Cat on record

Lip sinking

I started making an epic animated feature because, frankly, if you haven't made an epic animation (preferably at least BAFTA winning) by the time you're 27 then you haven't done much. But after 12 minutes realised I have not the talent, patience, time or ability required.

This is as far as I got.



Stuffed peppers for dinner, cherry brandy chocolate for pudding.

Hemingway Gold

My other lifelong friend Justyn was a national finalist in the 2009 Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition with his creation Hemingway's Gold. He's a mixologist supreme, by all accounts - he has only recently returned from Tennessee having been flown out by Jack Daniels himself for another competition. I went along to the national Bacardi finals last night and it was a very rum do (geddit!?!!).

As part of the competition entrants have to conceive of a marketing campaign for their drink and I tried to help Justyn by making a soundless animatic for a potential animation. Here it is with embarrassing narration from some mumbling fool.



Justyn unfortunately didn't make it through this time, which is probably all my fault as he usually does.

Now you've seen the advert, why not try the cocktail. All you need is:

• 50ml rum
• 10ml amontillado
• 7.5ml maraschino
• 25ml lime juice
• 12.5ml cardamom gomme
• 2 barspoons of fresh pomegranate pulp

Then just shake it all up and strain it (twice).

A moving story

Last week I stumbled across a "Flash-powered" webcomic, The Right Number by Scott McCloud, which was apparently hailed as the future of comics on the internet back in 2003. Ever eager to jump on a long departed bandwagon, I've tried to make my own. Boringly though I was forced to experiment with an old strip as I haven't had any original ideas for months.



Look at all that head turning effort that can be saved...

Brighton Am Legend

What do you know, nothing for weeks and now two things in a day. Both animations too.
Here's what I thought might be a good way of getting some quick animation practice. Actually, it's probably taken hours in all. I didn't really give too much thought to the story or any planning really. It's just an idea I had when I watched the I Am Legend trailer last week back when I was actually considering going to watch it.
As it was we went to see the Kite Runner. I found the film really affecting, in a good way, and I wasn't the only one- there was a sobbing teenage girl in the cinema with us who had to be dragged out by her mum because she was so incapacitated by distress (in a good way). Charlotte however, cold emotionless robot that she is, thought it was shit. But then she's read the book, and so she's probably just saying it's inferior so she can sound literary and intelligent.


Here it is. I don't know how to embed it, or even upload it to YouTube so I can get comments on it from American kids. If you do let me know. So you'll have to click
here.


You see, it's all about globalisation and that. I'm like Naomi Klein with a pink and black colour scheme.

Here's the real one:



If you're looking at this via facebook, by the way, bits will be missing. You may have to here to see the original post.

Flash git

Right. I'm back from my Christmas holiday.
Now for a round up of 2007, and a look forward to what we can expect in 2008. Remember Amy Winehouse? Heard of Duffy yet?
That's enough of that.
I went to the Stephen Friedman gallery a while ago to see the David Shrigley exhibition which I think is still going. I'm not a huge fan of his but then he does do weekly Guardian cartoons and has animated a blur video so maybe I am just jealous. The show isn't great, just dozens of marker drawings stapled to the wall like an art room in an orphanage. There was an animation though (On/Off, which can be seen here) which reminded me that I've been meaning to learn to animate: partly inspired by Ratatouille, and partly by the Brazilian Ratatoing (which came first, I wonder?).
I've got Flash, but it's hugely unintuitive and it's taken me ages to get anywhere. Just weeks of circles moving slowly across a screen, and that's it really.
I thought for my first animation I'd try and overtly ape Shirgley's style, rather than pretend in any way I was being original. His formula is basically take no story, make it dark: about death, illness, rejection etc., in text scribble out some letters and use a ruler for straight lines.

Here it is... (refresh if it's finished)




Not too bad, I think. And here's my first walk-cycle, which doesn't really work.