The Temple of Anubis

Some of you may know what that means. For many it is just three vaguely egyptian sounding words, but for those in the know it is the name of a cursed temple that not only hides the sacred Red Rigou Ruby, it is also home to the dreaded pharoah Hotep. 

Basically, it's a Lego temple from the Adventurers range released in 1998. I got this set for the christmas of that year, and I always fondly remember it as being one of my favourite Lego sets. I've been thinking of revisiting old sets recently, and I thought this would be the best place to start. I got the instructions over at www.brickset.com. I spent more time than I care to think about (All of today and most of yesterday) bulding the temple and its accessories. I said building, but in truth, most of the time was spent desperately rummaging through box after box for the correct pieces. It was nightmarish in a way. But ultimately rewarding.

I didn't completely finish the build. The courtyard and hot air balloon remain unfinished. This was mainly because I realised it was almost seven pm and all I did was get up, eat and rummage through crates of Lego. I couldn't handle anymore. And do you remember how grating the sound of someone rummaging through lego hour upon hour is? It's very grating. I went to bed last night with dying eyes and a killer headache. Not from the monotony of looking at tiny pieces of plastic for hours but something far more sinister. The dust. I was inhaling all sorts of ancient fibres from the depths of these decade old storage boxes. you should see my hands. I washed them of course but they still show signs of lego abrasion.

Anyway enough talk, on with the show!

 Preliminary shot of me emptying one of the three large Lego containers. But here is what you REALLY want to see:

                                                 The Adventure of The Temple of Anubis!!!!

 The Adventurers' truck, fully stocked up on all the tools and supplies needed for a desert expedition to a dangerous temple.

 Here are our primary protagonists: Johnny Thunder, dashing and daring archeologist, and Harry Cane, the most handsome pilot in the sky. (Althought he is sitting this one out as I didn't finish building his hot air balloon)

Johnny and Harry drive through the searing winds and crushing heat of the Lego desert.

But little do they know they are being watched by the Lego world's two most ruthless treasure hunters: Lord Sam Sinister and Baron von Barron. (I swear I am not making up these names)

There it is. Hidden from the world deep in the desert's dunes, the Temple of Anubis stands proud, ready to claim its next victims.

Arriving ahead of Johnny Thunder and Harry Cane, Doctor Charles and Miss Gail begin filming their discoveries.

At last, the dashing young men arrive.

they stride daringly into the yawning jaws of the deadly temple.

But they aren't counting on Barron and Sinister setting up an ambush inside the very walls of this sacred place.

Excited that his life's work is now reaching fruition, doctor Charles eagerly climbs to the upper level of the Temple.

But when he reaches the top he gets more than he's bargained for!!

Pinned between the barrels of two guns, deep within the inner sanctum of the Temple of Anubis, doctor Charles realises both his darkest moment and the highlight of his professional career.

While Baron von Barron holds the good doctor at gunpoint, Sam Sinister makes his way about stealing the coveted obsidian treasure chest.

But not all is as it seems. The temple hides more than just treasure...

A deadly pitfall opens up underneath the very feet of Barron, and he helplessly plummets down.

Johnny and Harry receive a big shock as the nasty man lands, probably paralysed, at their feet.

the baron yells filthy swears and threats to the doctor up above, and curses the temple itself.

Meanwhile, oblivious to the Baron's cries, Sam Sinister prepares to evacuate the Temple with the treasure, and there is nothing Doctor Charles can do about it.

Suddenly, as Baron von Barron is yelling all manner of curses upon the foundations of the Temple, an ornate sarcophagus begins to stir.

Rising up from his eternal slumber, Pharoah Hotep does not like the chaos that has wrecked the peace of his glorious temple.

Sam Sinister strides towards Johnny's car, the Obsidian chest dragging through the sand behind him.

He looks back on the temple as the chaos unfolds. He cares little for his fallen former ally. The expensive cutting edge video equipment in the back of the car is the icing on the cake of Sam Sinister's treasure haul banquet.

Doctor Charles helplessly looks on as Sinister drives away with all his apparatus. a worrying thought enters Charles' head as he realises he and the other adventurers have no way back to England. They are stranded at the deadly Temple of Anubis, with a 2000 year old mummy bent on revenge, and a screaming madman, paralysed from his fall. Even if they survive these challenges, they will surely starve to death.

So ends this chapter in the bloody history of the Adventurers

here is the Temple of Anubis as seen from a slightly elevated perspective. Imagine you are in Harry Cane's hot air balloon.

This is just some of the Lego I had to root through for days to find tiny unique egyptian themed pieces.

I hope you enjoyed this showcase of my life for the last two days. I know I have! More importantly, I hope you take this riveting story with you to the grave. It is a poignant story, symbolic of the fact that sometimes, shit happens.

The Tower preview

I finished the first page of my first true comic book last night. I just wanted to give a taste of what this will be like so I am showing this page, and for the rest you will have to wait until it's finished! I felt kind of uninspired recently. It's because I have at least three big projects to work on, and I constantly want to dive in and do huge productions with them. That's all well and good, but if the story isn't prepared enough before you start doing big things like comics or animations, you will run into problems.

To combat this block I decided I would just write up the stories behind the main projects. In the meantime I would work on much smaller, simpler stories for practising my technical skills. Honing them before I can give the bigger projects true justice. So that's where this idea came from. Of course, it doesn't always work out that way and I found myself spending hours thinking about character and set designs for this comic.

Also, I realised that I usually make these projects set in the real universe. No matter how bizarre or extreme they may be, there is a hint of realism. Not so for this project. I decided to let all that go. This will be a no-holds-barred experience of surreal whimsy, largely inspired by the work of Mateusz Skutnik and also some of the short films by Jan Svankmajer. I really hope you like where this is going!

As you can see, I've been honing my watercolours. I'm very happy with them so far. Definitely my kind of thing. Let me know what you think! Maybe one day you'll see this sort of thing by me in nice fancy books in the shops!

Will

A foray into comic strips, and Teacupfaery update

I have been productive lately!!

Here is a quick little experimental comic strip I did the other day. I'm very interested in drawing comic books. This particular one is lifted from a project I'm working on with my friend Calvin. I just felt like using it as the basis for my first foray into watercolour comics. What do you think? I think it's pretty cool.

 I have also been doing a little bit of work for my sister Jane (Over at  noneuclideanquilting) She asked me to design a logo of sorts for her quilt labels. here is the work in progress so far:

I'm pretty sure the finished thing is going to be in watercolours and pen, as above. But as you can see it's a work in progress.

I've decided I'm going to try to devote about an hour a day to my own personal projects. And I don't mean thinking about them, I mean actual tangible work. That way I might actually get some serious work done over the approaching summer holiday.

I think there's hope for the future of this blog afterall!

Will

New Watercolours

Here are those watercolours I mentioned last night, plus a new one. Very happy with the way these things are working out!

If it's not too much trouble, keep an eye out, because hopefully there'll be more to come soon.

Will

Resuscitation, and In Orbit

I'm very bad at keeping blogs!

Well, I thought this one would take off, but I didn't post for ages. Silly me! I have been doing some watercolour paintings. I think they are the future for me at the moment. Things are going on in my head. Wonderful things that I'm putting to paper. I might scan my recent produce in and post it up here tomorrow. The idea is, now that I have finished most of my college work for the summer, I'll have more time to develop, nurture and, most importantly, execute ideas. 

I'm not going to let this be like last summer, where I planned to write and draw an entire graphic novel and proceeded to do nothing at all. No no. This year I planned to do an animated movie. This is ambitious, yes, but I have no deadline, and I have no boss. So for now I'm just experimenting. Making infant steps in a medium that I one day hope to perfect. The important thing to know is that I am happy with where things are going!

In other news, I have an end of year exhibition coming up with college. The extra cool thing is that I named and designed the flyer (below) for the exhibition! This was a very cool opportunity to do a proper bit of design and boost my confidence. The flyer is based on my recent animation project, which is in the show along with some of my etchings. There are loads of great pieces from my friends too so it should be a great event!

That's all for now.

Will