Demoncon 9

So for the Sunday just gone I was exhibiting for the first time at Demoncon 9, a really cool little comic convention in Maidstone, Kent. Having attended the last con as a videographer, I was really excited to be there this time round with a table, and the experience didn’t disappoint!

10983423_10155291877125393_2392961026581683948_n I was sharing the table with my good friend and fellow artist Charli Torpedoes, who was also new to the convention scene and travelled all the way up from Cornwall to attend.

It was really awesome to get to speak to the community, to interact with other artists, and to have such a comfortable and friendly introduction to that scene.

I think I’m definitely going to make a habit of attending conventions as an artist, this was a really perfect convention for a newbie and I learned tonnes. I can’t wait to do another and see if I can put into practice what I learned this time round.

WP_20150215_004The thing that struck me was the great focus on and interest in independent comics and creatives. As a relatively unknown entity, it was so great for people to just come up to our table, and chat to us about our work, flip through our sketch books, offer their compliments for the pieces we had displayed and ask for commissions for things they wanted drawn, based on nothing more than what they had seen in front of them. It was very validating and at the same time, really interesting to see the things that appealed to people. There were pieces that I had spent a fair bit of time on that didn’t seem to stand out to people, while some of my sillier quick sketch book doodles were the subject of much more chat, and in some cases spurred an actual audible laugh and compliments with some serious conviction.

In response to this, I think I’m going to go back through my sketch book and really look at what’s there – suggestions from the attendees of things that they would love to have on a T-shirt, or tote bags may well come into being for the next convention I do.

Mostly, I’m just thrilled at the prospect of being able to entertain people, and since most of the work I display is online and the process is very solitary, it was so great to finally be out ther in the real world talking to the people who get to see it.

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The 4K Deception

last panel 177[Click here for the full comic]

Everybody’s raving about 4K. 4K televisions are starting to be pushed in TV stores and on TV commercials as being the next big thing to buy, and consumer-level cameras are starting to be pushed out with 4K recording capabilities. Of course this is wonderful in terms of technological advancement, and speaking as a video production professional, higher resolution images always make for easier editing and overall better quality footage.

But let’s take a moment to break this down:

At 16:19 aspect ratio, standard definition is 854×480 pixels.

Broadcast quality and Blu Ray high definition is 1280×720 pixels.

Full HD is 1920×1080 pixels (referred to as 2K).

So 4K, is double 2K at 3840 x 2160.

To my knowledge, the only people currently putting out 4K quality content are internet content providers. When the standard for television broadcast and highest quality mainstream content format (Blu Ray) hasn’t even yet reached 2K, I’m struggling to see why everyone is on about the next step up. It’s like trying to flog Blu Ray’s back in 2001.

I’m ranting a little, and I am aware of it, but it’s getting quite irritating hearing everyone going on about a resolution that is so high compared to the current standard that I’m struggling to understand what all the fuss is about. Yes 4K is higher resolution, but that’s utterly redundant if you’re going to slap the final content for mass distribution onto what is still probably the most common format; a DVD disc, at standard definition. Less than a quarter of the original filming quality.

I’m a bit old-fashioned perhaps in my mentality that at a certain stage, adding extra pixels will not improve the quality of your product. It will improve the pixel count, and that obviously improves the amount of video data you have to work with in terms of colouring, and post production/vfx etc. But aside from everything having just a little more shine to it, what exactly are we gaining now?

More crisp image doesn’t improve storytelling. Higher refresh rates don’t improve actors’ performances. There is a point at which we have to realise that for a lot of people, 4K is a better quality image than what their own eyes are capable of capturing. I can’t stand the mentality that just because content is shiny, or covered with digital effects, or ‘the latest thing’ that is is automatically good. Filmmaking is about much more than that and a film’s merit should not be graded on its pixel count.

So I guess what I’m saying is:   Calm down everyone and stop looking so hard at each individual pixel that you miss the point of the whole picture.

The reconstruction of Vic’s Creative Archive

Woah, so it’s all looking a little messy over here at the moment but fear not: when I’m done with all this tinkering, this’ll be a well organised hub of all the various creative stuffs that I get up to.

It’s long overdue, and it involves A LOT of backdating various project blog posts from a number of different sources, going back a good 8 years or so, but I am gradually filling in the blanks so that this will be a landing platform for any and ALL project updates and info about the work I’m doing at the moment.

The finished result is going to include full bio and history, links to my comic, artwork, film work, music compositions and projects, not to mention a sweet gallery of stuffs for peoples to look at. Should be rad.

In the mean time please bear with me, it’s hella tedious and time consuming. Peace out!

Vic –