OCTOBER 26

OUTPUT

I used to be pretty focused on getting exactly the right composition, lighting, colours etc when I was taking photos on my phone, especially when it was of my art work. But as I move further and further from a digital life and don’t have a smart phone anymore I needed a solution for documenting some of the art I’ve been making even if it’s just for me to look back on. I watched this vid about the beauty of looking at older shitty photos that were never intended for wide audiences, and it clicked. I got myself a kodak pixpro fz55.

It easily fits in my pocket, has zero bells and whistles, has a killer battery life and only does one thing: Takes pretty average pics. I lie it also has a black and white mode that I like.

In my mind it makes sense, the photos aren’t the artwork, I feel like it emphasises that art is experienced best in real life.

I’ve been doing a lot of abstract chunky shape paintings these last couple of years. I decided I wanted to go back to some of the highly textured linework illustrations I used to do and started doingsome practice sketches.

The fun of doing work like this is that I pretty much go in with zero planning and straight with ink, no slaving over a pencil underdrawing and stressing when it’s not turning out how I imagined. I use inspiration from what’s in front of me usually and try and twist it into something surreal. Also use other artists work as studies.

I’ve had ideas about making a surreal horror comic for a long time and I think it would be perfect to do in this gritty detailed illustration style. I also wanted this to be a quicker project as I’ve just come off a spending a year on my poetry anthology “Partial Insight”, so I did it as a single A4 8 page zine. I decided to just start with art and not think about story at all, the first image I did was right in the middle of the zine:

I pulled inspiration directly from some of the most horrific imagery I’ve experienced which is my time in and around abattoirs and factory farms. I then worked on other main images then used the pages in between to try and make something coherent. I drew in dialogue bubbles but had no plans for any text until the very end.

I’m so pleased with the way it’s turned out. I think I’m going to keep making little pieces like this, it’s no stress, quick and dirty and from start to finish took me about 2 weeks in little pockets of spare time. I’ve titled it “Garden Full of Teeth”, click the title for a free download of the full finished A4 art work. and this is how you turn it into a little zine:

I’ve also been working on some abstract paintings, acrylic and oil pastel. This one is a study of a piece by one of my favourite artists Peter Aurisch. I turned it into a self portrait of me bird watching:

My family gave me two big Rothko prints that were on board and already had picture hanging gear attached. I don’t really rate Rothko, maybe I’ll appreciate his work later in life, but for now this painting went over the top of the Rothko. I had two of these big boards so I’m now working on a companion piece of my partner doing one of her favourite past times, reading:

Here’s an experiment I did of painting acrylics directly onto a black canvas. I wanted to experiment with how to capture warm and cool light without too much preparation.

INPUT

I’ve been trying to fill my free time with mono tasking. Whether it’s watching a movie, reading a book, painting, playing an instrument or playing video games, any one of those things is my singular focus while I’m doing it. It feels like brain training, and makes me feel more settled and appreciative of smaller things and little wins. I have a retro emulator that has been giving me lots of joy as I play through all the old school games I never had when I was a kid:

Here are some of the best ones I’ve played through recently:

ZELDA A LINK TO THE PAST

This SNES game holds up and it is haaard. I didn’t realise how easy and spoon fed our modern games are. They crammed so much into a 1991 game, the world is huge and there's with hidden caves, bizarre characters and puzzles that make you feel super smart when you finally figure them out. The shift between the Light and Dark Worlds is such a clever mechanic. I often got the shits because I couldn’t solve a dungeon and had to back track to far, so had some pretty big gaps between playing. It's easy to see why this became the blueprint for so many adventure games that followed. The soundtrack absolutely slaps too.

CHRONO TRIGGER

Sometimes I feel like working within limitations super charges creativity and Chrono Trigger for SNES from 1995 is one of these times. The time travel mechanic makes it, jumping between prehistoric jungles, medieval kingdoms and a depressing post-apocalyptic future. Your actions actually change what happens across the different eras. The characters are so cool particularly Frog, a sword-wielding amphibian with a tragic backstory, and the combat is different for me this is the first time I’ve played a proper jrpg, it took some getting used to, but I like that there’s strategy and puzzles within the fights. The multiple endings are a great touch too, giving you a reason to go back and mess around with the timeline. The soundtrack is iconic and the pixel art beautiful. There’s a good level of whimsical humour, and something genuinely magical about the whole thing.

CONTRA 3

Contra III: The Alien Wars is pure chaotic, over-the-top action. One of the quintessential run and guns that defined the genre. You're shirtless and running around with an enormous gun, blowing the shit out of everything while the entire world explodes around you. The game wastes absolutely no time throwing crazy enemies, giant bosses and an obscene amount of bullets in your direction. The graphics are fantastic for the SNES, particularly the enormous boss sprites, the top-down stages were a surprise, sort of broke it up a bit but also a bit of a pain in the arse. It's brutally difficult too in some areas taking way too many attempts, very little room for error. The controls are tight, the weapons are satisfying, it's loud, stupid and entertaining. Exactly what a good run-and-gun game should be.

MOTHER 3

Mother 3 is one of the strangest, funniest and most genuinely heartbreaking games I've ever played. On the surface it's a colourful RPG with bizarre enemies, ridiculous dialogue and a world with its own insane logic, but underneath the weirdness is a devastating story about grief, family and the consequences of progress. The writing is fantastic, somehow managing to swing between absurdity and moments that hit you like a fucking truck. The characters are odd, the pixel art is charming and has a rhythm based combat option which adds a twist to the usual turn-based battles, but this is pretty hard when emulating. There was never an official English release, but if you can get your hands on a fan translated projected it’s very much worth it.

BOOKS

Here’s the books I’ve read recently: