinking about for a couple of weeks: an experimental animation using the Bamboo, the GIMP and Sony Vegas. I started drawing the test scene this morning, and finished animating it around mid-afternoon, and it came out looking like this:
As rumoured in the aforementioned previous post, the clip features Elbows Dude, a heavily-stylised character who had featured in just one previous work, a one-off comic strip from 2006 which was called The Short Adventure of Elbows Dude and was about Elbows Dude flexing his elbows a lot and generally being in a comic strip. That's him in the picture above - no, he's the green one, silly; the purple ones are dead cows. And to satisfy the historically-curious among you, here's his debut outing:
Fun fact: I've never published that thing before, perhaps because I thought nobody would get it.
I've got a few other Elbows Dude-related story ideas drifting around, which have been festering in my head since about 2010, and now (along with today's segment) have semi-congealed into something approaching a plot, albeit a really surreal one. Hence the clip I've just made will - hopefully - go on to serve as the opening of a larger production.
Now, I could be all mean and make you wait for the whole film to come out, but I'm not feeling mean today. So rather than keep you all on tenterhooks waiting to find out what the animation actually looks like, I decided to use the existing segment as a teaser trailer for the film. Alright, hush the clamour already - here's your video:
Confused? Yeah. Me too. I have no idea why it's raining cows in there.
Just you wait until you see the rest...
- The Colclough
As rumoured in the aforementioned previous post, the clip features Elbows Dude, a heavily-stylised character who had featured in just one previous work, a one-off comic strip from 2006 which was called The Short Adventure of Elbows Dude and was about Elbows Dude flexing his elbows a lot and generally being in a comic strip. That's him in the picture above - no, he's the green one, silly; the purple ones are dead cows. And to satisfy the historically-curious among you, here's his debut outing:
Fun fact: I've never published that thing before, perhaps because I thought nobody would get it.
I've got a few other Elbows Dude-related story ideas drifting around, which have been festering in my head since about 2010, and now (along with today's segment) have semi-congealed into something approaching a plot, albeit a really surreal one. Hence the clip I've just made will - hopefully - go on to serve as the opening of a larger production.
Now, I could be all mean and make you wait for the whole film to come out, but I'm not feeling mean today. So rather than keep you all on tenterhooks waiting to find out what the animation actually looks like, I decided to use the existing segment as a teaser trailer for the film. Alright, hush the clamour already - here's your video:
Confused? Yeah. Me too. I have no idea why it's raining cows in there.
Just you wait until you see the rest...
- The Colclough
Thursday, 24 January 2013
What the Wacom Can Do
After a minor case of unsubtle hinting, I was given a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch graphics tablet for Christmas. I hadn't really used graphics tablets much before, and my last attempt (borrowing Tim's tablet, which is also a Wacom) produced this rather unimpressive bit of scribble:
However, I was pretty sure that my initial failures were just teething trouble. After all, I spent my first two or three weeks in The GIMP being hopelessly confused and (whisper it!) almost missing Photoshop, of all things - before it suddenly clicked one day, and I've been using the program for all sorts of things ever since. I expected a similar thing would happen with the tablet, if I had one of my own and was able to get some practice.
It looks like I expected right. This morning, I finished this (a rather better piece of scribble, if I say so myself):
I almost crashed GIMP during the production process, as the image had so many layers; in the end I fixed the problem by separating the thing out into three different files - one with the initial compositional layers, a second to tidy up the line art, and a third to add the colour. You can see a higher-resolution version of the finished picture on my DeviantArt page, and you might notice it cropping up as my new avatar on DeviantArt and on Steam.
Where next? Well - here's a bit of good news for the Root Hill attendees among you - I'm very nearly finished the Root Hill On Camera 2012 DVD: the video segments are rendered, the disc menus are authored, and the print components have been designed. All that remains is to produce the physical copies and get them in the post. And once that little project (little... haha, right) is off my slate, I'm planning to try and get back to animating something. So many ideas drifting around right now, including Papercuts episodes 5 onwards (waiting on script delivery from a guest writer or two), Arbitrary Stopframe Series 2 (waiting on... um... me getting round to it), The Murkum Show (working title, waiting on me figuring out what it's actually about apart from having lots of Doctor Murkum in it), and the long-planned Fishy Business remake Empire of the Pond (which has recently seen some movement on the test-illustrations front). But more recently, the idea occurred to me that I should try doing a quick-and-dirty (that fatal phrase...) graphics-tablet cel animation featuring my little-known character Elbows Dude in a variety of improbable scrapes, which he solves with his elbow powers. Right now, I honestly don't know which route I'll be going down next, but all five of them have some appeal, so I'll hopefully be picking one and getting down to business before too long. Watch this space!
- The Colclough
A concept sketch for Fort Paradox 115: my first graphics-tablet drawing. Srsly.
However, I was pretty sure that my initial failures were just teething trouble. After all, I spent my first two or three weeks in The GIMP being hopelessly confused and (whisper it!) almost missing Photoshop, of all things - before it suddenly clicked one day, and I've been using the program for all sorts of things ever since. I expected a similar thing would happen with the tablet, if I had one of my own and was able to get some practice.
It looks like I expected right. This morning, I finished this (a rather better piece of scribble, if I say so myself):
Blue in the Firelight, January 2013
I almost crashed GIMP during the production process, as the image had so many layers; in the end I fixed the problem by separating the thing out into three different files - one with the initial compositional layers, a second to tidy up the line art, and a third to add the colour. You can see a higher-resolution version of the finished picture on my DeviantArt page, and you might notice it cropping up as my new avatar on DeviantArt and on Steam.
Where next? Well - here's a bit of good news for the Root Hill attendees among you - I'm very nearly finished the Root Hill On Camera 2012 DVD: the video segments are rendered, the disc menus are authored, and the print components have been designed. All that remains is to produce the physical copies and get them in the post. And once that little project (little... haha, right) is off my slate, I'm planning to try and get back to animating something. So many ideas drifting around right now, including Papercuts episodes 5 onwards (waiting on script delivery from a guest writer or two), Arbitrary Stopframe Series 2 (waiting on... um... me getting round to it), The Murkum Show (working title, waiting on me figuring out what it's actually about apart from having lots of Doctor Murkum in it), and the long-planned Fishy Business remake Empire of the Pond (which has recently seen some movement on the test-illustrations front). But more recently, the idea occurred to me that I should try doing a quick-and-dirty (that fatal phrase...) graphics-tablet cel animation featuring my little-known character Elbows Dude in a variety of improbable scrapes, which he solves with his elbow powers. Right now, I honestly don't know which route I'll be going down next, but all five of them have some appeal, so I'll hopefully be picking one and getting down to business before too long. Watch this space!
- The Colclough
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Filming Report: Day Four
It's taking longer than I expected.
After four days' filming, I've managed to get through most of the 20-second-long title sequence, about half of Episode 1, and three short scenes for Episode 2. There have been a lot of things taking up time, but the real killer so far has been the 'sets' - I've had to complete the main exterior and dining-room interior backgrounds before I can make any episodes at all, and they've taken forever.
The good news is that those two - which will almost certainly be the largest and most troublesome drawings in the whole project - are now finished, and both have been used for some filming. There's a third major set which I need to complete before I can film the last component for the title sequence, but it hopefully won't be as big as its two predecessors.
Quick breakdown of what happened on which day:
And once I've animated both episodes, then I just need to do some extra sound effects recording, and wait for the music to be delivered.
And then I've got two more scripts lined up for the second production block.
More preview pictures coming when I get round to it.
Y'all had better appreciate this blasted toon when it comes out...
- The Colclough
After four days' filming, I've managed to get through most of the 20-second-long title sequence, about half of Episode 1, and three short scenes for Episode 2. There have been a lot of things taking up time, but the real killer so far has been the 'sets' - I've had to complete the main exterior and dining-room interior backgrounds before I can make any episodes at all, and they've taken forever.
The good news is that those two - which will almost certainly be the largest and most troublesome drawings in the whole project - are now finished, and both have been used for some filming. There's a third major set which I need to complete before I can film the last component for the title sequence, but it hopefully won't be as big as its two predecessors.
Quick breakdown of what happened on which day:
- Parts of the title sequence using blank backgrounds; main title photo; two 'ideogram' elements (a clock and a calendar, used to denote the passage of time instead of captions saying 'ten minutes later' or whatever)
- Scenes on the main exterior set for title sequence and Episode 1
- Ep 1 scene 3 (drystone wall cameo set); Ep 2 scenes 3, 5 and 9 (wait and see!)
- Ep 1 scene 2 (dining room)
And once I've animated both episodes, then I just need to do some extra sound effects recording, and wait for the music to be delivered.
And then I've got two more scripts lined up for the second production block.
More preview pictures coming when I get round to it.
Y'all had better appreciate this blasted toon when it comes out...
- The Colclough
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Cameras Have Rolled
Well, not in the most strictly literal sense, i.e. photochemical film stock passing through an exposure gate at several (usually 24, 25 or 30) frames per second. Like all of my video and animation work, Papercuts is being shot digitally. But the point is: it's now actually being shot. After I don't know how many weeks in pre-production, I've finally started animating some stuff for the new show. Admittedly, all I've got done today is part of the title sequence and a couple of other very small bits and pieces, but it's still a start. It shouldn't take too much work before I can shoot more of the title sequence and a couple of short scenes for Episode 1.
The downside is that in the process of animating what I thought would be the beginning of the title sequence, I discovered that it actually wouldn't be the beginning. I decided there would have to be another shot up front - and then I decided that said shot ought to be on the sofa. The sofa doesn't appear in any of the scripts until Episode 4, so I wasn't going to have to worry about drawing that right yet... but now I need to draw it up front so I can finish the title sequence for Episode 1. Darn. But then again, once the main sets are drawn, they're drawn, and what slows down the production of the first couple of episodes should speed up production on the second pair. Swings and roundabouts and all that.
The main thing is that I'm pretty happy with the material I filmed today, even if its runtime is a bit on the fleeting side.
And to prove that I'm not just bluffing here, and I really did shoot stuff, here's the very first frame to be recorded: Papercuts Main Title Sequence, Shot 2, Frame 001, otherwise known as "DSC_6019.jpg".
Watch this space!
- The Colclough
The downside is that in the process of animating what I thought would be the beginning of the title sequence, I discovered that it actually wouldn't be the beginning. I decided there would have to be another shot up front - and then I decided that said shot ought to be on the sofa. The sofa doesn't appear in any of the scripts until Episode 4, so I wasn't going to have to worry about drawing that right yet... but now I need to draw it up front so I can finish the title sequence for Episode 1. Darn. But then again, once the main sets are drawn, they're drawn, and what slows down the production of the first couple of episodes should speed up production on the second pair. Swings and roundabouts and all that.
The main thing is that I'm pretty happy with the material I filmed today, even if its runtime is a bit on the fleeting side.
And to prove that I'm not just bluffing here, and I really did shoot stuff, here's the very first frame to be recorded: Papercuts Main Title Sequence, Shot 2, Frame 001, otherwise known as "DSC_6019.jpg".
Watch this space!
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Still Alive
Time since last post: about five weeks.
Stuff achieved in that time: job worked, money earned (such a beautiful sheaf of purple banknotes...), Arc Phase Variations no. V partially inked, more Cylinder and Miserable written (just five days to go until Series 3 begins publication, in case you missed the announcement on the comic's homepage), Papercuts elements drawn... and computer reformatted.
I spent today wiping the C drive of my just-over-four-year-old PC, affectionately known as 'Beastie', and reinstalling my software, all in a bid to eradicate a nasty virus called Zeus which infected the machine last Wednesday and proved near-impossible to kill. Fortunately, it only infected software files (not images, music or other media files) and only infected things on the C drive (not my other two hard disks), so I was able to back up my documents and stuff to the external drive, format C, and reinstate most of the stuff I want to keep. Haven't got round to reinstalling my video editors or games yet, but I've got everything I need for my planned C&M writing binge tomorrow - picking up in the middle of the conversation I was writing last week when Zeus forced me to stop.
The first 24 hours when AVG first started telling me my files were getting infected, and before I'd managed to analyse the damage and work out a plan of attack, were somewhat traumatic. I occasionally have dreams where I switch on my computer and instead of starting Windows like it should, it goes off and does loads of really weird stuff that doesn't make any sense at all, and what with me being the creature of habit and logic that I am, I tend to find those dreams quite upsetting. So to actually have a program running around with a mind of its own and breaking things was pretty much a nightmare come true. However, the nightmare is over, and although I might have lost the odd file here and there, I've been able to preserve all the files that I felt any attachment to, and the reformatting has had the beneficial side effect of clearing up quite a bit of software rot. As I sit writing this, Beastie feels much like its old self... just a bit less cluttered. And I've got Dusty the Hamster scuttling round my room, as he often does of an evening. So things seem back to normal, or as close as makes no difference, and I can now look back at the whole escapade a bit more philosophically.
The week without a functional computer did have its downsides, but it actually had several upsides as well. Among other things, it prompted me to spend more time working on the analogue stuff, and I've been very happy with some of the drawings I've got done - especially the exterior of the Papercuts house, which I'm quite looking forward to showing off once the rest of the drawing is done. I also began reading Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones' book on "True Happiness", from Psalm 1, just hours after getting the first infection alert, which I have to say made a very interesting contrast.
All in all, I couldn't help thinking that quote from Portal seemed quite appropriate as today's headline.
Hopefully, normal levels of Colclough-ness will be resumed soon - I mentioned earlier that C&M will restart on Monday, and despite the fact that Papercuts seems to be creeping along very very slowly, the project is actually more alive than the casual viewer might be led to believe.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and evict Dusty from on top of my pillow. Again.
- The Colclough
Stuff achieved in that time: job worked, money earned (such a beautiful sheaf of purple banknotes...), Arc Phase Variations no. V partially inked, more Cylinder and Miserable written (just five days to go until Series 3 begins publication, in case you missed the announcement on the comic's homepage), Papercuts elements drawn... and computer reformatted.
I spent today wiping the C drive of my just-over-four-year-old PC, affectionately known as 'Beastie', and reinstalling my software, all in a bid to eradicate a nasty virus called Zeus which infected the machine last Wednesday and proved near-impossible to kill. Fortunately, it only infected software files (not images, music or other media files) and only infected things on the C drive (not my other two hard disks), so I was able to back up my documents and stuff to the external drive, format C, and reinstate most of the stuff I want to keep. Haven't got round to reinstalling my video editors or games yet, but I've got everything I need for my planned C&M writing binge tomorrow - picking up in the middle of the conversation I was writing last week when Zeus forced me to stop.
The first 24 hours when AVG first started telling me my files were getting infected, and before I'd managed to analyse the damage and work out a plan of attack, were somewhat traumatic. I occasionally have dreams where I switch on my computer and instead of starting Windows like it should, it goes off and does loads of really weird stuff that doesn't make any sense at all, and what with me being the creature of habit and logic that I am, I tend to find those dreams quite upsetting. So to actually have a program running around with a mind of its own and breaking things was pretty much a nightmare come true. However, the nightmare is over, and although I might have lost the odd file here and there, I've been able to preserve all the files that I felt any attachment to, and the reformatting has had the beneficial side effect of clearing up quite a bit of software rot. As I sit writing this, Beastie feels much like its old self... just a bit less cluttered. And I've got Dusty the Hamster scuttling round my room, as he often does of an evening. So things seem back to normal, or as close as makes no difference, and I can now look back at the whole escapade a bit more philosophically.
The week without a functional computer did have its downsides, but it actually had several upsides as well. Among other things, it prompted me to spend more time working on the analogue stuff, and I've been very happy with some of the drawings I've got done - especially the exterior of the Papercuts house, which I'm quite looking forward to showing off once the rest of the drawing is done. I also began reading Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones' book on "True Happiness", from Psalm 1, just hours after getting the first infection alert, which I have to say made a very interesting contrast.
All in all, I couldn't help thinking that quote from Portal seemed quite appropriate as today's headline.
Hopefully, normal levels of Colclough-ness will be resumed soon - I mentioned earlier that C&M will restart on Monday, and despite the fact that Papercuts seems to be creeping along very very slowly, the project is actually more alive than the casual viewer might be led to believe.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and evict Dusty from on top of my pillow. Again.
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Happy days...
The last 48 hours or so have been pretty good ones. Barring the ones I spent failing to get to sleep, that is 8p
The artwork is going well. I finished Stained Glass V on Saturday, started SG VI on Monday, and am very pleased with both. River III and untitled variations no. IV are also coming along more or less as planned. Piccies follow:
River III (WIP)
untitled variations no. IV (WIP)
Tim's been writing some music for one of my in-development animation projects, and it's very cool. Not ready to be shown off yet, but it's one more reason I'm chirpy at the moment.
My new Lego arrived last night. Made my evening, needless to say. And before you all start saying "but I thought you were almost 24..." - there's no such thing as "too much Lego" or "too old for Lego"; those are myths invented by boring people. I haven't had any new Lego in years, and I've tended to put Christmas and birthday money in savings, but this time round I decided I'd actually use some of the cash to buy something I wanted, so I ordered a custom-designed Lego set, with new equipment for Doctor Murkum's private militia.
Some of Murkum's men with their new uniforms, blasters and aircraft - the one in the blue fighter craft is Atkun, the chief engineer, and the one with the white top is Gonce, the cook.
The guinea pigs are gone. I always said they were a bad idea, and eventually everyone else (except Sophie, of course) has come round to my view on the topic. This morning, Ben and I were handed the offending rodents in a box and asked to take them for one last trip, in the general direction of an animal shelter on the far side of Wokingham.
I did get there in the end, no thanks to our satnav which spent the whole journey claiming it couldn't find a GPS signal, while I navigated using memory, road signs, and the odd atlas check by Ben. I decided I don't like driving in Wokingham. Too many confusing one-way streets and stuff. But that's not the point - the point is, it might have looked for about four months like I'd lost the debate, but as of today I have absolutely definitely won. No more pets bigger than a hamster in this house, I don't think.
Speaking of rodents: Dusty is quickly turning out to be a much better critter than the guinea pigs ever were. He's followed Scribbles' footsteps, quite literally, taking his first evening stroll around my desk on Monday. He tried nibbling all sorts of things (including the curtain), but fortunately seemed to decide he didn't like the taste of any of them. I did get a bit worried when he started showing an interest in some coins I'd left lying around, and it looked for a moment as if he was about to stuff a 20p in his cheek and never give it back, but then he changed his mind and waddled off to taste the speaker cable instead. He's incredibly similar to his predecessor, including having big tufts of hair growing out of his hips and making him look like some sort of overgrown fluffy earwig, and including a tendency to jump off the side of the desk and perform dusting services on the way down.
Statistics:
- The Colclough
The artwork is going well. I finished Stained Glass V on Saturday, started SG VI on Monday, and am very pleased with both. River III and untitled variations no. IV are also coming along more or less as planned. Piccies follow:
Stained Glass V (complete) & VI (WIP)
Tim's been writing some music for one of my in-development animation projects, and it's very cool. Not ready to be shown off yet, but it's one more reason I'm chirpy at the moment.
My new Lego arrived last night. Made my evening, needless to say. And before you all start saying "but I thought you were almost 24..." - there's no such thing as "too much Lego" or "too old for Lego"; those are myths invented by boring people. I haven't had any new Lego in years, and I've tended to put Christmas and birthday money in savings, but this time round I decided I'd actually use some of the cash to buy something I wanted, so I ordered a custom-designed Lego set, with new equipment for Doctor Murkum's private militia.
The guinea pigs are gone. I always said they were a bad idea, and eventually everyone else (except Sophie, of course) has come round to my view on the topic. This morning, Ben and I were handed the offending rodents in a box and asked to take them for one last trip, in the general direction of an animal shelter on the far side of Wokingham.
I did get there in the end, no thanks to our satnav which spent the whole journey claiming it couldn't find a GPS signal, while I navigated using memory, road signs, and the odd atlas check by Ben. I decided I don't like driving in Wokingham. Too many confusing one-way streets and stuff. But that's not the point - the point is, it might have looked for about four months like I'd lost the debate, but as of today I have absolutely definitely won. No more pets bigger than a hamster in this house, I don't think.
Speaking of rodents: Dusty is quickly turning out to be a much better critter than the guinea pigs ever were. He's followed Scribbles' footsteps, quite literally, taking his first evening stroll around my desk on Monday. He tried nibbling all sorts of things (including the curtain), but fortunately seemed to decide he didn't like the taste of any of them. I did get a bit worried when he started showing an interest in some coins I'd left lying around, and it looked for a moment as if he was about to stuff a 20p in his cheek and never give it back, but then he changed his mind and waddled off to taste the speaker cable instead. He's incredibly similar to his predecessor, including having big tufts of hair growing out of his hips and making him look like some sort of overgrown fluffy earwig, and including a tendency to jump off the side of the desk and perform dusting services on the way down.
Statistics:
- First 12 for '12 status: 10 down, 2 to go
- Latest book read: part of 1 Kings from the KJV
- Latest film/TV watched: Michael Palin's Sahara, part 2
- Latest music listened to: Golden Cube OST (WIP) by Timothy Johnston
- Latest edible item eaten: beefburger
- Predominant colour of clothes: blue and grey on the outside; red t-shirt underneath
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook and Excel 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post; MatNav 6.1), Windows Media Player 11, Skype
- Webcomics posted today: n/a
- The Colclough
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Excuses: A Luxury Assortment Pack
Pick an excuse; any excuse. I've got loads for why I've lost "First 12 for '12" so badly, and you can take your pick as to which (if any) you feel like accepting. What follows is a list of other stuff I've been doing instead of winning my own blog race...
Drawing big geometric doodles with Sharpie pens - as mentioned earlier. Iteration 4 is now in progress. No Sharpie yet, but I've plotted out the basic forms in pencil, and so far it looks more like a grapefruit than anything else. Might show you a WIP photo eventually, but not yet.
Trying to design aliens - part of an ongoing (if intermittent) effort to work out what the major races of Universe XGT look like, in collaboration with Tim. The designs range from ones sprung entirely from my own imagination, via some intermediate co-designed ones, to a few species where Tim has said what they look like and I've taken it upon myself to interpret that in pencil. I've got one or two species presenting headaches at the moment, but once they're sorted out I might do a post featuring a selection of the drawings. Maybe. Watch this space.
Occasional cooking lessons - I haven't set fire to the kitchen yet, but I've had a go once or twice. This afternoon's masterclass was in the preparation of pasta bolognaise, which turned out more or less edible. However, I can't say I did it all myself, and I've got my doubts over whether it'd have been anywhere near as non-poisonous if I had.
Developing a bit of a musical superiority complex - I was given two CDs for Christmas, little sister got one too, and I have to say I think I got the better end of the deal, not just quantitatively but also qualitatively. She had something by some chap called Michael W. Smith - whose parents, I can't help thinking, were rather clumsy to have missed out the 'H.' that everyone knows should come between the 'W.' and the 'Smith', but that's another story. I had Jurassic Park OST by John Williams, and Karl Jenkins' Requiem. From what I've heard of MW(H)S, he sounds like just-another-pop-singer sort of thing, and I can't say I'm especially impressed.
Jurassic Park, on the other hand, is John Williams at his finest. If you let me count a whole film series (e.g. all six Star Wars episodes) as a single musical opus, then I'd probably say JP is outclassed by SW, and maybe also Indiana Jones, but in terms of musical achievement within a single film, I think I'd vote JP as Williams' masterpiece.
Requiem, meanwhile, is a bit of an odd album, but quite a fascinating one. It actually comprises two unrelated suites of music, setting three separate text cycles in a total of four languages (Latin, Japanese, Welsh and English, in order of appearance). The first, and by far the longer, of the two suites is the eponymous Requiem, and I've found it fascinating listening: considering that a Requiem, by definition, is a funerary work, a mass for the souls of the dead, it's a lot less sombre than you might expect. Elegaic in places, yes, but in the end it's actually rather uplifting.
Keeping up with Sherlock and stuff - I've seen episodes 1.1 and 1.2 twice each, and 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2 once each, plus read the script for 1.2, so my do-list for the rest of this week includes catching up on 2.3 before it goes off iPlayer on Sunday evening. Between Moffat and Gattiss writing at their best, and the brilliant casting and acting of Cumberbatch and Freeman, I've found all five episodes so far to be very good. Much looking forward to the next one. Before you ask, I can't make any comparison to the recent feature films, as I haven't seen those. But I can compare Sherlock to Doctor Who, and I'd say the latest series of S (so far) has been much more rewarding viewing than the latest series of DW.
Completing the Root Hill DVD 2011! - yes, at long last. The discs are in the post (well, most of them; I ran out of disc labels so the last few copies will be sent in a few days)... after four-and-a-half months in the planning and execution 8p
Writing the pilot script for a new animated series which might be the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe - when I laid AS Series 1 to rest back in December, I don't think I'd even come up with this idea. It grew out of the production of Smells Interesting a couple of weeks later if I remember right. The general concept is that it will feature three characters (new ones created specifically for the show), paper-cutout animation, and dialogue, with less emphasis on technical virtuosity relative to AS, and more emphasis on strange, random humour. Maybe as much as 2 or 3 minutes per episode. No idea how many episodes (if any) will end up getting made. We shall have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- The Colclough
Drawing big geometric doodles with Sharpie pens - as mentioned earlier. Iteration 4 is now in progress. No Sharpie yet, but I've plotted out the basic forms in pencil, and so far it looks more like a grapefruit than anything else. Might show you a WIP photo eventually, but not yet.
Trying to design aliens - part of an ongoing (if intermittent) effort to work out what the major races of Universe XGT look like, in collaboration with Tim. The designs range from ones sprung entirely from my own imagination, via some intermediate co-designed ones, to a few species where Tim has said what they look like and I've taken it upon myself to interpret that in pencil. I've got one or two species presenting headaches at the moment, but once they're sorted out I might do a post featuring a selection of the drawings. Maybe. Watch this space.
Occasional cooking lessons - I haven't set fire to the kitchen yet, but I've had a go once or twice. This afternoon's masterclass was in the preparation of pasta bolognaise, which turned out more or less edible. However, I can't say I did it all myself, and I've got my doubts over whether it'd have been anywhere near as non-poisonous if I had.
Developing a bit of a musical superiority complex - I was given two CDs for Christmas, little sister got one too, and I have to say I think I got the better end of the deal, not just quantitatively but also qualitatively. She had something by some chap called Michael W. Smith - whose parents, I can't help thinking, were rather clumsy to have missed out the 'H.' that everyone knows should come between the 'W.' and the 'Smith', but that's another story. I had Jurassic Park OST by John Williams, and Karl Jenkins' Requiem. From what I've heard of MW(H)S, he sounds like just-another-pop-singer sort of thing, and I can't say I'm especially impressed.
Jurassic Park, on the other hand, is John Williams at his finest. If you let me count a whole film series (e.g. all six Star Wars episodes) as a single musical opus, then I'd probably say JP is outclassed by SW, and maybe also Indiana Jones, but in terms of musical achievement within a single film, I think I'd vote JP as Williams' masterpiece.
Requiem, meanwhile, is a bit of an odd album, but quite a fascinating one. It actually comprises two unrelated suites of music, setting three separate text cycles in a total of four languages (Latin, Japanese, Welsh and English, in order of appearance). The first, and by far the longer, of the two suites is the eponymous Requiem, and I've found it fascinating listening: considering that a Requiem, by definition, is a funerary work, a mass for the souls of the dead, it's a lot less sombre than you might expect. Elegaic in places, yes, but in the end it's actually rather uplifting.
Keeping up with Sherlock and stuff - I've seen episodes 1.1 and 1.2 twice each, and 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2 once each, plus read the script for 1.2, so my do-list for the rest of this week includes catching up on 2.3 before it goes off iPlayer on Sunday evening. Between Moffat and Gattiss writing at their best, and the brilliant casting and acting of Cumberbatch and Freeman, I've found all five episodes so far to be very good. Much looking forward to the next one. Before you ask, I can't make any comparison to the recent feature films, as I haven't seen those. But I can compare Sherlock to Doctor Who, and I'd say the latest series of S (so far) has been much more rewarding viewing than the latest series of DW.
Completing the Root Hill DVD 2011! - yes, at long last. The discs are in the post (well, most of them; I ran out of disc labels so the last few copies will be sent in a few days)... after four-and-a-half months in the planning and execution 8p
Writing the pilot script for a new animated series which might be the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe - when I laid AS Series 1 to rest back in December, I don't think I'd even come up with this idea. It grew out of the production of Smells Interesting a couple of weeks later if I remember right. The general concept is that it will feature three characters (new ones created specifically for the show), paper-cutout animation, and dialogue, with less emphasis on technical virtuosity relative to AS, and more emphasis on strange, random humour. Maybe as much as 2 or 3 minutes per episode. No idea how many episodes (if any) will end up getting made. We shall have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- First 12 for '12 status: 9 down, 3 to go - I've lost. Oh well.
- Latest book read: the end of 2 Samuel from the KJV
- Latest film/TV watched: Middlemarch (1994 BBC version), part 6 of 6
- Latest music listened to: Requiem by Karl Jenkins
- Latest edible item eaten: that spag bol
- Predominant colour of clothes: shabby blue-greys again
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook and Word 2007, Firefox (tabs: MatNav 6.1; Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: Fort Paradox Backstage
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Been Busy With the Ink Again
I've been drawing and painting a bit more over the last few days. I finished Stained Glass IV on Friday; yesterday saw the production of another 19 episodes of Cylinder and Miserable Series 3, and today I started work on two new paintings (River III and Stained Glass V) and completed the third in my ongoing series of untitled circle-centric Sharpie-on-cartridge-pad super-doodles. I've got an idea for a possible name for the series, but I'm not saying anything until I've made up my mind whether I think it's a good one. And I drew a mexican in a spacesuit, which I'll leave Josh to explain.
Photos follow, at the usual exchange rate of 1 photo = 1k words.
To be honest, that didn't really come out how I intended, which is part of the reason I'm doing an SG V, this time using my new tube of Process Cyan. But the relatives seemed to like it, as it disappeared off the kitchen table as soon as it was dry, and turned up again hanging off a nail in the stairwell, like so:
I already showed you variation I, but I re-posted the photo as a reminder of what came before. And I should point out that the different colouration is due to the light conditions when I took the photos - the papers and inks are actually identical. To some degree I see these three as a sort of trilogy, and although I have plans for a fourth instalment I suspect it'll be somewhat different to its predecessors.
SG V and River III aren't developed enough yet to be worth taking any photos of, so you'll just have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- The Colclough
Photos follow, at the usual exchange rate of 1 photo = 1k words.
Stained Glass IV (18" x 24", completed 6th January)
To be honest, that didn't really come out how I intended, which is part of the reason I'm doing an SG V, this time using my new tube of Process Cyan. But the relatives seemed to like it, as it disappeared off the kitchen table as soon as it was dry, and turned up again hanging off a nail in the stairwell, like so:
Stained Glass IV, A Dive in Blue and Open to Interpretation in situ on our staircase
untitled variations nos. I, II and III (all A2, completed circa October, 1 December and 11 January)
I already showed you variation I, but I re-posted the photo as a reminder of what came before. And I should point out that the different colouration is due to the light conditions when I took the photos - the papers and inks are actually identical. To some degree I see these three as a sort of trilogy, and although I have plans for a fourth instalment I suspect it'll be somewhat different to its predecessors.
SG V and River III aren't developed enough yet to be worth taking any photos of, so you'll just have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- First 12 for '12 status: 8 down, 4 to go - I could try claiming I'm on 9, what with having written yesterday's Fort Paradox Backstage, but that wasn't on my main blog so it probably doesn't count, and I can't be bothered to quibble.
- Latest book read: part of 2 Samuel from the KJV
- Latest film/TV watched: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011: Meet Your Brain, part 1
- Latest music listened to: How to Train Your Dragon OST by John Powell, I think
- Latest edible item eaten: jambolaya followed by coffee
- Predominant colour of clothes: shabby blue-greys
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook, Word and Excel 2007, Firefox (tabs: MatNav 6.1; Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: n/a
- The Colclough
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Gallery of the Analogue
Okay, sorry about the wait - here's the aforementioned gallery of photos of my recent drawing and painting work.
First up, two attempts at a stylised depiction of a river. Both of these missed the stylistic mark I was aiming for, with the first veering off in one direction and the other then overcompensating. I'm planning to do a River III sometime, but I'll need to get my grubby mitts on another canvas first.
This one was done in a hurry, mainly to use up some watercolour which I'd mixed for Open to Interpretation (see below), only to find out that it wouldn't work on canvas and I'd have to go back to acrylics. Didn't want to waste all that paint though.
This one is the first of multiple variations - although the only one completed so far - on the theme of the giant Sharpie doodle that forms the basis of my current wallpaper on A White Horizon. The big differences this time are the fact that the drawing developed in a slightly less haphazard way, and I did it on an A2 sheet of relatively pricey (and rather nice) 220gsm cartridge paper, instead of leftover wallpaper backing sheet as used last time.
I painted the background for this one back in May, and then it got buried and forgotten for months before I finally rediscovered and finished it the other day. The whole thing was more of a technical experiment than an attempt at expressing anything; in particular, I put the gold pen details in the corners to check that it would work on top of acrylics, as a precursor to using the pens on Open to Interpretation.
The big one! Not my largest painting by surface area (only my third-biggest canvas, if you count the square inches), but by far my most ambitious and detailed painting ever, and I think one of my most accomplished pieces of visual art in any medium. My kingfisher impression took nine days to paint, but that isn't counting the time spent sketching the composition in pencil, wandering up and down the River Blackwater absorbing the atmosphere and analysing the colours, and generally sitting around staring at the canvas and mentally plotting next moves. Not to mention that those nine days were spread out across a period of five-and-a-half months, during which several other, smaller projects came and went.
The latest completed piece: a re-interpretation of a pen-and-watercolour-on-wallpaper-backing abstract I created circa June 2009, this time with pen and acrylics on canvas. Possibly my smelliest work, as the gold and silver inks really pong when they're wet, but fortunately it's stopped smelling now that they're dry. Also my largest canvas to date, at 24 inches squared. The painting takes its name from the fact that every other person who looks at it seems to interpret it differently - is it something on fire? Is it a flower? Is it supposed to be an optical illusion? I don't know myself; I just painted it, and I'm happy for people to make of it what they will.
And finally, a couple of things that I've made a start on in the last couple of weeks, but not got very far with. I've also sanded down the second of my four ex-cupboard-door boards ready for sketching or painting on, but I haven't decided yet what to do with it, and I didn't think it was worth showing you a bare board with some scuff marks on it, hence the lack of photo.
I'll try not to let such a big backlog build up next time 8p
- The Colclough
First up, two attempts at a stylised depiction of a river. Both of these missed the stylistic mark I was aiming for, with the first veering off in one direction and the other then overcompensating. I'm planning to do a River III sometime, but I'll need to get my grubby mitts on another canvas first.
River I (10" x 10", completed 8th September)
River II (16" x 12", completed 19th October)
This one was done in a hurry, mainly to use up some watercolour which I'd mixed for Open to Interpretation (see below), only to find out that it wouldn't work on canvas and I'd have to go back to acrylics. Didn't want to waste all that paint though.
Yellow Morning (A2, completed 25th October)
This one is the first of multiple variations - although the only one completed so far - on the theme of the giant Sharpie doodle that forms the basis of my current wallpaper on A White Horizon. The big differences this time are the fact that the drawing developed in a slightly less haphazard way, and I did it on an A2 sheet of relatively pricey (and rather nice) 220gsm cartridge paper, instead of leftover wallpaper backing sheet as used last time.
untitled variations no. I (A2, completed sometime in October, I think)
I painted the background for this one back in May, and then it got buried and forgotten for months before I finally rediscovered and finished it the other day. The whole thing was more of a technical experiment than an attempt at expressing anything; in particular, I put the gold pen details in the corners to check that it would work on top of acrylics, as a precursor to using the pens on Open to Interpretation.
Coffee, Maybe? (~ 12" x 16", completed 7th November)
The big one! Not my largest painting by surface area (only my third-biggest canvas, if you count the square inches), but by far my most ambitious and detailed painting ever, and I think one of my most accomplished pieces of visual art in any medium. My kingfisher impression took nine days to paint, but that isn't counting the time spent sketching the composition in pencil, wandering up and down the River Blackwater absorbing the atmosphere and analysing the colours, and generally sitting around staring at the canvas and mentally plotting next moves. Not to mention that those nine days were spread out across a period of five-and-a-half months, during which several other, smaller projects came and went.
A Dive in Blue (32" x 12", completed 7th November, after almost half a year in the making)
Details from A Dive in Blue, L-R: tree trunk, background vegetation, kingfisher, oak branch
The latest completed piece: a re-interpretation of a pen-and-watercolour-on-wallpaper-backing abstract I created circa June 2009, this time with pen and acrylics on canvas. Possibly my smelliest work, as the gold and silver inks really pong when they're wet, but fortunately it's stopped smelling now that they're dry. Also my largest canvas to date, at 24 inches squared. The painting takes its name from the fact that every other person who looks at it seems to interpret it differently - is it something on fire? Is it a flower? Is it supposed to be an optical illusion? I don't know myself; I just painted it, and I'm happy for people to make of it what they will.
Open to Interpretation (24" x 24", completed this morning - 15th November)
And finally, a couple of things that I've made a start on in the last couple of weeks, but not got very far with. I've also sanded down the second of my four ex-cupboard-door boards ready for sketching or painting on, but I haven't decided yet what to do with it, and I didn't think it was worth showing you a bare board with some scuff marks on it, hence the lack of photo.
untitled variations no. II (A2, work in progress, begun 1st November)
Stained Glass IV (18" x 24", work in progress, begun 7th November)
I'll try not to let such a big backlog build up next time 8p
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
The Whole Neurological Disorder Thing
Yeah, that thing in the 'About Me' box where I mentioned having some sort of autistic-spectrum condition... it's been a little over three years since the idea was first put to me that I might have Asperger's Syndrome, and what with the 'anniversary' having just gone past, I've been doodling again.
That was how I decided to deal with the idea back in July 2008 - I started drawing a picture for each day which summarised how I'd felt about it. It lasted two weeks, dropped off as my feelings on the subject started to stabilise, then a couple more drawings snuck in a week later. And then July 2009 came around, and when other things combined with the one-year mark, it gave rise to a new clutch of drawings. And so on, re: July 2010 and July 2011.
As a project, I'm not really sure how to categorise it. Does it come under 'diary-keeping'? Does it come under 'comic strips', in the sense that it's serialised graphical storytelling (sorta)? Does it come under 'self-imposed therapy'? I don't really know. The funny thing is that despite the heavy stylisation and the extensive use of strange metaphors, it's more truthful, or more documentary in nature, if you like, than pretty much any other creative undertaking I've ever done.
I had previously posted the first 3 years' drawings on Tailcast, but as Tailcast had lost its soul by the end of last year, I gave up and terminated my account, which meant the drawings went offline. But I have now re-uploaded them all to a new DeviantArt account, along with the latest additions to the series. You can see all 36 pictures here. Some of you may have seen some of the pictures before. Some of you won't. And none of you will have seen the last 8 yet.
Something a bit more serious, to contrast Cylinder and Miserable, I suppose...
- The Colclough
That was how I decided to deal with the idea back in July 2008 - I started drawing a picture for each day which summarised how I'd felt about it. It lasted two weeks, dropped off as my feelings on the subject started to stabilise, then a couple more drawings snuck in a week later. And then July 2009 came around, and when other things combined with the one-year mark, it gave rise to a new clutch of drawings. And so on, re: July 2010 and July 2011.
As a project, I'm not really sure how to categorise it. Does it come under 'diary-keeping'? Does it come under 'comic strips', in the sense that it's serialised graphical storytelling (sorta)? Does it come under 'self-imposed therapy'? I don't really know. The funny thing is that despite the heavy stylisation and the extensive use of strange metaphors, it's more truthful, or more documentary in nature, if you like, than pretty much any other creative undertaking I've ever done.
I had previously posted the first 3 years' drawings on Tailcast, but as Tailcast had lost its soul by the end of last year, I gave up and terminated my account, which meant the drawings went offline. But I have now re-uploaded them all to a new DeviantArt account, along with the latest additions to the series. You can see all 36 pictures here. Some of you may have seen some of the pictures before. Some of you won't. And none of you will have seen the last 8 yet.
Something a bit more serious, to contrast Cylinder and Miserable, I suppose...
- The Colclough
Monday, 1 August 2011
The Meanings of the Mediums
Question 5: "Do you have a favourite medium to use when doing artwork?"
Nope.
That is to say, I don't think I have one overall favourite. I have different favourite media for achieving different objectives, and I find that using different ones for different projects helps to keep me sane. Ish. I think I'd go mad(der than usual) if I was forced to stick to the same medium for a long time.
Some examples:
I've also been given five more questions by Sam, which I will try to answer soon:
I shall try to answer these, as well as Hannah's questions, in the near future. So many questions... maybe I should have got a Formspring account after all?
Statistician Fodder:
- The Colclough
Nope.
That is to say, I don't think I have one overall favourite. I have different favourite media for achieving different objectives, and I find that using different ones for different projects helps to keep me sane. Ish. I think I'd go mad(der than usual) if I was forced to stick to the same medium for a long time.
Some examples:
- If I'm trying to do an expressive drawing, I find it's a good idea to start in pencil, and work over it in ink and/or colour pencils once I've got the linework right. Example here.
- On the other hand, if I want a more energetic feel, then I sometimes just go straight for the pen. For example, my latest Fort Paradox illustration, Episode 076.
- I find paints are usually a more ad-hoc, hyper-analogue medium. I tend to use paints when I've got a general idea but I don't have all the detail worked out, and I just want to grab a brush and see what happens. There are exceptions (e.g. that kingfisher...) but a lot of my paintings are experiments in impromptunity. Did I just invent a word there?
- When creating CD cover art (usually for Tim's compositions), I always work in the GNU Image Manipulation Program, because I feel CD cover art requires a certain level of technical sophistication. The component images may come from a variety of sources (scanner, camera, CGI renders, whatever) but the final composite is always done in GIMP.
I've also been given five more questions by Sam, which I will try to answer soon:
- If you could be in a Rock Band what Instrument would you Play?
- Have you seen any Godzilla Films?
- If you could buy any car (money No Object) what would it be?
- Which do you prefer: Motorhead or Metallica?
- Who is your favourite Stand Up Comedian?
I shall try to answer these, as well as Hannah's questions, in the near future. So many questions... maybe I should have got a Formspring account after all?
Statistician Fodder:
- Twenty Questions status: 3 down, 17 to go
- Days until Root Hill: 19
- Latest book read: still Operation Mincemeat
- Latest film/TV watched: still Endgame
- Latest music listened to: the 9-tune mashup that forms the soundtrack of Arbitrary Stopframe episode 8
- Latest edible item eaten: apple and walnut cake, and coffee
- Predominant colour of clothes: denim blue on one half, medium red on t'other
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Dashboard; The Fantastic Blog of George Darlan; Josh's Most Excellent Blog; A White Horizon; Blogspot Create Post; MatNav 6.1); Sony Vegas; Microsoft Office Word 2007
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1324
- The Colclough
Monday, 17 January 2011
The Better Side
No, nothing to do with ITV1's current tagline. That's "The Brigher Side", anyway, not "Better". And I'm more of a BBC watcher.
More to do with the fact that Saturday had some really bad bits, and some really good bits. (Hannah's blog post in the small hours of the morning about good and bad experiences was rather timely, as it turns out.) I won't depress you with the bad bits of my weekend - I'd prefer to ramble about the good bits instead.
The big news: I've finished making those blasted DVDs at last! After waging an epic war against my DVD burning software, ranging across three different computers, I finally nailed it down on a little old laptop and compelled it to do my will. So now I've got a nice neat row of finished RH DVDs sitting in a cardboard box by my desk and waiting to be put in the post.
I also decided that I was finished with my latest painting. It involved six different layers of colour (each allowed to dry before the next was applied), and although I actually put the last one down on Friday, I thought at the time there would be more to do. But on Saturday morning, I went back and looked at it again, and I said to myself "nope, that's enough. I'm going to call it a day." And then, for lack of a better title, that's exactly what I did.
Yes, I do realise that I have committed a truly atrocious pun right there. My sincerest apologies to those of you with delicate linguistic sensibilities.
I also made more use of my new webcam. It's rapidly turning out to be better value for money than anything else I've ever bought (not difficult, considering how little I had to pay for it). Skype is much fun.
And I've done the illustrations for Fort Paradox Episodes 33 and 34, which feature a new experimental art style which I've never used for any other cartoon before. It involves biros, I'm quite pleased with how it's come out.
And now for something completely different (and altogether nerdier): on Saturday, I used Linux for the first time. My Grandad was asking if there was a free operating system he could use to recondition an ancient PC of his, so I made him a Ubuntu installer disc. But before handing it over, I thought I'd try it out myself in demo mode on our family laptop. It more or less worked, except that the laptop's optical disc drive is basically shot so it took ages to read the disc and load the software. It took me all of two minutes to find my way around the OS though, and I already like it almost as much as Windows, and much better than Mac OSX.
Since I've already got a perfectly good Windows installation on each of the machines I use regularly at the moment, I'll probably stick with dear old Microsoft for the time being. But I got a very good first impression of Ubuntu, so you never know - I might end up going the whole open-source hog someday!
My stats, for the next-to-last post of the 11 For 11 race...
- The Colclough
More to do with the fact that Saturday had some really bad bits, and some really good bits. (Hannah's blog post in the small hours of the morning about good and bad experiences was rather timely, as it turns out.) I won't depress you with the bad bits of my weekend - I'd prefer to ramble about the good bits instead.
The big news: I've finished making those blasted DVDs at last! After waging an epic war against my DVD burning software, ranging across three different computers, I finally nailed it down on a little old laptop and compelled it to do my will. So now I've got a nice neat row of finished RH DVDs sitting in a cardboard box by my desk and waiting to be put in the post.
I also decided that I was finished with my latest painting. It involved six different layers of colour (each allowed to dry before the next was applied), and although I actually put the last one down on Friday, I thought at the time there would be more to do. But on Saturday morning, I went back and looked at it again, and I said to myself "nope, that's enough. I'm going to call it a day." And then, for lack of a better title, that's exactly what I did.
#004: A Day
Yes, I do realise that I have committed a truly atrocious pun right there. My sincerest apologies to those of you with delicate linguistic sensibilities.
I also made more use of my new webcam. It's rapidly turning out to be better value for money than anything else I've ever bought (not difficult, considering how little I had to pay for it). Skype is much fun.
And I've done the illustrations for Fort Paradox Episodes 33 and 34, which feature a new experimental art style which I've never used for any other cartoon before. It involves biros, I'm quite pleased with how it's come out.
And now for something completely different (and altogether nerdier): on Saturday, I used Linux for the first time. My Grandad was asking if there was a free operating system he could use to recondition an ancient PC of his, so I made him a Ubuntu installer disc. But before handing it over, I thought I'd try it out myself in demo mode on our family laptop. It more or less worked, except that the laptop's optical disc drive is basically shot so it took ages to read the disc and load the software. It took me all of two minutes to find my way around the OS though, and I already like it almost as much as Windows, and much better than Mac OSX.
Since I've already got a perfectly good Windows installation on each of the machines I use regularly at the moment, I'll probably stick with dear old Microsoft for the time being. But I got a very good first impression of Ubuntu, so you never know - I might end up going the whole open-source hog someday!
My stats, for the next-to-last post of the 11 For 11 race...
- 11 For 11 status: 10 down, only 1 more to go... who will be the winner?
- Latest book read: *still* that commentary on Ephesians...
- Latest film/TV watched: haven't seen anything in a few days, and I've actually forgotten what the last one was...
- Latest music listened to: How to Train Your Dragon OST by John Powell (2010) currently on speakers
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: crossaint and cowjuice for breakfast, unless you count the bit of jelly sweet I'm currently chewing on
- Programs and web pages currently running: Outlook 2007, Word 2007, Windows Explorer, Skype, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; YouTube; Blogspot Dashboard)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1130; Alien President #9
- The Colclough
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Going Green
Not in the sense of 'becoming more environmentally friendly', you understand. Nor in the sense of 'bearing an increasing resemblance to a martian' (not that the ones in the Martian Ballet trilogy were actually green - funny, that). More in the sense of 'digitally repainting my blog'.
I've done 40 posts on A White Horizon (this will be my 41st), using the original blue-grey colour scheme with a stock background, and I've decided that the time has now come to change this, and give my ramblings a more personal look. The new background is based on a photo of a largeish (approx 22 by 34 inch) drawing I did last year (or was it the year before? I forget) using only a piece of old wallpaper, and two black sharpie markers. I've altered it quite heavily in The GIMP, which is one of my favourite bits of software ever, but in case you wanted to see the full and original version here's the raw photo:
The drawing currently remains untitled. It also lacks an official orientation - I originally displayed it on my wall the way up that it appears above, but these days I've got it sideways, as it appears in the new blog background.
I have no idea how long it took to draw that (it was several weeks, but obviously not working on it continuously), but I think it used almost a whole pen's worth of ink.
While I was in the template editor just now, I've also changed the whole colour scheme of the blog to something in the orange-yellow-green area of the spectrum. You probably already spotted this fact. I've noticed that this seems to be a recurring design motif in a lot of my websites: the Cylinder and Miserable site started out grey, then went blue for a bit, and finally settled on the orangey-yellow look which it has carried with only minimal alteration for the last two or three years. Throughout its lifetime Grace and Caffeine was housed on various greyscale sites, but then when I came to redesign the 'Complete Series' site in summer 2010 I went for a coffee-esque brownish theme. "Wait a minute, brown isn't orange-yellow-green!" I hear you cry. Well actually it is. In RGB or HSL colour space, browns are actually orange in terms of their hue, but darker (i.e. lower luminance, and sometimes also lower saturation). My George Darlan fansite is green too.
Although, having said that, the Fort Paradox site is mostly bluish-purple and black. So the 'trend' in question isn't a hard and fast rule.
I do like yellow, though. Probably because it's a warm colour, and I really don't get on with the cold. My bedroom walls are pale yellow. The pot called it 'creme fraiche' or something, but it's basically pale yellow.
I think if I had to pick a single favourite colour, though, it'd be white. That might have had something to do with the choice of 'A White Horizon' as the title of my blog. Some of my favourite verses in the Bible are ones in the book of Revelation, talking about what Heaven will be like, and the colour white seems to get mentioned rather a lot. And someday, eventually, I might get round to redesigning thishere thing again and actually having a background which shows a horizon, in white. But I don't have a suitable photo to work from at the moment, so for the time being we'll go with the untitled abstract drawing in pastel orangey-green.
What's your favourite colour?
Stats time:
- The Colclough
I've done 40 posts on A White Horizon (this will be my 41st), using the original blue-grey colour scheme with a stock background, and I've decided that the time has now come to change this, and give my ramblings a more personal look. The new background is based on a photo of a largeish (approx 22 by 34 inch) drawing I did last year (or was it the year before? I forget) using only a piece of old wallpaper, and two black sharpie markers. I've altered it quite heavily in The GIMP, which is one of my favourite bits of software ever, but in case you wanted to see the full and original version here's the raw photo:
The drawing currently remains untitled. It also lacks an official orientation - I originally displayed it on my wall the way up that it appears above, but these days I've got it sideways, as it appears in the new blog background.
I have no idea how long it took to draw that (it was several weeks, but obviously not working on it continuously), but I think it used almost a whole pen's worth of ink.
While I was in the template editor just now, I've also changed the whole colour scheme of the blog to something in the orange-yellow-green area of the spectrum. You probably already spotted this fact. I've noticed that this seems to be a recurring design motif in a lot of my websites: the Cylinder and Miserable site started out grey, then went blue for a bit, and finally settled on the orangey-yellow look which it has carried with only minimal alteration for the last two or three years. Throughout its lifetime Grace and Caffeine was housed on various greyscale sites, but then when I came to redesign the 'Complete Series' site in summer 2010 I went for a coffee-esque brownish theme. "Wait a minute, brown isn't orange-yellow-green!" I hear you cry. Well actually it is. In RGB or HSL colour space, browns are actually orange in terms of their hue, but darker (i.e. lower luminance, and sometimes also lower saturation). My George Darlan fansite is green too.
Although, having said that, the Fort Paradox site is mostly bluish-purple and black. So the 'trend' in question isn't a hard and fast rule.
I do like yellow, though. Probably because it's a warm colour, and I really don't get on with the cold. My bedroom walls are pale yellow. The pot called it 'creme fraiche' or something, but it's basically pale yellow.
I think if I had to pick a single favourite colour, though, it'd be white. That might have had something to do with the choice of 'A White Horizon' as the title of my blog. Some of my favourite verses in the Bible are ones in the book of Revelation, talking about what Heaven will be like, and the colour white seems to get mentioned rather a lot. And someday, eventually, I might get round to redesigning thishere thing again and actually having a background which shows a horizon, in white. But I don't have a suitable photo to work from at the moment, so for the time being we'll go with the untitled abstract drawing in pastel orangey-green.
What's your favourite colour?
Stats time:
- 11 For 11 status: I've equalised again: both got 7 down, 4 to go
- Latest book read: Stuart Olyott's commentary on Ephesians
- Latest film/TV watched: Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers
- Latest music listened to: Chameleon Circuit by Chameleon Circuit (on YouTube)
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: a big sticky toffee pudding with cream. followed by coffee
- Programs and web pages currently running: Outlook 2007, Windows Explorer, The GNU Image Manipulation Program (alias 'The GIMP'), Firefox (tabs: MatNav; hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com; A White Horizon; Blogspot Create Post)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1125
- The Colclough
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Basking in the Sound of Gold
I'm in the middle of drawing some new Alien President strips at the moment, but I'm taking a break for a few minutes, because it's not the easiest work in the world. The combination of historic US architecture and semi-relistic humans is very taxing on my pencil-weilding skills, especially when the two things have to share panel space, as they do in Episode 13, which I just finished drawing. It came out alright - the White House is more or less recognisable as such, I think (although once I've scanned and coloured the drawing, it won't be so white any more), and the humans are pulling the faces I wanted them to pull, so I think I can chalk that one up as a success. Mind you, it turns out that the name of Darlan's presidential aide Cindy Payne was very well chosen: she's been a real pain in the art department. She's a lot nicer to look at than her brick-shaped colleague Watson when I get the illustrations right, but it takes several times as long to draw her as it does him.
So I decided to put down the pencil and do something else for a bit before trying to tackle the limousine that I need to sketch for Episode 14. And while I'm not drawing, I'll write some stuff. I.e. this stuff that you're reading right here and now.
While doodling for the last... not sure exactly how long, but getting on for an hour... I've been listening to Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtrack. I had the Series 3 and Series 4 CDs ages ago, but somehow ended up missing out his original album from Series 1 & 2. However, I was given a copy of the missing disc as a Christmas present, and I've got it on speakers right now. As I type I'm on track 21, The Lone Dalek.
The interesting thing about going backwards like this is that some things (e.g. The Doctor's Theme, The Face of Boe and UNIT) are familiar, being variations on some of the same themes that appear in later albums, while there are other things that I'd completely forgotten about. Cassandra's Waltz, for example, came as an out-of-the-blue surprise when I first listened to the disc a week or two ago. I'd seen the episode involved, but completely forgotten the music. I only remembered the Madame du Pompadour melody by virtue of having rewatched The Girl in the Fireplace not that long ago.
Cue next track on the hi-fi...
The nice thing about having the music on its own, in isolation from the episodes it comes from, is that sometimes you like the score better than the script. For example, I never really liked The Impossible Planet as an episode (or two, as the case may be), but the corresponding track on the CD is a really nice one.
Now, here's the important bit: *insert metaphysical glitch here* I'm sure I was going to say something all profound and meaningful about this album. However, in keeping with a long-standing personal tradition of mine, I've totally forgotten what I was going to say. Isn't that clever?
So instead I'll have a little ramble about my musical tastes in general.
Anyone familiar with my CD collection will know that nearly all of it consists of film music, and what wasn't written for the screen is in a neo-classical vein. I'm not a fan of pop 'music' (note deliberate use of quote marks around the word there). And one of the things that irks me most about film score CDs, apart from the way some engineers manage to get all the ID3 metadata wrong, is this infuriating habit so many album producers seem to have of releasing a disc which is 90% perfectly good film score, and then throw a nice rancid dead fly into the ointment in the form of a pop song that has little or no bearing on the film's narrative, and clashes horribly with the style of the rest of the CD. How to Train Your Dragon is a case in point: tracks 1-23 and 25 are all orchestral score by John Powell (who is a bit inconsistent sometimes, but Dragon finds him at his best) - and then track 24 is a really naff song where I can't even make out what they're on about. Bolt is another one: again, Powell does some nice things with the score, but the album is let down by multiple horrible vocal pieces. Why do they keep doing that? For goodness' sake, if you've hired a composer, then let them score the end credits. Don't rope in some ghastly pop band to ruin the soundtrack. Look at Spielberg and Williams: no pop songs. Just score. Imagine how much worse Jurassic Park might have been, for example, if Spielberg had brought in a pop singer for the end credits. Scary thought.
Thank goodness Doctor Who has a proper instrumental theme tune and not an end-credits pop song, eh?
Stats time:
- The Colclough
So I decided to put down the pencil and do something else for a bit before trying to tackle the limousine that I need to sketch for Episode 14. And while I'm not drawing, I'll write some stuff. I.e. this stuff that you're reading right here and now.
While doodling for the last... not sure exactly how long, but getting on for an hour... I've been listening to Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtrack. I had the Series 3 and Series 4 CDs ages ago, but somehow ended up missing out his original album from Series 1 & 2. However, I was given a copy of the missing disc as a Christmas present, and I've got it on speakers right now. As I type I'm on track 21, The Lone Dalek.
The interesting thing about going backwards like this is that some things (e.g. The Doctor's Theme, The Face of Boe and UNIT) are familiar, being variations on some of the same themes that appear in later albums, while there are other things that I'd completely forgotten about. Cassandra's Waltz, for example, came as an out-of-the-blue surprise when I first listened to the disc a week or two ago. I'd seen the episode involved, but completely forgotten the music. I only remembered the Madame du Pompadour melody by virtue of having rewatched The Girl in the Fireplace not that long ago.
Cue next track on the hi-fi...
The nice thing about having the music on its own, in isolation from the episodes it comes from, is that sometimes you like the score better than the script. For example, I never really liked The Impossible Planet as an episode (or two, as the case may be), but the corresponding track on the CD is a really nice one.
Now, here's the important bit: *insert metaphysical glitch here* I'm sure I was going to say something all profound and meaningful about this album. However, in keeping with a long-standing personal tradition of mine, I've totally forgotten what I was going to say. Isn't that clever?
So instead I'll have a little ramble about my musical tastes in general.
Anyone familiar with my CD collection will know that nearly all of it consists of film music, and what wasn't written for the screen is in a neo-classical vein. I'm not a fan of pop 'music' (note deliberate use of quote marks around the word there). And one of the things that irks me most about film score CDs, apart from the way some engineers manage to get all the ID3 metadata wrong, is this infuriating habit so many album producers seem to have of releasing a disc which is 90% perfectly good film score, and then throw a nice rancid dead fly into the ointment in the form of a pop song that has little or no bearing on the film's narrative, and clashes horribly with the style of the rest of the CD. How to Train Your Dragon is a case in point: tracks 1-23 and 25 are all orchestral score by John Powell (who is a bit inconsistent sometimes, but Dragon finds him at his best) - and then track 24 is a really naff song where I can't even make out what they're on about. Bolt is another one: again, Powell does some nice things with the score, but the album is let down by multiple horrible vocal pieces. Why do they keep doing that? For goodness' sake, if you've hired a composer, then let them score the end credits. Don't rope in some ghastly pop band to ruin the soundtrack. Look at Spielberg and Williams: no pop songs. Just score. Imagine how much worse Jurassic Park might have been, for example, if Spielberg had brought in a pop singer for the end credits. Scary thought.
Thank goodness Doctor Who has a proper instrumental theme tune and not an end-credits pop song, eh?
Stats time:
- 11 For 11 status: 5 down, 6 to go - I'm ahead again and I'm nearly half-way there!
- Latest book read: Stuart Olyott's commentary on Ephesians
- Latest film/TV watched: Murder on the Orient Express
- Latest music listened to: re-read this blog post and take an educated guess!
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: one of the home-made chocolates Sophie gave me for christmas
- Programs and web pages currently running: Outlook 2007, Word 2007, Windows Explorer, Firefox (tabs: Google Image Search "the white house"; Blogspot Create Post; hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1123
- The Colclough
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