Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2011

THE THREE ANCIENTS

In this post we relive the final scene but with some never before seen and very rare Simon Sherry   Drafts and Works In Progress


High above obscured by the white mist the three ancient Elders looked down in disbelief.
“Didn’t see this coming” said one as he quickly leafed through the large tome resting on his lap.
“Never seen such a battle fought like this one brother, it defied all the rules of common sense” said the other scratching his head with the hourglass he held.
“What happens now brothers?” said the other his staff tapping against his sandal impatiently.
There was silence as each thought about this last enquiry.
“We can’t clear the board, the battle’s not won”
“But there is always a winner brother it is how it should be, it is our rules and our rules by nature of who we are, are infallible”
“But brother, there is your proof that our laws are infallible, look they cannot strike each other, thus no one can fall to be declared beaten. They must remain until someone does. That by my reckoning, should take eternity”
”But that is impossible, infallible is exactly that. There is no contradiction to our laws”
“Well judging by those two warriors standing nose to nose down there, I think you may be mistaken”
The Elder holding the staff suddenly struck by a sudden awareness, dropped it, and as it fell its stone shone brightly.
“I think we have a serious concern brothers”
The Elder holding the hourglass realized that all of a sudden it felt bottom heavy, he held it high to discover all the sand had rested in the bottom chamber and it was now too heavy to turn.
“This is not looking good brothers” he said.
The Elder holding the book started to flick the pages of the book faster and faster, searching for anything to contradict or clause that may negate the situation on the field. Then he slammed the book shut realising, as his brothers had already surmised that the laws off the game were flawed.
“You know what this means don’t you brothers “ he said.
This simple sentence had completed a path.
All three Ancients had admitted that their laws were not absolute.
This realisation by all of the three ancient and almighty Elders meant that their existence though thought to be absolute for eons, had shown that they were indeed fallible thus denying the very essence of their power and might. By being proven wrong they could no longer absolute, which was the sole purpose of their existence, they would become nothingness and thus their world was unmade.
There was light no more.
From below, the two Kings momentarily looked skyward to see the mist swirl into a vortex and quickly spin at dizzyingly speed.
In the centre were three figures who appeared to be screaming, the White King recognised thousands of choirs of angels being thrown about around them being ripped apart in the maelstrom.
This was accompanied by a cacophony of sound like a million horns and souls screaming in tandem.
Then it just stopped.
The silence was a shock.
The two Kings still faced each other, still unable to touch one another, their weapons still in their hands.
They were suspended in nothingness, as far the eye could see in every direction.
Two Kings, unable to touch unable to move locked in stalemate for eternity.

Monday, October 11, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH MATHEW DUNN

He is the man in the gas mask whose work ethic can never be questioned.

Fresh from exhibitions, books and toys we interview Mathew Dunn the very popular Melbourne artist.

Where you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

I stumbled across GoK shortly after joining RedBubble. I was blown away by the complexity of the project and immediate thought ‘The people in charge of this must be completely unhinged!’ (a suspicion verified as fact once I got to know those in charge). Artistic collaborations of any kind are always exciting to watch and participate in, and when it carries the themes and approach of GoK then it’s even more exciting.

Tell us a bit about yourself
Influences, ambitions, hopes and dreams.

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and my love of comics matches that time frame. Influences range from 70’s cartoons and horror/exploitation films, through to a wide range of artists including Henry Darger, Mike Mignola, Ashley Wood, Kent Williams, Dave McKean, Gary Gianni, John Paul Leon, Jeff Lemire, and many many more. My hopes and dreams are varied, but often circle around the subjects of comics and toys. Some of those dreams have come true, those that remain unattained are worth chasing to the ends of the earth for however long it takes.

Is there anyone or anything you want to flog?

I’d suggest everyone go to the GoK page to check it out, then go and check out the individual folios of every artist involved. The talent is inspiring. Then when you’re done with that pop over towww.matthewdunnart.com and say hi ;-)

Sunday, October 3, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH DAMIEN MASON

A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Damien Mason has been a popular member of Red bubble and great addition to the GoK line up. Damien is a web and flash developer as well as being pretty handy with certain pieces of cutlery.
You can see more of Damien here on his blog and his website
Were you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Yeah of course I was aware, is anybody not by now? I thought the individual pieces were brilliant, some of them especially blew my mind with their creativity and visual perfection. I’m not sure I fully appreciated how they all worked together up until now however.. I don’t particularly want to use the word “Epic” but holy shit.. epic.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Your Influences, ambitions, hopes and dreams.

Okay.. I’m nearly 30, married, have a son who’s nearly 2, live in Radelaide and play with Japanese swords on a weekly basis. My influences are many and varied, from comics and animation to random awesome art I happen to stumble across online or in the street. My goal is to always improve. Yes, I’m like a character from Japanese comics. Call me Naruto.
Long term, I’m looking to get my art up to a point when I’m happy with it and then maybe have an exhibition. I’ve got plans to sell some signed prints as well, and one day I would love to design a few toys. Maybe illustrate a kid’s book. Generally create something worthwhile and leave some kind of legacy when I go
.
Is there anyone or anything you want to flog?
These are what I’m currently working on some special A3 prints

Monday, September 27, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH AUSVEN

One of the joys of the second phase is being introduced to people you weren’t really aware of and then being blown away by their extreme talent. One of these characters is ausven.
Ausven has brought a wonderful new dimension to the group and works seamlessly with others while having a distinctive style that makes you look several times to catch the detail you missed the first time you marveled at his work.
A hard working champion and a joy to work with.

What do you think you are going to bring to the Game of Kings Project?

I was aware of the project prior to being invited onboard.
I had began some correspondence with Si regarding his work ad became aware of it through him. I am a big fan of chess, although Ii don’t play so much now but the combination of the game and my other love of comic/fantasy art led to my secretly yearning that there would be a second project and Ii would be asked to be on board – and here I am!!!

Your opinion of the project so far?

I think….no…check that…I know… phase 2 is going to be something very special and very different to Phase 1. The scale is totally different, every image has the potential to be an absolute epic.
When Ii first received the scenes I would be illustrating I thought….shit….where do I start? But having battled on with thumbnail after thumbnail I have managed to complete my first piece and am chuffed with the outcome, I’m thinking so far so good.

A quick run down of your influences and achievements here on Red Bubble and the outside world?

I grew in London and have always loved comic and fantasy art, I used to play the Steve Jackson Fighting Fantasy role playing books and Dungeon and Dragons game with friends as a kid. In fact the first novel I ever read was the Hobbit when I think I was around 11 – so that kind of paved the way for my love of Fantasy. I used to collect Marvel comics avidly, and would always be in awe of artists such as Art Adams, John Byrne, John Romita Snr and Jnr, I guess these were major influences in my style today.
For several years I tossed and turned with what Ii wanted to do with my life, I have always loved my art but was put off pursuing comic and fantasy based stuff for a while after attending formal art school, formal training kind of beats the comic/fantasy style out of you. Instead Ii focused solely on my painting for a few years – my paintings tend to be more abstract.
However, Red Bubble has played a major part in re igniting my fire for the comic and fantasy art and the talents such as Si Sherry, Matt Dunn and Sturstein have really been a great encouragement for me. Once again I am thriving on what Ii am doing and because I am working along side such talents I am being pushed to move forward and drive my ability to new highs….which is very cool.
If you check out some of my earlier designs such as Si Fi Tragedy and compare it to later works such as The Colonial you can see how far my style has progressed over a year or so. And not just the style but also the technique and know how – I am really pleased with this and again I have the RB posse to thank.
I am now preparing a new portfolio to get out there to promote my comic/fantasy art and hope that this time next year I will be able to pretty much support myself working purely as an illustrator instead of a 9 – 5 with a lil illustration on the side.
I am now at a stage in my life where if I don’t make it happen I’m concerned I never will.

Anything you wish to flog?

Anyone or anything I want to flog? Do you mean sell? In Britain flog is slang for selling something. Or do you mean flog as in hit repeatedly with a length of knotted rope?
I’ll answer two in one – I have a length of rope with a knot in it I would be happy to sell to anybody who will use it to repeatedly hit the last two British prime ministers with.
Thank you for having me – not literally of course.

READ MORE HERE

Monday, September 20, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH NICK FORD

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.

His name is Nick FORD

Finalist in the Red Bubble / Demo T-shirt Sound Competition and all round talented artist is from the Scott Robinson school of Nice guys skate and design great art. Nick was a keen supporter of the Game of King’s from its inception and was high on the list of first people to beg to join when it was decided to begin the massive and highly demanding second phase. Nick of course said “yes” and took no time at all to blow everyone away with his ideas and adaptations. We pulled Nick aside quickly for a quick chat to see what’s on his mind in between working and having babies.

What do you think you are going to bring to the Game of Kings Project?

I’m hoping to bring some extra darkness and detail. Simon’s creations are just screaming to be brought to life, so to speak. I’m about to start my 2nd scene ….. His Royal Darkness. Dauntingly exciting stuff. After seeing the amount of thought, time and passion that went into creating the 1st phase of this epic story ….. i just want to do it justice. So expect EPICNESS. I have been quite round these parts with uploads ….. there is a reason.

Your opinion of the project so far?

Um …. epic. Hhehe! Nah … it’s looking really good from the WIP’s i’ve seen. Overall it’s a fricken masterpiece. Hats off to both Danny, Simon and the rest of the original crew. It’s got a motion picture (at leat animation!) written all over it!

A quick run down of your influences and achievements here on Red Bubble and the outside world? Well Hard Roctopus did pretty well in the Sound comp at A T-Shirt Revolution … back in the day! Other than that about 240+ Tee’s sold, a shitload in inspiration and a load of fun had in almost 2 years.

Real world …. my daughter Amelia is my latest achievment! Quite chuffed.

GoK related … ausven and BMB will blow your minds.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN ELLIGET

His name is STEPHEN ELLIGET

Were you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Sure! it would be a nice distraction from my Uni homework.
I knew about the project beforehand through Simon, I had seen some of his work for it on RedBubble and also he had spoken to me about it at family gatherings.
I think the collaboration is fantastic, and although I haven’t been that active in the forums, I have been keeping up with the WIPs. Its very cool seeing so many artists have their take on this shared concept. I havent had much time since my original posts to get much further in my pieces, but I hopefully will get some time soon. Uni is a bit in the way at the moment.
READ MORE HERE............

Thursday, September 9, 2010

INTERVIEW WITH STURSTEIN

INTERVIEW WITH STURSTEIN
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.

His name is Peter Fairfax but he draws under the pseudonym of STURSTEIN

Were you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Yeah, I was aware of it for a while before I was invited. I’m really jealous of everyone who was involved in those early stages. I think the project is a great idea. It’s neat to see where different people have taking the simple concept of chess.

Tell us a bit about yourself
Influences, ambitions, hopes and dreams.

I’m a comic book geek, so most of my influences come from that arena, most notably Mike Mignola, John Buscema, and Dave Stewart. Plus Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones, but more for their painting than their sequential art. There are a bunch of European comic book illustrators I love, but the European stuff in general is a big influence; they really make a fine art of it.

Outside of comic books, there’s Alphonse Mucha, Robert McGinnis, Harley Brown, George Bridgman, Gil Elvgren… I could go on forever.

In terms of literature I’m a big fan of early pulp fiction, particularly sword & sorcery. Authors like Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fritz Leiber, and H.P.Lovecraft. Lately I’ve been really excited about a new series called Monster Blood Tattoo, by D.M.Cornish. And I’ve recently been delving into pulp detective novels.

Ultimately I hope to make a decent living off my illustration, preferably in the world of comic books. That’s been my main goal for years now.

Is there anyone or anything you want to flog?

Absolutely! Right now I’m flogging my webcomic: valentinesdei

Sunday, August 22, 2010

BMBaus interview with great animation

INTERVIEW WITH BMBaus
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in.
I don’t know him and he may be only 5foot 2 inches high but his attitude and talent are monstrous, may I introduce BMBaus…......

BMBaus
Where you aware of the GoK project before you were invited to join and what is your opinion of the collaboration?

Yes. I’ve been watching Simon Sherry for some time now both on Redbubble and at PulpFaction.
And in the shower.
My opinion is one of happiness,
I love big monsters and spiky armour etc and I love chess, and here they are together! Yippee!


Mr BMBaus is responsible for this mighty animation
gok.chess,gameofkings

Phase Two Introduction Interview : Simon Sherry

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON SHERRY
A prelude to the Game of Kings Project Phase Two

Before the release of the second phase of artwok featuring the best of Red Bubble illustrators, the Game of Kings administration hope to introduce you to the newer members and find out a little of what makes them tick. Along the way maybe sneak preview some work in progress and highlight other projects the artists are involved in. To start proceeding we’ll have a chat with the guy who kicked the whole idea off…. Mr Simon Sherry
cheers
Danny

Simon, with the success of Game of Kings Phase One how excited are you about Phase Two?

I’m very, VERY excited, to be honest. The first phase of the project was a lot of fun in terms of building the characters, creatures and the setting, but now we’re getting to the actual battle itself, an there’s some scope to come up with some crazy stuff. Having a whole new group of artists bringing their own distinctive styles to the project just adds to the overall level of excitement I’ve got for the project, and I think that anyone who enjoyed the first phase is going to really love what we’ve got planned.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Behind the scenes part two- Works in progress

This sideshow is a sample of some of the works that the artists from the Game of Kings collaboration have slaved over to realise their final submissions.
It's a fascinating look at the mind at work and gives an indication of how hard these guys worked to give their best product possible.
This is only a sample as indicated above there is enough for a second and maybe
third if the interest is there.

This is a link to a vey earlier version of WIP's

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Game of Kings Review Part 2

As we now have reached the penultimate release of the T Shirt wave of the Game of Kings (GoK) project I would like to reflect on some of its aspects since the idea was first floated some eight months ago.

This is a project of artistic and personal growth.
One man had an idea and was so excited at its possibilities he asked like minded artists to contribute. His own enthusiasm was enough to recruit his first choice wish list. That person of course was Simon Sherry.
The fact that this project has grown and evolved over these past months is testament to the other artists chosen.
This has been a project of testing ones comfort zones and abilities.
If I can draw attention to the artists themselves.
Incredibly popular members such as Scott Robinson, Roger (Ruby Red Design), Glen Smith (No Frills Art) and Jen Hacking (thickblackoutline) have all offered something outside of their usual styles.
It may not be evident at first but a closer look at Scott and Rogers work sees line work, half tone and colour experimentation unlike previous works. Jen has abandoned her usually whimsical style for harder and more aggressive character and experimented with effects like diamonds. Glen who usually works in themes and more topical issues has created a montage of images to reveal stunning characters that deserve their own tales.
Other popular members sjem and Jordan Clarke have shown us hidden skills and strengths and introduced totally new styles never exhibited here in their personal Red Bubble folios.
Sjem with his architecturally inspired CAD drawings of monster steam punk engines and Jordan with her hand drawn and masterfully coloured horse related creatures.
Continue reading here........

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The White pawn - I get by with a little help from my friends.

A special insight to the proces by Scott Robinson,

I thought I`d share a little of the backstory that went along with the recently released WhitePawn from the GameofKings

This piece truly was a collaborative effort, as you`ll soon see.

It satrted out looking like this.. this was my primary idea, a brutish looking behomoth.

This is still at sketch stage obviously.., nothing fancy. But the idea`s there.

I put it to my fellow collaborators, and released there was a couple of things left a little lacking. After reading through Danny`s backstory for the charector, I thought he needed a little more destructive force.

The actual group forum post was this.. “

Started the inking, and had a bit of a re-think about the front hand. I re-read Danny`s descprition, and the idea of grafts really struck a chord with me.
So I just sketched up, ( really, really roughly, as you`ll see) this front hand. I`m thinking of making it a mace. I drew it seperate to the rest of the drawing, so it`s not by any means the perfect position, but it could look cool if I drew it right.. I don`t like the spikes though, I think I`ll just go with crushing ball type of thing, Steel stub on his hand, chains, and a big crushing ball…”

So, with the help of the team, I came to this point

Continue reading here......

Thursday, July 16, 2009

What is the Game of Kings?

The Game of Kings is a collaboration bringing together Red Bubble artists from Australia and the UK. Initially starting out as a series of character-based t-shirts, GoK has expanded to include an accompanying narrative and will be spinning out into other media.

The basic theme of the project is the game of chess. The initial brief was that the project’s creator, Simon Sherry, would illustrate the black side of the board, while a team of eight other artists would tackle the white. As the project gathered momentum and the members of the group shared ideas and artwork, a story began to evolve around the pieces in this celestial battleground. With the addition of Danny to the group as ‘biographer’ of this strange cast of characters, this story took on a life of its own, and everyone involved knew that the scope of the Game had grown beyond the cotton canvas.

Due to the clever skills and imagination of those involved and the epic scope of the theme, the GoK group are creating a wonderful series of artworks, stories and multimedia to hopefully fire the imagination in others. The first ‘phase’ of this project are the character tees making up the board itself. Every two weeks four pieces of the board will be revealed along with a section of the story, adding another piece of the jigsaw to build a final picture. Accompanying the artwork and writing will be interviews with the people involved, adding further insight into the project, their role in it, and the thought behind their creations. Every other week, previews for the next ‘wave’ of characters will be released, along with other behind-the-scenes material to whet appetites for what’s in store. A blog, facebook page and twitter account is also online, providing fans with updates and additional extras that may not appear in the main Red Bubble profile.

The Game of Kings Group on Red Bubble will open its doors in the future to accept members who want to contribute ideas, stories and art as well as compete in competitions that will stretch the boundaries of fun and excitement with prizes worth the effort.

The Game of Kings is more than Tee Shirts. It’s wall art and animated story lines, vignettes and artist clashing styles against each other. It’s books and games. It’s audience participation and contribution. It’s something that we hope you can watch grow and enjoy as a whole new world opens up before your eyes in the next few months and beyond.

We hope you enjoy the ride!

- The GoK Team

The GoK team is:

Simon Sherry
Scott Robinson
thickblackoutline
rubyredsjem
quigonjim
Jordan Clarke
Nofrillsart
LilyM
Danny

Monday, July 13, 2009

Free Wall paper for your monitor

Click on the image for free and exclusive wallpaper of the
First wave Black Army and
GoK logo for your monitor.