Grip Wrench gets an outing in Brighton.

My MTV animated series Grip Wrench is going to be screening at the Loop Festival in Brighton this Sunday from 1:00pm (in the Pavilion theatre), thanks to the lovely folk at onedotzero. I'll be there. Hopefully you'll be there. Although please remember, you won't be able to un-see what you see.

In the meantime here's a photo of Mr Wrench's last trip to the seaside, a happy day of sun, speedboats and exploding flamingo corpses. Hopefully he'll be able to outdo himself this time with a KissMeQuick hat, a donkey and a three gallons of melted ice-cream.

Doodlebook Dump One

As I was saying in the last post, I've been scanning in my sketchbook for this months Computer Arts magazine feature. And I'll put them (and a few more) up here on The Internets for all to see. So here's the first batch of impenitable doodling, these examples are more about story development, I'll post some others soon thant show character development.




These all feature work for my Grip Wrench series for MTV. As you can probably see, most of my thought process happens on paper, and really consists mainly of doodling ideas until I get enough of a collection to edit down into something fit for human consumption...

Here's some close-ups:

Chirpy News

I forgot to mention, Grip Wrench, the star of my MTV Qoob animated series has got himself a twitter account, you can follow him here.



So now you can read all about the minutiae of a failed 80s action move star in all it's riveting detail.

Also, LittleBigPlanet just won 8 shiny objects at the DICE awards (from the Academy of Art & Sciences, i.e the Oscar dudes) which were:

Outstanding Character Performance
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction (yay!)
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
‬Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Console Game of the Year
Overall Game of the Year.
Family Game of the Year
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering



I'll have to put together a bit of list soon of all the other things LBP has won, although might wait till after the Baftas - just in case ;)

Christmahs

Happy Christmas everyone, hope you all have a good holiday. I'm spending mine recharging my creative batteries with experimental cookery, stirring my lethal mulled-wine recipe with a protective gauntlet and also crafting something that will be revealed in the next update after xmas.

To celebrate the holidays here's a long-lost poster from Grip Wrench's ill-judged Christmas cash-in film from 1987, Daddy Christmas: Chimney Interceptor, which I found tucked down the back of my OS/X Finder.




And if you're looking for something to watch in the post-lunch vacuum I'd recommend the adventures of Cookie (Illustrator, Explorer, Fellow Margarita Connoisseur) He's edited together highlights of the 3000 mile trek he made earlier this year up the CDT (which I still thought was woodwork class).

Looks like perfect xmas viewing, especially as there's nothing on the telly anymore, and it doesn't feel right playing Dead Space on Christmas Day.

MAN OF MEAT. MAN OF ACTION.

I've finally put my website for Grip Wrench live. It's the animated series I made for MTV QOOB, featuring Hollywood hardman, Vietnam veteran and fearless patriot Grip Wrench. And basically gave me plenty of sleepless nights for a year and a half while I was trying to animate all 10 episodes on my own (whilst doing LittleBigPlanet at the same time). What a nutter.



Anyway, its probably best if you just go and have a look yourself, there's some iphone wallpapers too (which I think all promo websites have to have now by law..) desktop backgrounds and of course all 10 episodes are on there, although here's an embedded episode which is one of my favourites:

onedotzero twothousandandeight

This years onedotzero kicks off soon, traveling the world and squirting hot beautiful images into the audiences eyeballs. There's going to be something exciting happening in Buenos Aires to kick off the world tour from the 26th to 28th of September. In the meantime here's a preview video of some of the things screening at this years tour. At 00:17 you might be able to spot Grip Wrench playing a guitar solo on the roof of a monster truck to a leopard...


onedotzero_adventures in motion from onedotzero on Vimeo.

Seeing this video has reminded me to get back into using Vimeo again, its such a great site for video. Here's my very out-of-date Vimeo page.

Grip Wrench splashes himself on Computer Arts

My Grip Wrench character has turned up in this months Computer Arts magazine, in a section about my inspiration behind the character and the series. So next time you are down the local newagents buying penny-whistles and moonbeams have a look. It looks like this, and has a stupid quote by me on the cover:

Finished!

See what I'm holding? Its a DVD of the finished 10 episodes of my MTV Qoob series of short films, 18 months in the making!

It's been quite a journey, the biggest project I've ever tried to produce on my own, and I've learnt so much from it. Right now I'm completely exhausted, but excited because I'm getting on a plane in a few hours and jetting off to California.

But once I'm back I'll start posting up concept art and stills on here, and concentrate on getting the official site online, along with streaming versions of the film...

Shunted

The opening night of ArtInIndustry was an amazing success. People came, people looked, people made deformed sockmonkey monsters, people got drunk, admiring glances were made, music was played, people watched some episodes of my new Grip Wrench thing, and we got trapped in a lift with a fisherman and a copy of the London AtoZ.

 

And the best thing is, it's still on for another 3 days. So get yourself down there tonight, or friday or saturday night. I'm having a night off tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow to deface faces, and attack arms with my marker pens. Just like in this wonky photo:

Grip Wrench seemed to go down well, with the auidence laughing, and mainly at the bits that were supposed to be funny. Although many said I have a sick and diseased mind, and I should be put to sleep before I damage the world any more.

There was loads of beutiful artwork to see, although I need to look at it all again as I got completely caught up in Nickys Making Things Club workshop last night. It was quite surreal to see so many people in a club all sitting on sofas sewing and making. My attempts at drunken sewing led to all the eyes falling off our attempt at making sock monster conjoined twins, thankfully I had a talented seamstress to patch them up again before the blinded pair stumbled into box of pins.

Jaypeg got some better photos of this little corner of craftiness. And I'm sure there will be more turning up on the internets soon. Although, of course, it would be much better to get down there and see for yourself, and join in..

ArtInIndustry

Being Industrious

I've just been finishing off a canvas for an exhibition I'm exhibiting in next week - the show is called Art In Industry, in Shunt (in the amazing catacombs beneath London Bridge station) and features the work of several friends of mine, built round the loose theme of showing things produced away from of their main commissioned work.

I'll also be screening some episodes of my Grip Wrench show in the cinema area, which will be the first place to get to see them in the UK. Not only that, the now completely finished tent by me and the other members of 70p (7-Tipi) will be on display too.

And here's the extra canvas I've been painting for it. And if you're free next week come along to the exhibition, its going to be a fun one. Details here.

Work Work Work

I'm working like crazy at the moment, trying to finish off my Grip Wrench animated series and clear the decks of work before a much needed holiday. So very nearly there, I'm currently putting together the final episode, number 10, and it should be quite a finale. 

Here's a crop of a background I just drew for it, not very dramatic, but I'm pretty pleased with it. I think I'm gradually getting the hang of this drawing thing. Practice, practice, practice. And you certainly get plenty of that working in animation...

I'm looking forward to getting all this out of the way, not because I'm not enjoying it but because this, along with my other major projects lately (a show for Disney, and the design of the LittleBigPlanet game for PS3) have all been longer than a year in duration. So really wanting to do some quick projects after this. First up will be animating my film for this years PSST! Which I'm looking forward to getting my (hairy) teeth into.

And then finishing the new version of my main website that has been sitting motionless on a harddrive for months. And do a new showreel. And go on holiday (look out California, we're coming to visit next month). And make some puppets. And build a animatronic sasquatch. And get tattoos. And practice growing a bit taller. And writing it all down in a big to-do list.

In other news I've decided the size I'd picked for all images on here was stupidly narrow. So from now on they all going to be a bit wider. Which will look a bit ugly until all the old-sized images fall off the bottom of the opening page - by which time I will have probably decided I want to go for an even wider standard...

 

Unitard

I knew my latest episode of Grip Wrench needed a unicorn scene, so during the weekend started sketching some whilst sunbathing, which brought on much amusement from my lazing-around-in-the-sunshine companion. I couldn't see what was funny until she pointed out I drew my unicorns with the horn on the end of the nose, rather than on the forehead.

(the other unicorn on that page was drawn after being shown the error of my ways)

I'd never thought about this before, and had always drawn them that way. I must have been been the laughing stock of the Fantasy Arts Guild. I don't know if they have a Guild, but I expect they do, and spend many a fun-filled evening in the tavern ordering flagons of ale from the "barkeep" and taking turns with the Cloak of Invisibility(+3). I better make sure I don't draw my dwarves too tall or my dragons with fur or I'll get punched on the nose by invisible assailant smelling of Real Ale.

Anyway, thanks to her input I've managed to draw a proper Unicorn now. Here's the final result which I'm currently animating. Horses (and horses with mythical horns) are a nightmare to animate, but a nice challenge.

Funny how all girls, no matter if they are artistic or not, seem to be able to draw perfect horses, when its the one thing that most artists say are particularly hard to draw. I guess it comes from huge amounts of doodling in the back of school-books before discovering they were more interested in having a boy than a pony.

Gripping Myspace

The main character from my forthcoming MTV QOOB series Grip Wrench has made himself a Myspace page, which he knocked together on his Atari ST, with a bit of help from me. Yes I know, Myspace is so 2006, but thats fairly appropriate for someone who's still trapped in 1986.

Here's his page:

GRIPSPACE

So you can go and befriend him online now, although he's a fairly messed-up character, so be careful. He's into death and grooming.

Ladyflesh of the Ancients

Snow is falling, I'm attempting to watch Renaissance with one eye (not my sort of animation at all, looks like a load of Poser models bumping into each other), and I'm typing this on my new Macbook Pro, surrounded by all the scattered manuals for my newly purchased Adobe CS3 crate of software. 

All this new kit should really speed up my, what I think professionals call, "workflow" - which is just as well, as animation is probably the slowest and most time-consuming artistic medium of all... And what am I using all this new equipment for? Making an old ladies breasts jiggle about. Big lumps of eighty year old ladyflesh pressed up against the screen are probably exactly how Apple Computer Inc were hoping I would unlock my creativity. 

Here's a still of her, before the top comes off. You wouldn't want to see a static shot of her after that happens, trust me.

Its taken from one tiny scene of my MTV QOOB animated series Grip Wrench, that'll be hitting screens soon (both on the telly, and online). 

...And then all will be revealed (consider that a warning).

Grip Wrench Premiere

My secret animated series, that I've been working on for longer than I can remember, is going to start being revealed this week, at the Future Film Festival in Bologna, Italy. Funded by MTV's Qoob channel (which also brought us all Grant Orchards exceptionally fun Love Sport series) its a show based around fictional 80's action movie star Grip Wrench.



While Grip maintains a Hollywood career, and acts in various iconic movies from the 80s, he also struggles with the memories of active service in Veitnam, and once the camera starts rolling he starts confusing make-believe with his war-torn memories, causing havoc for himself, his long-suffering director and any other cast members. All of which has some similarities with the happy-faced carnage I filled my 2004 short "Violence" with.

There's 10 episodes in all, although I'm only showing the first 3 this week, based on Vietnam movies, on cult movie The Warriors, and Miami Vice. So if anyone is making a trip to Bologna, hope you enjoy it, and come and say hello. And watch this space for more details, and news on the next 7 episodes.

Here's the posters for the first 3: