The librarian's tangents.

Post Hockney, and inspired by the work in the show at the Royal Academy I’ve been back on Brushes app (and Art Rage but more on that at a later date) to see how I can start pushing myself a little more. Not that I’m getting much time to sit and draw at the moment (this weeks been crackers and my feet are killing me. That said both holiday clubs seemed to go really well, which was nice).

Anyhow: son boy wanted to sit and watch youtube videos and, since he’s as accidentally likely to stumble on one that’s NOT suitable (seriously youtube – can you get a filter sorted please?) I said I’d sit with him and keep an eye out. That led to this (because I can multi-task, honest) but it bears little resemblance to the Hockney-esque inspiration which preceded it. Hey ho, that’s why he is who he is and I am what I is.

Brushes app, iPad 2, finger rather than stylus as they were downstairs and son boy and I were up.

As if the start of an academic year wasn’t chaotic enough, with the normal enrolment, paperwork, risk assessments, welcome packs and so on to be done I’ve also got the World Skills Festival to concern myself with. It should be ace, and terrifyingly huge. Apparently they are geared up to have around 7,500 people coming in every half hour and the Digital Forest is one of the first things that will be seen by main entrance 2. And there’s only two entrances.

Terrifying.

What isn’t terrifying is the concept: lots of people draw trees and those trees are placed into a digital forest which is shown on HDMI screen for all to see. It’s a collaborative artwork sort of thing I’ve now done several times and I can’t wait to see how this one looks in situ, although tbh the reality in my mind is always constrained by the budget I have to work to. What’s mind blowing is the potential numbers which tbh scares the wotsits out of me.

But hey, a chance to show off iPad, DSi XL and desktop artwork off, and the work of my students, and all sorts of all sorts and it’ll be ace. In many ways I can’t wait, but… but… only three weeks away AARGH!

Best of all, potentially, are the possible desks that we’ll be working on. Which sounds silly I know, but the digital forest has the capacity to be printed and shown on some AWESOME platforms which I can’t wait to get my hands on and see. Ace ace ace stuff. But that piece of paper is yet to be signed and agreed so can’t mention it just yet. Hope all of this comes out of my mind onto the stage in similar fashion.

But, mainly, AARGH! Scary.

So, was off for a week last week over on the Isle of Wight. Very pleasant Sunny and easy and lovely views and countryside and beaches. Kids loved it too, which is a distinct bonus.

Rather than take a holiday book or anything I decided to work into a digital finger painting (I know, surprise, right?) I was determined to enter the Deviant Art competition as it was such a lovely idea (create a piece of art from one supplied ‘skribble’. Could be anything as long as the original lines showed through).

The original lines:

My variations:

You can enter as many pictures as you like, the rules seem to state, but these two are enough for me I think The deadline is tomorrow and tbh my eyes are tired enough. One added complication, which didn’t make things any easier in the drawing of the pictures was that my daughter slammed my arm in the car door on day one of the holiday (before we’d even boarded the ferry in fact). There was a large crack which we couldn’t tell was the arm, the door, the coffee cup I’d been passing in or what. As it was I spent three hours at the Isle of Wight A and E department which was fun. As it was the result was bruising, swelling and soft tissue damage which meant I had to grin and bear it rather than anything else.

And then my son shut the car boot on my head but I saw that one coming and managed to get away with a small bruise.

Apart from all that – a nice holiday. Pics to come

You can see Youtube vids of the images being made here too: Charley Blimey  |  Heston Blumenthal.

Love TWIT (the netcast from people I’m told to trust ) and was happily doodling on my iPod touch while listening to this weeks podcast (which was ace by the way, you would listen in, you really should. Occasionally it’s even informative I always put it down as CPD time anyhow, keep the teacher tax officers, sorry, iFl happy).

Anyway that’s by way or explanation of my latest flight of fancy: Ninja Hippo. Owen J J Stone’s idea mashed up with some happy pixels thrown around by me. Hope you like.

Video file of the drawing of here: Youtube!

Click for larger image.

Click picture for youtube video.

Click picture for youtube video.

Two images drawn on my iPod touch and exported as animated images. 18th wedding anniversary is tomorrow morning, so far so good, assume it’ll still happen We’ve even got a babysitter so we can go out for a meal or something.

The Kercalton Klang image came from a different place, a chat with the Creative Fox and a few lines thrown onto the iPod touch to explain something or other (can’t remember now). Then went to meet the Klang who makes me smile and that pic came from those two events. May morph into something else, maybe… We’ll see…

Break time about to be over but drew this over the past week as the response to an online call for art. Assume that I won’t get in, but it’s an OK picture regardless…. Not exactly the one I had in mind but then again time wise I’ve been more than constrained over the past week…

Video to come. (Can we not embed youtube videos in the posts anymore?) And possibly some more blather but tack to work calls

Edit 1: Video file.

Inset day at college on Tues which meant I was ordered to go to two lectures that were of little use (and one which made me angry it was so ham fistedly delivered) and one I wanted to.

Ironically I doodled this in the one lecture I enjoyed. But I still listened and occasionally took notes.

(Brian drawn on iPad 2 using Brushes app/stylus sock).

Also: drew this last night while happily chatting to a friend on Skype. These two images may have almost single handedly saved my sanity. For this week if nothing else…

(tree drawn on MBP using Pixelmator ).

Done, dood.

Loving Doctor Who at the moment: Steven Moffat is a heck of a writer/controller and I like the way it’s moving from one organised scene to another.

The other thing I like is the look of the new group of bad guys. The cold blood/lizard two parter wasn’t the highlight of series 5 for me but the lizards looked great. Similarly the Ood, Silents, new Cybermen design etc are all beautifully designed (esp the Ood which were spectacularly let down by the growth in their role to becoming a poor Eurovision boy band group led by – oh yes, the obligatory mad mystic)… I’m probably in the minority but also like a lot of what the Moff has done with the Daleks. RTD painted them into a corner and Travesty of the Daleks (can’t remember the real name – the New York two parter) was one of the low points of modern Who for me. “Dalekanium!” was… well… I was glad to see the show change hands tbh.

Once an eps done and dusted I’m straight on my iPad drawing. Something about the show is so driving and energising and gets me wanting to create something straight off (which is ironic really because if I could point to some of the things that stopped me writing, for the time being anyhow, one woud be how effortless Moffat makes it look). I’ve decided to stick with a theme and the theme is bad guys in hats. If the good Doctor can be so obsessed I think it’s fair enough that I can be too. Pic 1 was the Silent, of course, in a fez, ditto. Second is the new Cyberman – a design which I’m probably most fond of in the whole new universe of Who. The hat though, that belongs to a tech journalist who I’m equally fond of, Andy Ihnatko. In my mind he’s the special guest star of a Cybermen in the US ep. He discovers their cunning plan to take over the online infrastructure and, in a glorious moment of self sacrifice he and his dog, Buster, alert the tech media to the presence of a malicious stampy menace, alerting the Cybermen to his alerting and they all come and delete him. And the dog. And the nation all goes ‘ohhhhh’ because it’s impossible to dislike Andy I and everyone likes the plucky sci fi dog.

But then the tables are turned. Everyone grabs their smart phone, points it into the air, says “I believe in Andy” and one Cyberman, wearing his signature hat, manages to upload an app which takes control of the rest of the invading metal men and they all disappear into the cloud. While the AI Cyberman, released as a posable figure to coincide with the episode and named Cybernatko, glows and the metal C on his chestplate becomes an Apple logo.  At which point he becomes Steve Jobs personal assistant, does half of each keynote and wipes out the competition, thus creating a dichotomy: did he become Andy in a metal suit or did he manage to take over the world, just as a half human/half cyborg.

Actually the end may need work (mostly a collection of silly ideas). Here’s the pic anyhow.

And the occasionally obligatory video can be found here.

Still a little lost, artistically, so wound up in Harmony land earlier to do a doodle. There’s probably something emotionally revealing about the Penguin pic. The other pic is obvious, I know, but painted for the fun of it regardless. Possibly the first in a series, the rest are certainly sketched in o my iPad, I guess I’ll see if I get to them or not…

You can see a video file of the Silents of the Fez pic here.