Monthly Archive

For anyone who knows me well I am an avid notetaker from way back, in fact some years back I found a note I had written when I was around 10 or so listing, in order of priority, what needed to be done on Christmas morning eg: open presents, wash hair, eat breakfast, put hair in rollers, etc, etc. As I read it I was giggling happily at my own ‘naivity and cuteness’ and then had one of those alarming shifts in perception and that ‘naivity and cuteness soon became ‘anal and uptight’…. thats when I put it back in the box I had found it in, closed the lid and was lost in contemplative, narcissistic thoughts for the rest of the day.
Nevertheless, I digress, I take notes, obscence amounts of notes. I have a notebook that is an A4 spiral book with sticky notes used as tags to the different ‘note subjects’ …. eg: things to do, website updates to do, client lists, etc (this book is completely seperate from a diary which also has notes…if not slightly more immediate ones.
Then there is the ‘idea’ notebook, full of thumbnail sketches, random quotes, hastily scribbled compostitions, lyrics of songs … anything that will recall the ‘idea’ back to me. I am currently blessed with so many ideas I don’t have time to complete them all, but am aware this will not last. This one is great for a rainy day… also very good for keeping the contiuity in my work and get an overview of what I am actually trying to say… if anything?
This week I have found the notes so entirely overwhelming that I have decided to randomly choose from my ‘to do’ list and not stop until I am done….. this has meant no time for blog posting (even though that is often a note in my diary) … I think what made me lose it completely was when I realized I had actually written a note in my diary saying ‘organize and rewrite all notes’ !?!
It’s a sickness…

Now to the topic at hand….. I received a beautiful package of goodies from an online buddy I met via my Flickr account. Johnny Siu is an artist/illustrator living in San Francisco. His sketches in particular are just wonderful… the linework is so sensitive. His fascination with thylacines, I have yet to enquire about how that came about, is particularly intriquing. He sent his recent publication ‘Melancholy’ which I saved up until coffee break time to sit and absorb in all its loveliness, as well as a beautiful sketch of his ‘Atticus’, a fridge magnet and some other smaller prints that I will now spend my spare time framing up and adorning my picture rails with.
Must make a note of that…..

My parental units and other authoritive figures used to say to me as I was growing up “Imitation is the highest form of flattery, take it as a compliment!”… that is all well and good but at what point should you consider hiring an IP lawyer?

The work in question is not my own but has had me thinking long and hard all week about what I would do should it ever happen to me. Should I just be flattered and carry on? Or should I fight the powers that be, in this case, (shiver) an advertising agency?

The work is in fact that of ‘Kozyndan‘, a panoramic from some years back… you can see here. The ‘inspired’ advertisment is from Sony promoting their new TV. You can watch the ad here here.

To me its obvious, in fact I am sure no one can deny the ad was inspired directly from the work, and then this from Kozyndan:
“To add insult to injury, someone representing Passion Pictures contacted us almost two years ago asking to see samples of our work (including this panoramic) as they were interested in working with us. We sent them samples and then heard nothing from them ever again. (It should be noted though, that the more likely culprit is the ad firm who hired Passion Pictures, Fallon)”.
Which, I am sure, slams the door on any doubts you may have had. The concept relating to the rabbits rolling into a wave has also obviously been ‘borrowed’ from their work “Uprisings” which is a homage to Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” , which, by the way, at 150 years old is free from copyright. I am a firm believer in that it is the arrangement and blend of images/sounds/food/whatever that you can make your own. You can’t claim to be the first person to draw a coloured bunny but you can be the first to blend it with a wave or have them take over New York city. What happens when that gets ripped off…. well, actually I don’t know…. who would I speak to? What would I do? Would it make a difference?
I really feel they should teach this stuff in school, intellectual property, creative commons, copyrights, trademarks, registrations, signing release forms, writing contracts, or at least spend some more time on ‘creative thinking‘ so that desperate advertising executives wouldn’t have to ‘borrow’ other peoples concepts at the 11th hour.

I am not going to further examine the issue as others have been much more eloquent, such as here. In fact so much has been written on the subject that if you google ’sony kozyndan’ it contines for well over 20 pages (of which I will now be included), I am beginning to believe that old adage again, imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery, especially when it leads to that other well known adage ‘Any publicity is good publicity”!
Kozyndan can has publicity!

BTW Kozyndan are speeding towards us as we speak, for this show at Outre Gallery. YAY!

Detail from ::I love you, but it’s complicated::

Muwa ha ha! I love it when I’m right……

“What is it with contemporary illustration? It just won’t follow form. Illustration was never meant to be this cool, this sought after, this in vogue. But it is. After a decade climbing the ranks following a period as underdog, illustration now sits as top dog.”
……if you want to read more, and I know you do! It’s here : Illustration Renaissance article on Computer Arts.co.uk.

Last week I went to the opening of the first ever Sophie Lui boutique, 1256 High St, Armadale. By the time I got there the place with pumping, full of people milling around the floating racks of dresses and skirts. The designs are simple, geometrical, Asian influenced pieces and made primarily from black knit fabrics which has a flexible and flattering weave, they also have beautiful obi’s/belts of brightly patterned kimono fabric that add individuality to the piece. They are the perfect outfit to wear to work if you are going out for dinner or drinks that night but they are equally at home at a black tie event or the opera.

Here is some background on Sophie herself:
“Lui’s experiences have lead to a passion for the empowerment of women.
“I listen to what women want, what makes them feel good. I love it when my
customers are surprised by how beautiful they look.”
Sophie Lui’s eponymous label launched in November 2006 at the Crown Palladium
Ballroom in Melbourne.
The label is known for creating one-off pieces that become personal favourites,
all entirely designed and made in Melbourne.”

If you have time I encourage you to head on down to Armadale and have a look. Sophie and her partner Dale have experienced an intense few years getting their first business off the ground, I wish them the greatest success!

In other news, I returned home to find a package on my doorstep the other day…. and looky what was inside!

Fantasia goodies, two t-shirts, two programs, tickets, backstage passes, DVD’s of trailers, a ticket to opening night (if only I had had the dough to go?)… all covered with my illo and even in my fav colours (red and aqua!). I can’t wait to sit down and read the program… its full of some awesome, alternative flicks. How do you go on as an illustrator when you have already had your dream job?
Well, there is lots more happening and if my dwindling savings holds out there will be so much more to see!