My Friend Steve

For the past few months, my friend Steven McEwan has taken to drawing. A lot. I've known him for years and, yeah, he'd doodle some funny stuff from time to time, but not like this. He's recently been taken over by this compulsive urge to make pictures. Sometimes he says he's been up half the night just drawing weird stuff.

I was motivated to make this post because of the above poster he made for Daniel's 21st birthday. It's so goddamn cool and weird and brilliant. Isn't that exactly how a poster for a friend's party should look? Fun as hell. You just know you're in for a good time. I've changed the phone number / email and removed the date on that image for privacy sake.

The bulk of Steve's obsessive output has been dedicated to drawing people on Facebook. He must be close to posting 100 different friends (or even people he doesn't know), just for the sake of it. I've been trying to convince him to start a blog so people can browse through his work but he's not got round to it yet.

Alongside the big, bold colour pictures, every so often a little line-art compilation goes up. This is normally a retrospective list of everyone he's drawn recently. Facebook being Facebook, everyone kinda half-knows everyone else and it's really fun to sit and look over who Steve has been compelled to portray.

Last month he also went through a celebrity phase. So, as well as the Chuckle Brothers, we've had David Cameron, Ironside, Ironman, that horrible Fritzl guy, Rab C Nesbitt, Fall frontman - Mark E Smith and John Locke from Lost.

Steve has been asking me all sorts of questions about different kinds of paint, where to get prints made, framing etc. We've also been talking about going to life-drawing classes (something I've been meaning to get back into for years now). He's taking it pretty seriously, which is fantastic.



I understand this might be a bit in-jokey, like it might not be as amazing if you don't know Steve or any of the folk in his work. It's crazy if you do though. Imagine if one of your friends, just someone you go to the cinema with or skateboard with or something, started drawing hundreds of pictures, just because they felt like it. It's a strange thing.

If Steve gets round to collecting everything together online, I'll post a link up here for sure. The best thing is, he's progressing really fast. His drawings are getting better, his subjects broader, his colours bolder. I'm totally hyped to see where he goes next.

EDIT: well whaddaya know? He's went and started a blog since I wrote this. Check it out here.

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Umbrella Head

I'm always meaning to post more about work by other people. And, as with lots of things I'm meaning to do, I hardly ever get round to actually doing it. Well today I've gotten round to it. I've gotten right bloody round.

This work is by Sam Caldwell, a young artist from Bolton who goes by the name of Umbrella Head. I actually discovered Sam's (Head's?) art through the comments section of my blog and after I had a dig about his site, I was totally hyped on his work. Look at it!

Man he can conjure up atmosphere in spades. A real sense of life plodding along through some impending doom. That's what I get from it anyway. Maybe it's the weather - even in some of Sam's lighter pieces there's a heavy British sky pressing down on procedings or a cold and choppy sea crashing away in the background.

Vic Reeves' artwork comes to mind (in a good way) as does Lizzy Stewart's (also in a good way). Sam is only 19 or something ridiculous like that so you can tell he's really gonna be killing it in a couple of years. Check out his website. Oh, I just noticed he has a band too, I'll have a listen.

As a wee aside - I've been playing about with the image sizes for this post. If they're not displaying properly can someone let me know? Also, I love discovering new stuff - I always check out the work of people who comment here, so feel free to go crazy. Not that I can guarantee amazing levels of traffic or anything but someone might see it.

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Jeff Kilpatrick - Sketches of Fishtown

I met Jeff Kilpatrick through my friend Concetta on our first trip to Philadelphia and we always hang out whenever we visit. Jeff is the kinda person you want to know when you're visiting a big city - a through-and-through local who always has a million stories to tell. He's also one of the nicest dudes you could ever meet and man, he cooks one hell of a meal.

Jeff is a working cartoonist, teacher and founder of the Philly Cartoonist Society. His artwork is awesome. He's got that real-deal, old-school thing going on. A real drawer. For the past couple of years he's been working on a series of drawings inspired by his neighbourhood called Sketches of Fishtown:
Apart from being fantastically touching little tributes to Fishtown in their own right, what really blows my mind is that Jeff has 95 of these under his belt. 95! The whole project is a funny, poignant and heartfelt document of a fascinating corner of the city. The first 50 or so are available in a book, click here for a little info from Jeff about picking up a copy or two. A second volume is in the works.

Michel Gondry - Oui Oui

There's two things I can go to if I'm feeling a bit stuck and I need some inspiration. Two things that motivate me more than almost anything. One is No Direction Home, the Bob Dylan documentary by Martin Scorsese and the other is the Directors Label Michel Gondry collection.

Yeah, well, who doesn't like Michel Gondry? He's the best. He puts that kinda perfect mix of child and adult in everything he does. Just ideas - bang, bang, bang, idea, idea, idea, one after the other. His execution, too, is spot on, all kinda scrappy and handmade. It almost seems like his ideas come out so fast that he can't waste time making the edges perfect. That little I've Been Twelve Forever film just gets you going, it just makes you want to make stuff.

Anyway, on the DVD there's a couple of videos for Gondry's band, Oui Oui. Since seeing them, years ago, I've been trying to find the songs online with no luck. Couldn't find them anywhere. Well, not until the other day at least when I had another search about, as I do from time to time, thinking 'right, I'm gonna find these bloody things', and you know what? I did. I found them. Some blog had put them up. They're pretty good. Probably won't set your world on fire, but for anyone else who was after them just to have them, because they're pretty cool wee songs, then, there they are. Plop them on your iPod.

For a taster, here's the video for Les Cailloux:



Of course there's tons and tons of other Gondry / Oui Oui stuff on YouTube. That DVD is a killer though, compared to the other Directors, he really put in the work. Loads of cool little animations, models and sketches and stuff.

Love

After 2 weeks in Philadelphia, with a little stay in New York (Philly's better), that's me home and jet-lag free. How are you?

Me? I'm feeling pretty good. On top of an unbelievable holiday, I asked Alex, my beautiful girlfriend, to marry me and she said yes! She wasn't even drunk!

Being a tough guy, I won't get all sappy on here. I'd just like to say thanks on behalf of Alex (my beautiful fiancée) and myself to everyone for their messages of congratulations, their cards and their gifts. We're planning a party sometime soon and we're having a lot of fun talking about 'What Happens Next...'.

I must also give some extra special thanks to Concetta for being an unbelievable host and friend while we were away.

We are very happy :)

Hellos, Shout-Outs, Thank-Yous

Here is a lame shout-out list of folk I'd like to say hello to for various reasons, mainly for being good people in 2008. I hope this is not too self indulgent. Sick bags at the ready:

Alex. Hello x

Friendly folk: Fergi, Morgi, Steve, Darren & Laura & Ethan, Stuart, John, Jules, Elsa, Kieren (thanks for the go-karting), Kirsty, Melissa, Paddy & Marianne, Bosko, Beth, Andrew, James, Kim, Mark, Tommy, Hammy. Gregor, Elph, Chris, Carrie, Emma & Joe, Gemma, Diarmid. Philly folk: Concetta, Becky and Lyndsy. Jeff and the Philladelphia Cartoonist Society (thanks for the burgers). Donald. Hello!

Family folk: Mum & Dad. All of the Galletlys, Donnachies and Tierneys. Ian, Fiona & Rory Horne. Janet MacDondald. Robert & Audrey McCrone. Hello!

Work folk: Chris & Cal from Be A Familiar. Andy at Broken Friend. Kirsteen MacDonald at The Changing Room. Amy & Ali at Recoat. Shea'la Finch at Tiny Showcase. Russell & Julie at Analogue. Nigel Peake. Natalie & everyone at DJCAD. Gavin at Here. Meighan at My Love For You.. Pascal & Thanasis at the Johanssen Gallery. Hello!

Special mention folk: Jen Collins aka hellojenuine for the badges and for a ton of nice comments on the blog last year. Hello!

I bet I've put my foot in it and forgotten someone really important. Ah well. Less sentimental posting will resume tomorrow. Goodbye!

Lecturer Smecturer

Alternative title for this post; 'Hannibal Lecture'.

Here's something that I never got round to mentioning: A couple of months ago, I was invited to speak and take a class at Duncan of Jordanstone, College of Art & Design in Dundee. Having never done anything of the sort before, I was a little hesitant at first. I had visions of taking a nervous breakdown in front of a room of laughing students. Luckily I got myself a backbone and tried it out.

After a bit of a shakey start*, I gave a presentation about my work to a big bunch of the illustration students and then set a day brief to one of the classes. I also had some time to go around and speak to as many people as I could about what they were working on. Everyone I met was super nice and seemed to really respond to what I had to say, which made me a happy man.

There is a lot of brilliant work being done in that place. Getting a chance to see everyone's sketchbooks and studios was really awesome and inspiring. People are funny when you speak to them, that's a good thing. I wish I'd taken some photos because it was a blast. I should maybe pay a visit sometime soon. Hello to everyone I met in Dundee, I hope everything is going well. Thanks to Natalie for the opportunity too.

* 'a bit of a shakey start' is putting it lightly. I thought I was going to faint at least 5 times during the day.

Jeremy Beadle Graffiti

This was drawn very large, and very somewhere it shouldn't be by my friend, who I'll call John Locke. I think it's fantastic and probably cheers lots of people up when they see it. John has been upping his game recently with lots of funny drawings, videos and prank phone calls.

When I was younger I remember being slightly disappointed when I discovered Jeremy Beadle wasn't really called "Jeremy Beetle" and I still think that's a better name. Oh well. Also, If we must mention the hand, the funniest thing I have read is someone saying this on a messageboard:

"Years of hard work in entertainment to be remembered for having a fucking ridiculous tiny fucking hand. The only reason I remembered his name is peeps used to do his hand in school photos."

Fairwell Jeremy Beetle. The jokes were inevitable, but it's a shame he died. He seemed alright.

Adam and Joe

Like most people, I'm influenced and inspired by all sorts of folks who do all sorts of things. I have favourite authors and artists and actors, Who doesn't? Somewhere in my brain box, however, is a mental list of my favourite favourites. This wee list isn't necessarily made up of the best of the best, just the people I like the most. I'll try to post about them here under the 'People' tag.

Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish get on this list. If you're not familiar with them, they're most famous for a television programme called "The Adam & Joe Show" broadcast on Channel 4 in the late 90s. The show was a mix of home-made nonsense featuring the chaps in their bedroom with a lot of ideas and some toys. See!:



There are tons of other clips from the show on YouTube, so have a hunt about. Adam has been uploading a lot of his personal ones (including the new stuff he did with Radiohead) to his blog and to his YouTube channel. Joe often writes good stuff on his MySpace blog.

Something I feel often gets overlooked is how just dang funny they are, regardless of the toys and the 'studenty bollocks' skits. They're a pair of polite, well educated and slightly posh dudes who can make chatting about trivial rubbish entertaining without ever falling into horrible internetty-humour or rubbish Family Guy style wackiness. They also have crazy amounts of pop culture knowledge (Joe in particular seems to have seen every horror film ever made) and damn good taste. They're brills!

Recently Adam and Joe have been floating about radio-land, starting out on XFM and now appearing on BBC 6 Music. Their show (HERE) goes out on Saturday morning and can be listened to live on the 6 Music site and heard for the whole week using the listen again feature. Radio suits them well as they're given space to talk about whatever they want and have even started trying to out-sing each other on their 'Song Wars' feature. They even write their own jingles and play good music.
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PODCASTS!
Best of all is their podcasts. These are a mixture of highlights from their radio show as well as some new golden nuggets recorded especially for the downloads. The archive of their XFM stuff is available HERE and is in my opinion the best podcast out there. It's some of their funniest work and manages to be perhaps the only Gervais beater.

This week also sees the launch of their new BBC podcast and is the reason I am writing these words. Go and listen to it. You can download it for free HERE. There is also talk of a beefed up, new material, sweary version appearing sometime soon as well. There you go. Boy, I hope you like Adam & Joe.