The very first post on this blog was a recipe for curry made from flatulence inducing ingredients, inspired by the illustrated children's book Stinkytown by my friend Linda.
Click the link below to see the dummy Linda produced for the Putney School of Art and Design Children's Book Illustration class.
http://stinkytown.weebly.com
Monday 28 July 2014
Tuesday 22 July 2014
Clowning Around
Ode to a small piece of (epoxy) putty I found...
If you've read or listened to The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that will mean something.
Previously on this blog, I mentioned testing some Milliput. Had it set solid or was it still useable?
Ask the clown.
Jeez Louise Awa Rich! Don't leave me here with the creepy dude.
If you've read or listened to The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that will mean something.
Previously on this blog, I mentioned testing some Milliput. Had it set solid or was it still useable?
Ask the clown.
Jeez Louise Awa Rich! Don't leave me here with the creepy dude.
Monday 21 July 2014
Knot Again
In a previous post - Get Knotted - I worked out a design for a Celtic cross, used an iPad app to check that it worked and noticed that I could get the design to interlock by slightly overlapping the four units. Using the iPad saved me a lot of drawing, allowed me to mess around with the design, giving me the insight that I could overlap the units.
Int that what puters are for Awa Rich?
The next step was to figure out how to do this with traditional instruments. I'd worked out how to construct a unit in the 'Large Hadron Collider' schematic.
Now all I had to do was repeat the process three more times. This was filling me with some trepidation due to the amount of chaos on the page caused by all the construction lines - which would need a lot of scrubbing out later.
I thought about cutting a cardboard template but that would take some doing and add another layer of inaccuracy. There had to be a way to simplify the construction using only the instruments you can see in the photo. Even so, I'm using technology that wasn't available to 9th century monks - nope, I'm not talking about the iPad - pencils, erasers and paper didn't become available until centuries later.
That's when the holes made by the compass point shone out like a little constellation - you can see I've circled them in the drawing so I could easily find them if I needed to redraw any lines. I already had my template, all I had to do was lay the drawing over a clean sheet of paper and prick through the holes to transfer them to the new sheet, then draw the arcs with the compasses. Rotate the template through 90 degrees and repeat. This proved to be a bit of a faff, it might have been easier to line up the dots if I'd used tracing paper.
It was rotating the template about the central hole that provided the next insight. I remembered technical drawing classes at school, how we were taught how to transfer measurements from one drawing to another using a pair of compasses. This method turned out to be a lot simpler and a clear pattern emerged.
It's amazing how something that seems horribly complicated at first, suddenly simplifies itself if you keep your eyes and brain open. Patterns reveal themselves like magic.
Sometimes you have to go the long way round to discover the shortcut Awa Rich!
Hmm, most sagely. I must write that one down.
Once the positions of the compass points were transferred using the compasses, it was a simple matter of drawing the arcs.
Another insight. I've been referring to each quarter of the drawing as a unit since the whole thing is the same pattern repeated four times rotated through 90 degrees. But notice that each arm of the cross is symmetrical about a line through the centre of the pattern. What I've been thinking of as a unit is actually two smaller units reflected about that line. The cake has 8 slices, not 4.
This reminded me of tedious, dry maths classes at school. Transformations - displacement, rotation, reflection and scaling - and here I was having fun with them.
This post is about a journey. Ideas, patterns, problems and insights that provided solutions - so no explanation of the step by step process is included. I'll do that another time.
Now all I have to do is colour it in.
Int that what puters are for Awa Rich?
The next step was to figure out how to do this with traditional instruments. I'd worked out how to construct a unit in the 'Large Hadron Collider' schematic.
 |
| The 'Large Hadron Collider' Schematic |
Now all I had to do was repeat the process three more times. This was filling me with some trepidation due to the amount of chaos on the page caused by all the construction lines - which would need a lot of scrubbing out later.
I thought about cutting a cardboard template but that would take some doing and add another layer of inaccuracy. There had to be a way to simplify the construction using only the instruments you can see in the photo. Even so, I'm using technology that wasn't available to 9th century monks - nope, I'm not talking about the iPad - pencils, erasers and paper didn't become available until centuries later.
That's when the holes made by the compass point shone out like a little constellation - you can see I've circled them in the drawing so I could easily find them if I needed to redraw any lines. I already had my template, all I had to do was lay the drawing over a clean sheet of paper and prick through the holes to transfer them to the new sheet, then draw the arcs with the compasses. Rotate the template through 90 degrees and repeat. This proved to be a bit of a faff, it might have been easier to line up the dots if I'd used tracing paper.
It was rotating the template about the central hole that provided the next insight. I remembered technical drawing classes at school, how we were taught how to transfer measurements from one drawing to another using a pair of compasses. This method turned out to be a lot simpler and a clear pattern emerged.
It's amazing how something that seems horribly complicated at first, suddenly simplifies itself if you keep your eyes and brain open. Patterns reveal themselves like magic.
Sometimes you have to go the long way round to discover the shortcut Awa Rich!
Hmm, most sagely. I must write that one down.
Once the positions of the compass points were transferred using the compasses, it was a simple matter of drawing the arcs.
Another insight. I've been referring to each quarter of the drawing as a unit since the whole thing is the same pattern repeated four times rotated through 90 degrees. But notice that each arm of the cross is symmetrical about a line through the centre of the pattern. What I've been thinking of as a unit is actually two smaller units reflected about that line. The cake has 8 slices, not 4.
This reminded me of tedious, dry maths classes at school. Transformations - displacement, rotation, reflection and scaling - and here I was having fun with them.
 |
| Symmetry |
This post is about a journey. Ideas, patterns, problems and insights that provided solutions - so no explanation of the step by step process is included. I'll do that another time.
Now all I have to do is colour it in.
Friday 18 July 2014
What's a Poor Bookbinder To Do?
Yesterday I was rummaging through the jumble sale section of my local branch of Lidl and came across some Moleskine type notebooks. They're A5, so an half an inch or so wider than a Moleskine, they have an elastic pencil loop that the Moleskines don't. The quality of the 80 gsm paper is superior to the Moleskine and the quality of the construction is as good if not better, they've even got headbands - which none of the others have (gasp).
On the bottom row, 2 Moleskines and a Leuchtturm £12 to £15 depending on where you buy them.
On the top row Lidl notebooks (grits teeth) £2.49!
OK, the stuff in Lidl's jumble sale is changed twice a week and you may have to wait 6 months for the same thing to come around again.
I feel a bit mean putting the Leuchtturm in with that lot as it's definitely the leader of the pack. Made in Hamburg with German quality throughout. They're the same price as a Moleskine but far better.
On the bottom row, 2 Moleskines and a Leuchtturm £12 to £15 depending on where you buy them.
On the top row Lidl notebooks (grits teeth) £2.49!
OK, the stuff in Lidl's jumble sale is changed twice a week and you may have to wait 6 months for the same thing to come around again.
I feel a bit mean putting the Leuchtturm in with that lot as it's definitely the leader of the pack. Made in Hamburg with German quality throughout. They're the same price as a Moleskine but far better.
 |
| Made by Me! Price TBC |
Get knotted
I was reading in The Book of The Book of Kells the other day what tools the monks would have used to create the designs. It was all simple stuff, compasses, straight edges, French curves, quill pens, brushes and pointed sticks.
All the designs I've drawn so far have all been free hand. So I decided to have a go at a more accurate drawing. I don't have George Bain's book (note to self: must get hold of a copy) so I had to work it out from scratch.
And there was much scratching Awa Rich, you musv rubbed that rubber away.
It took me most of the day trying things out and scratching my head, making adjustments or starting again. This is the result, though it might be a schematic for part of the Large Hadron Collider.
These are the sketches I did earlier. You can see the scrap of paper I drew them on in the photo above.
I photographed them with the iPad, cropped them and then opened them in the Autodesk Sketchbook Pro app.
The small sketches are units for a larger design so I duplicated the layer containing the unit, rotated and moved each layer and filled in the gaps on a new layer to make the design below. It's a bit messy but it was only a proof of concept.
You'll soon be fluent in WaffleSpeak and BizzyBabble if you keep this up Awa Rich.
And here's the same thing using the design drawn with instruments.
(I seem to have acquired another keyboard dyslexia tick, there is no h in desighn as there is no u in Yourkshire).
No there int Awa Rich, you vact your wayt out of there to London.
Stay tuned for the finished version. That'll take me another couple of days. No wonder it took so long to create The Book of Kells.
By the way. Last night, while Marie was out with her office comrades at a swanky restaurant, I watched The Secret of Kells again - a brilliant animated story about the origin of The Book (that turns darkness into light!)
It's a dramatisation of the known facts and a ripping yarn. Watch it for the story, the design, the shapes (you'll see what I mean when you watch it) the illustration, the backgrounds, the music, the characters, the magic, the mythology, the jokes, the cat and the messages both hidden and explicit.
Stay with it as the end titles roll for a wee treat as the late Mick Lally (the voice of Brother Aidan) recites the poem Pangur Bán - in Gaelic, written by an Irish monk in the 9th century about his cat.
Get hold of a copy, it'll restore your faith in 2D animation. Suitable for children of all ages. The wolves and the Vikings are pretty scary though, but all is well in the end.
All the designs I've drawn so far have all been free hand. So I decided to have a go at a more accurate drawing. I don't have George Bain's book (note to self: must get hold of a copy) so I had to work it out from scratch.
And there was much scratching Awa Rich, you musv rubbed that rubber away.
It took me most of the day trying things out and scratching my head, making adjustments or starting again. This is the result, though it might be a schematic for part of the Large Hadron Collider.
These are the sketches I did earlier. You can see the scrap of paper I drew them on in the photo above.
I photographed them with the iPad, cropped them and then opened them in the Autodesk Sketchbook Pro app.
The small sketches are units for a larger design so I duplicated the layer containing the unit, rotated and moved each layer and filled in the gaps on a new layer to make the design below. It's a bit messy but it was only a proof of concept.
You'll soon be fluent in WaffleSpeak and BizzyBabble if you keep this up Awa Rich.
That seemed to work, so I did a slightly neater version.
I noticed that if I overlapped the points of the heart/pretzel shaped part I could interlock the whole design.
And here's the same thing using the design drawn with instruments.
(I seem to have acquired another keyboard dyslexia tick, there is no h in desighn as there is no u in Yourkshire).
No there int Awa Rich, you vact your wayt out of there to London.
Stay tuned for the finished version. That'll take me another couple of days. No wonder it took so long to create The Book of Kells.
By the way. Last night, while Marie was out with her office comrades at a swanky restaurant, I watched The Secret of Kells again - a brilliant animated story about the origin of The Book (that turns darkness into light!)
It's a dramatisation of the known facts and a ripping yarn. Watch it for the story, the design, the shapes (you'll see what I mean when you watch it) the illustration, the backgrounds, the music, the characters, the magic, the mythology, the jokes, the cat and the messages both hidden and explicit.
Stay with it as the end titles roll for a wee treat as the late Mick Lally (the voice of Brother Aidan) recites the poem Pangur Bán - in Gaelic, written by an Irish monk in the 9th century about his cat.
Get hold of a copy, it'll restore your faith in 2D animation. Suitable for children of all ages. The wolves and the Vikings are pretty scary though, but all is well in the end.
Tuesday 15 July 2014
Knot So Fast Buster!
A good place to start telling a story is in the middle. I put this Celtic knot picture in a previous post as an example of a drawing I'd made using the 53 Paper app. on my iPad. It started as a doodle, a warm-up for some other sketches in a proper paper sketchbook, but I reworked it after drawing more of the same with pencils, coloured pencils and watercolour.
Decisions I made while using physical media influencing decisions about the digital image. Using the eraser a lot - much easier in the digital context, though in the 53 Paper app. there is only a hard eraser whereas a real eraser can be more subtle. Real paper can only withstand a certain amount of scrubbing but a digital eraser can rub out as many times as you like.
Decisions I made while using physical media influencing decisions about the digital image. Using the eraser a lot - much easier in the digital context, though in the 53 Paper app. there is only a hard eraser whereas a real eraser can be more subtle. Real paper can only withstand a certain amount of scrubbing but a digital eraser can rub out as many times as you like.
I like the effect of layering colours you get with coloured pencils, the way you can see the granular texture of the colours in the previous layers. I tried it in the digital image and achieved a fair approximation. A pleasant effect, better than flat colour. Using the pencil tool to draw the thick outlines was useful as I could over draw lines to make them stronger or ease back on others - more like a real pencil and less digital looking than using the pen or marker tool to give a solid line.
Overlaying watercolour glazes creates some interesting effects but nothing like real watercolour.
Finally, a more worked up version done with a combination of watercolour and coloured pencil on Fabriano Accademia Desegno e Acquarello 240 gsm natural grain paper - which is very absorbent for a paper that declares itself suitable for watercolour, though you can achieve some interesting effects once you get used to it.
The absorbency of the paper exaggerates the way watercolours dry lighter than they appear when they're wet. Some colours appear very dark when wet but almost disappear when they dry.
Overlaying watercolour glazes creates some interesting effects but nothing like real watercolour.
Here's a page from my sketchbook with the same design drawn with non photo blue pencil - to establish the design - overdrawn with a 0.5 mm mechanical pencil then coloured with Derwent Studio coloured pencils.
The design below has been outlined with black ink.
Finally, a more worked up version done with a combination of watercolour and coloured pencil on Fabriano Accademia Desegno e Acquarello 240 gsm natural grain paper - which is very absorbent for a paper that declares itself suitable for watercolour, though you can achieve some interesting effects once you get used to it.
The absorbency of the paper exaggerates the way watercolours dry lighter than they appear when they're wet. Some colours appear very dark when wet but almost disappear when they dry.
So, how did I get here? I was marvelling at The Book of Kells on my iPad - get it in the AppStore for the price of an average bottle of wine, you'll be enjoying it long after the wine has gone.
You should go into advertising copywriting - back in the '50s Awa Rich!
I was wondering where you'd got to.
Same here Awa Rich. I was beginning to think you'd abandoned me.
Same here Awa Rich. I was beginning to think you'd abandoned me.
I've been fascinated by Celtic knotwork since I was a kid. My brother Nick and I went through a phase of filling any available piece of paper with intricate designs we called 'creepers' like the tendrils on a pea vine. We'd discovered fractal self similarity, though we didn't know it at the time.
A prize with no bells on it for you Awa Rich!
This made for fertile ground when I got a book about the Vikings from a 'book of the month club'. It had some knotwork design on the cover and/or there were photographs of wood or stone carvings inside. This is all fogged by the passage of time.
That's my version of the story. Nick might remember it differently.
It was Nick that took knotwork as his own thing, beginning with the dust jacket of the Vikings book. The original must have been pretty boring as he replaced it with his own design. From then on, any available surface was fair game. Take a look at his website, there's a link over there on the right.
The design in the image at the top of this post was copied from a small pendant on a troll in a Brian Froud illustration.
All this because I was scratching around some designs for a logo or monogram for my sketchbooks. Actually, a seal to replace the bead on the end of the bookmark ribbon.
Is that the future feature Awa Rich?
One of them, yes.
Monday 14 July 2014
Messing around with Paper (digital)
I was rummaging around in my drawers - as you do - and came across a pack of Milliput (epoxy putty) and wondered if it was still useable or had it set solid?
Milliput alway reminds me of the sticks of gelignite used by bank robbers in old American black and white gangster movies, I cut a slice from each of the sticks and kneaded them together like a good Peterman (that would be a safe blower Awa Rich) and it was still good. I couldn't resist making a head from the marble sized ball that resulted - having no leaks to fix or cracks to plug.
I'll show you the model when it's finished.
Milliput alway reminds me of the sticks of gelignite used by bank robbers in old American black and white gangster movies, I cut a slice from each of the sticks and kneaded them together like a good Peterman (that would be a safe blower Awa Rich) and it was still good. I couldn't resist making a head from the marble sized ball that resulted - having no leaks to fix or cracks to plug.
The face of this creature put me in mind of Pierrot the clown, so I snuffled around on the Googles for some pictures. Seems I'm not the only one who finds all those Comedia del Arte characters a bit creepy. There was a stunning photograph by a young Swedish art student of a doll, but shot so that it looked like a person. Very beautiful but faintly disturbing. Clowns and dolls, guaranteed to give me the collywobbles. It must have been all those black and white Hammer Horror films I watched in the '60s.
That led me on to drawing on my iPad with the 53 Paper app, probably the simplest graphics app available - limitation being the muse of creativity and all that. Drawing on a computer or iPad with a stylus is a lot more difficult than using the real deal - pencil and paper - but, as with everything, practice makes pretty good. Plus, I find that the different experiences of using a computer and physical materials produce inspirational flashes that have me zipping back and forth between the computer and my drawing table to try out what I've just discovered. Try this at home!
Them would be those transferrable skills you used to teach to YTS trainees Awa Rich.
Indeed.
Them would be those transferrable skills you used to teach to YTS trainees Awa Rich.
Indeed.
I'd been monkeying about with some very basic Celtic knots - for reasons I'll explain later - but wasn't too happy with the drawing on the iPad, so I had another crack at it and was more satisfied with the result. Drawing on the iPad is a good warm-up exercise.
I was thinking about some little characters for a story I'll tell you about sometime and was leafing through a book of Swedish Folk Tales illustrated by John Bauer (are you listening Brian Froud?) After a few abortive attempts at getting the look I wanted, I erased the page and started on a drawing for the Pierrot character inspired by the strangely beautiful doll photo.
I'll show you the model when it's finished.
Sunday 13 July 2014
Bindery Tales
My first attempt at making a Moleskine style journal has proved its worth. It has been thoroughly tested in the rough and tumble of the world and is now crammed to the endpapers with squiggly marks.
As it was my first attempt there was a fair bit wrong with it. I was in such a tearing hurry to finish it that I didn't notice that I'd glued the block in upside down. The bookmark ribbon is glued to the spine of the block before it is glued into the case. As you can see, its tail is sticking up not hanging down in the usual manner.
That's a unique feature Awa Rich!
Y'know, it was never a problem so you're probably right. Aynho, I intend to make the bookmarks a feature in future editions.
I'm cernly looking forrit to that future feature Awa Rich!
The hand made batik dyed Nepalese Lokta paper I used for the cover is lovely stuff but it goes a bit wooly - like felt - with the sort of rough handling a journal can get. It can be quite pleasant but I decided to seal the next batch with acrylic varnish.
As it was my first attempt there was a fair bit wrong with it. I was in such a tearing hurry to finish it that I didn't notice that I'd glued the block in upside down. The bookmark ribbon is glued to the spine of the block before it is glued into the case. As you can see, its tail is sticking up not hanging down in the usual manner.
That's a unique feature Awa Rich!
Y'know, it was never a problem so you're probably right. Aynho, I intend to make the bookmarks a feature in future editions.
I'm cernly looking forrit to that future feature Awa Rich!
The hand made batik dyed Nepalese Lokta paper I used for the cover is lovely stuff but it goes a bit wooly - like felt - with the sort of rough handling a journal can get. It can be quite pleasant but I decided to seal the next batch with acrylic varnish.
 |
| The First Journal |
I wasn't able to get a replacement ready for seamless continuation due to being away for a week looking after a black dog, some adjustments I wanted to make to the stitching frame and pricking cradle, and good old procrastination.
I'm currently using an old Moleskine that I started scratching my thoughts in a couple of years ago but abandoned due to lack of enthusiasm. Aynho, with renewed enthusiasm I will fill it before starting on a new one.
The new journals are A6 - the same as the first one - which is a nice handy size to keep in your bag for when inspiration glints.
How often do you find yourself riding a train of thought (or the rail replacement bus service Awa Rich) connecting this, merging with that and going off down branch lines, when the clouds part, the sun shines through illuminating a sparkling nugget of wisdom. You stop and say to yourself "yes, of course!"
 |
| The Second A6 journals |
How often do you find yourself riding a train of thought (or the rail replacement bus service Awa Rich) connecting this, merging with that and going off down branch lines, when the clouds part, the sun shines through illuminating a sparkling nugget of wisdom. You stop and say to yourself "yes, of course!"
You think "I'll remember that", certainly you will, it was such a lucent crystal of verity. Something distracts you and moments later all that remains is a memory of the elation that you held such a perfect thing, and the frustration that you can't remember it. The touch of a vanished hand.
Flinkin' 'eck Awa Rich, it's just a thought. No need to get so melodramatic. Pass me the spirit of hartshorn, I'm having a fit of the vapours!
Mythology is full of descriptions of this common phenomenon (On the Caledonian Canal Awa Rich?). The faerie gold that turns to dry leaves, the enchanted music who's melody you can't recall though you danced like one possessed. It seems perverse that our brains leave us with the memory that we held something precious but can't remember what it was.
Sometimes 're running the tape' can bring it back. Rewinding it backwards can help. Sometimes it pops back unbidden at a random future time. A handy notebook can relieve you from a lot of grief.
Update: The blue one has already found a new home in Ireland, with a friend of Marie's sister. I hope it serves her well.
I made the first journal with cheap photocopy paper which wasn't so good for writing with a fountain pen. It was too thin and absorbent. I used Conqueror 100 gsm wove vellum in the second pair, much better paper.
The modifications I made to the stitching frame and pricking cradle are working well. It's surprising how a small change can make a big difference. I can prick the stitching holes quicker and more accurately and it's a lot easier to set up the tapes in the stitching frame now. There's still a bit tweaking to be done, but it feels more like a useable piece of equipment - rather than an experiment - now.
The two journals in the photo above are the same as the one I sent to Marie's sister. The blocks are made from 100 gsm Conqueror. The one on the left is covered with some heavy wrapping paper from the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. The one on the right is covered with hand made Nepalese Lokta paper from Shepherds/Faulkiners in Victoria.
I'm pretty pleased with them, they look, feel and smell lovely. The only slight problem is that I used A4 paper folded in half, so the grain runs across the page rather than parallel with the spine. I thought I'd try it to see if it made any difference as getting hold of good quality A3 paper isn't easy. Apart from feeling a bit stiff when you flip through the pages, the major problem is the way the block warps when the humidity is high. Aynho, it was just a test and I learned something from it. The next ones will benefit from the experience.
Standing on the shoulders of giants Awa Rich!
Quite so
Update: The blue one has already found a new home in Ireland, with a friend of Marie's sister. I hope it serves her well.
I made the first journal with cheap photocopy paper which wasn't so good for writing with a fountain pen. It was too thin and absorbent. I used Conqueror 100 gsm wove vellum in the second pair, much better paper.
 |
| A5 Journals |
The two journals in the photo above are the same as the one I sent to Marie's sister. The blocks are made from 100 gsm Conqueror. The one on the left is covered with some heavy wrapping paper from the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. The one on the right is covered with hand made Nepalese Lokta paper from Shepherds/Faulkiners in Victoria.
I'm pretty pleased with them, they look, feel and smell lovely. The only slight problem is that I used A4 paper folded in half, so the grain runs across the page rather than parallel with the spine. I thought I'd try it to see if it made any difference as getting hold of good quality A3 paper isn't easy. Apart from feeling a bit stiff when you flip through the pages, the major problem is the way the block warps when the humidity is high. Aynho, it was just a test and I learned something from it. The next ones will benefit from the experience.
Standing on the shoulders of giants Awa Rich!
Quite so
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