Wednesday 18 August 2010

Project Onomatopee: "Summer" (July 2010)

Here is what I submitted to Project Onomatopee for July's theme of "Summer".


Having kinda mocked England and its World Cup hopes for my June submission, I thought it only fair that I mock the stereotypical summer weather in my home country of Scotland. Therefore the caption (which I decided to write in Dutch because Project Onomatopee is from the Netherlands) translates as: "In Scotland even the sun goes away for a summer holiday".

The image that I've drawn is a portrayal of Edinburgh, looking from Waverley Station towards the National Gallery (with the Royal Mile on the left hand side and the Castle in the background). But unusually for me I composed the entire image from my mind/memory, while using reference material only for the green Waverley Station pillar. As a result all the buildings look a bit wonky, but I expect that they are still recognisable saying as that part of Edinburgh is full of rather unique architecture.

I had originally planned on painting the image with Photoshop to continue developing my digital painting skills, but due to being short of time I decided just to whip out the trusty old watercolours. Unfortunately the painted colours did not turn out as I had intended: Although they're not too dreadful...

After submitting the painted image at the end of July I found myself with a lot more free time, so I've spent a fair bit of this month working on an alternative version of the image within Photoshop (below).


I'm much happier with the darkness of the sky (as caused by an absent sun) in this version than that which I achieved with my watercolour version; and Photoshop worked a charm for creating the lighting effects as caused by the lamp atop the Waverely Station pillar: Overall the Photoshop version is just a much more atmospheric image, which I'm chuffed with!

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Filmmaker Looking For Bands (& Other Folks)

If you are (or you know someone who is) a musician, actor, comedian, or sportsperson; and would like to have professionally-created footage for demo reels, promo material, DVDs, and/or websites, please get in touch with me and we’ll sort everything out.

I’m a Filmmaker and Artist from Kinross, who gained a BA (Hons) degree in Animation from the world-renowned Edinburgh College of Art in July 2009. I’ve worked on many film productions (both live-action and animated) over the past 5 years, and amongst my 20-odd credits are several films that have screened at international film festivals and won prestigious awards.
My own YouTube videos have received over 53,000 views and some of them have been:
- featured on the Max Power [car magazine] website (D1 Drifting At Knockhill);
- invited to be shown on MTV Europe (Die Skateboard);
- commissioned for a professional theatre production starring Abi Titmuss (Macbeth Vision 4);
- and included as a Bonus Feature on all UK-release Paranormal Activity DVDs and Blu-rays (Pigment of Imagination).

Following these achievements I’d like to begin working on a wide variety of projects that will help to both develop my creative skills and promote local talents.

Whether this involves recording you live; in practice/rehearsals; or taking part in a narrative-based video / documentary / promo / or something more experimental: I am willing to work with you to create original and exciting material at a professional standard.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer not to appear in the video footage, but would like to have your material sampled and/or featured as a soundtrack to demo reels and short films please let me know and I will see what we can do.

I live in Kinross but have my own car, so if you are in Edinburgh, Fife, Stirling, Perthshire, or Dundee, you are perfectly placed to work with me.

I own a Sony Handycam camcorder; digital stills cameras; a laptop with audio, visual, & video editing software (Audacity, SoundForge, Photoshop, Vegas Movie Studio HD); and DVD publishing/printing equipment. So I can deliver top-notch work as long as you are willing to participate in one form or another…

If you are interested in this opportunity please get in contact with me, or if you know someone else that may be interested in it please send this message to them.

You can view a sample of my work on:
- Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ArtOfAndyRMacpherson
- YouTube at: www.youtube.com/AndyMacInBlack
- My blog/website at: www.AndyMacArt.co.uk

And you can contact me by e-mailing: AndyRMacpherson (AT) gmail (DOT) com