Buda! Pest!

In August I'll be heading over to the magnificent Art Quarter Budapest - yes that's in actual Budapest - to do a two-week artist residency!

I'm going to be working on a narrative project, gathering stories related to the Danube and the Thames, to create an animation / sound piece; working title 'The River Is Smiling'. It's only a short residency (though hopefully it will lead to more), so phase one of the adventure - an exploration of all things Thames-related - starts now. Watch this space for more updates.

Do you have any stories, memories, anecdotes or even just feelings about the Thames you'd be happy to share with me? If so, I'd love to hear from you so please get in touch via my website, now fully updated - www.ellystrigner.co.uk

In other news, I've now got cards for sale at the recently refurbished Oriel Wrexham in North Wales. Two of my card designs are currently featured on their Facebook page, hurrah! My Etsy shop is also up and running again so if you want to get involved in some old-fashioned letter writing, do go ahead and place your order.

New cards for sale at Oriel Wrexham

Summer is late, and so am I!

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally updated my website. Hooray!

Find it at www.elly-strigner.co.uk.

The old site, created for me by the wonderful Creative Hero, is still online at www.ellystrigner.co.uk (spot the difference) until further notice, or I can bear to part with it.

In other news, the latest issue of Cracked Eye magazine is out now, featuring illustrations I made for "Voices of the Past" by Hannah Spencer. Here's a teaser - download the app for the whole story!

In Winter, I plot and plan. In Spring, I move.

So says Henry Rollins. I'm stating that as my reason for not writing on here since November. February always feels short but overly intense - I like the sound of its name, but the picture I have of the word in my mind is cold and grey and blue, with sleet and snow drifting around the edges of every letter.

Luckily this Winter has been productive. I've been illustrating for the lovely Cracked Eye magazine, a short story app and offshoot of The Other Publishing company. Here are some of the most recent pics, for 'On The Outside' by Lynn Peters. You'll have to download it to find out what it's about!

I've also written and illustrated a short story for Studio 73 gallery in Brixton, for their shiny new website - which isn't live yet, but watch this space for more updates. 

Tudor Sunday

A bit of Tudor-ness keeps me entertained until the next project.

Cracked Eye

I've been doing some illustrations recently for Cracked Eye, a digital short story magazine (an imprint of The Other Publishing Company). It's now launched officially - you can subscribe and download it as an app for your phone. This month's issue features this chap. The illustrations below are for a short story called One Way Traffic by R G McKay Ireland, and will be published in a couple of issues time. Go get it! 

A Child's Christmas in Wales

I'm taking part in an exhibition at Oriel Wrecsam, North Wales, based around the prose 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' by Dylan Thomas. 

'A painting book in which I could make the grass, the trees, the sea and the animals any colour I pleased, and still the dazzling sky-blue sheep are grazing in the red field under the rainbow-billed and pea-green birds.'

Work in progress...

...and in situe

I'm very proud to be exhibiting work alongside illustrators including Jonny Hannah, Abi Whitehouse and Jessie Chorley amongst others. The exhibition runs from 1st November until 17th January 2015. 

Humanimation-animation-station!

So now it's pretty much Autumn, and I rounded off the summer by running some live animation workshops at End of the Road festival in Dorset. We invited festival folk to make a few seconds of stop-frame animation using just their bodies and a few props. So much fun!

Here's a wee taster of what we were getting up to - a little dance-off starring Kate, Robin and yours truly (and Kirsty is pictured below!)

dance music from elly strigner on Vimeo.

Kirsty, the fourth member of team Humanimation

I absolutely loved doing these workshops, but it was hard work and I had a lot of help making them happen! So it feels only right to give a shout out of huge appreciation to the fantastically enthusiastic Humanimation team members: film maker extraordinaire Kate Jessop, all-hands-on-deck happy monster Robin Strigner, and the artistic-tastic Kirsty Clarke - they kept the workshops going and made them fun and exciting for everyone involved. Such an ace team. My Dad, too, who helped me by building the backdrop with his wizard carpentry skills! My stepdad, Neil, was working at EOTR anyway, and was a positive presence all round, and of course thanks to EOTR for having us. Also my dog, Meg, just because. And my Mum. And my Granny. Alright that's enough.

If you were involved with the workshops, I'm currently in the process of editing the films and hope to have them up on here by the end of the week, so please watch this space!

End Of The Road festival

I'm really excited to be involved with End of the Road festival at the end of this month, where I'll be running the 'Humanimation' workshops Friday through to Sunday! If you're going to the festival, come and have a go at making some animation for the festival  - using just your body and a few props!

Scale model of the animation backdrop!!

On with the show

Thank you to everyone involved with the show at Studio 73, which came down on Sunday. I'm so pleased with how it all went and there were some lovely comments about the work. Dead proud!

I exhibited some work alongside the students. These illustrations are for two short stories, and are for a forthcoming publication by The Other Publishing company. They'll be up online soon as part of their short story imprint Cracked Eye.

'Stitches' (story by Hayden Sayer)

A top draw Summer

Last week I was in Cambridge running the Illustration for Picture Books Summer school. It was like an arty Summer holiday with a bit of work thrown in (the best kind of holiday!).

Students experimented with drawing and mixed media illustration:

They looked at creating sequences using random imagery, words and shapes:

They also worked together on short storyboarding projects:

We did a lot of bookbinding, and experimented with different book structures and paper folding:

And students were able to develop their own original ideas: 

                                   

It was a really fun and productive week. It was especially good having a proper, consistent amount of time to help the students be creative, play with ideas and narratives, and learn a few new skills.  

Some of the students' work shown here is on display at Studio 73 for the summer exhibition - which is on now until the 10th of August! Come on down for a gander!