Roundup #021 - ALL CAPS when you spell the man name
Alright there! It's been a while hasn't it, sorry about that! It's two-fold really: life and work has been really busy recently and I've fallen deeper down the virtual pinball-building rabbit hole, but more on that in a bit!
At the minute, at Aardman, I'm in the depths of production on a super exciting yet super top-secret project I'm directing! I'm based up at our bigger studio space in north Bristol and it's really exciting being there, to be nestled amongst so many talented humans crafting beautiful things. It's going to be a long time before I can share what we're up to, but rest assured, it's well good.
Now then, the other reason for lack of posting is really falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of building a virtual pinball machine. Each week I've discovered something new, dug down a little deeper and it's just consumed me! I think the reason I've enjoyed it so much is that it's a mix of everything - I get to play with new hardware and software, it's pushing me to do more CAD-style 3D printing, it features flashing lights, dot matrix animation and bonkers sound. In short, it's pure maximalism and I absolutely love it. It's making me learn lots and the reward is being able to play pinball whenever I want.
It's always the perfect escape. In these dark, confusing, overwhelming times, I'm loving escaping into a passion project that's all about light and colour and sound.
I have spent a chunk of time writing a gigantic blog through that encapsulates everything I've done up until this point. Just writing that was a big task in itself, it's a monster, so pull up a chair and grab a cuppa to give it a read through:
Gavin Strange
It hasn't stopped there though, that blog is just 'part 1' of this journey and before I knew it, thanks to just pure unbridled excitement, I jumped into the next stage and have started installing addressable LED's that communicate directly to the pinball table. As well as the mega-blog, I compiled a BTS edit featuring footage from all the many stages of this build, have a peep:
Anyways, I won't bore you with anymore pinball stuff for now. I'm now onto the next stage - reskinning an existing table with my own theme - so there will be another mega-blog in the future I'm sure! Here's a little sneak peek WIP though:
In other news, our 'Strange Kids' toy 'business' is still in full swing, Sully modelled a 'Zombie Axolotl' variation and has popped it on the online store, if you fancy picking up something for this spooky season:
The axolotls on the print bed
I love using his drawings too, they're so cute! I'm very much a fan of his custom typography too, maybe I should make a Sully typeface!? Hmm, that's a future passion project right there!
Something very exciting that happened recently was the Gromut Unleashed 3 auction, where all the sculptures from the GU3 trail were put up for auction, with every penny going towards The Grand Appeal, the incredible charity at Bristol Children's Hospital whose sole aim is raising money for sick children and their families <3
It was a wonderful night, with the auction raising TWO MILLION POUNDS in total!!! I was very proud to have to contributed to that, in a tiny way, with my sculpture "Gnarlybot" (designed by me and painted by the brilliant Ruth Broadway) selling for £19,000!
It was so special to be a part of Gromit Unleashed, knowing that through art & design you're helping to make a difference with an incredibly important charity. That's proper special right there <3
That's the perfect note to end on I thinks. Hopefully the next update won't take as long, until the meantime... seeyouloveyoubyeeeee!
- Gav.
WHAT AM I PLAYING?
Let's be honest, it's all pinball! My current heavy rotation is:
- Fish Tales [VPW]
- The Addams Family [G5K / VPW]
- Bad Cats [VPW]
- Big Bang Bar [VPW]
- Scared Stiff [VPW]
- MF Doom [GOILL773 / VPW]
WHAT AM I LISTENING TO?
Thanks to finding an MF DOOM virtual pinball table, I went down the rabbithole of listening to DOOM and DOOM-adjacent 00's hip hop, nestled alongside the usual metal / noisy stuff!
- Madvillain – Madvillainy
- RJD2 – More Is Than Isn't
- Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: Nex GEn
- Knocked Loose – A Different Shade Of Blue
- Disembodied Tyrant – The Tower: Part One
- My Chemical Romance – Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
WHAT AM I WATCHING?
We're not really watching anything on telly at the minute, but I have caught some cracking videos on YouTube recently, have a peep:
The history and making of the 'bullet time' effect
Why WipeOut 2097 on the Playstation 1 was so good!
Just how bad this onslaught of AI slop really is (spoiler, it's truly terrible)
WHAT'S CAUGHT MY EYE?
'PokéForge' is awesome, it's extracted the beautiful full art from some of the most stunning cards in the TCG Pocket game, it's lush!
Oh and on a related note, this IGN article about the origins of the Pokémon logo is great!
Rebekah Valentine
Lastly, I stumbled across this video and fell in love. "A chaotic guide to making stuff instead of doomscrolling" does exactly what it promises. Give it a watch and then go make something, it's hyper inspiring!
