The Mysterious Traveller

Lets get right into it, shall we? I've been lucky enough to learn more about ball and socket armatures since working with the Twirlywoo puppets for MacKinnon and Saunders. And when I rejoined the team at Scream Street back in January, I was stationed in the puppet maintanence department, which gave me the perfect opportunity to continue learning about these armatures and begin work on my very own*. I could finally combine my soldering skills with my character design in a very raw creation that would eventually become Old Man Prickles (TBC - however, as I did not revise this choice over the subsequent months, I soon became rather fond if it).  * if you ever get the chance to work for a different department (be it rigging, puppet maintenance or costumes etc) then it's really worth taking. Working in a studio environment, where there is a certain amount of added pressure, will be the best place to learn a new skill, even if you're a complete newb. Scream ...

   This is a very belated Star Wars related (accidentally rhyming with excellent timing) piece of writing. I'm not going to delve into my own review, because I'm not a film critic and I'm certainly not capable of writing anything mildy serious. Instead, I'm going to write a few words as a Star Wars fan, a cinema goer and a twenty nine year old child. I ******* loved it. I loved the film. I love Star Wars. I bloody love you. I went to the midnight viewing, opening night, with my good friend Daniel James after an evening of blue milk (courtesy of Aunt Beru), the Christmas Special (courtesy of bad taste) and watching the loveable BB-8 patrol the room (simply a courtesy). I was very nervous; I could feel my heart pounding the closer I got to screen 7. I honestly don't think I have ever felt so excited, scared and emotionally drained in such a hypnotic way.  I have since watched it two more times, bringing the total to thrice. And if the Odeon cinema p...

Something to start us off with... Although I never went to any of the Manchester Animation Festival (hashtagMAF), I still place myself in a position to say that it was an utter success (hashtagFreeloader). I really should have booked a couple of days off from work as the whole thing sounded tremendous but, alas, I did not. Perhaps it was just another event that passed me by; I hate that. I seem to be doing it more often, which is possibly why I feel so distant from animation, regardless of working alongside it on a daily basis. What I mean (to save confusion) is that I haven't animated for well over two years and I'm not happy about that one bit.  Needless to say, after meeting up with my old University tutors Laura Weston and Daryl Marsh, amongst many more animation folk, it sounds like this newly titled animation festival will most definitely be an annual event. And when surrounded by such prestigiousness (ha! it's actually a word. I thought I'd get a squ...

Sod off, I've been on holiday. And now, as I very gradually slouch a little lower in my lazy stupor, I have almost succumbed to day time television; and I'll tell you why. I have just returned from a beautiful and glorious jaunt around parts of Europe, but now realise that I need to jump start my creative mojo. I mean, do you know how long it takes for me to write these bloody things or paint a picture? A day! (this is, however, calculated by adding up all the twenty minute sessions from the past three months). Either way, it's just bananas. Although, today I did find an inspiring saviour and I'm baffled to why I hadn't listened to it before: the Skwigly Podcast (above). Why am I only discovering it now? Tell me that! I've got 29 episodes to catch up on now, so Come Dine With Me can go f**k itself (no wait! I'll still have it on in the background). The Skwigly website  is something that I was aware of but hadn't fully explored, mainly due to ...