Colganology: Angry Art Challenge

Showing posts with label Angry Art Challenge. Show all posts

Sunday, 2 September 2012

Glass Half Full of Fun (and Spam)

If you think that glass - and glass beads in particular - are a bit dull then you haven't visited Aardvark Art Glass's website. I mean, look:

The website has artwork by a number of contributors and some pretty weird stuff besides. I mean ... sculptures made from Spam?

My favourite has to be: 'Transporter Malfunction' or 'James Doohan's True Final Wishes'.

A great fun site to look around.

Makes me think it's about time for another Art Challenge like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one ...

Thanks to Mo McFarland who directed me to Aardvark's site.

Friday, 16 September 2011

365 Doodles - Day 258

A doodly thing inspired by a real incident I saw outside a school recently. Some parents ...

And here's something that filled my heart with joy. A young man called Michael Fatham - Mikey to his mates - was recently one of the younger contributors to my Angry Art Challenge project. So I sent him out a freshly drawn doodle as a reward. Then yesterday I got a postcard with this AMAZING drawing of a Dalek on it from Mikey:

Isn't it great?! He's 11 years old and very talented. On his card he wrote 'I think that your doodles are clever and funny. One day I hope to be as good as you.'

Well, Mikey, the stuff you're drawing is HUGELY better than what I was drawing at 11 years old so I'm completely sure that one day you'll be HEAPS better than me. In fact, I'm not sure I could do a better Dalek now ... and I'm 50!

So keep drawing!

Sunday, 11 September 2011

365 Doodles - Day 253 Final ...

Oh alright, yes. I couldn't leave it alone. I decided to finish off the last few requests so that I can send them all out tomorrow. And here they are:

We have a squid being eaten by a teapot (for Mo McFarland), a polar bear eating a wolf and a fox on a skewer (for @twistedtulip) and a new version of my 'Wasp' cartoon for Julian Williams. Plus some random doodles.

Now I'm going to get back to the painting I would have done today had the light been better.

365 Doodles - Day 253 Continued ...

I've been a doodling demon this afternoon. Here are ten more than I've knocked out - some to brief, some that just randomly flowed out of the pen. All are postcard sized:

To begin with, Jaqui Potter gave me the toughest call, asking for a doodle that somehow encapsulated everything she likes: knitting, smiling, splashing in puddles, dancing in the rain, space ships, planets, dragons and books. I think I just about nailed it. Then came Mikey Fantham's request for 'the most serious Harry Potter fan'. Kate Fantham wanted something quite different; she wanted a certain object hidden in the drawing - can you spot it in the picture of the two men shouting at each other? Ben Cameron asked for 'a bear in love'. Awwww. The other two that were direct requests were 'the poshest rabbit in the world' for Max McMillan and the zombie cat for Vicki Hall. As for who gets the other doodles ... I'll have to see if I can match person to doodle.

Sixteen down and eight to go. But they'll have to wait until tomorrow. The old eyes are going ...

365 Doodles - Day 253

As an incentive for people to join in with the Angry Art Challenge, I promised that anyone who entered would get a free original doodle on a postcard. I've now asked people what they want and am starting to draw them all. I'll be posting them out tomorrow and the day after. Here are the first six off the production line:

My briefs were as follows: Ric Lumb asked for a 'Monkey superhero' and Holly Hale wanted a 'Pirate riding a dinosaur'. Meanwhile, Katherine Udall-Waring asked for a 'Viking Cat', Angi Lamb wanted a pirate and Esme Tearle asked me for a 'Punk penguin'. And there's a random monster thrown in there too.

I'll add some more to the blog later when I've drawn them.

It's proving to be good exercise for me and I like a challenge. If I can draw all of them without recourse to reference, I'll be very chuffed. So far, so good!

Saturday, 10 September 2011

I'm not Angry at the Results ...

I know that I published the results on my old blog but here, once again, is a short film showing all of the entries for the Angry Art Challenge that I set (details here). It's worth watching in full screen mode - the entries were brilliant!

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I'd also like to show you some late entries that came in from cartoonist Annie West and also the cartoon strip drawn by 11 year old Max McMillan from New Zealand. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Praise for Joined-Up Thinking

'I found myself fascinated and somewhat dizzy. Most impressive' - Stephen Fry

'Dizzily intriguing' - The Bookseller

'The book that nails that odd, slightly unnerving feeling that everything really is connected' - John Mitchinson (Co-author of QI: The Book of General Ignorance)

'This is not a stocking filler - this is a real book. Buy several copies and keep one' - Daily Telegraph

'Quite simply the best way to spend time when not shopping, sleeping or preparing food' - Tony Hawks (author of Around Ireland with a Fridge)

'Can I recommend a book? It’s Joined-Up Thinking by Stevyn Colgan. The book’s packed with great info, from the derivation of the phrase ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ to the name for the thin bits of a cricket bail. Spigots, since you ask' - Mark Mason (author of The Importance of being Trivial)

'If you've ever looked at the Eiffel Tower and wondered how it's related to Dracula, then Stevyn Colgan is your man. Yes, it's trivia porn' - London Lite

'He connects each piece of his trivia puzzle in a concise, chatty, easy to follow, even logical, manner. This free-flowing style does not, thankfully, lend itself to pause and evaluation, but does allow for a great deal of chuckling and chin-stroking. He is the master of the trivial, the collector and cataloguer of the forgotten and inane - but no matter how worthless and unnecessary the information, Colgan has the knack of making it all sound intensely fascinating' - New Zealand Herald

'Stevyn Colgan has a theory; everything in the world can be connected through 'six degrees of information'. Trying to prove it takes us up some strange alleys but his engaging style means we don't get stuck down the road of intellectual whimsy' - Maxim

'It's a very smart style to a trivia book, and will I am sure be one of the hits of the forthcoming season' - The Bookbag

‘Stevyn Colgan's book, 'Joined-Up Thinking', could well be turned into a pub quiz or even a TV show. The latter could be even more of a possibility as Colgan has connections to the 'QI' BBC TV show. You're going to walk away from this book knowing a lot more than when you started.’ - SF Crows Nest

'How Colgan manages to find all these connections, unravel them and create something coherent and entertaining out of them is beyond me. But I'm glad he took the time, as the result is vastly fascinating and had my mind whirring round after itself for hours - immense fun!' - Falmouth People

Praise for Henhwedhlow

‘All power to Stevyn Colgan and his project to preserve Cornish myth, legend and song. Who knows; as a result some Penzance Wagner may write the Cornish Ring Cycle and won’t the world be pleased? There’s more to Cornwall than Padstow, pasties and ‘Piss off you grockles’ and Colgan is doing the ancient kingdom a great service.’ - Stephen Fry

‘Jumping from the 19th to the 21st century, Stevyn is taking an essential element of our Cornish culture and bringing it bang up-to-date. With the aid of the very clever artwork he aims to do this in a way that even kids sitting their exams will be tempted to bring the book to school so as to take an occasional peek under the desk for a spot of well-deserved humour.’ - Howard Curnow (Cornish bard and storyteller)

'The best book I've ever seen for helping you to learn the Cornish language or practice reading it. Brilliant fun too' - Cornish Voice