Drawings of dodo’s (generally assumed from to be life) by Joris Joostensz Laerle (1601) & Cornelis Saftleven (1638)

“Compilation of the first depictions of dodos (Raphus cucullatus) on the island Mauritius (Indian Ocean), made during the voyage of the VOC Gelderland in 1602. The caption says “These birds are caught on the island of Mauritius in large quantities because they are unable to fly. They are good food and often have stones in their stomachs, as big as eggs, sometimes bigger or smaller, and are called ‘griffeendt’ or ‘Kermis goose’.” (Fuller, Errol: Dodo – From Extinction To Icon, 2002)”

“Dodo specialist Julian Hume argued that the nostrils of the living dodo would have been slits, as seen in the GelderlandCornelis Saftleven, Savery’s Crocker Art Gallery, and Ustad Mansur images. “

via Dr Nick Crumpton

 

Also in observation:

 

[hand-drawn animation]

“If [hand-drawn animation] is a dying craft, we can’t do anything about it. Civilization moves on. Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists? What are they doing now? The world is changing. I have been very fortunate to be able to do the same job for 40 years. That’s rare in any era.”

Hayao Miyazaki

Screaming for Rosalind

Dear Lonesome Reader,

This is proper, spill my guts out time.

Screaming for Rosalind is a very short piece of animation I made a very time long ago.

It is part of a 5 minute film called “Commercials for Everyday Life”, which got itself shown at the 1991 london Film Festival alongside the work of industry legends such as Liz Whitaker and the Quay Brothers.

 

No computers were touched during the making of this work. It’s all peg bars, pencils, paper, rostrum cameras and 16mm.

The voice was provided by esteemed stage and screen actress, Veronica Quilligan, who took my inane teenage poem and imbued it with a life and gravity I could never have imagined.

The drawing is a bit crap and the animation a bit clunky, but its the only part of the film I can currently bear to watch all the way through.

 

Who knows, when I become more immune to internet dignicide, I may choose to post the other four parts.