Spirit of '76

Before we get into all that, just did some production art for Brighthands Studio. Tristan doing things big as need be. And I think it is that time of the year where I give the industry an illuminated pimp slap with some new endeavours. Good luck to you all and remember me when you get large. Reason I am not posting what I did up here is because its top secret because who is potentially involved.... thats all I will say.
Now, Spirit of '76.... not '67. Of course the American Revolutionary War was a great struggle for America to seperate themselves from the British. but Social change never took more prominence than in the 60's and 70's. This little book I did some years ago is testament to that. As I said before it used the word as central to the design. Have a look and tell me what you think... all you voyeurs. Ill be posting 2 -3 pages over the week.

Sum up,
Laptop gets way too hot way too quickly

PAYPAL BUMP COMPETITION - COSMONAUT

BEHOLD! THEN VOTE. New entry to the PayPal Bump Competition. If you haven't Voted for my other one now you can vote for two.



Sum up,

"NASA take me away, cuz life's a bitch"- GAME

I am thinking of a masterplan. Just about

Over the next couple weeks Ill be putting up some pages from two books Ive put together during my university days. One was called "Spirit of 76" which placed a carnivalesque interpretation of civil rights history, using the word in a unique interpretive way. Also wrote an anthology, poetry when I had at least 1 creative bone in my body entitled 'Harbinger'.

Also remember those stills for that animation title sequence I promised to show you all well here they go...

This is a preliminary image, ended up going for a a more John Bass look, more graphic, overlayed with a paint texture, better type.
  The newer version is abit cooler

Sum up,

Why didn't you tell me you wanted the export to be 1920* 1080 when all the clips you sent as references were in 1440*1080?

WC- World Cup or Water Closet

Football Fever is here! Awesome. Really. Inflated spherical leather being kicked around. on grass. for 90 minutes. But ive kind of got a bit caught up in the mix... the ideological standpoint. Not a big fan of the games, but the concept of going against another country, branded by the colors of ones own flag, facing adversary...it's kind of like traditional war. It's no wonder England think they are good. Any match here- the chants, epithets etc. Triumph des Willens. England played USA...a sad case indeed... they were given a run for their money from a country that doesnt even call football football. And, like every world cup since they won that one star, the English go through certain stages of being.
First, everyone's beefed up. 'C'mon England' from slurred, jagged toothed lips, the only time patriotism shines here is when there is confrontation. Flags are branded everywhere where they shouldnt be or the flag itself is branded. Oh the england flag... with the Sun written on it. Another flag... with Gillette. Oh so your flag barely covers you pubes. great stuff.

2nd phase- they all get behind one person. not the Team. It is one person that all their hopes and dreams are cradled in. Too many eggs in one basket. And the basket has a gaping hole. Rooney has been that in recent times. And before him, the Metrosexual. You know who I'm talking.

3rd Phase- The games begin and they arguably always seem to start off in an easy set, which they barely conquer or they get through on some technicality. Dumb luck? Underhanded dealings? No one knows. And I dont really care, because then comes phase 4...

Phase 4- True colors. The Pride becomes white hot, spewing hot. And quintessentially they have reached the quarter finals...maybe the semi finals...big MAYBE. And they lose.

Phase 5- Scapegoating. The team lost. that hope they put on the back of their golden balls or (laughably) the 'White Pele' falls terribly short. Some one has to be blamed. Against Argentina, Beckham was blamed. He received death threats and harrassed for his little kick. Then it was the coach following that. Who or what will it be this year? The black dude that broke the other black dudes leg? Commentators have already started pushing blame for the teams poor gaming towards the coach. The pumpumani ball? The problem child's comments at being booed? Who knows. But it will be interesting and unsuprising to see it come out in the end. Or maybe England will prove me wrong... maybe theyll start playing like a team.

Yeah, I have better sh*t to hope for.

Sum up,
Wise up.

The Diary of a Freelancer: Professional Courtesy

A lot of interesting (albeit, irritating) things happened this week. Work tempo has escalated a bit but still trying to keep loyal to the blood oath I made when I started blogging.

But I think the one unifying theme, that can collectively describe all the weeks events is Courtesy. Professional Courtesy. PC. Not to be confused with Political Correctness. Political Correctness is something you regurgitate when societal cues warrant it. Professional Courtesy goes deeper than that and involve rewiring the way you think and act towards others in business. The tacit just got clearer.

I'm not sure if I am just a stubborn a$$hole that forgets that capitalism is really a numbers game. For all you working class people and entrepeneurs that voted Cameron, I currently have stockpiled an array of weapons you can use to commit suicide with. But given the circumstances you may not be able to afford it. So I am doing society a huge favour and Ill give 'em to you for free.
But we digress.

Matter at hand, professional courtesy. I'll break it down in bulletproof points, and these tips are far from hollow. Shell we proceed, indeed (bit of a stretch):

1. ETTIQUETTE -please, thank you, simple primary school stuff. But some people have the brainspan of a gold fish swimming in Russian vodka. Example: dude comes to me some months ago asking to design a DVD cover for his pitch. No pay of course. And I had to make a hell of a lot of changes. No "please could you..." Just "I need you to do this ASAP" or "You sent the wrong file, send it through again". Matter of fact I'm still waiting for a copy of their supposed pilot.
2. COMMUNICATION- thanks to innovation in technology, we have ways of communicating to each other...phones, email, social sites, SMS, slap on the head. Endless. So if someone is putting work for you, keep em in the loop. This week I got a call from a dude who I agreed to do boards for. So what's the problem? I agreed to do it late Spring 2009.
   Met him back then, talked, and it was agreed the story art process would start in the following week. He disappeared for a couple months then popped up back out of the blue, demanded more than asked me to meet him so we could do the storyboards, even though he did not respond to my email i sent after our meeting. Stupid me, I entertained him, and he wanted me to sketch every single panel and show him in the meeting, so when a meeting with a director would usually entail going through a hefty feature film script in an hour, we hardly finished going through scene 1 of a short film in the same time. He had no clue of what he wanted. I made sketches, which he said was all wrong. So i would sketch some more trying to put his acid-thoughts on paper. And when i finally sketched something that he agreed with, all you had to do was compare the sketch with the first sketch i rendered- same, identical. "Oh yeah yeah, that's what I want". Plus the dude took more skittles than I was giving him by knocking the bag. Skittles from Miami dude!
   So I left that meeting frustrated and sent him a hefty email, along the lines of "you need to be sure of what you want to see, be precise of camera distances you want [how can you mix up a WS with a LS or a CU with MS] etc." I attached pencil sketches of the frames we discussed, and said if you want the rest done, you have to come and see me. I sent that email September 2009. I had no response. not one. until the beginning of this week- June 2010. Funny thing is he was responding to my email as if we last talked 1 day ago. He wanted me on the project. He said he is available to meet Tuesday, Wednesday. He didnt ask me when and if I was available to meet. No offer, no compensation for time wasted. Nothing. I dont respond fast enough so he calls. And has the nerve to say that the offer to work on the boards would be 'an experience'. Let's face it shrimp, if making story art was like sex, Id get more satisfaction from doing it myself than collaborating on your project- No homo. Told him to kick rocks. I really did keep my composure.
   
3. INSULTS and THREATS- I never respond kindly to them. A tutor in university said in my last year that if i didnt come in for an unimportant assessment, that my grades would suffer-"I promise you that". Another tutor, in my first year said he was 'really suprised' that I got the highest mark in the class, and that I should participate more in class instead of "talking to your bro". You know, the only other black guy in the class. It was the hand and body gestures that got me. Hm another instance, working on the set of Fantastic Mr Fox, the Head of Production, or at least I think she was ( not with those hooker boots) sent me home prematurely and made no fun to flaunt in my face that my hail mary chance of 'making it' in the company was unequivocally snuffed out and I was just 'wrong'. And on the marvellous Facebook I've seen 'bosses' refer to people that have helped to give 'em shine as 'freakin' mouses', and personify himself as 'the trap'. The cheese was payment of services etc. Really clever stuff. Also been called a "black [immigrant] drugdealler by RIZ MC, in jest of course. So, please dear friends, keep your sh*t to yourselves people, I have the tendency to show my bad side to people who speak loosely.
4. KEEPING PROMISES- "a comfort to a fool". If your folly is being a man of your word. Be careful of promises made by bosses, 'Specially if your working for crumbs. A man is only as good as his word. A director is only as good as his team. Anyone who is dishonest in business is dishonest in life. A few words to live by, friend and remember, if this was a different life, your broken promises could never be mended by cacophonic pleas.
   

Sum up,
I have a sudden urge to watch Goodfellas...anybody know why?

Redman Still

Kinda putting in overtime, so not much time to spend online. Despite the respite, from blogging that enlight(ens), i will post images for you to see, so hold back grimaces.

This is the Red Man. Called so for many reasons. The English hate 'gingers' it seems. So who better to bring about the demise of the pork men? I had another still... a crown falling into the abyss, but silly me, the file got corrupted.

Currently working on animation titles i know i promised to show today, but yesterday...ah f*** it, I am tired. Gtg people.

Sum,
Loving my internal rhyme display. Pay Homage hommes.

Flexing ye olde Aesthetic muscle

Dude,
Its Sunday and currently weighing the stress of the coming week. Few things happening, not sure in what order. Had an interview postponed (yet again but nothing surprises me). So Red Man is well on its way, I have a still for here but forgot to transfer it to my Laptop (tomorrow promise.)

Thought Id share something with the film graduates; Diva Films (Diversity in Visual Arts) has a Graduate Fellowship programme, so if you like such films as Dance 3D and Kidulthood, get a placement with them. Of course I could go into the fact that you are a retard for loving the aforementioned films, but we digress. I'm applying tomorrow, and see what happens The due date is the 18th I think so you dont have much time.

http://www.divafilms.co.uk/

Get it in! Currently making animation title sequence for a music video. Apparently it has a band, a guy in a straight jacket, a broke back mountain cowboy, a lime green Muscle Car and all set agains an industrial wasteland. ah Dirtbag work. Neo western graphics. John Bass is my hero. So you will get two stills tomorrow.

Sum up,
Image reasearch, brainstorming, drinking Whey Protein, secretly plotting your demise and listening to:



Peace,