Don't Forget

Some people, eh? I'll do this for everyone if need be. New blog here.

A New Blog

Hello there. This is just a quick little update to let you know that I have moved my blog to a new location. You can find it here: David Galletly: Blog - please have a look if you enjoy reading my nonsense. I will be posting plenty new art, illustration and design alongside links to stuff I like and any other odds & ends I can think of.

If you're the subscriber type, there is a new feed to add to your reader of choice once you get there. Or, for your convenience, you can subscribe to my new blog simply by clicking HERE.

Sorry for any inconvenience. Thank you so much for reading this site over the years. Onwards and upwards!

David.

Website down

This is a short message to let you know that my website is down for maintenence and will return over the weekend. I will keep you updated. Thanks x

Jonnie Common Album Launch

I'm extremely happy to announce the launch of Master of None, the new album by one of my favourite musicians Jonnie Common. Not only am I hyped about the music, but I'm also chuffed because Jonnie asked me to provide some artwork for the cover.

It's been a nice little collaboration, with me sending through a couple of drawings (my Dog drawing & a new pattern) for Jonnie to go crazy over with pink neon. The end result has a really awesome feel to it that neither of us could have created without the other's input. And isn't that, my friends, the point?

Master of none goes on general release on Monday the 1st of August through Red Deer Club and Glasgow folks can see Jonnie play a special album launch gig tomorrow (Sunday 31st) at the Captain's Rest in the West End. I'm gonna stop by to catch the show & to doodle up a little chalk sign for the venue, which is a first for me. Stop by if you can, he's one of the best dudes to see live.

I'm really proud to have been involved with this project. I think I've been into Jonnie's stuff for pushing 10 years now (which is scary) after I picked up one of his Down The Tiny Steps 'Picket Fence' CDs while I was studying. Not to be too much of a sook, but I've long said amongst friends that if I had any musical ability (I don't), I'd want my stuff to sound like Jonnie Common’s. He has an incredibly playful, sweet and funny way with lyrics and a seemingly bottomless bag of unusual instruments, sounds and squelches. Check out the very lovely Photosynth:



I would have preferred to have got this post up here a little sooner, but damn, my life has been busy recently. Nothing bad or serious, but my artwork has had a little break and I'm only now getting back into it and getting my head around what I want to do next.

My future output may or may not involve this blog, but there will be more to see and to read soon.

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Stanley Kubrick's Boxes

Last night, just by chance, I noticed that someone had uploaded Stanley Kubrick's Boxes, a documentary by Jon Ronson, to Vimeo. I was super excited as I'd been trying to find it for quite a while with no luck.

The film, as far as I can tell, was made alongside this 2004 Guardian article by Ronson which I remember reading on my lunch break back when I worked in Argos. It's a fascinating exploration of Kubrick's giant (bloody GIANT) personal archive that shines a little light on his creative process.

I'd recommend giving it a look, especially because there's a chance it'll be pulled from Vimeo if the wrong kind of dude stumbles over it. It's as funny and interesting as you'd expect from a Jon Ronson documentary.

There's a suggestion in there that Kubrick understood that he could create works of genius, but only if he methodically researched every detail of a project for years beforehand. That's comforting, eh? The idea is lovely - that even if you're not a natural talent, you can achieve something beyond your capabilities if you're patient and put in enough goddamn work. It completely humanises the big, scary, impenetrable director.

I'll maybe do a wee post about my love for Jon Ronson sometime soon. If you don't know his work, his latest book, The Psychopath Test, is a great place to start.

EDIT: understand there's a good number of people visiting after a bunch of activity on Twitter last night. First off, hello! Second off, Film Geek on Vimeo is deserving of credit for the upload.

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iA Writin'

I just downloaded iA Writer for my iMac. It's a completely stripped-down writing app that has only a handful of settings (fullscreen / spelling / word-count) as well as a unique 'focus mode' which, when enabled, emphasises your current sentence. The idea is that you can focus on your ideas and your words without distraction. It's quite beautiful.

At £10.99, it's also quite pricey (comparatively). Simple word processing systems are very trendy these days, which is good, I suppose, if they get folk thinking... but bad if all they do is encourage further procrastination by creating an unquenchable urge to find the 'perfect' writing app. I guess I'll need to wait until I've written a bunch of stuff (or not) to know whether I've been duped into paying a premium for what's effectively TextEdit.

If I do write more because of iA Writer, even just a little, then I consider it money well spent. A good idea is well worth £10.99.

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Secret Store: Death Compass T-Shirt

Here's a thing. The very new and very awesome Secret Store have a super limited-edition t-shirt out with my Death Compass drawing on it. Finally, something to cover your nakedness! Available in sizes for small, medium and large people, the t-shirts are hand printed on organic cotton in a run of 100. Imagine how excited you'd be were you to bump into someone wearing the same shirt. You'd point and be like 'hey!' and the other person would point and be like 'hey!' right back at you.

Alongside my design, there are shirts by Mesh137, Gareth Roberts, Keaton Henson and Isobel Kho. There is also a nifty Secret Store design to show your love / look cool / cover aforementioned naked body. Head on over to their website, take a gander and perhaps pick something up. Secret Store are also looking for up-and-coming talent to design their next range, so get in touch with them if you've got an idea.

I will send a little set of badges free of charge to anyone pictured wearing my shirt because I'd be st-st-stoked to see it out there in the world. Aaaannd if I bump into you on the street wearing one (looking at you Glasgow), I'll give you a print or a wee drawing or something.

Big thanks to Chris for his help. Get well soon dude.

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Explorin'

With spring a-sproinging all over the place, I took off on my bike on Thursday for the first time in about 4 or 5 months. My intention was to have a little explore of Glasgow's Southside - something I've not really done (outside of Shawlands anyway) since moving here last September. The winter has a knack for keeping a man inside with the telly.

A little bit of searching before I left led me to discover that two (two! can you imagine my delight?) skateparks seemed to live within a 20 minute cycle of my wee hoose and my intention was to discover, if not exactly conquer, both of them along my way.

First up, Queens Park skatepark, pictured above. I was somewhat familiar with this place from magazines and videos, but had never visited and had long forgotten it's name. Dark, rough and sketchy, Queens Park is a real Council mismanagement of obstacles too big, too small or too weird for your regular average-to-crap skateboarder like myself. Actually, even for Dudes Who Are Good, I imagine most of this park is all but unskatable (5' run-up to stairs, anyone?).

The vert ramp is Queens Park's only draw and, well, it looks ready to eat your soul. Show it no weakness. The thing is big - bigger than my photos make out - and scary - scarier than my photos make out. Some people can skate this monster (and skate it well), but not me. I take a look, wave a little white flag and scoot away on my poncey wee bike. I suspect the next time I visit will be to identify a body.
My hopes turned to Rouken Glen (above) - somewhere I'd seen on YouTube, but only recently realised was on the Southside. A 2.5 mile cycle from my house in Shawlands makes this park just about viable as a 'bit cloudy but I'll risk it' option and, I dunno, it could be worse (it could be Queens Park). It was empty when I arrived but as far as I know, there's a wee local scene, which is all good. No sign of any discarded syringes - also good.

Rouken Glen is a small prefab metal park in a nice area. Not exactly inspiring but potentially pretty fun. A mini ramp would've been a nice touch here, or even some lower ledges (the main one is just the wrong side of comfortable, for short-arses like myself). The box looks not bad (bank to ledge!) and there's a bigger hip than you'd expect in a place like this. A decent dick-about spot, I reckon. Good for getting rid of the rusty knees before summer.

If, by a long shot, anyone knows other good places to skate on the Southside of Glasgow, particularly near Shawlands, let me know. I got so used to living 5 mins from a park in Stirling that I find it weird not being able just to nip out for half an hour anymore. Oh and sorry about the cheesy Hipstamatic photos - I got a new phone recently and I can't stop playing with it.

Oh, and along similar lines, my friend Ben has started a blog called Terminal Moraine about skateboarding in Australia, his new home. Give him a wee follow. He's a smart cookie and, if he properly gets into the blogging habit, it'll be a good 'un. His exploring partly inspired this post.

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