cake breath

The state of things today.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:20:00 +0000

Good afternoon all. A few things i should probably mention that are happening in my corner of the world right now.

Solipsistic pop! I haven't mentioned this yet because I am rubbish. But my sometimes-drinking-buddy and all-round Lovely Fellow Tom Humberstone is releasing an anthology of beautiful comics and ramblings from various creators. It's going to be really good. I have submitted a little copy of my nose zine to go in the back of each issue (there's another one too, but that one goes in the front cover. So yeah), but the artists and writers who have contributed to the rest of the book are very talented, so you should definitely take a look. Previews and news about the publication are up on its website.

Animation stuff is still poddling along nicely. Have been looking for work experience over the last few weeks (lots of suggestions of contacts, etc. from people so hopefully something will come of it soon). I still have a long way to go before I'm good at making things move, but I enjoy it, and I'm getting better every day, so hooray for that. Anyway, here's another lipsynch test (I managed to kick the tripod whilst taking the pictures ... so it's a bit crap. But it's up because youtube is being used as my moving sketchbook at the moment ... and the mask thing interests me [/excuse]) and a short, crude showreel showing the results of various bits and bobs I have been doing over the last year. A better showreel when there is more footage.

Apart from test animations, I've been keeping my hand-in with the drawing side of stuff by filling my sketchbook with various daubs and doodles. I've been trying to stay away from my more conventional methods of designing characters/stuff by focusing - at least initially - on a more loose, playful line in my work (kind of like with the beard book faces) ... taking a shape and then squishing a character to fit it, or just quickly roughing out variations on a theme, etc. It's been kind of fun, and it's helping me accept a more playful aesthetic into my work. Trying to take a leaf out of Saul Steinberg's metaphorical book.

Er. Yeah. Anyway. Pictures:

The last two are the result of a ridiculous spooky stuff and Sally Cruikshank binge I have been having recently.

Sally is an animator whose work was featured rather a lot in the sesame street of the late eighties/nineties (when I was watching it the first time around). She has uploaded quite a lot of her work to youtube and her channel is worth having a look at:

Other than that, I am officially back in university as of Monday.

Brain Farts.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:14:00 +0000

Some excerpts of things that I have been doing with my time recently. Not much to say. More of an update to prove there is progression happening back here somewhere.

Discovered a liking for typography.

(paper mask/shadow project project idea)

An early lip synching test. More on this subject soon I daresay.

More on the animation front in the works.

Trying to learn after effects right now. Going quite nicely.

things I have found that I like:

this one I've known about for ages. Lasse Gjertsen and I briefly went to the same university, and both left for similar reasons (though we've never met, and obviously he's far better at what he does than I am. So the parallel ends there). Funny old world. Anyway. He's best known for things like Hyperactive and Amateur on youtube ... but I infinitely prefer this piece. Specifically the layering of the cellist's arms. Of course it helps that I really like the cellist the video is for. But never mind that. It's been on my mind a lot lately.

And here is where I am going to trail off whilst I continue thinking about things....

Website

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Goodness. I never mentioned that I now have a mini site, did I? Well, I do, and you can go there by clicking the text below.

It's only small right now, i.e it links to my flickr account, here and a poorly thought through blurb that can only reflect badly on my character as a human being. But it's there, and it will be growing/changing in the near future. So now you know.

More beards, more noses

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:02:00 +0000

Hi there.

Hey guess what? Since I last posted I've been very busy. But that can wait for another post. First off I am going to show you some quick stuff that I had already done but hadn't bothered to talk about. It is to do with zines.

So, I made a new cover for the nose zine I posted here a month or three ago:

Each one is slightly different and at £2 a piece they're an essential addition to any zine fanatic's collection. So if you come and find me at a zine fair over the next few months be sure to pick one up!

I also made a small run of beard books. The main thing about them for me is that they give you facial hair whilst you read them. Observe:

Isn't that nice? I certainly think so. Lots of little pictures of beards await you within, with some very wise quotes that no beard afficionado should be without.

Here are some of the beards that didn't make it in:

Don't feel too bad for them, though. They look lovely on my wall. And they're up here in glorious high resolution. Much better than their zine-bound brethren, I'm sure.

More on more recent work soon.

beards beards beards

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Please have some sketches of some men with some beards.

Also I am sort of casually on internet hiatus right now whilst I try and sort my life out and work out what on earth it is I want to do and generally get on with some shit. Things have gone a bit wobbly lately and I just need to sort myself out. Soooo I'll update when I've got something a bit larger on the boil and it's worth talking about.

See you later
xxxx

Face up.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Long time no post.

Lots has been happening, like the end of term, etc.

I'm also cutting out a website at the moment. So hopefully that should be along soon. Here are some photos that have resulted from construction so far:

They probably won't get used, you understand*. This is just what happens when me, a load of scrap paper and a pair of scissors get together**.

Ummm. What else? Oh. Yes. I tried screen printing for the first time ever. This happened:

Only a very simple, half an hour go at the whole thing, you see. But I like it. I think I'll be in the screen rooms more often come October. In the mean time I am looking into making some kind of kitchen-table-top screen printing system. We shall see.

Lots more to say, but it's long and boring, so I won't. A more regular and devoted version of this blog should be along soon. In the mean time, please have some heads from a recent sketchbook exercise (where I wandered around the internet and my postcard collection, finding photos of people heads I like, and blind drawing them onto sheets of paper, which I then cut into head shapes, much to my own amusement). These are the nicer ones.

(this one is Harold Bishop.
Thought you might like to know.)

Done!

xxx

*Well, this is kind of a lie. One probably will get used. And it's all loosely linked to an animation I'm working on. But it's easy to be flippant and hey, it's summer.

**Lie or not, this statement still (unfortunately?) holds true .

couple of prints

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Just been rooting around in my image banks as I am currently in the throes of organising my third year proposal presentation (outlining and pitching the projects I am going to be working on next year. There are three of them, in my case, although some have opted to do more, others less) and am trying to tease out the aspects of my work that I think are interesting and worth pursuing.

My printmaking is one of these areas. These were a couple of litho prints that I was working on before Easter, which were loosely tied in with some work on folk tales and penny dreadfuls I was doing. But they also work quite nicely as standalone pieces, don'tcha think?

Litho is a fun process. Well. Print in general is fun. You get to play with sharp objects in woodcut & relief, etching gives you acid baths and carcenogenic substances to muck about with, whilst litho has this long and relatively complex set of chemical treatments in order to make the ink stick to the printing plate.

Magic.

A picture and two films (not by me)

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:46:00 +0000

And here are a couple of things I have seen and liked recently:

Never actually watched this particular Lynch short before. Pleasantly surprising.

The Colouring from Dan Britt on Vimeo.

"Me [Dan Britt] and Joe Pelling made this, every frame is coloured in pencil by hand. The sound is from The Shining."
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Sound bite.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Hi.

Quick post to inform you I am :

not dead
actually working on something
uploading a couple of rough pages for your perusal.

(click me, and my brethren and we all get bigger. But especially me.)

More about this once it's done.

Work on this book is kind of ... well. Frustrating. It's slow, because I'm still in a bit of a rut with my work. Sort of aiming for a level of quality, but struggling to reach that level AND keep it fresh and inventive. Sort of feels like building on sand, or trying to run but tripping over my shoelaces because I haven't learned to tie them yet.

Was going to hand this in for macmillan but, although it's a bit further on than the spread you see there, it's still a mile and a half off, so I'm just going to keep plugging at it for now. I'd rather have something I'm happy with, than a competition entry that I hate.

Other than that, there's a couple of things for me to do. something little and new for the Zine Symposium on May 3rd, another book competition with waterstones, and some animation work. I also need to find some kind of work/placement/internship/something to do with all of this over the summer so suggestions are welcome if you have any ideas, but obviously not expected or indeed mandatory.

Now. Sketchbook:

And also now. Things I have seen that are worth a watch:

If you only watch one of these, watch cup of brown joy, if you haven't already seen it. It makes me thirsty for Earl Grey. It also had its birthday about a week ago. Happy birthday, CoBJ!

That'll do for now.

Misery Monster

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:41:00 +0000

Some days it feels like all your troubles are breathing down the back of your neck.

sketchings

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:42:00 +0000

Trying to get on with some college work ... failing. So eating an ice lolly and scanning shit, yo.

Learning Experience

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:15:00 +0000

It was cold. It was dark. It was drizzling and I had my bottom out.

Worst of all I think I had splashback on my shoe.

ALLEY PEEING = NO.

Headstand

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:35:00 +0000

(click it to full view it.)

Still thinking. Thinking. Dangerous passtime, I know.

Something else with reference to that thing the yellowy eyebally monsters were to do with. Because monsters are often creepy buggers.

Other than that, this is a vague attempt at making something mildly macabre. Not overly. But a little. Not really sure if I've succeeded, but it's going up anyway.

pure, unadulterated sketch dump

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:15:00 +0000

Hello!

Er, please have some sketches from the 'Thing' and beyond. I'm aware that this kind of sketch uploading is the digital equivalent of flashing your knickers at someone, but you might find it interesting nonetheless (I don't know where that analogy was going, sorry).

Phil Spence of Ninja Bunny tosses his hair about like a naughty shetland pony. He also has more hair than both me and Julia (fellow words and pictures artist) put together. I also put one too many 'l' shaped letters in that thing up thar, Phil. Sorryyy.

This might be a touch too much information about the inside of my head. To even the score, you may know that I am wearing green knickers with frogs on them today. They're horrible. Wearing them is a bit like listening to a really bad, godawful cheesy song on the bus ... and relishing the fact that no one else knows just how much fun you're having.

these last two are from an ongoing/upcoming project I'm circling around at the moment. But also because I like monsters.

xxxx

New zine thingermajigger

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:23:00 +0000

So. Next weekend, on the 28th of March, I will be attending the UK Web and Mini Comix Thing at Queen Mary University in Mile End. I am there selling the old Robot Zine that me and my associates Julia Scheele and Matt Sheret put together last November, as well as a new little zine all about the perils of nose picking:

(Obviously you're just going to have to turn up on the day to see the exciting conclusion of this clearly very epic and special piece of literature.)

Nose zines will be going for £1.50 on the day. Any left over afterwards I will put up for sale over here if anyone is interested.

Yes. x x x x x

More rough drawings and no scanner

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:31:00 +0000

I'm afraid that there is still no scanner set up in my house right now, but I am posting anyway as this is kind of my work log. So bear with the photo booth pictures for now and I swear I'll post something juicy at some point soon.

This week heralds the start of me working on the Macmillan Prize, along with some stuff for D&AD and it's been ages since I've actually just drawn people out on the street. So I headed down to Trafalgar Square (and later a friend's stand-up comedy night at the Punch Tavern) with a sketchbook and tried to look inconspicuous whilst I stared at people. Planning on doing this at least twice a week. So more drawings of people being boring will probably follow.

Anyway. More for my records than anything else, here's some shots of the sketchbook, with me looking gormless in the background.

Um. And now for some sesame street animations:

ahem.

Really like these old stop-motions from sesame street. Explaining (sometimes rather complicated) things in simple terms using simple objects. Something for me to think about, I daresay. Hope you enjoy them though.

Bai bai!

Gumby Faaaaaaace!

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:06:00 +0000

I saw a grumpy looking gentleman on the street today and he kind of summed-up my whole day in one lumbering grimace:

I think that just about covers it.

I have no scanner set up at the moment (moved house a week or two ago; still a bit box-shaped in my living arrangements), so that will have to do for now.

Working on stuff for the UK Web Comix and Small Press Thing on March 28th. You should come along and say hello. I will be there with Julia and Matt of We Are Words and Pictures Also devising some other things too. But shhhh for now. More later.

xxx

Some stop-motion amazingness I just found

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:37:00 +0000

and now I go to bed.

How I roll.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:24:00 +0000

(type experiment using newsprint stencils, tastelessly coloured paints and a tiny little roller, dontcha know.)

Today hasn't been very good. Actually, it's been the opposite of good. Printing this book is turning into a disaster. But let's not dwell on that. It will all be fine and I will laugh about this in years to come.

Here is a dancing moustache:

External college project: DEN

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:27:00 +0000

An on-going project that me and some other people from college are doing. We did a photo-shoot yesterday and that thar picture up there is one of the results from it. Basically, we're putting on an event that's designed to make grown-ups want to play. We're currently looking for a space to put it on. An old house or something like that. Suggestions on the back of a postcard, please. Or in the comments, if anyone out there has any ideas.

So I printed that bear face thing from my last post. Here is the result. I rather like it. I can't really see myself becoming a long-term print-maker, but there's something about the process leading the image making that I really like. Also, I'm quite pleased with this from a character design point of view ... I really like designs that get to the core of what a particular character is like ... designs that strip things back to their bare essentials. I hope I've managed to approximate that.

So far this academic year the most exciting stuff I've been doing has definitely been the animation. Good news on that front: I am being given first dibs on the new rostrum camera at college. Or at least the technicians have said they'll email me first thing and that I'm to pop in next week and see how they're getting on. That'll set me up for the summer term really nicely.

Now for some interesting stuff I found. Or some stuff I found interesting.

All The Swallows (Trailer) from Koja-K on Vimeo.

STRANDBEESTEN from Alexander Schlichter on Vimeo.

More interesting things later.

BEAR ATTACK.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:45:00 +0000

I am working on something that's got bears in it.

It's going to be fucking rad.

I should also mention, in case you haven't heard, that the National Film Board of Canada have got their site up and running. Hundreds of films and animations to watch. All really awesome. Take this little gem for example:

Thought Bubble. Leeds. Brain Splurge.

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:38:00 +0000

It's been a couple of days, so I thought I'd try and make sense of the fallout after Thought Bubble Festival. The actual write up is on our collective blog: wearewordsandpictures.com, but I thought I'd add my ten pennies too.

So. It was both an utterly terrifying and wonderful experience. The people were great. The stuff that was on sale was really amazing. I felt so out of my depth it hurt my brain, but also so, so welcomed by a group of amazingly talented and awesome people, whose names I will be plastering all over this post in just a minute.

The table itself on the day went really well. We sold all the copies of our zine, and the prints we'd taken along of the cover. I've never sold a piece of artwork in my life before now and was utterly convinced that my contributions to our little project were not enough and just going to let the side down. I have to admit I doubted Matt and Julia's sanity on letting me in on this thing. But seeing those books leave the table left me with a feeling in the back of my brain that I can't quite put into words yet. It's changed things for the better ... made me want to do more.

Of course after that I managed to get stupidly drunk. That was hilarious (from my point of view at least) but I do apologise for acting like a complete twat. I'm only an occasional drinker and a complete lightweight, with a tendency to climb buildings, get very loud and theatrical, molest statues and generally be a bit of a prick when I do get beered-up. The upshot of this is I dance and am less shy than usual (to say the least). The downside is I usually manage to say something idiotic and want to hide under a rock for days afterwards and think the world has come to an end. Uhm. Yes.

As I said up there somewhere one of the best things about this was I got to meet some really amazing artists/writers/people who I probably never would have been able to talk to in another context:

John Scrivens
Phil Spence
Marc Ellerby
Kieron Gillen (we never did get the high-fiving right. Something to work on)
Will Kirby
Ben Powis
Adam Cadwel l (thanks for helping me with my tights, by the way. And sorry for yelling at you in the street. I was just being hungover/friendly I swear.)
Lizz Lunney
Liz Greenfield
Matthew Kitchen

I know there are more of you, dammit. Clare, Jake and Jake. Shug Comics guy whose name has escaped me (I know, I'm crap). Other people I waffled at too. It was all jolly good fun and you're all just so great. I look forward to more hand-clapping with you all at some point soon.

Also, the bag I bought off of John Allison (of scary go round fame) has nominated itself to be my reading book bag from now on. It's just the right size for novels and such, and too nice to hulk around my sketchbooks in. Yay for bookbags.

I think that just about concludes it. Megabus was nasty on the way back. College has hit with me with a bump and I am scrabbling to catch up with everything now. My wisdom teeth are starting to ache and I have essays about science-and-art things to write about. I will plug in the scanner and flood this place with sketch stuff at some point this week.

Anywho. Enough of this incoherent babble; I am off to get some sleep.

xxxx

Hmm

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:39:00 +0000

Having a Scarily Alcoholic Cocktail* in hand seems like as good an excuse as any to update my blog.

So.

You probably won't know (unless we have spoken directly and you are either my housemate or another member of a select group of people that I whiffle to about various things) that on November 15th, I will be in Leeds at Thought Bubble Festival, plugging a small publication that my associates Julia Scheele and Mat Sheret (we are words and pictures, but see my sidebar for their personal blogs 'devil makes comics for idle thumbs' and 'the polaroid press') have put together, with a guest appearance from me, in the form of a shiny cover, and a couple of brain farts in between things. Lovely.

Here's a little look at the cover art:

And if that's not enough incentive to come along and visit us, here is a picture of my ex-marmot surrounded by balloons. He wants you to come. You can see it in his eyes.

How can you resist?

And that's just about that tonight. More stuff soon.

beep beep.

*The Scarily Alcoholic Cocktail - a White Russian as it happens (we had milk and vodka and very little else in the house that could be inbibed) - is the result of a rather shite evening where, among other things, I've managed to break my beloved graphire tablet. It was on its last legs anyway, but it's completely buggered now and I don't think I can afford to replace it. What an arse. And to make things more fun I'm getting a delightful insta-headache from the vodka and milk mix I'm furring my arteries with.

A short comment on my feelings about the amount of work I have to do this week:

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:33:00 +0000

One wishes she wasn't quite so snowed under.

But on the bright side, thank you, Canada, for this:

No really. Thank you. So much. I love you.

Bonus scribbles from my sketchbook:

Sleep might be a good idea right about now. Have been animating all evening so my eyes/brain/fingers are somewhat dead.

sleep sleep

ratherlemony@gmail.com (Cake Breath) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Late night scribblings.