HMC

For the last ten years that I have taught kids and run Drawing Time in Carlton North, I have been hassled by the kids to reveal my age to them. I have always answered that it would cost $100 to reveal my age. The secret has thus stayed with me for all these years, despite the many hand-drawn $100 notes that have been presented to me over the years....none of them I could accept despite their fine counterfeit potential.When I say $100, I mean the real McCoy. But I've always been impressed by the amazing designs and the effort taken to pursue this strange mission. Above is the latest design, presented by HMC in last week's session. It's so great, I was very nearly tempted to break my policy and swap my age secret for the note. Luckily I resisted his persistent offers, and the secret stays safe in my pocket. I do think that HMC's note is much nicer than the real one. I'm sure there will be a $500 or $1000 note one day, I'll suggest to HMC that he sends off his design ideas to the Reserve Bank.

Comic strip war!

 

So Harry is a "sweet kid" and I'm a "really hot-tempered person"!!! For that I get blown up in my toilet!

How did the comic strip war begin? At the beginning of last week's session, I sat opposite Liam and saw him draw up squares onto his paper to start a comic. I thought that looked exciting, so I started my own. I decided to use Harry as my main character in the comic, because he was in a funny cheeky mood last week as soon as he got in the door...not in a bad funny cheeky way...in a fun funny cheeky way. Harry then started his own comic, I think Dane also got started on one...suddenly I was told that there was a team of three boys who were designing a comic about me, that I'd better watch out as I'd surely die at least once and probably very gruesomely as well.

So the comic strip war began. Luckily I had a major supporter on my side: Liam. He drew me a lovely picture of everything that was the opposite to war, which I'll post later this week. And then he drew this fantastic poster: "No War"

What a cool poster. I'd like this one blown up to A0 size and posted up all over town. Thanks Liam! And I have to admit too that I'm pretty impressed with Harry's comic, except the bit where I get blown up. Harry's also made sure that no-one else will steal his comic strip story, there's no doubt about that copyright in his own handwriting.

Dane Campbell

I really like this one. Dane decided to just play around with lines, and came up with this abstract piece. It was a new direction for him, and I hope he will continue to explore new ground in this way. Well done, Dane!

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse fun takes place now and then in Drawing Time. Liam has kicked it off with a fantastic creature's head, but I'm not sure who continued with the torso section and the legs...perhaps Dane was involved? Again, I need the artists to hold up their hands for the answer to this...please use the comments box to let me know. I really like this one too because it contains some pretty interesting twists to the usual exquisite corpse, as if a story played out on the way unbeknown to the artists involved yet somehow fitting in together....I think!

HMC

 HMC continues to create the most whackily imaginitive artpieces!! HMC, if you could please give us a description in the comments section of what is really going on here in each picture, that would be very much appreciated! I am so intrigued to find out more about each piece. Fantastic stuff!

HMC

What a corker of a picture!! Maybe there are Drawing Time bloggees out there who are unaware that "Crackers" are the half the reason why Drawing Time is popular. I have been serving up corn cakes, flavoured and plain, for all these Drawing Time years. The artists call them crackers, and there above is the first ever drawing of our favourite Drawing Time treat. HMC is the creator of this picture. I thought it would look great on a t-shirt, and I believe HMC is actually putting this idea into motion already. Will keep you all posted...it's so cool, isn't it?

Dane Campbell

I have more of Dane's artwork to post up here tomorrow, but here's a taster of what is to come. Dane has a wicked and wild imagination, and often his pictures will remind me of a scene from an epic movie. Dane, would you be able to describe what's going on in this picture in the comments box? I would appreciate that...it's a fantastic picture with so much going on in it....it would be great to read about the story behind it. More later.

Laszlo Wyers-Wagonfeld

 All of the above pictures are from the amazing artist, Laszlo Wyers-Wagonfeld!! What a talent! Click on them and see them enlarged, he is a master!! Laszlo, are you Lance. or is that someone else with a new nickname? The picture below is a collaboration between Laszlo and me. I think it's Laszlo. There's a little creature saying "I'm Laszlo!" in the centre of the picture, but that doesn't necessarily follow that the artist involved is Laszlo. And I can't remember. So I await your confirmation or correction, boys!

Harry and Mars collaborate

Harry and I have collaborated on many pieces. Here's one from early this term. We both love ProMarker pens. Harry is the unofficial caretaker of the pens...he lets me know when the tips are wearing out, and writes down the exact colours that need replacement! It's always a delight to work with Harry, and observe how he creates the images on the page, using such a sure hand and a razor sharp wit!

Boys Only Drawing Time August 16th 2011

Here above we have another outstanding catastrophically themed art-piece from the amazing KVG!

Above is a shot of Charlie Stewart's hands hard at work on a new masterpiece. Charlie will be featured on this blog when this piece is complete. Can't wait to see more!

Dane Campbell and Mars Drum collaborate

Dane became a Drawing Time artist only recently, and hasn't wasted any time showing us all what a fantastic imagination he has for inventing new strange unique creatures. Today Dane and I collaborated for the first time and it was so much fun! We rotated the art-piece about seven times over the half hour, and we were delighted with the result. Well done, Dane!

Good Future Bad Future Series

KVG

KVG is our first male artist to be profiled in the "Good Future Bad Future" series.

It was March 2011. Japan has just been struck by a massive earthquake, a destructive tsunami ravages the sea-side and its inhabitants. Nuclear reactors are exploding. 

Sounds like a sci-fi film but it aint.

The boys from Drawing Time were used to drawing disasters. But now this was Reality. They needed to illustrate what was going on in Japan, and there was plenty of reporting and discussion happening as well amongst the boys regarding the horrifying nightmare in Japan. 

These pictures are really amazing, KVG. That Statue of Liberty hand holding the torch is just a piece of pure brilliance. I am soooo impressed with your mind as well as your drawing skills!

As you can see, KVG couldn't see much change going on between now and the future. More nuclear reactors melting down. But do we really have another 3000 years of this happening? Are we going to keep reactors open and operative from now on?

 We talked about how drawing is like casting spells. Are we living what we draw? If we all drew a fantastic future, would it be more likely for the dream to happen? I asked the boys if they knew what a fantastic future looked like... could they draw it? At first the boys were not interested in drawing this, such a concept was considered to be a bore compared to drawing apocalyptic nightmare scenes, especially if blood and zombies and monsters and tanks and dragons could be involved.

 But look at this!  New York A.D. 2600!
KVG, this is sooo great, Thank-you! I feel soooo much better... I can definitely deal with this reality for the future. Solar panels, trees, birds, happy fish... Could you be our future PM?
 * It's amazing what the bribe of an extra  rice cracker dished out at the end of the club session can do! Every boy switched from drawing Bad Reality to Good Future drawings for the whole session! I'd never stooped to bribing the kids with food before to "encourage" a variation on subject matter... there has never been a need to try this bribe, but this session was different. I'm delighted with the results! More to be posted this week coming.

Laszlo Wyers-Wagonfeld

 Laszlo, I absolutely love your art! The characters in the top drawing are fabulous! I can see Hollywood approaching you to make the next action block buster...these two guys must have adventures to undertake, feats to take on, battles to fight?? I want to see more of them!

And this second drawing has so much amazing and scary action...that exploding nuclear station behind these desperate fellas in the foreground could well have been your response to what's been hitting the news re Japan in the last few months. A frightening scene that we could have once believed belonged only to the genre of sci-fi epic drama...yet here now you are drawing what has tragically become a reality on Earth. Eeeeek! (Fears aside though, these drawings are simply marvellous, Laszlo!)

Collaboration between Carlos Palmer and Mars Drum

I dont often get the chance to collaborate with Carlos, because he is usually too busy drawing on his solo work to give me time! But here's one piece that we produced together... it's a weird one...of course... Carlos loves to create and investigate the weird and extraordinary elements of life and in art. That big black spherical object near the centre? I cant remember how that happened, I'll have to ask Carlos to remind me how and why that landed on the page. Looking forward to grabbing Carlos' valuable time again next term for another collaboration.

Detail from Collaboration between Joey and Mars

Joey has only recently joined the Boys Drawing Time club, and here is a section of our first ever collaboration. Crazy stuff pouring out onto the page...check out that creature's face! It's great to have Joey there, and I'm looking forward to more collaborative time with him. Fantastic, Joey!

Collaboration between Kaspar and Mars

Wow! I had to put my sunglassees on inside to look at this picture! Kaspar was the artist who introduced us all to the beautiful ProMarker coloured pens... just look at what can be created from using these fantastic colours plus lashings of wild imagination! Kaspar really knows how to make the most of the colours on offer. I learnt heaps from his unique drawing and colouring style. Go Kaspar!

Collaboration between Mars and Ethan Term 1 2011

Ethan was such a keen collaborator that he would make sure he was first inside the Tuesday's Drawing Time room, with one arm upraised in readiness for when I finally called out "Who wants to collaborate with me today?" We have collaborated on HEAPS of pictures...and here's a sample to demonstrate how much we liked the new pro-marker textas that are now very much part of Drawing Time. More Ethan-Mars pics to be posted at a later date.

Alex Czarny collaborates with Mars

We were lucky to have Alex Czarny join the Boys Drawing Time club for some time this year. I knew Alex from previous years from teaching casually at his school, and I knew that he was a dedicated artist from those days, so was delighted to have the chance to collaborate with him. He's got a crazy imagination and is not afraid to put it all out there on paper. We've lost him to soccer now, but I'm sure that he'd be continuing to create havoc with his pencils and pens...it's in his blood!

Collaborations between Mars and Harry, Term 2 2011

Harry is such an enthusiastic and talented artist! It's such a joy to collaborate on big pics with him. Check out the hieroglyphics down below...he brought a great Hieroglyphics book into the club one day, and spent the whole session practising his characters... and presenting codes for us to figure out...this one here has our two names on it in hieroglyphics. How cool!

Boys collaborating on whiteboard - March 2011

BLOG UPDATE

Please excuse the delays experienced in posting the latest works. The boys are producing absolutely amazing work each week; the favourites will be posted as soon as my new rural internet service provider sorts itself out. This may happen next week, fingers crossed. Stay tuned... Mars Drum