Canadian adventure 1

Well I promised you a blog and here goes.

Tommorow I fly out to Ottawa, the first leg of my trip for my four month adventure in canada and its wierd. I know I should probably think of something more eloquent and enjoyable but an over used word word seems to sum it up pretty well.

This summer I have worked two jobs, one in a factory five days a week for eight hours a day as a shift worker getting up at 5am in the morning and coming back at 2pm one week and going into work for 2pm and coming back at 10pm the next. Never work in a factory, its not fun. I spent my days packing ginger bread men into boxes and the various jobs around it (including putting the stickers on the boxes that no one reads, or making the boxes that get thrown away once they get to the shop).

My other job on the weekends was working in whsmiths a job I've had on and off for the past two years, you know its bad when you look forward to working with difficult customers.

Those seven weeks of work seemed to drag on forever but now all of a sundden I'm flying out and it hasnt quite set in, it doesnt seem real that I'll be spending the next four months in another country roughly 6000 miles from home.

Sorry its not very exciting my canadian adventure really hasnt started yet, so heres a lolcat to make things better.

Andrew Bargeron (aka Andrew Gimetzco)!

I first saw Andrew Bargeron (aka Gimetzco)work over on threadless and was amazed, especially by the yeticorn, his designs are witty and have an amazingly distinctive style that could only be Gimetzco

Phil: How’s it going?

Andrew: It’s too darn hot! Other than that, A-ok.

Phil: So tell us a little bit about yourself.

Andrew: Hmm where to start...a bit of a globe trotter, as a kid i lived in Italy and Holland and California, now I live in Tennessee, but that may change soon enough. Recently married on 4.20.07! So I have that going on right now...I've a dorky sense of humour and tall and I'm slightly handsome. I'm a bit of a rogue, although its not as romantic as it sounds...I've not been too popular (which has kept me humble) with my work (or anything else really) even though I have had some successes here and there.



Phil: How did you get into art?

Andrew: I started when I was 1 or 2 yrs old, I drew a potato with lines on it...then in kindergarten I turned my ABCs into characters...by 1995 I had been growing as an illustrator, but wasn't good...and in 1996 (when I finally got the internet hooked up) I posted some messages on some ska websites...and then I got my first gig shortly thereafter for a now defunct band called My Man Friday.

Phil: What do think influences your art?

Andrew: Other good art. Monster movies, sci-fi, things that are "fantastic"...and honest "enjoyability".



Phil: Your art work is interesting, not only stylistically but also because you use several reoccurring characters (for example the yeticorn),
what’s the story behind the yeticorn?

Andrew: The Origin of the yeticorn was a simple doodle that developed into a poster for a Petra Haden show (it was never used)...but i liked the character idea...a yeti with a single horn atop his head. So I doodled some more and submitted some of them to threadless as shirt designs...eventually one of the designs was printed (a collaborative effort with Josh Agerstrand who supplied the regular yeti in the design).



Phil: Do you have any plans into making it into a comic or cartoon?

Andrew: Yes and no. the ideas are there to make the yeticorn and his cryptid crew a cartoon (along with the octoposse). It would be like a mix of Fat Albert, scooby doo and ren and stimpy in that the crew would get into outlandish scenarios each episode, but there would be a simple and sometimes silly moral learned. but they could be cowboys in one episode or space explorers in another, but most of the time they'd be B-boys...


I do have a project coming up that will feature the yeticorn quite a bit.

Phil: Who are your favourite artists?

Andrew: Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl / Gorillaz), Philip Bond (similar to Jamie Hew), Mike Laughead (Awesome freelance illustrator), Dan Decarlo (archies/josie), Ashley Wood (new Tank girl). But there are so many
that i see that i like...




Phil: So what are the plans for the future?

Andrew: TinyMEAT.com and Hi5 SUPERFUN! For Hi5 SUPERFUN I’m working with someone to bring about an online accessories and t-shirt shop:
limited edition shirts, prints, badges, decals...it will be the home of the Yeticorn and will feature a few other illustrators and designers doing their own work as well...maybe even a print or 2 of their versions of the yeticorn...who knows? And with Tinymeat, I am designing wallets and ipod cases, and serve as a consultant on a new line of wallets that
are sure to be quite enjoyable!



Quick fire round:
What’s your favourite:

band: STATION! (My musical project! Ha ha) but really it's gotta beeee Oingo Boingo or Damon Albarn projects (Blur, Gorillaz, GBQ)...

Film: oooh so many! Grindhouse, In the Mouth of Madness, Hot Fuzz

Drink: Jarritos Tamarind sodapop

Sport: none, but if i had too choose Football (soccer in the US). But I like riding my bike...that's a sport, right?

Colour: Lately it's been Red...although it used to be Blue.

Thanks Andrew.

You can see more of Andrews stuff on these links:

gimetzco virb

gimetzco flickr

The Portable Film Festival!

The portable film festival is an online event created to celerbrate the best in online media be it short film, music video or series the only requirement is that it can be played on a portable device.

Some of the stuff on there is absolutly amazing, but to everyone else go and submit work.

www.portablefilmfestival.com

capturing the past

I created a new group devoted to collecting family photos, because each photo tells a story about the people in it and the period it was taken from the activities to the clothes they wear and was wondering if you'd like to add to it.













capturing the past