tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38869851495813145852024-03-14T17:35:07.720+00:00Designer BruisesArt blog.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-68932372322647480722011-04-29T09:14:00.000+01:002011-04-29T09:15:28.069+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXOaUpWcLE7Il__AMJuXhNiWrFaL1nUdRxQAoF2D08M79qEM3zR8KqaJRwaNNDUR4VFf1K795slK4QcZeFfhp2ncISGKxCb_-4GOiEiCNGEt3az0krLmMVmrBQMUCw0DBJQStw80kpgg/s1600/290411.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXOaUpWcLE7Il__AMJuXhNiWrFaL1nUdRxQAoF2D08M79qEM3zR8KqaJRwaNNDUR4VFf1K795slK4QcZeFfhp2ncISGKxCb_-4GOiEiCNGEt3az0krLmMVmrBQMUCw0DBJQStw80kpgg/s320/290411.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600916068823271170" border="0" /></a>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-30085571023938152072011-04-24T08:19:00.000+01:002011-04-24T08:21:05.833+01:00Lady Gunshot Wound / YAKUZA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpoupTre1DacfVZPtRBuN0GLn-zmP9ljLe6ha0IGZuEFQD56MXRhY3uWDwHbrki4cORrSNDekxnTJNoEab-3A4NUyPdmuXM03mYHcVcLNjeXCVqUZmfvOLc0qp77Z6YvTrmvcg5cOr3g/s1600/ladygunshot.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpoupTre1DacfVZPtRBuN0GLn-zmP9ljLe6ha0IGZuEFQD56MXRhY3uWDwHbrki4cORrSNDekxnTJNoEab-3A4NUyPdmuXM03mYHcVcLNjeXCVqUZmfvOLc0qp77Z6YvTrmvcg5cOr3g/s320/ladygunshot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599046531571398162" border="0" /></a><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nx-I618tTeE" allowfullscreen="" width="480" frameborder="0" height="390"></iframe>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-19685696161597170792011-04-22T09:12:00.003+01:002011-04-22T09:19:18.783+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjDD43dIjM4u_bhXBNgYIRvTagIWykPeW2JWdu0Viu5C87dgcTS16EZw2xwlZbG4Z4vhkByxvQTLP6rsGinYmxbkWlj_IPOu_BLZTAzMAtcj4PJb4wHZ61xQ7Hd4F3JEOQo9fpklO1fM/s1600/220411.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjDD43dIjM4u_bhXBNgYIRvTagIWykPeW2JWdu0Viu5C87dgcTS16EZw2xwlZbG4Z4vhkByxvQTLP6rsGinYmxbkWlj_IPOu_BLZTAzMAtcj4PJb4wHZ61xQ7Hd4F3JEOQo9fpklO1fM/s320/220411.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598318047604630866" border="0" /></a><br />Yakuza Gynoid.<br /><br />This is the most fun I've had with a character design in a long time; attempting to make a sadistic killing machine that is convincingly confined to a human disguise. The tattoos are mostly modified pieces of art from a few sources: the <span style="font-style: italic;">ero-guro</span> work of Suehiro Maruo, a panel from Junji Ito's <span style="font-style: italic;">Uzumaki </span>and the much older <span style="font-style: italic;">The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife</span> by Hokusai; an early example of <span style="font-style: italic;">shokushu goukan</span>... 'tentacle rape'.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-34558534454550017982011-04-15T09:34:00.001+01:002011-04-15T09:36:05.559+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSL-ajpS431cMP2UNYvX3Y6tVz3PqXuWOIueLu7y-nU5itIbR68goRJTTxhqwDqREtS6FJi_2zD1fsHgR3qEqjPF7663yiePryROyZbGloTxwcuyENdym6fnmPPDWLxPfZMwQfWvMAciQ/s1600/150411.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSL-ajpS431cMP2UNYvX3Y6tVz3PqXuWOIueLu7y-nU5itIbR68goRJTTxhqwDqREtS6FJi_2zD1fsHgR3qEqjPF7663yiePryROyZbGloTxwcuyENdym6fnmPPDWLxPfZMwQfWvMAciQ/s320/150411.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595726202548040418" border="0" /></a><br />Reviving some environment concepts, working on a couple of character-based pieces.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-8385437544165607672011-04-08T10:48:00.000+01:002011-04-08T10:49:17.784+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9E6DkclEd5kLb-OX9JxPUKoKg75tcpHyX09Qy4pBjzkseCDTBg8dWyRB-32kH0iSB5rblwGqVz3-xWI5t6DSDUK1l61gi2MHaNQfaJ_kzvp7yNuAS-jOFygyO4LwRcEmNvVMRLOkIDM/s1600/080411.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA9E6DkclEd5kLb-OX9JxPUKoKg75tcpHyX09Qy4pBjzkseCDTBg8dWyRB-32kH0iSB5rblwGqVz3-xWI5t6DSDUK1l61gi2MHaNQfaJ_kzvp7yNuAS-jOFygyO4LwRcEmNvVMRLOkIDM/s320/080411.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593147483182311346" border="0" /></a><br />This week in Designer Bruises: royalty and other miscreants.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-85178048727509899482011-03-26T09:53:00.001+00:002011-03-26T09:53:58.907+00:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGYzS6hpYwbvmkox1NRel07jzH3N4GcZ-I7nLIv410LFIzgzuOzIXwYgJI2t-7l1zyafNln0MSPEdKiTCdMEGMD-UFwOjG1alZ3dVXOJCTx5E033FZ4dfdD08m04LHWenL0YIwxjeaPo/s1600/18260311.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGYzS6hpYwbvmkox1NRel07jzH3N4GcZ-I7nLIv410LFIzgzuOzIXwYgJI2t-7l1zyafNln0MSPEdKiTCdMEGMD-UFwOjG1alZ3dVXOJCTx5E033FZ4dfdD08m04LHWenL0YIwxjeaPo/s320/18260311.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588324659809089330" border="0" /></a>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-405159243884259232011-03-18T10:38:00.000+00:002011-03-18T10:39:10.906+00:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqeGIdFqzzYRujyjB61dP-9ErYFtwZjdnEoXsBNOxrCbwNBH3uJwkwY21A4HhkYNf-R8ooNzKuypN2UWcPYdNQxfgbzsCSR4OSgKfabYULiVSHCJ1aF0Xe0zEq3RDO6Mf0E0IjmjLdkw/s1600/180311.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRqeGIdFqzzYRujyjB61dP-9ErYFtwZjdnEoXsBNOxrCbwNBH3uJwkwY21A4HhkYNf-R8ooNzKuypN2UWcPYdNQxfgbzsCSR4OSgKfabYULiVSHCJ1aF0Xe0zEq3RDO6Mf0E0IjmjLdkw/s320/180311.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585367607550575986" border="0" /></a>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-58973489965973906712011-03-04T09:25:00.001+00:002011-03-04T09:27:18.926+00:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxHpxy6iXRejPwnObm8q-cpjtTBhfH5wVJjUHfYiIdapOnwrNCHQxMGye-P1za-3SYPSP7ji0pxia-tRahN1fFRPIStT4u5Oj82MfcUTtIR33Xd6bdVTXOR9I9J9FTOjl7FL3CN44ndc/s1600/24020403.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxHpxy6iXRejPwnObm8q-cpjtTBhfH5wVJjUHfYiIdapOnwrNCHQxMGye-P1za-3SYPSP7ji0pxia-tRahN1fFRPIStT4u5Oj82MfcUTtIR33Xd6bdVTXOR9I9J9FTOjl7FL3CN44ndc/s320/24020403.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580153535776544386" border="0" /></a><br />This week in Designer Bruises: 3D and fail.<br /><br />There isn't enough gloss this week. One project is finally being pushed into production stage as another takes on the ghostly form of ideas becoming half-reality, the result was this.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-43409792705799060752011-02-26T09:24:00.005+00:002011-02-26T09:32:28.080+00:00New idea, compile all works in progress into one image on a weekly basis, call it 'this week in Designer Bruises', allow people to track my gradual improvement and/or growing insanity.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5TSpn6HNe_U3Txer8QDvRNnyP-QNV_BttL3HoYbSAKMiv_3EtYh1J6_rmd6ugx5BjwOq1Ps-80hMwgkAMDzxMNE07nEIPFTfXuBy1PDwZwZtvnFbyXRfkVhERwKCpMHhtQ7bbj1tyu4/s1600/25022011.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5TSpn6HNe_U3Txer8QDvRNnyP-QNV_BttL3HoYbSAKMiv_3EtYh1J6_rmd6ugx5BjwOq1Ps-80hMwgkAMDzxMNE07nEIPFTfXuBy1PDwZwZtvnFbyXRfkVhERwKCpMHhtQ7bbj1tyu4/s320/25022011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5577928616539174194" border="0" /></a><br />This week in Designer Bruises: environments half-inched from old video games.<br /><br />I've been wanting to improve environment work to be able to make more rounded concepts. I've noticed a lot of artists do studies of Renaissance paintings, thought this could be an interesting take on something similar. Couple of other original concepts on the go.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-89574875550655747102010-09-22T09:53:00.001+01:002010-09-22T09:57:11.321+01:00Kestros Development Diary 4: Art Merlot<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i55.tinypic.com/xeg0au.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 781px; height: 366px;" src="http://i55.tinypic.com/xeg0au.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've spent some time trying to think of an appropriate style genre for this story. There are several pre-existing ones working together to deliberately conflict. There is the excess of the 1960s. This should really be decorated with pop art, something kitsch. Instead, there is strictly art deco (which fell out of favour in the 40s) geometry with occasional hints of art nouveau in some of the older decors. I've attempted to apply washed out, deliberately and audaciously bad choice of colour - something I associate strongly with the sixties.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">The resulting 'style' was initially going to be defined as 'messed-up glamour' which is a slight variation on what Clive Barker once described his intentions for the design of his cenobites in the Hellraiser franchise. (It was, in fact, "repulsive glamour"). I'm not sure if this one has been coined - I daren't google it to disappoint myself - so I'll say it first. I would like to describe this style as 'Art Merlot'.</span> <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />WHAT IS ART MERLOT?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Art Merlot takes it's name from the general appearance that the artist embarked on his design sober; he put down clean and bold lines with a grand vision in mind. Somewhere between drawing and applying colour, he was introduced to a large volume of red wine and the result of this becomes apparent in the final grubby aesthetics. Stylistically it is inspired by the Art Deco movements and fantastical art, as well as Film Noir and expressionism.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><br />In terms of narrative, Art Merlot is characterised by excess and debauchery; it is often set out in the same way as a party - beginning with a boisterous introduction, fizzling out quickly to shyness before growing into a transgressive and hideous train-wreck of rambunctious events where there is no such thing as 'too much' and subsequent regret is almost certain. It is decorated with malice, humiliation, passion and sickness. (Frequently all four simultaneously.) It paints a landscape filled with adulterous lovers, prostitutes, elitist socialites, corrupt politicians and thieves. In a similar manner to the visual style, it is as if the writer introduced a set of noble and virtuous characters and eventually decided to turn them into monsters for a laugh.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There, now there is at least a ready-made label to stamp over the style. Anything to avoid 'gothic'.</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-32160491948320918092010-09-09T11:58:00.002+01:002010-09-09T12:02:19.505+01:00SLAPPERGATE: Did you know sex was only discovered in 2003?<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I know. Not again!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I had intended to write my little piece on the drama unfolding at the House of Rooney and move onto better things, leaving it behind like a family pet being abandoned in the middle of the woods. But as the story vanished from the rear-view mirror </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310006/Wayne-Rooney-Coleen-make-break-talks-Jennifer-Thompson-scandal.html">a new headline</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> caught my eye during a break at work. A brief glance at the article headers proved even more exciting. One read; 'Further revelations made about second girl in threesome'. I </span><i style="font-family: arial;">know</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> the Daily Mail wouldn't use the word 'revelations' unless something of truly Biblical proportions was unfolding.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The story does seem to have momentarily dried up with the lips at the House of Rooney remaining tight. It has descended into a sparse collection of quotes from 'close sources' in which Wayne Rooney emerges as a strange David Lynch-esque dual character; the pleading husband desperate for forgiveness, and the heartless hooker-rutting cad. Not one to be put off by a lack of new facts when there is something naughty to write about, the tabloids have kept their focus sharply on the dark and enticing world of the WAG.</span><br /><br /><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i56.tinypic.com/sgjojo.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Before I spoke of class snobbery and hypocrisy. This little piece is about the history of sex and scandal, and the desperate attempts people will make to ignore it so that tales such as this fit nicely into their hysterical view that Britain is falling apart.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Strange how prostitutes never used to publicise their choice of work, now these women are parading themselves - up front and proud." observes Maggie from Hertfordshire in the article's comment section, "A true sign of the hugely sexualised and promiscuous times we live in." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Truly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">(</span><b style="font-family: arial;">DID YOU KNOW</b><span style="font-family:arial;">: Sex was only discovered in 2003? There is a popular misconception that it is an act that has been around since prehistory. This is incorrect. Tales of the debauchery of Ancient Rome or the widespread prostitution in Victorian England are actually elaborate fabrications marked by scholars in order to justify the loose morals of modern society. Atheists will scoff at the concept of God hiding dinosaur bones simply to confuse the mortals, but even in today's enlightened times few people are prepared to confront the myth of human sexuality. Sex is thought to have been discovered by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_hilton">Paris Hilton</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> who carefully utilised it into a business model and launched herself into stardom with a 'how to' tape recorded by her then-boyfriend. Little did Ms Hilton know she was in fact opening Pandora's box and unleashing a deluge of relentless promiscuity upon the world.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">New characters have emerged in the ongoing chronicles of Slappergate.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The first is Amy Leigh Barnes, who actually has nothing to do with the current events. She was introduced in an article delicately entitled '</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1309847/Jennifer-Thompson-Amy-Leigh-Barnes-Two-victims-WAG-lifestyle.html">The prostitute and the murder victim</a><span style="font-family:arial;">', wherein two pictures of her posing with Jennifer 'Juicy' Thompson were used as some sort of justification to include her in Slappergate. Amy Leigh actually has no involvement with the Rooney affair. She was a girl who apparently frequented the same social circles. She was murdered by football coach Ricardo Morrison. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I wish I could say more about it, but a scan of the article reveals that only a third of it actually details her life or death before going onto repeat the tales of 'Juicy' Thompson's wild child life alongside more pictures of her in her underwear. What a lovely read this must make for Amy Leigh's parents, to prop up a murder victim next to a woman currently being flouted as 'shameless' and imply they are birds of a feather. Delicately handled, as I said.</span><br /><br /><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/2rgzukx.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The second is Helen Wood. She is the red-haired prostitute who, in tales that make for somewhat emetic reading material, joined 'Juicy' Thompson and Rooney for a </span><i style="font-family: arial;">ménage-à-trois</i><span style="font-family:arial;">. (I'm trying to spare you the harrowing mental images that come from the clumpy word of 'threesome'. No need to thank me.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">'Miss Wood’s father said he too had no idea how she had become caught up in the sordid affair' has to be the most unintentionally amusing line in </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310307/Wayne-Rooney-scandal-Jennifer-Thompson-Helen-Woods-families-say-sorry.html">this article</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, simply because it conjures up the idea that a Daily Mail reporter has phoned up a prostitute's father and asked "Why did she do it? WHY?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In fact much of the article is about the parents. The father of Helen Wood (regrettably she lacks an audacious self-styled name. Hell On Wood? The Woodpecker? It's no 'Juicy' Jenny, is it?) has explained that he is 'desperately sorry' for the heartache he has inadvertently caused for Coleen Rooney, as it is apparently now expected for the parents of an adult woman to make their apologies for unleashing a future home-wrecker out into the world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Miss Wood, 23, a university lecturer’sdaughter, and Miss Thompson,21, the privately-educated child of a wealthy oil company executive, have turned out to be flag-bearers for the celebrity-mad, lascivious culture that has consumed the nation." writes Daily Mail columnist Barbara Davies. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">(I would, by the way, mark her mistakes with [sic]s but it would rather clutter up the paragraph. The spacebar misuse gives an image of her tripping over her own bile in a rush to shove her two cents into the slot.) But there you have it - they are the 'flag-bearers' for the nation's culture. The 'celebrity-mad' culture. </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310353/Third-night-row-pregnant-Lily-Allen-helps-mark-Londons-Fashion-Night-Out-launch-party-new-clothing-line.html">Which </a><span style="font-family:arial;">her </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310021/Katie-Price-gets-greased-edgy-Wonderland-magazine-photoshoot.html">paper </a><span style="font-family:arial;">has </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310457/David-Victoria-Beckham-passionate-Intimately-Beckham-Yours-advert.html">had </a><span style="font-family:arial;">no </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1310285/Eva-Mendes-steps-Paris-frumpy-shapeless-paisley-dress-clumpy-lace-shoes.html">part</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> in </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09_01/Perry08_650x365.jpg">creating</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> what </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09_01/Lohan08_296x650.jpg">so ever</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"Such depressing behaviour has become commonplace among the drunken ladettes who plague town centres each weekend. But if ever there was a sign of how deeply the social rot has set in, this pair’s story provides it in a deeply troubling way."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In my last article I made a snooty comparison to the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_affair">Profumo affair</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, and I promised myself not to say the words again because I've already repeated the same joke three times and verge on milking territory, but I need to mention it one final time. To the uninitiated and those that cannot be bothered to click the link I've so helpfully put there, the eponymous affair was between John Profumo, then Secretary of State for War, and London prostitute (sorry, 'call girl') Christine Keeler.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So which aspect of Slappergate indicates social rot? A high figure sleeping with a prostitute? A man cheating on his wife? A girl shamelessly venturing into a dubious career? The media cheerily rewarding her publicity for it? Much to the dismay of anybody wishing for social apocalypse, none of these things are new. All of the above apply to Slappergate just as they did to Profumo well over forty years ago. You can argue the aspiration of 'WAG stardom' is a new gloss, but the motives have always been monetary. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I'll sum this up with the famous and much-replicated photograph of Christine Keeler taken shortly after the affair, and a quote from today's column by Barbara Davies. You will probably recognise the pose even if you're not familiar with it - yep, this is the original, something iconic born from a salacious scandal.</span><br /><br /><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/t6xi04.jpg" alt="" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"In the history of kiss and tells, the British media has never seen anything quite like it."</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-74214198097007391652010-09-07T12:28:00.009+01:002010-09-07T12:45:24.012+01:00SLAPPERGATE: The Footballer Who Ruined Everything<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Mrs Coleen Rooney gazes at herself in a mirror in a fashionable upmarket hair salon. She has just been appointed 'style ambassador' to Littlewoods and is having her hair suitably fixed up; one must remain appropriately glamourous when holding such an important position in the harsh eye of the public. Perhaps she was sipping champagne or idly reading through a magazine - we can only imagine. Her phone vibrates on the counter in front of her and she picks it up.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >You have 1 New Message from: Wayne</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She taps the button to open it with a perfectly manicured hand.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" >bin boffin sum hooker n d press av found out. soz lol. wayn xx</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This, friends and acquaintances, is the closest thing we will see to the Profumo affair in our generation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Okay that isn't what the text said, I made that part up but the revelation of the </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">alleged</i> infidelities was indeed made via the elaborate method of SMS; something that initially surprised me because I wasn't aware that Wayne Rooney was actually able to read and write - even within the generally less refined literature of texting. You really do learn something new every day.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As the nature of the tabloids dictate, they lept onto the story claws out and salivating like a fat befringed groupie at a My Chemical Romance gig. Interviews were denied and Facebooks were looted for all the titilating pixels available. The alleged prostitute was named and not particularly shamed as Jennifer 'Juicy' Thompson, middle-class, professional village bicycle and long-time wannabe <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAGs">WAG</a>. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1309638/What-turned-Jennifer-Thompson-Wayne-Rooneys-1-200-night-escort.html">Today's article in the Daily Mail</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> illustrates her biography with no less than thirteen pictures of her, seven of which offer the reader a glimpse of cleavage to either scoff at or oggle (presumably, for your hardcore Mail reader, both).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Now I know what you're thinking - who cares?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I have no interest in football, overpaid footballers or the women they climb on top of. Yet this story fascinates me simply because of the interesting </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstairs,_Downstairs">Upstairs, Downstairs</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> style mechanics at play. It doesn't take much insight to see that there is more to this web of deceit than fury on behalf of Coleen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Wayne Rooney has always been a joke. In a similar vein to the much deified David Beckham, Rooney is from a working class background and has escalated to millionaire stardom for kicking a ball around. Regrettably, unlike Beckham, he remains ugly as sin; a podgy ogre-featured being who looks like he would glass you and steal your shoes as soon as look at you. </span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/20j64xe.jpg" /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So his marriage to the passable Coleen has always been perplexing when considering that the pair had been dating long before he found success and wealth with professional football. If it isn't the money, it was assumed, it must be love. How sweet!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But no.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">He had been cavorting with a lady of the night, and while his wife was pregnant with his child. "That's not how working class heroes are allowed to act", howls the over-interested public as they peer over the garden fence into his private life, "Sack him. Sack him! We can't have a somebody adulterous out there kicking balls on behalf of our </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">nation</i><span style="font-family:verdana;">."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The story therefore becomes the amusing adventures of a boy who done good but now has too much money and isn't spending it on good but on evil: orifice rental.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But there has actually been a distinct lack of focus on Wayne in the deluge of coverage on the scandal. All eyes have turned on 'Juicy' Thompson - presumably because she's less offensive to look at - and because it's easier for your average reader of such publications of the Daily Mail and The Sun to pour bile over a prostitute rather than the man who paid for her services. Here the class aspect is reversed; she is middle-class and that is alien upbringing for a prostitute by these standards. Prostitution isn't for public schoolgirls, they subtly infer, it's for poor people who have ruined their lives and now have to sell themselves to survive. They aren't allowed to actively enjoy their work unless they're being played by Billie Piper in a rompy show on the telly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There is an interesting bit of hypocrisy at work here. The papers sniff amusedly at her fall from grace of public schoolgirl to wannabe WAG, her desperate attempts to break into the social circles frequented by the rich and famous. And yeah it is funny, in a sort of tragic way, that somebody can live by the goal of bagging a footballer. But to smirk at it you need to overlook the fact that it is these exact same papers who have created the industry in which WAGs become equally important as their footballer HABs. All clothing choices, hair extension lengths, tan levels, sunglass circumferences and heel heights are examined with scrutiny. It feeds out a deceptive loop in which these things gain importance. In fact they've even tried observing the wives of politicians with similar intentions - naturally doomed to failure because government WAGs are generally repellent. So the media has made this the place to be. Yet they can't help scoffing at the seedy tragedy of a woman being allured by it. She must be a tart.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/16a9xjp.jpg" /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">There was a show on ITV a few years back called </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footballers_Wives">Footballers' Wives</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">. It depicted the life of Tanya Turner, a chain-smoking, cocaine-huffing WAG with two-inch fake nails and a long line of dead husbands. The series was shameless trash full of champagne sipping and sports cars. The genuinely horrifying thing about it is that it was actually quite a realistic television portrayal of how the world of the WAG is represented on paper: a debauched elite in which scandals are not a question of 'if' but 'when'.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I wanted to round this up with a selection of the best reader comments but it has proved difficult to choose them as the articles have attracted a lot of attention - 171 on this one alone, most of which can be summed up as 'slaaaaaag'. Funnily enough, meanwhile an article on the same website about how Iran is reportedly on the verge of nuclear capability sits alone with no similarly insightful comments. But who gives a toss about the threat of nuclear war when there's mouths to be frothed at the idea of a footballer's sex life? I only hope that in the event of the country being dragged into another war in which the battlefields and targets are all within our own borders that the government smarts up to the fact such a volume of its public's minds have turned to Puritan mush and counter it by printing post-apocalyptic survival techniques in Heat magazine.</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-42162187585482532122010-08-31T13:17:00.003+01:002010-08-31T13:25:06.804+01:00Kestros Development Diary 3: Dressing the Dictatress<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">At present I'm trying to think of a suitable opening line for the prologue. I've written dialogue for several chapters but not in the proper order. Dialogue mostly comes naturally, rolling with a mild 1960s tint of 'Gee' and 'Boy', but distant narration is harder to pen. It opens with a brief visual-and-textual description of the world, explaining the context of the opening scenes which depict some heavy brutality.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is a story about...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">What's this about anyway?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A side-note about the design of Kestros.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">HENDRIX, EPILEPSY AND THE CAKE</span></span><br /><br /><object style="font-family: verdana;" width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/57A46s93MpU?fs=1&hl=en_GB"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/57A46s93MpU?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Herein is sixties girl group </span>THE CAKE<span style="font-family:verdana;"> performing </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">You Can Have Him</i><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Watch it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh I know - the freaky dancing, the audacious outfits, the bizarre Star Trek set, it's easy to laugh at. But this is one of the best performances I've ever seen. I keep going back to watch it again. Jeanette Jacobs, the stunner in the green suit, is part of it. The way she stays motionless while the others really get into it - looking the whole time like she's about to cry. It adds this edge to it, sort of enchanting yet vaguely discomforting.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Information on her is difficult to find even in the vast internet world.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She had epilepsy, medication for which may account for the static performance. (Naturally this was the sixties, so most people seem intent on shrieking about drugs whenever seeing the above video.) She was close friends with Jimi Hendrix and apparently suffered some sort of breakdown after his death. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">She died in 1980. She was thirty years old.</span><br /><br /><img style="font-family: verdana;" alt="" src="http://i37.tinypic.com/2rcsppu.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So there is this depressing halo to seeing </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">You Can Have Him</i><span style="font-family:verdana;">, and particularly hearing </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awxUNawzdu4"><i>Baby That's Me</i></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Actually there is an undertone like this to a lot of the music from the era, like there was something seriously unpleasant lurking behind the wonderful sounds. A lot of the singers were hooked on drugs, one of the best songs is a disturbing </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f20Oz9Yr_So">defensive stance on domestic violence</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, and one of the </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector">biggest names</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> in music turned out to be a lunatic and murderer. The music becomes incredibly haunting to listen to. This is the element of the time I want to recapture and represent - something sinister in a carefully maintained facade of glamour. The story exists within a time where the veils are on the verge of falling and all Hell is about to break loose.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Oh yeah, back to the Kestros design - can you see why it's a good idea to write this? Off on a tangent of a side-story...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Jeanette was a large inspiration in the visual redesign; the hair, expressions - not so much the clothes (Jackie Kennedy, there). Yeah, that's it. That was a lot of history for a small note. I just wanted to write about </span>THE CAKE<span style="font-family:verdana;"> really.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">BEST SERVED COLD</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The element of knowing too much about the grim history of this pop culture is related to how I'm writing. The climax of the story sees the country being decimated by a savage war with many of the pampered elite being torn out of lives of luxury and civilians forced to fight for survival; a sort of 'new world order'. The result of this is that - as the writer (I'm not sure what effect knowing this would have on the reader) - all characters are viewed as fated; killing time as they draw closer to some serious unpleasantness.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This has been achieved by scripting scenes in reverse. Twists of betrayal, murder, torture and battles have been written before most of the characters have even been established. It's probably the worst way to write, I know, but it does allow a different way of seeing the characters from the start. It almost makes an empathy for the unpleasant ones.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">'This is a story about revenge, moral decay, power, etc.'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Nah.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">'This is a story about how one person attempted to destroy the world'?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I don't know.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Maybe I should write the ending first so I can find out what it's actually about.</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-64503602363229306322010-08-30T13:34:00.002+01:002010-08-30T13:37:09.994+01:00Kestros Development Diary 2: It's All Good Fun Until Somebody Gets Sectioned.<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">THREE LUNATICS</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Madness is a long-time favourite in all forms of entertainment. Once it was confined to literature, opera and theatre. Shakespeare couldn't get enough of it! In more recent years it branched out into other media. Film, television, video games - occasionally even musicians can't help but snapping in the public eye and creating an ongoing cycle for the modern voyeur where the same standard of questions repeat forever: 'Has Britney Spears gone insane?' And, 'More importantly, have her legs gotten fatter?'</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">How do you portray insanity convincingly?</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i38.tinypic.com/333g3z5.jpg" /></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><i style="font-family: arial;"> "There's fennel for you, and columbines:<br /> there's rue for you; and here's some for me:<br /> we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays:<br /> O you must wear your rue with a difference..." </i><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">William was fond of a bit of complete lunacy. This is why he is fondly celebrated within England; he captured the victim complex of this windswept little island and retold it on a backdrop of alien Europe sections. He had King Lear screaming at the weather before stripping off and running into the wilderness, only to emerge later on as some flower-decorated wild man. The long-suffering Ophelia finally snapped from manipulation and decided to take a nap in a brook. In King Lear, the weather served as a metaphor for the King's wayward mental health. As his brain exploded (RE: gore: there are no literal head explosions in King Lear but if I remember correctly, somebody's eyes get ripped out) the landscape was hit by a giant storm which is almost treated like another character. In Hamlet, there is some witty play on the names and properties of flowers and herbs during the 'mad scene' of Ophelia.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is entertaining, clever and provocative. But it isn't what I'd call convincing by today's standards. I've met people I'm certain are insane before, the frightening thing is that they don't wear the warning signs. They don't tear off their clothes in company and start trying to hand you flowers - they hide it well. People don't notice the madness bubbling beneath the surface until it's too late and they cover the house in tin foil, or start believing in werewolves, or start listening to Lady Gaga, or think the rain is a sign of the apocalypse.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It's all good fun until somebody gets sectioned.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">My madness - by which I mean </span><i style="font-family: arial;">the</i><span style="font-family:arial;"> madness I'm writing about - is gradual descent from normality into bubbling, drooling mess. This is one difficult element to blog about as it's a potential 'spoiler' (before the damn thing is even written, and that); three characters are insane by the end, two seeming perfectly healthy at the start. It is never quite a snap but a slow and sturdy fall from grace. The journey is more exciting than the destination - and in a story all about 'downfall' there is nothing more fitting. Sanity remains a subjective thing, so this is a job for unreliable narration. Warning signs may hint at the future. Or they might be drug-infused banter.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A background element is the chaos of </span>MASS HYSTERIA<span style="font-family:arial;">; life in a metropolis when the threat of the opposition attacking becomes something very genuine and real. People are prone to this behaviour even now - the effect it potentially has - within a time where conformity is a prerequisite to functioning within a society - is devastating. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Whose eyes are you looking through today?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">A CULT RUNNING A COUNTRY</span></span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i38.tinypic.com/2iv1u95.jpg" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i37.tinypic.com/20ldsl.jpg" /><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span><img style="font-family: arial;" src="http://i37.tinypic.com/15nlx1l.jpg" /></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The cult is a widely-accepted religion built on the Catholic church and the beliefs of Ancient Rome. The symbol of this faith is the inverted Christian cross, with a mythology explaining that a family of gods are responsible for all creation. This is named </span>THE CHURCH OF ESTERICES<span style="font-family:arial;"> and the influence of it goes beyond simple worship into all areas of life: law and government, business, science, medicine and education. It often goes beyond bad taste and indulges in a sort of self-perpetuated blasphemy with gods being mindlessly used to flog luxury goods and propaganda ideals. The idea is as preposterous as the Catholic church selling premium vodka in Jesus Christ-shaped glass bottles - but it happens without anybody batting an eyelid at the thought.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Illuminati also served as an influence for this. A popular conspiracy in the real world is that this shadowy group controls the media and the elite; dropping their symbols (the all-seeing eye, masonic black and white tiles, horns of Baphomet) as occasional hints in everything from corporation logos to pop music videos. In Vessand this is blatant - a deluge of religious symbolism everywhere to confirm the grip the Church has on the population.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A common slogan, maybe the equivalent of 'Jesus saves', runs:</span><br /><br />PRAY FOR YOUR SINS.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The core value of this following is balance; a sort of yin-yang concept combined with Catholic guilt. It explains that the world was born in an event that caused a great deal of pain to the top god - much like natural childbirth - and that sin was created out of this as a sort of afterbirth to counter and highlight positive virtues of earth and humanity. The punishments are dire but the apparent rewards are sweet. The political effect is a casual equality with official tolerance between the sexes, age groups, and social backgrounds. The reality falls short with hushed up bigotry and snobbery.</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-18539258896239926252010-08-26T09:43:00.006+01:002010-08-26T09:53:54.041+01:00Kestros Development Diary 1: How We Reached The Sixties<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">I've been meaning to do this for some time. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In fact I've attempted to write this twice before now and ended up deleting all the words in a fit of rage or something for one reason or another. An ongoing battle in any project I embark on is that my plans become too convoluted. I end up confusing myself to the point of creative exhaustion. By writing this and jotting down all my ideas along with the history of it - I hope to make some sort of steady reference material for my own brain. Something I can return to when the quiet 'Where did it all go wrong?' questions set in.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I've lost you already, haven't I?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Well I'm not writing this for your benefit anyway so stop complaining.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Fine. Here's some music. It sets the atmosphere I'm looking for, if nothing else.</span><br /><br /><object style="font-family: arial;" width="640" height="385"><param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/awxUNawzdu4?fs=1&hl=en_GB" name="movie"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"><param value="always" name="allowscriptaccess"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/awxUNawzdu4?fs=1&hl=en_GB" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Retracing history seems like the place to start. In late 2008 I wrote a poem. It was not very good, remaining unsatisfying as a complete piece of work, but the core image of it still interested me. Any project I work on begins with an idea in the form of an image - usually something climatic, surreal or disturbing. The project is the over-elaborate attempt to justify why the image is there. By 2009 this mental picture was still in my brain so I decided I would try to turn it into a complete work of fiction. It assumed an Ancient Roman setting and some themes and items were drawn from this: slavery, gods, magic, insanity, war.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The project was titled </span>QUEEN <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">KESTROS</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. It would detail the rise and fall of the fifteen-year-old eponymous queen as she descends into a world of madness and depravity following the violent assassination of her parents and her sudden coronation as the monarch of a massive, powerful society.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The introduction of new laws in the United Kingdom affecting art and images, however, would have placed the story in dubious legal status.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Back to the drawing board to make things a little less </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula_%28film%29"><i>Caligula</i></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So it was quickly pushed a couple of thousand of years into the future, to a land mirroring Georgian-Edwardian-Victorian England. The image was now taken up with corsets, absinthe, opium, fairies, class divides, art <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">nouveau</span>, Rococo, towering hair and giant dresses.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img alt="" src="http://i33.tinypic.com/23roklt.jpg" /></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What seemed ideal at first quickly became a problem. These three periods of fashion reside in an alien universe unfamiliar to 90% of any potential readers. The clothes worn by the elite within the story were intended to be over-adorned, flamboyant and ridiculously impractical items - how do you convey this in a time where even the plainer outfits for women consisted of giant hats and waists corset-tugged to the size of a wrist? Variety in design quickly became impossible.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ideally the next stop was going to be the 1980s. Power ballads, shoulder pads, lens blur on everything - you know. But then I realised there was no way to put power ballads into a graphic novel / <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">webcomic</span> format, and lens blur abuse would quickly make everything look pants.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The final future trip leaves the setting as a 'mirror' of the early 1960s. This is where the project has become something more comfortable and with room for design variety. The cast of characters has exploded - including primary, secondary, minor and mentioned there are now over 50 of them. All have unique lives, motives, and fates.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img src="http://i38.tinypic.com/v78ewn.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i34.tinypic.com/2bze53.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i34.tinypic.com/2vkg2s4.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i36.tinypic.com/wvwsac.jpg" alt="" /></span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Furthermore this is a much more familiar and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">relatable</span> time - aided by an apparent popular fondness for nostalgia... that will probably have long-evaporated by the time the story is completed. I see a lot of reflections in the current 'War on Terror' and the Cold War, a great deal of suspicion and paranoia pointed in virtually all directions: abroad and at home, the right wing and the left. This isn't the popular 60s. People often think The Beatles, paintings of soup, they think of LSD-carved landscapes of sunshine and hippies twirling at Woodstock, that weird Austin Powers tinted passage into the past. That's not it. No, that was the end of the decade. I'm aiming for the start. This is how the story reflects and adjusts: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is a dark time. We emerge from the 50s wondering what is next. Years of war left the country in massive poverty mere decades before. With this overcome for for the middle and upper classes, new aspirations emerge: materialism to reflect status, pride in the home. Foreign countries are regarded with quiet hostility from an unfounded sense of superiority - and yet the politicians at home have begun to reveal themselves to be less trustworthy than people had believed. Rebellion and protests rise in popularity; people learn to express themselves in new ways, and everybody begins to question what the future holds in store. The poor begin to question the corner they have been pushed into while the elite grow frustrated at their own weakening grip on things. And both start to say 'our day will come'.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I mentioned goals as the core basis for these diaries. My goal is to tell a story about the following: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sanity is subjective.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you have something worth taking, nobody is to be trusted.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What happens when a country falls to pieces?</span><br /><br /><u style="font-family: arial;">Power is everything</u><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I want to write something that doesn't fall flat too quickly on any level - with artwork, characters and action interesting enough to draw a casual reader in, but with a plot thought out and told well enough to keep people reading on. I've decided to publish this 'development diary' step by step as the story is written in an attempt to push myself into working harder and faster because the moment this is a public entry - though in reality all of 2 people will probably read it - it puts my ideas up to be stolen and I'll need to get in there making this thing properly before the phantom thieves strike.<br /><br />Productivity is the most casual form of vigilance.<br /><br />Next time: towers, madness, and how a cult can run a country.</span></span>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-58425870640569430732010-01-27T12:32:00.005+00:002010-01-27T12:42:50.075+00:00Lately I've been making a lot of 'retro' covers - very much inspired by Spacesick's wonderful 'I can read movies' collection (see: <a href="http://spacesick.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-can-read-movies-series.html">here</a>), where a relatively modern film is given a make-over to look like a paperback from the 1960s.<br /><br />This isn't really anything too unique but it is great practice for more graphic-based work, aiming for simpler shapes and bolder colours. Here's a few I've done so far... try to ignore the fact most were already books in the first place.<br /><br /><img src=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9452/tr2ql.jpg><br /><img src=http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1179/exorcistcover.jpg><br /><img src=http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/8420/ringu2.jpg><br /><img src=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4518/crashuw.jpg><br /><img src=http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/2108/deadringers2.jpg><br /><img src=http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/3068/spiritedaway3.jpg><br /><img src=http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2846/bioshock4.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-40808694316650942422009-10-16T15:40:00.001+01:002009-10-16T15:41:37.220+01:00<a href=http://designerbruises.co.uk/>Designer Bruises</a> is now online with a temporary portfolio page up.Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-31639236245050818962009-10-12T23:49:00.001+01:002009-10-12T23:49:51.188+01:00#80: miaow<img src=http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/3133/miaow1.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/7900/miaowdetail.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-14869736714294972372009-10-12T15:19:00.000+01:002009-10-12T15:20:43.795+01:00#79: marco polo<img src=http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/8098/marcopolo3.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-7230890009204360792009-10-04T18:43:00.002+01:002009-10-04T18:45:55.640+01:00#77-78<img src=http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4645/deathof01.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4763/babywants.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-83710145652652663822009-10-02T11:30:00.001+01:002009-10-02T11:32:10.606+01:00#76: s is for season of the witch<img src=http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6048/season2s.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6696/seasoncloseup.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-58311312378926438942009-09-30T18:54:00.000+01:002009-09-30T18:55:29.914+01:00#75: the promise<img src=http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9342/milk3.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-11781294853005131302009-09-30T00:14:00.001+01:002009-09-30T00:17:21.401+01:00#71-#74<img src=http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9917/pigletm.gif><br /><br /><img src=http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4056/gsh.jpg><br /><br />(It was a mobile phone.)<br /><br /><img src=http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9334/themesong.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8007/themesongw03.jpg>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-84114802264384898472009-09-27T23:25:00.005+01:002009-09-28T00:07:20.568+01:00#55 - #70Time for a new entry. I would like to tell you about how I haven't been keeping this journal all modern and up to date because I've been so busy with art shows, soaring sales and a rampant social life.<br /><br />But really I've just been lazy. A little uninspired. I think I've been trying to do a little too much at once, mainly producing a lot of polished works at the same time. It's like trying to kill a fly with a shotgun.<br /><br />Here comes a batch of work. A bit of a mix, finished pieces, works in progress, sketchier things. Going to link to these directly instead from now on because uploading them onto Blogger makes the quality horrendous.<br /><br /><center><img src=http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8641/kimiko2y.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4936/gimp2.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1549/tesla2q.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1112/chow173missile.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5210/blueisthecolour.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3281/130909.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5366/pinstripe002.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3766/kesivastrum3.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/317/sisforsuccubuss1.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3293/kesnavima1.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1186/keskes1.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/914/sisforsatyriasis1.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/677/thatgum2.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5342/blue3p.jpg><br /><br /><img src=http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7111/stockholm1.jpg></center>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886985149581314585.post-43326124516506918592009-08-29T11:17:00.003+01:002009-09-28T00:03:48.705+01:00#54: s is for silver lining<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-BOtSHJI516N8G2SE7mjmszODi65tTpVKxO2KHcb8Q4PSvyVm45bfy22iiwLBWVPbzEyvPzDgxiyBn36DqFY5RFW_h1d0L1nCFLgd983WplyOK9vLCDr9E6ibF46Sfii7X9uU7axvLI/s1600-h/Silverlining3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD-BOtSHJI516N8G2SE7mjmszODi65tTpVKxO2KHcb8Q4PSvyVm45bfy22iiwLBWVPbzEyvPzDgxiyBn36DqFY5RFW_h1d0L1nCFLgd983WplyOK9vLCDr9E6ibF46Sfii7X9uU7axvLI/s320/Silverlining3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375328348181974642" border="0" /></a>Gavagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13680185383659099802noreply@blogger.com0