Balada de un encuentro fugaz - Mar de copas

If I want to be transport 2 the past..si quiero recordar...nada como mar de copas!!

Gianmarco "hoy"

If I feeling homesick I usually listen this song..Love you pelado even some people hate him, His success is due to his natural personality!

About the two artist's work

In Edward Hopper’s work and Todd Haynes’s work I found many similarities a common sense of loneliness, deception and similar uses of colour, Hopper ‘s work is simple but effective in terms of composition Haynes has a very good eye for detail. In Hopper’s work I am the one who creates a story influenced by why I see and feel in the painting but with Haynes I feel absorbed but his narrative doesn’t leave me to my imagination although makes me think of how ridiculous and absurd any kind of prejudice is and how appearance is not everything in achieving happiness.

Todd Haynes and his way to tell a story

Far from Heaven (2002)

I remember watching this movie few months ago and its content surprised me a lot. I’m not a very big fan of old movies but I couldn’t seem to find anything on TV and I started to watch it and surprisingly I ended up loving it. The movie is made in the style of many 1950’s films with a very careful choice of furnishing with a calm and pause camera moments using a technicolor palette. It has a very strong and sad storyline and is about a perfect marriage falling apart for sexual preferences. There is also another two major issues that the film tells that of racial differences and the prejudices of classes. A gay husband who denies his homosexuality and a friendship between a white woman and her black gardener are the main stories. As the film goes on we see how Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) discovers her husband with another man and how lately she finds comfort by forming a friendship with her black gardener and ends up in love although in the end no one lives happily ever after like Disney movies. The colour mood is mostly dark; he uses a lot the green colour green to depict the mysterious, the forbidden scenes and lots of reds oranges and yellows to show happy experiences. Haynes uses a lot of dark scenes to give a sense of tension in the movie. The music of Elmer Bernstein accompanies almost every scene. As an example of how to tell a story there is a scene when after a party Cathy sees the worry of her husband and tries to comfort him. We can see the moonlight through the window and then suddenly the music explodes when she receives a slap in her face. There is so few times when the main character is happy, one can recognise her mood because of her bright clothes, the music that accompanies the scene such as the scene when Cathy goes for a walk with her gardener.

I found the following video on you tube. At the end of the scene we can see the moment Cathy finds her husband kissing a man in his office.

Edward Hopper and his mysterious painting

His work reminds me the TV series Bewitched. His narrative makes me like I am a spy in his paintings; his work is descriptive almost like a snapshot or a movie scene. His palette of colour tends to be a mix of dark tones using pale ones for light. Pale yellows are very sad and contrast with the dark blue or greens which are used to describe furniture, carpets, clothes, etc. His characters usually seem to be lonely or buried in their own thought. Through my research I discovered he loves theatre and movies and he uses these as inspiration for his pieces. Most of his subjects shows moods like monotony, repetition, regret and usually are painted surrounded by everyday environments like a house, an office, a gas station or a cafeteria. One thing that caught my attention is that his main subject seems to be women mainly because when he was younger he grew up surrounded by women. (Mother, grandmother, sister, maid)
His painting ‘Room in New York’ is a perfect example of how he communicates emotions and let the viewer create a story. So as a result the viewer becomes a storyteller. There is a whole sense of loneliness and the colours are quite dramatic and combined with a simple technique, he achieves a successful composition. I look at the painting and I can feel the tension between the couple, they have grown apart, they don’t look at each other anymore. They seem like two strangers locked inside four walls. His use of light and how it depicts distance in his work is interesting. All the things and people in the painting seem to be far away and seem lost and the viewer is the witness.

A small introduction to storytelling

Since always I love stories; I admire the book cover and beautiful images inside it. My imagination will fly along with the story. Among my hobbies are films where I can abandon myself to the argument of the movie and feel glued to the seat, On occasions a visit to a museum or art gallery will left me thinking about a painting. We all know the numerous examples of drawings on the caves in the prehistoric times; these drawings tell stories of the culture and customs of that era. Every culture has its own stories and uses diverse materials and mediums to communicate it. We tend to transmit stories from generations. I still remember even vaguely lot of stories my grandmother told me about the dark and mystic tales in the highlands that she been told when she was a child. Or how my mother told me stories of her love life when she was just 14. she said that men use to lie their coats on the floor to cover a puddle so she could walk over without wetting her feet. I remember imagining the scene and thinking how amazing it was that, It still makes me dream of being there.
So storytelling helps us to enter in our own imaginary world the one we create when we hear a story. Is a magical way to makes us fly, dream, smile, fall sleep in the case of children.

The National Storytelling Network explains that:
Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.

1. Storytelling is interactive.
   
2. Storytelling uses words.
   
3. Storytelling uses actions such as vocalization, physical movement and/or gesture.
   
4. Storytelling presents a story.
   
5. Storytelling encourages the active imagination of the listeners.
   

Stay In my memory by Bim

Few animations call my attention these days, this one is one of the most charming and beautiful work I've seen for a while!



"Stay In My Memory" by Bim from Gobblynne Animation on Vimeo.

Degree show...

Paper sculptures made by Kate Mackelvie
Although I found very difficult to create paper sculptures I admire the work of people who create such special work, one of these is Kate Mackelvie, I was so impressed with her paper sculptures, well done girl!


Laura Chapman I love the decorative art, her beautiful handlettering, nice collages. Her work create a fantasy world full of decoration, careful choose of few colours, is so delicate and cheerful.

Degree Show ...

Binx the Jinx by Michelle Dawn Hird

Watercolours, photoshop
1024 x 768 pixels
A short magical story, It's so beautiful illustrated, it shows the patient ,dedication and eye for detail of the artist.


Emily Hayes

I like the simplicity of combining two or three colours, great decoration and very original narrative.

Degree Show

10 Things to do before you're Ten! (picture book) by Kate Mackelvie
290 mmx 170 mm

Kate's work is very detailed, good use of colour combination, traditional and precise. Original rhyming book for parents and children.


Blackbird Friends by Ceri Jones


Computer generated work. The characters are lovely, charming and magical. Although some people always say that lately all illustrations made in computer look the same, this one is an exception.

Graduation show: A different experience

After a year at university I realised that I want to specialise in illustration as it becames clearer day by day that this is what I want to do.

The Degree show

This year the degree show introduced me to new professionals. I wanted to be very critical as this is one thing you learnt at university.

From my point of view I was disappointed; I don’t know it was the lack of money from university or if the graduates were not able to collect enough money to produce a better catalogue. There were negative points in the show. I was surprised there were not information of for any of the pieces, not even in the catalogue, although I still managed to discover the materials that had been used.

I believe it is very important for people who come to an art exhibition to have a bit of information about the artist, name of the work, materials and a short synopsis.

There were two sections in this small exhibition; the Graphic Design and the illustration. The Graphic section wasn’t interesting for me because I didn’t feel any of the pieces had as much impact as the pieces created by the illustrators. I was impressed by the level of this new illustrators, I absolutely adore the work of Emily Hayes, Kate Mackelvie, Laura Chapman, Michelle Hird and Ceri Jones.
I like their works and found a common mood called “Magic” although some are more effective than others. This is a strong new group of illustrators, these five girls are the best of the exhibition, their work combine magic, narrative and imagination are examples of their young spirit.

The gallery was small and practical but maybe the exhibition should last for more than five days. I went on a Tuesday afternoon and no one could explain me what the video showing was about; this put me off from watching more.

At the end I found information at the www.youarehere08.co website. This website is fairly poor and difficult to use; It took me lot of time to find the artist in the tiny bars. Another negative point is some students hadn’t wrote any information of their work.

I think with a bit more effort, communication and union the exhibition could be far better, these new professionals are worth it!

I will post some photographs of the work made by these artists in the next blog.

Orange love

Malaise de L'Orange by ~weem on deviantART">


This is awesome!!!! This piece of art belongs to Weem a French artist I found on DEVIAN ART.

Famous birds characters

I’m going to focus my research around birds mostly on TV and commercial products that are somehow still in our memories. the character I'm going to design is going to be a bird and I'm looking at these examples for not only inspiration but to learn more about personality and design. Below is a list of images which I can remember from my childhood. Some good examples are:

Tweety (Piolin)

I always remember this tiny bird and I always though ‘poor Sylvester’, Tweety is sweet but a pain in the butt!

Woodstock

I never got to interested in this bird but it is a classical in the comics- the best friend of Snoopy.

Darwin the Duck
This animated cartoon by Disney keeps all the appearance of the old Donald the Duck character but its looks like a mature version.

Woody Woodpecker (El pajaro Loco)
He was mad but absolutely adorable. Both children and adults like it, and I remember how at the beginning of every episode Walter Lantz taught you how to draw and make an animation. It was great, and I never missed his instructions. It’s a classic.

Foghorn Leghorn (El gallo Claudio)
Was a sarcastic, funny, playful and hilarious character with an outgoing personality.

Cornelious the Rooster (Kellogg’s Cornflakes)
It is a funny character created to promote cornflakes, which shows some strong ideas and personality, is a mature rooster with a young spirit.

Goodfeathers
They were characters from the Animaniacs series. They were pigeons who thought they were strong as a group but really they were very silly (it was a parody of the Godfellas movie, they were kind of aggressive and always seems to be fighting.

Heckle and Jeckle (Las Urracas Parlanchinas)
They magpies who were very wise, with different personalities, always looking for free food and easy money, always making jokes, doing naughty things and mocking other characters.

Henery Hawk
He innocent like a baby, he believes everything Foghorn says, he wants to capture a chicken but he doesn’t know how one looks like so he is always getting in trouble and gets angry when he doesn’t succeed


Bad Examples

Duckman

I think this character has a lack of style is badly designed and seems evil.

Buzby

This was a famous cartoon in UK but not very familiar to me, anyway I think it was very interesting the way he being used for commercial purposes. Buzby would encourage people to 'Make someone happy with a phone call' so sad he wasn't a success with adults as it was with children. So there is nothing wrong with the style and look, but it did not succeed in his commercial purpose.


Big bird (Sesame Street - Plaza Sesamo)

Oh well I am the only who doesn't remember Big bird in sesame street, it is very vague in my memory. I wonder why but he looks silly. And I remember more Renee the Frog!!


Road Runner
I found it so annoying, every single time he escapes from the Coyote, I don’t know I must be weird but I wanted the Coyote to catch him at least once!

Classic Humour

I’m posting some examples of characters which I remember with nostalgia! They were fine comedy and hilarious.

Scooby Doo: I like his personality, always afraid of ghosts. We know cartoons are not real but that special characteristic made me watch every single afternoon.

Smurfs: I love their design; little blue creatures, I love Gargamel the evil character who always tried to make potions to capture them. It was magical and an original story at that time.

Tom & Jerry: They were hilarious, they didn’t need to talk for you to understand what was going on in the storyline. Sometimes Tom was so cute that many times I thought the bully was Jerry!

Southpark: This is a grown up cartoon, yes lots of children swear in the streets these days but when Southpark appeared in TV, it broke this taboo of TV politeness, and it’s funny and dark and talks about murder and other topics, but somehow manages to entertain without scaring the audience. Maybe this is because of the use of colour and line.

Mafalda: This was about a little girl who is very wise and always surprises her parents with her political ideas. I love the way a cartoon can express many things. Mafalda is a simple drawing which has had a lot of success, but again it is for grown ups.

Candy Candy: Now many would say Candy Candy was really cheesy, but as a cartoon soap opera it wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of tears and suffering, but there were beautiful detailed characters, lovely colours, with, very good narrative. If it made you cry is was because it was able to communicate the emotion which I think is always good.


The Flintstones: Another original story, rudimentary characters, focusing on the machismo of the cavemen yet set a 1960’s style society. It was original at the time, such as the use of prehistorical animals in the latest technology. Again lot of colour is use in the design of this great series.


Garfield: In my opinion it was ‘The cat who lives the Life’ lazy, hungry and always sleepy.

Animaniacs: The tunes in the opening still sound in my head, the characters were very sarcastic and I loved the way they drove the Psychologist crazy.

The Simpsons: The sense of humour in the Simpsons has matured like the wine, it has got better and better, it is like a medicine to relax.


In general all these cartoons have things in common, they are vibrant, alive, and colourful, with a strange sense of humour, I know they were created in different times but I found them full of happiness and for me they bring back a lot of memories.

Charater Design - Desarrollo de personajes

It is always interesting to create art, it could be a character, a pattern, a painting, it could be photographs, digital art, abstracts.....and is only possible if we let our imagination fly. But to create something it is necessary as well to have a sense of perspective of shapes, colours, and what is right for the piece we are creating. I think every artist has a special ability, some are better at drawing, others at choosing colours, others at backgrounds. Each of us has a special gift which makes us different and will make the difference when we apply for a job.

In this Blog I will focus mainly on characters of the past (after all they were my inspiration when I was a child!) I don’t really like many comics these days I could never compare Snoopy with Hellboy. Obviously I know that there is a whole difference in the ideas behind them both, but what I mean is that is was so nice to grow up in times when innocent, lively, flat, sometimes sarcastic or naughty, but always cute characters reinforced my childhood. Now I only see darkness, grotesqueness and evil, the common themes of stories are fighting, blood, sex, to name a few. Ok someone will say that these characters are for grown ups, but be honest do you honestly think the parents are watching cartoons with the kid all the time??? When I was a kid I was forbidden to watch soap operas (my mother said they were not appropriated for my age!) but I always managed to watch them (when they were not at home). My mother used to unplug the TV cord and hide it and I always manage to find it and put it back and return it to its place in my mother room before she even realised it had gone missing. What I am saying is that is not impossible for a kid to enjoy these new styles. Anyway this is just my opinion and I'm sure the artwork is pretty good but for me artwork has to have a message and sometimes this is just become to superficial and commercial.

I’m posting some examples of characters which I remember with nostalgia!

Scooby Doo

Smarfs (Los pitufos)

Tom & Jerry

Southpark

Madagascar
Droopy

Captain Caveman

Mafalda

Snoopy

Maya the Bee (La abeja maya)
Popeye the Sailor (Popeye el marino)
Candy Candy
The Pink Panther (La pantera rosa)
The Flinstones (Los Picapiedras)

Another Friday

During the last 4 weeks i had to create a 16 pages booklet in A size format.
It wasn't an easy task but I achieve my goal and Im fully satisfied.
Here are some images of my booklet!