'(',

2011-11-25T14:06:00.001+10:30

Last Week.

2011-11-13T20:12:00.001+10:30

My favourite view.

Too long away

2011-11-02T08:10:00.001+10:30

2011-07-23T16:53:00.002+09:30

The Advocate July 16

2011-06-16T13:52:00.001+09:30

2011-06-04T14:52:00.000+09:30

From a recent trip to the east coast of Tasmania.

2011-04-04T12:18:00.002+09:30

Recent life drawings done at the Adelaide Art Society.

2011-03-27T18:04:00.002+10:30

A mug commemorating the end of Upper Burnie Primary School, which will amalgamate with several others in the area. My siblings and I attended the school through the 70's. When the trend away from woollen jumpers and towards cotton tops started the school needed a logo to appear on these garments, so with a bit of pushing from my mother I designed this logo in 1979. The first piece of design for print I ever did. Curiously the new amalgamated school is on the grounds of my old high school.

2011-02-20T12:29:00.000+10:30

2011-02-06T13:30:00.001+10:30

2010-12-28T17:30:00.001+10:30

Two recent commissions.

2010-12-05T10:19:00.000+10:30

This piece is in the Small Works show at Brunswick Street Gallery from this Friday.

2010-11-13T13:25:00.002+10:30

It must be spring, there is a new cruise ship in the Derwent every day.

2010-11-03T17:41:00.001+10:30

2010-10-16T17:51:00.000+10:30

2010-09-15T16:31:00.000+09:30

Fun Ho! truck number 522. Somebody once loved this toy very much. Now I do.

2010-09-12T16:59:00.003+09:30

Recent Hobart Life Drawing.

2010-08-22T16:10:00.001+09:30

Yesterday an event was held in Burnie to mark the closure of the Paper Mill after 74 years. These drawings, that I did in the mill just before the machines were shut down, were on display at the event.

2010-08-17T19:46:00.001+09:30

2010-07-26T10:14:00.002+09:30

From a recent trip to north western Australia mentoring young indigenous film makers.

2010-06-22T17:02:00.002+09:30

Life drawings done in Adelaide in March and April.

2010-04-26T15:33:00.003+09:30

The great concept designer Syd Mead giving a presentation on his work in film and other projects.

2010-04-02T17:28:00.002+10:30

A new life drawing session in Adelaide.

2010-03-17T18:29:00.002+10:30

Back to the wide streets of Adelaide.

2010-02-21T15:41:00.002+10:30

Characters designed to illustrate users of a rapidly prototyped indigenous gig info service, created at a Crossover Lab I was lucky enough to attend last week, thanks to the Indigenous Unit at Screen Australia.

2010-02-10T16:59:00.002+10:30

Falmouth looking towards St Mary's Pass.

2010-01-30T17:29:00.002+10:30

From Falmouth looking north towards the Winifred Curtis Reserve. And yes the ocean really is that colour.

2010-01-22T09:07:00.004+10:30

Where else in the world?
The drive to the gig takes 4 minutes.
You park right outside.
Although the venue is full there is no queue to enter.
The venue is splendid and the sight lines perfect.
You see a great show by John Cale and his band.
The gig is free to all.
Only in Hobart.

2009-12-26T19:12:00.003+10:30

View from the couch. The Great Lake, Tasmania. Christmas Day.

2009-12-16T12:44:00.003+10:30

A recent auction purchase. A fairly original postman's bike from around 1968, which includes the PMG decal (Postmaster General). A few years later the PMG became Australia Post and as this clip shows delivery by bicycle became less common. Steep hills and no gears helped to make these bikes redundant, but I think they are great.

2009-12-07T15:26:00.003+10:30

2009-11-10T08:32:00.004+10:30

2009-09-17T18:14:00.004+09:30

Life drawing, yesterday. Pete and Sim played, I had the wash brush in my left hand and the calligraphy brush in my right.

2009-09-10T14:18:00.004+09:30

Some recent concept work.

2009-08-23T18:20:00.006+09:30

More concept work from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. These are drawings from the Slughorn chair tranformation, by far the most difficult visual effects sequence I have worked on.

These are from about midway through our work on the shots. Many hundreds of drawing were made to try to lock down how Professor Slughorn would transform from a chair. Things were modified quite a lot after this.

2009-08-14T17:57:00.007+09:30

Last week I saw the animation I had supervised in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was good to see it after a year in the can, but its always sad when something only partly made it into the film. Such was the case with globbie in the potions class sequence.

Globbie was planned as a lengthly shot where a potion comes to life, slopping from the cauldron and leaping from table to chair to floor, then turning into a four legged creature, before being caught by Professor Slughorn.

These are the designs I made for the first part of the shot. This was taken to full animation by Mark Kennedy, but the only part of his work that remains in the film is the slopping from the cauldron. Such is the film business.

2009-07-21T18:33:00.008+09:30

Sydney last week.

2009-07-03T10:09:00.006+09:30

The long journey from Tasmania...

...to Vancouver.

2009-06-23T10:58:00.003+09:30

Twelve postcards from Vancouver.

Most of May was spent working on the final sequences of Neil Blomkamp's District 9. In my spare time I drew the view from the balcony of my apartment. I would colour each postcard sized section according to the light conditions at the time, then stick a stamp on the back and send it home. It was nice to get back and see them all together for the first time.

2009-04-16T15:21:00.006+09:30

Some recent life drawings, done at The Big Shed near St. Helens, Tasmania.

2009-04-02T16:48:00.003+10:30

2009-03-20T14:44:00.005+10:30

The cover and five pages from the comic booklet that went with the "Enrol to Vote" poster, from 1990. Both were Art Directed by Michael Callaghan of Redback Graphix.

2009-03-20T11:41:00.007+10:30

This is one of the last things the political poster collective Redback Graphix produced. It was designed in 1993 as part of a government campaign to involve Indigenous Australians in the democratic process, this poster was specifically for the Torres Strait. On the 14th of March 2009 a book on Redback's prodigious output over several decades was launched at the National Gallery in Canberra. It's good to know that these influential posters are now in the collections of several major galleries.

2009-02-15T15:10:00.004+10:30

In the last few weeks the stumpy little gum tree in the back yard went from a dull green to crimson for the first time.

2009-01-20T16:16:00.004+10:30

As the Henderson Lagoon empties with the out going tide, a short walk takes you to a spot where you can drift for a kilometre in warm clear water down this channel, before arriving at the sea. Hopefully there won't be a crop duster at work.

2008-12-29T16:49:00.006+10:30

In 1992 Hardcore Australia, a skate company in Melbourne, (who would eventually make Globe shoes), commissioned me to design some deck graphics for three entry level skateboards. These were mass produced in Asia and Hardcore were kind enough to give me samples of the final products.

I'd always thought they would make an interesting chair, so over Christmas I roughed out a design and my father built it.

The timber is recycled Tasmanian Myrtle. We found the strength of the decks meant that we could keep the design very simple, and the chair is surprisingly comfortable to sit on.

2008-12-20T21:16:00.005+10:30

Pruning of the foreground tree revealed this view of the old homestead of Glencoe (far left). The first white settlement on this part of the coast. The rain has made it greener than I've ever seen, amazing considering two years ago the dryness here caused huge bushfires.

2008-12-14T13:30:00.003+10:30

Two views of the Tasman Sea close to home.

2008-11-25T21:24:00.005+10:30

Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke at the Australian Film Television & Radio School last week. This is how he looked after it was announced they would be showing clips from films he had produced.

2008-11-19T16:07:00.005+10:30

The view from Alison's flat in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney.

2008-11-11T17:51:00.006+10:30

The John Alan White Lookout is in the centre of the Winifred Curtis Reserve. Two years ago everything in view was ablaze. Only Falmouth and Glencoe were spared. The reserve is recovering well.

2008-10-27T17:46:00.007+10:30

Even though I'm not in Adelaide, I'm still doing a bit of work for the Adelaide Review.

2008-10-16T18:11:00.007+10:30

It's been two weeks since my return to Tasmania. This is the view from the kitchen, it's a little nicer than my view in London. It's good to be home.

2008-09-21T21:54:00.005+09:30

Adelaide Sketchbook number five.

2008-09-12T16:47:00.006+09:30

The Antarctic winds have ceased, and people have returned to Adelaide's parks for spring.

2008-08-25T20:12:00.004+09:30

"Adelaide Sketchbook" number four.

2008-08-15T19:35:00.006+09:30

Drawn in candle light by the fire at the Governor Hindmarsh 060808. A very pleasant evening spent with Robert Forster and rock 'n' roll friends.

2008-08-03T11:28:00.003+09:30

"Adelaide Sketchbook" number three.

2008-07-21T19:00:00.006+09:30

Hawthorn V St Kilda Telstradome Saturday

First Quarter: Hawks 5.4: 34 Saints 3.1: 19
Woman in front, Go you Hawks! Gawd they are playin' well, we are gonna cream 'em.

Second Quarter: Hawks 10.7: 67 Saints 6.3: 39
Woman in front, Go Hawks, this is gonna be our year I just know it. (To me),What the hell are you doing? You've spent half the game drawing the crowd, what's wrong with you, don't you love football?
My Brother, Maybe he loves football very much, that's why he's drawing it.

Third Quarter: Hawks 12.8: 80 Saints 14.5: 89
Woman in front, C'mon you Hawks supporters stand up for your team!
My Father, Look we've all paid good money to be here and I didn't pay to see your back.

Fourth Quarter: Hawks 13.11: 89 Saints 18.11: 119
Woman in front, Jeez I hate this game.

2008-07-06T12:23:00.003+09:30

Hindmarsh Square in early Autumn.

2008-06-28T13:34:00.006+09:30

"Adelaide Sketchbook" number two.

2008-06-14T12:25:00.005+09:30

Some iconic buildings around Adelaide.

Gull wing toilet block in Rymill Park.

Part of a joinery off Magill Road.

An electricity substation near the central markets.

2008-06-07T18:27:00.004+09:30

This is the first of a regular "Adelaide Sketchbook" panel, appearing in the Adelaide Review.

2008-05-24T19:16:00.005+09:30

A hand puppet of pine and felt, found in Melbourne.

2008-05-19T21:42:00.013+09:30

Some fun illustrations from 1997 for the Sydney Opera House. It's Bennelong Program was designed to introduce kids to the arts. Design by Aaron Seymour.

2008-05-03T22:37:00.009+09:30

Motion studies from Jeanine Breaker's 2007 classes.

2008-04-16T22:31:00.002+09:30

I drew these boards in London for a sequence I would animate in the second Harry Potter film, after the shoot and the edit had largely departed from the studio's boards. It seems strange to be working on a Potter film again...in Adelaide.

2008-04-02T23:25:00.002+10:30

Burnie over Easter

Mum starting a paper sculpture, and the view towards Bass Strait.

Dad with his tractor outside his new shed.

The wharf.

2008-03-24T21:10:00.002+10:30

A few days in Sydney recently.

Hi,

Just to let you know....on Saturday, you left your little black diary at Cafe Two Ants in Elizabeth Bay Road Elizabeth Bay.

I have put it away in the back prep area in case you pop back to retrieve it.

regards,
M

Bronte, the best beach in the world.

2008-03-10T12:49:00.002+10:30

In the midst of one of Adelaide's longest heat waves it was good to be out in the relative cool of the night. Even so "The Bamboos" were sweating in their suits as they funked it up in the Persian Garden at the Festival Centre.

2008-03-01T16:58:00.002+10:30

The last time I'd seen Dave Graney he was alone on the huge Brixton Academy stage playing to a full house that was waiting to see The Bad Seeds. It seemed I was the only audient moved by his strumming.

I had similar concerns when I walked into the North Adelaide Community Centre on Thursday night. Seated at tables was an audience that was some twenty years Dave's senior. Were these his aunts and uncles or had they just dropped in to the centre as they usually did? How could they possibly understand this ridiculously proportioned man whose penis stretched all the way to Saturn, this man who held the cool breeze?

I need not have have worried, prior knowledge of the Moodists or The Coral Snakes was of no importance. Dave, was going to lead us through what it was to be the man. Self reflection was always there in his lyrics and on stage banter but in the Point Blank show these themes were thoroughly penetrated by his "shtick" of song, spoken word, and the occasional stomping of his tap shoes. Dave told us what it was to be that aberrant thing, a performer.

Flanked by Clare Moore on vibraphone and Mark Fitzgibbon on piano, Dave began by defining a square metre of stage, not so much a physical space, but a concept, a place to strike from, to reach out from and sometimes to fall in. From that square metre he wielded his dangerous plastic sword and questioned why you'd want to sing for someone, anyone. He delineated the drawbacks of having no pockets in a jump suit, and he railed against "writers", those who sculk at the back of the room never daring to enter that square metre. I shivered in the dark, clutching my notebook.

In the cool breeze on Tynte Street after the show it felt good to know there is a man called Dave Graney still out there shooting Point Blank.

2008-02-10T18:50:00.001+10:30

This strip appeared in the first and only issue of Australian humour magazine, "Kookaburra" in 1996 edited by Phillip Adams.

Looking at Sydney some ten years later it's remarkable how much worse many of the things that the writer, "Swizzlesitck" complains about have gotten. Even the chicest bar will have a pokie den, and now Australian shopping complexes are being exported. One is soon to open in Shepherd's Bush, London.

2008-01-31T21:52:00.001+10:30

There have been too many states to sketch in the last month.

Pinewood Studios looking towards the 007 stage.

Heathrow waiting for a delayed flight.

Sydney waiting for a flight to Tasmania.

Elizabeth Bay Sydney, looking towards the heads from Bronwyn, Michael and David's flat.

And finally, Adelaide.

2007-12-23T07:15:00.001+10:30

Faces on trains.

About a year ago impressions of Londoners on trains started finding their way into my notebooks.

Recently it's seemed I have drawn almost everyone I travel with.

As I prepare to leave London it's sad to think I will no longer have such a wealth of subject matter.

2007-12-17T05:02:00.002+10:30

Women on trains.

2007-12-10T05:32:00.002+10:30

Men on trains.

2007-11-21T09:08:00.002+10:30

Allah was not generous with waves on our surf trip to Morocco.

Everyday we'd drive north from Taghazout to the only beach exposed enough to get swell, at the banana plantation town of Tamri.

As we sat under the cliffs locals would offer chocolate bars, surf wear and jewellery for sale.

We were befriended by a skinny dog called Lipstick. We gave him a half eaten sandwich after lunch one day.

The locals stood around and watched in disbelief.

2007-10-23T22:02:00.000+09:30

Earlier this year old friends Sonia Harford and Ray Edgar suggested to curator Michael Desmond that I'd be a good person to contribute to an exhibition at Australia's National Portrait Gallery.

Michael invited animators to create moving Self Portaits running between thirty seconds and four minutes for the show "Animated".

"Nose" was made in four weeks in September completely on a laptop.

"Nose" can be seen at:
http://www.portrait.gov.au/animated/

To see the Cat & Fiddle Clock that influenced "Nose":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQTOInKBMaQ

Thanks to, Stuart Thorne for creating the sound, Mark Kennedy for all his technical help and advice and to Gillian Raymond from the NPGA for looking after vision arriving from London and sound arriving from Melbourne.

2007-10-19T05:49:00.002+09:30

Recent drawings from Jeanine Breaker's
classes.

2007-10-08T05:45:00.002+09:30

The last lunches in the sun.

Golden Square.

2007-10-01T06:08:00.001+09:30

In the mid 90's I was represented by the illustration agency "Drawing Book".

This was for one of their promotional calenders.

2007-09-30T00:43:00.002+09:30

On Thursday Jason Kotey kindly took me along to the BAFTA screening of the sumptuous new Pixar film, "Ratatouille".

Afterwards director Brad Bird gave a Q&A with the prattling Phil Jupitus.

2007-09-27T07:10:00.001+09:30

These are gag doodles from the office pin board.

Any similarity to people and events in that office is strenuously denied.

2007-09-07T18:26:00.002+09:30

Much has changed in Newquay since I first drew on Fistral Beach eight years ago.

The B&B I stayed in is now a candy coloured "Surfer's Lodge".

At least the Headland Hotel is still there,

but I wonder how long it will be before it's view is peppered with high rise apartments.

2007-08-25T23:13:00.002+09:30

When the sun shines on Soho, the lunchtime crowds flood it's three tiny patches of park land.

The churchyard on Wardour Street,

Golden Square,

and Soho Square.

2007-08-21T22:29:00.000+09:30

An illustration from 1990.

2007-08-16T02:46:00.003+09:30

It was late on Sunday night. I was getting on the bus and realised my jacket was still on the train.

The following Saturday I took the train over the Wharncliffe Viaduct to the end of the line.

The lady at Lost Property told me I was very lucky. "We have your jacket...

...and there is a sketch book in the pocket."

2007-08-12T03:13:00.001+09:30

Part of Isambard Brunel's 1839 Wharncliffe Viaduct across the River Brent.

2007-08-05T06:31:00.002+09:30

In about 1990, Fox Comics was approached to be involved in an international children's charity, comic book.

The idea was that every country in the world would create a story. This was Australia's contribution.

A competition was run at a school in Melbourne to design a lead character, Nick Burstall drew Ron Rowdy. Dave Hodson wrote this charming story around Ron.

I drew the story. My coloured pages were then sent off to England, never to be seen again. At least I made some xeroxes.

2007-07-30T03:30:00.001+09:30

Ari Seymour, born July 5 2007. I met him today.

2007-07-23T01:56:00.002+09:30

Circa 1977

2007-07-23T01:33:00.001+09:30

Much of the mid 1970s was spent hanging around the smooth sloping car parks of the town.

Gradually the preference shifted from concrete to the chocolate brown waves around the paper mill.

2007-07-11T06:58:00.001+09:30

"Could everyone please move away from the doors, you may be preventing the train from moving", the driver said, sounding slightly stressed. It was about twenty minutes after we'd stopped.

I was at the end of the carriage, reading in the rush hour. It was an unusually hot morning and at least ten degrees hotter in the carriage.

People were fanning themselves with newspapers as the sweat ran down their faces. After several trips through the train the driver still hadn't found the problem.

Half an hour going nowhere. People had started swapping places to give those standing a rest. Another ten minutes and I noticed I couldn't concentrate enough to read.

"Is there a doctor!?" somebody asked. Someone had fainted, then another, and another. A Spanish woman started to panic and two English women calmed her down. The stiff upper lip was holding but only just.

Then the train started moving, backwards towards Highbury Islington, shunted by the train in front. As we walked out past those fainted, past the sprinting Ambulance men, and then the press, I thought, "Oh well, I guess I'll have to get the bus then."

2007-07-03T06:34:00.002+09:30

The view from the kitchen window.

2007-06-28T06:32:00.001+09:30

One of several covers done for this crime fiction magazine.

2007-06-22T06:27:00.002+09:30

The KPM Allstars performed on Sunday night at Royal Festival Hall as part of Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown.

It was a pleasure to see these five composers conduct a fifteen piece band through some of the tunes they had written for music library KPM. The tunes, originally recorded in a small studio in Denmark St. Soho, and released in a KPM green sleeve, were often made famous as themes to shows like "Dallas", "Mr. Ben", "Monday Night Football" in the US and "The Dave Allen Show". Other tunes fit the easy listening lounge category, and others are just great dance numbers, like Duncan Lamont's "Funky Express".

2007-06-16T23:38:00.000+09:30

Door Bitch was a regular one page strip that ran in free weekly magazines in both Sydney and Melbourne, written by Feline Furr. This is the first of about twenty we did before our publisher folded.

2007-06-08T07:07:00.001+09:30

West Ealing Station (Closed Sundays)

2007-06-03T21:16:00.002+09:30

Dad was a mechanic. Before we came along he built and raced his own car.

Then he worked on the wharf maintaining the vehicles that moved stuff onto the ships.

Mostly that was paper.

Like many people in the town my grandfather worked at the paper mill.

On Sundays, when he came around for dinner, he'd often bring a reem of paper.

The paper would vary in size, colour and weight.

Sometimes it would even have the superfine bond watermark.

But the important thing was there was always something to draw on,

and every now and then, mum would keep a drawing.

2007-05-28T02:28:00.003+09:30

Genesis P-Orridge with Throbbing Gristle, performing their music for Derek Jarman's super-8 films. Tate Modern, Saturday night.