A STILTED CONVERSATION...

I'm rubbish on the phone.

Utterly rubbish.

A recent monosyllabic conversation with a Creative Director gave me cause for reflection. Later that night, as my mind was replaying the day in a style reminiscent of Gil Scot-Heron, I got to thinking about men on stilts and the conversations they may or may not also have.

So in the drawing, that's me on the right...in the yellow pants.

RED SOCKS GO MISSING

So this is a really, really rough sketch for a rhyme I've been working on. In short, it's about two socks.

Two evasive socks.

Looking at the washing machine now, I can't explain why it's the colour of a Wibbly-Wobbly Wonder.

Perhaps it's a special washing machine that only washes coloured clothes. How's that for a contrived explanation?

Well it doesn't convince me so it's back to the drawing-board for me, the socks and the washing machine.

The rhyme, however, is a rattling good read and features an angry Great White Shark. Don't know whether I should get it animated or filmed?

If you can recommend any good shark voiceovers contact me.

BBC PROJECT

Here's a fraction of a smidgin of a scintilla of a hint of a story for a piece of animation I've been working on with Henry at studiocheese.co.uk. I think the character movement is great. I hope the BBC chaps back the idea soon.

THE TOUR OF IRELAND...KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK...

Irish cycling gets something of a 'shot in the arm' with the participation of Lance Armstrong in this year's Tour of Ireland.

But if you're out on the road try lending your support to the lads in the Seán Kelly Cycling Academy. I shot this ad with Jason Morgan while they were competing in Mallorca. We didn't have much money but we wanted to get right into the peloton so we had one of Real Madrid's cameramen ride backwards and pillion on a motorcycle.

To save even more money, I found a band from Waterford on MySpace called The Arrangements who had just broken up. We liked their track, and I suppose a few quid and some recognition interested them, so they let us use their track 'It's Alright'. Post was done by Juniper at ScreenScene.

1:2 FEET (and a frog)

I was doodling earlier trying to draw a frog when I had a thought to paint the kid's feet. 

So I did. 

The frog looks pretty cool. So I guess that's mission accomplished. 

However, my search for an Edward Gorey-esque illustrator for my epic rhyme, 'Ernest Cribben: the woeful tale of a dastardly curmudgeon and his inevitable demise', continues. 

Any thoughts, mail me.

KIDS' TV PROJECT

Here's a rough visual from a project I've been working on with Henry Coate at Studio Cheese, Brighton. 

Henry's been busy putting himself about London, and the BBC, in the hope of grabbing some more animation commissions.

From a huge number of submissions to CBBC, this one has made it down to the last few. So right now we're official contenders.

It's been a really interesting project for me - writing for tv is an altogether different challenge to writing a 30-60 second ad... especially when you're dealing with savvy 8 year olds. 

To put some manners on the project, I've just finished outlining the ten, ten-minute episodes. This was fun to do because it helped us define the characters and develop their stories within the series' arc. Fingers crossed it all works out.

IDMA GOLD & BRONZE '09 - WHO'S THE MAMMY?

The polymath Jason Morgan, of Javelin fame, emailed me back in May with news that he and I had won a shiny gold gong at the IDMA's for a DM version of this cheeky press ad for John O'Connor at Independent Radio Sales. 

I also discovered I'd won a bronze for a direct response tv campaign I'd worked on with Cathal O'Flaherty for the National Adult Literacy Association (NALA)* - another clever initiative taken by Mr. Barney Whelan at An Post.  

Anyway, for the Gold - we retained our IRS 'Housekeeper' press copy, packaged it on real wooden spoons and sent it to a selection of media buyers. Simple! We must've piqued plenty of interest because IRS were inundated with calls. 

I miss working on that IRS account with Jason - they're a great client with a heart-warming           attitude to shin-kicking their competitors.

*You can see that series of ads in the tv section of my website: www. cultured-insolence.com.