My Art History: Rodent

The other character from my doomed 1996 short.

My Art History: The Digital Age

A concept for my first Lightwave short, which made it as far as a test animation before I found full time employment. One of my early Fractal Design (now Corel) Painter paintings, 1996.

My Art History: Tea Break

My last real-life airbrush painting before it was overthrown by the arrival of The Wacom. I never even cleaned out the airbrush. Missing are fireball exlosion and debris, background Harrier and face detail amongst other things. Acrylic, 1995.

<-- Cockpit closeup.

Made In Melbourne Update

I've just been informed that the Made In Melbourne Festival at Fed Square has been moved from the outdoor stage at 8pm into BMW Edge at 9pm - apologies for any inconvenience.

My Art History: Armature

The armature for the aforementioned stop motion creature. It's about 14cm high and is made from aluminium, wire and car bog, with ball and socket joints made from pin heads, and little bolts that inconveniently needed tightening in-between shooting frames. A pain to animate, but not as bad as the wooden one I made a few years earlier.

My Art History: Stop Motion Creature

With school out of the way I could now concentrate on designing the star of my next unfinished animated film. This time I managed to make an armature and some test footage at least, before my new PC arrived on the scene, enabling me to not finish anything in a much more effective manner.

My Art History: EV

Some final final year Industrial Design designs. This time it's a single-seater electric vehicle, featuring a suspended "active ride" cockpit that leans into corners. I also made a previs of it in 3D Studio 3 (my first ever 3D computer animation project).

My Art History: Portable Computer

A tablet PC for industrial purposes, featuring a keyboard configured for single-handed use (1994). Left or right hand operation is accommodated via reconfigurable character LEDs within the keys.

My Art History: Luxury Train

Designs from another final year ID project (1994).

My Art History: Video Camera

One of my final year ID projects (1994). Note the fold-out/swivel screen concepts on the left; at the time, external LCDs were either built into the case or non-existent, and shortly after having conceived this idea a new camera came out featuring the exact same design... and it has been standard on video cameras ever since. Typical!

My Art History: Rumpelstiltskin

Cover illustration for my second MacMillan book. This one nearly cost me my design degree, since I had to miss a couple of weeks of classes in order to finish all 24 pages.  Acrylic and pencil, 1993.

Made In Melbourne

If you're wandering around in the city feeling a bit film festivally on December 1st, head over to the Federation Square main stage for the Made In Melbourne Film Festival, where The Passenger will be showing sometime after 8pm (on the big TV screen I presume). It's not-for-profit, with donations going to SecondBite.

My Art History will resume shortly.

My Art History: 4x4 Recreational Vehicle

Automotive concepts for the distant future world of 2001 - as visualised in 1993.  Fineliner, marker, pastel, pencil and watercolour.

My Art History: And If You Should See The Giant...

A page from "How To Get To The Giant's House" by Virginia King. My first children's book commission, published by MacMillan Education. Gouache and pencil, age 20.

My Art History: Derelict Car

Like the car, this picture has seen better days. Painted in gouache from a photo. Age 19-20.

My Art History: Wild One

A not-quite-finished-but-close-enough technical illustration of my RC car. Gouache, or acrylic possibly. Age 19.

My Art History: Boulder Planet

Scouts inspect strange markings during a surveyance expedition. Gouache I think, age 19-ish.

My Art History: Industrial Design

Assorted designs from my first year of Industrial Design. Age 18-19.

My Art History: The Gigantic Monster

Front cover of a mock children's book, which was probably instrumental in my being recruited to illustrate actual children's books later on. Gouache on illustration board, age 18.

My Art History: Cognac

At 267 mm x 150 mm, this was more an exercise in arranging graphite atoms on a page than actual drawing. Referenced from a photo. Age 17-18.

My Art History: Monstera

Life drawing from 1989 or 1990, age 17-ish. Pencil on paper (A1).

My Art History: Pointillism

Comprised of thousands of carefully placed dots, this was one of the more perverse visual acuity degeneration tortures administered at TAFE. Ink on paper, referenced from a photo. Age 17.

My Art History: Military Droid II

When drawings were progressing nicely I had an unfortunate tendency to abandon them, having already gained sufficient knowledge or satisfaction from them - hence the unfinished background in this one. Pencil on paper, age 17.

My Art History: Chrome-a-Key

Another reflection study. Based on a photo of a human hand turning a key, I think. Pencil, age 16-17.

My Art History: Chevrolet 1925 Superior K

My first commissioned work, and the most labour-intensive so far (20+ hours). It went on to win first prize in the "12-18 Years Pen or Pencil Any Subject" category, as well as overall "Best Art Exhibit" at the 1989 Bendigo Show. Pencils again, but without the ink outlines this time. Photo references used. Age 16.

My Art History: Military Assault Droid

Somehow I managed to turn a year 10 graphics project into an excuse to draw gun wielding robots of the future. My most elaborate piece of self indulgence up to this point. Pencil and fineliner on paper, age 15-16 .

My Art History: Circuit Electroniques

In 1987 I scored an airbrush for Christmas, after much begging, and soon learned the importance of selecting a painting surface that is compatible with Frisket. In this instance I spent much of my time surgically removing the film from the paper with a scalpel, the scars of which are visibly evident. Ink on paper, age 15.

My Art History: Reflections

As my drawings became increasingly polished, so did my subject matter; some logo designs on the left, including an Atari/Activision fusion, and on the right is one of several attempts at resolving reflections on a chrome head, as inspired by some mid-'80s computer animations (particularly those of Robert Abel & Associates). Pencil and fineliner on paper, age 15-16.

My Art History: The Twilight Zone

Finally, something with a date on it!  Age 14.

My Art History: Plaque Attack

A pencil and fineliner combo from around 1985-1986, no later than '87.The guy in the foreground is fending off chocolate and Lifesavers with a tube of rocket propelled toothpaste. Age 13-14.

My Art History: Egg Eye

One day in 1985 (give or take a year or two), I decided to venture out of my pencilly comfort zone and experiment with blending poster paints to create gradations. At a time when paints were still being used for covering large areas or filling in flat blocks of colour, it felt as though I had made some kind of quantum leap discovery that could propel me years ahead of the curve...

...and then I went straight back to pencils again. : Age 11-12-13...?

My Art History: Film Preproduction

Sometime around 1984 I began work on my next movie, which was going to be even more spectacular than the last one I never finished. Pictured here are the hero spaceship featuring retractable spider legs, a diabolical craft equipped with huge rotating sickles for levelling forests, a pilot, an interior and some battle scenes. Age 12-ish.

My Art History: Hubert's House

Nothing particularly noteworthy here, other than that I'm pretty sure I vaguely recall doing this in 1983 - I think. Tip: ALWAYS DATE EVERYTHING - it will save you hours of guesswork later in life. Age 10-11

My Art History: Don't Litter

A public service announcement. Age 9-10.

My Art History: Time Machine

My plans for a time machine. Contains all the important facilities necessary for negotiating the perils of time travel, such as emergency switch, game computer and TV. Bad photocopy - not sure what became of the original. Age 8-9

My Art History: Scissor Lift Rocket Sled Tank

A design for my epic Super 8 animated Hoth-esque snow battle, which never quite made it into production. Age 8-ish.

My Art History: Giant 5 Legged Squid

Not really a squid, but I suppose "5 legged octopus" would have made even less sense. Even the cat stepped in to try and help rectify the situation by contributing an extra "leg", while simultaneously providing himself as a scale reference.

Looks like I abandoned the colouring-in phase shortly after discovering that my textas weren't built to cover this kind of surface area. Age 6.

My Art History: Horses

Harder to draw than pianos. Especially galloping ones (horses that is). Age 6.

My Art History: Piano

Possibly one of my first perspective drawings. At first glance it appears that the keyboard is backwards, but actually it's just missing the black keys (lost interest perhaps..?). I've applied some heavy image enhancements since the pencil work is very faint. Age 5-6.

My Art History: Profiles

My first attempt at side view faces apparently. Age 5.

My Art History: Santa

With a... uh... lightsaber. Age 4. Pencil outlines courtesy of someone else I think.

My Art History

No, this is not a design for my next movie.

I always intended to have a place on the site for my drawings/paintings etc, but never seemed to have anything current that I'm authorised to show. So I've decided to raid the archives and start posting some of my earlier works. I might put them up in chronological order, and we can all pretend that I'm improving at a superhumanly accelerated rate!

This is the earliest one I could find with a date on it. Age 3.

Where Am I?

Still here, still doing stuff. Just thought you'd like to know... (taps desk and gazes out window in a pensive manner)...

Deconstruction Clips

A couple of snippets from the 16 minute Deconstruction on The Passenger DVD.