Alexa Meade

This video introduces this inspiring artist perfectly, I think it's an innovative spin on the way artists are taught to paint, to embrace the medium and no longer make it look photorealistic, but this pushes these limits by using the body as a canvas. It makes for a really clever optical illusion. I think she could really push this further by doing more moving image work with it, I feel like there's a story to be told behind this portraits.

I think it not only pushes portraiture but also installation art. As you can see above these are really large scale, I think it'd be really cool to see them in person because you'd get a completely different sense of the scale and the art work than from the photographs. I think it's interesting that they are only a painting for a fleeting amount of time, it's not like the Mona Lisa where you can hang it in a gallery forever.

Whilst I was looking into her, I discovered she had done a seven minute TedTalk. I found it really interesting to gage more about her, I found it especially interesting to discover that she did politics at University, and painted shadows that set off her painting career. I think she was brave to follow her project and instinct and move back home and I'm really happy for her that thing's are working out really well, I think there's a lot more she could push her creative practice, and I think it will be really interesting to follow her in the future and see where it leads her.

She talks about Timmy (photographed above) and how he was willing to model in everyday environments, I really like the composition and lighting in this still and how the scene is set, I think it's something she clearly has a natural gift for, and this looks like it would make a really exciting scene in a film. I really hope one day she does make one.

Alexa currently lives in Los Angeles, CA and travels the world creating art installations. She works on commissioned portraits and sells limited edition prints of her artworks. On the side, Alexa is currently transforming her home into a "Fun House," collaborating with magicians, working on a line of toys, and teaching visually impaired adults at the Braille Institute how to make papier mache.

http://www.alexameade.com/c-v/ 

http://webneel.com/webneel/blog/25-incredible-and-realistic-pop-out-paintings-alexa-meade-inspiring-showcase

http://www.alexameade.com/

Naren Wilks, Music Video

How amazing is this circular rig, this kaleidoscopic music video, almost looks like animation but it's so smoothly filmed. I just wanted to included it because I really liked it.


http://petapixel.com/2015/01/03/trippy-music-video-made-circular-rig-16-dslrs-clever-editing/

Skwigly - Le Petit Prince

This is super exciting, I came across this whilst routing through fresh movie trailers to keep up to date on what's due to be released soon, and saw no one else had covered it yet, so decided to write just a few words on it because I feel that this is going to be a big underground hit when it comes out. What I love most about it is how many different techniques of animation it uses and how cinematographically beautiful it looks. The little prince has sold 140million copies worldwide, it's supposedly one of the best selling books, it's destined to do well because it's already based on a great narrative. I am super duper excited for it. I found this easier to write up about because I was so engaged with the trailer myself, and I was amazed how much of a difference this made, also not a lot of other people had written about it so I didn't have to look for things to say that everyone else has already said so this was much faster to whip out.

http://www.skwigly.co.uk/le-petit-prince-first-trailer/

Jeremy Mann Paintings

Jeremy Mann(b. 1979) graduated from Ohio University with a Cum Laude degree in Fine Art-Painting. Afterward, he ventured out to California where he earned his MasterÕs Degree with Valedictorian honors at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Since then, Mann has garnered substantial attention in the art world. Praised by critics and collectors alike, his work recently graced the cover of American Art Collector magazine.

http://www.johnpence.com/visuals/painters/mann/

When I first started at art college I really wanted to be a painter, I like to think I've still got that talent, just not enough time to do it. I prefer to keep it as more of a hobby. What drew me to moving image was the fact that I've always loved telling stories and creating narratives. What I love about Jeremy Mann's paintings is how they immerse you and they feel realistic to be descriptive of a scene but also there's enough texture and emotion behind it to tell a story and give away a fantasy feeling. I like the fact that it isn't completely fantastical, and he uses light and tone with a set colour palette to highlight his ability to show where light falls in a scene. I think if I ever make it big and rich I'd like to buy a piece of his work for my living room. The city scapes are truly captivating and really capture the business of a city but also the isolation you can often feel once you are there.

I really like how in this one the glossiness and the blues makes it look like it could have just rained. I can really picture these moving and being an animation, I think that's another reason why they appeal to me so much. There's a really skill in the way he's designed the painting and how actually there isn't a great lot of detail but there's still a lot going on. I think if I was directing a feature film I'd see if he was interested in doing the concept art (maybe one day!!)

Here's one of his more saucier pictures, just to show he's good at portraiture too!

http://redrabbit7.com/

Skwigly Home.

You might think that because this is a short article with a lot of facts in it'd be a fast one to write. But I actually found this really hard, because my natural writing style, is to write as I speak. Which often can be quite subjective and Skiwgly have a very strict be objective, concise but not short and sweet it still needs to have a bit of length to it. So I often find myself arguing with the sentence construction, as this is a massive weakness for me. I'm really enjoying doing these shorter articles though because I think it is making me think about my writing a lot more, so hopefully in a few months these blog posts will improve because it will come naturally to me.

As I'm not allowed to be subjective on skwigly, I thought I would be here. I really feel for Dreamworks because they've had to drop a lot of staff recently because they aren't making as much money as they would like to. Mr Peabody and Sherman and Turbo didn't do as well as they would of liked. The future of dreamworks kind of is in how well the next couple of films do and so there's a lot of pressure on this film, and I think they are feeling it. There's an allstar line up in this film and I think that could improve it's chances. There's a lot of cute moments, that look like it could make it quite funny. I just think with the best kids animations there needs to be subtle jokes for adults too, at the end of the day it's the adults that pay for the kids to see the film in the cinema, and to me this film trailer makes it seem like the script is quite dumbed down. We don't want dumb kids, I need more intelligence in my animation to appreciate more. Not even intelligence just less patronising. I think it looks like all the best bits could be in the trailer which is really sad and I don't think we can expect great things from this film, but I could be wrong.


http://www.skwigly.co.uk/dreamworks-home-trailer-uk-cinema-release/