Showing posts from April 1, 2007

Norm Breyfogle & Arcade Fire



Norm Breyfogle's Mojo Evolution!

Now we're at the final stages of Norm Breyfogle'sMojo paintings - the end results. It's shaping up to be Norm Month around here, but that's because there was a fair bit in that box of goodies. Still I find it fascinating (to say the least) to be able to show the evolution of a cover, from initial sketching, through to the painting stage, the layout of the cover and then the final result. I'm not an artist, but this just grabs me, to see just how Norm got to the point where he did - there's far more work involved in all of this than just drawing a picture and sending it in (and just wait til you see the Arcade Fire series coming up very shortly).

Once the images had been decided upon Norm went to work on arranging them into the format that Mojo required. In the reference material that Norm received were two images. The first, the 1968 Lion Annual was included to show Norm exactly the feel that Mojo required. I'm not sure how many, if any at all, of these annu…

Norm Breyfogle & Amy Winehouse

This is the last painting in a series of four by Norm Breyfogle, done for Mojo magazine.

I know absolutely nothing about Amy Winehouse. My mother likes her and that's about it, but then my mother also likes Elvis, so work that out. I've had a look at her photos on the net and funnily enough Norm appears to have captured the right feel for her, going on the photo reference. Bizarre! I'm curious to know just how tall Winehouse is.

The Winehouse painting pays homage to the 1958 science fiction film, Attack Of The 50ft Woman, a movie I've not seen in decades (I've always wondered, if you were a 50ft tall woman, would you be wearing a short skirt or long pants, shorts at least? Ummmm, anyone and everyone would be able to see up that skirt from that angle). With this image Norm has transplanted the 50ft Woman from the USA and placed her squarely in London, England. I particularly like Big Ben replacing the car in the original.

As with the Arctic Monkeys preliminary, this …

Norm Breyfogle & Arctic Monkeys

This is the third in a series of four paintings by Norm Breyfogle and five posts. I love this stuff so much that I'm going to keep at it until everything is posted.

I don't mind the Arctic Monkeys, even if they do remind me of The Jam a little too much. So much so that one video of the Monkeys that I saw made me think that it was an old Jam video. Nothing like wearing your influences on your sleeve.

In this image the Monkeys are made up to look like Enid Blyton'sFamous Five. I read all the Famous Five books as a kid - I found them to be very entertaining indeed and I fail to understand the backlash that Blyton's work has suffered in recent times at the hands of the PC police. They were wonderful exercises in escapism and more kids should vanish into her books and leave the PS2, Ipods and computers alone (I read all the Secret Seven books too - they were a hoot). Mind you the Five were made up of two boys, two girls and Timmy the dog - I wonder which of the Monkeys are th…

Norm Breyfogle & Jack White

I'd have preferred Jack Black, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Instead we got Jack White's part time spin off band, The Raconteurs.

This is the second painting in Norm's Mojo series that I'm going to post (the other two will follow in the coming days, or day perhaps) and as with the Dylan painting, this is as good as the band have looked, in my eyes. The band do feature Jack White, of the White Stripes, and as such they came with a built in audience. Still, and it might just be me, but I'd love to see Jack White and Jack Black do something, just for the amusement value alone.

The prelim art for this painting differs from the final result, but all the detail is there and clearly the decision to make the image different was done in the mock-up stage (which I'll also be posting and commenting upon). Some of the changes were subtle, some very radical. Either way both images work. I do like this piece, but not as much as the Dylan image, but then that shouldn&…

Norm Breyfogle & Bob Dylan

On the surface of things you might be forgiven for thinking that Norm Breyfogle and Bob Dylan have nothing in common. Perhaps they do have nothing in common, I mean I don't know Dylan all that well, but I do know Norm fairly well. I do know that Norm doesn't sing protest songs and I'm pretty sure that Dylan has never drawn an issue of Batman. So what is this post all about then?

Easy. The painting you're looking at was done for the UK music magazine, Mojo. Towards the end of 2006 Norm was approached to create a mock-up cover for an 'annual'. Titled the 'Mojo 2006 Annual', the cover was made to look like an old UK 'Lion' annual - the 1968 annual to be precise. The artists that the magazine wanted were the Arctic Monkeys, Amy Winehouse, the Raconteurs and Dylan. Each band had a theme, Bob Dylan's was a western theme.

The Dylan preliminary and subsequent painting are amazing to say the least. I love 'em. I was lucky enough to be able to purch…

More Marshall Rogers

Steven Bove sent this to me late last week, but as I was away it slipped by. Still it moves me to near tears to realise that sheer impact that Marshall Rogers had on people, worldwide. I do feel for people who knew Marshall and those who worked with him in such a way that their names are forever linked.

Funnily enough Marshalls passing has raised an interesting argument as some attempt to rewrite history with unfair comparisms between Rogers and Neal Adams. Frankly both men were two different artists in two different eras. Both men were talented and both have left an impact that can never be erased. For me though, Rogers was one of the first Batman artists that I became aware of, at the same time as I became aware of Michael Golden, Walt Simonson, Alan Weiss, Don Newton, Michael Netzer, Jim Starlin and a host of others. Through those artists I backtracked and became aware of Neal Adams, so you could say that Marshall Rogers led me to Neal Adams, and not vice versa.

Over to Steven.

Be It Ever So Humble...

...there's still no place like home.

The road trip is over. In nine days we visited three states and flew over at least another two. We've arrived home, exhausted. It's alright for the other half, she can have a few days off, but it's back to the grind of the day job for the next three days at least for me, dammit!

Funny thing happened at Brisbane airport though. I did the usual take the belt off, strip down, get the laptop out etc etc and pass through the metal detectors all the time hoping and praying that nothing would beep. Got through fine and then spent another 10 minutes gathering everything back up, putting clothes back on and making sure nothing was missing, all the time listening to a guy next to me in a cowboy hat. According to him the reason we have such measures is due to the 'f&cking Arabs' who've made life hell. I mentioned that John Howard was the one who's put these measures in place only to have him come back with, "Yeah, but it…

Road Trip: Days Seven & Eight

Done and done-er (if that is indeed a word). The past two days have seen us doing almost nothing - Friday was a quick trip out to Woodford to discover that prices in a decent second hand shop have gone up so much it's incredible - what used to be $5.00 is now $65.00!! Bought two things there and then came back to the cactus.

Yesterday was a different kettle of Cod. We started out early and went to Emundi - anyone who's been here will know what that means. Bought several decent items, including two wooden rubber band guns and a high powered slingshot. Now when the bastard next door acts up he might find himself ducking from the ball bearings. Then off to Noosa where photos were taken and text messaged through to people resulting in replies ranging from, "Piss off - am in Melbourne" to "Nice to see you're doing it tough" and ending up in a simple "Get f&cked" from the oldest brother. Poor bastard, he doesn't like it when I have a b…

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