Pages

Sunday, October 31, 2010

アダムの誕生日 (だけどニンニキュンの制作中)


As I mentioned in the last Ninniku update the day I did most of the work on Ninniqun was my birthday or at least the day organized to be my birthday celebration but due to being so busy I needed to cancel the BBQ we were going to have at my place so I could continue working and finish Ninniqun on time... this day was also special (possibly more so) because it marks the second anniversary of my decision to quit my Job in Australia as the senior costume cutter of the South Australian Theatre Company and set out on my own adventure, a decision which at times has been much more difficult to live than it was to make
So when I saw this little bit of video on the Ninniku blog I really wanted to share it here too…

Although canceled, my new found friends here in Japan as well as some people I have known for a long time and are very dear to my heart, rocked on over to my house anyway, and they didn’t just visit they brought presents, food, cake and fun.


I have to tell you that while I was working my butt off and even though I was tired as and high on glue fumes (you can see the garlic skin fabric in my lap) these people gave me one of the best birthdays I have ever had, I truly felt special and it made me feel that my life here in Japan although tough sometimes will work out after all.

So once again a great big giant thank you to you special people, you know who you are...

Thank You!!!

Ninniku Update

Hey hey, so as I mentioned in the last post I have finished the giant garlic, Ninniqun, and he went off to his home in Aomori on the 19th.


Anyway because I have been so crazy busy I haven’t been able to keep you up dated, however as there is a typhoon today I have no distractions and no excuse not to sit here at my coputer and catch you up on all the Ninniku(garlic) happenings of the last month as well as some progress photos. As with all the other posts on Ninniqun, you can of course head on over to the Ninniku blog to check it out in Japanese.


First up here are some photos of Ninniqun with half the foam on...





The following photos are from the Ninniku blog as I got more busy the documentation of the project on my behalf went out the window...

Full foam
I drew up the eyes so Aya could see what it would look like


On Japanese TV... yes, thats right I'm a star in my own living room...hehehe

Skin
Sewing the garlic skin in my tiny work room

Putting the skin on, checking the fit


Face
Working out the face, we dide this before the skin was finished because Aya and Yu were at my house. Once we marked the face possition the skin came off again too finnish sewing it.
I was also lucky to have a faithful assistant handing me pins...

Aya and Yu work out the mouth position...

Working on the inside


Boots
Every one needs giant oversized boots... looks like blue is the colour of the day too.

Ninniqun
Alive and well in Aomori with friends and family

The day most of these photos were taken and the day the biggest part of this project was done, was originally organised for my birthday BBQ. However I was sobusy that i needed to cancle the BBQ. All my mates came over anyway and it turned into a grat day of working and  fun.... So a great big thank you to all my palls here in Japan for coming over, keeping me company, and helping me out... you guys rock!

In Living Kolor


Last weekend I was super excited because not only did I get Ninnikun, the giant garlic finished (the reason I haven’t been able to post lately, at least, that’s my excuse and im sticking to it) for the Aomori festival but also because having finished that project I was free to go to the In Living Kolor show in Harajuku, Tokyo. This turned out to be the best and most awesomest weekend of all.

The show was held at the Design Festa galleries in Harajuku Tokyo and was a two part show held on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of this month.

In Living Kolor, was the collaboration show of Matt Walker the creator of Monster Kolor a paint he has developed for custom toy pant work (released not so long ago), the dude behind Dead presidents Designs (his own personal art work) and also the dude behind Presidential Coatings (a custom production toy painting company) and Mark Nagata an awesome illustrator, artist, toy designer and the owner of Max Toy company...

As these two guys have so much going on I will pull together a more detailed post on them individually in the coming weeks... thanks guys for giving me such great blog content!!!


The focus of In Living Kolor was the Japan release of Dead Presidents line of toy paints called Monster Kolor.
As mentioned the show was divided into two parts, on the Saturday there was a live participation painting day where artists and well any body else could go and give the Monster Kolor paints a test drive, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get there till later in the day so I don’t have many photos of cool people in action but I did meet a cool dude, Andy who runs the KaijuKorner blog so pop on over there later and check out his coverage of the day (lots of action shots).


I will also shamefully admit to you peeps (cos I know you wont hold it against me… will you?!) that although I was invited to play I was annoyingly to shy to pick up the air brush and give it a go…. But next time I will, I promise!!! No really I do!

Kaiju Painted with Monster Kolor

Shiny and sparkly!



Monster Kolor Clear


Live Monster Kolor painting

 fave Kaiju

The second day was an open class given by Matt Walker on the art of Pin Striping and thankfully, I sucked it up and gave it a go. To my surprise and although terribly fearful of making a complete fool of myself, this was a lot fun… in fact it is an activity that takes time and patients and I really get into things like that. Again this is something I want to give you more information on so I wont dribble on to much about it here. I will say though that actually doing this is really hard, it looks a pinch when the master Matt Walker does it but once you give it a go you really developed a new appreciation for the art…. Stay tuned for more on this topic in the coming weeks.

The Master at work



Students at work

The practice sheet


To finish up I really have to tell you this was a not only a great show but also a great experience, and not what I was expecting. While this was the first time Id met both Matt and Mark, both of them took the time out not only to chat with me about the show but were also interested in what I was up to, as well as super helpful with advice. It was really great to speak with people who were so open and willing to share there information and knowledge about there art and the industry, as a fella that wants to ge involed it was really awesome.

 Matt Walker

Mark Nagata

A big thank you to both Mark and Matt for a great show… we hope to see you again in Japan in the near future!!!