The First Three of the Past Ten Years

So here is (the first part of) my ten year (maybe 11 year) blog post... because I have had Iris the baby, I haven't been drawing much lately. I could have done, I've just about had time in the gaps between baby care. It's just a question of focusing, and wanting to enough. In the meantime, I thought it would be a good interval in which to review what the heck I've produced in the past ten years. Warning: this blog may have more writing in it than my usual sketch blogs. And more pictures than my old written blogs. And it might not make a lot of sense, because the things I do perhaps don't.

2000

In the year 2000, I was in my first and second year at art college in Canterbury. I was trying to get accustomed to the culture there. I was young and silly but had an overactive brain. It appeared to work quite well for me to continue keeping complex and convoluted sketchbooks full of analytical nonsense... words were what counted at art college. Just a constant flow of words, meaning was not really important. So I could do words, but secretly, I was looking for answers and meaning and I wanted to be able to paint well. So we had a bit of a secret conflict of interests, me and the art college.

First let it be noted: I was still in the throes of a mammoth Beatles phase, a big passionate learning process, and I particularly loved Paul, and particularly his smooth little face and the angles of his eyebrows. This was done very near the beginning of the first year, before my spirit had been squashed. They thought it was kitsch, little did they know that I really meant it. I kept these things mostly hidden.









I wanted to focus on cute things generally, and on noting the parallels between Britney and Pikachu, icons of the time. I think it was a reaction to the pressure to be sophisticated, and my attempt to keep myself feeling young among jaded narcissistic idiot baby boomer lecturers.




even then I was conceding a lot to the unbalanced focus on 'ideas'... not exactly what I hoped I was signing up for... scribbling scribbles and words in a book... but there didn't seem to be any other kind of art college. If I'd have known about the existence of the Atelier schools, I may have gone down a different path. But I didn't. Anyway. I have my weird history and wonky mistakes and mishaps are part of it. I'll try to look on it as funny rather than tragic.

So I became steadily surlier and more claustrophobic. I got obsessive over undeserving/bewildered boys. I was self absorbed and boring. Oh well!





I wasn't really given cause to consider the pros or cons of my drawing style. Not many people around me were drawing in any comparable way. I think I wanted it vaguely to be delicate and feminine. Looking at it now, I find it a bit cloudy and bitty, and it would have been good if I'd started being a bit more manly, structured, and learning specific skills sooner... but I can at least see what I was getting at, I've always been able to draw. It's a shame I wasn't actually taught. I was doing it, but doing it self-consciously and very underconfidently.





The first Harry Potter film came out, and I read the existing books. And Lord of the Rings. Those things and the Beatles were the kinds of things that were my touchstones. They were the things that animated me. In that specific timeframe. But because of humanity, not escapism. I think. Of course I might be bending it around in my memory.





I painted usually in acrylics. The one below is a detail of an oil painting. I think the colours on these were unfortunately 'turned up' at some point, so may be cruder even than the originals. I made my own rules and parameters, no one gave me any.





2001

Second year of art college... kind of a torturous time in my brain. Let's focus on the silly pictures.


















Despite the fact I wasn't obsessed with Paul McCartney any more, I still embarked upon a series of paintings on the subject of beating up Jane Asher.









2002

Final year of art college.. and beyond... regained a smattering of sanity.

Got interested in computer game imagery as I worked up to my degree show. The degree was ultimately a bit of a farce, but having that apparent goal did make me focus a little more than usual. I was quite excited for some of the time... I'm only pessimistic in retrospect, if you see what I mean. I was excited in my own little world.









Started playing Everquest and liked the way the corpses lay. Looked for poignant things, I spose. If I found them in pop culture, it seemed like part of the communication was already successful. But it wasn't about 'pop art' or plasticness, I was looking for authenticity.









Got very into Fleischer cartoons too.





And Buffy.

Wanted a perfect smooth dreamy finish. Wanted to communicate stuff from my innermost mind. May have failed. Still tried.













But after I left, got a bit angry, but also had a sense of liberty, and painted Hopeful Hannie, which I still like.





After that, of course, things changed.

Now look here!

Right! (Said in Basil Fawlty style) These are the paintings I have left on ebay right now. They only have two days left to go. Ebay sales have slowed so I'll probably have a bit of a break from listing stuff once these are done. So take your chance, friends! I need pens!

Clicking on the pictures takes you to the auctions.


This small painting of the Beach Boys on the Jack Benny TV show I once showed to Sir Peter Blake. He said it was lovely. Honest that really happened.





This is only part of a little sketch from Piero Della Francesca.





And this is a painting of the Undertaker, who has the best gimmick ever out of any wrestler ever. Also he is supernatural and brill. it is a nice painting. You wannnnt it. You waaaaaaaaaaaant it.

Spooky goat man variations and cartoonlessness

Here’s a little watercolour study of Kurt Angle done in the spirit of Turner. This one is FINISHED, I think. It’s teeny tiny.

But it turns out he’s really hard to draw. Here are some frustrated little studies. I will understand the shape of your head Kurt, one day.

Now here are a couple that have been nearly finished for a long time. (See my current grey blog entry for more on my nervous twitchy issues around finishing stuff.) These are still not finished, but on a screen that has less meaning. One is a softer more diffuse supernatural Randy Orton goat man (he needs more electricity though).

You might have noticed that I draw Randy Orton a lot. This would be difficult to deny.

One’s a slightly more rugged fluorescent Randy Orton goat man. I used a lot of white lines on him.

I was trying to incorporate some zeitgeisty graphical lighting inflections from game screenshots. Spell effects from RPGs and things. It seemed a wholesome way to attempt to be zeitgeisty.

Those are the at the spookier end of my idiom I reckon. Very dense and peculiar layering of materials going on here.

It’s nice to do two of something. It allows you to explore subtly divergent variations on an atmosphere.

I’ve got nothing very cartoony this week. It’s a shame. It’s one of the most challenging things to do well. Soon though. Soon it will come together.