Andrew Brooks

After looking at what local art exhibitions are on in Manchester, I found an interesting artist called Andrew Brooks with an exhibition called hidden manchester. His website showcases some fantastic work which actually makes me want to go and look for all these mysterious places dotted around manchester. In college a did a textiles project on decay and abandonment and used pictures from around manchester and these images took me back to the ones I took. Andrew Brooks; very interesting well worth a look at!


Big Humpty by Andrew Brooks 2008



Doorway Club Night by myself 2006

http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/

Typographically beautiful?

After looking for a suitable typeface I came across a certain designer called Imre Reiner, I had previously seen his work a few years back and thought it was unusual yet oddly attractive. http://www.belowthefold.org/Volume1Number3.pdf.

His work is a mixture of artistic designs combined with fonts and they all have a fun feel to them. I can imagine this type of typography to be used in quirky artwork as well as children's books. This type of font would largely be used on its own as most of the characters are a design in themselves, decorative fonts are becoming more and more popular for example this design for Dolce & Gabbana. I think that sometimes the answer to design problems can be solved creatively by using artistic typography.

Pretty Green Oasis.

Pretty may not be the first word to come to mind when you think of Liam Gallagher.

But even so this is the name of Liam Gallaghers new fashion line.

“I’m not gonna be putting anything out unless I’d wear it...” - L. Gallagher. He isn't into all that skinny stuff and outspoken as ever declares he "wants to get rid of all that shit" as well as pointy shoes! I'm sure many would say the same about his new range, so I'm sure there is no love lost there.

The range is all special edition and most looks like it has just come straight out of Liam’s wardrobe but does look wearable. The price may cause some concern, £245 for an imitation Liam Gallagher Parka which could very well have been designed by Frank Gallagher, or Liam. It may “captures Liam's classic mod style” but the price is still very steep. I think by saying the range is special edition that is maybe a way of making a bit more money, but what I do know is that in Manchester there will be people sporting the liam "pretty green" look.

Available online: http://new.prettygreen.com/

Ever seen an Octopus do a handbrake turn?

Oktapodi

2007 Animated short film

Directed by Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, Emud Mokhberi.

This short story is about two octopi who are in love, due to some insensitive hungry people the pair become separated, the short film illustrates their struggle to be together, right until the very end.




When watching this film it reminds me of the type of film that is made specifically for children, the bright colours and the comical music together with the vague story-line and slight hint of terror: “the tyrannical cook” chopping the octopus up! Although I believe this short film was made to illustrate the detailed animation that the directors and animators were capable of.

I can’t help but compare this type of animation to the more widely know - Disney and Pixar animations we are all used to, for example Finding Nemo. The two styles are very similar and although the animation Oktapodi is developed to a very high standard with great attention to detail, the animation is still some what lacking although I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.

Even though there is a very high standard of animation demonstrated here, for me, the music is the selling point, it cracks me up every time I watch it and I think it is very suitable for the animation as personality shines through it.

Kenny Wood who has devised the music for this short animation has a unique style of composing, the music from this animation made me want to listen to more examples of his work, so I went looking and found several examples on his website. I suggest music from; The kitchen's Ink 2009 on http://kennywoodmusic.com/

There is also some more interesting short animations on his website that he has composed music for that are maybe worth a look at.

Marrying a crocodile, could it ever work?

I think we all know that the answer is a firm no.

This short animation used by The Annuals, for their song Dry Clothes, won an award for best animated music video at the International Animation Film Festival.

The actual type of animation is interesting and reminds me of the Angela Anaconda animated series. (Below) The actual animation is about a crocodile and a man falling in love and getting married but the crocodile struggles to keep up with compromises she has made and eventually eats her husband.







The colours in the video are dark although certain spots are quite bright, the videos colours remind me of a happy exterior with a dark hidden centre quite like the crocodile has.

The storyline behind the animation is quite witty and obviously very unrealistic, I think this gives the animation a humorous side. At the end of the day its fairly easy to watch and has been credited by the International Animation Film Festival in Annecy so is worth a watch.

If this is of interest heres another interesting animation to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k16DphwORRk

UNKLE - Burn My Shadow

I must admit that every time I watch this video my heart races a little.

I first heard this song at the gym and I don't know what made me take more interest the fact that the music can cause your heart to race and your breathing to go heavy or that there is a lot of pauses in the music to highlight the actions of the character in the video, which makes the song a bit confusing if you haven't see then video. (Try listening to the song without watching the video, it's a little strange)



A man wakes up after a rough night, to find out he has some kind of "bomb" or "countdown timer" implanted into to his chest. The counter starts at four minutes and very quickly the man (played by ER's Goran Visnjic) tries to make sense of the situation. According to write ups about the video he is trying to "make something" of his last few minutes of existence. I on the other hand believe he simply has given up, hence why he walks to overlook the city, nothing to do but wait.

Although when I watch this I am intrigued at the emphasis on the one character, would the end result have no effect on anyone else, surely that can't be true? The beginning shows some sort of reckless maybe some would say elfish lifestyle but someone must be affected?

Zen Garden -The Beauty in CSS Design?

I came across this website as part of my research when completing my web module and although the homepage is not the most aesthetically pleasing thing I've ever seen, it is when you begin to read through that you realise the potential the site has; to not only inspire but also to develop your own skills as a graphic designer.

The Zen Garden is all about different graphic designers developing the same page but with their own take on the basic style sheet. After looking through all the different designs I have picked 4 I found most interesting.









These are just 4 designs of many and I'd encourage you to go and have a look for yourself, because its amazing the difference between each one. Even from just the 4 that I have chosen; they are all very diverse and so far removed from the original page which, was designed by Dave Shea, a web designer from Vancouver, Canada.

The first image by Eric Roge from France : Retro Theatre, is so intriguing and different from the original page although maybe not as relevant as some of the other designs but as a page itself is quite interesting and original.

The original website idea is such a fun and useful way of developing your css skills and from finding this website I hope to find more like it and I would also like to try my hand at modifying the page, but we will have to see!

Have a look or go yourself: http://csszengarden.com/