I haven’t really talked about it too much, or in fact at all,but I’ve been working, this summer, on a job for a man.
Yes, that’s right. A job for a man. And if that’s not an award winning feat of description there, then I just don’t know what is.
It’s been a really nice project actually, he wrote thirteen short stories for his great grand daughter to be presented to her, one a year, as she grows up. I think the idea is that as he won’t be around for all of her growing life, he wanted her to have an artefact from him that would remind her how loved she was.
Sweet isn’t it? A little gift from beyond the grave.
…
No, okay that made it sound creepy. Sorry, I might have ruined that.
But commission me he did for the project, to do one colour painting per story. And that’s what I’ve been up to these past few summer months.
I have since handed them over and, I’m pleased to say, he seemed really chuffed with the results, but I thought I’d shove a few up on here, to remind myself if nothing else, that I have actually done SOME work this summer and not just spent the whole think baking pies.
I did thirteen for him, but I’ll just whack up a few examples. Just so you get the gist.
An illustration for the opening poem.A tale about the power of little girls’ tears. It’s not actually as morose as I just made that sound. I’m not doing well today.He devised and detailed this character to me. I wan’t just being racially assuming.A tale within a tale about a pie and an orange. Amongst other things.The sorrowful tale of a missing, beloved family pet. (The dog, not the child HA!)A humerous story of magical mishaps.A light, carefree painting to go with the summery tale.
Like I said, a nice project to work on. A much more traditional style of illustration than my usual bag, hence my cracking out the watercolours , but it’s nice to have a change every now and then. And he seemed pretty happy with them so I think I made the right choice in doing so.
I enjoy writing my own work, but it’s definitely a nice change to collaborate with someone else’s words sometimes. Yes, there is less control but that’s almost part of the fun, bringing in your own creativity within the constraints of someone else’s vision.
Not the case with my current project though, speaking of which, I’d better get back to it.
I often find that the smallest, most insignificant occurrence in an ordinary day has the potential to spark whole waves of pulsing creativity inside these little human skulls, that can evolve into ideas, narratives or images that have the potential to turn into something quite special. It’s kind of the beauty of creativity; it’s incredible, organic growth from the midst of drab normality.
And then sometimes, it simply comes from seeing super cool, ultra talented people do super cool, ultra talented stuff and appealing to that most disagreeable, competitive part of you that wants to, if not beat them, at least be one of them. The Cool Kid Conundrum.
This is totally what happened to me yesterday.
I went to a talk in London’s St Albans Centre for a Comica organised event where the legendary Quentin Blake (if you don’t know his name you should be shot. And then be shown an image of his so you can go “OOOOoooh. THAT guy, yeah of course I’ve seen THAT guy!” And then, and only then, will I call you a paramedic. For the gunshot wound.) and the phenomenal Shaun Tan, a personal hero of mine and creator of beautiful graphic books like The Arrival and The Red Tree, were having a wee discussion about illustration and things.
It was a pretty awesome way to spend an evening to be honest. It’s wasn’t the most organised event in history, but was a lovely insight into the minds of two truly incredible (albeit very stylistically different) illustrators and their methods and philosophies regarding their work. They took us through a brief history of their careers, bouncing off each other in a mutual interview, before taking questions from the floor, and finally rounding up with a quick, live draw-a-thon and book signing (and Me-Oh-My did I have books so sign.)
I’m proud to say my copy is freshly signed!
And as I sat there, absorbed in the works of both of them as they scrolled through their, deservedly impressive, careers before producing some entirely new and original, flawlessly wonderful, off-the-cuff imagery, I thought to myself:
An example of Shaun Tan’s jaw dropping talent. From The Arrival, his wordless graphic novel about the loneliness and disorientation of immigration.
“Dude, you need to do more drawing.”
And I do. It may not have escaped your notice that there has been a severe lack of it recently. Now, that is, partially due to my broken scanner (BOOOO) and the fact I’ve been tied up in commission work for other people and writing etc, but really, there is no excuse not to bash out a doodle every now and then is there? I mean, it’s not exactly time-consuming. Plus it provides an excellent distraction from things I don’t want to do, like this god-forsaken summer project of mine.
So today I did The Book Look; a phrase I tend to coin whenever I’m feeling a little dry on the creative juices front and need to whack out my rather large collection of graphic novels, fanzines, children’s books and general collection of amazing talent to kick-start my own creative flow.
The result was drawings! Nothing special, nothing truly inspirational, and actually, nothing even remotely good, but drawings nonetheless! And, with my lack of scanner, I even photographed them for you JUST TO PROVE I actually did something. I do apologise for the poor quality, it’s in these times of need you truly appreciate the genius of scanning freedom, but alas. It’s dark times this end, I’m practically medieval.
(Though using photos taken in crappy light does kind of make everything look like it’s from a silent movie, which I kind of like.)
I can draw really, honest I can! But I needed to get back into the swing of things, loosen up you know? That’s what I tell myself anyway, “it’s okay, it’s just a practice…”
I did consider spending more time photoshopping these into better shape, but to be honest, I feel it would have taken away from the wholly organic, slightly shitty and very honest state of my sketchbooks. And what’s the point of even sharing rubbish doodles if I’ve cleaned them all up? Plus it’s pretty late right now and I’m sleepy.
What a gentleman. You can tell from his moustache.A Raven in a suit. At some point I’ll give him a hat.This guy is an old hash. When I was working on the research for Tick, I started drawing a lot of these diving helmets and he grew from there, to emerge now, a few years later, with a pet.A quick fantasy doodle. I find every now and then it’s essential for the soul to draw good looking ladies in obscure situations. What’s she reaching for? You’ll have to wait and see (because I’m not sure yet.)I’m quite embarrassed to have this on the internet, but this is, unfortunately, how my work begins. This is the first draft of the storyboard for my new comic I’ve been writing. I know it’s shoddy, please have faith. Somebody needs to…
Hopefully this will be the start of something beautiful. Hopefully this will get me back into the swing of things, of doodling for me and not just working on projects in sequence. I’d like to expand on a few of these, and maybe I will, but if they do just fade away, into the oblivion of forgotten sketchbook pages and nonsense spontaneity, I think that’s okay too.
But for now, in the very wise words of Mister Quentin Blake on the last page of Mister Magnolia:
I’ve actually been sitting on this one for a while, but thought, as I desperately do NOT want to get involved with my summer project, I’d go ahead and load it up for your viewing pleasure.
It’s not procrastination okay? I’m providing a service.
…
yeah, alright.
But those of you who have been with me for a while, will remember when I actually DID my university work and didn’t simply ignore it in favour of baked goods and birthday presents. One such example of this was one of my last illustration projects in which I produced a set of sequential linocut prints (to be found hiding here).
In the end, they were presented on a board in a simple layout. I had wanted the images themselves to do the work in terms of communicating the story without the distraction of any further, novel presentation.
But you know me, why make one set of prints when you can do TWO?
And since this project, the duplicate prints had just been sitting about in tissue, getting a little bored and generally feeling a little abandoned (I don’t know that they did feel this way. I never asked them, but it seems like a plausible emotion for an inanimate object to have.)
And that was how they stayed, sad and forgotten.
BUT THEN I had to move out! And suddenly there was a whole wealth of jobs and thing that I really, really, desperately did NOT want to do. And suddenly I couldn’t take the fact they were so, very forgotten. They didn’t deserve such a fate, it was really, really important that I get out all my book binding equipment and allow the little prints the glory they were owed!
And that decision DEFINITELY wasn’t procrastination. The Prints were in NEED! It HAD to be taken care of immediately, and all those silly, little things on the to do list, things like packing and locating various vital documents and repairing any damage in the room I may, conceivably be charged for, could all just wait while I took care of the really important stuff.
I take the welfare of my work very seriously.
So I did a wee bit of book binding. A concertina book, so when you stretch the whole thing out, you can still view the images in sequence, and the story is not lost or interrupted by the physical act of page turning.
The Prints travel down, like a hanging.
I wanted the book as a product to communicate all the research I’d done for the project and adhere to the thematic choices I’d made when designing the prints. It had centred around this wooden mask and I wanted the element of natural to come across, hence my decision to use earthy tones and loosely knotted rope for the belly band.
The choice of title had been a factor I laboured over, probably more than I should. In the end, I had decided on Knots for three reasons. Firstly, as the theme of wood had been such a strong factor in the creation of the project, it refers to the knots you get in the bark of a tree. A lot of my supporting sketchbook had been drawings of these and woodgrains, so it seemed very appropriate. Secondly, the story had to convey an element of home, something I had dealt with by showing our little character flying off to find home in an airship very reminiscent of an old galleon, the captains of which would measure a distance in knots. And thirdly, the object I had been asked to base my story around had been a mask, two images of which show the creature untying the string knots of, in order to remove it and fashion it into the figurehead for his journey.
It’s a one off, firstly as I only had one more copy of the prints to use, and secondly because it took me so frickin’ long . But it’s got quite a nice, handmade feel to it. Quite different from the heavily photoshopped stuff I usually crack out.
It was a cruel trick to play I know, to leave you on such a adrenaline pumping cliffhanger yesterday. How very dare I weave the beginnings of such an intricate retelling of the Alice Tea Party, only to snatch away from you the sweet satisfaction of conclusion. To tempt you with tales of the present, only to deny you of the details of the gastronomic literary spread. For shame!
Yes, I am a cruel storyteller and, more to the point, a lazy blogger. And yesterday I had things to do.
But, for those of you who were a little intrigued by The Doormouse’s Hints and Tips for Life that I had made for my little sister’s birthday, I bring you a few snippets of the rest of her birthday tea.
Having discovered the Doormouse’s Hints and Tips for Life in the sugar pot!
As I said, I had decided to theme it like an Alice in Wonderland tea party (if I’m quite honest, the real reason for this is that I, myself, have always, ALWAYS wanted to have an Alice birthday party due to an uncontrollable adoration for the books and original Tenniel illustrations. Only it’s never materialised, so I thought doing it for my kid sister, getting to organise it and put it together, was probably the next best thing!)
The presents were arranged behind.Strawberry and Apricots suspended in Jelly!
Like with any handmade party, there were several limiting factors. The first being that I was, more or less doing it on my own due to work commitments of the ‘rents so how much could be achieved had to be realistic, and the second being that I wanted to keep it a complete surprise, no mean feat when Rhianna was milling about in the house doing lazy, birthday things. Luckily, a friend of mine had a birthday around the same time, so I’d managed to convince lil’ Sis’ that the extraordinary amount of baking that was taking place was in her honour.
Earlier that week I’d bought a coffee set for the occasion, so the night before my Mum and I had set about making black and red berries in jelly to set in the little espresso cups. We’d also made the layers of the cake, however it had not been constructed or decorated. And nothing else had been baked or made, so I began at 8am, baking, wrapping, decorating more or less without stopping, to have it all set up for when my Mum returned from work at 5.00.
And we did eat them. We ate them a whole lot.More Alice naughtiness! The jelly set wonderfully, so while the cups said “drink me”, as my Dad found out, you couldn’t!The oatmeal cookie recipe I used originally called for coconut and chocolate ganache in between the layers. However, Rhianna isn’t a chocolate kinda gal but LOVES jam. So Jam cookie sandwiches it was. And, of course, a bit of Alice icing.Edible Buttons! Made with a whole lotta food colouring!
THE CAKE
Although you can’t see brilliantly well, once I’d constructed the layers of the cake, I carved it into a wonk. So it not only leans like Piza, but the top is on a gradient. It looked pretty cool before I covered it in so much stuff you couldn’t really tell!The figures were my Mum’s genius contribution!I made strawberry roses using wooden skewers, black tissue and strawberries in keeping with the colour theme. It also helped the cake stay upright and wonky!
The cake layers were red, white and black like everything else, so when you cut in it was more Alice Madness! The Bottom was chocolate chip, the middle was red with summer berries in it and the top was black with black forest berries. I made buttercream icing and sandwiched that, strawberry and blackberry jam between the cake, then covered the whole thing in a layer of butter icing before I sealed it with rolled icing. A whole lot of work, but a hell of a fun cake!As it was late afternoon, the sun was feeling problematic for photographers. Especially photographers as rubbish as me.
All things considered, I don’t think I did too bad a job. It was certainly worth all the work to see Rhianna’s face when she followed the string into the kitchen. And she later announced, I hope in earnest, that it was the best birthday she’d had thus far. Which is gratitude enough for me, and really lovely to hear when you’ve been working so hard on, what turned out to be, the hottest day of 2012.
I mean it when I say she deserves it though. She’s not been well for the past 5 years and hasn’t been able to go out and do normal teenagery, growing up things so if I can bring a little fun and silliness to her, that’s a job well done as far as I’m concerned.
We’ve been munching on button biscuits, multicoloured cake and Eat Me Jam Sandwich cookies ever since. But, Like it says on one of the pages of The Doormouse’s Hints and Tips for Life: “When in doubt, Use Jam.”
So really, we’ve just got into the spirit of it all!
And yeah, okay so it won’t be the best attempt at an Alice party ever. I’m sure it’s been done a thousand times to a much greater effect than that of little old me. But it was all one hundred percent handmade with such love, and received with just as much that I don’t think it could be considered too shabby an attempt. And it certainly got the reaction from my little sister that I’d hoped for.
I’d love to know what Carroll would make of it.
Actually, scrap that, he would probably be so off his face on various narcotics he wouldn’t have noticed anything was odd.
I like birthdays. Not really my own, I’ve grown a little tired of that one over the past 22 years. It’s always on the same day, SOOOoo unoriginal. But I like the birthdays of those nearest and dearest because it’s one of those occasions where it’s acceptable for me to force my work, baked good and other forms of general handmade nonsense on people and they HAVE to pretend to be grateful. This year has been no exception to this rule, and I dread to think of the amount of hours I’ve clocked up in the past eight months crafting nonsensical felt characters, photoshopping bizarre and often totally inappropriate cards and drawing and printing over ambitious comic books.
Yes the number of people on this earth who have been subjected to some kind of Bagley-Original has risen quite dramatically over the past few months, and with the onset of my kid sisters birthday recently, I decided that there was no call to stop now!
It’s always a little frightening when the people you remember being small enough to fit in the kitchen sink like it was yesterday, suddenly turn around and announce they’ve decided to be fifteen now. I actually find it disturbing to the point that it’s a little bit rude, but she decided to do it anyway. And luckily for me, Rhianna (yes, yes, like the singer except she actually manages to spell it right) is in possession of a similarly questionable take on the idea of “being grown up” to my own. In that you shouldn’t really do it because it’s boring.
So in the spirit of our shared view on the legitimacy of adulthood, and the fact that this is the first time I’ve been home for her, rather inconsiderately placed summer birthday, for quite some years, I decided to make a bit of a fuss and theme it like an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party.
Considering it was only really me taking care of the birthday business, as my parents had to work on the day, it turned into a comparatively elaborate affair, and as such the retelling will be done in two parts. For now we’ll just have a little chat about the present I made her: The Doormouse’s Hints and Tips for Life; A tiny, leather-bound charm on a necklace containing numerous questionable facts and general helpful nonsense for life.
Key and Lock Necklace found in a Charity Shop.
I gave it to her by tying helpful, directional luggage tags (“Follow Me”, “This Way”, “Just a Little Further” etc) to a long length of string that ran all around the house, in and out of doorways, along banisters and finally into the kitchen where the tea party was arranged, and finally into the sugar bowl where it was hidden.
This was then placed in the sugar pot for her to find.
Made from handmade paper, faux leather, a gold marker, left over cogs from Tick and a lot of glue.
Happy Birthday Nan! May this little gift serve you well throughout the adventure you’re about to embark on. Next stop Sixteen, when the tips for life start taking a bit of a different bent.
But for now, just enjoy the fun of nonsense and all the creativity that comes with it. And don’t forget to clean behind your ears.
Yeah alright, so it’s been an age since my last post. And I have actually been busy too, which is doubly annoying because I’ve actually had bloggables to share with you, and simply haven’t done it due to extreme laziness/business/general heat-envoked fatigue.
So let’s go back an age or two when I was a good blogger and pick up from there shall we?
So, I was lucky enough to get myself a spot at the International Alternative Press Festival on Sunday 5th and have to say, it was a bit of a blast.
As usual for these little graphic gatherings, I met some truly awesome people, had some bat-shit mad conversations and generally flogged a whole load of my stuff.
It wasn’t as manic as Comiket, but given that it was a Sunday and during that mad thing that was the ‘Lympiks (sorry but did you SEE the boxing?? It was frickin’ AWESOME) that was only to be expected.
Once more, the free zine Tele was back on display and finding it’s way into the pockets of just about everyone!
Prints galore!
I was selling the usual: Tick, Rumble and all the zines as well as a selection of limited edition linocut and screen prints. The Sock Creatures once more made an appearance and did so well, I’m sorry to say I don’t even have photos of most of them! They were flying off the stall like mad. Only three remain with me so I’ll have to get sewing in anticipation of the next one!
And they weren’t the only addition to my ever-growing repertoire of textiles. Due to the success of the sock animals at previous events, I’ve recently been knocking up a new line of fuzzy cute things: The Felties. They made their debut on the stall at the IAPF and did pretty well too!
The Felties were met with just as much popularity so will definitely be making appearances at future conventions. Each one is entirely unique, but there’s enough madness in my noggin to sustain a good few designs I reckon!
So, surrounded by incredible examples of storytelling, I had a pretty ace time, met some totally weird and wonderful people and made a little money while I was at it. It’s at these things that I tend to be reminded how great my life can be!
If you have never been to an independent/small press comiket I suggest you get on the internet and find out when your nearest one is. They really are a brilliant laugh and I can guarantee you’ll find some kind of gem hidden in one of the stalls.
Plus then you can buy a sock animal. Don’t pretend you’re not tempted.
For those of you that don’t know it, Broken Frontier is a comics and community site that offers some ace interviews, reviews and general info on the world of comics, be it the big stuff or the indie kids like me. It’s an awesome hub of comics information and a great place to discover anything and everything graphic. It is, as you may have gathered, really pretty great.
This fact (because that’s what it is. Indisputable.) is not soley based on the fact that they gave me a kick ass review (see here) a few months back, BUT IT SURE DOES HELP! And they have, once more, upped their position in my self indulgence related “websites I think are ace” stakes by ONLY BLOODY DOING IT AGAIN!
The oh-so-very complimentary fellas over at BF have been having a flick throught the pages of Rumbleand, as a result, have decided to go all-out anthropomorphism-lovin’ in Andy Oliver’s small press column here.
I’m literally stunned at the extent of their praise, and so dang happy, I’ve only gone and blogged about this twice. Once on the website, and again now for you blog-lovers.
Seriously, give that website a big ol’ browse. I can guarantee you’ll find something enjoyable if you’re, even remotely, excited by cool artwork and wicked narratives.
And if you’re not, just read my review BECAUSE IT’S SO DAMN COOL 😀
Rebecca Bagley Illustration 