Author Archives for thedarclaud

Froyo Hands In The Air

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… and wave ’em like ya just don’t care!

This video fuses the summer’s hottest soft-serve delight with the aggression usually only reserved for urban street fights.

Here’s what the critics are saying:

After originally forming as a late 90’s underground Froyo movement, The Ice Kold Crew rose to prominence in the Los Angeles rap scene for their EP titled ‘Soft Serve Swerve (cum get sum)”. The much anticipated single “FroyOG” is the first from their studio record “Drip Drip Boom”, set to be blowing up the nation later this year.

An immediate hit, this jam features the smooth flow of foxy blonde Zana Lantana, an Australian hip hop artist said to have been the inspiration for Iggy Azalea’s latest album “The New Classic”, while the lyrical poetry of LL Chilli Swoop, OG Yogi and Chubb E Lumpkinz give us exactly what we expected: Solid Gold.

Open wide and get a mouthful of these infectious beats.

It’s ice cold. Enjoy.

Some may say that Zana Lantana’s rap is about twice as long as it should be. And to those people I say this: Probably.

Thanks to the Nash fam for the delicious title of this post. You guys are poets.

Thanks also to all the legends who made this video possible: Namely LL Chilli Swoop, OG Yogi, Chubb E Lumpkinz, Lance the Dance, Jonny Z, Travis, Pru, Klaus, Tow, Holly… and all those unnecessarily tolerant people at Yogurtland on La Brea and 3rd, Los Angeles.

Snack

Crack open the thermos, grab a bikkie, and fire up the final episode of ‘Deliveries’ with Anna Bennett. 

Have You Been Working Out?

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… ‘Cause you’re looking buff!

(CLASSIC GAG.)

The portable piece to match the Flatiron mural is complete! The background is an abstraction of a section of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, and creeping in from the left there is an American Buffalo/Bison. The ‘canvas’ is birch wood (takes me back to my architecture university days of model making!), so it took a little bit of extra priming. Big ups to Klaus who collaborated with the taping, geometries and colour advisory… And also helped me with the opening gag for this post.

Let it be known that the proceeds of this work is directly funding the software with which I’m writing my next screenplay. Literally, art for art’s sake. It’s like that movie ‘the human centipede’ – except without all the people dying. Maybe it’s more like an arty ecosystem. I think I should buy a felt hat. Or grow out my armpit hair.

Did I mention the house this work is for is in an area called Cow Hollow? Bovine coincidence? I think not.

Wait! I’ve got one more:

Q. What did the buffalo say when his son left for school?

A. Bison.

Gold.

Prime then tape. This project clearly took priority over the screenplay I’m mapping out on those system cards underneath the plastic!
All taped up
Block paint
Sponge for texture
Pull the tape! (Best bit)
Wood lines, paint lines…
Nice little wrap around
Pre-bison
Bison begins
Growing…
Grooooowing…..
Bison! And a golden little rising moon.

Bronzed

Every job has its perks. Slap your eyeballs on the second instalment of ‘Deliveries’, shot in ye olde london towne with my pal Anna Bennett.

Painty Pointy Precipice

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I was commissioned to paint this mural for a house in Cow Hollow. The request was for the image of a Bison as a tribute to Boulder, Colorado (and which I also thought was appropriate considering the mural’s location).

Enlisting Klaus, we set about taping up and painting an abstract version of the Flatirons rock formation for the background. I then-

Nope. No, I then did nothing else.

I intended on drawing a giant Bison on this chunk of dining room wall, but never got the chance. It seems our patron was so pleased with the work, that he wanted us to leave it as-is, and paint him a separate artwork that is in keeping with the theme, but one that he can also take with him when he moves out of the house one day. How good is that? Keep ’em peeled for part 2!

Priming the background
Primed.
Tape
Tape
Taperoo
Cutting tape to make 3d pattern
Slow and steady
Somehow we managed to cut all the right bits, without error!
Gold.
3 kinds of gold!
Sea sponge for texture
The best bit…
Pulling the tape!
Voila!
mural graphics

Busting

Sometimes things just need time to ripen. Not the case with this footage that took me two years to finally edit into webisodes. No hurry on the turn-around time there, clearly.

We shot this in London during 2012 as we rolled around in a delivery truck. For all you frothers out there looking to catch some more carry-on with my old pal Anna Bennett, here’s the first one of three.

Mamma Mia it’s a Musical!

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Ever heard the expression “to polish a turd”?  Some people might consider the countless days I spent working on this project as doing exactly that. I tend to disagree.

It is intended to be viewed by only those interested – which is about 3 people if you add up all the halves. And most importantly, it’s my Mothers’ Day gift to mum and baba – so it was worth the trouble.

Here’s a synopsis and review I wrote just in case Rolling Stone magazine needs a guest writer to review it sometime:

A family of Sydneysiders find that their multi-award-winning chicken is missing. Bereaved, they take the audience on a fascinating journey as they piece together the clues to retrieve her. In the darkest of times, they learn the hard hitting lessons about family: Grandma’s got this s**t covered, and no one goes hungry when mum’s around. It is a tongue-in-cheek look at society through the lens of a modern day Von Trapp family. Irresistible performances all round. Five stars.

Let me acknowledge that this was an ambitious project, and one that I am completely under-qualified to create…. or have any kind of singing role in for that matter. And yet, it exists – in all its glory.

This may be simultaneously the most terrible and most wonderful….ly awful thing you’ll see this year. If you can make it through the 2nd and the 4th song – you’re in the clear. At least do me a favour and make sure you catch the finale. The salmonella poisoning reference is worth it.

Happy Mothers’ Day, Mooom and Baba! I love you so much!!!

Thanks be to my sister Tania, who vocally carries pretty much the whole thing: Legend. Max, Klaus and Pru: Phenomenal performances. But let’s be honest, it’s mum and baba who steal the show, and for that I am so proud and grateful!

Custom Cards Comin’ out my Keister!

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Being up to my eyeballs in a ton of creative ventures, it may take a moment for any more of them to surface here….. but trust me, they’re coming. In the meantime,  here are some cards I’ve drawn for pals over the past few months to tide you over in my cyber-presence drought.

Who knew pigs were so hard to draw?

Hey Girl…

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So it’s been a while. Internet – I apologise. My film’s in post-production which has stirred up a whole lot of work. Work which I deemed necessary to practice severe levels of procrastination to avoid. I achieved this (with honours) by completely re-arranging my house. In doing so, and moving a very large wooden cabinet from the kitchen into my bedroom, I discovered the reason why it may have been put there in the first place. A gaping big hole of peeled paint.

Never one to resist a challenge, nor an opportunity to create a collage – particularly when that collage is of the great Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna Everage – Australian comedy royalty) – I rose to the occasion using a great shot I found in a 1970’s edition of Interview Magazine. As his new position was to be over our chopping block, I captioned it accordingly. How ‘come hither’!

No, that’s not a butterfly.
Oh hey Baz
Hey girl.

Oi! Happy Straya Day!

To celebrate the national day of our magnificently large brown continent (and land of legends), I have dug up from the vault the original Keith and Kev. You little bloody ripper! Now pass me a bloody bottle opener! Strewth!