Illustrator Pac23 & concept artist blattke finding inspiration for a new mimushi series!

all-time collaborator and illustrator, Pac23, and concept artist blattke finding inspiration for the new mimushi series • there’s talks of mixing wood, vinyl, accesories and kaiju! we’ll see • visit the site for updates •

animation storyboard

idea: provide a moral lesson -> boy (atti-dude) and side-kick (mimushi) are running and mimushi stops, whileatti keeps on running; then atti stops and looks back and asks mimushi why he isn’t running, and mimushi says, “because i just realized, were running to get nowhere; by going fast we are wasting time, instead of saving time ” ·

storyboard sketches by juan patiño

atti: “what do you mean?”  mimushi: “what i mean is, we are not savoring our present, our now, our only true existence; we are running to get old, instead of walking to stay young” · atti looks perplexed, and mimushi, sits down, picks up a flower, smells it, and savors it · end: “life little lesson # 1: you only live once & you only live now” ·

life little lesson # 2: the more you have, the less you’ll be
atti is collecting all sorts of things; pencils, pens, papers, stamps, mugs, etc; we see him in various places just buying and buying; he then goes home, where mimushi is waiting for him, and when he opens the door to his room, he’s just full of stuff · mimushi looks at everything amazed and asks, “why do you collect all these things?” atti (shrugging shoulders), “because i want to and because i can” · mimushi (still curious): “is there any other reason” · atti: “no, not really; it just has no meaning at all, i just do it and it fulfills me temporarily” mimushi: “and what do you do afterwards?” atti: “i just go and buy more” · mimushi looks perplexed · end ·

after this, not much else materialized · i setup the images in flash to try and accomplish a sketchy animation that would tell us what images we needed to get lip-synch, real life motion, etc. but all of us kind of got too busy · fortunately a few months down the road we were able to recollect our energies and organize our strategies to come up with a simple storyboard for sumimushi (his most important personality) · you can that animation here · and the rest of the animations for his multiple personalities, you will be able to see on its page ·

brief history: atti-dude & mimushi

to understand mimushi, you would first have to understand the history of its creation as a fictitious character · and to do that we have to retrace to the steps of when atti-dude was created ·

the idea for atti-dude was born at some point in march of 2005, out of a realization that certain things are better drawn than done · and so I began to look for the right illustrator to develop this personification of interior emotion ·

One of the first sketches done by illustrator Victor Jurado

about a year later, the concept of atti-dude, was devised as follows:

atti-dude (referred to as atti): (12 years old) – he represents life’s intricacies – our external anguish and daily stress ·

atti is an angry boy who carries a constant angry attitude & mean mood in life · he is a negative character with a kind heart, who is living his pre-teen years (age 12), and is constantly confused about the world he lives in; his micro sphere · his parents are always traveling and thus, he is constantly alone and has to take care of himself · he really doesn’t understand why he has to be alone · he has no brothers and sisters and both of his parents are an “only child”, just like him · he despises school and cannot wait to get out, because the only thing in the world he really enjoys is being with his younger friend mimushi · he’s neither a vituperator nor a violent kid, he’s just angry at the world · he can be very sarcastic and witty ·

victor jurado, an excellent colombian illustrator, had the right idea about atti-dude’s mischievous nature, but we thought it didn’t look like a kid, but rather a neanderthal · he was too aggressive for the character that we wanted at this stage, and after several attempts, it still looked like a punk caveman who had eaten a troll ·

On the next post, I will expand on how pacman23 helped me improve the design and idea behind atti-dude ·

Expo Art Toys Colombia 2008

I found myself wandering the streets of Bogotá in search of a Vinyl Toys shop located in front of “El Parque de la 93”, and instead of finding the shop, I found something way better; a huge munny! A 63” x 40” two-faced munny to be precise! And with it, a whole munny show!

huge_munny_felipe_bedoya2

This has got to be the most amazing munny exhibit I have ever been to, featuring such artists as Nadin Ospina, David Manzur, Efraín Saldaña, Felipe Bedoya, Adalberto Camperos, Jaime Abril, Javier Andrés Mozo, Alejandro Riaño, Ramiro Ramírez, Edgar “Nano” Sánchez, Luis Angarita, Sofía Reyes, Ana Lucía Amézquita, Andrés Alarcón, Henry Rincón, Jorge Lewis Morales, Keko, Carlos Torres, Mario Glauschankoff, John Rodríguez, Carlo Achardy, Juan Cobos, Orlando Cueca, Inti Katari Ureta, German Tessarolo, Jessica Ángel, Rocío Suárez, Oscar Baracaldo, Martha Hernández, Guillermo Aponte, Diana Isabel Ocampo and Carlos González , among others.

With 72 Colombian artists at the Expo, nothing could be expected other than pure magic, creativity and lowbrow pop surrealism art! Each artist was handed a “white canvas” munny, and they all intervened with their different methods, capabilities and talents to transform these into pure art.

Apparently this is a non-profit event that will benefit several low-income educational institutions.

The expo will be held until December 31, 2008 at the Centro de Diseño Portobelo, Calle 93B No. 11A-84 in Bogotá, Colombia. Do not miss this amazing opportunity to experience a new form of art! It is pure joy for the eyes and the soul.

For those of you who cannot make it, here’s a peek.

For more info you can go to www.espacioitinerante.org