PLAY 2: Weird Japanese Panda Song

Evening all. Back with another entry from 'PLAY', and I daresay it's fairly mysterious this time round.
My iTunes went to a rather cold, dark corner of my library when shuffling, as it began to play a track I forgot I had. It has no artist, no album, and is just called "Japanese Panda Song". I seem to recall getting it, when I asked what the soundtrack was to a video on Youtube. I was told it was from a 'Japanese baby advert' and was given the MP3. It sounds fairly dated, so I imagine it would be from, perhaps, the 70s, maybe even further back. I suppose I could upload the MP3 to, I dunno, Soundcloud or something... I'll post the link when I get round to it.

The track itself constantly utters the word "panda", and that isn't a shoddy translation on my part or anything, it's in there. The second half of the track is instrumental, and features a flute. For this particular piece, I imagined said flute player was, indeed, a panda. He hit a rough patch once royalties dried up, and now spends his time playing in sake bars in downtown Tokyo.

Expect more of 'PLAY' to be uploaded in due time, plus a personal project which involves extensive character design, which I'll probably upload once I've got it printed out for real (it's a long banner).

Until our paths cross again, farewell.

DRIVEN Review

As stated in the Drive novel review, I also bought the sequel, Driven, which had been released in June of this year. This review *may* be over sooner than the last one, as I feel this is a very similar book to its predecessor, but however, there are a few differences...

The book takes place 7 years after the events in Drive, after our hero, the Driver, wages a small war against the likes of Nino and Bernie Rose, leading to a pile of bodies and a decidedly smart move by the Driver to get the hell out of L.A., a city in which it seems everyone wants him dead. Driven sees he has returned to Phoenix, Arizona, and his past life appears to have caught up with him, as he is pursued by assassins, leading to the death of his fiancee, and two more bodies to add to the list. This sets in motion a cat-and-mouse chase, in which the Driver must figure out, along with his acquaintances, who is sending these people, and why, even if it means beating the information out of them.

As with its precursor, Driven retains a very slick, noir atmosphere. James Sallis once again does an excellent job of painting his canvas, just enough to not be convoluted, and not be flat and bland. Driven, much like Drive, oozes 80s crime thriller without even being set in the 80s, with references back to the Driver's day job of a stunt driver, usually for rip-off exploitation films, a mainstay of seedy 80s culture.

Driven seems to have much less of a problem with jumping between narratives. As a matter of fact, it is done tremendously well here. You will often wonder who this one character this chapter is giving us back story on, and then in the the next one (or the one after) we are formally introduced to said character, and why they tie in to the plot.
Incidentally, if you read Drive before coming to this one, you will applaud this concept even more, as it ties off loose ends left behind, gives some closure to characters who seemed to just drop from the story all together.

The only real criticisms I can think of when it comes to Driven is, there isn't an awful lot of exposition on what the Driver did in the 7 years between his tussle with Nino and Bernie, and now. It is sort of established that he got engaged and set up a small business, both of which we aren't really given much information on. Sure, it works as it is, and in the grand scheme of Driven, this argument may be futile.
The other criticism is, it is, like Drive, very short. While the ride was fun, it was over much too soon. But also like Drive, for as short as it is (even shorter than Drive, by the way), it is still a compelling story, which, rather thankfully, ends wide open, which means there's a lot of room for a sequel. Whether this is a good thing or not, is questionable, but I have to say, James Sallis can do no wrong now, if this is the way he's going.

***

In other news, just working at various projects, all at the same time (not a wise move). All being well, you'll see some new stuff in the next few days. I've got a small personal project on the go, which really, shouldn't be taking as long as it is. I should probably just make a day of doing nothing BUT that project.

Until next time, farewell.

PLAY 1

I just thought I'd upload a few snippets of what I'm working on at the moment. I'll be gradually uploading it all over the next few weeks plus other stuff, like reviews, various lovely websites and artists I happen to find, works of my own, etc.

This is part of a Summer project we were set, in which we chose a theme from a list, and had to produce 20 images over the break relating to it. After an absurd amount of time, I finally decided to do this one, going by the theme "PLAY". What I do is, stick my iTunes on shuffle for 20 tracks, and draw something relevant to each, but I only have the time the track is playing to do so. I will then work them all up later on, with no particular time limit, although anything over a day is just mad. I figure this will allow me to hone my skills with editorial design, which is one of the better projects I did last year, so I should probably stick to my guns, but also not be afraid to branch out.

Anyway, here it is. The track that was playing when I was sketching the rough was Justice - Stress (Auto Remix).

The scenario pictured was going to be part of a graphic novel I've got gathering dust, mainly due to the length of it. It's almost as long as Watchmen, something I'm never going to do in the space of, say, 5 years. I may revisit it from time to time, see if there's anything I can do with it.

DRIVE: The Novel review

Hello all. Long time no see. I greatly apologize for letting the blog gather dust as of late, and I'm not sure "I'm working on a load of projects at once" is a good enough excuse. You WILL see these projects in due time, along with a few more things I've been meaning to show.

Anyway, anyone who knows me even slightly will know I'm a sucker for Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive', starring Ryan Gosling. It's one of the most stylish, slick, gritty crime thrillers I've seen in a long time, and definitely harkens back to such thrillers from the 80s. I think the film, along with this growing culture of "80s revival" artists/groups/movements etc., have influenced me quite strongly, to the point where I sort of which I was born a decade or two earlier, just so I didn't have to put on the hipster glasses and be a pretentious dolt about it.

Understanding the film was based on a novel, written by James Sallis in 2005, I set off to track down a copy, only to find a sequel had been released, entitled Driven, that very month. Expect to see a review of that quite soon, possibly tomorrow.

Drive starts as it means to go on, in that the story opens chronologically half-way, in which our hero - who is only identified as the Driver, a mysterious figure with a troubled upbringing and a dual identity; a stunt driver and mechanic by day, and a getaway driver by night - back up against a wall, blood-smeared and in the company of 3 bodies in a motel, realizes this is definitely a job he shouldn't have taken up.
Sallis does an excellent job of setting the scenery, down to every delicate and grisly detail, a chime which rings throughout the story, presenting you with a deep, vivid piece of fiction, that, despite being over much sooner than many would hope, still gets the job done.

The narrative tends to jump about quite a bit, which is somewhat jarring and superfluous, especially for a book as short as this. One chapter (3-4 pages is the average) is set in modern day LA, the next will be more exposition on the Driver's past, and so on. On a personal level, I have no idea how this could be fixed, because as distracting as it can be, the flow of the story never seems to let up.

There are a number of changes in the translation from book to screen, as some characters may be entirely different in appearance, name or personality; some may not even appear. As someone who saw the film first, this aspect threw me off slightly, as I thought I knew what would happen to certain characters, and something entirely the opposite befell them. After the first few chapters, you tend to get over this fact. If, like me, you saw the film first, of course.

The book, however, does give a lot more backstory on the Driver, who hails from Tucson, Arizona. Growing up, he'd spend most of his time working with vehicles, and even help his father out with burglaries. A, let's say, domestic incident, forces the Driver to live with foster parents for the remainder of his teens, until he decides to go off on his own, taking the family car with him. This behaviour seems to be the nature of the Driver throughout the book, a wanderer, never staying in the same spot for more than a few months. The story catches him around L.A, where getaway jobs seem to be plentiful, even if the rare occasion involves the client's throat being punched in with car keys.
Yeah, this book tends to get rather gory, but is never over-indulgent with it. The violence seems almost decisive, methodical in nature, fitting for a noir thriller but could still cut it in a more conventional crime story, or the big screen, which it did... very well.

Drive is remarkably (if not disappointingly) short; at only 191 pages, and the sequel seems even shorter. However, I can confirm that the saying 'great taste, less filling' applies here. I can only hope the same applies to Driven, which I have not yet started. Judging by the size, it looks like I could read it in an afternoon, maybe a bit longer than that. I shall be back with my review of Driven when I get round to it!

In other news, yes, I AM working on other projects, which I hope, all being well, you will see in the next few weeks. One of which, relating to an interesting interview with Winding Refn a few months back, relating to a "Drive 2", in which he hopes to feature two drivers, one of which being the rival of Ryan Gosling's character. Very intriguing news indeed. I hope that if this film is made, it keeps the style of the first one. I'm sure we can trust Winding Refn on this one, though.

Until next time, farewell.

Issues and Beliefs

The first project we were tasked with last year, 'Issues and Beliefs', was, in a number of ways, a game changer for me, as it was the start of a whole new artistic pursuit of mine; cut-outs.

The aim of the project was to take an issue that we have a personal connection to, and produce advertisement material, whether it be posters, flyers, etc., to make the public more aware of the issue.

At the start, I was juggling three possible ideas; fox hunting, the fur trade and nuclear war. Of course, something like nuclear war can't be stopped with a poster, unfortunately, and fox hunting has seen a massive decline in recent years, despite some illegal hunts carrying on. Taking all this into account, I figured the fur trade was the best bet.
A very grim and difficult topic to research indeed; I don't think I've ever been more ashamed to be a part of the human race, after reading what goes on in fur farms in full grisly detail.

I believe that if you feel very strongly about a cause, that if you can get that emotional investment in a project, you can generate some very unique results. The three pieces above are for slipping onto coat hangers, thanking consumers for buying from an establishment that is against the fur trade. I was quite pleased to discover that virtually nowhere in Preston, not even charity shops (which is where I decided these hangers will go), will accept any fur. One or two would accept leather, but all in all, leather is a by-product of meat, and, well, that's a whole other tin of worms.

These hangers were well received, which I was rather grateful for. This new way of working with cut-outs and such is something I feel I can get my teeth into,  and maybe merge it with other skills and techniques, such as ink washes, digital work and just plain drawing.

I will be gradually uploading more and more of the previous year's work over the next week or so, whilst I get the Summer project on the go. I would like very much to do some traveling for this project, maybe just hop on a train to somewhere, and document my journey and what I do when I get there.

2nd Year: Editorial

Well, that's it. 2nd year is officially over. Handed in my work on Friday, after what I can only describe as 'the closest I've ever been to a full mental breakdown'. A word of advice, readers; printers are temperamental machines, and can very easily thwart your plans.
Good news is, I got everything in, after beating my printer into submission.
Bad news is... I seem to have lost my iPod. The last time I saw it was in this room, but everything from then to arriving at class is a blur. This comes as a great disappointment, as my iPod would have played a key part in my next personal project. I won't go into too much detail at the moment, but it is ground I have trodden on before, but not to this scale.

Anyway, I figure it's been a while since I've put up some work, so here you go.

These two are worked up pieces from the editorial project earlier this year, in which we were given an editorial article each day for a week, and had to have a rough for each one by the end of the day. We then chose two (three counting the one set by Ben Tallon) to develop into final pieces. Here are two I worked up in their respective templates.
I think editorial design may very well be my calling, as I enjoyed this project a LOT, probably as much as I enjoyed the 'issues and beliefs' project, which I felt the most emotionally invested in (it was campaigning against the fur trade, by the way).

I might upload more work from this year in the coming few weeks, along with stuff from the Summer brief we've been given, and anything else I stumble across on the way. Got a lot coming up this Summer; we've got Prometheus and Dark Knight Rises coming out, both of which look AMAZING... I have a number of conventions I'd like to go to, and last but not least, Morrissey in July. Cost an arm and a leg for a ticket, but it's Morrissey, so it's excusable.

Alright, I'll leave you folks to it. Until next time, farewell.

DD2000: Manchester Art Gallery - Under That Cloud

They've changed a lot at Manchester Art Gallery, since I went last Summer; the room in which I spent most of the time, with the Chinese sculptures and Manchester-related memorabilia, is now gone or at least moved, and loads new stuff has been put in.
After hearing about a specific moving exhibition, a friend and I went along to see it; the exhibition in question was entitled "Under That Cloud", and featured work done by artists who were stuck in Mexico City during the ash cloud produced by Eyjafjallajökull, the Icelandic volcano which brought a massive amount of air travel to a standstill. The art they produced in their time in Mexico City reflects the situation, and their surroundings in such a city.

This piece is by French artist Benjamin Lignel, and is entitled 'Bracito de Oro'. The piece itself appears to be an armband (the kind for swimming), but designed in such a way as to look like a Mexican masked wrestlers uniform. The piece seems to state that the art of masked wrestling is very much sought after amongst the average joe, who, as Lignel claims, "can become popular legends by trading their first and last names for superhuman anonymity and a spandex uniform (sweat included)." That statement sounds like Lignel is describing a superhero of some sort, which, let's face it, masked wrestlers are purported to be.

This brooch by Jiro Kamata, entitled 'Arboresque' is actually comprised of camera lenses and blackened silver. Kamata claims that this brooch was inspired by the architecture and various surroundings, which supposedly have an "Arabesque" look to them. The colour scheme works very well for this brooch; the striking purple swirls in contrast with the flowing curved metal makes for a very attractive brooch, especially since it is essentially made of bits of a camera.

This piece by British artist Sarah O'Hana, named 'The Candid Culture of Mexico City', is quite relevant to the previous exhibition I went to, being an artist book of sorts. Out of all of the pieces in the room, this seemed the most refined, the most delicate. O'Hana surmises that whilst trapped in Mexico City, the news that Europe was in chaos due to the air travel being crippled "barely caused a ripple" on that side of the Atlantic. O'Hana concludes this could perhaps also be due to the citizens of Mexico City already being pre-occupied with their own volcano, Popocatepetl.

Overall, the exhibition was quite interesting, although the art was incredibly small. The whole thing could have been laid out better than it was, considering the size of the room.