（‐＾▽＾‐）オーホッホ

Leggy Blonde

2011-12-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Hope everyone got their good dose o' Christmas. A cousin gave me that Threadless hoodie with the white hand on it that does the Vulcan salute when you unzip it. Brilliant! Anyway, this is a Blogger's customary apology for not uploading much lately, even though a tonne of exciting happenings have happened. I'll get back to it all in good time. I've been tossing and turning over whether or not to throw all my internet activity behind Tumblr. Seems to have a better system of passing shit around among users. Whatever, whatever. At any rate, I hope you like Legolas. :)

Corsaires du Caucase

2011-12-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

Model D575

2011-10-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

¡Híjole!

2011-08-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

Una

2011-08-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

Alicia

2011-07-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Keys for an 11 Second Club entry I started but ran out of time on.

2011-07-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

Clack-clack! I drew this on a plane trip. Lieutenant Commander Marya Siegel-Meinunger (2ndGen Clone, in vivo), Cape Verde Civil Martian Constabulary, Former Colonial Marine, 102eme Fusiliers Marin Martien. Application for Sub-Surface Europa Expeditionary pending.

Good Luck Chiu

2011-07-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

Disco

2011-06-05T07:18:00.001-07:00

Terra Ierusalem

2011-06-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to finish this but instead I stared at the ceiling and listened to Belle & Sebastian.

Oh, my!

2011-05-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

It was all-out Sulumania for me last weekend when I learned George Takei was personally backing a petition to lobby the Warner Bros. remake of Akira, which will allegedly feature no Asians in its leading cast whatsoever - not even Jerry Lewis in yellowface. The concept of an Akira remake was famously spoofed in 2008, but the proposed cast was only made public recently. Okay sure, it's a remake, whose to say Zac Effron couldn't do a crackin' Kaneda in a perfectly awesome movie, without the help of any Y-chromosome haplogroup O3 - but probably not. It wouldn't take a rabid japanophile to notice something missing eventually. Remember Shyamalan's The Last Airbender?

So now I can tell my children, in years to come, that when Warner Bros. cast Akira, their daddy was an activist ... except of course the prospect of fathering children for a guy who spends his weekends drawing George Takei in cosplay is an exponential curve into the negative.

Here are some Sulu studies.

Winter Bae Doo-Na

2011-05-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick amateur fan movie-poster for Bong Joon-Ho's Barking Dogs Never Bite (플란다스의 개) [2000], which I bought at JB a coupla' days ago when I couldn't find Memories of Murder (살인의 추억) [2003], a film with the most haunting and beautiful closing scene of any film, ever. This is the only part of MoM I've actually seen, having just caught the end of it on SBS. It blew me away, I'm waiting on a copy now, yeah yeah yeah. BJO's films are so rich and well-crafted, it blows my mind to think he's still relatively obscure in the Anglosphere. I feel like Demetri Martin's Asshole from the Future when I ask for his films and stores don't have them. "Oh, you haven't got Memories of Murder or hover cars? This store sucks". It's too bad Gore Verbinski is slated to direct a remake of The Host. This concept makes me pretty sadface. The good news though is that BJO's next film will be an adaptation of a French sci-fi graphic novel called Le Transperceneige. Amaejingu!

Quelle Horreur

2011-04-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Χριστός ανέστη

2011-04-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter and/or Passover friendly friends! Love, Ben.

San Quentin

2011-04-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

My sister's pooch Sonny.

Johnny Cash?

Robot Jox Fight Scene (Achilles vs Alexander)

2011-04-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

Les Etoiles Montantes

2011-04-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

Holy holographic Mary in a two-dollar shop! My first gig poster! Done up a little while ago for my lousy little sister Anie when she played at the Chalk Hotel in Woolloongabba with Sarah Kapeleris on back-up. Since this gig had an outside event organiser we didn't have any say in the design brief and had to keep it simple, which is okay, because I can save these hand-drawn roughs for when Anie goes Han Solo. I didn't really mind the end result either. It looks like an 18th Century advertisement for soap. "Try Drake's Sud Flakes! - Now with Pure Horse Tallow." Plus the typo 'the 24rd of March' got through to the printer. Oh, hey, if you're still sitting there with your palms facing the roof going, "where's all the Anie at?", she's also part of an electronic two-peice called Marcy Prospects.

Das Imperium schlägt zurück

2011-03-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Forensics

2011-03-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

lolwut??

Sendai

2011-03-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

93 'til Infinity

2011-03-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Crappy comic!

Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell...

2011-02-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

Skating Prince

2011-01-26T18:20:00.000-08:00

Rock Lobster

2011-01-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Here's a quick animation test for a tentative short film project which, for the moment, has the ostentatious title of PROJECT KARKINOS! (プロジェケトカルキノス!). Criticism more than welcome. Pretty soon I'll start another blog and begin uploading concept art and other exciting things there. Do stay tuned!

Jew Got Served

2011-01-12T23:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Hayao Miyazaki

2011-01-05T03:42:00.001-08:00

Was just stuffing around online before and found out it's Miyazaki's birthday today. He turns 70. May he live another 1000 years. I've gone on and on about him on this blog for the past three years. A quick search reveals his name appears here no less then 28,309 times. Nah, that's a lie.

Frank and Bing

2010-12-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

You'll Vote For These Guys, Won't You?

2010-12-12T23:29:00.001-08:00

Dear friends from around the world,

I am hereby blowing the Horn of Gondor and asking for your help in making sure two talented men reap the rewards they so richly deserve. They are both the only animated contestants in two short film competitions that stand any chance of winning. A win for them is a win for the little guy. The guy that wakes you up when you fall asleep on a train. The girl who laughs at your lame joke. The old timer who tells you to keep goin' the way you're goin'. If love, comradeship, honour and solidarity are virtues you uphold, then please...

Click here to vote for Maik Hempel, and

Click here to vote for David Blumenstein.

Authorised by the Benjamin Drake Party, Canberra.

Pointless Research Pop Quiz!

2010-12-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

Q: What do the non-player characters Gheed, Drognan and Alkor from Blizzard's popular dungeon roaming role playing game Diablo II (2000) have in common with one of the Mamma Aiuto sky pirates in Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso (1992)?

A: Brian George! The Israeli-Canadian voice actor who played a sky pirate in the English dub of Porco Rosso as well as the Diablo II NPCs. He also appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine respectfully. Another interesting Ghibli/Blizzard cross-over is the inclusion of Hayao Miyazaki in the credits of StarCraft (1998), the landmark real-time strategy game, presumably for providing inspiration for the Protoss 'Reaver' unit which resembles an Ohmu from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).

Brian George is a golden thread tied through so many of my favourite things. Thank you, Brian George. Also, Jean Reno was the voice of Porco in the French dub of Porco Rosso. Fact.

2010-12-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

General James Wolfe, 1759.

2010-11-26T20:29:00.001-08:00

Port-au-Prince

2010-11-22T23:13:00.000-08:00

Akira Fuse Single Cover - 積木の部屋 - Tsumiki No Heya

2010-11-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

クリック please!

I ♥ Bards

2010-11-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Spock!

2010-10-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Reuben and the Mermen of Tullamarine

2010-10-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

Sketchdump of lame airport drawings I did on the day I left Melbourne. When I got in the cab to go to the airport the cabbie asked "where you going? Brisbane?" and I was like, "yeah! How'djiou know?" and he scrunched up his face and said "the smell."

This is my handsome brother Reuby.

Lucretia

2010-10-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

The peasant Matashichi from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958) I would love to finish this film but the DVD seems to have cacked itself. I would be angry but when I ejected the disc, Seu Jorge's Life Aquatic Sessions was next on the playlist. Now I just feel good.

Lucretia - Giacomo Ginotti (1837-97)

This sculpture is gorgeous and sits in Brisbane's art gallery. Sadly I drew this really faintly in red and blue pencils so making this visible in Photoshop was like developing aura photos. I'll go back later though and carry on with this study. I'm going to put Lucretia second on my list of favourite sculptures of females under Fremiet's Jeanne d'Arc and above Lely's Venus.

First Breath of Spring - Harold Parker (1911)

This is a stiff drawing of a sculpture by Australian Harold Parker. Wasn't really into this piece to be honest and the gallery staff snobbed me for asking for a folding stool. I am going to place Brisbane Art Gallery's Lack of Folding Stools at #1 on my List of Things That Shit Me, above Star Wars Pop and Youtube Comments.

Kamakura Quickie

2010-09-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

Next time I'll actually time myself...

Nails

2010-09-13T02:37:00.001-07:00

Mermaid

2010-09-09T05:09:00.001-07:00

You guys should watch this Japanese Little Mermaid film I haven't seen since I was a kid, I laughed till I cried when I saw Fritz the Dolphin's face at :45 and then just cried when Marina dies and turns into seafoam.

Officer Caps

2010-09-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

Try it with your own skeleton...

2010-09-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

"...Sigga-cigar right from cuba-cuba,
I just bite it, s'for the look, I don't light it..."
- Wilhelm Schmidt

Dreams of Moski

2010-09-02T01:08:00.001-07:00

I have ruined another Moski drawing.

Simon and/or Garfunkel

2010-09-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

Paul Simon's Bowie phase.

Immune System Fail

2010-08-30T02:32:00.000-07:00

By Jove!

2010-08-19T03:14:00.001-07:00

Cosmic curses!

Hail Atlantis

2010-08-18T02:03:00.001-07:00

Ashemay, ashemay, ashemay, ashemay. Ah she may be...

Why is Moski Dreaming of Me?

2010-08-16T03:17:00.000-07:00

Soundtrack: Skip to 1:02

Elevating Petty Aristocrats

2010-02-24T00:41:00.000-08:00

Marriage Allegory of the Cornaro Family

by Giambattista Tiepolo, 1737-47

As you can see I spent my weekend with a Venetian named Giambattista Tiepolo whose sumptuous set peices are, according to his wiki article, 'enveloped in a regal luminosity. He is principally known for his fresco work, particularly his panegyric ceilings. These followed the Baroque tradition begun a century before by Pietro da Cortona, converting roof to painted sky, elevating petty aristocrats to divine status, and allowing for vast compositions that merged with the delicate ornamentation of the stucco frames'. Two such petty aristocrats were the Cornaros, who I studied. I devoted most of my concentration on the groom's bonnie round leg but left the rest of the drawing kind've unfinished and inconsistent, you can probably pick out my attempts to give it gloss. Minus points. To be honest I got a bit self conscious while I was studying this, but at least I learned some art history.

It was originally a ceiling painting as you might guess from the four-point perspective. Fantastic illusion! You can see all standard romantic symbols. Dog for fidelity, cherubs for love. You might also be able to make out the golden chain which links the two lovers. Cherubs are freaking hilarious. They make every painting they feature in hysterical. Check out the fatty down the bottom stuffing his face with fruit. The size of the painting makes me wonder which room it originally looked down on though. My guess is it hung above the Cornaro's bed chamber. Gross.

This statue of Caesar Augustus features the funniest cherub of them all.

Gandhara, Gandhara, they say it was in India...

2010-02-19T01:44:00.001-08:00

Hey you guys, forgive a guy for not posting in a while? Sometimes you post a blog and other times the blog posts you. Here's some sketcheroons I've done since the last time you saw me.

Gandharan Bodhisattva

This guy sits in the Asian Art section of the National Gallery. He has a beautiful and serene expression but I didn't really catch that purity in this drawing even though I laboured over his face for a few hours. One kid sidled up and said, "So you come here and draw what you like, huh?". Another kid came up, described stuff he'd dug up in his backyard and pointed out I'd forgotten to draw the Bodhisattva's temple dot. The interesting thing about this sculpture is that it was crafted in Gandhara which was situated in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. It was conquered in the 180s BC by a Greek people who converted to Buddhism and fused the Greek artistic tradition with Buddhist themes. It's a fascinating wiki article. You can sorta see Greek cupidity in this Bodhisattva's lips? Kids like me who grew up with Monkey Magic know Gandhara from the credit theme song.

Detail sketch of 'Hero & Leander' by Nicolas Régnier (1615 - 67)

Some sketches I did in Box Hill on Chinese New Year. Gong xi fa cai!

Horse Bum

2010-01-18T00:19:00.000-08:00

A detailed study of the bums of St. George and his horse. This statue can be found outside the state library on the other side of the park to my favourite French lady Jeanne d'Arc.

I spent a day at Woodford Folk Festival on the holidays. A day isn't really enough, I think I'll camp there this year - Anyone up for it? My sister Anie played a gig, I listened to a few cool ethnic ensembles and heard a lecture given by Bob Hawke, who called for the abolition of the states in favour of a monarchy, with Benjamin Drake installed as king. Nah seriously, he wants the states abolished (!?)

Here's some sketches of the family, also from the holidays. On the left, from the top you have mum, Flossy, Dad and then three sketches of my Uncle Jon telling the story of the luminous disc of light he saw hovering in the scrub at night in a remote part of the Northern Territory. Then on the right it's a drawing I did in the dark of Uncle Jon and my cousin Tobias.

Bolt and Beards

2010-01-12T23:30:00.000-08:00

Here's two peices I did on the holidays. The first is the playwright Robert Bolt, who wrote mum's favourite play, A Man for All Seasons, the story of the English Rennaiscance genius Thomas More. The second is a bearded guy I drew while watching Ronja Rövardotter, which is a Swedish fantasy film featuring many fine beards, among other things.

Xin Li

2010-01-12T00:47:00.000-08:00

God Jule

2009-12-24T04:01:00.000-08:00

This drawing, by Russian artist Igor Oleynikov, is one of the most Christmassy illustrations I know of.

Merry Christmas and God Bless you's all.

Love,
Ben.

Born in the Bayou

2009-12-20T20:08:00.000-08:00

Uncle Jon, Grandpa and then a bunch of folks in Avalon.

Animators are the people who create animation on film, or more accurately, they used to be these people. There was a time when the animator did everything. He drew the pictures, created the story, moved the models, colored in the frames, manipulated the camera, and even recorded the voices and sounds to create a world. Now we are in an era where quantity and specialization dominate the making of animated films. The animator has become merely a cog in the wheel of the unprecedented mass production of anime and the flood of animated television programs.

Animation has become simply an occupation, and the job of animator has the same importance as almost any other work station in the assembly line process. The general image of animator has unfortunately become one of a worker who is presented with a lousy storyboard - made who knows where - who must quickly draw figures that will move as little as possible, and who must promptly send his work on to the next stage in the production process.

Ironically, this flood is touted as a boom, as there is fan base even for the most slapdash animated program. This in turn allows for the sale of character-based products and, above all, ensures that someone somewhere earns a profit. Meanwhile, the animator himself feels a certain level of self-satisfaction, and in accepting this situation, has submitted to the trivialization of his creative spirit.

You may have become an animator because you wanted to build your own fictional world. But such romantic dreams are quickly destroyed. Who could reproach you for mechanically running your pencil across the paper as you sit at the conveyor belt, confronting the incredibly large pile of work to be done, the totally inadequate production budget and time schedule, the stupidity of the broadcaster or sponsor or promoter, and the formidable barrier of the preexisting specialization system? There is no shortage of rationalizations. It is easy to be a cog once you get used to it.

Isn't it possible for an animator to be engaged in the entire process of a work?

Isn't it possible to get a bit closer to the original essence of the animator?

It's not as if all paths toward creative animation are closed off. The work, at its core, is forged by a group - a group that is not usually dominated by a single strong personality. Should you possess a vision of a world you want to share with the public, a will to go to any length, and the skill to back it up, you can move bit by bit away from being a cog and closer toward being an animator in the original spirit of the word.

Miyazaki, H. Starting Point: 1979 - 1996 (Studio Ghibli Inc., Japan, 1996)

Magical Pug Festival 2009

2009-12-14T02:10:00.000-08:00

Mm, drawings? They look more like ass on lined paper... One more week and I'm going back to the land of horse-paddocks and pinecones I call home. I plan to lay face-down on the couch for 72 hours, grow a beard and wear a plaid shirt. According to science, I should look something like this by the time I return to Melbourne in '10:

I say, did it ever occur to you that if you tried to work out your ancestry with a binary tree, the number of your ancestors would increase exponentially

'for example, a single individual alive today would over 30 generations, going back to about the High Middle Ages, have roughly a billion ancestors, more than the total world population at the time.' (Dawkins, R., River out of Eden, Basic Books, New York, 1995).

For the Love of Chiu and Moski

2009-12-04T02:50:00.000-08:00

"When you're feeling under pressure, do something different. Roll up your sleeves, or eat an orange."
- Manny,
after absorbing the Little Book of Calm.

A tea ceremony gone horribly right with old friends Chiu and Moski.

Pinch and a Punch

2009-12-01T01:39:00.000-08:00

There's more I could've done to this drawing but my longboat is stuck in the ice at the moment. Although speaking of, those are real Norwegian mountains in the background, ones I saw with my own eyeballs! The little girl is playing a bukkehorn, meaning "goat horn" (I'm guessing "horn" means "goat" in Norsk) I bet you've never heard one. It's a Viking instrument and incredibly beautiful. Hold your head infront of the air-con and dream of Narnia when you listen...

Sigh, alright folks let's meditate...

Now is the time to really study!
From the outside, creating animation probably seems very glamorous and rewarding. And it is true that there are some glamorous aspects to this work, and also that I find it rewarding. But the glamorous parts represent only a tiny fraction of the whole; most of the work we do - what people don't see - is actually very down-to-earth.

Quite a few of today's younger animators plunged directly into this line of work because they were fans. But if I were to ask them to draw a picture of what they think a chaika (a flying boat in Future Boy Conan) would look like in flight, they would only be able to imagine what they had previously seen on past TV anime shows. And I wouldn't be able to use their work as a result.

To draw a chaika flying in a truly original fashion, you would need to have read at least one book on the history of flying, and then be able to use your imagination to augment what you have read.

In delving into books on the history of airplanes, you would encounter the name of Igor Sikorsky. He is the man who in 1913 built the world's first four-engine bi-plane and flew it in the skies over Russia (later on he immigrated to the United States and in 1941 he invented the first single main-rotor helicopter). When Sikorsky flew his four-engine plane over Russia, he is known for having dined on board, and then, when an engine failed, for grabbing on to one of the struts supporting the wings and standing up, out of the cockpit. With the full blast of wind in his face, he personally and anxiously checked the condition of his engines. I personally think Sikorsky symbolizes the way men really fly. And it is from this image - of someone yearning to fly - that a good illustration emerges. It does not come from imitating something seen long ago on an animated TV series, from a plastic model kit, or even from the experience of having flown in one of today's hermetically sealed passenger planes.
Miyazaki, H. 'Starting Point: 1979-1996' (Studio Ghibli Inc., Japan, 1996)

Sous le Pump

2009-11-30T01:06:00.000-08:00

It is all well and good to love animation, but as I always counsel people, it is best not to think of entering this business lightly. Animation is still a very new field, and there are only a few works in existence that we can really call classics. But it is essential to watch as many of these classics as possible. And it is also essential to be interested in subjects that have traditions going back hundreds of years, and to broaden your own knowledge. In exerting yourself toward this end, you will find that you develop something truly your own.

Miyazaki, H. 'Starting Point: 1979-1996' (Studio Ghibli Inc, Japan, 1996).

Ratings

2009-11-27T03:34:00.000-08:00

Before speaking about the techniques of animation...
Sometimes high school students and others ask me whether they should first go to college, or start working as animators right away. When asked, I respond as follows: It doesn't matter, so just go to college. Go to college and, while enjoying four years of student life, study art if you really want to.
I give young people this advice because jumping into the industry four years early isn't going to help them become full animators any faster. Once you're in the industry, you will be overwhelmed with work and you won't have any time to study or learn for yourself.
One of the things about drawing is that, if you put in serious effort, you will become good at it, at least to a certain extent. But that's all the more reason to study a variety of things that interest you while you have time, before you enter the professional world, in order to develop and solidify such fundamentals as your own viewpoint and way of thinking.
If you don't do this, your life will be treated as just another disposable product. In the animation business, most people spend a long time working at the bottom of the organizational ladder. You usually have to endure a lengthy apprenticeship period, waiting patiently for the chance to someday demonstrate what you can do. But the opportunity to demonstrate what you can do only comes along once in a while, so unless you are extraordinarily lucky, you'll probably never make it.
To endure something is obviously exhausting and agonizing. But at the same time, you must also continue to hold what you regard as important close to your heart and nurture it. Should you ever relinquish what you truly hold dear, the only path left to you will be that of a pencil-pusher - the type of animator whose sense of self-worth is determined by the numerical amount of his earnings, or who cycles between joy and despair over the high or low ratings his work receives.

Taken Seriously

2009-11-26T03:10:00.001-08:00

Before Speaking About the Techniques of Animation...
...Having said all this, if someone were to ask me what the most important thing is when creating a new animated work, my answer would be that you first have to know what you want to say with it. In other words, you have to have a theme. Surprisingly, perhaps, people sometimes overlook this basic fact of filmmaking and overemphasize technique instead. There are innumerable examples of people making films with a very high level of technique, but only a fuzzy idea of what they really want to say. And after watching their films, viewers are usually completely befuddled. Yet when people who know what they want to say make films with a low level of technique, we still greatly appreciate the films because there is really something to them.
So with that, for young people who are now dreaming of someday becoming animators, let me wrap up my thoughts:
When young, nearly all of us want to be taken seriously, as soon as possible. Perhaps because of this we tend to overemphasize technique. In fact, many of those who have not yet taken the plunge into the professional world of animation tend to speak endlessly about animation techniques, or concentrate on gaining as much knowledge as possible about the technical aspects of certain scenes. In reality, however, once you enter this industry, the techniques required to make animation can be mastered very quickly.
Miyazaki. H., 'Starting Point: 1976-1996' (Studio Ghibli Inc., Japan, 1996)

Graduation '09 Special

2009-11-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

Some good news from the world of Australian animation! Firstly, last night was the Graduate Screening of the Queensland College of Art's Bachelor of Animation Course. In December, after an elaborate ceremony involving George Miller swinging the Griffith Mace over his head screaming, the former third years of Level 5 will be holders of one of Australia's most infamous animation degrees. From the little I've seen and heard, I'm immensely excited by what has come out of QCA this year.

Trailer to Sam Lewis' short There Be Treasure.

Trailer to Knightmouse by Josh Anguix, Max Cowen and Josh Huf.

Defective Detective Theatrical Teaser from john grist on Vimeo.

The handy Vimeo hyperlinks say it all, except for mentioning Andy Copeland, Luke Mathers and Francis Stanton who also worked on this.

Also, I couldn't find them on YouTube or Vimeo but there is also Yao Guai by Wayne Chan, Nathan Ngo and Stevana Lee. I entreat you to visit their production blog. There are also many more projects which I couldn't find but are, I imagine, just as awesome.

It's work like this that really builds my confidence in the Australian animation industry and creates the kind of pressure which pushes Griffith alumni like me forward! Special thanks to John and Michael for making films in 2D. When I was in first-year a third-year poked his head through the door while we were animating and asked, 'what are you doing? 2D is dead.'

This brings me neatly to my second bit of good news. The PRA short, The Cat Piano, has been shortlisted for an Academy Award. That's not to say it's nominated, but it's on the list of potential nominees and is up against this years best shorts, including Pixar's Partly Cloudy. Freakin' sensational!! To think that American eyes, glinting with the light of trophies will cast their gaze over frames that we drew with our own clawed hands!

And that's the news! I'd like to upload some more pictures but I'm afraid my browser will crash and I'll be left sobbing into my palms. Night night!

Il merit nos bravo-oh-oh-woah-oh!

2009-11-24T02:51:00.000-08:00

Here's my amateurish attempt at drawing Astro Boy. Drawing in the Tezuka style was fun and more of a challenge than I expected, due to Astro's little subtleties and my lousy line work. "Tezuka-san, it took me all day, but I drew three off-model key frames..." McFRY, YOU ARE FIRED.

At the core, there must be a sense of realism...
"Everyone is attracted to power and strength. This was true even in ancient Japanese tales in which superheroes - such as Kurama Tengu - appeared. People were able to identify with these heroes and to enjoy imagining themselves as superheroes. But todays supermen also have machines and technology at their disposal. And even if only one person operates a specific machine, that machine presumably required multiple designers and mechanics to reach the point of being operational. In the world of fiction, I believe that we have to depict this background to give the machines an air of reality. I despise shows that fail to do so.
As a result, I don't watch your typical action anime films. And it's also the reason why, when I worked on Future Boy Conan, I did not try to make "animation" as we usually think of it, but a manga, or a cartoon film. Anime may depict fictional worlds, but I nonetheless believe that at its core it must have a certain realism. Even if the world depicted is a lie, the trick is to make it seem as real as possible. Stated another way, the animator must fabricate a lie that seems so real viewers will think the world depicted might possibly exist...
For example, say one makes an animated film depicting the world of a bug from the viewpoint of the bug. Such a film shouldn't show the world from the perspective of a human using a magnifying glass, but a world where each blade of grass becomes a giant tree, where the ground is not flat, but bumpy and rough, and where water - whether in the form of rain or droplets - has a completely different character than we humans normally think of it as having. It's in depicting the world this way that the story becomes interesting and starts to seems real.
...In my view, this is one of the hallmarks of animation in general, and one of its most wonderful qualities.
Miyazaki, H. 'Starting Point: 1979-1996' Trans. Cary, B., Schodt, F.L., Studio Ghibli Inc., Japan, 1996)

If spoke slang to orangutangs, the advantages! Any fool on earth could plainly see...

2009-11-23T01:36:00.000-08:00

... If I could parley with pachyderms, it's a fairy tale! Worthy of Hans Andersen or Grimm!

Here's the results of a bit of sketching I did on the weekend with new friends Nori Tominaga, Michael Manalac, and old friends Peter Yong and Adele K. Thomas. In order of appearance, the Giant Otter, the Guar, the Okapi and the Lion

Carrying on with the essay 'Nostalgia for a Lost World', p. 20 of 'Starting Point: 1979 - 1996'.

"Today I rarely watch any animation that amazes me or makes my heart pound with excitement. I'd of course love to see works that do, even if only once a year; for most people - and not just professionals like myself - it's probably the way real animation is supposed to be, after all. But creating animation of that caliber requires a huge amount of concentration, even when drawing the individual illustrations, and the animated film won't come to life unless the animators themselves pour their hearts and souls into their work. In reality, we rarely have the luxury of doing that. And even if we do throw ourselves into our work, in this industry we can never expect commensurate rewards or treatment.
As a result, the sort of work I am describing cannot be created without the help of people who are truly willing to go hungry. I'm not talking about people who make experimental animation, but something completely different. I'm talking about those who create animation designed for a wide audience that includes children - the type of animation that cannot be made by a single individual. Commercial animation almost by definition requires group effort. Even if the animated images ultimately move as a result of the efforts of each individual member of the group, the final product can never be from one person alone. It must belong to everyone, as well as to each individual. For us, the ultimate dream is to create works this way and have as many people as possible view them."

Sampo

2009-11-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

Hai~ Yai~ FORCES!

Didst thou call down the thunder?
Nay milord...
Art thou prepar'ed to reap the whirlwind?
Nay milord...
Then verily I havest thou mistaken - OR HAVEST I? - *thokk*

Has anybody read the Once and Future King by T.H. White? The Arthurian fantasy? I'm sure I remember a part where Arthur or someone shouts "you've called down the thunder, now prepare to reap the whirlwind" before he jousts some fool. Love it. Anyone who played StarCraft in highschool might remember the Ghost unit saying the same thing when you bugged him enough. Google can't help me with the Arthur context but revealed the original quote is from the Book of Hosea 8:7, and goes like this:

"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yeild no meal: if so be it yeild, the strangers shall swallow it up."

So there you go! The guy who said StarCraft didn't have any Biblical roots must be pret-ty embarrassed now. Moving on, I have something to share with you! A couple weeks back I bought a book called 'Starting Point: 1979-1996' (Studio Ghibli Inc., Japan, 1996) translated by Beth Cary, Frederik L. Schodt and written by the wonderful Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. In it is a collection of essays and lectures given by Miyazaki to various publications. It's brilliant. Every paragraph is inspirational, clarifying and interesting. This book pulled me out of a dark patch, so I'll share it with you post by post - It'll be like Julie & Julia except instead of cooking French cuisine I'm going to make a two hour feature length animation each chapter. Please join me for what I would now like to call the...

Look at his wonderful face for God's sake! For theme music let's have 'Sampo' from the Totoro Soundtrack. Wasting no time, the first chapter is an essay called 'Nostalgia for a Lost World' which was printed in Gekkan ehon bessatsu: Animeshon (Animation: Monthly Picture Book Special) by Subaru Shobo, March 1979. In it Miyazaki discusses what 'animation' is to him, boiling it down to 'whatever [he] wants to create.' '...if it isn't something I really want to work on, it isn't animation to me.' He goes on to explain his theory as to why anime is so popular with teenagers. To him it is a case of needing to have a private world in a period of oppression. He 'was never more passionate about manga than when preparing for [his] college entrance exams.' But what about when we grow up?

The word nostalgia comes to mind. Adults, fondly recalling something from their childhood, often speak of nostalgia. But even three-, four-, and five-year-olds feel a similar sentiment. It's something that all of us, regardless of age, actually experience. And as we get older, the breadth - or depth - of our nostalgia definately increases. I believe, in fact, that nostalgia is one of the fundamental starting points for most people involved in creating animation.

Human history exists in a continuum encompassing both the past and the future, but the moment someone is born into this present instant, into 1978, he or she has already lost certain opportunities or possibilities, including the chance to be born in other ages. Yet we can still enjoy ourselves in different fantasy worlds. And this yearning for other, lost possibilities may also be a major motivator in creating animation.

You see what I mean? The whole book reads like that! Please share your thoughts and join me next time for more Miyazaki Meditations.

Bluey

2009-11-19T02:30:00.000-08:00

E-a-a-asy tiger...

Sorry that drawing is a bit scrappy, I was dealing with muscles and perspectives out of my league. Drawing the Blue Cattle Dog was fun though.

Hoo... It's getting closer to Christmas. Thoughts turning back towards Queensland

Cousins in the Cages

2009-11-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

A Dutch gentleman and Korean lady on a plane.

Baboons.

Silverback Gorillas and some baby Mandrills.

The young Mandrill I was drawing was a really good sport. He sat facing me for a long time with his hands neatly folded in his lap, his legs stretched out and crossed.

Ou~!

2009-11-17T01:03:00.001-08:00

So I was shuffling through files and I found some things I think I've never posted. Are, are those planets in the alignment I think they're in? Yes they certainly are - Must be time for BENTROSPECTIVE DEUX-MILLE-NEUF.

I drew this samurai when I worked at Liquid.

I know I missed an 'e' but this is before I got Franced. A going-away card for my old guitar teacher Gucki Reissenberger. She played gypsy jazz, or jazz manouche.

A freakin' mind blowing collaborative effort with the incomparable Qiu, Xin and Moski.

Drawings of Folks on Trains

2009-11-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

Here's some drawings of folks on the buses and trains on the way to and out of Box Hill, where I lived for three weeks back in August. I miss those drowsy times already! I was so worn out back then I fell asleep at my table in the restaurant the first night there. Both my legs were so paralyzed when I woke up I had to zombie-strut out of there, Thriller-styles. Nice anecdote Ben. Thanks. Here are more more drawings this time closer to the present.

My Box Hill Uncle to the left and an Er-Hu player who you can see outside the National Gallery on a weekend. He was going to finish up but kept playing when he saw what I was up to.

Wein using the ba gua to try and make some predictions for Xue Yi.

May I See a Crucifix Level with my Eyes?

2009-11-14T00:32:00.000-08:00

Now with French Grammar Corrections!

Quick sketches of people and things on the grass.

Two studies of the statue 'Jeanne d'Arc' by sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet.

On the lawn of the State Library of Victoria there are two statues, one of St. George slaying the dragon and another of my favourite saint, Joan of Arc. I've been a huge fan of her since that cheesy telemovie in 1999 that starred Leelee Sobieski and Peter O'Toole. Follow that link and see if you can spot the awesomely obvious sewing machine work on medieval peasant hoods and, while you're at it, enjoy the incredibly evocative musical score. I remember playing Joan of Arc missions in Age of Empires II as well, that's where I learned the French word 'embuscade' meaning 'ambush'. Cut a long story short it's a beautiful statue and Joan's face is gorgeous. You can see my two attempts at drawing it. One day I'll get it. As I was drawing I had the weird feeling I'd seen her leg before. I shrugged it off at first but, as I was going through some photos later on, I realised that I had seen it before!

These are two photos I took in France earlier this year. As it turns out the Joan of Arc statue in Melbourne is a replica of this statue in Paris, which was created by a man called Emmanuel Frémiet, who also created the elephant statue at the Musée d'Orsay for anyone who has the know to care.

Here is our Jeanne d'Australie looking over Swanston Street.

Fleet Foxes Scare

2009-11-13T03:13:00.000-08:00

Is this a new Fleet Foxes album cover? As it turns out, no, it's the work of Japanese-lady-based-in-the-UK Yuko Michishita, but according to Robin Pecknold's MySpace they have stopped touring and are working on their second album. Oh man I love these guys. Because the Foxes have a print of Arthur pulling the sword out of the anvil as their MySpace background, I always associate their music with him. So I drew an Arthur, and some other things.

Someone axing Arthur for directions.

Our woolly minotaur friend Baqara.

Some more vikingsfolk.

Die Walkure

2009-11-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

Hei hei! Hvordan går det! Because it was the 20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall collapsing I was in the mood for Beethoven, then I listened to Wagner, then I wiki'd Valkyries. The wiki article on the Valkyries has to be one of the most interesting on the whole website, with many fascinating links to other pages. For instance, from Valkyries you can leap to 'flyting' which is a contest of insults. Take the Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedy for example.

"Kennedy states that while he ascends Mount Parnassus to drink of the insiprational waters of the Castalian Spring, Dunbar goes "in Marche or Februere" to a farm pond and drinks the frogspawn." - SNAP!

On the Valkyrie page there is a fantastic paragraph from the Old Norse poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana I which is part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda. Goes a little somethin' like this:

Helmeted valkyries came down from the sky
—the noise of spears grew loud—they protected the prince;
then said Sigrun—the wound-giving valkyries flew,
the troll-woman's mount was feasting on the fodder of ravens.

"The troll-woman's mount was feasting on the fodder of ravens." Meaning, wolves were eating the corpses! What an image! Maybe on the Christmas holidays I'll read the rest. In conclusion, here's a Valkyrie!

Solveig, you have that crazy look in your eye...

2B pencil, Photoshop.

Whatever Blows Your Hair Back...

2009-11-11T00:36:00.000-08:00

It's getting a bit warm in old Melbourne. After sticking my head infront of the airconditioner's vent and imagining myself on a misty mountaintop I drew this.

Pepela! 2B pencil on a notepad with the lines colour-adjusted away in Photoshoppe.

Other than that, check out this performance by Japanese folk-singer Kazuki Tomokawa. The first performance is a beautiful solo ballad, the second is a duet I'm not even going to bother to describe. It has to be seen to be believed. It's a visceral - oh wait I'm trying to describe it...

With Our Thoughts We Make The World...

2009-11-09T01:03:00.000-08:00

Special drawings! When I first arrived in Melbourne I was lucky enough to stay with this particular family until I found a place. Every night the father and sons meditate and recite the mantras 'ohm mani padme hum' and 'hum taray tutaray turay soha'. Read 'em out loud and enjoy the syllabic flavour of Sanskrit! Thinking back to the three weeks I spent with them I can feel again the drowsy anxiety of leaving home, the smell of incense and the comforting weight of a doonah cold at the extremities.

My friend Senji, playing Sony.

Saints and Sinners

2009-11-06T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hey blogniks, here's two more sketches from my moleskine which I'm posting bit by little bit. I figure there's no fun in uploading everything in one go, gotta keep things episodic. To the left we have a pencil study of St. Sebastian Being Cured by Irene by Luca Giordano (1692 - 1702) which hangs in the Victorian National Gallery's European Collection. To the right is a detail study of John the Baptist from Parmigianino's The Madonna and Child with Saints which hangs in England's National Gallery.

Drawing in English museums and galleries is the best. All the treasures of the world plundered by our pirate motherland and at your disposal with free use of fold-out stools.

Notepad Adventures

2009-11-05T00:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some examples of me ruling neat blue lines over someone else's drawings.

Drunk she stumbles down by a river, screams calling...

2009-11-02T20:07:00.001-08:00

... London.

A few drawings I made while in the UK.
Drawn with ballpoint pens, blue, red and 2B lead pencils.

Allons-y!

2009-06-03T05:48:00.000-07:00

My new showreel:

Star Trek Special

2009-05-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

2009-05-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Retrospective

2009-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid we were lining up to ride a donkey and when it was my turn the donkey-keeper put me on the saddle backwards for a laugh. Little did that man realise that this new point of view would give me, more than a decade later, the necessary inspiration for a BENJAMIN DRAKE RETROSPECTIVE ! ! !

Queensland Year Project, 2007. I worked with Jasmine Hambling and Patrick Culleton on this one.

One of the first drawings I ever did with a tablet, 2005.

Comic, 2006.

High school comics.

I drew this before I left Bunnings for a woman that worked there.

If you're really serious about karaoke...

2009-04-16T23:11:00.001-07:00

Karaoke is the best.

Truly He is Risen!

2009-04-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling Death by death,
bestowing life to those in the tombs.

The Hebrew is for Yehoshua. This is what I imagine Jesus looked like. A Mexican Wrestler according to my friend Victor Qiu. I was aiming for first-century Jewish guy, but whatever.

Long Time Singin' No Blog Blues.

2009-04-06T18:47:00.001-07:00

The Cat Piano made the official selections for le Festival International du Film d'Animation d'Annecy!

Click that little Annecy link and you'll find a film index page for The Cat Piano (Le Piano du Chat) with all our names in the credits, in case you haven't beleived me this whole time. I'm going to blow all my savings and head over there in June. This'll be my first trip north of the equator. Trouble is though I haven't got a lot of money at the moment and so I haven't got the space in my mind to look forward to it all yet, but I'm sure it'll hit me when I'm on the plane.

The first sketch is the best in my opinion. The next two were my attempts to clean it up. The third one is as final as I want to take it really. It loses something the more I try to pin it down.

I liked my aunties reaction to seeing a photo of Caesar's bust: "You can tell he's well educated, and a bit nasty." I'd like to try another Caesar drawing soon, this one is a bit stiff.

He's a work in progress. I love three pointed hats.

Ave!

2008-09-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a history of the Byzantine Empire. Good fun! Tell you a short story; there was an unpopular General named Rufinus who'd ordered a massacre of innocents and was fairly ruthless in general [pun]. When the Emperor died, he saw a chance to get the throne, and went out to the army to schmooze the legionnaires. They promptly closed around him, hacked him to pieces and paraded his severed hand through Byzantium, tugging at the tendons to make the hand clutch, shouting "Give to the insatiable!".

Some hoplites, or Spartans. I dunno, I just like the helmets.

A Cloudfish.

More Costume Designs for the Horia Lezginkim

2008-08-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Pepela - Have I mentioned already that I've renamed her Pepela? It's a Georgian name which means 'Papillon' (butterfly). Thanks to Paul for spotting that one in the list of Georgian Girl Names. The truth is Paul, again, showed me a short film made in England about a red haired girl called Sally flying around in a cloudy sky, it's called 'Clouds'. You can find it on coldhardflash.com. The similarity to my red haired Sally was too close, and was a clear sign she had to have her name changed.

Captain Irakli.

Baqara.

Happy Birthday Steve

2008-08-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

Some Bunnings Sketches

2008-07-28T03:08:00.000-07:00

The Crew of the Horia Lezginka II

2008-07-22T04:54:00.001-07:00

Crew of the Horia Lezginka

2008-07-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, alright, I've backflipped on the name of the boat. Aircaravel Euxeinos sounds too much like the name of a big ship. Now it is named The Horia Lezginka, which to me sounds much more like a fishing boat. Here are some reference images for the crew members.

Lantern Lezginka

2008-07-17T05:41:00.001-07:00

The Adventures of Ben and Sen

2008-06-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Ben and Sen, Manchuria, 1947.

Ben and Sen, Japan, 2008.

Ben and Sen, Narnia, in the age of Prince Caspian.

Ben, Sen, Steve and Nathan, New York, 1948.

Ben and Sen, Georgia, 1993.

Disaster Relief and Medical Robot.

2008-05-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

DrakeTechs DRMR (Disaster Relief and Medical Robot) is a highly mobile robot that moves around disaster sites with his four auto-balancing legs much like Boston Dynamic's BIGDOG robot (YouTube it!), searching for survivors. While other heavy-lifting robots clear the debris the DRMR carefully lifts and carries the injured with two adjustable subsidiary stretcher arms. His primary arms carry out medical procedures on the wounded en route to a hospital or human medical team. At this stage in the DRMRs development the robot can assist in trauma injuries and set broken bones while mobile.

Tivoli Arcade

2008-05-13T21:36:00.001-07:00

Here are a few sketches of BBoy Hiro and BGirl Minae at the Tivoli Arcade, Bourke Street, Melbourne.

ANZAC Day

2008-04-25T00:34:00.001-07:00

Two Sketches

2008-04-14T04:18:00.000-07:00

Queens of Woodley Street

2008-04-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

Kyle Woodley working on pre-production.

Space Grandma.

Paul Lalo contemplating thesis.

Philippino Gangsters.

Deo Gratia, Deo Gratia

2008-04-08T00:11:00.001-07:00

Sketches

2008-04-03T23:08:00.001-07:00

Honours Seminar.

Brighella's Tree Trunks, Arlecchino's Sashay and the Sneaky Ups.

2008-03-30T06:30:00.001-07:00

The last Commedia Oz illustrations before the book is published. Thank you, and goodnight!

Some Kingdom of Heaven fan art

German Crusader: Have you been at war?
Balian: On horse, and as an enginer also.

German Crusader: Against whom and for whom did you fight?

Balian: For one lord against another, on a point which cannot be remembered.
German Crusader: There's better game now; one God against another. The pay is proportionate.

I drew this two years ago! Found it on my HD.