Category: Artwork

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Experimenting with Comics

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From yesterday until 19 July, anyone passing through London Town can stop off at Orbital Comics and check out their gallery to see some amazing experminetal comic work from the fantastic Karrie Fransman.  We’re talking comics made from jewelery boxes, puppets, dollhouses, sewn comics and my favourite, the piece below featuring a 2D character moving between various 3D frames.

Karrie Fransman Experimenting with Comics exhibition

I was lucky enough to be at the launch evening which included a range of discussions and talks with Karrie, Paul Gravett and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

Karrie introduced us to her work before opening up a brain challenging conversation on the definition of what a comic is.  I won’t begin to go into the detailed debate that ensued (and is still going online) but it certainly raised awareness that comics can be all sorts of things beside strips and books.

I got a chance to discuss the nature of some of my own ceramic comics.  Nice to be a small part of a great evening.

Karrie asked the audience to decide if this is a comic…

Paul went on to talk through a history of experimental comics including comic installations in various galleries and spaces.  One of the ones that made the biggest impression on me was this 1903 strip by Gustave Verbeek called The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo. The title is no more crazy than the idea.  Each episode read the right way up, then the reader would flip the story upside down and read the rest upside down and it made perfect sense!

As a comic creator I can’t begin to imagine the headaches that would give you trying to make it work once, let alone week in week out.

The Upside Downs of Little Lady Lovekins and Old Man Muffaroo

Finally Daniel talked about Hyper-Comics, comics which involve a larger than usual amount of interaction with the reader.  It was a fascinating look into the possibilities of what can be achieved in the medium, with technology and imagination.  Daniel’s site e-merl.com is bursting with different ways of creating comic work – a fine collection of inspirations for any creator.  A Duck has an Adventure looks particularly fun and exciting so I can’t wait for an iPhone version.

Paul Gravett, Karrie Fransman and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

One of the reasons I love comics is because anyone can make them with something as simple as a piece of paper and a pen, but considering possibilities way beyond that is certainly something I need to look into…

You can hear the discussion and see the slides on Orbital’s website here or just check it out below!

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More Ceramics Comic Things: City of Mouse

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In City of Mouse, I worked in 2D images painted in enamel on various 3D pieces of ceramics.  The objects could be buildings or obelisks or just platforms to display the ghosts of captured moments of the solitary mouse caught in various points in time.
The mouse with the star on his belly gets up to all sorts of things; sometimes mundane, sometimes ritualistic, sometimes divine.

For a previous batch of Ceramic things click here!

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Comics in Ceramic, Wire and String

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A few weeks back I got into a conversation with Paul Gravett and Karrie Fransman about 3D comics, and the ways they can take on different forms.  Karrie is in fact having an exhibition on the subject called Experimenting with Comics at the great Orbital Comics shop in London, starting Thursday 21 June.

It got me thinking that while I’ve experimented with different forms of paper comics, particularly with my Mini Comics box set, I hadn’t tried to make any others in 3D.  Then it hit me… way back when I was studying Ceramics at Camberwell College of Arts, (back while they still had a Ceramics degree) I did make something along those lines.  A fair few actually…

This piece with 4 ceramic shapes linked by string and wire, tells the story of a boy’s journey where he meets a Messianic cat.

4 Piece Comic Story, Ceramic, Wire and String

At my graduate show I placed all my work in a space extending the imagery of the ceramics themselves.  The relationship of an object and it’s environment is really interesting.

Exhibition, Camberwell College of Arts

Two sides of the same object.  Fun mixing ceramics with contrasting materials like yellow fluff…

Fluffy Yellow Thing, Ceramic, Fluff and Wire

This is my fave.  It’s a poem, ceramic sculpture and story all in one.  There’s me playing a keytar while my parents ride in a spaceship near the mountain top.

Mountain Piece

This one was called Mouse Between Heaven & Earth. ‘Nuff said.

Mouse Between Heaven & Earth, Ceramic and String

This little guy was kind of like a puppet.  I liked making toy type things from a completely inappropriate material.

Pode Me Ajudar, Ceramics and String

Sometimes the comic imagery would exist in flat pictures, giving new purpose to my 3D shapes…

Phoenix, Monkey and Baby with powers, Ceramics and String

Ceramic is great for making very naturalistic shapes as well as clearly man made forms.  I like the contrast of this organic looking shell with the cartoony looking god on the inside.

Shell god, Ceramic

This was stupidly huge and heavy.  Having this flat image on a big ceramic wall does affect the way you look at it though…

The Eye of the Needle, Ceramic

Ceramic Tiles. Spot the Buffy one.

Tiles, Ceramic, Fluff

The cool thing about making each tile a panel is you can rearrange their order to make different stories.

Freeing the Magic Goose, Ceramic

For more ceramic comic ideas see my post on City of Mouse.

I’ve also added a Ceramics section to my online portfolio here!

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Portrait & Life Part 4: Watercolours with Ink Line

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Being an illustrator rather than a fine artist, using watercolour with an ink line seems to come a lot more naturally to me than watercolour alone.  Not that I’ve come close to mastering the technique of course.

Watercolour and Ink Painting 24.1.12

Watercolour and Ink Life Painting 24.1.12

Sometimes it’s nice to pick one area of a painting (such as the figure) and add colour only there.  This creates a nice contrast between two different textures.

Watercolour and Ink Life Painting 7.2.12

After doing the below image in just watercolour in class, I felt it needed a touch more definition, so I added outlines in Photoshop at home.  Hmm… would be interesting to try a life drawing straight into Photoshop using a Wacom tablet.

Watercolour and Photoshop Life Painting 29.11.11
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Aftertoon off at Tate Modern

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Took an afternoon off yesterday (with no work or child in tow) and went to the Tate Modern to soak up some inspiration.  It’s been a couple of years since I’d walked those floors – I should do it more often coz it rocked monkeys!

I’d thought there was at least one Rothko at the Tate Modern but was disappointed to see there had just been a temporary exhibit a few years back.  On looking it up when I got home I saw I’d missed the one Rothko painting there was there.  I guess I hadn’t taken it in as it wasn’t one of his more famous oblong type paintings – shows I should have paid more attention at Art college.

Still there were lots more treasures to get excited about.  Highlights included a Chirico painting (been a fan since one of my best buds turned me on to his work in an exhibition in Tokyo), seeing some David Shrigley work after recently missing his Haywood Gallery show and discovering the magical images of Marcel Dzarma.

Obviously I’m not super cultured as I found just as much inspiration in the gift shop (and coz I use phrases like “super cultured”).  I came home with two wonderful picture books: the pop-up In the forest (Anouck Boisrobert & Louis Rigaud) and the beautifully flappy Aoki (Annelore Parot).

I had intended to do some sketching while I was there but felt self-conscious with the surprising number of visitors there on a weekday afternoon!  At least I’d managed to get one drawing done earlier in the day when I made a birthday card for my talented friend and singer and songwriter and musician, Piney Gir.  Meeting for lunch with Piney provided further inspiration hearing how hard she’s working juggling all sorts of creative projects!

All in all an good day finished off with Domino’s Pizza and the Incredible Hulk on TV!  Ready for creative work again!

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Free Comic Book Day 2012

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Had a great time heading into Gosh Comics today.  Other than picking up my usual standing orders of monthly comic goodness (Marvel and Dark Horse stuff), I got hold of a lovely lot of free stuff, what with this being Free Comic Book Day and all!

Free Comics FCBD 2012

Check out my freebies: the Top Shelf Kids Club, Bongo Comics inc’ SpongeBob Comics, Dark Horse‘s Buffy / The Guild and Serenity / Star Wars, Papercutz‘ The Smurfs / Disney Fairies,  Marvel‘s Amazing Spider-Man and Claude TC‘s mini comic, Immortal Ewan and the rod of Rasputin.  Claude is a good man and makes hilarious, brilliantly drawn comics.

Ray Friesen and Sarah McIntyre FCBD 2012

Aside from getting to catch up with comic scene buds Karrie Fransman, Mike Medaglia and Josceline Fenton, I got to sit and watch my 4 year old boy Emir draw comics alongside the supreme talents of Sarah McIntyre and Ray Friesen. It was great being introduced to Ray and his wonderful kids comic Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken which me and Emir enjoyed on the tube on the way home.  Ray also impressed us with this sketch of Emir’s favourite animal (for today anyway), the anteater…

Anteater by Ray Friesen

Sarah did a brilliant bit of comic work featuring Emir. Click here to see it plus Sarah’s other thoughts on the day!

All this fun inspired Emir to draw his first ever comic strips…

Emir's first comic strip: Two Monsters

Emir's second comic strip: Dinosaurs

When you’re into comics, it’s not hard to get your kid to share your passions!

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Portrait & Life Part 3: Watercolours

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A nice thing about taking an art class is you can try out all sorts of techniques and mediums that might not suit the commissions you’re working on in your professional life.  I hadn’t touched watercolours for ages, but inspired by various children’s book illustrations and the excellent backgrounds in the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch, I really wanted to try them again.

Watercolour Life Painting 6.3.12

I love the paint’s translucency, especially against nice grainy paper.  The tricky thing is timing when to add another layer on top.  It’s great working over wet paint and getting a soft edges to each area of colour.  It gets frustrating though when you need to do fine sharp detail and the paint below isn’t dry yet.

The room itself makes a really difference to the drying speed.  On a wet day it can feel like forever, on a sunny day or a cold day with heaters in the room the paint can dry too fast if you’re not careful.  Back in my studio I can use a hairdryer to help control the process.

Watercolour Life Painting 15.11.11

These were all painted over a rough pencil guide.  Some artists work without this guide, filling in big areas of space and colour, then getting more and more precise with each layer.  I’ve given this a shot too but find that approach counter-intuitive, which is why I’m not displaying my attempts on this blog!

Watercolour Portrait 13.12.11

More work from my Portrait and Life class soon…

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New animations and other website updates complete!

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Phewee!  After months of nabbing a few hours here and there to update my website it’s pretty well there!  I think I’ve tampered with every page trying to bring you a top quality Tempo Lush website that you deserve!

Maestro the Cat Animated Gif

The biggest leap forward is a newly built portfolio section showcasing the cream of my drawings.  I’ve also been working on a tonne of new animated pictures.  Check out every section of the site to see them all!

Space Themed Animated Top Panel

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Parallel Lives Launch

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On Monday I went to the Laydeez Do Comics evening off Brick Lane (that’s in East London for all you non-locals) and got to hear a little about all six of the very talented interns of the London Print Studio Comics Collective: Lily Rose Beardshaw, Abraham Christie, Shamisa Debroey, Merlin Evans, Susan Yan Mach and Jade Sarson.

The amazing Karrie Fransman devised and taught on the comics internship program, and crammed it full of workshops, meetings, exercises and experiences, honing the skills of the young comic creators and preparing them for professional life.  It sounds like an intensely rich 6 months in which the interns must have picked up tips and knowledge that would normally take a decade of going to comic events to discover.

This lead to tonight’s launch party and exhibition at the London Print Studio celebrating the end of the internship and the launch of the collective’s anthology Parallel Lives…

Here’s Shamisa Debroey who’ll sadly be heading back to Brussels in a couple of weeks…

Shamisa Debroey

Susan Yan Mach with some of her amazing comic pages…

Susan Yan Mach

Abraham Christie and Shamisa Debroey putting on a brave face at the end of all their hard work.

Abraham Christie and Shamisa Debroey having a laugh!

Jade Sarson and the main character from her wonderful looking upcoming graphic novel Siddown!

Jade Sarson

And here’s a drawing Jade did on the studio window…

Jade Sarson's impressive window drawing

Finally here’s my efforts on the window.  It was fun drawing with interested people walking past outside, and there’s not many parties you can to where you can draw on the windows without being chucked out!

My less than impressive window drawing