Video Editing

Last weekend was a CHRISTENING BANANZA with FIVE (count 'em, FIVE) kids being baptised on my wife's side of the family. Being the only one with a video camera in attendance, I was immediately designated: 'The Video Guy'.

I was happy to take on the task, although just as the priest made the sign of the cross on each child's forehead, the most heart-breaking of all messages appeared on the screen:

FLAT BATTERY

Thankfully, someone was taking photos on the day, so I managed to combine the existing footage with a nice slideshow of photographs, and burned it all to DVD using 'PowerDirector' ( a free program), much to the families delight.

I added Powderfingers 'My Happiness' as a wav. file to the soundtrack to help bolster the slideshow - a cheap gimmick but it worked!

I am currently editing my parent's US trip as well as our fishing trip in November...and here and now I will solemnly swear: NO STAR WIPES!

Character

I feel that the most important part of most stories (not all) is character, so I've been sketching madly, attempting to map out little diagrams of the characters in The Cloud Factory. Here is a sample of the daddy cloud talking to his son about growing up to become a storm cloud like his old man.

So far I’ve managed to map out the characters and the settings, the big part now will be mapping out the ebb and flow of the book by laying out each page and getting a feel for the pacing of the story.

I’m also going to mock up some coloured artwork in Illustrator to get a feel of the environment the story will be set in.

The Cloud Factory

Here is another children’s book I am working on at the moment, called ‘The Cloud Factory’. It’s about the son of a storm cloud (below) going to the cloud factory to learn to become a storm cloud like his dad, however the little cloud wants to become a shape cloud.

I’m designing the look of the factory at the moment and this is a rough (below). Those destined to be storm clouds enter the tube on the left, those destined to be shape clouds enter on the right.

Here’s the clincher:  there will be no text in the book whatsoever!

(Much like Gregory Rogers’ “The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard”.)

So the challenge is to tell the story in panels and to convey emotion through the characters. At the moment it will be 24 pages.

Sydney Armageddon

I saw this album cover when I was about nine years old. It’s Midnight Oil’s ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’ from 1984.

I have never listened to the album but I was so struck by the cover art that it has stayed with me.

Only recently have I discovered the artist who created this amazing scene of nuclear Armageddon in Sydney. He was a Japanese artist named Tsunehisa Kimura, who created this nuclear cratered vision of Sydney Harbour via photo montage, six years before Photoshop 1.0.

It would have been painstaking work, he had an incredible eye for detail. This was the biggest version I could find on the net. I also found the image below. He passed away in 2008.

Enjoy!

Sunday Sketches

After a mango and banana feast (and thanks to the rising heat) Flynn took a time out on the couch inspiring me to quickly capture the pose:

I was also compelled to sketch Grady’s concentration whilst playing the Wii (it’s the only time he stays till long enough!):

Whacky McWhack Whack - the new book starts here

This is where it all begins!

I’ve decided to start working on a children’s illustration book titled: ‘Whacky McWhack Whack.’

I’ve made some sketches over the weekend in an attempt to nut out the details of the character:

The story is about a four year old boy who via his over active imagination is always ‘whacking’ members of his family.

Until he whacks someone very important and decides to change his ways.

I don’t want him to be an evil kid, just a very ‘active’ kid - that’s why I changed his eyes from droopy/malevolent to rounded, open, bright eyed.

I’m writing the text at the same time as I draw so that I can keep the process as organic as possible. I’m thinking of the different scenarios and costumes ‘Whacky’ (Bruce to his mum) can be wearing as he wreaks unintentional havoc.

At the moment the book will be about 22 pages in length.

Stay tuned!

Promo Art - Racketeers logo and figure

Mocked up this promo art for my comic last night in Illustrator...