Art: Some New Stuff, Some Old Stuff

These are things I created over the last few months for college assignments, for myself, and/or for I-dunno-what. Looking at it all now, I see influences from the many monster movies I was watching then (classic, campy or both), “Courage the Cowardly Dog”, and other similar stuff. Enough said. Here you go:

The Nun From Space! (Indian ink on paper)

Halfway There (Photography, Photoshop)

My Beloved Monster and Me (Photoshop)

Illa, I am your Appa! (Newspaper Collage)

Alien Language (Collage)

The Twinducks (Photoshop)

Les nombreux visages de moi [L'original] (Photoshop)

Les nombreux visages de moi [Part deux] (Photoshop)

Inspector Clay Rises From His Grave! (sketch on paper)

Inspector Clay Rises From His Grave! (sketch on paper, digitally colorized on Photoshop)

Untitled (pen on paper)

Gluttire (Photoshop)

In Pursuit of Things New and Unknown (Photoshop)

My First Completed Film: “Nurplex!” (2004)

 

My mother found the footage of this film stored quietly on a tape and sent it over to me. It was shot some time in 2004, when I was ten, and was intended to be a monster movie in the style of the early Harryhausen features (with a touch of Spielberg).

“From Outer Space Into Your Very Home! The Plastic Monster From 20 Million Miles Away! NURPLEX!”

 

“Do you realize how interesting this really is, in the way it shows your early grasp of editing and montage? You were a born filmmaker, a prize product of the generation born into a world of video cameras.”

- Roger Ebert to me, after watching ‘Nurplex!’

Film: “Pieces” (2012)

 

An experimental film, presented in reversed slow-mo, “Pieces” is the first of my films to feature an entirely original soundtrack (I composed the music piece, titled “Mia’s Lullaby”, on FL Studio). Fun fact: The car featured in the film now rests in about ten pieces.

“So very good! A subtle, powerful narrative.”

-Roger Ebert on “Pieces”

Film: “In The Morning” (2011)

“Remember [Krishna's] early videos I posted, about the special effects produced when he was a kid? Now he has developed into an impressive talent. This film beautifully evokes Hopper.”

- Roger Ebert on “In The Morning”

A project I did for college. I’ve attempted to recreate the world of Edward Hopper’s paintings in motion. I’ve tried to stay faithful to the themes, style, look, mood et al of his great work.

 

 

Apart from, obviously, Hopper’s paintings, I was inspired by Conrad Hall’s wonderful cinematography in “Road to Perdition”, the unhurried feel of the great “Drive” (the new Refn film. Odd, I know), and the idea behind the film “The Mill and the Cross”, unseen by me. The last inspiration, perhaps one of the most significant of the lot, was more subconscious. Only now when I look at “In the Morning” am I reminded of the trailer of “The Mill and the Cross”, a film I look forward to experiencing. Oh, and I suppose I must add “Sin City” to the list. And “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”, for that matter. Yes, it’s all coming back now.

Book: “GLASSES” (2011)

“Heartbreaking… and heartwarming. Subtle and powerful while seeming so simple. The prose and art work is flawless and so moving.”

- Roger Ebert on “Glasses”

My newest work is this graphic novel (or children’s book, rather) which tells a deeply personal story; a young boy explores his late father’s room for the first time in his life and has an important revelation.

Read “Glasses” in its entirety below. Make sure you check it out on full-screen.

Film: “Tissue: A Love Story” (2011)

 

Richard Linklater’s wonderful “Waking Life” left me fascinated with rotoscoping, and so I’ve tried some of my own. It took a lot of work: five long days of six to seven hours each, continuously animating away at my laptop.

The video eventually didn’t turn out as good as I wanted it to, because of several reasons… the original animation files got ruined somewhere along the transition from SWF format to WMV, making them strobe a lot more than they should; the deadline was up before I knew it and I rushed a lot of the work (I had just a week’s time to conceive, complete and submit the project).

But even though it didn’t end up the way I planned, I am proud of it. So there you go. And Roger Ebert has called it “Wonderful…” so I must be doing something right!

Oh, and the music: “Rhapsody in Blue” is a wonderful piece of music I was introduced to via “Fantasia 2000″.