The "I Can Read Movies" Series

A growing collection of film-based book covers that don't exist. As I'm doing contemporary book covers for my Image elective I found this highly appropriate and amusing at the same time. From spacesickart.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory:

Space Jam:
Ghost Busters:
Jurassic Park:
Edward Scissor Hands:

Travis Pitts

I an not be the only one out there who loves contemporary re working of old movies. From the work of Travis Pitts, a freelance illustrator and designer.

A taste for bright, sophisticated, modern, design - all the while harbouring a deep, soldering passion for comic book geekery. I present to you; Rogan Josh:

The X-men (first class) I think I jsut like the little out of place Xavier in the corner.

Kitty And Colossus from The X-men. A 14 year age diffrence is a-ok in comic book land.
Oh Tony...
Emma Frost. Seriously, I f more teachers where like this I think more kids would turn up for school.
And one more for the bat dork fans.

I love their simplistic style yet they're quite iconic and outstanding (if you know who the characters are.) And...I think the batman one is my favourite for it's use of only 2 colours. It makes him stand out more.

Edwardian Wallpaper~

For the window display, Kate and I have been looking in Edwardian wall paper and general inspiration from this time.

Though he a Victorian textile designer, the William morris style for flowers and intricate colours where brought through to the Edwardian age. People where tired of the dark colours of the Victorian era and opted for something lighter and fresher.





As King Edward VII's rein only lasted a mere nine years, it's hard to pin point and exact style for the era. It was still heavily influenced by the Victorians and just as it began to take off, George V began to reign and the style of era's of course shifted again.

Rich Pickings...

for spring chickens:



The spring 2010 window display for Ted Baker.
Lets just say I'm not impressed. Ok, so it depicts spring with the chicken theme but I don't find it funny. A half plucked deranged chicken? Hmm. And, the one in Leeds only showed this in one window and there was no indication of it being carried on inside the store. Also, we had to walk around the other side of the shop to see it.

I think there was too much emphasis on the chicken puppet than anything else. The artwork on the back is much to be admired.

Shadow Puppets

So I was googling for silhouettes and I came across this little blog: Mucky Puppets They work with shadow puppets to create this quirky little films. They're very short but I found the ones I watched to be quite entertaining.

These are stills from something they are still working on. It's a little dark for what Kate and I want but I think it's the direction we want to go in.

My dear, never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint.~

Concept: Autumn is not dead leaves.
Theme: Mary Poppins (Though it won't be obvious. We want engage with the high-street audience. Make them think about it for a few seconds)

Watching something as a child, and then again as an (almost) adult is quite amusing. As well as nostalgic of course.It was funnier watching Mary Poppins with a critique like mind then it was at five-twelve years old.

Some screen caps from nearer the end of the film:




They look a bit dark, but the premises would be a silhouetted sky line of old london town, with little chimney sweeps and poeple been blow into the sky. Little empahsises here and there that can be scaled for different shops.



Lets go fly a kite~

The kites would be an emphases of colour in what would be too dark to catch the public's attention.

Why Mary Poppins then? Well:

- It's British in all it's glory. (except Dick van Dykes terrible accent.)
- A great sense of quirkiness/subtle humour.
- It's culture that people recognise like Alice in Wonderland. (The bandwagon that everyone has jumped on off late.)
- The Edwardian theme is the retro aspect we've been looking for. (If we go by the movies 1910 setting)



This is sort of the style we're looking for. Not as disney-fied and not as obvious but something similar.

Y: The Last Man

I stumbled across the wikipedia article about a Vertigo (DC) comic that came out in 2002 and ran for about 5 years. I was so intrigued I decided to find and read the entire story....all 60 comics in one weekend.

I needed to know it finished. I'm a sucker for punishment.

Y: The Last Man is a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal (barring the same man's pet monkey) on Earth.

Final Issue Cover. Actually my favourite cover. I missed the little details the first time I looked at it. It made more sense once I read the comic. (Like Yoricks white hair)

From Good Old Wiki:

"On July 17, 2002, something (referred to as a plague) simultaneously kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome — including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm. The only exceptions appear to be Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand.

Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse, and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men, their survivor guilt, and the knowledge that - barring a rapid, major scientific breakthrough or other extraordinary happening - humanity is doomed to extinction. Brian K. Vaughan crafts the new society that emerges from this chaos, from the conversion of the Washington Monument into a monument to the dead men, to the genesis of the fanatical ultra-feminist Daughters of the Amazon, who believe that Mother Earth cleansed itself of the "aberration" of the Y chromosome, to male impersonators becoming valued romantically and professionally.

The main plot of the story covers the five years immediately following the plague. Over the course of their journey, Yorick and his friends watch society cope and restabilize in the absence of men. However, many of the women they encounter have ulterior motives in regard to Yorick. Though the subject matter of the series is entirely serious, Y: The Last Man is also noted for its humor. Yorick in particular is a source of one-liners, although the other characters have their moments as well."

Top to bottom: Agent 355, Yoricks Mother (offscreen) Yorkicks Sister and Dr. Mann. I fin it really hard to like female characters. But they where really likable characters. (despite one of being a nut job for a while)

I know the premise sound humorous and silly. Hmm last man on Earth, how much fun he could have (!) Actually, it's quite serious at times and though he may be the protagonist, Yorick also serves as subtle comic relief.

"Alas poor Yorick." Though only mentioned once really is a major theme. As well as the great use of "The male gaze." (This is a comic I want to look at during my dissertation.)

Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favourite comic book writers. Though the majority of the cast is female, there's only a few times you realise it clearly written and drawn by a male. I think writing this essay on the male gaze has started to affect how I look at comic books. It isn't a bad thing. I REALLY enjoyed the comic and I actually can't wait to see how they make it for the big screen. (Something I mentioned in a previous post.) - That is, as long as they don't cast Shia Labeouf like rumoured. Besides he'll be way to old. Yorick is more last boy than man.

There's everything you need. A great cast, diverse, brilliant story line and the use of mind blowing science. (Cloning...I love anything to do with clones.)

And there is a monkey is called ampersand. Nuff Said.