Leath Mattner

I haven't posted in a while sooo....

2011-11-30T15:05:00.005+11:00

...here's an awesome gif from somewhere on the web.

Inspiration, what have you done for me lately...

2011-09-22T22:53:00.014+10:00

about 35x55cm

About a month ago a friend of mine (let's call her S-bomb) gave me a poster and said something like, "I saw this and thought you might want to use it for something." Well, it turns out I did like it, and so I went out and bought a whole bunch of fancy paper to include in some sort of stencil-induced creation.

What followed was about a month of me blowing the dust off this fancy paper which sat on my floor because I have no shelves where I'm living. Don't get me wrong, it was a good month; I probably just spent too much of it drinking beer, and not enough doing productive things like organising my future.

So, long story short, I sat down last night to organise my future and made this jelly fish instead. I threaded it together tonight, and am now looking to clean up the scraps of paper that litter my room like bird poo.

I didn't even end up using the fancy paper - the colourful bits are from free street-press mag's. Those things are a great resource :)

making of...

And here's a sketch from a solitary day at Circular Quay

Inspired by actual events.

2011-07-31T00:16:00.008+10:00

Hey Blog,

I pretty much haven't done any drawings in the past month :(
For some reason though I have been writing little impressions of Sydney in my phone. Maybe they're interesting? I dunno - I'm not really much of a writer but this is my mind as it wonders.

_________________________________________________________

He sat in silence as the carriage rocked and swayed behind the still head of the other passenger. Looking at her, all he could think of was green. A green world with green grass, green steps and green grocers - Green eyes - If he stepped into the next carriage would the colour be different or would it all be gone. Disappearing acts were his favorite magic trick, but in this case, he would rather see the moment slowly fade. He wasn't going anywhere so he put his book back in his lap and pretended to read.

________________________________________________________

There was a guy just standing there one day. He wasn't moving, wasn't talking, wasn't smoking, wasn't even listening. Why would you do that? No rhyme or reason; no ispired look or aimless glancing. It was peculiar and interesting. And, as if due to that single thought, the man turned and left. At that same moment, a man rode past on a bike. It had glowing lights in the wheel spokes which left streaks of red and green on the footpath. It was night time and the air was dancing.

________________________________________________________

She lay her hand on simple shapes;
a stone born piece of art,
a clock which told of times forgot,
a heart which said what it had meant,
and a fate which may take them apart.

________________________________________________________

I'll post some pictures soon,

Leathy x

Flinders Street station

2011-06-08T01:26:00.014+10:00

This one's from a freehand drawing I did about a year ago on the steps of Federation Square here in Melbourne. I started going over it in pen tonight and found myself sliding into my own ellipsis in time punctuated only by the occasional tea and toilet break. It's now 1.33am and my music has slowed to a pulse of about 4bpm. Bed will follow and i will probably dream of straight lines - but in a good way. A black and white 'Tron' would be nice.

It isn't accurate as I made up a lot of the details while sitting at my desk. Some pics below of each stage.

^My favourite^ The shallow depth of field in the photo really separates the FG and BG - total accident.

So many miles and so long since I've met you.

2011-05-14T23:37:00.061+10:00

Here's a few bits from my travels in cyberspace this week:
__________________________________________________________
1. FREAKS AND GEEKS.

This show was released in that weird period before people had developed a sweet affinity for the 80s and well after that time was cool. Lots of people wanted to forget the 80s so they canned F&Gs after 12 episodes. I reckon it was just before this that I sold my parent's old record player/amp/speakers for much the same reasons. Bugger

It has one of my favourite title songs/sequences and some brilliant characters. I remember watching it with a mate when it first came out, but it's better 10 years on. It also has a great dance scene from the really shy kid after he buys a new outfit. 'It's the hottest thing going in Europe right now."

__________________________________________________________
2. SPACED

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright just before they hit the bigtime. I watched all of them in 2 days. Then I put my pants back on and went outside :P

__________________________________________________________

3. A FAVOURITE DRAWING I DID THIS WEEK

__________________________________________________________
4. I REVISITED AN OLD DISCOVERY WHICH IS STILL BRILLIANT...
I highly recommend the time travel series.

__________________________________________________________

5. A PICTURE I DID YESTERDAY.

Borders was having a closing down sale last Saturday. The place looked as if the books were food and a pack of ravenous dogs had been unleashed on the shelves, which as it turns out, were also on sale. I got a cheap fashion magazine which was a new experience for me (the fashion not the cheap), and it inspired this picture.

__________________________________________________________
6. FAVOURITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
sounds a bit pretentious but i'll post it anyway...

"Upon my Hearse white True-love-knots should tie:
And thus my Tomb should be inscrib'd above,
Here the forsaken Virgin rests from love."

- John Dryden

__________________________________________________________

night all,

Leath

please excuse me with a cool video

2011-04-14T16:18:00.006+10:00

I had no gear with me last night so I did this one with a Bic and some borrowed paper from Giselle.

I'm a bit sick of posting life drawings though - seems like that's the only time I sit and draw in my weeks at the moment. The real reason I'm putting it up is as an excuse to post my new favourite thing by a guy named Toby Pedersen. I never knew he existed until an hour ago. I think it's the best and I hope you like it too.

Leathy xo

Please full-screen it :)

13 Stingrays - Richard In Your Mind from Toby Pedersen on Vimeo.

splash that sh*t

2011-03-30T22:45:00.004+11:00

My mate Alex's super rad colouring of one of his sketches inspired me to do a quick 10min digital splash over one of my life drawings tonight.

Hope u guys dig :P

In progress...

2011-03-20T21:07:00.000+11:00

Sometimes I wish my life was like an old John Cusack movie.

I re-watched this one today and was pumped for some fan art afterwards. I think this pic could go a lot further if I can muster up some energy for it sometime. Maybe in between looking for my Diane Court...

Night all,

Leath

P.S. if you're looking for a good JC movie I (tentatively, since last viewing was 15 years ago) recommend Better off Dead. I'll be watching it tomorrow night :P

Breakfast sketch

2011-03-18T12:31:00.000+11:00

Inspired by the pretty girl at the Bean Counter cafe on my street. Happy Friday peeps. xo

It wasn't meant to rain tonight

2011-03-14T01:43:00.000+11:00

I went out on a photo expedition tonight but it started raining about half an hour in.
So, instead of taking lots of cool photos I sat at home and photoshopped the few ok ones into something a littler cooler. I had intended to take a bunch of architectural photos.

These have all had some subtle photo manipulation applied to try to ramp up the 'unique' factor.

these would be pretty boring without photoshop

the misty rain kinda glowing the fountain lights

Life drawing near the moosehead cafe. I should take you there sometime.

2011-03-04T12:10:00.000+11:00

Heya blog,

we tried a new thing at life drawing the other night - Three 20 minute drawing sessions of the same pose. We had the chance to get up and draw the same pose from different directions or spend a whole hour from one spot. I chose to move around a bit and I found it really beneficial to be thinking about the same pose so intently from all the different angles. I haven't posted the first one I did as I wasn't at all happy with it. I think I learned a little bit out of each one though, so here are the following two.

Stint #2

Stint #3 (she had a slightly different head placement when she sat down the 3rd time)

I'd like to do this again sometime.

To my friends who like film photography

2011-02-13T19:32:00.000+11:00

Hey all,

I did an interesting test today and I thought someone may find this useful down the track. I have a whole bunch of slides and negatives to turn into a digital format so I figured I'd see how consumer scanners stack up to a propper film lab.

These 3 images are of the same negative scanned through 3 different machines. One is $130, the next $400, and the final was scanned at the time of processing on an Agfa mini lab. You can also get flatbed scanners which do the same job. Unfortunately, I don't have an example, but in my experience with the more expensive flatbeds (eg. Epson V700), they don't have the sharpness to yeild good results at high resolutions (though exposure is usually good).

Generally, you can pay around $25 to get your negatives developed and scanned onto disc through a good mini lab. These machines cost (or used to cost) upwards of $100,000 to purchase, with the choice to go right up near the $500,000 mark if you want to.

The lab generated image below is the cheapest, low resolution option on a reasonable quality lab. Even though it's only a 1.6 megapixel image I'd still prefer this over any other option. I was sooo hoping that the $400 scanner would come out as a good as a lab so I could scan film on the cheap forever :(

These pics are a little on the large side as I originally set them up for an 8x12" print.

$130 Kaiser Baas - instantaneous scan to SD card

$400 Plustek scanner - scanned in 4 separate passes for best exposure and dynamic range(took ages). Super huge resolution without very soft edges like a flatbed.

Developed and scanned by some dude in a lab for $13. I think they upped the density which affects the graph (shown by a gap) on the right side. The peak on the left of the graph suggests it was a little underexposed when I took it.

Although debatable, this is an example of good exposure levels (also affected at the time of taking the photo). The main concern with scanning is that it has smooth curves/gradients (not like the top one).

Boring for people who just came to see pictures, but I thought it may be useful enough to share to the internets.

Leath.

Black Swan

2011-02-10T23:22:00.001+11:00

Hey blog.

I went to see Black Swan tonight and it was brilliant. Natalie Portman (as well as the support) was amazing, the script and directing was tops, and the music made every moment more intense than the last.

So here's a real quick rendition of my black swan...

It started out with this drawing in my sketchbook but it felt kinda lame and I much prefer the more graphic colour based one - A bit more ambiguous like the real black swan. Some pretty weird eye action goin on in this too. Dunno how I didn't notice that.

I think I could be having scary dreams tonight.

L x

Stripey times in the house of Leath

2011-02-03T21:36:00.000+11:00

Someone around the blog traps here recently posted a link to Ben Hopper.
Oddly, this drawing was inspired by what I consider one of the more boring masks he uses in his photos (even that one stood out though). I think the colours were what did it for me, but I'd still like to draw a girl with a crazy creature head sometime.

I've also decided to make a concerted effort to draw the human figure more from now on, as it's something I always seem to struggle with. I saw the disney exhibition here in Melbourne recently and was astonished by how those elite pen benders manage to draw whatever pose they need with such conviction.

One day my time will come, but until then, you get to watch me hide my mistakes with lines and pretty colours.... ~*dazze*dazzle*~

Checkered Girl

2011-02-02T22:58:00.000+11:00

I went to the soccer tonight at Etihad Stadium - not a bad night at all. Drew this one on the way home on the train and the girl sitting next to me gave me a compliment for it.

Thanks rad chick ox

Pink and yellow = Boss

2011-01-06T22:51:00.000+11:00

Another one with the crazy face colours. I originally tried to take the effect over the whole image but couldn't quite seem to get my head around it. Hopefully I win the next one.

Had lots of fun with her tho.

Night xo

Pilgrimage

2011-01-03T01:12:00.000+11:00

Heya Blog friends,

I've been on a bit of a Scott Pilgrim bender lately. This one is from a still of Michael Cera chillin out on the bus. It originally stared out looking a lot different but somehow managed to morph into some sort of tacky 80s style pic - I imagine it fitting on the cover of BMX bandits or something like that as if it were cool.

Maybe better without the stuff...

Hope you all had a tops Christmas break,

Leathy.

AMPED!!

2010-12-20T22:17:00.000+11:00

THIS ALBUM + COFFEE + SOLITARY CONFINEMENT + A BIT OF SCOTT PILGRIM =

it felt like a race.

Sunday Breakfast

2010-12-19T12:48:00.000+11:00

Heya all,

I had an excellent solitary breakfast this morning at the cafe in my street. Good food, a nice lady who gave me her paper, and service with a smile :) I sat in my little corner and drew these with some music in my earlobes and a big pot of tea.

Happy Sunday, world.

Last life drawing B4 Christmas :(

2010-12-08T22:47:00.000+11:00

Christmas seems to be well on the way and my life and work is starting to get super crazy right now. It feels like somewhere in the last week, the little switch marked 'Christmas panic' in people's brains has turned dusty side up to unleash a whole new animal in the average shopper.

Picture twilight feeding time in a pen full of your most feared animals. Now imagine you've been dropped in there and the only way to keep them from eating you is to feed them each a slab of meat in turn. If you can not provide a slab of meat in time, you are eaten. Should you provide the wrong slab of meat, you must change it before being eaten. If the animal does not like the taste of the slab of meat, the animal may choose to eat you via phone or email from the safety of their den. If all animals are not fed by close of feeding time, you will be locked in with the animals. You must do this while wearing a shirt that says 'I feed the animals.'

When not being eaten, I sometimes find myself enjoying the game for a bit, but usually that's reserved for the crazy Steve Irwins of the plastic forest.

Anyway, some beheaded drawings of a great model tonight...

More Life Drawings

2010-11-17T22:22:00.000+11:00

Eyyy.

So I've just got back from a little trip to Queensland, and I must say it was a good and proper refresh - I'm feeling pretty zen at the moment. Thanks to all my mates up there for an awesome trip.

And a couple drawings from tonight that I liked...

Life drawing

2010-10-20T21:15:00.000+11:00

Hey Blob. I went to life drawing tonight with Giselle and I'm glad that I did. I got to draw a dude which doesn't happen very often. Ben (the model) had some pretty distinctive angles going on in his body which made it really interesting. I would have loved to sit and attempt a portrait, but it was just a quick session and I didn't have time.

Sensplosion

2010-10-13T10:24:00.000+11:00

Last week Sen and I got together to film some stuff to muck around with later on.
Here's one clip that I finished up last night. It was a bit of a spur of the moment idea so I think it could have been a bit more convincing if I had thought it through and planned a bit more. Probably a more interesting location than my backyard among other things.

Head Pop from Leath Mattner on Vimeo.

I'd like to make him actually get wet with the water too.

Some funny shots from the original footage - This is me attempting to pop a big water balloon on Sen's head...

I heart Ira Glass

2010-10-09T00:12:00.000+11:00

I just saw this before going to bed and it mad me feel better about what happens in my head :)

Zenit-E

2010-10-08T23:18:00.000+11:00

This is a Zenit-E. It was left behind in the store that I work at. The suitably styled old fella who owned it no longer has need of it. A slight mechanical fault has rendered it too much trouble for him but fortunately just enough put a little glint in my eye over the past week or so.

Here's a couple photo's off the first roll...

An old Navy ship + black and white in PS = instant WWII pic

good friend

pub peeps

First time

2010-09-12T22:42:00.000+10:00

First time for a business card. Turns out they're not an easy thing to come up with. The first attempt was a failure but this second one I think came out ok. Props to my sister for coming up with some awesome text for me.

Sexaaaaay

2010-09-06T23:33:00.000+10:00

.

My mind has been looping hyper-colours this weekend so this is me trying to make some use of it. Time wise I was surprised at how quick it was so I'm going to bed earlier than I thought tonight. I hope my dreams are fluorescent and their magic seeps into yours if you need it.

Leathy.

Nekid dude and opinionado

2010-09-03T22:51:00.000+10:00

Life drawings from the other night on my bed for analysis...

tonight blog stands for...

B ig

L oud

O bnoxious

G ood for nothing opinions by Leath

I saw 'Tomorrow, When the War Began' tonight. I'm impressed that Australia is starting to put out some feature films which aren't centred around typically 'Australian' themes. This film had a fair bit going for it. A writer/director who's worked on some big films in the US. Also, a big budget for an Aussie flick ($20m) which resulted in a pretty slick look with some high production values. Only problem was the script was shoddy and the acting made it seem even worse. I was a bit surprised that a Hollywood screen writer couldn't come up with some more believable dialogue. IMDB tells me that he also wrote the words in G.I. Joe and Australia :P

My sister made the apt comment that, "if you think of it as a hardy boys style thing it's actually kinda fun to watch."

If someone out there has another $20m dollars to invest in the Australian film industry please let me know. I know lots of p e o p l e with mad skills who are capable of writing and making 'smart,' well planned stuff that's shit hot without blowing the budget on every scene. We have the added advantage of being real life people too, who generally don't speak in clichés.

I'd also be more than happy to stand there and continuously yell a reminder that we need to spend more time in pre-production. It costs a fraction of the budget but carries more weight than anything you do in post. TWTWB is a testament to the fact that the production and post production skills are here to draw on so hopefully the next effort uses them wisely.

And if you don't trust me to do it, scout out for an Australian version of this guy who managed to make one of my favourite films (also a Sci-fi) for $6m US and still get people like me on the other side of the planet to watch and love it.

Another example of how a great screenplay equals WIN is American Splendor. A budget of 2 million US (albeit in a less costly genre) with fantastic results.

The motto of a carpenter - "Measure twice and cut once."

I think it would work.

Some shoulder

2010-08-13T22:52:00.001+10:00

And a quick colour of a picture from my sketch book...

night night,

Leath.

Stereo

2010-08-13T21:40:00.000+10:00

Heya blog,

long time no see. I seem to have neglected you for the past few months and my creative endeavours have begun to slip. A lot has been happening but hopefully soon I will have more time to post things on this little black window.

I had a night at home tonight and with the opportunity to sleep in tomorrow I can get up to some shenanigans and forget about time and the rest of the world.

I had a go at making an Anaglyph - stereoscopic pic. I was going to take a photo of something more interesting but got carried away with the test photo in my bedroom.

If you have a pair of these bad boys pop em on and have a look...

First time and pretty unplanned so hopefully the next one is better. Maybe even some video if I can work it out...

In my room

2010-07-12T00:55:00.000+10:00

It's been ages since I've posted anything on here so I thought it was about time to leave a mark. Unfortunately I haven't really got anything of mine to show so I thought I'd show off something my mum did many years ago when she was in art school. Even though it's unfinished this is probably one of my favourite artworks of hers. I think it says a lot about the youngster Sally I didn't get to meet.

This is how it appears on my wall with my lamp on. Awesomeness

Hopefully I'll have some time to post something of mine soon.

L. x

make believe...

2010-04-01T12:22:00.000+11:00

A lil design exercise for myself which started off with a couple photo's and evolved into this.

Hope u likes.

Leathy xo

Ron Mueck

2010-03-16T13:18:00.000+11:00

Hi all. If you haven't heard of Ron Mueck have a look on my photo blog at what he does. Pretty amazing artworks...

L

Sweet link....

2010-03-08T19:11:00.000+11:00

I want to take photo's like this chick.....

http://www.behance.net/tatavislevskaya

Her name is Tata Vislevskaya and she is from mother Russia.
She uses an antique soviet camera called a "Kiev-88" which translates roughly to "super awesome" by the looks of things.

New toy.

2010-03-05T22:23:00.000+11:00

Eyyyy blog.

Today I got a new flash for my camera so I took to the night to test it out. Unfortunately, it started raining as soon as I got started so there wasn't much experimenting to be had. This was one of the few that I managed to get off before the rain drove me to shelter. The star-like bits are falling raindrops caught by the flash. Kinda cool for a start. Hopefully I'll have a crack at some propper stuff soon.

There's a couple more over on my photo blog if you're a keen one.

Night all,

L.

face rip

2010-02-17T23:36:00.001+11:00

Right. Well this picture is a straight rip from a photo I found on facehunter tonight. I was originally just mucking around and looking at the colours in it by painting over the photo. When I turned off the photo itself it looked pretty cool so I fugured it put it up.

If you don't know it, facehunter is pretty much a blog filled with stylish people in even more stylish clothes. A peculiar zone of coolness inhabited by those who would like you to think they don't even try. Annoyingly, they do look like they don't try, and they are so hip they should have their own name on their undies.

None the less, it's good and if you like looking at faces you should probably look look at theirs sometime.

Soooooo Cool....

2010-02-12T11:41:00.000+11:00

I suggest watching this late at night just before you go to bed.
A simple idea with pretty amazing result. Wish I had thought of it.

Looks best in full screen at 720p if ur up for it.

The person who made it? I have no idea because I can't read Japanese :P I'm hoping a certain Japanese/Australian friend of mine who sometimes stops by here can help me out. Maybe?

Anyway, this is his/her blog.

Qeensland Trip

2010-02-11T22:40:00.000+11:00

Went for a lil trip to sunny queensland last week. I saw some very old friends on the sunshine coast and was a bit disappointed I couldn't see my friends in Brissie at the same time. I did get a chance to catch up with the super awesome Natalie tho - not everyone would drive 3 hours to pick up a hungover friend who fell asleep in the back seat on the way home.

She lives in Toowoomba. There's not much to do there so I drew a bunch of pictures...
Hope you like.

I stared longingly from my cheap seat to the more expensive ones. I'm yet to discover if they're actually better.

coffee peeps

this guy was good to me and stayed like this the whole time he listened to the other motor-mouth talk.

Romance - cute couple at the airport

I drank a lot of coffee

I wish they were real people but I only saw these ones in my head.

There's a few more which I'd like to throw some colour on too. Hopefully they'll be up soon.

Leath.

Photo twist

2010-01-29T13:40:00.001+11:00

Heya Bloggers,

A couple weeks ago I got together with my mate Leanne for a bit of a photo shoot. The aim was to get some headshots for her. Some of them came out ok but for the most part, I think I'd relegate the day to a learning experience rather than a successful mission.

Not all was lsot tho, as it's given me a starting point for ramping up my photoshop skills with photography. Here's one that I did this morning on my day off.

I love days off :)

There's also a couple more photos on my Photo Blog ->

Photo Real?

2010-01-07T23:16:00.000+11:00

If you think you have seen good photo real CG, think again. This whole film was computer generated. It's by a guy named Alex Roman from Madrid. I suggest following the link to Vimeo and full-screening it.

It is absolutely ASTONISHING.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

For those who don't care much for CG stuff you'll most likely be bored. The rest of you probably wont believe he made it and not shot it on location. If that's the case, go and check out the making of clips on vimeo.

You can all debate whether a photo real film of actual buildings is worth while later on.

night night.

Necker /Moire thing

2010-01-05T22:45:00.000+11:00

Yooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I totally love having a bit of extra time on my hands at the moment (back to the grindstone tomorrow unfortunatley). Been looking at lots of cool stuff and have some time to have a go at making some myself. Once I had thought about it this was surprisingly quick and easy to execute. The hardest thing was deciding if it needed something else once I had the cube.

Not really for anything - I just a bit of a muck around thing.

Also, check out this link to a guy named Justin Maller who lives here in Melbourne. He has some amazing photo manipulation stuff and this really cool pattern work:

This sort of thing has been influencing me a lot lately. Inspiring to see stuff like this from someone just around the corner.

Thanks gang,

Leath.

Moire man?

2010-01-02T15:59:00.000+11:00

This one didn't quite come out how I had meant it too. It was much cooler in my mind so I think I might have another crack at doing something similar to this again. It was partly inspired by something I saw at the National Gallery yesterday and partly by some interesting images which make use of Moire Patterns - these things are so cool I'm gonna have to try and come up with my own sometime.

I think the interest started with the poster for Moon. Super simple but interesting design. If you haven't seen the movie it should definitely be next on your list.

Happy New year peeps,

Leath

Old brew.

2009-12-29T23:23:00.000+11:00

Hey Blog,

long time no spreken. It's been a long time since my last post so I thought I'd share a couple things I've done lately. I blame the recent absence on all us humans out there. The MEGA consumerism of Christmas has kept me well and truly indoors this summer in a shopping centre of even greater proportions, and under an air conditioner which must be bigger than all the bedrooms of my entire life put together. The nick-name for the one I work at is 'Knifepoint.' And believe me, it didn't get this title purely because it rhymes with the actual name - it well and truly lives up to the reputation. Christmas time in particular seems to have brought out the crazies.

Just today, I picked up the phone and the guy on the other end asked me what the shop phone number was. A slip of the tonge you might think, but it was the first question to leave his lips!

Now that the madness has finally subsided tho and I'm back on the firm and constant ground of the 9 to 5 I think I can handle the occasional odball over the phone. So, now that I'm back with fully functioning eyes it's time to let the creative cookery begin.

Hopefully the new year brings something good. But for now, these are the bits and pieces of late.

A CD cover for a production mob called Aura Music. They already had the idea scribbled down and just needed someone to realise it.

A wedding invitation for my brother and his fiance - It comes in magnets as 3 parts which fit together to make a whole. My sister put the text on it later.

From a picture I drew months ago - just made it all propper so I can maybe use it on a T-shirt.

Well, night night for now.
Sleep will wait for me, but unfortunately the world wont tomorrow.

L.

Too busy

2009-11-17T21:18:00.000+11:00

Super busy lately, but tonight I thought I'd post a photo which I got processed today. I've been enjoying the unique nature of film photography lately. I'm used to seeing results straight up so I'm always surprised when it comes out. Mostly it's the colours. This photo turned out way cooler than I thought it would - the colour and texture seems to be amplified in a way that I never would have got digitally.

Canon EOS 500 with Kodak400 film.

Leanne and Giselle - you guys rock.

Hopefully soon I will have some time to post a few freelance jobs I've been doing lately :)

Noble Cause

2009-10-23T09:15:00.000+11:00

A friend of a friend of mine is currently raising money to support Headway Victoria. Headway is a support organisation for people with acquired brain injuries - Shane's (fundraiser) cousin Julia is one such person who requires help form these guys as she was struck by a motorist earlier this year.

So, basically off of his own back Shane has started something called the 70 in 7 project where he will be watching 70 films in 7 days. I'll let you guys do the maths, but needless to say it's going to be pretty epic. He's devised a bunch of clever ways people can contribute - one of which is chipping in to force him to watch a particular movie. And I believe he'll watch anything.

Most people have steered clear of the shockers, although I did see Weekend at Burnies up there. Here was my choice :P

Here's the site if you'd like to check it out. 70 in 7
The final movie will be a cinema screening of A Christmas Carol on the 6th of Nov.

Needless to say, I'm pretty impressed - a great idea and a noble cause.

Happy Friday everyone.

A piece of procrastination

2009-09-25T01:26:00.000+10:00

This was inspired by the cover of an old book my flatmate is reading. It's not meant to be anything specific. The rings (in particular the colours) were the starting point and the fella is just an appropriately strange guy from my sketchbook. I'm sure it could go further but I always seem to do these things at 1am :P

Night night.

BLOGGERRIFFIC

2009-09-21T14:55:00.000+10:00

Hey all,

I have a new blog where I'll be posting photo type stuff. I've just started getting into it a bit lately and figure making regular posts might help me to improve a bit.

If you wanna have a look there's a link over there ------->

Cheers,

Leath.

Job perk

2009-08-26T23:50:00.000+10:00

I've been getting into photography a little bit lately so I thought I'd share a photo with the internet.

This one wasn't taken with my new fancy pants camera tho - we were given the chance to take home a loan camera from work. The idea being, muck around with it, take some photo's, and the best one in the company (100's of people unfortunatley) wins a laptop. The challenge behind it is that it's a cheap samsung compact camera.

I went for a walk around my neighbourhood tonight and I think this was probably the best one I got. Not the best photo I've ever taken, but it's going in the competition. Wish me luck :)

Camera Test

2009-08-15T09:54:00.000+10:00

I bought a new camera! Woohoo for me.
Anyway, it's actually a still camera, but the video function on it is half of the reason I got this one. This is a bit of footage I took the other day when I went out to take photo's for the first time.

Apologies for the poor quality - unfortunately it's gone through way too much compression to get it up here. I will also remember to put slugs in my next edit so u can read the text etc. But for now I couldn't be bothered so here u go...

Camera Test from Leath Mattner on Vimeo.

Highly recommended

2009-06-30T13:14:00.000+10:00

I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. It's not your typical animated story...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfgLBMmtVs

You'll have to follow the link cause it looks crappy when I embed it here.

L.

Paper table

2009-06-28T22:43:00.000+10:00

My friend Giselle's living room table is currently under a platter of scrap paper. There's something very inviting about sitting at a table you can draw on at will - this is one that I did the other day while a movie was on :)

I added a bit of colour in photoshop.
Hopefully I'll put something a little more finished up soon.

Art release

2009-06-11T01:15:00.000+10:00

I've been working a lot lately which, as a result, has been working me into a strange lot lately.

This is just a kind of release scribble which was partly inspired by how my neice draws and partly by my brain activity tonight.

100th Post!

2009-04-25T23:59:00.000+10:00

This blog was originally set up for animation type stuff but it's been over a year since I've actually animated anything. So here's some moving pictures which I've been working on lately. It's for my friend Patrick's short film (Bird Brain) - I'm also doing a lil bit of animation for the title and a couple of other art bits which I posted about earlier.

I have very mixed feelings about this shot. For some reason I was never completely happy with what the character does even though there are contextual reasons for it. On the other hand I'm happy that I saw it through to this point. It proved to be more of a task than I thought and I'm finding it really hard to look at the end result with any sort of natural brain.

Would love to hear what you guys think.

Thanks.

Bird Brain from Leath Mattner on Vimeo.

MARY AND MAX!!!!!!!!

2009-04-06T22:54:00.000+10:00

Hey all,

just a lil public service announcement / shameless promotion to say that Mary and Max (the one I worked on) hits cinemas this thursday (April 9). So, if you're not going to be chillin in the pews at your local church I highly recommend getting a possie together to go and see it at one of the cinemas I've listed below.

Apparently opening weekend is the most important time to go and see it as the level of sucess determines how long it will be showing in cinemas for. Also, I hear that if it kicks ass it has a better chance of selling to America and actually making some profit :)

So here's the trailer....

And here's where you can go and see it...

NEW SOUTH WALES

Opera Quays

Byron Bay

Newtown

Mega Castle Hill

Mega Macquarie

Bondi

Miranda

Tuggerah

Wollongong

Tower Cinemas Newcastle

Chatswood Westfield

Broadway

Cinema Paris

Cremorne Orpheum

Roseville Cinema

Collaroy

Norton Street

Academy Twin

ACT

Dendy Canberra

VICTORIA

Kino

Chadstone

Melbourne Central

Cinema Nova

Waverly Pinewood Cinema

Sun Pics Yarraville

Belgrave Cameo

Westgarth Theatre

Balwyn

Cinema Como

George

Brighton Bay

Elsternwick

Southland Europa

Jam Europa

Knox Europa

Geelong

Rivoli

Albury

Doncaster

QUEENSLAND

Indooroopilly

Garden City

Chermside

Maroochydore

Pacific Fair

Cairns City

Portside

Balmoral

Graceville Twin

The Barracks

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Darwin City

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Megaplex Marion

Norwood

Trak Cinema

Wallis Mitcham

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Grand Warwick

Grand Bunbury

Megaplex Innaloo

Carousel

Luna Leederville

Luna Essex St

Cheers guys and I hope you enjoy it.

BIRD BRAIN - by Patrick McCabe

2009-03-22T13:11:00.000+11:00

I've been watching a lot of vimeo this morning and am all inspired to create. Unfortunatley I don't have time tho today so I thought I'd post something I did a while ago.

These are some concepts for a live action film which i'm doing a lil animation for. It's titled, "Bird Brain" and is being directed by my mate Patrick McCabe who also worked on Mary and Max.

I've posted a final artwork for the film on my folio blog over there ->

No Mo

2009-03-19T00:09:00.000+11:00

hehe... thanks for the comments guys. Please let me know if this still looks like a moustache. I can't tell anymore and i'm a bit sleepy tonight to go comparing it to stuff.

Ta :)

Back in the game

2009-03-17T23:15:00.000+11:00

Hello blog,

today was a pretty good day so I thought it would be a good idea to post something useful - well, useful to me at least.

This pic was inspired by a woman that was swimming at the pool tonight. her hip to shoulder ratio was actually this cool. She would have made a great figure drawing model. The guy she was with probably would have too for that matter. I tried not to look for too long though cause I'd like to go back there again.

Pinky

2009-03-08T09:41:00.000+11:00

Just a quick sketch I did last night at Mum and Dad's house.

Scribble scrabble

2009-02-22T20:26:00.000+11:00

I've been pretty spaced out today. Too much work after not enough sleep. Plus it's a Sunday and I should have been resting.

So when I got home from work that's exactly what I did. This was a kind of therapy scribble. I feel kind of indifferent about how it looks - for some reason I didn't really care how it would turn out. I'm also pretty sure that I would have posted it even if it looked like poo.

Inspiration for us arty types.

2009-02-21T18:28:00.000+11:00

I stumbled accross Bao Pham today. It's interesting to see how such an amazing artist goes about his work. If only it was as easy as it looks here. I guess the thing that can never really be shown in a video is the thousands of hours practice it took him to get this good.

City scape

2009-02-08T17:09:00.000+11:00

This one has been sitting on my desktop for ages now. I did have grand plans for it but they weren't working. Plus it was taking forever so I just finished it as best I could without sending myself insane. I think it looks better as a thumbnail (a common occurrence on my blog).

Blessed Christmas

2008-12-22T21:06:00.001+11:00

Stillness will meet you for tea or a walk by the ocean. You must be gentle when you approach her. She is more sensitive than we can even imagine and she does not explain herself much. Sometimes I bring her flowers - not because she needs them (she tends several gardens) - but because I am better able to mee her when I am carrying flowers. Her favorite time is dawn.

author unknown.

A Christams card from my parents which I thought I'd share :)

(I think Mum did the picture)

New sketchbook

2008-12-12T11:18:00.001+11:00

Got a new sketchbook yesterday and did this on the first page while i was on the train home. Kinda rabbit-gnome things i think.

Value study

2008-12-09T16:17:00.001+11:00

This came about after some frustration with another pic i'm doing. Trying to choose the right colours with the right values was starting to break me and i decided to try a basic greyscale one by eye from a reference. Turned out to be quicker than i thought which was nice.

Ref pic: from a friends facebook album :)

Rosa Lyricii

2008-12-08T00:04:00.000+11:00

Sum life drawings

2008-12-07T10:01:00.000+11:00

I've been doing a bit of life drawing lately to keep me honest. I think some of the stuff I was taught at uni (thanks Kay) is finally starting to sink in because it's begining to get easier. These aren't amazing but for me they were relatively quick and effective.

Lady Creature

2008-11-23T00:48:00.000+11:00

It's a close-mouthed Saturday night tonight. There's wind and rain outside but my houes has thick walls which seem to put the exterior world on mute.

Maybe these sorts of creatures are out there when no one else seems to be.

Purple.

2008-11-21T17:22:00.001+11:00

This is just because I had a purple itch i had to scratch.

A propper one

2008-11-02T23:32:00.000+11:00

I went to the Melbourne Science Works today (radness) and on the way home i went for a cruise through the industrial area that surrounds it. There was heaps of cool old factories with broken windows and rusty roofs which pretty much inspired this pic. I thinks i'll colour it another day cause i'm a bit tuckkered out right now.

From little things

2008-11-02T00:20:00.000+11:00

This was just a really quick sketch of a guy with his bike that i did on the train the other day. I started colouring it tonight and wasn't expecting it to have a background at all. The guy was done with a real pen and the rest was with a digital one. I think it would be nice to go all the way and colour it completely but that could take some time. I'm not sure i'd have the patience for that at the moment :)

For fun

2008-10-31T20:57:00.000+11:00

I watched 12 monkeys last night and this pic was inspird by the film's logo. Mine doesn't really compare, but then it only took an hour or two to do. Forty five has no relevance either, I just like the way the letters look.

My very own clip art

2008-10-29T22:24:00.000+11:00

I started throwing some flat colours at my half-hearted ballerina here, and was a little disturbed at how much it reminded me of the clip art images u get in microsoft word (horrible). I'm definitly coming back to this colour it properly.

Hero

2008-10-28T22:36:00.000+11:00

I've been watching Band of Brothers a bit lately.

Sky Jump

2008-10-27T23:45:00.000+11:00

This looks better as a thumbnail than it does close up. It was just a quick one tho.

Mary and Max

2008-10-27T21:32:00.000+11:00

Hey everyone. I thought it was high time I posted a link to the movie I've been working on for the last 5 or 6 months.

Tis called 'Mary and Max' and it is getting very close to being finished. I wrapped up on it about 3 weeks ago and left uber compositor Mick (our lead artist/VFX supervisor) on his own to finish up the films remaining VFX shots. And I'm tellin ya, I reckon this thing is gonna be pretty good.

I'm biased, but i highly recommend all you reader's out there (Hi Mum) go check it out. It's in cinemas next easter.

Here's a link to the website if u wanna have a quick peek at how it looks.

http://www.maryandmax.com/

I think the trailer is close to finished so hopefully more moving images will be there soon.

Shady

2008-10-25T22:11:00.000+11:00

Hello there blog, It's been a while. This is just something for fun I did on my new computer :)
I bought Tekkonkinkreet (awesome) yesterday and was feeling inspired and I haven't even watched it yet.

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night

2008-09-02T09:08:00.000+10:00

Thanks for the comments guys. I did some more on it last night.

Nightswimming

2008-09-01T08:59:00.001+10:00

not finished yet.

Leap

2008-08-29T09:56:00.000+10:00

Just a quick sketch i did while lying in bed last night with my laptop.

Sum Sketches

2008-08-22T09:54:00.000+10:00

I'm catching the train to work nowdays. It's crazy busy on the way in but on the way home i can actually get a seat and open my sketchbook.

Poker Face

2008-08-15T09:34:00.000+10:00

This was another just before bed one. I think the reason it ended up being called poker face is cause I'd just watched an episode of family guy where Peter puts on his poker face. Family guy fans will remember it - hilarious

After Art Deco

2008-08-14T09:02:00.000+10:00

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to go and see the Art Deco exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria with Claire. There was some cool paintings/drawings which looked like they were sketched out in about a minute but were really nice and simplistic. I guess this is my version - I like doing quick ones like this.

Long time no spreken

2008-08-07T08:43:00.000+10:00

It's been ages since my last post cause I don't have much time in the evenings to do creative stuff. I did this one super quick last night before bed to keep me satisfied. She's a bit skewed but I'm sure y'all will forgive for that.

just a head on a stick

2008-07-07T23:38:00.000+10:00

next bit

2008-07-02T23:31:00.001+10:00

hopefully the next stage will be the finished one. working on it in dribs and drabs when i have time.

work in progress

2008-07-01T23:15:00.000+10:00

This was a really quick sketch. Starting to think that maybe i should have spent more time on the pose before starting in PS but for some reason I felt like i had to do it straight away while the idea was still in my head. Hopefully i'll be able to paint the guy in as part of the canvas/target so he doesnt have any outlines etc.

I got the idea while driving home from work - happening a lot lately but i haven't got around to doing anything about the other ones. Ideas? Comments?

Lend me some time?

2008-06-29T22:53:00.000+10:00

I wish i could just sit around drawing and making my own stuff for a while. I'm loving work but also miss having lots of time on my hands for that sort of thing. I did this over 2 evenings and it turned out to be quite economical time wise which makes it even more satisfying. If i had lots of time i reckon i'd take the line work out and fix it up in a more painterly style - maybe even the type.

The pose was based around a pic of Scarlett Johansen which i stumbled upon - clumsy me.

On another note, I saw Kung Fu Panda today after much debate about it with my work mates. A couple of em thought the animation was gonna be to 'whippy' with mega of overshoots etc. I liked it though, and was impressed with the kick-ass fight scenes. I could probably ramble on about things i didn't like (mainly excessive slow-mo shots) but in reality i would be freakin stoked to ever work on anything of that calibre so I wont. It seemed like a bit of a 'safe' movie for Dreamworks with a pretty basic story tho. I'd really love to see a hardcore joint like pixar go and stick their neck out with an animated film aimed at an adult audience. That would really impress me.

Time for bed, night night...

Hannah

2008-06-19T23:44:00.000+10:00

I went to the park with on the weekend with my sister, her two kids and my brother. On the way home hannah was carrying a buch of really colourful leaves against her black jacket and that image has been in my head since. This was inspired by the image my brain will remember of the lil walk home - no actual resemblence to her though.

Lots more i could do to it if i had time. Took about 30 mins

6 mins till render

2008-06-17T16:09:00.000+10:00

At work. Have 6 mins till render finishes. Now 1 min 48. been looking at net pics and want to draw.
= stupidness

Uncreative soldier

2008-06-08T23:05:00.000+10:00

I'm not very good at 'painting' in photoshop so I thought I might try something simple to get me going with it. Not really impressed with myself but I think it's a start and hopefully will do better next round. The pic started out as a guy with an afro and somehow turned into a soldier. I think it was because i watched a movie involving the Vietnam war recently. Hopefully the next one will have some more creative subject matter too.

'If u buy sunglasses u will look like this.' ...maybe

2008-05-25T17:18:00.000+10:00

I tried to make this pic go a lot further than this but everything I did to it past this point made it look terrible. So, after about 45 mins of mucking around i decided to leave it at about the 15 min stage. Maybe one of u clever people can give me an idea for where to take it.

it wasn't originally meant to look like an ad either.

Chin Chimeny

2008-05-25T15:36:00.000+10:00

I Couldn't bear to have that last post up the top here for any longer. This is just some big-chin guy from the sketchbook I've been neglecting lately.

I miss U blog.

2008-05-19T19:00:00.000+10:00

This thing is kinda Bizarro. I got a copy of painter at work the other day with a new Wacom, and after looking at other peoples blogs got all antsy to draw a picture again. I haven't had a chance to draw in ages cause work takes up so much of my time. I stayed back and did this but had no idea what i was doing - mostly randomness but i like the way painter blends the colours even if these ones are pretty ugly.

about 10 mins for this - no surprise.

Off to Melbourne!

2008-05-02T12:58:00.000+10:00

That's right kids, I'm driving to Melbourne tomorrow. Rad!
I'll be staying with my big sis for a while so probably wont be doing anything that even remotely resembles the excessive posting of late. That was mainly because I'm on my own here and need something to do. But all that's about to change.

Runtime Error!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-30T01:57:00.000+10:00

F%@#K!

I was just repainting that last picture and as it was starting to look kinda cool Photoshop came up with some wierd error i have never seen before and did this to my pic.

kinda cool in a way tho. but also not cool.

Designery stuff

2008-04-29T00:18:00.000+10:00

Today I watched Tekkonkinkreet. It is a pretty awesome animation - very adult in its treatment too. I really liked the style/design of everything. EVERYTHING - right down to the details. This pic was inspired by the bad guy in it. It was just something quick and simple but was fun to be thinking more in terms of design.

Good Night

2008-04-28T03:57:00.001+10:00

I'm making a fill pattern in photoshop at the moment for something else i wanna do. Thought this looked nice. It's not a completely original pattern, but I like to think I'm schmickin' it up a bit while redrawing it.

Good morning

2008-04-26T11:57:00.000+10:00

I surprised myself with this one - It only took about a half hour.

It's a cold wintery morning here and I originally wanted to have rain sliding down the glass but it was taking too long. The frost is just a brush in Photoshop.

this was the pic behind.

Redo

2008-04-26T10:32:00.000+10:00

What i did in 2 mins looks better than what i did in 15. Still not amazing but i'll stop thinking about it now.

Basic Kulla

2008-04-25T23:37:00.000+10:00

This pose was one of a bunch of quick sketches i did from drawings by Adam Hughes. Reason - i need to draw figures more. But tonight i just felt like doing some colouring in.