I seem to have fallen by the advent wayside a bit - perhaps it was overambitious to post each day, although I do hope to fill in a few more dates before Christmas..
Must admit I am excited about the prospect of seeing "Young Herriot" on BBC1, starting this Sunday for 3 consecutive nights on Monday and Tuesday too. Earlier this year I worked on it as graphics art director, and it was one of the most enjoyable jobs that I've done. Working in the period of 1930's (fairly impoverished) Glasgow really made me think about how things were done then - obviously no computers, but even typewriters may have been rare or used differently from after WW2... plus of course the wonderful addition of animals as subject matter.
For me, the job involved anything from doing paintings of dogs to exam papers, photoshoots, and even just dressing images such as paintings and postcards for the walls of the various sets. I even got to work with a signwriter, which is a craft I just adore.
Whatever they say, it is fun to work with animals - and filming the series is probably another dose of stories in itself!
There are a couple of clips here - featuring a gorgeous wee jack russell terrier.. and I found this clip on Youtube of the series producer talking about the background of 1930's Glasgow and Alf Wight's original writings as 'James Herriot'.
I wonder how everyone feels on the subject of recognition.
On my screenwriting course, we were taught that the desire for it (eg being believed, seen, recognised, successful) is one of the 8 major themes that can motivate the character of a movie (or life!).
We are often so wary of being 'big headed' or blowing our own trumpets - ironically that is what most blogs are really about - however I think for most artists or creators it is as important as getting paid - to have someone desire your work, to receive feedback, to watch someone's face as they receive a commission you have made for them... these are all things that I like and find most fulfilling about my creative work in whatever form.
It has its light and its dark, yet I suppose the root is about being received and accepted by others.
Yet I also feel quite awkward about it - I cringe at getting too much attention, have a fear of bragging. It is messily caught up in the areas of advertising, self promotion and exposure. I secretly love and desire to be recognised within a work context, but constantly worry about the scale of it and the context in which it is done. Does anyone else?
This week it was lovely to receive recognition in the form of having one of my bags featured on anothers' blog in her UK craft roundup - thanks, Talie. I was genuinely thrilled when the email came through.
On the other end of things I was also delighted to hear that 'Perfect Sense', a film I worked on in 2009, will receive it's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Monday. Very exciting.
While this was a much larger project I played a small part in (creating graphics for action and set dressing), I can think of no better place than Sundance for David to show his film and have it received.
I hope it does really well! I have a feeling it will, as it has a unique and moving storyline. Watch out for it, I can't wait.
No, not a spot the difference competition, but a print (above) made from the photographic image (below).
This is the year where I seemed to have expanded my practice with Photoshop (mostly for work) - and am quite enjoying it, where formerly I had 'the fear', and it all seemed very complicated.
Making up artwork to hang in film & tv sets is trickier than you think.. Firstly the issue of copyright, and the prohibitive rates for paying picture library fees ratio to the often miniscule graphics budget, means that we often have to call in favours of other members of the department, holiday snaps, or friends who will give us permission to use their images! Then there is also the appropriateness of the image to the character who will be in the set. Normally this can be bypassed by hiring images for short periods, but as these will be required in a long running series, they had to be practically free and permanent!
I had already used several photographic images already, so had a dabble about transforming the photographs into watercolours or even screenprints. There is also the effect of trying to intimate that artworks have been acquired over a lifetime, rather than in a few short weeks, as is often the case!
The print was made by fiddling about with 'artistic effects' in the Effects Palette on Photoshop. I think I used 'cutout' then 'ink lines', and then individually selected each colour (under the toolbar heading Select - see 'colour range' - you can click on the colour you'd like to change, then just use the 'eyedropper' tool to pick another colour from the colours that come up.
I can hardly believe it is nearly two years since I took this photograph! Autumn seems to be coming around a little quicker this year..
If you have had 'the fear' of using Photoshop, open up a photograph, go to the Effects palette and just dabble around - a lot of art comes through happy accidents anyway!
best wishes
Caireen
I don't tend to write too much about my dayjob, preferring to keep my blog for other types of creative musings - although my job is very creative in a different way. However, on the last project I worked on, we had call for several images (60 to 70 was my brief!) to frame the walls of a marine biologist's house.
I wondered how I was going to get the right images without blowing the entire graphics budget through photo library costs! I turned to my blog friends Ginny and Diana, and asked if I could use some of their coastal/nature images (mixed with a few of my own).
It was a lovely to collaborate with them, as the images complimented each other, and it did seem believable that they could have all been taken by the same character.
As a 'thank you' I decided to order some Moo mini cards for Ginny with her images on, and her blog address on the back. Diana had already ordered some cards for herself, so instead I made a little patchwork collage of the images she allowed us to use, and framed it as a gift.
I also ordered myself a pack of Moo mini cards... just because!
Thankyou sweetmyrtle and pebbledash - I hope you don't feel too exploited - and we shall see the result this autumn on BBC1!
