Elf~Fin Issue #2 Cover Revealed!

We promised in a previous blog post we'd bring you a surprise and here it is! Tilaweed in her element. The  "BEFORE" piece is the wash Jozef did to establish the colour palette of Tilaweed's underwater environment (notice it's very different to the colour palette used for Hyfus's ocean territory). Like the Hyfus Issue #1 cover, the realised Tilaweed "AFTER" artwork is essentially a pin-up piece but with story elements embedded into the artwork. When the series is released, there'll be one more piece of visual information added to this cover painting that we don't want to flag just yet. Hope you like it.

Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

The character designs in the upcoming Alice in Wonderland film are simply stunning. Helena Bonham Carter as the "off with your head" Red Queen and Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter are our personal favourites. Tim Burton films are must sees for us. Not all of them work story-wise (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being one of them) but they're all visual feasts. Can't wait till 2010.

End of the Line

Something we may all want to take a look at to determine our individual culpability and what we can do. This is a world class documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing on global oceans. Without minimising the importance of the message, we have to ask ... what will the mermaids think?

 

Modern Day Engrish

Okay ... we don't want to mock any of our Asian neighbours but we really do recommend that people in publishing get good translators and proofreaders. These pics came from our new favourite website – engrish.com  – which features ... well a picture's worth a thousand words. Here are some beauties from the Anime/Manga section, as well as the Books/Magazines section (wonder what Disney has to say about this – we're betting it's unauthorised usage of the Winnie the Pooh character). These pics are just the tip of the iceberg – check out the menus and signs – absolute classics! The archives go back to 1996 – there's longevity in this website. Guess the lessons haven't been learned yet. 

Tilaweed Fan Art Pixel Doll

Seems to be Tilaweed week this week – we featured the tattoo a few days ago and we're bringing you a great-looking pixel doll today and in the next couple of days we'll bring you another Tilaweed surprise. The artist goes by the name of stytchid and you can check out the pixel doll with a black background on her DeviantArt page. The art was created for the trappedartist who has an entire self-created original WaveDancer pixel doll collection of her own. 

Like Minded Collective (Sydney) – A Day of Sketching and Painting

There's a great initiative happening in Sydney for artists (including the comics kind) who want to practice their craft. The Like Minds Collective, a group of artists, designers and illustrators who want to draw and paint characters and architecture can spend a day in the city with others who share their passion. There will be an afternoon and a night session. Kim Taylor and Adam Paquette will be demonstrating Live Digital Painting, Evan Shipard will be doing Alla Prima Oil Portraiture and everyone else can be involved in an all night creative jam so bring your laptops and easels.

Date: Saturday 18 July 2009

Outdoor Sketch Session Time: 12pm

Outdoor Sketch Session Location: Chinese Garden of Friendship, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Evening Session Time: 6:30pm

Evening Location: Warehouse 308, Hibernian House, 342 Elizabeth St, cnr Kippax St, Surry Hills (opposite Central Station)

Cost: $5 donation

Pinocchio the Avenging Punk

Came across a weird concept today that really did my head in – Carlo Collodi's famous marionette Pinocchio has been turned into a vampire slayer! I read The Adventures of Pinocchio (originally published in 1883) when I was a kid and I have a gorgeous hardback edition at home with illustrations by Attilio Mussino who interpreted it in 1911. It really is a dark story and not as cheery as the 1940 Disney animated film – for one thing the Cat and Fox characters disguised as assassins in chapter 14 and 15 are quite ghoulish and have no compunction in stabbing and then hanging the unfortunate puppet. And by the way, Disney substituted a whale for a shark in the climax. I have yet to see the 2002 Robert Benigni version, but am looking forward to an upcoming stop motion feature developed by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) and the Jim Henson Company (The Dark Crystal). It's my understanding that brilliant illustrator Gris Grimley who did another picture book of the tale in 2002 will be the concept artist. Why all this set up? Well, SLG Publishing is about to release a graphic novel where Pinocchio becomes an avenger after his carpenter father and creator Geppetto is murdered by vampires – thought you might want a taste of it. The writer is Van Jensen and the artist is Dustin Higgins. It's a screwy but strangely fascinating concept all at the same time ... the artwork looks good and Pinocchio looks like a punk with a curl in the middle of his forehead. The tag line cracked me up –  " He's got a nose for evil". The concept may very well work.

Pinocchio Vampire Slayer Graphic Novel from SLG Publishing on Vimeo.