EVANGELINE THAN

Brian and Eileen’s wedding music video, by LOCKDOWN projects.

A reminder that sometimes your bread-and-butter work can still be creative and fun.

Sources: embedded video from Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCGCEbEreQw. I first read about this video on the Dancing with Frogs blog, URL: http://www.dancingwithfrogs.com/2009/03/14/watch-this-its-the-awesomest-thing-ive-ever-seen/ (posted March 16th, 2009).

While in (clay) modelling class yesterday, chit-chatting with our instructor (I could tell you his name but he might not like that), I found out that Ian Tregonning, who runs short courses at FTI, and is something of a Big Deal in Perth puppetry circles, was one of the puppeteers in Labyrinth!

I grew up in the ’80s, and Labyrinth is right up there with Pretty in Pink and Ghostbusters and the Breakfast Club and A-ha and Wham! and Michael Jackson when he was a good-looking black guy and Transformers (I could go on but I’ve mangled this sentence enough already), and all the cheesy, tacky, angsty, defining, delightful phenomena of that time, made even more perfect in my memory through the judicious application of sparkly nostalgia dust.

I remember Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, trying to solve the Goblin King’s labyrinth before midnight, or lose her baby brother, Toby, forever. Connelly’s acting at the beginning of the film was very stiff (it did get better as the movie progressed), but even then you could see she had a “something”, a lovely, innocent quality, that made her perfect for the role.

And then there was David Bowie. DAVID BOWIE. Rock legend. IN TIGHTS. Enough said.

When Labyrinth came out in 1986, I was in Year 4 (feel free to do the maths and then mentally hand me a Zimmer frame) and that film made me love David Bowie with all of my twisted little heart. I truly admired the strength that it took for Sarah to resist the lure of the Goblin Kingdom (and the Goblin King–rawr) but naturally, that admiration was tinged with regret. Let me tell you right now: I could not have done it. Jareth would have turned up in his black leather number and I’d be all, Toby? What Toby?

The masquerade ball in the movie is the scene that I remember the best. I made a mix tape (yes, that’s right, children, a mix TAPE) for my cousin with, “As the World Falls Down” on it, and her sister gave me a good telling-off the next time she saw me because I hadn’t given her one too. I ended up having to re-make the same mix tape four times.

Ian will not divulge which goblin he puppeted, but he did say that he had to spend a lot of time at the same level as David Bowie’s crotch. I will try get more details from Ian next time I see him, but I’m sure he’s quite sick of telling Labyrinth stories and will probably fling his pointiest puppet at me.

I went to a cocktail party after I learned about FTI’s association with Ian, and almost everyone I told squee-ed with excitement as well, except for one clueless 28-year-old who is now dead to me because they didn’t know what movie I was talking about.

Ian was also a principal puppeteer on Little Shop of Horrors with Rick Moranis, and includes The Muppet Christmas Carol, Babe, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Dr Dolittle on his very impressive résumé. He will be holding a Puppetry for Television course on the 18th and 19th of April at FTI. For more details, please visit the FTI website.

This short film is what you might call highly stylised. Some people have a problem with this, but I don’t mind as long as it’s accompanied by a good story. And boy, is this a good story. Ida’s Luck was written and animated by Katy Towell, with fantastic narration by Tim Jones and haunting music by Kevin McLeod. (I found the singing a little hard to listen to, but maybe that was the point.)

You can view part 1 of Ida’s Luck below. To view part 2, visit Katy’s CHILDRIN R SKARY site at http://skary.net/movies/:

Sources: embedded video from Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0WOLzxxrYI. I first read about this film at Ticklebooth, URL: http://ticklebooth.com/2009/02/idas-luck/ (posted February 24th, 2009).

I’m sure I’ve heard stuff from Sydney musical comedy trio Axis of Awesome before, but I didn’t have a name to put to their work. Now I do. I really enjoyed going through all these songs, they’ve included a great representation of Oceanic (notice that I don’t just go and blurt out “Australian” there because there are New Zealanders in there too! Shame on us for taking credit for our Kiwi friends’ work!) and overseas hits.

Richard Marx’s Right Here Waiting is in there! And Take On Me! Squeee!

Source: I first read about this on Neatorama at http://www.neatorama.com/2009/01/27/only-four-chords-are-needed-to-make-a-hit-song/ (posted January 27, 2009)

When I travelled to Japan in February 2006, one thing immediately struck me about the women in Tokyo (the non-Harajuku ones). Boy, did they know how to dress.

They reminded me of Parisian women, immaculate but not cold, feminine but not overtly sexy, a little old-fashioned but not definitely not old. I would have come home with a wardrobe full of clothes, if only the damn garments fitted over my swimmer’s shoulders and ample bosom.

I didn’t have a camera with me at the time, but I can still remember looking wide-eyed at the women on the street and the department store mannequins, wondering, why, oh why didn’t we have anything like this in Australia? (Actually, I think we do, but you need an income of a gazillion dollars to dress like this here.)

Now I can show you what I mean. Have a look at the work of Seiko Ohmori (Ohmori is her surname), and her three-dimensional illustrations of women with angel faces and clothes you wish were yours. She makes them from polymer clay, then photographs and digitally manipulates them.

Sources: Seiko Ohmori’s website at http://se.batic2.com/. I first read about Ohmori in Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog at http://drawn.ca/2007/12/30/seiko-ohmori/ (posted December 30th, 2007).

Julia made My First Crush as as her final film project at Kingston University in 2007 (do correct me if I’m wrong). I’m very fond of anthropomorphic animals, and the voices (voice acting? Well, they’re real accounts, so I suppose they’re not acting. Hum.) are superb. Scenes flow so nicely into each other (I know this sounds so mumsy and boring, but they do) and the light music in the background creates the perfect atmosphere.

Poignant, funny, tender, and full of simple and heartfelt appeal, this is one of my favourite animated shorts. It makes me smile whenever I watch it.

Sources: embedded video from Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY4Epc2XSGc. I first read about it in Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog at http://drawn.ca/2007/12/26/my-first-crush/ (posted December 26th, 2007).

Cedric Hohnstadt examines classic Popeye cartoons and shows how a lot can be said about a character’s personality through their poses.

According to Hohnstadt, good poses will possess the following traits:

Clarity: “A clear pose will pass the “silhouette test”: If you colored in the entire pose solid black you could still tell just from the silhouette exactly what the character is doing and/or thinking.”

Physicality: “Notice how every movement Popeye makes involves his entire body … Every pose is pushed for maximum visual interest.”

Line of Action: “In almost every pose you can draw one smooth imaginary curve from Popeye’s head down through his torso and into his leg. Cartoonists call this the “line of action”. In a good pose the line is one simple and clean swoop (mimicking a “C” or an “S” shape). In a bad pose the line is twisted and kinked. Every Popeye pose has a simple and clear line of action.”

Source: “Give Your Poses Clarity and Interest”, posted by Cedric Hohnstadt on December 11, 2008 to his blog, at http://cedrichohnstadt.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/give-your-poses-clarity-and-interest/

Update (21/04/2009): Keith Lango also emphasises the importance of a clear silhouette in poses. Read all about it in “Silhouette”, URL: http://keithlango.blogspot.com/2009/03/silhouette.html (posted March 16th, 2009)

Shaun Tan is a local (i.e., Perth) boy who’s made a name for himself internationally, both as an illustrator and a designer. His art can be simple, complex, layered, direct, subtle; it draws you in so powerfully and then you start feeling a little light-headed and you realise you’ve been holding your breath while taking it all in. Tan can draw and paint in many different styles and his work appeals to both children and grown-ups.

One of my favourite Shaun Tan books is The Red Tree. The colours are glorious.

You can watch the interview at the inframe.tv website by clicking on the link below:

http://www.inframe.tv/videoproject.aspx?id=10

If you visit the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre, which is located in the old prison hospital of Fremantle Prison, you can actually buy limited edition prints, and in some cases, original work by Shaun Tan.

Sources: I originally saw this on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog at http://drawn.ca/2008/12/08/shaun-tan-and-inspiration/, and followed it to the original material at http://www.inframe.tv/videoproject.aspx?id=10.

I subscribe to Scott Campbell’s RSS feed and I really like this Portugese ad campaign series he’s done for Show Off!, an independent film group.

A famous or recognisable person/animal/object appears on the left, with the caption “idea” underneath, and on the right you see its nemesis, with captions like “focus groups”, or “new director of marketing”. Hee.

I first saw Scott’s work at the Galleries One Nine Eight Eight website, and I was an instant fan of his drawing style. It reminds me of Sergio Aragones‘s or Quentin Blake‘s work; utilising an innocent, playful naughtiness.

To see more of the pictures from the ad campaign, click on the picture above or go to http://scott-c.blogspot.com/2008/12/portugal.html.

Birds of a Feather from Dan Sheppard on Vimeo.

I really like the fabric collage he’s used for the birds. See how the frayed edges look like soft down? Sweet, soft and subtle.

P.S. I love the high quality of Vimeo files. I love that the community here is (for the most part positive, supportive, discerning, gracious and non-sheep-like. It’s a classy act that others could learn a lot from.

Sources: embedded video from Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/2262440. I first read about this on Ticklebooth at http://ticklebooth.com/2008/12/birds-of-a-feather/ (posted 3rd December 2008).