ANDY SPARROW'S JOURNAL
2006 - 2007

THIS PAGE IS LIKE MY DIARY, EXCEPT LESS EXPLICIT.
IT'S A BLOG IN ITS BACK-TO-FRONT, UPSIDE-DOWN STRUCTURE:
(NEWEST AT THE TOP) WHICH PLEASES MY LEFT-HANDED SENSIBILITIES

DECEMBER 2007
We've moved to Penzance. The air is clean and I can see the sea from the window of my studio. I did my first cornish storyboard yesterday, using a webcam to show the director what I was drawing. Check out a demo at www.andy-sparrow.com

NOVEMBER 2007
We've found a house overlooking Penzance and will be in early December. Yeh!

OCTOBER 2007
We've decided to move to Cornwall & live on the beach. London no longer holds the same allure for me, and since my daughters are grown up, and I do a lot of my storyboard work using the phone & a webcam, there's not a lot to keep me here.

SEPTEMBER 2007
We've perfected the T-shirt printing process. They are like silk-screened prints in the way that the black of the design, is the black of the shirt. I've road-tested these and they last really well. Check them out here
Also, as I've been running a forum for another organization for years, I've decided to install one here. It took a year for theirs to take off [with me starting a topic, then answering it myself!] but it's a success now. I hope I don't have to do the same thing here, but I was thinking of copying some of the stuff off the feedback page to get the ball rolling. May 2008 : I've shut the forum as we get so much spam & I just can't keep up with it.

AUGUST 2007
Am a bit depressed as a couple of trees in the garden had to come down, as they were pushing over a wall. Sad day. I'm going to buy some Silver Birches to make it less empty-looking.
Been in Cornwall walking the cliffs & beaches and eating at various carveries. Someone's got to do it.

JULY 2007
Been working hard, but also had a disaster with the printing machine. Apologies to anyone who ordered a T-shirt. I am getting it sorted, but it's worn me down a bit. Think I may need a holiday!

JUNE 2007
Just got back from Italy. Saw Rossi aquaplaning at 200mph. He didn't let up for a moment. Awesome track. Can't see it all from one spot, but they've got a few big screens. Then we wound down the Tuscan coastline and stayed in some great campsites and had the best time. The freedom was amazing [if we didn't like a site, we just moved on in the morning] but we finally planted ourselves at Castigliano del Pesca, under the pines and fifty yards from a deserted beach. Abi sunbathed while I sat in the shade and drew sketches for Vellotron.

MAY 2007
I'm off on a road-trip to Mugello for the MotoGP.Converted my van into a camper and this is its maiden voyage. If this works out we may traverse the world on vegetable oil.
I've finished Doppelgangers! No really. Also I've re-written the ending a bit. Have another look. I'm always changing little bits. That's the great thing about a website [as opposed to a book or a film], you can tweak.
Also I've been making screensavers for my mobile. This is an animated Gif and almost any phone will play them. If you want to have this too, right-click on it and save it to your desktop, then USB it to your moby.

APRIL 2007
I've redesigned the front of the site in a big way,
getting ready for summer to celebrate ten years online!
I've noticed a small decrease in visitors &
realize I've been neglecting this important part of my creative outlet.
I'm scanning a lot of new/old stuff for more sections and
am almost ready to start selling shirts again.

MARCH 2007
My Mitsubishi diesel can run on up to 95% vegetable oil without any conversion. I'm going to start with a 50-50 mix & work up. Shouldn't we all be driving this kind of car? Did you ever do a job that made you unhappy? or made you feel bad about yourself? I was recently, which was going against one of my 'Rules of Life' [in I.N.K, coming back soon] and even though I loved the idea of becoming a millionaire, I had to quit.

FEBRUARY 2007
I had a great idea for a story while blasting around Europe and wanted to start it ASAP, but then I realized I hadn't even finished illustrating Doppelgangers. So that is my priority now. If I can't finish that, what's the guarantee that I'll finish the next one? This new one is set on the road: lots of bikes, cars & trucks. I bumped in to an old friend at the London Bike Show who suggested I get it into a magazine for maximum exposure, like Bloodrunners. I'm shall mull that over.

JANUARY 2007
Happy New Year! What did you get? I got socks.
While I was away in Europe, I listened to a lot of music with my mobile on shuffle, but the ones that stood out for me were the complete albums which I had. Hearing an album from the start in the order that the artist wanted the tracks to be heard was a revelation to me as I've been such a shuffler for the past ten years. Got a new mobile: The SonyEricsson 950i with 4gig memory. Awesome phone with a great sound.

NOVEMBER 2006
Am back from my month-long jaunt, covering nearly 5000miles around France & Spain. My favourite days were spent on those curly mountain roads. Okay going up, but coming down, when I could see the shear drop beyond the barrier, was a different matter. The Valencian MotoGP was a great event and the track is amazing as you can see the entire course from almost every seat. Shame about the race itself. Anyway, back home now with some new ideas, and raring to go. TalkTalk are crap. Free broadband my ass. Go with anybody but TalkTalk & the Carphone Warehouse.

OCTOBER 2006
Park Lane BMW in London have treated me really shabbily and I warn everyone to take their bikes elsewhere. Their arrogance is astounding!

SEPTEMBER 2006
Haven't got it together with the T-shirts as work took off madly during the summer. I always sub-consciously think it's my busiest month because all the other storyboard artists in London must have gone on holiday. But a lot of my work was with regular clients. There used to be this unwritten law in the film business that one could go away for January & August and wouldn't miss any work, but it never seems to work that way any more.
Just signed up on YouTube.com and put up the legal version of the Bloodrunners Trailer. The bootleg version is there too, but won't be soon as it's infringing copyright.
Also put my anti-smoking ditty up as seen at www.x-cert.co.uk

AUGUST 2006
Very busy, but popped my head out long enough to buy myself a vehicle big enough to fit my bike in the back. Am going to start doing shows again, if I get the chance. Hopefully see you at the Bulldog etc next year

 

JULY 2006
I've been in Cornwall recharging the batteries. Does anyone else travel down on the M4-M5-A30 route? If so, you may have noticed a giant sculpture of a man in Somerset next to the road? When I drove past on the way down his head was missing, then I saw this on the way back. I hope he's going to get fixed and not burnt!

JUNE 2006
Recognise this? It's Hoover carved out of soapstone. Someone sent me this years ago
and it has happily sat with my collection of
'stones from around the world' for a decade [or two]
Did you make it? I know I sent a thank you at the time,
but have forgotten your name.

MAY 2006
Recognize this picture? Gareth Jones emailed me to say he'd bought a shirt in Primark with this design on. It does bear a striking resemblance to one of my bike doodles doesn't it? But of course Primark denied all knowledge, and hurridly took them out of all their shops!

APRIL 2006
I'm trying out different colour shirts for the merchandising.
I emailed a lot of old friends and the consensus was
'black is good, but we like other colours too now'
so I am printing onto white fabric,
then sewing the design onto coloured shirts.
I shall post my results for your perusal on the mail-order page.
Check out this patch too. It's 7cm across and really good quality.
I've also found a bag of old shirts under the bed and will have a garage sale soon.

MARCH 2006
I've discovered my feet are now completely different sizes.
My left foot is an inch longer than my right, which is wider.
So I decided I needed custom made shoes. I ordered Boss boots from Wesco, [which are surprisingly cheap, what with the exchange rate] and they are amazing.

FEBRUARY 2006
I draw so many storyboards these days,
I have to really make an effort to draw stuff of my own.
I have been working on this scene I saw in a dream.
I shall add all the other parts once I've perfected the architecture.

JANUARY 2006
I'm preparing to start selling T-shirts for the summer again.
I'm also getting the Bloodrunners movie and my other short films put on DVD.
What else? Oh yeah. . . Me and Abi [the wife] are taking Fencing lessons.
Great fun!