Play - LoopDeLoop June 2012

I spent a couple of nights in the studio making this entry for last month's loop de loop.

Score by Kirsty Tickle littlescoutmusic.com/ , Mixed by Jonathan Boulet jonathanboulet.com/ , (and then mutilated by me...sorry guys)

Fruit Salad.

Hiya blog,
So this post is a real mish mash of things, clearing out a stack of files I've been meaning to post. Sketchbook stuff, lifedrawings and designs. The drawing above is almost what I look like. Its for my website, which I will hopefully be updating this week :)
Ink sketch inspired by American Movie-

Recently I took the plunge and started doing real life drawing again. You can probably tell by looking at my drawings Im not very comfortable with lifedrawing. I'm not sure why, but I've always found it particularly hard.That said Im really enjoying it. Its a very different atmosphere to university classes. Its actually almost relaxing.
These are some 5 and 10 minute poses.
Some character development stuff I'm doing with a friend.
I also went to my first Dr Sketchies last weekend. To be honest, it was a let down. I think most Sketchies are run by artists, but Adelaide's one seems to be run by burlesque performers. Its fine, but there is very little emphasis put on the art side. I found it really hard to draw because we were constantly given strange rules for the drawing, and the models would casually move around and talk mid pose... this is the only drawing worth looking at ....
Sketch book stuff-
And a few moleskine observation pages from last week.

This last page was for notes at this years Semi-Permanent. You can read my full rundown of the event over at Ozanimate.
Hopefully I'll be able to share some new 2d animation with you in the next month. Part of a personal project I've been working on. Fingers crossed I get to finish it:)
Hope you are all well!
love
Alex

Leaving that door open has let the cold in.

I think for a lot of people art is emotional communication. I've never really felt that way about my work. I look at drawing from a pretty rational standpoint and have a real problem with converting emotions into images or words.
The last 12 months has seen some pretty big ups and downs. You know, pretty standard human stuff. Nothing outrageous. But I do think I've got a lot of nervous energy, which looking back through my blog and sketchbooks has inevitably seeped in to my drawings. Im not sure how I feel about it. I dont think it's too obvious so maybe its ok. If my work starts to look sappy and a little bit "Year 12 art class" let me know ok? I cant think of anything worse.

Um anyway, the drawing above was something that came about while I was thinking of ways to redesign my website. I dont think it's right for that, but i still like it as an idea.

Some train/airport sketches
Oh! and my very talented friend Emily Nelson has just unvailed her new site. Its gorgeous, you should check it out!!!!
Hope you are well.
Love
Alex

Little Scout Poster and some Photos

Hi Blog

I was asked by my friends Little Scout to do a poster for their upcoming headline show in brisbane. I messed around with a few new ideas but in the end we decided to recycle an unused idea i did for them a while ago. I made it look prettier tho :)
This is the final design we went with.

And this is another idea i quickly sketched up for them. We were originally hoping to be able to screenprint the posters by hand, but the plan fell through at the end.
Also in other little scout news, I finally have a photo of the Tea Towels I designed for them last year


I know I mentioned earlier that I didnt want to turn this into a happy snap blog but I've been using a new camera lately and really enjoying it. Its a camera that I got a few months ago. It was my fathers when he was my age. I feel extremely lucky to be using it :)If you're interested you can check out some more here.

Hope you are all well!

Love
Alex

Ever get that feeling...

heya friends,
I've got a week or two downtime at the moment so I thought I'd spend a bit of time on personal projects. This is a photo I took off Hindly street in Adelaide recently. Hopefully I'll get some more time to keep exploring this idea. Would love to know what you think :)

For those of you playing at home, you may have noticed an increase in photos on this blog lately. I bought a new camera over the christmas break it has been a great companion for the last few months. I wont bother you all with my happysnaps and photo nerd specs, but I thought I would mention it in my blog because I know how useful i've found it in my animation endeavours. Panasonic Lumix LX3. Alex stamp of approval.

I am off to Sydney tomorow. If you are a sydney kid, please come on down to the Blank_Space Gallery in Surry Hills sometime from the 13-19th of march. -Smirnoff Black Room Public Exhibition 374 Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney NSW
One of my pieces is exhibiting there as part of a commision I recently did for the launch of Smirnoff Black. I would love if you stopped by.

Lots of love

Alex.

Tea Towel Designs for Little Scout

Heya blog,

A couple of weeks ago I was asked by the very cute kids in Little Scout to do a tea towel design for them.
Between starting my new job and finding a place to live I made these two ideas.
The first one won out. We might use the second for a gig poster or something later on.

I had a lot of fun making these, hope you like.

Love A.

Fresh scars for old wounds.

So blog.

A few little tid bits of information.
Firstly, I got a new job working in Melbourne as a character animator. Its like a proper salary delio, so that means much less freelance for the medium term. Hopefully I'll be able to keep doing illo work for peeps though. I leave on Wednesday, and start on Monday. Big thing for me!!!
Secondly, Im not doing the DZ cover art anymore. The wolf pic above was my last submission to them, but as its no longer getting used I am sharing it. Check out they're latest release here. you can also get a taste of some of hype they've been getting lately.
Thirdly, I just wanted to say I am glad that I have been blessed with such lovely friends here in Brisbane. I am going to miss them all a lot. they are all loving, patient, and inspiring and I appreciate them with all of my heart.



much love

A.

DZ Shirt Design

soo this is kinda the final design for DZ. there were a few tweaks i wanted to do, but I had to leave them.
Also, i got my business card printed. great success. If you are a brisbane kid, use king of print. Their customer service is pretty crap, but the product is great and cheap.

New Business Card

So its been coming for a fair while.These are the front and back of my new card. I would have liked to get a Die Cut, but there isnt enough time to print them before I leave the country. Im not a designer, so this stuff is hard for me. Hope you dig it! (sorry i know that "hello!" is a bit tacky, and has been done. but i originally had "FUCK yeah!" and it seemed a little strong)

DZ EP cover. Progress 02

Hiya Blog,

So as promised here are some more progress pics from my development for DZ's up coming EP launch. I started them before I got feed back on the last one. So, predictably, they weren't received well. Actually, they were received well, but the band shared my opinion that they weren't really suited to an EP cover. Its a weird magic. I cant really put my finger on what it takes for a piece to be suitable for a CD sleeve. I guess because its packaging, there are a different set of expectation. Tricky. I find that my favorite covers are photographic, or quite abstract. Most of my skills are focused towards figurative work, so that habit is inhibiting me I think.
All of the designs so far are based on my Feather Wolf concept. Ironically, the Feather Wolf design struck me as the one I liked least of the set. I appropriated the middle design as a blog link button for my myspace page





As always, Im always interested in your opinions.

Love
Alex

DZ EP cover. Progress 01

Heya blog,

Im working with a band called DZ at the moment; trying to produce a CD jacket, as well as some branding and merch. I think I will keep some of my work in progress up here.



So this is the first colour sketch i sent through, kind of a concept for things more stuff. They liked it but didnt think it fit they're image. So back to the drawing board. I like it though. I hope you do too

T-shirtss

Heya blog,

its been a little bit!
recently i was asked to do a Tshirt design for a band called Little Scout. I came up with about 5 individual designs (2 of them ive included) but the band liked the simplest one. the top tree design will hopefully getting printed soon. the other designs might make a camio in other little scouts later.

Speaking of Music, i found this really great video today. If your a Bloc Party fan, have a gander. Its an impromtue performance outside a little pub in france. i thought it was pretty special when i watched it

Bloc Party, 'This Modern Love' - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Hope your doing well guys,

Love

Alex

PS, i forgot to mention that there is a new post on the Cat Piano Blog that features a still from one of my shots. the key featured was first done by ari though, i just re-did the the clean up, and animated it from there. amazing BG done Jason Pammet

DZ, cd cover

Heya guys this is a CD cover that Ive put together for a band called DZ. A kickin little garage/grunge. I haven't shown the guys yet, so there will be revisions for sure.
I wanted to try something a little different with this, so its all hand done. The illustration in the text was inked with nibs at about A4 size. A lot of the story is lost because its shrunken down, but there is one in there. The ornaments at the bottom and top were inked with a finer fountain pen. I think ink is something that i want to explore a lot more.

would love some opinions on this one

More of the same

heya blog.
just a more finished version of the last WIP. I guess i feel like this could be better, but im not really sure how to pull it off.

Also, ive started using Vimeo over Youtube. I really like it. you can control a lot more aspects, and you can even host HD. It really seems like a site designed for film/video makers. If your into video hosting and communities, check them out! This is just a more polished version of the ball throw animation I did a couple of weeks ago. the other animation i have mentioned gave me too much head pain, so its taking a holiday. for now :)

Ball Throw from Alex Grigg on Vimeo.

Much love

Alex

WIP Swamp Grazer

Sup blog!
this is a work in progress for an activity over at Satelitesoda. I guess this has about 6 or 7 hours all up. I'd like to pollish it up a bit further, but im a bit stuck at the moment. maybe I'll give it a bash tomorow. 'd love to hear thoughts about it before it take it further though.

lotsa love

Alex