OUTPUT
Probably the most exciting thing that’s happened for me regarding art this month is my artist friend Freddy instigated an art swap! His passion and dedication to his art really hypes me up and makes me want to try harder and get myself out of my comfort zone. The idea so far is that we just vibe off what the other person has drawn, here’s what Freddy put in the post for me:
Very kind of Freddy to give me subject matter he knows I love: rabbits, motorbikes, veggies and living dangerously. In return I did an alternate cover for his comic. You know how those last few pages in a trade have other artists have a run at their own ideas for the same subject matter? Here’s mine, it’s giving Biker Mice from Mars:
Otherwise I did a couple of acrylic paintings, one being the final in the set of seven smaller hyper colour skulls:
The other being a larger version of one of the smaller ink drawings I did in November:
I did my fourth Super Smash Bros traditional tattoo design with Richter Belmont from Castlevania making the cut:
And like always there was a decent batch of work for Cypher Brewing Co. This month I created a super detailed colouring page with lots of little hidden puzzles. It wouldn’t look like it but planning it all out and refining it took over 10 hours. I don’t think they’ve released it yet so don’t tell them it’s popped up here:
I also worked on fleshing out a bit of a story that connects all of the art I’ve been doing for the brewery for the last couple of years. I think they’re planning to use this in a pretty big way this year so keep your eyes peeled:
I’ve also started making some harder puzzles that are much more obviously something to be solved:
INPUT
This month was so lovely to be back home and doing lots of fun stuff with friends and family. It really made me feel so grateful for what I have and that I get to choose to spend my spare time pursuing creativity.
We met up with some friends and rented a place in the central coast for the Rolling Sets Festival. GFlip was a massive stand out, they deserve all the praise and accolades received recently, also Ruel, Peach PRC and the Good Kids rounded out my favourite acts. I’m actually in the Good Kids linked music video holding up the surfboard haha.
We saw an incredible Louisiana jazz set in a little local community hall from Harry James Angus (Of Cat Empire fame). Everyone was decked out in 1920s gear and jumping out of their seats to dance. I immediately went home to get my hands on some jazz scales to practice on tuba.
These were the best two movies I watched this month, both scary but for different reasons and in different degrees. I think the Quiet Place series is fantastic, this was a rewatch for me. The set up instantly builds tension, it does a great job of growing the world established in the first movie, and the thing that makes these movies good is the affection the family members have for each other. “Room” is much, much scarier because it can and does actually happen. It is deeply harrowing but still finds moments of beauty and devotion.
I’ve really been leaning into classical music this month Debussy, Dvorak, Prokofiev in particular. I think Debussy’s La Mer is one of my favourite pieces to just fall into at the moment. I’ve linked it above. Fun fact, it was partly inspired by The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai and had this art on the cover of the score when it premiered. We’ve also recently played through “Untitled Goose Game” and that beautiful soundtrack is renditions of Debussy’s Preludes from Book 2.
