i’m doing it again — signing up for another city to city project. i feel delighted, and also there’s a twinge of guilt. i’ve accepted that i’ll wait until the last minute to work on my book. the shame.
but good things happen from this!
old sketchbooks inspire me. a couple of our past themes will be in animation pre-production this year! like caterpillars, they become butterflies.
This is a great “everyday” card by one of my favorite illustrators, Carrie Gifford, founder of Red Cap Cards. She’s inspired by her childhood memories, her chihuahua, Bartleby, and her dad’s mustache.
More Carrie Gifford cards here! She is also a children’s book illustrator at Writer’s House.
Some favorites.
I’m finding these very inspirational at the moment as Joy and I go on to illustrate our first children’s book with writer Rhoda Ostashever. But that’s another story for another day, little ones.
Still from "The First Time CeeCee Did Acid" by Noelle Melody
Odds are the show is probably your basic dumb shit . But then you sort of think well maybe it’s beyond dumb, maybe it’s a ra-tard. Maybe it’s something really cool that you don’t even know about. And uh, and you started feeling like you definitely wanna be a part of it.
I’ve got to celebrate this teaser for the show, created by Taylor Armstrong.
Showcasing our submissions of half-cocked short-shorts, we promise you’ll be disturbed and/or left in great dismay.
It’s all happening at Glasslands this Wednesday, July 13th at 8pm — come experience some dumb shit AND drink a cold beer at the same time.
Sometimes, films aren’t planned. Place Stamp Here was an accident. Shhh, a happy accident, darling.
“I realized that sometimes my favorite part of my job is that my chair swivels, so maybe I need to more actively pursue other, more creative, more lovely projects.” - Kelly Sharp
And then Kelly sent us her charming script.
When she talks, Kelly goes off on these tangents that are wonderful and natural and so insisting that she narrate the script exactly how she’d described it to us in an email, we moved forward with our take on how to tell the story visually…
To the storyboards.
Cute … we could’ve drawn the whole film that way. But at the same time 1.) I sort of loved finishing a film in such a timely fashion and 2.) I really loved using the actual trinkets and the things we’ve all collected on all of our travels. Which also made the process unique and interesting. And amazing!
The music really tied the film together — composed by Jasmin Way, Carter Logan and Hannah Rawe of The Chandeliers with Zach Knox on piano.
It was so fun to collaborate and we’re so lucky to be surrounded by such creative types. We all thought of it like this — maybe we’re broke and maybe didn’t plan on making another film … but it’s festival season which equals fun. Motivation!
We used different techniques like shooting the stop-motion elements, combining traditional animation with cut-outs, watercolor, photographs. It’s um, a cornucopia of mixed media.
But OK, my favorite part was making coffee-stained paper for the backgrounds.
Joy and I are the proud parents of this year's festival poster
We’ve been attending the Charleston International Film Festival since it was born in 2008 { see recap from 2008 and 2010 } and it gets better and better every year. The weather was perfect for bike rides to screenings, enjoying yummy summer drinks, watching great films and staying up super late only to do it all again the next day. This festival is fun in the sun. Some highlights!
the lovely Tina McCard and Kelly Sharp { who wrote the script to our film }
2 for 1 margaritas for bike gangs
Jameson + margaritas at Taco Boy
iced coffees at our new favorite Charleston spot, KUDU
AND we won Best Animation for our little film Place Stamp Here. This made us smile as the films in the Animation Block were amazing and to be chosen as the best among them is surprising and wonderful.
Place Stamp Here wins the Best Animation Audience Award
My camera finally arrived from Art House! I’m officially part of the AMLP Photomobile tour – a tour for photography.
Sign up, and after waiting by the door for a few days, a disposable camera arrives. Remember disposable cameras? You have 27 shots to tell a story or represent a theme. Pick a theme, or you can let them decide for you. Afraid that I might get stuck with “Florescent lights”, I chose “Pictures and descriptions.”
After you print your photos and send them on their way, the Art House team will take a journey to museums across America with a traveling library of photos from around the planet.
Ever since my camera was delivered 10 minutes ago, all I can think about is what to capture!
Do I need inspiration?
Yes. Lots.
This is a photo of Jim’s grandparents when they were courting — one of my favorite pictures with a description, and this is why…
{Charles and Anne Dougherty}
Sigh…
The most romantic images ever are the paintings of young love by Norman Rockwell.
{Courting Couple At Midnight – Post cover, March 22, 1919}
girls were showered with flowers and candy and expensive dinners yesterday. i didn’t even eat anything but chocolate until about 6pm last night. well. this is a little gift from me…
(press play for a more pleasant experience)
musical (and late) valentine - to the love i adore
I’m always amused by the clever doodles Google comes up with — changing their logo and brand to celebrate events, holidays and famous artists. But today’s doodle is extra magical. To celebrate what would be Jules Verne’s 183rd birthday, Google tries to capture the spark and sense of exploration found in his popular novel, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The Google logo acts as the window of the submarine from the story. The user can interact by “pulling” the lever (or dragging their mouse overtop) to navigate the sub down to the bottom of the sea. In essence, there is a little underwater adventure on my computer!
There’s a decent amount of detail down there too, from the little divers, treasures and fishies to the creepy sea creatures lurking below. It’s quite fun to play around for a bit.
Saturday – Worked way too hard all day, took a “nap” and crashed until 10pm. Gnawing hunger pangs woke me up. Got takeout and had just about 10 minutes to either do nothing with my night or catch a movie. Mmeeeeeeellllllloow weekend but I’m so dead from the holidays that I can’t. Party. Anymore. Must repeat mantra. So tagged along to the movies with friends and it turned out to be an impromptu lovely double date.
Black swan is a trip. Darren Aronofsky wrote a great script and it’s so intense at times that I can’t look. Some scenes hurt to watch and that’s what I love about his films. When it ends, it feels like the first steps off of a rollercoaster ride – I’m giddy but maybe feel like crying while smoking a cigarette – it’s so satisfying that I want to go ’round again. Just the same way I felt the first time I’d watched Requiem for a Dream, actually.
The shots are disorienting, as if you’re in the mind of Natalie Portman’s character as she spirals down the toilet of obsession and you feel like you’re going insane with her. It’s kind of relateable in a scary way. I know I’ve had that crazed feeling — needing to be the best at something. Everyone has lost control at some point, right? Hopefully not to this extreme. Also, the dancing is very beautiful but at the same time very, very real. Ballet is not glamorized and it’s not “warm and fuzzy”. Some of my favorite shots were the ones where she was breaking in her shoes, tearing them apart and sewing them back together.
Bonus! I’m always excited about animated clips in film. Black Swan has a *very small* animation sequence which I managed to find. Alert! it’s not really a spoiler, but just thought I’d mention to beware so it doesnt’ give anything away if you haven’t seen the film.
By the way, I do not claim to own any part of this video, just sharing!
After seeing a brilliant movie like this, there is nothing to do but watch cartoons all night. I need to relax and let my brain unmelt.
