The very "best" of Stu & The Frets?

Back in the days when I was doing Advanced Higher in school I was the bass player in my high school band Stu & The Frets. The four-piece group (later three) formed some time in 2003, but didn't really take off until 2005 - in the Spring we recorded an EP and experienced a line-up change. The Summer was our finest hour as we played a string of successful gigs in our local area before musical differences led to our subsequent split in the Autumn. I was inspired to spoof ourselves in this mock-greatest hits CD cover sleeve design! Not bad for a quickie!

In the years that have followed we've all done our own respective projects; the group's quirky and charismatic frontman Stuart Strachan went on to form The GetDowns (effectively a continuation of The Frets), one of Dundee's most infamous local bands of the late 2000s, while latter-day drummer Jonny Reid ultimately carried on in another group I was linked with called Sugarhouse Wynd. Meanwhile I am best known for my solo electronica work under the pseudonym KFox, though in I did pick the bass up again with The Affiliates for a couple of years towards the end of the noughties.

I miss performing with the guys, but frankly I think since we all went our seperate ways, we have made far better music than ever before. Except perhaps Stuart himself, but that is entirely up for debate!

Spitfire

Happy new year :) I've been spending today doing a new piece of art; there is a version with a character added posing in front of it too, but I also think this standalone shot of the Supermarine Spitfire on it's own has come out nicely as well :) The photo used for the background is one I took myself several years ago.

Early stages of new project

These are some sneak previews of what cartoon short I am working on next. It sort of has shades of the old Road Runner cartoons, which can't be a bad thing; Tex Avery and Chuck Jones are among my inspirations after all! The main characters are all non-anthro this time, which I think is going to be a lot of fun to work with and perhaps a breath of fresh air. It is still cartoon animals granted, but I feel that I need to keep focusing on my strengths in order to produce a half-decent showreel.

'The Heron' is to serve as the antagonist (of a sort) of this new story.

One of two german shepherd dogs acting as a generic supporting character.

One thing I am proud of are my backgroud drawings. The new story is set in the English countryside; I have the North and the Midlands in mind since some of my heritage originates there. Plus some of the area looks lovely :)

I'm going to do more research into overhead electric wires for British railway tracks. The final image will have different pylons in place of the existing ones.

Map Of Australia

The fourth in my series of cartoon maps - as you can tell I am a bit of a buff when it comes to geography =P It was the subject I was best at in High School.

Song Of Your Desire

Here it is; an animated music video of a recent single by Ash called 'Song Of Your Desire'! The band themselves gave me their blessing to make it, and I hope this video does what I set out to do! It is a 100% unofficial video and no profit has been make from it.

The animation in this video is simple and straightforward, but at the same time I wanted to add some emotion to the whole scene. In a way it is a nice change to draw more simplified characters and also something that ISN'T comical for a change!


You can watch the video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zCE4osAFrU

Ship sketch

Whilst doing some random sketches I ended up doing a quickie of the Italian liner SS Andrea Doria - among the most pleasing ships to look at ever built - so here she is!

Rural backgrounds

Currently in the midst of making an animated fan-made music video of a band I like. I won't give much away except the animation is very simple and I'm sort of trying to see how minimalist I can make something whilst it can still be somewhat compelling to watch. I aim to get it finished before Christmas ^^. Here's a couple of the backgrounds to give you a taste of what the settings are going to look like...