LoopDeLoop// Breakfast

Video on Vimeo

Once again I'm entering LoopDeLoops monthly animation contest, this months theme is 'Breakfast'. As I woke up and found the new theme, at 4pm I then stayed in bed for another few hours with tea and cartoons playing off my laptop - that was my morning, this was my breakfast. And as I finally began working at 6pm, I began coming up with ideas. Each seemed unrealistic for me to animate, because my mornings weren't avocado on toast or hard boiled eggs. So I started animating the morning I'd just woken up to - a 1pm tea and cartoon marathon. I animated the 5 second loop on photoshop, then looped it together on after effects - the whole animation taking about 2 week of an hour every odd day.

Mollypukes page on Vimeo

I reached the deadline with a week to spare, but I did have a problem to begin with. After uploading the video to Vimeo, my account was flagged for spam. Because I hadn't confirmed my E-mail address, I was unable to send a report about being falsely flagged as spam, which is something the site recommended I did. So after a lot of fuss I confirmed a new E-mail address, send a completed and finally had my account unlocked again and my videos made public. Although the whole thing was sorted out within a weekend, I was worried I would have to remake a channel on Vimeo so I could enter LoopDeLoop - which would involve me deleting the original channel to start a fresh and losing all the links to the videos on there, from previous loopdeloops. But luckily, it was sorted out. You can find my LoopDeLoop animation 'Breakfast' Here! 

THOUGHT BUBBLE 2016 - Meeting Artists

Thought Bubble 2016 I volunteered on the Saturday of the weekend festival and between checking wrist bands, queue wrangling and helping people find the toilets - I had a few breaks to take a look around the festival.

I couldn't afford to get many comics but I did finally get to meet a few artists. I met Philippa Rice and finally got my hands on signed copy of SOPPY, I've been following her work online for a little while now but I've never managed to meet her in person before. I also met Sarah Graley and got a copy of her daily comic masterpiece 'Our Super Adventure' along with her boyfriend, who is heavy featured in her comics; it was so lovely to chat with the both of them. Sarah is also working on a series Rick and Morty comics that I'm looking forward to reading soon. Another artist I'm obsessed with at the moment is Andrew Maclean and his newest work HEAD LOPPER and was completely unaware he'd be designing the Thought Bubble shirts this year as well as having a stall at the festival. I nervously approached his table and at first didn't know what to say, after introducing myself I finally asked for his signature (on one of his post-it notes). Completely by surprise, on my way back to the coat room to dump my comic book haul I recognised an artist I'd be following for about 8 years online. It was wonderful finally meeting her and seeing that characters she'd drawing years ago had finally made their way into a published comic! It was so wonderful to see her work come so far and chatting with her almost felt like talking to an old friend - we're possibly planning on meeting up and having a drink together soon, which is hugely exciting! I also networked with a few other illustrators and I'm currently working out possible collaborations with those artists.

Mike Mignola is a lovely man

I also did the VIP queue wrangling for Mike Mignola, who is best known for the creation of Hell Boy. Mike Mignola also did a talk at Leeds College of Art that I couldn't attend because tickets sold out. My job controlling the queue for Mike Mignola was basically telling people that they could only request him to sign 6 things. At the end of the signings, me and another volunteer Billy nervously asked for the photo and we managed to get a quick selfie with him.

I also came away from his festival with connections to artists who had also volunteered at the festival working and who I'd got to know better as the day went on. This had led me into other freelance opportunities and other arts circles. 

THOUGHT BUBBLE 2016 - volunteering

Thought Bubble 2016 volunteers 

I've been attending Thought Bubble since 2012 not as a seller or a volunteer but as a tourist. In previous years I queued, bought my weight in comic books and left. There was also a year where I attended a panel hosted by Natasha Allegri and the team working on Studio Frederators 'Bee and Puppycat' series, but besides that my attendance at the Festival involved me buying comics as quick as possible because I felt too awkward to start a conversation with anyone there however I was determined to change this. This year I wanted to be part of Thought Bubble, so I volunteered to help out at the festival any way I could. After applying to volunteer (and being approved) I was added to the Facebook volunteer group and got to know a few faces before the set up day.

Setting up started at 6am and the level of excitement I felt putting on the signature red shirt was because of 2 reasons;  1. The volunteer shirt was illustrated by Andrew Maclean, who is currently one of my all time favourite illustrators and 2. It was bloody freezing outside. After running around doing little jobs like putting up signs and setting up chairs I was then sent to my spot for the day - the massive marquee. Jobs volunteers did circulated so someone wasn't stuck outside in the cold the entire day, but mine rotated between checking Gold VIP wrist bands, checking weekend wristbands, keeping an eye on the MONDO queue and watching the doors pre-lunchtime and then focuses on the VIP queue for Mike Mignola. Rotating all these jobs, I got to know all the other volunteers working in the marquee who were all lovely people and chatted to a number of VIPs.

Layout of the MASSIVE MARQUEE

After the Saturday show was done I headed into town with a few volunteers I had gotten to know for a few drinks and later attended the after party. I only volunteered for the Saturday, but I loved working at Thought Bubble 2016! Sure it was freezing, my feet hurt and I don't know when I'll next have to get at taxi at 5:30am that isn't to go home - But it was more than worth it. I'm looking forward to being part of ThoughtBubble 2017 either as a volunteer once again or perhaps even a VIP (here's hoping).

Opening night at Leeds Print Workshop

Photo from Leeds Print Workshop Website

Leeds Print Workshop is located on Vicar Lane in the centre of Leeds and provides a screen print studio space for artists of all levels and skills. The Print Workshop offers a range of short courses like bookbindings, mono printing, natural dyeing and lino printing. Each of these short courses and workshops can be booked online and generally are for a single day. Early October the PrintWorks had a re-opening and I attended, to check out what the Studio space had to offer. At the opening night there was a screen print demo as well as a small gallery exhibition of some of their printers works, one I recognised was created by Kristyna Baczynski (link to her instagram) who's an artist I've met previously at the Zine Festival back in August.  The main reason why I attended was to get to know more about what the printing costs/workshops have on offer to use. As a member you can gain full access to their studio space in sessions for members - Which run from Friday to Sunday, 10:30am to 14:30pm. Membership costs £45 for the year or £3 per hour and before being given access to the print space, a personal introduction is given to new members/users. 

As I want to develop my illustration work with zines, comics and prints I'm planning on purchasing a year long membership at the begining of 2017.


Note (May 17th 2017): I cannot afford it but hopefully one day I will.