A Strange Dog, a Flood and a Man...

A strange dog, a flood and a man walk into a bar....

...no, not really. This Welsh proverb sounds like a joke at first glance. I like it and since this blog post is about something Welsh, I include it.

"Three things it is best to avoid - 

a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise."

~ Welsh proverb.

If you're disappointed and wanted a joke, scroll to the end of this post for my standard joke I tell in pubs. Few enjoy it as much as me.

This post is about my design process and how I arrive at something I am happy with.

Almost two years ago I designed and sculpted a Welsh witch character called Mabyn Mossback for 'Good Witches Bad Witches'  and showed her here on this blog. 

This was the initial sketch.

I had to include a sheep because Wales and sheep are inextricably linked. I had the sheep led by a leek on a string (naturally) and gave her a traditional Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. Also, she's knitting. I was never convinced this was the right design though...

Here's her sheep.

So a year later (April 2016) I found time to sketch her again - still riding her white ram and dressed mostly the same. This time I added an umbrella and a mushroom to her hat. It still wasn't right for 'Good Witches Bad Witches' so I shelved her again and worked on others.

This was the watercolour sketch.

This year I sold her since she never quite belonged to the 'Good Witches Bad Witches' world.... she was detailed and nicely made, but the design didn't work for me. I re-imagined her, this time without the leek on the string... and this time I suddenly realised that of course her ram had to be black, not white. I kept (but changed) the Welsh stovepipe hat and red wool shawl. I kept the umbrella. But this time, I designed her not riding the ram, but sitting in a modest cart, pulled by the ram. The cart is carved like a Welsh love spoon. Balls of wool sit packed up at the back of her cart. 

Here's the design...

And here it is as a better sketch...

Check back at this blog soon as I'll share images of the new sculpted maquette... the finished Mabyn Mossback (Welsh witch) and then in a few weeks there will be a video all about making her at the Tall Tales Productions YouTube Channel here. Please subscribe to the channel if you're interested in watching me work and stay tuned for tutorials to be added this year as well (that is, if interest is there!)

A glimpse at her and her ram...

And finally, my joke.

Two chemists walk into a bar. Bartender asks "What can I get you?"

The first chemist says, "I'll have a glass of H2O."
The second chemist says, " I'll have H2O too."

The second chemist dies.        tall tales productions, caroline mcfarlane-watts, cs mcfarlane-watts, animation, stop-motion, scale models, miniature models, miniaturist, concept maquette, maquette sculpting, sculpting figures, character design, laika, tim burton design, aardman, miniature characters, mackinnon saunders, peter lord

What's in a Name?

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet..."

~ William Shakespeare; 'Romeo and Juliet' 

It's about time you (those of you that have followed the project Good Witches Bad Witches ™ for any length of time) learnt the names of the witches you've come to know. I spent the weekend sketching various witches (actually I managed six over the two days) and if you follow the new Tall Tales Productions Instagram account you may have caught the video (here) of me drawing one. Note - I've had an Instagram account for almost two years, but often used it for personal photos, so it was about time I set up this company Instagram account.

You can now find the official Tall Tales Productions Instagram account here, and follow it to see any behind the scenes work, finished work, videos, tutorials... basically anything created within Tall Tales. Expect to see more artwork, sculpting, witches, books, miniature models and even miniature food. I wont use this account to post anything which is not business related.

You can also follow the dedicated Good Witches Bad Witches ™ Instagram account here. This will not be behind the scenes about how the project is made, but instead it will be finished shots and you can learn more about the characters themselves, not the technicalities of how they were created.

You can continue to follow my personal Instagram account here if you like!

So...

The names!

From left to right (on the above line up), we have Olga, Mildred, Falka, Eris, Drusilla and Marla. See sketches below... more to come soon.

Woman - Woa Man!

Character design artwork for 'Good Witches Bad Witches'

It's a woman's world today. Did you know it's International Women's Day?

I'll be an optimist and assume that the men who read this blog have not checked out, and I'll continue... Yes - it's International Women's Day apparently (yeah, I'd never heard of it either) and it's the 41st year of this being a thing.

'Zootopia' Image courtesy of Disney

Naturally as the person who created 'Good Witches Bad Witches' - a subculture of female characters of every sort, I care about gender representation in film. Today I want to give a shout out to Disney's new animated feature - 'Zootopia'. Thrilled to see several rounded and relevant female characters in one film. Not only that, but the film's message to the children in the audience is that you can be anything and do anything (a message more often given to little boys alone). It was wonderful to watch female characters who are not portrayed as annoying, weepy, frightened victims, accident-prone idiots, on a quest for a boyfriend, dependent on men, unambitious, attractive rewards for male heros or just plain irrelevant. The last time I felt Disney hit this nail on the head was 'Mulan' and to an extent 'Tangled'.

Rolling Stone praised 'Zootopia' for its "potent feminist streak" The Guardian talks of 'Zootopia's "feminist credentials" and Variety references the gender topic.*

Go and see 'Zootopia'. It's incredibly well-written, visually flawless and hysterical. Have children? - Take 'em. Don't have children? - Have some and show them this film.

If you're a woman in the industry who read to the end of this post I have a final suggestion. Join Women in Animation. Fantastic group.

If you're a man who read to the end of this post - thank you! Gold star.

Finally, the women of Tall Tales Productions have grouped together to say "Happy Women's Day!" and posed for this iPhone shot.

The image at the beginning of this post is some new character artwork I just did for 'Good Witches Bad Witches'. Sketched using ink and white pencil. Don't forget to check in here or at the Facebook page or Instagram or the website to follow the project as it unfolds.... thank you!



* However Variety film critic Peter Debruge doesn't give 'Zootopia' their due credit, with the line "the movie is less about race than gender, dredging up equality issues that might have been fresher in the days of “9 to 5” and “Working Girl”: Hmmm.

A Gaggle of Witches

I finished that painting of a gaggle of bad witches from 'Good Witches Bad Witches' but haven't been able to post it here due to a defunct (and now replaced) computer which I look forward to beating with a baseball bat this afternoon. My new computer is making me very happy.

So, you can see the in-progress painting in my last post, and now here it is finished. It's watercolour on paper and it depicts European witches.  

For those that don't know about the project 'Good Witches Bad Witches' - this is being developed as a children's book about the witches of the world, a series of witch sculptures which will be exhibited in LA and a short film. You can find out more about it by exploring this blog or head straight to the website page here.

Back soon!

Shout Outs!

First, a bit about what I've been up to... I ran out of brown clay and so had to put my tree sculpt on the back-burner whilst I wait for my Amazon delivery, so in the meantime I've planned and started painting an illustration for the book 'Good Witches Bad Witches'. (See my progress below)

I've always been inspired by Norman Rockwell's paintings which show a gathering of people (for instance his 'Golden Rule' which you can see here), and for ages I've had in mind an illustration of my 'bad witches' in a similar crowd setting. And if you're interested n learning more about Norman Rockwell you should check out his page on Artsy (here). Artsy is a great resource for art collectors by the way, so you should out the site anyway!

The first sketch was just to see how many faces (from my sketchbook here) I could get onto one page. Then I roughly scribbled some crayon colour over it to make sure I didn't have all the redheads on one side and blondes / greys on the other. Then I re-drew it, this time paying more attention to form (inspiration from Rockwell). Then I drew it a final time in pencil, and larger.

I hope to have this painting finished by the weekend and I'll post it here when it is.

And now some 'shout outs' as Americans would put it. To everyone else - 'giving credit to / raising awareness of' some of the artists I met at Comic Con last weekend.

Melissa Pagluica. This artwork has a slight Mucha feel to it, but is super original and just beautiful. She writes her own work too - very talented. Check out here work here.

Vin Teng. This artist does amazing sculptures. I actually watched him work at his booth at Comic Con - very impressive. Lovely bloke too. Find out more here.

Jack and the Pirate Attack / Jack and the Zombie Attack. These books were written and illustrated by this fantastic husband and wife team I met at Comic Con. Find out more here.

Mike Bocianowski. This guy's work was so enchanting! Adorable and a lot of humour. See more here.

Josh Shalek. This guy is brilliant! He writes and illustrates his own comics, has done an album cover, and he was one of the most buzzing, ambitious people at Comic Con - and I just love that kind of energy. See more here.

Nerd Alert!

Not content with dressing in big flouncy dresses and fairy wings for the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball and donning wench outfits for the Renaissance Faire... I am now about to go a step lower further and attend Comic-Con.

I'm only kidding, I think it will be great fun and a great crowd. Next year I'll have my own table there so I'm keen to get a good look at the place and feel for what it's about. I have a feeling I might stick out like an impostor in a sea of Supermen and Galadriels. Should be fun though and I'll definitely show photos on this blog when I get back from San Diego.

In other news.... you haven't heard from me for two weeks as I've been working on projects for publishing, and thus don't have that much to show you. However, last night after my evening plans fell through I sat at my desk and sketched witch after witch after witch.... looks like I've got the next 10 designs kinda covered and so I'll be back to proffering a witch a week in no time.

I've also begun work on a miniature tree.... i's going to look a lot like that old illustration of mine... stay tuned!

Evolution of the Witch

Today I did a first draft sketch of my pastry chef witch. She's only seen for like a split second in the film 'Myrtle the Witch', so she's not very important. That's why I'm starting with her.

So this morning I did a quick pen sketch, then I re-drew her in pencil, then I added colour using watercolour paints (not Photoshop as I'm just faster sticking to my old ways), then I scanned her to include on this blog so you can take a look at how things are evolving. Click on an image to enlarge.

You can put this witch character into context by checking out yesterday's blog post (here).

I will create some more artwork for other characters and then start sculpting them and will share bits and pieces here, so don't forget to follow and find the Tall Tales Productions Facebook page as well. Thanks!


NOTE Since writing this post I have completed this witch, and you can see the finished article here.

Good on Paper

I've been testing different papers to see what yields the nicest result for printing watercolour paintings and concluded that Hahnemuhle 'Matte Museum Etching 350 gsm, 100% cotton' is the one. It has a silky finish and a texture a bit like watercolour paper.

So - job done - I'll be able to send prints of the fairy-tale tree to all who pre-ordered one.. or you can find a new shop I've just opened here.

I'm also starting a new painting this weekend and will share it here on my blog soon. My aim is to create a lot of new artwork for 'The Hidden World' over the coming months;)

In other news...

Things I love about LA? Aside from accessibility to the film industry, creative people, climate and Mexican food? It's the fact that people host spectacular balls from time to time. I attend the 'Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball' each year (previous post here), but this month I discovered the Edwardian Ball...

Bought a brilliant silk ballgown (which was strictly speaking more Victorian than Edwardian, but the best I could do at short notice) and felt like Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I'. The stage performances were fantastic, the 1920s venue (Fonda Theatre) is a favourite of mine and the DJs were pretty good too. They even had a cocktail which may as well have been tailored for me - something called 'Tea Thyme', which was tea vodka shaken over ice with honey syrup and muddled with sprigs of thyme. Everyone made a huge effort with costumes - much as they do for 'Labyrinth of Jareth' and we all had a ball.

Find out about it at their website and scroll past my print images to see photos from the event. I took some, but the superior ones with copyright notice were taken by a brilliantly talented photographer - Marco Sanchez, who kindly gave me permission to share.

People are Strange

Waking up in the wee hours of the morning, 3 or 4 hours before the alarm is set to go off can be a blessing. Yes, I'm tired after 3 hours sleep, but waking up suddenly and with energy makes me feel like I've stolen time. Magically I have an extra 4 hours to work on something I wouldn't otherwise have had. However I probably wouldn't be writing this drivel if I were better rested and more switched on.

In my stolen time this morning I quickly (emphasis on quickly) finished off that blasted watercolour (mentioned months ago here) which was such a relief. I hate unfinished tasks, plus it was good for me. I'm so completely out of practice (at painting anything and with any medium), so it's good to get back to it, even though the painting isn't what I wanted it to be. I've included some image details, plus entire painting in this post. Last image is just a 5 min mock-up for 'The Handbook to the Hidden World' -for fun.

Found out today that scanning large artwork in LA costs a small fortune, so I captured my painting in a series of photographs taken with my Canon DSLR and then 'stitched' them together in Photoshop. Brought the background to pure white but didn't edit it in any other way. Wondering if I should try to enhance it using Photoshop? Advice on the topic would be great! 

The past week's been fairly eventful. I was granted my Greencard on Monday and met Nicholas Cage and Chris Sanders that evening at a party on Sunset Blvd. On Tuesday I met the remaining members of my all-time favourite band - 'The Doors'. John Densmore and Robby Krieger told stories about how Jim Morrison wrote 'People are Strange' whilst hiking up Laurel Canyon at dawn. He had been feeling completely depressed but that creative outlet - coming up with that song - turned his mood around. Sound familiar to any other creatives out there? Certainly does to me. Next day I met Joe Letteri at a pre-screening of 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' and enjoyed hearing him talk about the making of the film, despite the fact that Weta abandoned miniatures after the LOTR trilogy. Had the pleasure of meeting Ralph Fiennes last night and hearing him talk about directing his second film 'The Invisible Woman'.

I love LA.