Spider in the bath.

Spider in the bath is a musical children's television series, originally aired by the BBC in 1991 and was made by Hibbert Ralph Entertainment. The stories are told through song, performed by Jeff Stevenson with his children, Casey and Holly, singing backing vocals. The music is all very slow, melancholic, and depressing, but with a usually positive message. I used to love watching the animations as a child. And I have nothing other than my own observations to support my theories, however watching the animations again, I feel they convey a strong message of depression, and loneliness, conveyed in metaphors, as the characters represent emotions. Such as episode 6: Spiders song. - https://www.youtube.com/watchv=OJnBm8u4hXM&list=PLD710ADE166F4F6DA&index=6

Take the opening line for example: 
When it seems like your struggling down the line, 
and you feel that you can't go on.
When you think that your life is a waste of time, 
listen to the spider's song:
Try, try, try, or you'll never get to catch that fly. 

The fly represents happiness, both his and others, the boy, a man, and the spider, depression. The lyrics go further to show a distance from the world, the fly is constantly thwarting the spider and boys efforts and anything, generally showing off and being intolerable. A goal that is frustrating to see when you cannot have it. The representation as depression seems to be confirmed with lyrics like this:    

If I fall to the bottom I'll try again, 
a spider will never stay died. 
Oh, no, no. 

The song continues to convey emotions of self-deprivation, and feelings of inadequacy. 

If you're loosing a round in a battle or race, 
and you feel like you can't go on. 
If your covered in shame or loosing faith,
listen to the spiders song:
Try, try, try, or you'll never get to catch that fly. 

I may simply be reading into these too much, however the music and animation style certainly seem to agree with me. its very inked, washed out, faded and shaky. It seems like an obvious choice to represent bleak emotions, But my conclusion does not come from only this song, there are many more I feel display the same qualities as depression. For instance Episode 9: Hamster chase. 
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVLnAjbjsh4&index=9&list=PLD710ADE166F4F6DA

In this one, the Hamster represents the man, trying to hide, and the cat is the depression,  and sucidal thoughts, seeking him out. 

If the cat comes looking, where will you go?
where will you try to hide?
If the cat comes looking, where will you go?
If the cat comes looking tonight?

Soon the Hamster speaks, saying he knows where he needs to hide, he knows where to go. However the cat keeps finding him.

I know a place I can hide,
I know a place I can burrow away,
I know a place for tonight.
I know a place I can borrow today,
I know a place I can hide.

This all takes place in a night, and we get to see it was the hamsters desire to fall into the danger zone.

Hamster, hamster morning has come,
and still I can't find no sign,
Hamster, Hamster you were the one,
crossing the safety line.
When the cat came looking, where did you go?
Where did you go last night?
When the cat came looking, where did you go?
Where did you try to hide?

The hamsters cage we are about to see, represents his 'safe place'. His home, and the narrator says he now understands why the Hamster never leaves his cage, which is an astounding similarity to how the depressed feel such struggle with leaving their house, or bed, as the outside world seems like too much stress, and danger, and is not worth the effort.

Hamster, hamster now I can see,
why you burrowed yourself away.
Hamster, hamster fidily de,
Back in the cage you'll stay.

There are a few more examples I'd like to give, but I won't go trough all 13, 5 minute episodes. There a more everyday one, in which I think more of the mundane feelings are represented, in Episode 11: Classroom Distractions, where term time represents the fall back into depression, and how you start to miss everyday life before it. - https://www.youtube.com/watchv=qSaKhhktAoo&index=11&list=PLD710ADE166F4F6DA 

All the days are over, 
term has begun. 
Games that have been played, 
left behind.
I'm thinking and dreaming,
of days in the sun, 
where homework is far from my mind.
Feeling down. Feeling down.

He starts to describe the feeling of happiness fading away, and how hard the beginning of the day is, how the days blend together and how easy it becomes to do nothing al day.

Happiness turning,
to start is our flu.
All the days turn into school.
Classroom distractions are all in this room.

The song moves on, to talk about the view a depressed person has on life, the blackboard representing it.

The blackboard asks questions,
I just don't understand.
I wish it was all just a game.
But the answers to the questions are part of the plan.

The more I look into the lyrics of these songs, and seeing the writing without the images to accompany it, convinces me more of the theory that there is a darker subject behind these children's cartoons. There is one more example I will give before reviewing my last episode, which I think is a strong case. However in Episode 10: Panda comes to stay, I think the Panda represents happiness, after being in depression for a long period of time, and the bed represents the boys comfortable life. - https://www.youtube.com/watchv=k7Vl67uVO5U&list=PLD710ADE166F4F6DA&index=10

What on earth has made you appear?
are you starting a new career?
does mommy know know that your sitting here?
have you come to stay?

The Panda the proceeds to show off, doing all manner of impressive and joyful things, such as dancing, juggling and generally entertaining. Showing just how much can be accomplished when out of the mindset. The song proceeds and we find the boy accepting the panda, glad to see him he brings into his bed, or 'life'. 

I asked if he would be my friend and much to my surprise, 
he didn't seem to mind at all,
so I gave my friend a panda hug and kissed him on the eyes,
and put him in my bed by the wall. 
What on earth was he doing here?
how it happened I've no idea, 
When I'm with him I've nothing to fear, 
I hope he's here to stay. 

The next verse, in my opinion, is telling of how a new found happiness is hard to cope with, and quite daunting after almost feeling comfortable in depression. After years there it becomes the norm, and anything different seems quite alien, and the Panda taking over the space is not the way the boy feels at home, and this becomes almost too much to deal with, and the spiral starts again.

I woke up in the morning and I must've hit my head, 
I was lying on the bedroom floor.
And you'll never guess who kicks me out to take up all the bed, 
and I don't think I can take it anymore. 

Why on earth is he staying here?
he's far too big for my bed it's clear, 
he doesn't have to be quite so near,
so on the floor he'll stay. 

The last episode I'll look into is Episode 13: true friend. Which in my view is the most depressing in my eyes, I see it as depression, as his 'true friend.' As it's a lonely place, the only person you feel connected to is the depression itself, and its funny, how after not being there for so long, when it comes back, it does feel like seeing an only friend. This first verse show that as it starts innocently enough, the boy quickly becomes depended on the 'friend' doing whatever he says, whenever he says it.  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qith9aJF3HQ&list=PLD710ADE166F4F6DA&index=13

If you'll be my true friend, true to me, 
if you'l be my true friend I'll agree,
some games you want to play,
yes I'll agree, 
anything you say, 
yes I'll agree,
to anything you say.

And the fact that he clarifies they have never spoken a word, makes it seem like either the friend is a spider who can't talk, or an emotion, which would explain the next line (and verse) 'friendships turn between us', as everybody knows, depression drives alot of close people away. 

It's a funny old world, 
never a word between us.  
funny old world,
friendships turn between us,
funny old world. 

Whispers in the wild, 
talking to a friend, 
just like a dream.

This next part seems to blatantly tell us that people disappear, but at least he'll always has his friend the spider (depression).

There are those who run a mile,
when all is said and done,
they won't be around.
But with the spider and the child,
naughtiness is fun, 
and games will be found. 

It's a funny old world.  
It's a funny old world, 
never a word between us.  
funny old world,
friendships turn between us,
funny old world. 

To finish, I do think that this cartoon has a message about depression, that is wrapped up to be a children's cartoon, I can't find any evidence or anyone who agrees nd has posted something similar online, so I could very well be wrong but looking into these songs and verses is eye opening, and at the very least, makes you see things in a different light.

Richard Starkings Interview

I visited the Thought Bubble convention, to show off and get feedback for my work on PPP3, but also to interview Richard Starkings on his 'Elephantmen' work as having read it, I knew it would be a positive influence on my work. When I asked him "How do you think mental health is represented in comics? Done well? How did you do it?" He replied with this lengthy, in depth, detailed answer that I will use for my dissertation.

"I didn't approach it from the point of view of anything other than story driven, so when I was writing about war veterans its, we've all absorbed what we've observed, we're not necessarily experts on mental health or PTSD. I now know a lot of Vietnam and Afghan war veterans, old people and young people. I've had letters from readers saying I understand PTSD, I don't but I have an inkling of it. I know that veterans are over medicated. I know that, all the guys I know suffer from bad dreams, medication doesn't necessarily make bad dreams go away sometimes it actually encourages them. You know I think anybody that is put through war is going to suffer. The story of a Yvette is a the transformation of an innocent who’s been exposed to war and had to do things she wouldn't have done had she not been fighting for her life, you know and put in a situation where you're fighting for her life. Where basically that becomes your reason for living and then they take that away and what kind of person you become. A lot of people who become killers, sit on roof tops, picking people off with guns, they've been in war and something gets broken. There are writers who have treated the subject of mental health very specifically in comics I don't think I specifically set out to touch on that issue but its inevitable when you're writing about warfare. You know the goal of training, boot camp is all about breaking the mental bearings of a young man or woman. The first goal is to break them and then rebuild them, and teach them that it is okay to kill, but its not okay to kill. But on the other hand we're taught to fight for king and country and we’re taught the concept of a just war. But a just war and what people see in warfare are two different things, both my grand fathers were in WW1 my mother’s father was a stretcher bearer, he refused to take lives, my father’s father was in cartography so he was in, behind the front, my grandfather who was a stretcher bearer was literally getting people who'd had there limbs blown off out of trenches and his wife was a nurse in WW1 so I come from a family of people hopefully saving lives in war time and that’s coloured my point of view having said that now that I've got to know people how have actually fought in wars, and a war like Vietnam that is not regarded as a just war, has been so damaging and I have more compassion for people who were actually put in the field of battle to kill people, you know so on the one hand I'm proud of my grandfather refused to kill however on the other hand you cant judge the people who took a job and didn't understand the consequences to their mental health, and you have a system that feeds that medication to keep them pacified and free of doubt, I don't know if you can be free of doubt, but you've got to have compassion for the people who went into that system and survived." 

You can see this conversation at 10:58 to 15:30 in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUQ-W6sFFfA&feature=youtu.be

MCM Comic Convention Reaserch

I went to the MCM Comic Convention to show artists my work and get feedback for PPP3, however whilst there, I though it was a good opportunity to see what people in the industry think of the representation of mental health, and sensitive subject matters in comic books. Below I have displayed some of the responses I got to my questions.

Liam Shallo.

When I asked Liam Shallo if he thought comics did a good job at displaying sensitive subject matters such as depression, this was his response: "I think comics do a better job than most, comic books are an industry where you can take more risks, and experiment. Like 'The Crow', everyones read 'The Crow'. The Crow was a book created when the authors fiance got killed by a drunk driver. He did it as a coping method, comic books can be so personal. Like Jeff, a very famous comic book writer, he dedicates a lot of his character names to his son. There been spousal abuse, depression, suicide, LGBT. The first gay kiss in a comic was way before anything on T.V. It's a good place to get your head around subject matter."

You can see this at 6:12 in the video link here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ro9I_xoGsI

Martin Griffiths.

WheN I asked Martin Griffiths if the thought comic represented subject matters like mental health and depression, he replied with this. "I think they always try to do things like that, such as the drug problems in the sixties in comics, I haven't seen many comics lately, I must admit, I haven't seen any of those kind of relationships. Maybe more of being gay in comics, or something like that. I haven't talked to many people so I can't give you their views, I would imagine the odd comics are out there that are good, there are writers out there dealing with those subjects probably but I haven't seen or heard of anything.'

I thought it was interesting how both artists so far started talking about homosexuality, and so I started to ask that question more often, and thinking about maybe bringing in this element to my work.

You can see this conversation at 1:35 in the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5XPhr2NyzA

Sam - assistant editor at Panini comics.

I said to Sam I was looking into how comics deal with hard to talk about issues like depression or homosexual superheroes, and if he thought comics represent that fairly at the moment. This was his answer. "Well I don't know if you know Rob Liefeld, he was responsible for lots of the 'Image' stuff and then he came to do 'Heroes Reborn', quite a controversial figure in the industry but recently it 'X-Factor' one of the character that he created in the 90's, and he's a bit of a jock in america, but he's an x-man, and they decided that he was gay, and they started to play around with that in 'X-Factor'. Rob Liefeld actually came about and he said 'I didn't intend this character to be gay originally', and it's interesting. Have your read 'Muas' for instance? Thats dealing with something very depressing, and like yourselves he anthropomorphises animals, so mice are jewish, the cats are nazis. If you handle it with the gravity and a sense of humour then I do think there are ways of doing it properly. 'Black Hole' as well, I can't remember who its by now, Charles Burn! Give that a read because thats very much about coming into your own as a teenager. It's kind of the same with any medium, if you handle it well, if you handle it with a sense of imagination I think you can tell any story.

You can see this conversation at 8:08 in the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5I8MwbnsVI

Lee Bradley.

I asked Lee Bradley if he thought comics were sensitive enough when dealing with issues people could relate to strongly such as depression and his answer was this. "I think a comic book is there to entertain, its like a film. Is a film sensitive enough to deal with those issues? If the film is about those issues, then it should have a layer too it about that, but if its not about that then its about characters, and what drives these characters. It comes down to the subject and the source material and what the aim is, so I would say yes and no.

You can see our conversation here, at 5:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnpOKG8Sb_E

Phil Buckenham.

I asked Phil Buckenham if he thought comics were sensitive enough when dealing whit sensitive issues like depression and this was his answer. "I think over the years they have shown, weather its alcoholism or drug abuse, that they can deal with those subjects, yes.

This is available at 3:41 in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jGaYv_ffsc

With this information, i've found that most artist seem to either know or think it's possible to infuse these issues with the comic book medium, and some have even given me direct books to look at for secondary research.

Talk with Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr at Leeds College of Art

On the Thursday the 13th November 2014 comic artists Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr came into our university to give a talk on comics and how they broke the industry. As my new found area to expertise in, I decided to attend.

Cameron Stewart

Cameron Stewart got his first opportunity at the comic industry by chance, as Grant Morrison was in the store he worked in and liked a sketch he was drawing, After offering him some work on the 'Seaguy' series Cameron had his first job in the industry.

Cameron Stewart mentioned often on how it was vital to always reference when drawing. He said is captures a more realistic world, including anatomy, lighting and shadows. He also said how he personally likes to create well thought out fight sequences. Although with a limited page count, this can be difficult. 'Sin Titulo', 'B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: Exorcism' and is currently working on 'Fight Club 2' as a Graphic Novel, written by the author of the original book, Chuck Palahniuk.

 Babs Tarr

Cameron Stewart then introduced his college Babs Tarr, with whom we worked on the 'New 52 Batgirl' series with.  Babs has a very unique style, abstractly beautiful. He found Babs' work on Tumblr. She was very interested in fashion at uni, but got a reputation for drawing sexy women. Something she said she enjoyed drawing, although she is capable of alot more. She mentioned how she doesn't think 'sexy' should be mistaken for 'sexist'. 

Custom Figures - Square Enix, Play Arts, Raylan Givens - Justified.

Towards the end of last year I did a lengthy review of my favourite tv show 'Justified'. As you probably already know I am something of a collector of merchandise, and if I can't get it, I'll make it. With Justified it was no different, I love the show, and as they do not sell and figures and the final season is on the horizon I decided to make my own. However I decided to up my game from Marvel Legends, as this was not super-hero orientated, I thought it would be a good idea to try something new. Firstly I looked into what other people had made.

For those of you who don't know, this is what the character looks like.

I decided to take a different approach, the actor Timothy Olyphant has a very particular stance as you can see from the first image, very western, cowboy, very casual rockstar. I wanted to capture this, so although they should no figures of the character, I wondered if they sold any figures of the actor, maybe in a different role. I found that he starred in the video-game-turned-movie Hitman. 

Although this move was awful, and Olyphant wasn't the best choice (However great he is) This is a role role that should go to the likes of Jason Statham and bruce Willis. However, having said that, they did sell a figure of Hitman from the recent game Hitman:Absolution, that did have a very familiar stance. 

I had the main body base, however I needed a figure from the same line 'Square Enix, Play Arts' that looked like Olyphant in the face, and that preferably had a pistol, a holster, a badge, bare hands, a likeness and a stetson cowboy hat. Despite being such a narrow search, I found what I was looking for, minus the hat. Nathan Drake from the same line. 

I then searched for the hat, I did remember seeing a film recently were the protagonist wore a similar hat, not the same iconic stetson, but similar enough for a 10 inch figure. The Long Ranger. 

Delighted, I then looked into weather they sold a figure of him, and they did, not in the same line, but roughly the same height, enough to take the hat anyway. The 7-inch Neca figure.  

With all the pieces I needed I decided to do a rough mock-up on photoshop before spending over £100 on something that was a risk. I liked the result. 

My next stage was the building, so I bought all the parts from ebay and waited for them to arrive. I then began the process I have successfully achieved so many times. 

I know, I'm like better version of Sid from Toy Story. With a smal paint job to turn the tie black, my work was complete. And I think I did rather well if I do say so myself. 

Custom figures - Drax the Destroyer

Last year my COP 2 practical 'Custom Figure Making' I found thoroughly enjoyable, and so decided to keep it going, I started by researching the character, and finding a good one that I think regular toy publishers did a bad job of. So I chose Drax the Destroyer.

His fist incarnation looked bigger, stronger, more intimidating, with alot more purple and more hulk-like in size.  -

I then looked at how the character is currently drawn, and how he looked in the recent movie 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. I feel every interpretation was alot larger and more muscular than the Marvel Legends figure above suggests.

I decided mix all of these designs together into something I liked that incorporated everything I liked about the character. The I started work, I firstly found a decent figure to start with, I chose the House of M Hulk figure, as I knew I could change it easily with little work, for the best result. 

I then started to remove the white tattoo's using a scalpel and stanly knife, I started with the face, then the back, arms and torso, being carful to only carve away the necessary parts, and not go too deep as to keep the this layer of green paint beneath the white.    

I then painted the trousers black using masking tape to cover the areas I didn't want painting and black spray painted the rest. Lastly I used a red sharpie to add his tattoo's and added him to the rest of my collection from last years work. I am very happy with my outcome and intend to keep this practise going. 

'JUICE' Leeds Met Poetry Slam.

Over the summer I was asked to film a live event for the Leeds Met English Literature student's final poetry slam reading 'Juice'. I was happy to oblige and said I would. I booked all the necessary equipment out of the Av suite without much hassle to my surprise. Liam Cooper set up all the camera equipment and settings and taught me about the white balance and focus, and helped whenever it went wrong, I filmed and recorded the sounds and held the boom mike independently and it was all going to plan, until about  half way through the performance the batteries died, I had asked for batteries but I was told I had to buy my own as the college did not loan them out in the sound recorder, I thought this was suspicious as I was sure I used them before, I decided not to argue the matter, knowing i did not know as much about camera work, being a beginner. This I now know is untrue, and I should have been given re-chargeable batteries and a charger, as normal batteries die in an instant in the sound recorder. I had to stop the performance to run out and get more and used the time to empty the SD card onto my Mac. After re-laying this information back to the Av suite I was told  'yeah, thats a shame, that.' This just about finishes my run with the Av suite, and I can safely say that I have had a major problem that has damaged my project every single time I have used it, I would not recommend it to anyone. This has assured me that I will be avoiding film work as much as possible with whats left of my time at Leeds College of Art, as I will not risk my degree on the unpredictability of the Av suite, and have instead decided to focus on comics for my Extended Practice module. A disappointing waste of the £25,500 I have spent attending the course, to now veer off to do a subject they do not offer much support in. After halting the production, embarrassed and trying to salvage what I could, I imported the files over and emptied the memory on the SD cards. I then continued to work until the performance was complete, and edited it together in Premier Pro.