Oh... hi there?

WELL WELL WELL, it is 2017.
I haven't touched this thing for a while. A loooong while.

So here is my first of many (fingers crossed) updates.

I'm knee deep in my final year of Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent Uni, and oh hell am I a busy bee.
The degree show is coming and I was asked to design my own letter 'B' (which could be unrecognisable as a letter, just to clarify).

Here's mine!



I wanted to incorporate my love for modernism by using rubbings of the Eggbox and the Hole in the Road (both demolished, Sheffield). Also wanted to show just how much I LOVE shape and collage by cutting up the 'B' into a few pieces and rearranging it to form a bit of a retro pattern rather than simply a letter in the centre.


IN OTHER NEWS:

Here's some Lapin/David Fullarton inspired illustration I've been making for a card collection I'm working on.



I've been having a right lotta fun.

C x

The Mechanical Art & Design Museum

My sudden fascination in mechanisms took me to the Mechanical Art & Design Museum in Stratford-Upon-Avon last week.

Here are a couple of the designs I found interesting...

http://instagram.com/p/o4UApTrdis/

http://instagram.com/p/ooRm7crduX/

I found the Circus by Neil Hardy (above) particularly exciting, as it was so relevant to my project. 

It gave me the idea of making a mini circus ring for my models to move around in.

Click here to see the X17 model in action! (It moves as fast as the bus itself).

And here is another exhibition teaser...

http://instagram.com/p/oy3hPYrdg4/ 

Exciting times!

Welcome To The Fair

Here are a few videos I've taken whilst on fairground rides.

Merry-go-round: http://instagram.com/p/oQuX92iLYj/

Dodgems: http://instagram.com/p/nBW2SSLdqO/

Vine Merry-go-round: https://vine.co/v/MXTq9EaWqqL

The Insect Circus

I went to the Insect Circus in Weston Park on Friday. 

Such a thing consists of many a human-sized bug using a trapeze and hula hooping.

Here are a few snaps from the evening...

 

I thought it linked in really well with my 'bizarre ways of travelling' theme, with the giant snail and the dung beetle balancing on a gym ball. 

It got even better when I went into the Menagerie afterwards to find buttons you could press that would complete a circuit to make a model of an insect move (see videos below)

http://instagram.com/p/oQtLI-CLXF/

http://instagram.com/p/oQtSApiLXL/

http://instagram.com/p/oQtgObiLXb/

http://instagram.com/p/oQtlf_iLXk/

It made me wonder whether I could make Wendoline move...

So I built an electric car and altered my wire T-Rex to fit.

 http://instagram.com/p/oQuHNoiLYR/

I'm considering using the mechanisms from toys to make my own models move.

Maybe I could make this wind up monkey into the X17 and have it race a dinosaur on a unicycle and a spider on wheels? 

http://instagram.com/p/oQub_FiLYs/

We'll see. 

Wendoline's journey through time

Since I last blogged, my T-Rex mate has been on quite a few adventures.

She has played scrabble.

She has re-enacted Cinderella.

She has played dress-up.

She has consumed an alcoholic beverage.

En ce moment, elle est en vacances.

 

I popped these shades on her along with a grass green cocktail umbrella, which added the finishing touches to a look that I can only describe as 'holiday chic meets pathetic excuse for an undercover detective in a beret'.

She wants to travel the world/visit places like the gnome in Amelie. 

Modern T-Rex

This week I've been looking at Alexander Calder's Circus.

Before I found his video, I had made my dinosaurs into a little scene which you can see above. I gave my dinosaur a sewn unicycle and tightrope, and for the other two - a car with a flat tyre to fit my idea of bizarre ways of travelling that would be really slow, but would still be quicker than my bus. 

 I imagined these racing, so cut into the cardboard behind them and attached wire to make them wobble. I'd prefer them to move a bit more though, so plan to have a look at horse racing games in an arcade and maybe create my own dinosaur race.

After the discovery of Alexander Calder's Circus, I decided to try and make a T-Rex with a bit more movement. I used scrunched up newspaper and masking tape for my first one.

 I've been using dinosaurs as I like the idea of a journey through time, and bringing something prehistoric and placing it somewhere modern where it is completely out of place.

I picture my puppet dinosaur, Bruce, partaking in many a human activity such as tea drinking, having a shower, calling his mates, riding a bike - you name it, Bruce can do it.

Here is a little video of my newspaper T-Rex puppet! http://instagram.com/p/nbRWesrdgz/

I thought Bruce felt a bit lonely, so after a day away from my home that is the 2D room, I'd like to introduce Bruce's (big) little sister, Wendoline. 

No, she isn't quite finished. Her tail needs adjusting and she needs some teeth but she is getting there!

Expect an updated T-Rex.

My bus is a snail

Just in case you couldn't quite imagine the speed of the X17, above is a video of a typical day on the bypass.

Things that would get around faster than the X17:

1) A T-rex trying to ride a unicycle

2) A blindfolded giraffe on stilts
3) A pedalo with no water