72. Magic

How we open up to more of it. Going with the flow, prep for premiere, explorations on vellum. Also: two men in identical velvet suits walk into a bar...

Still from a vignette. Ink on vellum.

As for the question about the Freudian thing about unheimlich…the uncanny—but the surrealists also courted that area—I think it’s just something that the fantastic has always dealt with…when the strange and the eerie become, you know…move as an undercurrent…that’s something I think we’ve always liked.
The Quay Brothers in an interview, 2020

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On Saturday, I careened across NYC boroughs, every train magically, unexpectedly, sweetly lining up for each one of my arrivals at the platform. Gifts on a breakneck day:

I do not usually roll this way. But spring is nuts here, and this is not the last time that everything will insist on happening back-to-back in a ten-hour period (case in point, my very next two Saturdays respectively).

I delight in energy and the broad variety of people I have in my life. But exhaustion caught up with me and I fell ill Saturday night with the flu. I had to bow out of the last thing and made chicken soup to consume instead before falling into a deep blank sleep. I wrote and read all Sunday, during rains. My constitution ox-like; already rebounding.

Still, for a few days I was diminished, alone, mending. So maybe it’s a strange time to talk about how progressively powerful I’ve been feeling overall, like I’m coming into a new capacity, or an inheritance. I don’t mean physically or in terms of accomplishment or anything like that. I’m referring more to a mental state; a series of convictions; an uncharacteristic sanguinity.

Not to be woowoo. Partly, it’s just age; being war-torn. Partly, it’s diet (yes, really). But I’m also influenced by what’s presenting as an external, versus internal, force—as if I were in a body of water where the current is strong. I’m pulled this way and that, but my weight serves as anchor. Secure, I can consider, and decide: plunge in, or swim to shore. For now I remain, feet daring to lift off now and again.

Going with the flow, as they say.

Today’s issue is paywall-free. Enjoy.

In the studio

My latest short film, 엄마 나라 | MOTHER LAND (trailer), will premiere soon. I delivered the exhibition and streaming files, along with a presskit and other assets, to the festival. The deadlines were tight. Here’s the film poster, cobbled together in an afternoon and mailed posthaste:

I have a Canon Ipf PRO-300, and words cannot express how much I appreciate the consistent performance and delivery of this printer:

Test prints

Otherwise, I’ve been chipping away at the vignette I shared last time, cleaning up lines at the beginning, and at the end; tinkering with transposition.

Refining the beginning of the sequence was straightforward. I just spaced things out, in-betweened. Doing this, I did realize that I default to ideas of what’s “right” when it comes to animating. For example, that every movement needs to be “smoothed out.”

I actually prefer the original sketch in some ways because there’s something intriguing about brusque, stilted movement as a style. I could probably stand to explore more in this direction:

“Smoothed out:”

The end of the sequence proved fussier. I’m always reminded how—for me, anyway—the simplest and smallest movements require the most effort to articulate. Big, grand transitions are easier, because the eye can be tricked with gaps. So these head tilts were a bit of a pain:

Sketch:

Refinement:

Anyway this was the extent of clean-up; I wanted to ink with fairly loose lines:

The ink + nib, for me, was difficult to control—both in terms of flow and smoothness—especially at this scale and for extended curves. (In retrospect I should have worked at one-half to one-third size.) The challenges were exacerbated by the fact that I was working with a projector; it’s hard to constantly rotate the projection for comfort, so I didn’t. I could transition to a lightbox, but given that I want to experiment with watercolors, I do want to get somewhat comfortable with this method.

The scratchiness could imply the hand of a child, or someone ill at ease, which I think might be interesting:

A test, below:

I am digging the final skittery effect. These scans feel so alive compared to the digital—there’s a particular texture that comes from projector distortions and minor misalignments of analog elements. Visual artifacts and variations from vellum / scanner also add interest.

To be continued.

Provisions

Ginger Beer · Tea
An exceptionally delicious rooibos (caffeine-free) tea. Bird and Blend is currently UK-based so shipping can be expensive. Double up on an order with a friend.

The Sopranos · TV
I finally finished this iconic series. It’s predictable enough that I didn’t need to “watch” it so much as have it run it in the background while cleaning or cooking. I did love the ending. Shoot me.

National Film Board · Animation
I’m always looking for more animated short content, and this issue from Alex Dudok de Wit’s Move Madly shares a treasure trove of them via Canada’s National Film Board archive.

Pain au chocolat · Local gem
On Saturday, I took a walk in the sun before the tidal wave of my schedule hit. I wandered into a farmer’s market and picked up greens, heirloom eggs, herbs…and this magical pastry from an artisanal Connecticut bakery. Studded generously with dark chocolate, to which I’m a recent convert, it was as tasty as it looks.

I’m gonna close with a Neil Gaiman kind of moment

that’s also classic New York.

If we’re going to talk about magic, let’s face it, the best kind is a little strange, kind of poetic, and brief:

I’m with friends at a neighborhood bar in Tribeca. Being Monday and late-ish, it’s empty save for the four of us. We sit around a little gold-lit table, upon which rest glasses in various states of empty. The conversation is low but lively against something crooning from the speakers.

Two tall, slim men walk in around 11pm. They’re wearing identical dark velvet suits with bowties. We look up as they pass, talk tapering. They have light eyes and hair, a little longer on one than the other. They stroll to the rear in unison with long legs, arms swinging in sync. We follow them with our eyes. They order something back there, quietly, in Ukrainian. They’re familiar with the bartender, unsmiling but warm. They finish their drinks, then stroll back out.

Magic involved, definitely.

Until next time.