Pop Pop

2012-01-14T19:19:00.000Z

hello hello! happy new year! (is it still new?)
I've been sucked into yet more work- I've just done 3 more tempo animatics in an epic 3 weeks over christmas with another one to go, but i just had to say:
"bike" is nominated for the Best 2d Commercial British Animation Award!
I heard it was on the shortlist last week, but yesterday got a call saying it's made it through to the final 3.
I still can't quite get my head around it- what an amazing thing!

2011-11-24T11:18:00.000Z

So here it is, the Tempo "making of" shot/directed/edited/magicked together by Mr Andy Blackburn.
4 months of the process compressed into 2 1/2 minutes of live action. Animation sure is slow :)

2011-11-22T14:45:00.000Z

been playing lately with something a little softer than my usual go-to ink lines, not quite there yet I don't think, but it's something I want to get good at :) These were originally going to be windows for an advent calendar, but it got killed so they've vaguely ended up as a little 5 panel comic instead. soft colour palette vaguely inspired by the brilliant Wolf Erlbruch whose book Ente Tod und Tulpe I discovered and fell in love with in Stuttgart last year.

2011-11-15T20:31:00.000Z

I've been trying to remember the name/director of this film for ages! finally. itch scratched. Rubicon by Gil Alkabetz made in 1997. I can breathe out now.

Tempo tissues "Bike"

2011-11-02T14:39:00.000Z

So the ad I directed is finally here!
It aired on monday in germany/italy and I just found out has been named "ad of the week" by the Reel!
I'm looking forward to finally being able to post some drawings related to this, I've been locked in an inky drawing vacuum more or less since January, it's been a long time coming :)

thanks especially to all the wonderful animators and artworkers who did a better job than I could ever have done all on my own and coped admirably with my first time director nerves...

xx

Oh and also, extra special thanks to Owen for bringing his plinky musical magic as ever.

PS. Stand by for obligatory embarrassing making-of in the next couple of days...

2011-10-08T09:14:00.000+01:00

2011-08-31T19:06:00.002+01:00

2011-08-16T11:57:00.000+01:00

me too! Long time no blog. Contrary to popular belief I haven't evaporated, I'm just in production of my first commercial... I'm sure a whole slew of stuff will follow once it's done and it surfaces online. For now though whilst my brain is focussed only on artworking and food I guess things will be pretty sparse... soon! holidays and drawings. x

2011-07-12T21:10:00.001+01:00

I may have just found my favourite article on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddle

"A puddle is generally small enough for an adult to step over, shallow enough to walk through, and too small to traverse in a boat or raft. Puddles can be a source of fascination for children, as well as attracting other small wildlife."

"In military terminology, puddles are "liquid terrain obstacles deprived of tactical importance""

Who knew? It's so deadpan, I love it.

2011-06-13T21:24:00.001+01:00

My new business cards! My lovely new rubber stamp came in the post a couple of days ago and since then everything that can be stamped has been, starting with these.

2011-06-12T18:35:00.001+01:00

wow, this has been a long time coming. I worked on the Nanny Mcphee end titles what seems like a million years ago! And I only just saw the finished thing today! I assisted with the animation of Megsie and a few of the kids in the sequence where they come running out from under Nanny McPhee's skirt at around 00:20 - 00:30s. It was originally animated in flash, and then printed out and shot in stop frame for the final thing I believe. Lead animation by the lovely Mina Mileva :)

2011-06-10T20:06:00.001+01:00

2011-06-09T15:52:00.000+01:00

The sartorialist likes bare legs and classic suits. Fact.

2011-06-06T19:00:00.000+01:00

2011-06-01T17:06:00.000+01:00

Totally forgot about these, I did them ages ago when doodling ideas for the Film Club xmas card, youtubing videos of dogs jumping into pools :)

incidentally, FC has a new blog where all the latest film club directors drawings and work will be posted every week or so.

Anyway - Pencil!

2011-05-24T02:21:00.001+01:00

not sure about this, it doesn't feel quite right. Maybe I'll give it another shot at some point, or maybe I'll just keep going with the next dream I have, it's quite a fun thing to try and capture.

Some background to today's dream- puzzled scientists were collecting the fish as they poured down the walls and pooled in silvery mounds on the carpet of this house, it was to them that my comment was directed. And a note about my note- it says the girl was holding a "fish" not a "fith" it would seem my brush has a lisp...

2011-05-23T17:59:00.002+01:00

I've been dreaming of water and fish a lot lately, these are some anchovies I drew while trying to pin down a particular moment from a couple of nights ago. Full dream to follow if I manage to get it on paper...

2011-04-17T17:47:00.000+01:00

A tiny snippet of something for the background on the latest thing I've been working on...

2011-03-28T09:37:00.002+01:00

the man of my dreams.

2011-03-28T00:26:00.000+01:00

Mental block. too much character designs and not enough good shapes happening in them.

2011-03-12T05:15:00.000Z

A painting I did for an exhibition that will be opening on thursday, and which today seems awfully apt following the events in Japan.

2011-03-06T17:55:00.000Z

Now that my favourite nib replacements have arrived, a new doodle. And my pain that my absolute favourite bubblegum scented melissa shoes are just too tight. In case anyone's interested, my favourite nib is the divinely scratchy and flexy steel blue Gillott 1950. When the last one gave way I did try other nibs, but you know how it is, you yearn for that familiar touch. The young pretenders are far too wet and overkeen, too broad in the hand and you just can't kid yourself you feel the same way. Glad to be in your steely arms again old friend.

2011-01-20T10:47:00.002Z

Here is the short short animation I made to illustrate a tutorial for the Feb 2011 Digital Arts - and what do you know it's a greyhound.
The tutorial focuses on how I use Photoshop/After Effects to composite and matte my hand-drawn animation and the few shortcuts I've found to alleviate the tedium of painting and editing things frame by frame... no getting away from the drawing aspect though (fun fact: there are 34 drawings per 3 layers in this barely 5 second clip- that's 102 in total).
Download the tutorial and film in digital form here or find the magazine in all good newsagents near you!

2011-01-19T10:12:00.000Z

2011-01-18T02:47:00.014Z

a bit of a drawing round-up as I've been rubbish and letting them pile up on my desk.
First, yet more doggy research sketches from Battersea Dogs Home for the film I'm currently working on (Stay). Until it's finished I'm afraid everything will stay (hyuk hyuk) very much greyhound shaped around here...
And secondly, a few frames from the work I did on the Christmas Lectures.

Over Christmas I also did a bit of animation and wrote a tutorial for Digital Arts magazine which is coming out this thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to put something from it up here as I actually quite like it for change... can you guess what it will be of?

xx

2011-01-11T08:55:00.002Z

The 'Size Matters' Titles from the Royal Institution Christmas lectures 2010 that Jonathan Topf directed have surfaced over on his blog - I did the 2d animation and character design for all the papery cut out animals. Lovely titles I think, and a really nice job for me.

2010-12-13T13:51:00.001Z

Canterbury Anifest

2010-09-26T22:34:00.000+01:00

My film miau myau is being screened at canterbury anifest on october 9th, I know a lot of this year's RCA films will be in the line up so it should be a fun screening! see you there maybe x

"stay" pickle titles

2010-09-24T02:21:00.000+01:00

Battersea Dog's Home

2010-09-17T17:30:00.004+01:00

Polish posters

2010-06-30T22:27:00.002+01:00

A lot has been written about polish poster design and though I'd vaguely been aware of it (big influence on the brothers Quay etc), it wasn't until I went to Cinephilia West and saw some posters in their exhibition space that I really understood how unique a movement it is.

These are some of my favourites- I love their humour, hand drawn/painted flair and how well they translate the essence of the film onto paper.

The shining is a particular favourite, I love how much the poster IS that poor woman in the "here's johnny!" scene.

Designers left to right:

Leszek Zebrowski - The Shining
Waldemar Swierzy - Sunset Boulevard
Swava Harasymowicz - Mulholland Drive
Leszek Zebrowski - Losiewisko

Leszek Zebrowski - Amelie

Asda George (and signing your name with a blancmange)

2010-06-10T18:03:00.000+01:00

Just finished working on this commercial for asda- I animated the numbers the girl is writing on the right that pop and morph into butterflies, balloons, stars etc as well as all the text and handwritingy bits.
It was fun though slightly frustrating to put it mildly- the animation was done in flash and as I've never really worked in flash very much before it was like being asked to sign your name with a blancmange. "I'm sure I know how to do this, but, but... why is it SO hard???"
Anyway, my struggles in the land of vectors pale in comparison to the epic task that was Waltz With Bashir:

Thanks to Meital the lovely compositor who worked on Asda with me (as well as waltz with bashir no less) for pointing this video out to me in my darker moments....

Roundhouse Ex Animo Bursary

2010-05-01T12:01:00.003+01:00

Last week I heard I was shortlisted for the Roundhouse Ex Animo bursary and went along to pitch my dog/pickle film idea to their panel- they loved it and I just heard I've been awarded the bursary!
Once again, I'm going to be spending the summer in the dark animating away, though this time in the decidedly nicer surroundings of the Roundhouse Studios, make a change from my bedroom...

Hamilton the Musical Elephant- happy wednesday morning

2010-03-31T08:28:00.002+01:00

"Hamilton the Musical Elephant" (1961) is one of the absolutely cutest, most lovely designed animations I have found (full stop. ever.) whilst trawling through Halas & Batchelor's work at the Animation Research Centre.
What's not to love? brilliant cartoon modern design, beautiful animation, great music... and the best elephant dance in the world.
Enjoy, happy wednesday morning.

The Swan

2010-03-22T11:28:00.002Z

Laughter drifts through the black air, bounces along the undulating pvc ripples of the pond and out through the smudgy outline of trees that I cannot see but I think are there. I think.
the thin rubber soles of my shoes grind on the paving slabs as I shift my weight from one hip to the other. I am talking to someone. I think.
People start to delineate themselves in the dark. They seem familiar though I can't be sure. Blacker on blackest, my eyes strain to see something in the dark. Orange pinpricks glow and swim around in orbits punctuating the trajectory of some person's conversation, a face is briefly thrust into a pool of light as they take a drag. A girl's laugh rings out floating high above our heads as the anecdote hits home and falls spent from the person's mouth. The dying embers ground out below an invisible heel.
I am talking to someone, I hear words falling out of the space where I know my lips to be, some distance below my eyes, where I am. I cannot make out what I am saying or what is being said to me, it must not matter. I think.
I am content in this place, there is a satisfyingly warm breeze folding, playfully uncombing the hairs on my arm. I must not be wearing long sleeves, it must be summer. Though I imagine those trees to still be bare-ish. Perhaps it is spring.
As I hear my voice buzzing away below me I wonder briefly if it is my boyfriend I am talking to. It might be, I can't see his face, though it looks like him, that blackness does look and feel like a boyfriend. Or maybe it is my ex boyfriend, or neither, or a mixture of the two. I find myself drifting, thinking of the king cups and reeds that swell out of the water at the pond's edges. I imagine the cats and foxes creeping around through those trees staring down at us with curious eyes, what are you doing there by our pond they might ask? I imagine that behind them, to their backs shines a moon, obscured by cloud but sheer enough to cover their coats in a silvery sheen...
A loud crack cuts through the dark like a dagger.
The air is tense, the vibrations of the sound hang in the air at a nauseating pitch.
Bent feathers scrape on concrete, silk white quills torn and ragged, an unearthly, uncontrolled flapping and an asphyxiating sense of doom.
All around me I feel feet running, and panic. I feel the dark swimming before me, the ground pulled out from underneath my soles, the hard slap of the paving slabs on my shoes. I too seem to be running, I think. Towards the sound.
And there it lies, head trailing just below the surface of the gleaming water, huge white wings thrashing around at the water's edge, body slumped heavy on the side. A terrible, monstrous, half dead- half alive thing. Someone has shot a swan.

"Please! Someone has to kill it! We have to wring its neck!"
my voice rings clear, in desperation. I am kneeling by the swan, hands and thighs deep in feathers, turning frantically to look at my companions behind me, begging them to intervene. There seems to be a spotlight shining from above, I squint back at the people through my downy fingers, not able to make out any of their features.
"Please!" I scream again, my voice hoarse, the light blinding my eyes, casting sharp black shadows all around me and the swan.
It has to be me. No-one else is going to do it, I think.
I gently take a length of the swan's graceful neck in my shaking hands, it's feebly gasping beak still submerged in the now green lit water. I feel the warmth of its blood and pulse, the softness of its short neck-feathers in my fingers, the strange bird-skin and muscle of its body, and tug.

This is what I dreamed a few nights ago, unbelievably vivid, like a sub-standard david lynch sequence, or a pretentious vogue photo shoot. The symbolism seems almost too strong to take seriously, though I've tried to stay away from analysing it. I think I know the pond in question, I think it's a pond in a park I went to quite a lot as a child, in the grounds of a beautifully manicured house and pergola in London. I seem to always dream photographically like this, but for some reason this one has stuck with me, there is something about that swan that haunts me, that I'm slightly scared of and that just won't let go.

Ilford Sporti - 1st Roll

2010-03-18T15:00:00.010Z

Click for more photos after the jump

Greyhound

2010-03-18T12:10:00.002Z

Jon

2010-03-14T19:17:00.014Z

A little "blind" sketch I did a while ago when I'd just bought my scratchy fine nib and ink.

Apocryphal Pegbar

2010-02-13T14:22:00.003Z

click

More catgut promo inspiration - fears of the dark

2010-02-08T11:32:00.011Z

Ok, so the last post was about the mood, and the subtle details that I want to look at in the promo. This is about the visual style and in particular the representation of space.
As soon as I heard the track I will be working with, I knew I wanted to create a similar sense of ambience, to touch on a specific note as "rains" does, but to unify it by having a central character as a guiding thread throughout. The scenes observed in "Rains" are linked by, well, the rain. The whole film hinges on this, and it is elevated beyond a montage of (beautiful) observations by focusing on this one element, becoming a study, a paean to rain.
I don't think mine will achieve anywhere near as lofty heights but this where i'm coming from.
The second thought that struck me was that it would be a great opportunity to play with a minimal style i've always had a visual crush on- representing three dimensionality and perspective by negative space and movement. i've always loved the way it's possible to give things shape by omitting lines, there is something pleasingly clever about images that manage to describe something in its entirety while leaving things unsaid, I suppose some kind of visual equivalent to a carefully worded linguistic allusion.
The Richard Mcguire directed segment of "fears of the dark" illustrates this style beautifully. whereas in a drawing you need a certain amount of marks on a page to delineate space and objects (without them you end up with that classic "polar bear in a snowstorm eating marshmallows" blank page) in animation, with the addition of movement you can map out a space quite accurately through the changes in perspective that occur when moving through it. Fears of the dark does it fantastically well, I wasn't able to find the exact clip I'm thinking of (some children playing in the snow, a stark white image where you become aware of the hilly landscape and the children's presence by their jumping up and down in and out of the white) but there is some absolutely gorgeous stuff along those lines in this too. Props to Lucile Patron whose reel this is showing the part she animated in the film.

I'll post some drawings soon and hopefully an animatic so you can see where all these thoughts were leading up to.

PS I was on bbc local radio with Lesley very very early on saturday morning promoting the BAAs where we were rightly upstaged by a 7 year old girl who has organised a sponsored swim for Haiti. I haven't listened again to myself because I can't bear the sound of my own voice- I've been told it's fine, but I'm not taking that risk! It's on iPlayer, that's all the detail you're getting.

Digital Arts Online

2010-02-01T12:31:00.014Z

Digital Arts magazine have featured a brief article mentioning me and the british animation awards screening being held in farnham on the 22nd Feb!

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsId=13474

like the advert on tv but weirder, it's a pretty odd experience reading things you said/wrote chopped up and remixed into the context of an article.
Very cool though!

baa screening at BFI fri 26th Feb & Farnham Maltings

2010-01-28T15:50:00.007Z

Hello!
Just to let you know I will be going to the screening of Program 3 of the British Animation Awards public choice tour (the one my film is in of course) at BFI Southbank on Friday 26th of February. It starts at 20:50 (that's 8:50pm to you 12 hour clock people) it would be nice if you came down, it should be a fun evening!
tickets are selling out, all the best seats are taken but you can still buy tickets here £9 adults, £6.65 students.

I will also be at the Farnham Maltings along with Catgut (who supplied the lovely music for the soundtrack) on Monday 22nd February for the baa screening which starts at 6:20pm.

more details on the venues and dates as well as the program of the public choice tour here

come and vote for me!

Rains

2010-01-28T12:29:00.005Z

I have been looking for this film (by David Coquard-Dassault for the national film board of canada) since I saw it in annecy last year but it's nowhere to be found on the internet yet. Here is the longest clip I've seen, I just wanted to post about it because I think it's lovely and I'm thinking of using it as inspiration for a music promo I am going to be doing for catgut.
I love the stillness of the film and the way the limited (yet beautifully observed) movements of the animation take on a big feeling as a result. I think it could be a good way to go given that the track I will be working with is 5 minutes long and time is short as ever. less is more.

Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film

2010-01-15T22:14:00.002Z

I've just found out that /mi'au, myau/ will also be in competition in the Young Animation category of the 17th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film in May 2010!
I'm looking forward to it already. more details here

fisherman's friend storm

2010-01-05T23:06:00.007Z

The fisherman's friend adverts I worked on (directed by Ossie Parker) are currently being aired and have already found their way onto youtube (i caught one this evening while flicking channels, what a bizarre experience to see something you did and poured so much blood sweat and tears over fleetingly wave past you on the tele-vision!) this is the one I worked on the most- me and the lovely miss mina mileva were responsible for all those waves and splashes. it was a LOT of rendering per frame but the drawings were pretty cool even if i say so myself.

here's to 2010 and hopefully a lot more work.

BAAs

2009-11-17T21:19:00.005Z

Last night when checking my junk mail, I came across 2 emails from the British Animation Awards - both my graduation film and /my'au miau/ have been shortlisted in the student category!
A big but nice surprise, especially as i've only just started to be able to look at my graduation film again. Definitely not something I would have guessed.

Judging will take place in december and I'm not expecting anything, especially given my recent experience with my last nomination in Berlin, but it's lovely to be considered at all and you can never know for sure.

In other news, today was my first day working at Th1ng as an inbetweener so I haven't really had a chance at making a proper start on my "stay" (aka the dog and pickle) short. I still hope to get it done by january, I just need a bit of free time.

xxx

/mi'au, myau/

2009-11-11T16:54:00.005Z

This is the film I made over the summer for the "languages through lenses" competition promoting multilingualism which I'm finally now allowed to show.
It was screened at the Prix Europa festival last week and though I didn't win, it did get short listed and made it into the top 5. Plus I got 3 days to wander around Berlin, and that can't be a bad thing!

Music as always, by Catgut.

Graduation Film

2009-11-11T16:35:00.003Z

It's been 4 months since graduation, I can now look at my film semi objectively and I can admit that there are a few nice things in there. It's such a big subject for me, I think it will be a while but I would like to revisit it and make the film when I've nailed the technique and animation skillz needed to make it as I would like.
Bla bla bla, here it is, it's about my family in Italy, and the voice is my grandmother speaking to me on the phone.

Showreel November 09

2009-11-11T15:39:00.004Z

It's been a very long time since I posted anything, I've been changing things around a lot but hopefully soon things will settle down and I can get back into posting some of my work. In the mean time here is my latest showreel.

David Byrne vs Michel Gondry

2009-08-04T22:47:00.005+01:00

Hello hello, time for another archive related post! Yesterday, I discovered half a film on an old vhs taped from german tv and within 3 seconds knew I had to find out what it was so I could watch it. The film in question turned out to be "True Stories" by David Byrne of talking heads fame.
The film itself is a strange yet lovely wander through an imagined Texas and I really enjoyed it (I can't believe it's on amazon.com for $3! shame there isnt a region 2 or 1 or whatever this region is in existence) but more to the point, I was struck by one scene in particular.
Michel Gondry's daft punk video from 1997 is strikingly reminiscent of the "wild wild life" scene in the film no? Look at that set design and the lighting! Surely it's no coincidence.
True Stories (in its entirety) on youtube, Around the World.

animation archive post 01

2009-07-04T15:20:00.007+01:00

So, I've been working in the animation archive at university for a while now, and at the moment my job consists mainly of transfering from vhs to dvd lots and lots of short films. There's all sorts of stuff there, old mtv idents by bill plympton, the brothers quay, piotr dumala, joanna quinn, prit paarn, run wrake etc (mtv really commissioned a LOT of cool stuff in the olden days, everyone who's anyone in the animation world seems to have done an ident for them in the mid 90s) and one of the cool things about working in the archive is the sheer amount of films you get to watch and discover. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of terrible films I have to get through, but every now and then you find something absurdly wonderful you would never have seen otherwise.
Yesterday, that happened with this film, "Loves me, Loves me not" directed/animated by Jeff Newitt for Aardman in 1992. (yes, 1992!) The film itself I don't really care for, neither the design, but they both serve their purpose as a canvas on which to showcase some really spectacular character animation.
I have no idea how he managed to create such smooth, squashy stretchy, tex avery style 2d posey animation in stop motion, with the fluidity and control of cg. When I was watching it I couldn't quite believe it was stop motion, even though I knew it was as this film pre-dates modern cg by a loong way and is obviously plasticine.
Anyway, enough said, enjoy the obsecenely masterful animation, hopefully I'll make these posts a regular thing, sharing any other discoveries I stumble across.

x

dog 03

2009-06-22T21:43:00.002+01:00

yet another dog- "omg, tone!"

2009-06-22T18:04:00.001+01:00

stay- 2.0

2009-06-16T00:25:00.002+01:00

much closer to how he is in my brain.

NB- this whole thing is inspired by this post by Jorge Garcia aka Hurley from Lost.

stay- first doodle

2009-06-15T23:17:00.003+01:00

I've just come back from Annecy, and as ever when I go to a festival, i come away appreciating the films that keep it short and to the point. This time I return armed with an idea for a super short short: Stay. 1 minute, 1 dog, 1 pickle, 1 disembodied owner's voice and hopefully no eastern european pain.

do you like my beard?

2009-05-24T02:22:00.000+01:00

Thomas le pianist tetard

2009-05-08T01:43:00.003+01:00

uncoloured, unfinished sound. but a bit more of my graduation film nonetheless. (thank you thomas for the awkward piano playing)

boy in a boat

2009-05-06T14:34:00.005+01:00

a pop up card i made yesterday; it's given me a good idea for an illustration competition i have been toying with entering but hadn't really given much thought to. I didn't really know what my angle would be, but doing this reminded me how much i like macro photography + paper cutouts in illustration, I don't think it would necessarily work for the competition, but it's somewhere to start.

poop or legs?

2009-05-05T14:21:00.005+01:00

Today when checking if the tadpoles had sprouted legs and the age old "is that poop or are they legs?" question, not only did we realise they are HUGE and sprouting tiny leg-bumps (see the white bumps by the tail in the first picture) there was an actual full grown frog friend hiding in the weed in the pond. He climbed out a bit later to catch the sun and posed for the camera, completely unfazed by how close the lens had to get to his nose to actually focus.

Potential dvd case? (fiat cinquecento)

2009-05-03T22:18:00.001+01:00

ANIMATED dog in a car

2009-04-29T18:12:00.004+01:00

see what i did there?

48 drawings for barely 2 seconds... Im glad im going back to animating on 2s soon

dog in a car

2009-04-26T23:07:00.002+01:00

coming soon in animated form

more of the same

2009-04-26T21:32:00.004+01:00

it's time i put this shot temporarily to bed and animated other things to book end it.. I've been staring at it far too long and im still not pleased with it

colour script and new coloured crows

2009-04-24T00:47:00.003+01:00

an effort to try and amend the colours i am STILL not happy with

must post by 3:30

2009-04-23T03:28:00.002+01:00

ugly test No2.

test sky

2009-04-21T01:38:00.006+01:00

A little test I put together in after effects to see how i could get around the problem of the sky changing colour as the sun sets in the background of my film. I still think the sky would look better if it was boiling, but i don't think I can get away with anything less than a hefty wodge of frames for the boil- it would be too obvious if it was just a couple of frames like the sun. plus you wouldnt get that blooming cloud effect i'm after. Still, i think the colour change itself looks pretty good..! I might see how i feel after the sky is behind trees etc before i attempt to boil it, my scanner does not like crinkly watercolour paper, and my lightbox insists on making paint invisible to the naked eye...

fashion me

2009-04-13T18:16:00.004+01:00

My attempt at the final show drawing. A self portrait that looks far too fashion for my liking, but what can you do! at least you can tell it's me...

WOOOO!!!

2009-04-09T18:52:00.007+01:00

Today I received the following statement in my inbox:

We received 122 proposals from students studying at art schools located in 18 European Union member states as well as Norway and Turkey.

We are very pleased to inform you that your application has been selected and that you will therefore be able to participate in the Languages through lenses project!

I am so so excited! It means i finally know what I will be doing this summer, and will be going to Berlin for a week in october to the festival where my film will be shown :)
ahhhhhhhhh, what a nice easter present!
A budget of €5000 and a contract in the post! I don't think I have ever had that much money to play with, let alone as a budget to make an animation (!)

I need to go and be hyperactive somewhere in the real world now...

speak soon

v xx

Vida Vega.com is go!

2009-03-19T00:08:00.003Z

finally, i can barely believe it myself, the domain vidavega.com actually has a useable workable site on it!
It's not quite finished yet, but it has my showreel (minus stuff from my final film etc) and some of my favourite drawings from here on it as well as other bits and bobs.
I am currently in the middle of moving (and consequently buying the ikea studio furniture of my dreams) and writing proposals/storyboards for a film competition so blogging has been low in my list of priorities for a while.
anyway, hopefully i will have time once in the new house.

I give to you in the mean time vidavega.com

x

Sylvia plath distilled into limerick form

2009-02-18T20:54:00.002Z

original poem "Tulips" here

and my fantastic version:

For Ash

There was once a bunch of tulips,
They sucked the life out from my two lips,
They were far too red
They messed with my head
I never wanted them, i actually prefer irises.

Udine sketchbook montage

2009-02-11T23:28:00.007Z

It was absolutely freezing in italy the weekend I went (just before the freak ice age hit) so most of these scraps are hurriedly scribbled from the relative warmth of a fiat panda. As much as I would have liked to wander about in the streets drawing/watercolouring properly, the temperature/lack of time meant I just snapped thousands of photos to draw from later instead. Next I should really sort through the mountains of photos I took and post them but that will take a bit longer to wade through and digest. Hmm.. maybe next week. when the dissertation panic attacks subside.

sleeping cats and dogs

2009-02-11T23:17:00.005Z

Today I received my lovely new scanner (with which I am very much in love) and thought it would be a good excuse to scan some more of the drawings I did when I was in italy. here is Miki (one of the cats that lives in my grandmother's house)

And more Cabiria... sleeping next to her puppies as ever

Cabiria

2009-02-06T23:53:00.002Z

Cabiria worriedly curled up next to her 7 10 day old puppies

Moleskine dog

2009-02-06T23:40:00.004Z

I was in italy last week, this is a little scene I witnessed on saturday morning just as it was starting to snow.

Animatic

2009-01-19T23:24:00.002Z

excuse the colours (or lack thereof), i had a bit of a brain melt trying to sort them out, they all started clashing in my mind and made me want to cry so i thought it best to leave a neutral beige-ish canvas to contemplate when i have the time. They will be a lot more interesting in the final version! Also excuse the slightly bad compression of the youtube video... and the slightly bad editing bla bla. it's a first draft animatic, you know the drill!

And now finally after a long long day that began at quarter to 6, good night.

Opening shot background

2009-01-14T00:52:00.002Z

colour and contrast

2009-01-12T11:52:00.002Z

an old photo i took at the venice art biennale in 2007, the woman happened to walk past the blade of sunlight just at the right moment, it looks incredibly staged but i sort of love it because of that. the contrast, the colours, the movement- one of those happy accidents that happen with a little point and shoot camera

Alpini - "E Sul Cervino"

2009-01-06T12:53:00.004Z

Music I will temporarily be putting on my animatic!

Film titles

2009-01-05T15:07:00.003Z

Blind drawings

2009-01-05T14:59:00.004Z

Some drawings I did without looking at the page on the long drive back from Cornwall

Fellini Tribute

2009-01-04T18:56:00.003Z

More crows

2009-01-04T18:53:00.002Z

midday - dusk

2008-12-27T13:54:00.002Z

Possibly the colour palette I will be using for my film.
It starts off briefly in bleached out summer sun before ripening into an orangey pink autumnal/afternoon (this will be the main section of the film) and finally trailing off into bruisy winter dusk.
I'm currently trying to nail down the structure of the film in writing, rearranging the text I had initially written. I might post the list of observational snippets I'm working from later, and hopefully in the near future the final piece.
laters animators.

Guillingvase larking pot.

2008-12-26T22:19:00.002Z

Pinkier

2008-12-18T13:52:00.004Z

Take 2 to get the images looking closer to how the drawings actually look in my sketchbook as opposed to my scanner's slightly anaemic interpretation

new watercolour experiments

2008-12-17T01:09:00.002Z

just a couple of colour tests using different watercolours.
I had been threatening to change the whole style of the boards i had done before (in a hurry and last minute as ever) and I am much much happier with these ones. This is possibly closer to how the film will look!

crit storyboards 4

2008-11-21T21:38:00.003Z

And that's more or less it! I've cut a couple of the drawings I really disliked (but showed at the crit to make up the magical 24 images required) and i'll redraw them.
Also, i've reordered them, as now i've had more time to think about where they need to go in terms of the film they make more sense like this.
I'm going to keep working on the storyboard now, I really want it to reflect a change from day-night from the beginning of the film to the end, and also the changing of the seasons. I like how in this order the last boards are dark and brooding night shots, and the beginning ones are brighter and more macro-y and that's something I really want to play on when it comes to the final cut.

crit storyboards 3

2008-11-21T21:33:00.002Z

crit storyboards 2

2008-11-21T21:28:00.001Z

crit storyboards 1

2008-11-21T21:12:00.001Z

ignore the numbers in the corner, this is the new order I am putting them in :)

crit animation

2008-11-19T11:27:00.001Z

just the little animation tests I showed at the crit yesterday. storyboards to follow!

Counting Pylons

2008-11-17T13:49:00.002Z

they followed me into my sleep last night.

LAMP

2008-11-15T19:27:00.001Z

Drawings from my treatment 2

2008-11-12T16:56:00.002Z

Drawings from my treatment 1

2008-11-12T16:51:00.002Z

shadows

2008-11-08T15:23:00.003Z

stag smoking a pipe.

2008-10-27T13:30:00.001Z

A is for Alan

2008-09-19T19:53:00.002+01:00

Prrr

2008-09-15T23:06:00.003+01:00

lamp posts

2008-08-30T01:02:00.003+01:00

Guten Nacht.