quayle

It seems I spoke too soon. I forgot to include a picture of the final outcome, the illustrated book.

Yep, I embossed and debossed that cover. Like a boss.

( Look inside )
A while back I started watching Due South because I'd been hearing a lot of good stuff about it. I skimmed through the early seasons and just finished season four--that has got to be the most perfect ending to a series ever. Not to mention I am totally defenseless against Ray K's glasses. I think I'm in love <3

That's all folks! Hope you've enjoyed it. Now back to some non-dissertation stuff.

(This one was probably my favorite out of the lot.)

Went to Christmas concert -- check
Sent out Christmas cards -- check
Baked delicious cookies -- check check
Worked on animation -- errrrrr I'll get back to you on that.

Current Music: Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (John Gardner)

London, why so cold?

(Alan Grey always gets locked out of doors and has to wait for someone to come and invite him back in. Can you tell I have a satanic theory about this?)

Man, I decided to take a day off and just relax a little bit--worst decision ever. Now I'm sitting here at my laptop hoping my work for tomorrow will magically go finish itself. Had an interesting briefing today though about CD covers for contemporary composers (some of the composers came along and they were very sweet), I definitely want to go for this! I am just having an abstract vs. concrete imagery debate inside my head. Abstract lends itself awesomely to this kind of music, but a lot of times people can identify better with a concrete image. Will probably submit both options and see what happens.

(The hero of this movie is not actually the protagonist, it's the elderly servant. He's the one who defeats the evil guys. I thought I'd start with him for that reason.)

(This is not quite as polished as I would have liked, but there were time constraints. I believe my main thought when making this was 'make it look...German.' ;D)

PS: Happy Sankt Nikolaus Tag!

(This is basically a photomontage of the big panning shot in the first scene of Frankenstein; essentially what the set would have looked like if there had been an establishing shot. Probs it was a good call not to have one.)

(The village of Frankenstein)

(Goldstadt University)
I really, really could use a vacation right about now; I'm so tuckered out that even my body is staging a general strike is protest. I did somehow manage to do some nice things on friday though, like see the Southbank christmas market. Through an incredible twist of fate (or rather friends of ours being sent twice as many tickets as they ordered) I got to go see Hamlet at the Young Vic with Michael Sheen! It was very, very good. They set it in an insane asylum and had really good staging to that effect. When you thought you were entering the theater, you actually first had to walk down a series of twisting, institutional corridors with inmates occasionally passing you by. Next you had to pass through the sort of screening/security room and through the metal gates before you finally entered from behind the stage. I'm kind of a geek about this stuff, so that was already more than enough to make me happy for the evening, but the rest was also really excellent. They managed to keep it all very fresh-sounding and light (where appropriate).
Today is my last day of filming, tomorrow I am officially taking the day off!

Even trees hate this guy. What a sad life.

There was a two-for-one Lebkuchen sale yesterday. Oh lordy. So much Lebkuchen. I planned on saving it until, like, closer to Christmas or at least December, but that is so not happening.

(Pencil, ink and pastel.)

(Ink sketch of the same. I feel like ink sort of tends to read better once it's scanned.)

(Starting with some more places: various views of the famous tower laboratory.)

(Title page inspired by the film's visual imagery--irl it's printed on grey sugar paper which gives it a very nicely softened feel.)

I've started a kind of internship thingy for one of the moving image tutors who's working on a music video; I'm on the animating team. I am tired, but satisfied because despite being quite busy I still somehow managed to have two thanksgiving dinners ;D

(Crossroads figure heavily in the film--they denote possibility, but also also have occult connections. For instance, certain monsters must be buried at crossroads so that, should they rise again, they will be unable to find their way.)