jamesbattersby
  • Home
  • About James Battersby
  • Hire Me
  • Portfolio
  • Store
  • Works
  • Videos
  • Updates
  • Store Policies Page

Revisiting The Bushmills Orientation Panel One Last Time

3/30/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureDundarave. From left to right. Before and After
As we near the time for the Bushmills orientation panel to go to the printers, I've found myself going over the map one final time and making a few last minute edits. With the many changes that took place over much of the past year, i found myself working with what i would call a "template" of the map of the village and what i mean by template i will explain here. While the map was hand drawn, and for the most part already complete, some of it still requires/required a clean up session as the group asked for new additional buildings and so on over the course of the creation of the map...and of course some of the edits were my own. If you will, imagine a new building being built in town. After it is built, scaffolding, cement covered wheel barrows and debris of all kinds need to be cleaned up before that mayor goes and cuts the ribbon and releases that "great work of architectural art" to the public.

PictureFrom left to right. Before and After. As you can see

i've added a slight bit of shading to the

buildings just to see how it looked.
When it comes to illustration/inks/colours, the same thing has to happen when placing new additions into the "town", except we're dealing with a lot of "cut and paste" cleanups, for example colors not matching up, or sidewalks not lining up correctly after they have been pasted in (for time saving purposes a few pieces of drawn road have been used over again, mainly on the road leading to Dunluce Castle, and the road leading to the Benvarden Gardens which is not featured on the physical map) At this point it's mainly touch-ups, straightening out roads and buildings and things of that nature.

As you can see in the before and after pictures, I've also toyed with the idea of shading the roofs of the houses. It was something i had considered early on and when Winston Boyce also mentioned it as a possible addition at one of the meetings last year, it was something that i would keep in mind upon the final revision of the map and all of the heritage image placements (separate images like the recently added Dunluce Parish shown below)


Picture
Getting back to the shading of the roofs though, i am still undecided if it takes away from the simplicity of the town map. At the same time it gives it a three dimensional look so i may keep it.

I believe there is enough in the orientation panel for the sightseer to make
the most out of their time in Bushmills and look forward to getting it all put in place.




PictureThe Roll n Ruler at work
The new addition to the art table, the Roll n Ruler has been coming in handy as far as straightening the roads on the map. The ruler has actually been available since the 90's but it's not something you're apt to find in the shops. I ordered it online from the U.S and it arrived within the week.

While I'm at it, a word on the non-repro blue mechanical pencil leads.


PicturePilot Color Eno Neox Mechanical Pencil Lead - 0.7 mm
During the late Summer early Fall of 2013 i plotted out the entire mainstreet of Bushmills along with the Distillery and etc with the Pilot Color Eno Neox Mechanical - 0.7 mm pencil leads and the results were outstanding. It does exactly what it's supposed to, with the blue pencils showing zero in the way of blemishes on scanning the work in as lineart. In other words, all the initial planning sketches did not show up when scanning in the inked line work.

PictureThe Roll n Ruler at work along with the darker blue hues of the Pentel blue leads
 The work for Sheila's sweet shop sign however used up the last of those non-repro leads so i gave the Pentel 0.7mm leads a try (i had a packet merely to try it eventually). Now, those leads are of a dark blue hue...in fact they were darker than i had initially thought when purchasing online (hey, good luck trying to find such leads in your local UK artstore.) Still, i wanted to sketch out a few updates to the Bushmills map before handing it to the printers

PictureStill trying to figure out if they are "supposed"

to be non-repro blue
The problem however, is that these Pentel blue leads basically have the same effect as a graphite pencil lead has when scanning your lineart...they show up with all the scratchy rough preliminary sketchiness that you were hoping would stay hidden, which makes me wonder....what exactly are those Pental blue leads for? Perhaps my scan setting needs to be adjusted? In any case, i had my scan settings how i wanted them, and the Pilot blues work great so will have to revert back to those eventually (ordered a whole batch of those leads from the U.S and saved 25 pounds in the process). In the meantime I've done the roughs on one set of pages, and inked them over on another with the hand made lightbox. It gets the same result really but a little extra work.


PictureBefore and After (Left to Right)
The map nears completion and I'm sure I'm touching up little areas that most people wouldn't even notice, but to me, i have to be reasonably happy and proud of the work before setting it out for my local town to see, never mind the tourists that visit our wee town every year.

Hand drawing a map takes time, and you can probably see this from the videos i've posted last Summer when illustrating the initial sketches. Originally i planned on bringing about a sort of "general idea" of the town, which explains the oft crooked roads in the original (although no one has actually mentioned those) but i wanted to tidy it up to the best of my ability and that's where i'm at at the moment. All being well it should be done by the beginning of the week.

0 Comments

Finn McCool themed sign for Sheila's of Portstewart

3/25/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Christine and i have been working on the design elements of a sign the past few weeks for Sheila's of Portstewart. John contacted me in early March with the idea of creating a Finn McCool themed sign for the side of his shop to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Sheila's being in business. With the sign being over 9 feet in height, it has been no small task in creating a very striking image for locals and tourists alike to have their photos taken beside. It has taken a little time to get all the pieces in place, but it's coming along nicely. Paying tribute to Portstewart we've got the black rocks and a red sailed boat
John came up with the idea of having the causeway stones transformed into various lengths of "Portstewart Rock" (think Blackpool Rock and etc, and you'll get the idea ).


Having recently coloured the image, we're pleased with how it looks so far. There may be a few slight changes before its final release but all being well it will be put in place before the tourist season hits the port


0 Comments

I Will Come Back For You

3/25/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Seeing Greenland reminded me
Of the artic distance that would
Soon strike at me
When I would leave for Boston
For the land of my birth
In fact I knew it on the way out
That I would feel that way
And I did, I just somehow knew

Why did God place you there and me here?
Your kind touch began to heal all the hurt
A hurt I had kept in for so long
You would teach me of Mao and
The Cultural Revolution,
Of Korea and the Kobe fire bombings




Picture
Nanking and John Rabe, GMOs, Bricsa and the NWA
And often times I didn’t really have that much to say
But I listened anyway
I loved your fire, your spirit and the way you'd whisper my name
Holding your hand in the winter wind with the snow piled high
I was selfish and wanted you by my side all the time
The time was never enough time

Under blankets of snow
And the windowsill covered in the mornings
Watching re-runs of the Christmas Story
And the Shawshank redemption
And dipping into the little cupboard we had
For a midnight snack
Still brings a smile to my face
The place was a dive, and the sink didn’t work
Room service was a foreign concept to the forgeiners
that ran the joint,
So we bought our own vaccum


Picture
Oh I miss you vaccuming between my feet
As I sketched your visions to life
The place had character
But would have been just another dive
If not for you and your tender touch
You looked every inch the Asian equivalent
Of Rosetti’s Beatrice or Morris’ Jane
John Cash’s June,
I’ll be out there again soon

I could never say enough
You are beautiful to me
When, without the surma
And the eye shadow
In morning’s light, you reminded me
Of an artisan’s will to fight
To fight all the depression
That possesses a soul of feeling
If only to be close to you in life




Picture
I had never heard of duck dynasty before
Or ghost to ghost with Art Bell
We would listen to radio shows
As the snowplows worked on through the night
And the partiers partied until sun up
In the other room

You made me laugh a lot
With your jokes in town
Your smile I could never get enough of
I failed a lot, but I wanted to make you happy
I’d been on my own for so long
I didn’t know how to handle a loving heart


Picture
I told you of the swindlers in Cairo
You told me of the Asian trends
My fingers told your feet to relax
And you comforted me when I was ill
Like two peas in a pod
I got under your skin
but even so, I searched Aldi for the perfect orange skins
To bring back home
To our shoddy little inn

The smell of years worth of burnt incense
Punched me in the face every time I stuck
The quarters in the coke machines at reception.


Picture
And Jesus knows that I love you
And knew it when I’d brave the blizzard
Just to bring you back a coffee
When the day was through
Even when i really didn't want to
I said I’d do anything for you within my grasp
And I meant it
I wanted to make you happy
I still do

By James Battersby

0 Comments

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2015
    July 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Art Nouveau
    Bushmills

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.