Flashing beats and thumping lights

Went to see Mortal Engine at the Sydney Theatre Company on Thursday night (thanks for the recommendation Jimmy). An incredible show by Chunky Move, a Melbourne-based dance company who use awsomely futuristic laser technology in their lighting design, which is a little beyond me but involves algorithms and frequencies and other clever things.

The sound design is matched to the light and movement seamlessly and the performance really floods all your senses. When the dancers turn into a writhing mass of black creepy crawlies I could feel the dark light seeping under my skin, and the electric snapping and sizzling later on singed my nose hair. Each sequence was completely hypnotic, especially the couple trapped against the wall with TV static, and I couldn't get enough of the green cloud tunnels at the end - who knew you could make a universe with a smoke machine and a fancy laser beam?

Costume design

A little while ago we had a series of classes over at NIDA with Julie Lynch. We designed a series of costumes for the play The Happy Prince. As this was a theatrical production some of the costumes had to be designed to allow for a transformation; the Prince and the Swallow have to be bright and healthy and vivacious in the beginning and by the end of the play they have lost all their colour and vigour.

I changed my style of illustration part way through the process (at Julie's suggestion) and overall I'm happy with the results. If I have time I'll go back and re-do the Reed and the Child.

Reminiscing

I watched and loved this animation when I lived in England briefly. My mum would fetch me from school then take me back to work, and I'd sit in her office while she was off doing the things she did. It was the only time I was allowed to watch the childrens TV programming on BBC1. The Moomins are Finnish (later revised by the Japanese - I did NOT watch the anime version) and are weird and adorable.

Directly lifted from Wikipedia:
The Moomins (Swedish: Mumintroll) are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends. In all, nine books were released in the series, with five picture books and a comic strip also written by Jansson being released between 1945 and 1993. The Moomins have since been the basis for numerous television series, films and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland.

Concept art - musical this time!

Something I've been tinkering with as a spec project for Susan Hurley and the Hurricanes

Concept Illustration with Phil Shearer

So this brief was "it is the year 2050, a typical kitchen in an average apartment". But also the set must be designed to enable the simple action of a character making a cup of tea while defending an action to a friend. So the kitchen must allow barriers of some kind...

Here's where I started:

And then (some time later):

The perspective was a bit of a challenge but I think I got there. ?

Concept Illustration with Phil Shearer

Last week we had the privilege of being taught to draw by Phil Shearer... he's created conceptual designs for little films like The Matrix, Star Wars, Dark City...

We were given the task of creating concept art for three scenarios. Here's my version of "an ancient chinese temple entrance, massive, sited in dramatic barren country with aggressive landforms and many gorges. It holds a terrible secret, evident in the design"

Next up, a futuristic kitchen!

This Is England

This film was showing on SBS the other night. I was channel surfing and didn't know what it was but was grabbed by the scruff of the neck right from the opening credits. I loved it partly for personal nostalgic reasons but it's also a compelling story beautifully shot. Rusting fences, green fields and graffiti on concrete, Doc Martens, polka-dot ra-ra skirts and black lipstick. 1983 in Yorkshire, the Falklands war, ska, punk, skinheads.
Go watch it ASAP.