Topiary

Who graffitis a hedge? Young persons in Newington, that's who. But it's pretty badass actually though, OK, because this hedge isn't even deciduous. So this tag will remain for aaages. Or at least till it rains or gets pruned.

A Gig On The 25th Of February

DanDanDan, The Cosmonauts and Shooting Stansfield at Henry's Cellar Bar. It's aw about yer maw.

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the end of the night because I was ILL and nearly DIED. But I did manage to record the Dans' classic, The First Defenestration of Prague, on my digital camera. Here it is.

Half Face

Portrait

Haughty.

The Hangover

My attempt to draw through the hangover. Behold my almighty hair!

In other news, I now own a fully functioning laptop. It's beautiful.

Couldn't Dance

Quite like this one.

Youth of Today

The eyes are a bit wrong. As is the mouth. Humph. Still, bears at least a passing resemblance.

The Rat King

This is the first of an undetermined number of character concept pieces for a story which the Captain has been editing into a comic for a uni friend. Because I am backdating this entry to the day I finished it, I have made it a link to a BBC article that went up about the project a couple of days later. Have a look, it's quite exciting.

Light the Lamp, Not the Rat

Research for the aforementioned comic.

That Gig

Cancel the Astronauts are probably your new favourite band, and not just cause they make a lot of their music available to download for free off last.fm (although that works in their favour). But in addition to this, you see, their fast paced indie pop stylings are mixed with a sense of humour and some excellent dance moves. Braw.

"Anybody going to see Hot Chip tonight? .... Anybody get tickets to see Hot Chip tonight forgetting their own band was playing?!"


A squiggly photo taken on night mode as I didn't want to be the pranny distracting everybody concerned by taking photos with the flash when I was about a foot away from the band. And most other people in the room. The Wee Red Bar is not so much a clever name, it's more a very small bar that's been painted red.



Who or what are Babygod? Reactions on Saturday were mixed. Matt from the Astros introduced them as 'the best band in Scotland today'. Captain Tact pronounced them 'tantalisingly mediocre'. Personally, I spent a large chunk of the set trying to work out who they reminded me of. There was a whisper of early Manics in there, and a bit of Sons and Daughters, but that was as far as I got. Essentially they are a band of many parts, and opinion at this gig was divided on whether there's any point putting all those parts together in one place. This could be because they're so different from the other bands on the bill, which had a very jarring effect. The last song, Throw it on the Fire, was nice though.




Night mode picture of the drummer. The band are actually worth a watch for him alone - he's utterly fascinating.

"He looks surprised every time he hits the snare..."
- El Capitan








Kid Canaveral's first full length album is out this year, hooray! This is one of the tracks on there, although once again you must make allowances for the crappiness of my camera work and the low quality sound you get filming on a wee digital snapper.



They kicked off their set with the ridiculously catchy Good Morning (available as a free download here) and stomped their way through a set consisting almost entirely of other ridiculously catchy tunes, including Second Time Around, Couldn't Dance and Smash Hits, to name but three. It's getting on for six years since I first saw them in the students' union in St Andrews, but over that time they've constantly evolved their sound and they've yet to disappoint. Suck on that, Slipknot.

Stuff

You may notice I have not uploaded a picture for the last two days. This is because I have stuff to do. Some of which actually includes promotional art for a graphic novel being written by a friend of Captain Tact though, so y'know, swings and roundabouts.

Also, if you are in Edinburgh tonight with nothing to do, consider yourself doing something! The glorious return of Kid Canaveral, along with Cancel the Astronauts and Babygod, takes place TONIGHT! In like an hour, at the Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh College of Art. Off you go and get doled up, s'only a fiver. And I have it on good authority that Kid C are gon' play some new stuff, from their nearly completed album. The excitement is palpable!

Hand

Not sure I like this much. S'too smudgy and I fail at subtle tones. And keeping my hand in one position for a long period.

Finding pencil frustrating, 'specially after 'sperimenting with ink after looking at some of the beautiful illustrations by this lady. I have always preferred working in colour, so maybe watercolour and fine liners are the way to go...

You lookin' at ma eye?!

Mega quick sketch of my eye.





Today was a wee bit manic* at work, but instead of stressing I merely found myself retreating inwardly, like an introverted animal - maybe a snail or hermit crab. Something with a protective shell fashioned out of cynicism and bitter experience. Essentially I think I am gradually becoming immune to things that used to make me very angry or upset.** Is this a good thing or is it bad? Time will tell.

*we had the arsonists, the kid who threw a (stolen) bottle of hair gel at me last week for confiscating its lighter, and the only young person to ever get a lifetime ban. This happened before I started, but I gather was due to said child being an all-round evil delinquent. Anyhoo they were there, about 20 other kids were there, the polis were there.. It was a hoot.

**See old journal.

Edinburgh Skyline

No sketch today, as I was out from 8.45am till about 10pm and therefore didn't do one. Here instead is a work in progress from my evening class, which looks quite cool when viewed big-like on a fancy screen. My computer deleted some of the layers though, so the colour isn't how I intended... Sucks boo. Nevertheless , it incorporates my very own brushes what I made, and other techniques that I forgot almost instantly.

In other news, here is the latest on that Guardian beatblog I was banging on about in November. It seems that the people they chose all have training in journalism. Despite a journalism qualification not being essential. Harrumph. The Edinburgh guy has quite a lot of video experience though which should make for an interesting multimedia site. He probably scores more than 2 for journalistic flair as well...

Pie In The Sky

Today's nonsense is a quick wee pencil drawing of Captain Tact's rather pretty acoustic bass.

I also feel the urge to highlight the reasoning behind this sketch a day malarkey.

I'm doing it partly to keep me sane, by giving me a concrete daily goal to achieve that is separate from my work.

However I have also been toying with the idea of using that fifth year of SAAS funding to do something constructive, and some kind of art related HND/HNC is a consideration. I did apply to do Illustration at DJCAD at the same time as my university applications, and I did get an unconditional offer. At the time I decided Dundee was just that little bit too close to home and opted for a degree in English at Saint Andrews. Which then became a History degree. I am nothing if not consistent...

Anyway, an arty qualification could potentially open doors to me that are currently jammed shut, with one of those snake shaped draft excluders wedged underneath from the other side so there's just no way you'll be able to push it open. Other qualifications I am wondering about are marketing, which seems to be featuring in a lot of recent communications-related vacancies, or maybe some sort of journalism course.

So essentially, the sketches are like, a visual metaphor for my plans of escape. Yeah? I am très deep. Like when you go to the beach and try to dig a hole to Australia.

It's Curtains For You

View from the bedroom window.

Smudgy :S

Drew this from a photo, which I have memories of being told never to do by an art teacher - can't remember which one. It's not quite right, possibly because my portraits tend to have a cartoony quality. This is not deliberate - I'd love to be able to draw as realistically as this, frinstance. Shall just have to keep practicing I guess.

Trees

Twi-lit trees by the Water of Leith where it goes near my flat.

Purple Cons, Purple Cons

Today I sketched my shoe.

I might've drawn all two of them but for the fact that a4 is proving a little restrictive.

Third of the Month, First of the Sketch

The face of a man watching X-Men 3.

I don't think it's such a terrible film...

Pipe Dreams

My plan for this month was to do a sketch a day, and upload it on here so that together we could chart my progress in a blaze of glory across the February sky. Three days in (yes, I am BACKDATING this post, ZOMG - it is in fact Wednesday morning) I haven't done any yet as I've been quite busy. Well, I started an Edinburgh Castle illustration for a book display I'm doing, but it turns out that takes longer to draw than the 45 minute window I had between work and my evening class at ECA.

Anyways, I shall post a couple of sketches I did at the end of last year for our older peoples' services leaflets to get the ball rolling, thus:



Monday - nice cup of tea.










Tuesday - disabled access. Yeah. We know the law.

A Haiku About Work

That lassie’s a tramp
Hinks she’s funny by the way
Pure immature though.