Lark

Engage.

2011-10-03T02:23:00.000-07:00

Paul. Engage. Ink & watercolour on Arches CP paper. 700 x 560mm. Experimenting with my medias for this one. Its made up of many layers of dilute Indian ink with added gum arabic.

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/people/larkk/

Canberra Tweed Ride Poster Art.

2011-08-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Image I did the other day for a poster advertising a Tweed bicycle ride in September. I'm a cyclist myself, but I don't go in for any of that lycra and carbon fibre nonsense. Guess that's why the tweed ride idea appeals to me; vintage bikes & threads, slow paced leisurely cycling with lots of pub/cafe/picnic stops. Lycra racing heroes piss me off, as they can be pretty obnoxious to cyclists and pedestrians alike. Tweed rides make a point of being super polite on the road. I like that. Think this is the fourth or fifth tweed run to be held in Canberra since the first in June 2009.

Working large

2011-08-11T06:39:00.001-07:00

An artist I know suggested I try working large. This is my first experiment doing so. It's my mate Dominika (http://captio.wordpress.com/) playing laptop games in the dark. Double or triple life size approx. Indian ink on Arches CP paper. The hair, reflections & highlights are all scratching and sanding (scrafitto technique) into the inked paper. I like working big, and fun to use bigger brushes... got some cheap housepainting & bristle style ones I've been playing with.

Also, Engage #10 (below) is currently showing at the Mosman Art Prize. One of the more prestigious art prizes in Australia, it attracted almost 1000 entries this year. Was pretty stoked to be one of those selected to hang. One my way home, stopped into Parker's Art Supplies in The Rocks and bought a 10 X 1.5 metre roll of paper for more big works.

Blackened Slugs

2011-08-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

Recently attempted a metal style banner logo for "Blackened Slugs" a review website and distro in the US, specialising in Doom/Drone/Black metal genres. They do distro for some Monarch (French drone doom) and Grey Daturas (Australian instrumental noise rock) records in the US. Two bands I really dig. Hadn't done a metal logo since high school, more than 10 years ago.

The banner art was was done freehand in black indian ink & wash on Canson watercolour paper. I used a vintage ruling pen, and scrawled the ink freehand. The hard whites are scratched into the paper. The crusty bits of dried ink that collect at the mouth of the bottle were mixed in around the edges.

http://blackenedslugs.blogspot.com/

"Engage"

2011-06-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

"Engage" gamer portrait reference photographs

2011-04-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

I take reference photographs for the series of gamer portraits I am currently working on. I set up a camera on a tripod right in front of the TV, and use a remote shutter release held right away from the screen. If possible, I prefer to take shots where the only light in the room is cast from the screen, which at times makes for some interesting shadows and colouring. This requires a fairly fast lens and a fairly high ISO; I use a Nikon D7000 with a 50mm f1.4 prime lens. The D7000 has an image sensor that works very well in low light. Car racing games seem to work best, as the camera can be placed right at the point of the screen that the player will be focusing on, without interfering with the gameplay. The photographs are quite interesting on their own so I thought I'd post a few I took the other day. Just opened a flickr account too, will upload a few of these soon. http://www.flickr.com/photos/larkk

Recent gamer works

2011-03-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

Here's pics of a few recent works; Engage #'s 6, 4 & 8. Engage #8 is currently on display at Goulburn regional gallery. Indian ink & watercolour on Saunders Waterford CP paper. 700 x 560mm.

Strange Stories, Amazing Facts #2 "Parasite"

2011-03-16T02:44:00.000-07:00

Graffiti corner #8

2011-03-08T00:08:00.000-08:00

This twisted piece was photographed in the Transit Bar toilets (mens), Civic by Steven from "First world youth culture problems to be addressed" zine. Nice to see some quality toilet graffiti in Canberra.

Engage #7 in Wingecarribee Works on Paper Art Prize

2011-03-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

Me standing in front of Engage #7 at the Wingecarribee works on paper prize in Bowral. Indian ink and watercolour on 700 x 560 mm watercolour paper. I dont usually frame, but mount invisibly to Foamcore instead. It opened on Saturday the 5th of March, and shows until Sunday the 20th.

Customs Patrol Oz

2011-02-17T03:53:00.000-08:00

Redid this one a bit for an upcoming issue of Yuck!. Havent really done much stippling before for tone or shading, didnt turn out too badly. Will appear in either issue 5 or 6.

2011-02-17T00:51:00.000-08:00

YUCK! #4 from Melbourne's Milk Shadow Books has just hit the shelves. My copy arrived in the mail the other day and it looks awesome. Features great cover & liner art by Jacek Zabawa, rockin comix by artists including Anton Emdin, Matt Emery, Tom Motley, Jason Paulos, Kapreles and more! Couple of mine in there too including "Hitler Moustache".
Go get it.

http://www.milkshadowbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23_25&products_id=35

http://milkshadow.wordpress.com/

Graffiti Corner #7

2010-12-02T00:35:00.000-08:00

These are sent in by a mate in Sydney who snapped them a week or so ago. Town Hall Hotel, Spewtown. I've been admiring this guys work for a while now (see graff corner #3), got no idea who he is. His work usually appears in Inner West pub toilet walls, and I understand it is very highly regarded by connoisseurs of the style.

Strange Stories AMAZING FACTS; Octopus Night.

2010-11-02T05:05:00.001-07:00

"Engage" -Gamer Portraits

2010-10-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some non-comic pieces I've been working on recently. Ink and watercolour on pretty large (76 x 56 cm) sheets of paper. I havent done any proper figure or life drawing in ages so I'm feeling a little rusty. I dont play computer games much myself apart from the odd bit of Pacman, Tetris & MarioKart occasionally, but find gaming pretty interesting... watching gamers completely immersed in the digital environment, unaware of passing time or surrounds, maybe with the body contorted, teeth clenched or face scrunched as they battle Mr Dragon, collaborate with, or kill friends and strangers online.

COMIC STRIPPED!

2010-10-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

I'm taking part in a group exhibition coming up soon at Horus & Deloris in Pyrmont, Sydney. The line-up is awesome:
Ben Brown, Anton Edmin, Julie Doye, Nadia Jellymonstar, Micheal Graham, Emily Hasslehoof, David Puckeridge, Ross Radiation, Glenn Smith, Ben Hutchings, Marcella Mitchell, Louise Graber, Pteri Dact-Ullman & Juliet Ramone.

If you are in Sydney, definitely check it out. It will be a very cool show.

Opening night drinks are 6-8 pm Wednesday 27th of October, and it'll run til the 10th of November. Horus and Deloris Contemporary Art Space

Level 2, 102 Pyrmont Street Pyrmont.

Parp! Strats & Poms

2010-10-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

I put a post on Facebook asking my friends which fart sound effect in a comic is the funniest; "parp", "toot" or "quack"?. I received about 10 insightful and thoughtful responses from male & female friends. Most seemed to think "parp" is funniest, and a couple of people weren't so keen on "toot". "Parp" has worked well for Viz comic, as i recall its the sound Johnny Fartpants makes. It also makes me laugh every time so I went with that. Suggestions from friends also included "plaplaplap", "prrrt" and "buurrt".

YUCK! #4

2010-10-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

Got a coupla pages in issue 4 of "Yuck!" coming out soon, including my 2 pager "Hitler Moustache" (http://larkk.blogspot.com/search/label/Hitler%20Moustache). The last issue was awesome, this one should come out in about a month.

http://milkshadow.wordpress.com/

Customs Patrol Oz

2010-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Been ages since I last did a post. You'll probably need to open up this one in a new window and click on the image to view it full size. This comic was partly inspired by a friend's stories of her family's immigration to Australia from Papua New Guinea. Apparently customs seized the family's VHS tapes of movies recorded off the telly, presumably suspicious that they contained something more sinister than whatever was written on the tapes.

Also... get your copy of Blackguard #3 "Crime" from http://blackguard23.livejournal.com/44582.html. Awesome stuff by Ryan Vella, Dexter Cockburn, Gerard Ashworth, Michael Aushenker, Bize, Neale Blanden, Shaun Craike, Jason Dean, Julie Doye, Anton Emdin, Giles, Doug Iannucci, Kapreles, Lark, Chris Mikul, Adam Pasion, David Puckeridge, SCAR, Glenn Smith, and Stratu, Damian McDonald, Henry L. Racicot & Ross Radiation. ROCKIN!

Blackguard #3 "Crime"... and the city solution

2010-04-30T04:04:00.000-07:00

New comic submission for Blackguard #3 comics anthology/zine. http://blackguard23.livejournal.com/.

I had a page (http://larkk.blogspot.com/search/label/father) in issue #2 themed "Father", the theme for this issue is "Crime". Like a lot of my recent scribblings, its based on actual events and is a composite of two real occurences. The title? ... happened to be listening to Rowland S Howard when I was drawing it.

Graffiti Corner

2010-04-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

...Been way too long since I posted anything... just moved house, been busy etc. This Graffiti corner was sent in by my photographer mate G-Fry in sunny Queensland. I know it's not technically graff, but who cares. What special text to stumble across in a public toilet!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoff_roberts/

Graffiti Corner #5

2010-01-18T03:04:00.000-08:00

"Hitler Cock" snapped recently at the Townie, Newtown, Sydney. That place seems to be where all the most awesome puerile cock graffiti is found...guess it refects well on their clientele. "...designer babys" was snapped a few streets away from it.

Disease

2010-01-18T02:58:00.000-08:00

The Snotty Vagina. Indian ink on a piece of scrap mountcard that had paper & tape stuck to it. My friend J suggested I do a comic with snot and vaginas in it. Blame her.

Hitler Cri

2009-12-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Grafitti Corner #4 and Golliwogs!!!

2009-12-07T04:29:00.000-08:00

Golliwogs!... and we all thought we'd never see them for sale again. Taken this afternoon at Belconnen Westfield on a table of assorted kitsch shit.

Snapped this one last week at "The Barracks", a particularly dingy internet cafe/LAN gaming joint in Civic, Canberra. Guess someone got caught out.

Tales from the Bubblewrap Generation Presents "Memories"

2009-11-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

This is page one of a four page piece I'm doing. Still inking up the other pages, should be completed and uploaded soon.

Graffiti Corner #3

2009-11-11T03:29:00.000-08:00

More of Australia's finest public art from Newtown's Town Hall Hotel. "Bat Dick" & "Touch more Dix!".

Valentines Day.

2009-11-11T01:39:00.000-08:00

Grafitti Corner #2

2009-10-15T01:02:00.001-07:00

Two absolute gems of public art I snapped recently. Stumbled accross the top one in Belconnen, Canberra, the other day. Someone's shitty philosophical stencil moment spoilt with the immaturity of "your mums a decision" and a crap tag. Brilliant.

The second was snapped in the Townie, Newtown, Sydney. Is quite a large piece, so I had to hold my phone right up against the opposite wall of the toilet cubicle to get it all in one shot. The text on the penis plane is pretty tricky to read on this image, but reads "when love of the cock and love of the Nazis collides". The rest appears to be Russian.

Hey Hey

2009-10-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hitler Moustache.

2009-09-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

The Black Metal Poet.

2009-09-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

Black metal poet with writer's block. Possibly the dumbest idea for a comic ever. I was once acquainted with a metalhead in Sydney who told me he wrote black metal poetry. Didn't think much of it at the time, but now I really regret not asking him to recite some to me. I keep wondering how his poetry might go down at a poetry slam or open mic-poetry night at a pub or cafe, whether he'd wear make-up, or recite in a black metal vocal style with wild gestures and grimaces.

Grafitti Corner!

2009-09-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Art and Poetry. Couldn't resist taking a photo.
Town Hall Hotel, Newtown. Upstairs male toilets. Saturday 30th August.

Belco

2009-08-31T04:32:00.000-07:00

After an utterly soul destroying venture to a nearby shopping mall, I scribbled this down. The cross hatching and line work I use a lot doesn't reproduce so well on paper or screen, so I think I'll move towards this sorta stippled style in future.

"Hey Dad!"

2009-08-31T01:57:00.000-07:00

You might have to enlarge this one to read it properly. I did this comic for "Blackguard #2", an anthology zine by Stratu. A few years back he put together a zine called "Sick Puppy", "Blackguard" is his new thing. It has some real awesome contributors, shouldn't be too long before it hits the shelves.
http://blackguard23.livejournal.com/

Like a lot of my comics, this is taken from real life ... a father/son conversation I witnessed in Sydney years ago that i haven't been able to erase from memory. The dialogues not verbatim, I actually toned it down a little!

Dave

2009-08-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

Australia 5

2009-08-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Dialogue is taken from a post on an Aussie Nationalist facebook group ("Aussie Pride", Australia - love it or leave"... something like that, there's heaps of 'em out there) where members were discussing and comparing the purity of their lineage, whether their ancestors came here in convict times or not.

Australia 4

2009-08-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

Australia 3

2009-08-17T05:57:00.001-07:00

Australia 2

2009-08-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Australia 1

2009-08-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Strats & Poms.

2009-08-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

Scary Shop Teaser

2009-08-17T02:17:00.000-07:00

This is page 3 of an 8 page comic I'm working on called "The Scary Shop". Creepy and silly, a true story as well.