Dan Dare, Hero with a Square Jaw

Dan Dare at the Science Museum in London. An excellent [but not massive] exhibition that looks at the new technological world of the 1950s that Frank Hampsons creation [from the Eagle comic] reflected. I like the optimistic viewpoint that the imagery has. The future was positive-and Nuclear! This was the atomic age and would solve all our problems [ironically with oil shortages it is coming back] Of course it was part of the post-war rebuilding and obviously people were literally starting again after the horrors of the war. The festival of Britain in 1951 was part of that and I love Abram games work for the festival. Dan Dare was a square jawed hero who would become out dated when the anti-heroes of the 1960s came along, but the boys own heroics and Frank hampsons moral standpoint is something that we could do with today. It was a shame that they never made a film of it-imagine the 1950s retro styling, fantastic!
We could do with heroes like Dan now, but they would probably claim Dan and Digby were gay! I suppose we live in a cynical age and heroes are made in shades of grey and nothing is black and white anymore-apart from Michael jackson of course..

Blokkhed
www.blokkhed.com

Classic Film Poster "The Kid from Space"

Just discovered this poster dated 1952 and used for the European release [we think]. This really emphasises Motaman and his part in the success of the movie. Its a bit faded and worn but a beauty anyway-very rare, in fact it was thought that none actually existed!
Blokkhed
www.Blokkhed.com

Rocky Shore is an Alien "The Kid from Space"

Here he is, Rocky Shore a 1950s child actor in his first movie from 1951. "The kid from Space" is about an alien boy who lands on a small farm in the mid-west with his robot friend "Motaman". Rocky stars as "Cody Jet" the space kid and the film shows how Cody fits in [or doesn't] with his neighbours and his new family [who are hypnotised by motaman into thinking Cody is their son].
The film is a classic piece of Cold war sci-fi, looking at the fear and paranoia of the time but it also explores how American society was at that time and shows that maybe we are all a bit weird really and who is to say what is alien and what is not, or as Cody says "Golly jet Motaman but these people are out of this world!".
Believe in Cody Jet, The Kid from Space !
For positive space age imagery look at Chesley Bonestell hed did the concepts, matte paintings and backdrops for Forbidden Planet.
Blokkhed
www.blokkhed.com

Retro Blokkhed

I've added a new gallery to the website. Its all about retro imagery, I wanted to explore some more pure 'illustration' that was more figurative than anything I've produced so far. The new images were made over May so its been quick work [for me that is]. I have a few themes that I want to work on and its going to be fun exploring them. The 50s space race and 'modern' design are influences. From Tiki [buy this book by Sven Kirsten, its superb]to the 'atomic age' imagery, I just love it all. A particular character I'm working on is Rocky Shore [or maybe Shaw], I've put him into his first film "The Kid from Space" from 1951 [see website], and I intend doing a series where he appears in different types of movies throughout the 50s-70s. This will allow me to do various types of imagery and styles. How much fun is that?

Blokkhed
www.Blokkhed.com

BLOKKHED. Satan takes a Holiday

Its been too long since I blogged on here. The other life I lead [that is in education, not as a superhero] has taken away most of may, but now that june is with is us I felt it was time to get back to some other work. I'm going to add new galleries to the site soon highlighting some new work. I'm working on various things at present but here's a taste of where I'm going at the moment. That is until I change direction again, which could happen any minute !
Ps I'm not a satanist don't worry. "Satan takes a holiday" is a song title that I liked the sound of.

www.Blokkhed.com

BLOKKHED loves Dan Dare

Dan Dare created by Frank Hampson is simply the best. Created in a fascinating era when the space race was beginning and the future didn't seem to be too far away. Go and see the exhibition at the Science Museum in London. It looks at the fifties and the growth of new technologies. Urban redevelopment from pre-fab housing to washing machines and jet planes its a fascinating look at a time period that Dan Dare was created in. The designs Hampson made are wonderful, with true attention to detail. They built detailed models that were then photographed to do the drawings from.
Frank Hampson was "the man who drew tomorrow" [which is an excellent book by the way]

www.blokkhed.com

Talking about Giant Robots. Sky Captain

Well I wasn't talking about them but now I am. Just watched 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' again, I followed its promos on the net and saw it at the Empire Leicester Square-a fitting Deco Cinema to see it. Its what you might call a flawed classic. I really see where the director Kerry Conran is coming from. How many influences can you put into a film. King Kong, Hugh Ferris, Lost Horizon, Republic Serials, Pulp novels, The Most Dangerous Game, 1939 New Yorks Worlds fair, Popular Mechanix magazine, Shanghai 1930s, Retro futures, Mechanical Monsters [Fleischer Brothers Superman], the list goes on and on. How great to be able to breathe life into all the things you love then weave them together.
It isn't a great movie as such but it has the vision of someone I can relate to. Visually rich and detailed with little clues to its influences. As I said its a flawed classic, a pastiche but put together honestly and seriously. It should have been better but I'm so glad it exists even in its imperfections. See it if you like the things I've listed, it takes all and more and makes something like a Republic Serial-improbable but fun with a sense of wonder from another age, when mechanical monsters could possibly take over the world....

www.blokkhed.com

BLOKKHED. BigHed and LittleHed

Here are Bighed and LittleHed. The names are self explanatory I think, so I won't explain them...
I keep updating the website and amazingly it all works! Something of a challenge doing it all in Flash. I used various ideas from a lot of books and these gave me invaluable ideas for the action script. Actually easier than I thought it would be, so I can recommend it as a way of working. I will be adding new work as and when I develop things further.
Blokkhed

www.blokkhed.com

I've added the Bubbles to the side of the website. Bubbles are cute, ugly and evil. Blokkhed is live and developing. Don't forget www.blokkhed.com the home of all things Blokkhed.

BLOKKHED WEBSITE ONLINE. www.blokkhed.com

The Blokkhed website is now functioning. www.blokkhed.com. I'm happy with it [for now] but I may well continue to tinker with it. The link is opposite. Its a gallery for my many interests and inspirations. I intend it to be an ongoing and developing project and I may well add more galleries as I go along. The site was made in Flash 8 and I feel quite comfortable with it now. Its nice to have something fluid and I can change things very easily.
In this blog I want to start to explore and talk about things that inspire me. At present I love Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby. In the seventies I only had three of the comics, it was hard in those days to get comics so they seemed really special. It was a fascinating world Kirby created and the Mother Box seemed to something worth having ! The Fourth world seemed a world away from the Marvel stuff [which I loved equally-especially Daredevil] and looking back it was very much part of the early seventies. Slightly hippyish-which I like and not your average superhero comics. I had two Forever people and two New Gods as well so I saw their interconnectedness. He was creating a complete world and I admire that vision-even if he wasn't allowed to complete it. It was something special, very stylish and in short, very, very cool.

BLOKKHED WEBSITE NOW LIVE

Well finally the website is up and running. There may be teething problems so please be patient. The link is here [www.blokkhed.com] so please take a look. It's the first website I have ever put together and I set myself to construct it in Flash which has been a good learning curve you might say! There are three galleries [at present] and some of those are now available on Alamy. I will be putting more onto Alamy so take a look there as well.
This is turning into a busy month for this Blokkhed. It felt like the time to get things moving and why not do them all at once? I have a full time job [in art education] so this work is an opportunity to remain sane whilst making me learn new things, this benefits myself and my job where I can of course pass on new skills to others.
To me this isn't work, its even more important than that !
Blokkhed

BLOKKHEDS' INTERESTS PART 2

And these are interesting too:
Sky Blue, King Kong, Willis O'Brien, The Metropolis of Tomorrow [Hugh Ferris], Manhattan Transfer, In Cold Blood, The Spirit, The Most Dangerous Game, Quatermass, Jaromir Funke, Mariscal, Daniel Torres, O Winston Link, Josef Sudek, Akira, Edgar Allan Poe...The list goes on and on and on.
There are simply so many things to enjoy and so little time to do it. But it is important to try!
I can't say that everything I like is a direct influence on what I do but they have all at some time or another fascinated me. King Kong was an early one. I got the making of book in 1977 [!] which is a fascinating account of the people who made it, not just a meticulous account of the special effects. The director/producers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack were amazing characters in themselves and Willis O'Brien was simply a driven genius. The book is a look into the 1930s movie making process and everything seemed so new and daring. The mystery of the far east [rather like the Indiana Jones films shows-in fact you can see where Spielberg and Lucas were coming from], long sea voyages to uninhabited islands, fog, and strange monsters, what more could you want?