Little Parcels of Love

I don't want to turn this into a foodie blog, but when food is one of the big passions of my life it's hard not to do so.. As you may already know, I've been exercising a lot more than usual and fish and other seafood provide a unique combination of nutrients important to runners. Seafood is an excellent source of protein, zinc, copper, and other minerals. But omega-3 fats are what really count here, as they lower the risk of heart attack, vascular disease and stroke. Being a MD, April would be able to tell you a lot more of these facts, and more accurate too, but she's been really busy with work so you'll have to make do with me ;) !

Basically you need to eat seafood about twice a week, and this cold-water seafood dish is perfect: Salmon lettuce parcels - it's protein-packed and light on the stomach and so quick and easy to prepare.

You need: (to serve 4)
4 salmon fillets
2 tbsp olive oil, more to brush fish
Juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp cumin
1tsp cayenne pepper
1 head butter lettuce
1 head radicchio
1 tomato, diced
some tzatziki
and some chopped spring onions

And this is how to make it:
+ In a baking dish mix oil, lime juice and spices. Add fillets and coat them evenly. Marinate for 10 minutes, then grill until they begin to turn opaque on top. Fish should be firm and flake easily.
+ Form the parcels by gently separating the lettuces, line one leaf of round lettuce with radicchio for each serving.
+ Flake salmon into each parcel, top with tomato and spring onion. Drizzle with tzatziki and they're ready!

Bon Appétit!

H.N.

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Michael: Creating a Wild Rollercoaster of a Vivid Dream

Demise of the Blissful One

About the artist:

Michael Vincent Manalo is a digital-mixed-media artist born in Philippines to American father and Spanish mother. Having grown up in an international family with fascinating background, his artworks dramatically recreate every day life stories by illustrating his very own interpretations of emotions. Michael’s pieces have been used as album covers, book covers; exhibited in some major galleries and museums in America, Italy and Philippines. 

Light my Fire

Tales from the Door of Dreams

Michael creates his art through merging scenes in his mind with scenes that have been captured by hand to create the living space that his subconscious tries to convey – a living space of surrealism, the weird, and the paranormal. They are the extension of distant memories and nostalgia. Refused to be bound by the traditional painting process, Michael chose photo-manipulations, which as a result has given him unlimited possibilities to ‘recreate visceral levels contained within the vast assemblage of his spirit’. 

 Artist Statement:

The Storyteller

A Second Chance

 Life has always been a fascination to me: from those inevitable school fights during the elementary years to those wild days of puberty; from the lonesome people in the parks to the 8-inched mohawked people in concerts; from feeling someone else's warmth to dealing with the blackness within. There are always a lot of emotions in my works - pain, happiness, love and warmth, glory, success, failures, torture, jealousy, excitement, rage, pride. All these converged and met at a common point in time and space and created who I am, what I want to explore and what I hope to achieve.

A vast amount of images come to my mind every day as a result of the radical emotions that fill me in each heartbeat, which I try to recreate as soon as I could by combining photographs and techniques in illustration to illustrate the concepts of the mind. By forging those images I literally create pictures wherein the emotion delves, grows and inhabits. They hopefully then allow viewers to withdraw from the cruelty of reality and dig into a wild rollercoaster of a vivid dream. 

Tales from the Hidden Attic

The Earth Room

H.N.

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My Beloved

..APRIL! My best friend, my rock, and the co-author of this blog.

I can't believe I never painted her before. So here, my first painting of the most beautiful bride ever. Also, my first vector art, faithfully followed Electra's tutorial on the subject. (I'm nowhere as good as she is, really :(.. April is much more gorgeous than depicted!!!)

Darling I hope you'll like it ;)

On a different note, I'll run the Race for Life 5km in Cambridge on 3rd of July. Join me! Cheer for me! And donate for Cancer Research UK online here! It's very secure, every pound counts and your money will be put forward to funding Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. I'm going to start my training today. There's no quitting now as I already invested some major money in running shoes, socks, outfits, etc. We've got to run but we've got to LOOK GOOD while running too, yes? ;) I'll keep you all posted on my so-called training!

H.N.

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Tried and Tasted!

I've just had my Saturday (vegetarian) grill - the recipe is brilliant: easy, time-saving, and super delicious. Try and you'll love it. Need not to mention how good colourful fruits and vegetables are for your being and digestion :)

Here it is: Basque grilled vegetable skewers with Lime chimichurri sauce!

You will need...
(serves 4)

3 peppers, sliced
2-3 Portobello mushrooms (my favourite!), quartered
2 courgettes or aubergines (or one each), sliced and halved
1 red onion, quartered.

All of them should be marinated in: salt and pepper, 1/2 tbsp chilli powder and 1 tbsp dried orange rind.

For the Basque-style green sauce:
6 garlic gloves
3 dried bay leaves
3 limes
1 green chilli, 1 red chilli
some parsley, oregano, basil and olive oil

Squeeze the limes and the rest goes into a blender until the paste is smooth. Its fragrant will make you fall in love instantly - guaranteed.

In the mean time, grilled the vegetables, cook some brown rice. Drizzle the sauce over when everything's done and voila, your meal is ready!

H.N.

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All the Glittering

*excerpt from Tony Tanner's Introduction of The Great Gatsby

The greatest intensity of feeling comes not from possession but from intimation of imminent or actual loss. Fairer through fading, writes Emily Dickinson: glittering because going, Fitzgerald implies ('It was a mood of intense appreciation, a sense that, for once, he was magnificently attuned to life and that everything about him was radiating a brightness and a glamour he might never know again'), glittering because the radiance is about to dim. And when it has dimmed and the world seems definitely deglamourised, then emotionally the only future that matters really is the past.

H.N.

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Katie: Making Make-up into Art

Full face Sunset

To be honest, it utterly and completely baffled me when I saw Katie’s masterpieces! It’s not because I hardly ever do any make-up myself (I’d like to think I’m quite confident with my brushes, and I think the canvas and the face would be pretty similar to work on, no? :P), but because of this undeniable fact: Katie’s talent is out of this world. She does magic with her cosmetics and her face the canvas. I browsed her gallery with such envy, why, I never can get my right hand and my left hand and my face and my, I don’t know, mascara to co-operate! Ooh, you’ll love this post, especially the girls ;) Enjoy!!! 

Tree Lips

Hello! I’m Katie. I do artistic make-up for fun, but my real profession is actually a Graphic Designer! I went to school for it and I’ve just recently graduated. I’m just starting up my own freelancing company, 89 Design, I’m currently working on my website and business cards. I’m also working part time at a little print shop in my town. I got into graphic design because I loved photography and I loved incorporating my own photography into my work. What I’d love to do in the future is do fashion photography, doing my own make-up and also designing the editorials as well. Why hire a photographer, make-up artist and graphic designer separately when you’ve got all of that in one lovely little package? 

What I do, is make make-up into actual art. Instead of doing a few pretty colours and calling it a day, I like to make scenes. I have done a few where it’s just colours when I’m doodling, but for the most part I like to make it a landscape. 

City Eyes

Outer Space

When I first start a piece, I have to think of an idea. Some ideas I think are going to look amazing, turn out to be complete crap. So I have to sit down and plan it out. Sometimes I use reference pictures, but for the most part it’s just in my mind. I pull out everything I need and sit at my “make-up station” aka my bathroom. I have a high magnification mirror with lights on the side so that I can see every detail. I put down a base colour first. Or if it’s a gradient, I do that. Then I’ll put the images on top. For the small details, I use pins (carefully). It usually takes about an hour for the really complicated stuff. Sometimes it can only take about 20 minutes! That’s if I don’t screw anything up. The one that took the longest would probably be my full face sunset. It was really difficult trying to get the details on the side of my face when I can only turn my head so far in the mirror. It would have been a thousand times easier if I had done it on someone else, but I didn’t have anyone at the time.
I usually try to go for a fantasy theme. Make it look magical! 

Winter Eyes

Halloween Eyes

My dream project would probably be for me to do my work on someone else. I kind of suck at doing it on other people, mainly because they’re too twitchy. When you’re doing make-up on yourself, it’s easy, but when you’re doing it on someone else and they see that you’re bringing a very sharp pin to their face, they’re not happy!

There are quite a few artists that inspire me, but from an early age, these are the ones that have stuck with me: Ansel Adams, Jerry Uelsmann and my mother.

The best advice I was ever giver was “Don’t sit on your ass and think “Oh I can’t do it”, just keep trying and eventually you’ll master it.”

Here is a tutorial I did for beginners, which shows how I did it and what I used. 

H.N.

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Johanna: A Story-teller

First thing first, HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR :) It's our New Year's Day today back home and there's this tradition called 'khai bút đầu xuân', which literally means 'picking up your pen [to write a poem, a sentence, etc.] at the beginning of spring'. Which is what I'm doing right this moment! :) 

To begin an exciting, and hopefully adventurous year, I'd like to introduce - to all of you invisible peeps - Johanna, who I admire for her talent and wonderful illustration style. (First day of the new year seriously can't get any better than this..)


Tree of Possibilities

 Q: Please introduce yourself and what you do. A: Hi, my name is Johanna Bessière. I’m an animator and an illustrator. I’ve worked in the film industry for a couple of years, and I’m currently developping a few personal children books projects.

Q: A quick description of your artwork.A: I don’t know if I’ve got a proper « style ». I find it very hard to stick with one ! (and boring, too). Usually I do illustrations in various style and techniques, going from quite simple and stylised to realistic, as well as character and background design for animation, and pure animation drawings. I also enjoy life drawings and travel books.

Q: What is your process of producing a piece?A: For an illustration I usually start with a very sketchy thumbnail, then when I’ve got a basic idea of what the composition is going to be, I draw the line-art. Most of the time I do this in blue and then clean it in black, ink or pencil. Then I either paint it with acrylics or inks, or colour it digitally.

Q: How long does one take on average? Which of your masterpieces took the longest to produce?A: It really depends on the complexity of the piece and the technique I chose for it. It can go from a few hours for a simple digital or ink illustration (or less than an hour for a sketch), to a few days for a complex acrylic painting with lots of details. As an example, « The tree of possibilities » took me a long time, much longer than I expected ! All the little doors are full of details, and each one is cut by hand to show another painting behind. It took me two weeks of working everyday on it (though not full-time, thankfully) to finish it! That’s far too much!

Q: But it's brilliant! In your works, what theme do you pursue?A: I like to make drawings with symbols, subtext and several layers of interpretation, triggering the viewer’s imagination. I draw to tell stories. I can be inspired by a text, a book, an idea, or just a feeling and then I want to put a picture on it. Drawing is always showing a part of yourself, of what you believe in, of the way you see the world. This is why it’s so scary to show your art! But I believe that by accepting to be true to this and to be vulnerable somehow, your art improves, gets a deeper resonance. That’s what I’m trying to go toward in my most recent works, like « The tree… », « Wild one » and « Forest ».
Coming from the animation world, I’m also passionate about movement and characters’ emotions.

Wild One

Forest

Q: What do you like and dislike about your works?A: Hahaha, that’s a tricky question. I’m never completely satisfied with my work, I’m ultra-perfectionist. I think one of my qualities is that my drawings and characters are full of life and movement. As for the rest, I’ve got so many things to improve and to learn about! I still feel like a beginner.

Q: What is your dream project?A: To be able to convey themes and subjects that are dear to me in my work and to combine all the different aspects I love about art in my professional life, going from illustration to comics and animation. Changes and diversity make life more fun! I’d love to create workshop with kids too.

Aboriginal Art Inspiration

Inspirations

Q: Name three artists who inspire you.A: Three only is difficult ! As I was just talking about the different aspects I like in art, let’s get an inspiration for each one of them : one of the most amazing comics artists, for me, is Cyril Pedrosa. I love his lines, and he is such a talented story-teller ! (check out « Three shadows »!) For children illustration and writing, Gabrielle Vincent, the creator of Ernest and Celestine. There is so much humanity and tenderness in her work. And for animation, Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli, who produced Spirited Away, etc.), whose talent is absolute in every way to me, and whose themes touch me deeply.

Q: What's the best piece of advice you've been given?A: I was given a lot of other great pieces of advice for different situations. One that was particularly helpful was to create a whole story in my head about the character and background I’m drawing, even if it’s not going to be told. Is there a book under one foot of the table because it was wobbly, what in the room reflects the hobbies of the one living in it, etc. It helped me to enjoy drawing backgrounds, when they had been « not fun » to me before, and put a lot more life and subtext into my illustrations.

Thank you Johanna.

H.N.

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Eating Animals*

*title of the latest book by Jonathan Safran Foer 

‘When we eat factory-farmed meat we live, literally, on tortured flesh. Increasingly, that tortured flesh is becoming our own’. 

As I told a friend of mine the other day, I’m considering vegetarianism for the 3rd? 4th? maybe the 5th time? And this time I’m quite determined to stick with it. This is not merely the result of reading Foer’s book, but of recent events and serious considerations.

Facts I learnt from Eating Animals that you all should know:

1. ‘Free-range’, ‘organic’, and the similar words producers throw at you don’t mean squat. It should provide no more peace of mind than ‘all natural’, ‘fresh’, or ‘magical’. They literally mean the animals get ‘access to the outdoors’, which is nothing. ‘Imagine a shed containing thirty thousand chickens, with a small door at one end that opens to a five-by-five dirt patch – and the door is closed all but occasionally’. Yes, that’s ‘free-range’ and ‘organic’ for you.

2. 99% meat we eat comes from caged animals, which come from Frankenstein-like genetic stock, which suffer their whole life, and die a painful inhumane death.

3. They all are fed antibiotics as their daily diet. They have a lot of diseases. Factory-farm-related diseases pose a serious danger to humans. So next time antibiotics don’t work for you, you know why. And swine flu? And bird flu anyone?

4. Vegetarian diets are appropriate for any individuals during all stages of the life cycle, meet and exceed requirements for protein and have a long list of health benefits.

I’m not saying we all have to turn vegetarians, but if we eat meat, we should do so with our eyes open, and not try to ‘forget’ where it came from. ‘Eating Animals’ forms a valid story-based argument toward making informed decisions about what we consume, and taking responsibilities for our choices.

Let me quote Foer because he puts forth the argument so eloquently:

The global implications of the growth of the factory farm, especially given the problems of food-borne illness, antimicrobial resistance, and potential pandemics, are genuinely terrifying. India’s and China’s poultry industries have grown somewhere between 5 and 13 percent annually since the 1980s. If India and China started to eat poultry in the same quantities as Americans (27 to 28 birds annually), they ALONE would consume as many chickens as the entire world does today. If the world followed America’s lead, it would consume over 165 billion chickens annually (even if the world population didn’t increase). And then what? Two hundred billion? Five hundred? Will the cages stack higher or grow smaller or both? On what date will we accept the loss of antibiotics as a tool to prevent human suffering? How many days of the week will our grandchildren be ill? Where does it end? 

H.N.

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Electra: An Eye for Detail

Cassie

My name is Electra Sinclair. I am a sixteen year old high school student from New Zealand.

My vector artwork is mostly colourful and detailed portraits. I choose to work mostly with images of celebrities or people I like because this helps to keep me interested and motivated in my work. I usually decide to begin a new vector when I feel particularly inspired by a person or thing, or when I see a reference image that appeals to me. Most vectors take me about 6 to 8 hours (on and off) to complete, depending on the level of detail, but if I feel particularly inspired or excited about what I’m working on it can take much less than that. I feel my style is different from other vector artists because of the overlapping shapes and layers I use, as opposed to the more traditional non-overlapping layers. I prefer to work this way because I feel it gives me more freedom in the colours I choose, as well as giving my pieces a distinctive and more painterly look. I enjoy creating art that appears to be realistic, but can also be easily identified as a vector art piece; something that has been created by me.

Adrien Brody

Contrast

While I don’t intentionally choose specific subjects for my vectors, I am attracted to images that challenge my vectoring skills. This is why I often work with images of eyes; the complexity challenges me to add more detail to my work and have the patience to add this detail, I believe this helps me with every vector I do. I am always learning new things about vector and the way I choose to do things is always expanding.

If I were to choose my favourite aspect of my own artwork I would have to say that I enjoy the most colourful pieces best (not to say I don’t like the black and white ones also). I dislike the mistakes in my artwork, because they seem incredibly obvious to me, however I try to use these to improve my new art, rather than going back to rework old vectors.

Gaga

Nicholas Hoult

It's hard to believe that Electra is only 16, as her artworks have an air of maturity and elegance that only acquires with lots of experiences. The girl indeed has the whole future ahead of her, and I truly truly believe she'll turn out to be one of the most amazing illustrators/graphic designers/painters. Please visit her stunning gallery and show your support! ;) 

Electra, thank you also for your vector tutorial - I have a lot to learn from you and my fellow artists. Readers, have a look, give it a go. I know I shall the next time I have a few hours to spare. 

H.N.

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Steve K.: To the Future!!!*

*by Steve K. 

This has, so far, brought at least two massive smiles to my face: once when I first received Steve's email a couple of weeks ago, and today posting it :) Thanks Steve, you are an amazing illustrator and I adore every single artwork you've done - they are all freaking STUNNING. I'm sure our readers will share my sentiment. Keep up the great work!

Please visit Steve's gallery and/or drop him a line to show your support!!! 

Hai guys, I'm Steve K ~ sometimes known informally around the internet as "Stevepants".

I live in Victoria, Australia and am hoping to be an illustrator/animator. My artist statement is: "Hoping to present bright colours and use either line-less or burly lines; I wish to compliment quickly-generated, expressive and video-game inspired characters; with a strong will to try anything adorable to fill the world with 'awesome'".

I've studied Illustration for 2 years and am now hoping to get into the world of animation to boost my confidence and skills as an artist.

I love flat colour, and I love using bold outlines (if I'm using outlines at all!) and I've made best friends with Adobe Photoshop and his younger sister, Adobe Illustrator :) which are the programs I go to, to create my artwork. However sometimes I call their distant cousin, Paint, if I want to add some nostalgic touches from an old friend.

I've found it takes me a rough 15-minute sketch to plan my pieces, and on average 1-3 hours depending on how extensive the piece is. However, the larger pieces like my Pokémon fan-art with all 151 characters on them, can take a few days, on and off, depending on how badly I want it done.

The reason I do so much fan-art is because it's what I know. I have a bunch of ideas of my own, but as people aren't as interested in them right away, I'll stray until people can stand original pieces from me.

My Kanto'uch This piece, featuring all the original Pokémon - as well as the glitch Pokémon, known as "Missingno" - was purely because I love drawing creatures ~ and I wanted to produce something a little more extensive than my usual single character images. I hope it brings happy to your life. <3

I dream for these pictures to help me get into a career where I can be an animator/illustrator/video-game designer or all of the above.

TO THE FUTURE, AWAAAAY! Yes, TO THE FUTURE WHOOP WHOOP ;)

-Steve K (Stevepants)



I should be ashamed of myself really... but I love Pokémon. Yup, still do! 

H.N.

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Introducing Pervasion*

*by Pui-Ching Ho

Pui-Ching Ho is in my top 5 favourite friends (if not top 3!) ;), plus I adore him as a composer and a musician; believe me that says a lot. We’ve been friends a long way back, when we both were undergrads – naïve, full of hopes and oh so optimistic. We often hung out, went to gigs, meals, talked about anything and nothing, and listened to music together. Until this day I can’t listen to Damien Rice or Mew or Porcupine Tree and the likes without thinking of him. And missing him, as of the year before last Pui-Ching moved back to Hong Kong to develop his music career. Have I not mentioned? Pui-Ching is brrrrrrrrrrrrrrilliant! I could sit in the dark for hours just listen to his voice and his guitar and he would sing to me his pieces and they were stunningly beautiful. So of course, he’s been thriving in Hong Kong – his popularity is unbelievable. He’s been performing, appeared on TV, interviewed by radio stations, the whole lot! I’m so proud of you, Pui-Ching. Please find below his latest MV called Pervasion. I vividly remember the first time I heard this song and how it struck me as a triumph of both melody and lyric. I hope you all will enjoy it too, and SPREAD THE WORD!!! 

Pervasion is a song I wrote when I was in London and Cambridge. It is now released through my own label White Dimension. As Wong Kar Wai said in In The Mood for Love, feelings come when we are unawared of it. They pervade. But in this modern world we all have been so busy with work and are afraid to disturb each other. Chances slip through our fingers being unnoticed. It is not until we freeze our space and time that we realize we have missed out way too much.

This is one of the 12 songs from my to-be-released concept album Shimmer of Dawn. If you like this song, please do spread the words for me and share it with friends! And please visit our Facebook and Myspace too!

H.N.

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Perfect Presents

Today I’m happy. I have been happy, of course, but not THIS happy in a while :) The reason is not only that I received the most unexpected and beautiful and thoughtful presents today, as photographed; but also – more importantly - the love I felt from the people around me, that they truly care, and genuinely love me for who I am.

The books on the right are from Hung Tran, the guy with the most remarkable taste in arts. Thank you; you know how much I love books and reading. 

The loveliest-looking book on your left is from my dearest April. I can’t even begin to express my love for her. She went through all the troubles to collect my art/architecture works (which were scattered literally EVERYWHERE!), and made them into the most beautiful volume. Keep in mind, this girl is so busy with work she can’t even afford time to sleep and eat and rest properly :( And she spent her precious spare minutes to do this for me. Seriously, it moves me deeply. Darling, I love you.

The message printed on the back cover was even more beautiful than the book itself, if that’s even possible. April wrote:

This past year has come with great challenges for both of us. Just like your artworks, some aspects of our lives have been perfect, while others are unfinished. […] Our unfinished works are the next chapters of our lives – they represent potentials and possibilities. 

- which is so true. The rest of the message is too personal to post here, but needless to say, I got very teary ;)

Life offers us so many potentials and possibilities, for instance, my next journey/chapter will be working in London, for a few months at least. Our office in Cambridge has recently been relocated to London, and although it’s going to be so much hassle to commute back and forth every day, it’s a too good opportunity to miss. I love the team I’m working with, the project I’m designing, that I decided to follow it through. Mind you, I shan’t have much time left to sleep, eat, and rest ;) let alone blog or anything else. So forgive me if I can’t write every day, I’ll try my best and keep you all posted as often as the time allows.

Again, I love you all. And I’m most thankful for your love.

H.N.

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The End..

..of a beautiful novel that I want to share with all of you. 

H.N.

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Simone Held's take on Surrealism

One thing not a lot of people know about me is that my favourite painters are Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Salvador Dali, who are – respectively – often associated with: bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw portraits; surrealism and depiction of people, plants and animals in unusual juxtapositions; striking and bizarre images in surrealist work. To sum up all those descriptions in one word? Weird! In a very very creative way.

My liking of surrealism was probably the reason why I had some immediate emotional responses to Simone Held’s works. They are simple, yet stunning, atmospheric, and suggestive. The lighting, in particular, is so well done it gives Simone’s pieces a sense of drama. Add Simone's website to your favourites!  

My name is Simone Held and I'm from Germany. Originally, I haven't been professionally involved with art at all: I'm a teacher. I teach English and German to students aged 10-19 and I still like it although it can be a hell of a job sometimes. Art is a good possibility to get rid of all the negative thoughts and vibes... Sadly I can only spend time on my art during the holidays or at the weekends because there's not much time left.

My focus is on photo-manipulation with surreal themes. I sometimes do landscape manipulations too but no matter how "realistic" my works may seem, there's always some surrealism in them as well. 

A Boy and His Best Friend

Angel

Darunter

I often start with a photograph (manipulators call them "stock images") that somehow "affected" me and with a finished concept in mind. I prefer this method as you always know what you're going to do with them. To work the other way round, i.e. starting with a concept, its problem is that you never find stock images that match the concept you've got in mind. You, for most of the times, end up being unsatisfied with the final artwork.

There are no real "themes" that I pursue. I always do what comes to me... I am often asked if there are deeper meanings behind any of my artworks. Sometimes there are, sometimes there are not. Sometimes I just want to convey a certain feeling or mood rather than concept or a message. My dream project would be to do some cover work for a CD or a book that is very successful so that I can say that I was in charge of the artwork ;). 

By the Ceiling

God's Residence

Elton Fernandes is a big inspiration. He's brilliant in concept and skills. Michael Vincent Manolo, my dear friend, is a big source of inspiration too, and I get plenty of inspiration from photographers too.

My best piece of advice...? Perhaps "never give up". For a beginner it's really frustrating because there are so many things that you have to improve, you really don't know where to start and sometimes you just like to throw the towel in and start, "this is it! I'll never get past the beginner's stage anyway!" But it's worth it to go on and improve. 

H.N.

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Paper-rigging Tutorial

This tutorial is really useful and easy to follow if you want to have some fun making paper children. Grown out of anime/manga culture, paper children first became popular in Japan and Korea. It involves humans interacting with smaller, childlike paper cut-outs to create interesting photo opportunities. Have a look below and you'll understand what I mean :) (or go back to the JYJ cut-outs I did a while ago, it's a type of paper children).

(save to view at full size)

Anyway, thanks to pettyartist, paper-rigging should be much easier from now on! "I made this tutorial after getting a lot of questions about how I make paperchildren. I had already done a how-to-make video tutorial, so I thought a tutorial about rigging would be a good compliment to it. I'm glad to see that it's been very useful to a lot of people", the artist commented. An animation major and senior in college, pettyartist has a gallery worth checking out. 

H.N.

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Simanion: Let the Work Sing to You!

Sugar High

Back to the artist series, I seriously think that there are so many talented yet understated artists out there who deserve a lot more recognition. That’s one of the reasons why our blog started featuring their works and statements – our way to show some support and spread the words, hopefully a little bit wider and further. One of these days we can proudly say ‘hey, you know that really famous photographer/3D artist/pixel artist/graphic designer/doll-maker/watercolour-painter? We discovered them first, here, at our blog! (well, sort of)’.

Simon, a 22-year-old student from Sydney is definitely one of them. When I first wrote him, guess what he replied me? These lovely words: ‘Thank you very much. I'd love to be on your blog! I checked it out and it's evident that you put a lot of effort and love into your posts, and treat the content with respect - it would be an honour’ – they made me smile for days. Needless to say again Simon, the honour and pleasure are all ours! Now enjoy his awesome artwork:

The Windmilllion Time Bubble

Hey, my name is Simon - artist alias: Simanion - and I'm a 22 year old student from Sydney. I guess I'm a blend of artist, illustrator and designer, depending on how I feel on the day. I'm currently midway through a Masters in Graphic Design, where I've held a particular interest in illustrative typography. Most of my artworks have been created as personal projects and not related to my studies with Graphic Design, but now through typography I've managed to find a way to combine my personal work with my degree.

My illustration work is usually quite stylized, and yeah I guess you could say there's a cartoon-like element in there. You could describe many as psychedelic, surreal, whimsical, organic and expressive, but always with a prominent element of control. They're often detailed and precise, or a combination of those qualities with shades of chaos. I like to use humour and absurdity as well. Pieces range between full blown colour works, black and white and selective colour schemes. Having said all that, they're pretty eclectic. I try to create completely different works each time and really challenge my imagination, but there'll always be a personal style that emerges through.

I almost always work by hand. I'm not good starting out drawing in Photoshop or Illustrator, it's not intuitive for me. Artworks are started without a real plan, and are pretty much just flukes! Experiments that somehow went right. That said, most of my illustrations are drawings - even when they're watercolour paintings, I feel like I'm drawing with paint or exploring textures within a drawing.

Sometimes I'll lightly outline something in pencil, which I will then detail with watercolour or trace more accurately with pen. That's the most planning I do, when I have a specific image I want to get down - or if there are certain stylistic restrictions for example with typography works. But other than that, all my black and white pen works were drawn straight on blank paper without any planning, and often I'll look at a drawing from different angles, turning the paper around and deciding I like the shape better upsidedown. So something that starts as a whale could evolve into a funky bottle and then into an abstract mountain and then a bizarre bird creature (I'm always turning things into birds..), and so what you end up with is a conglomeration of ideas that if done carefully can be completely unique and unexpected but also organic and informed by the process itself. 

Moon - Process

It Was The Moon That Stole My Slumber (finished)

I've grown to love typography in all its forms, and it's definitely gained a lot of mainstream attention in recent years. I still need to do a lot more typography work; I've got heaps to learn. But as for what I've done so far, I generally start by hand, on paper, whether it ends up digital or not. To get a completely hand drawn type piece perfect, it takes a lot more time than if it's done digitally. Once you make a mark, that's it - there's no Ctrl Z, and spacing has to be perfect. Most of my type stuff is a blend of traditional and digital procedures, and it moves from being a drawing/construction to an arrangement or composition. 

B-Sides type doodles

B-Sides & Rarities (finished)

There are some recurring implicit themes: escapism, imagination, the surreal, the absurd, sleep/insomnia. It seems a lot of my work can be seen as being related to sleep, either through depicting dreamlike images or the feelings associated with insomnia. This is probably because I often start a work late at night, and will go for hours and hours. I don't have any great desire to depict the real world. Even if I was painting an ordinary bowl of fruit, it would end up with some sort of twist - like I'd switch the colours around, or put eyes in the fruit. Themes or concepts often come to me while I'm creating the piece. It sounds silly, but often I'll have no idea what it is I'm drawing and there'll be a point where I'll need to stop and look at what I've done to try to figure out what it means/wants to say/wants to be. There's a lot of staring in silence involved. Once that's figured out, I'll spend the time necessary to illustrate it. So the execution is quite controlled and meticulous, but the themes and ideas themselves are pretty fluid and spontaneous.

I guess I like that there's always the attempt to be original, and I try not to ever repeat myself or get creatively complacent. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I don't rush my work or put something out there if I'm not entirely satisfied with it. I like that my work seems to be imbued with a sense of personality through style, even when it's abstract. 

Let There Be Jellyfish

The Food Chain

I often wish I could let go a bit and not be so obsessive about every line being exactly as I want it to be. I'd definitely get more art done. My artwork can look contrived and feel claustrophobic and too contained sometimes. There's little room for human error, which can be beautiful and warm - I can't draw in a naive style well. At the same time I'm not good with realism, and humans are the worst! So my actual skills are very mediocre. I'd like to be able to do non-stylised portraits or landscapes well. I also work almost exclusively on a small scale which I have to break out of - I'd love to be able to do giant paintings the size of a walls, or paint the side of a building.

Honestly, my dream project would be to publish a book of illustrations, possibly in a narrative style like Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" (which is incredible inspiration). Or something large scale like I mentioned - painting a building, or making a huge surreal sculpture and plonking it in the middle of the city.

An art teacher told me I had to let my work sing to me, meaning not to force something in a particular direction but let it inform its own creation. I thought that was great, and now that's what I do every time :)

The artists who inspire me are: Yoko D'holbachie - Japanese pop surrealist who creates wonderful monsters. Her colours are fantastic. Shaun Tan - Chinese/Australian illustrator who blends nostalgic real world imagery with magical and surreal creatures. Really beautiful. And last but not least, Studio Ghibli - not an artist, strictly speaking, but I'm heavily influenced by the attention to detail and imagination in films such as "Howl's Moving Castle" and "Spirited Away".

Thank you Simon.

H.N.

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