Super G - in location

Here is my gorilla "Super G" in position at St Nick's market!

High up on top of one of the stalls in the covered market is his first placing, though I believe he will be moving around within the market over the next 10 weeks to link in with weekly competitions to win £50 shopping vouchers.

Read down for previous postings to find out more about the Wow! Gorillas project and progress pictures of Super G in the making.

Also a map is available showing the locations of all 60 Wow! Gorillas... download it here

Gorilla Watch: Update #3 The Completion

Brilliant day today.

Having done 3 coats of matte varnish at intervals over the last week or so, I was finally able to collect the skis from being cast, and get them fixed onto Super G - Downhill Racer

Slightly un-dignified, pre ski-fit:

and then back on his feet, complete with skis...

The skis were cast in resin with aluminium powder added to give them their super-shiny metallic look.

What an amazing project to be a part of. It has been great fun, a steep learning curve and pretty stressful at times, but I'm really pleased with the outcome which is very very close to the original design. To re-cap my concept which I submitted in January this year:

"Super G is King of the mountains and big hills, a racing champion on the Alpine ski circuit. Off-season he gets his thrills where he can, and for whatever reason this summer he finds himself in Bristol. From the top: Blackboy Hill/Whiteladies Road/Park Street is an exhilerating walk in the park for this downhill supremo... WATCH HIM GO...!"

From the 4th of July this is one of around 60 gorilla sculptures which will be placed around Bristol for 10 weeks as part of the Zoo's 175 year anniversary celebrations and to raise awareness of their conservation projects. Super-G has been sponsored by Bristol City Council, specifically St Nick's Market, which is where he will be sited for the duration of the event.

For further information on Wow!Gorillas and to see some of the other Gorillas that have been produced have a look at the Wow! Gorillas facebook page... 

Huge thanks go to Alec Walker, and Lisa & Mark of Plenderleith Scantlebury (www.plenderleithscantlebury.com) for their advice & assistance in the making and casting of the skis. Also to Joe Allotey, the Maintenance Manager at Bristol Zoo for coming along to fit them for me.

Gorilla Watch: Update #2

The painting is finished now, I just have to do a few coats of varnish, and the small matter of fitting him with some skis...

here are some photos of the nearly finished Super G...

I had a really good day on friday and painted on all the logo/stitch details etc.

And now have applied a first undercoat of varnish, a spray coat of clear Plasti-kote to seal the paint before applying the final UV acrylic varnish. That's the plan anyway...

I'm pretty pleased with the way his face turned out - opted for a grey, old man alpine look, rather than the traditional gorilla black. Has to be said that his eyes have a certain concentrated stare.

though it has been said he looks like he's been out on the piste...    ha!

It's been a journey, been fun, but will be glad when he's finished. next week the skis...

Gorilla Watch: Update #1

Having been commissioned to do a Gorilla for the Wow!Gorillas project (see earlier post to find out what it's all about) I am really pleased to have now started painting it.

My Gorilla is called 'Super-G' - Downhill Racer. here are my designs, which i'm excited to now be implementing...

My first sighting of the gorillas at the communal painting space, all wrapped up...

My first task was to make some templates for the skis. I'm having some help with making these, they will be cast in resin, and given a metallic finish.

Then to sketch the design on the gorilla, which was trickier than i had imagined, transferring a 2d design to a 3d and very curvy shape.

<< And the first paint colour goes on.

<< First bit of blue

And this is as far as I've got. Am pleased with how it's looking, but going to need a second coat to make sure there's no white or pencil lines showing through.

Have decided to keep his face a bit paler than in the original design so it will feel a bit more alpine and snowy. this is just the first colour, obviously needs some building up..

...just a little bit scary without any eyes!

Will post up more pictures to chart progress as it happens.

Oh GOSH Project - Catchin'Stars!

This is my submission for the Oh GOSH project and is titled Catchin' Stars.

The project  has been organised by Jason Smith (aka Armadilloboy) to raise money for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital through the creation of a colouring book and colouring-in posters.

The brief was to create an illustration involving humans and animals doing fun stuff together, but the image had to be drawn using shapes only. This image will be printed up as an A3 colouring poster and will be available to buy along with the colouring book and range of other posters created by a bunch of great established and up-coming illustrators.

Find out more here: www.ohgoshproject.com

WOW!Gorillas

I was very excited to hear last week that the design I had submitted to the Wow!Gorillas event had been commissioned.


For 10 weeks in the summer this year, around 50 life-size gorilla sculptures will inhabit the streets of Bristol, showcasing the wealth of artistic talent in the area, while highlighting the significant conservation threat facing wild gorillas and how the Bristol business community can make a difference. The event also coincides with the 175 year celebrations of Bristol Zoo.


The brief was simply to take a blank, white 5ft tall gorilla sculpture and produce a design of how you would decorate it.


My gorilla is "Super G - Downhill Racer"


Watch this space to see his progress, can't wait to start on the actual sculpture!

Dinosaurus - Shadow Screen

This was my submission for an opportunity found via Central Station. The brief was from Paul Kerlaff: to create a black and white pattern which could be cut from sheet form to make one of their Shadow Screens.

I created my design with the specific purpose of a screen which could be used to define/conceal a child's playspace.

Alas, my submission was unsuccessful - with feedback that the design would perhaps be more suited to print than cut sheet form. lines too thin i guess...

oh well, was fun drawing the dinosaurs......

Thinking Caps

'Thinking Caps' is an exhibition of up to 100 classic cycling caps - each of a bespoke design submitted by artists and designers. The caps will be exhibited in Howies (Bristol) gallery space throughout the Bristol Bike Festival (11th - 26th September).

These are the 2 side panels of my cap, which i created using a combination of pens and sewing machine. I had great fun making it and think it is a technique i will be re-visiting for future projects.

Find out more about the Thinking Caps project here

Colonel Windpipe's Musical Brigade

Meet Lieutenant Tristram de Bonneville.

This is my contribution to a fun illustration project, and brainchild of uberkraaft and Lesley Barnes.

Illustrators are invited to submit characters to join their merry, magical marching band, which will eventually be put together as one huge print to be sold for charity.

Find out more about the project here:

http://colonelwindpipe.blogspot.com

http://www.flickr.com/groups/colonelwindpipe

Illustration Rally

This was my contribution to the current Illustration Rally based on European Countries.

By the power of a lottery, I was allotted Azerbaijan - a country i knew very little, if anything about.

With some research, I found that in Azerbaijan there is a old tradition of fire-jumping to rid yourself of hardship. That and oil, farming, carpet- making and general political unrest...!

Super Fly Freedom Fighter

This is my submission for Kerouac's Dog, a soon-to-launch independent quarterly magazine for new writing, design, photography, fashion and creativity on general. The theme for the first issue is 'Freedom'.

The image turned out with a bit more of a sinister feel than my usual stuff. Not sure why. The sun's out and i really enjoyed doing it... just got the pens out and that's what happened. I guess freedom fighters aren't exactly chirpy..!

Monochrome was a stipulation, as the mag's going to be printed purely in black & white.

Toe Fluff

This is my character for Steve Rack's Toe Fluff exhibition project.

Given a template for the basic shape of the Toe Fluff character, artists are asked to 'customise', just get creative and do whatever...

More about the project and all the other submissions can be seen at www.toefluff.co.uk

Happy Journey Collective

The Happy Journey Collective is a fun project i heard about recently on Twitter - the idea being to showcase an ongoing selection of coffin artworks from artists and illustrators around the world.

Submissions are currently being invited, with just a template for the shape of the coffin given, and the brief... do whatever!

Thought I'd have a go. this is what i came up with.

Crash and burn? or number 07 flies you straight to heaven...

Escape

This is my submission for the forthcoming Ink-dot exhibition, which opens on 17th June in the upstairs gallery space at the Howies store on Queens Road, Bristol.

As with the previous Ink-dot shows, the idea is to show off the best design and illustration talent working and creating in Bristol.

The title and brief is 'Escape', artists are invited to submit work on this theme, sticking within a set colour palette of 6 colours, plus black and white.

Wouldn't it be great if instant escape was available at the mere press of a key......