Chapter 121 . Black Ties, White Noise...

Mike R.

Art is a serious thing.
Artists are not.

Imagine a mysterious city, a Dark City, a Gotham like type of city, with dark and deep sewers, filled with stories and creatures, monstrous creatures...
Then, open your eyes, and apply that concept to your own city.
It's your lucky day,  you happen to live in a city who can easily marry this concept.
You live in a Victorian city...
There is gargoyles, and uncanny buildings, and strange and interesting cemeteries, and something in the air, something that would put Mr. Lovecraft at easy, if such thing was possible...
It's not always here.
But it's always lurking...

Then, give it a touch of Film Noir, dark alleys, heavy contrast, rough landscapes, and your world is changed into something new.
Everyone is a anti hero, everyone is an important character, nevertheless, everyone is  character that evolves in a scenario that always seems preconceived.
There is no way out...
And so be it, everyone and everything makes the best of it, and the line in between good and bad gets blurred, right and wrong... It's often time to make choices...

Of course, I am preparing you for something I have been working on for sometime, but for now, let's just have a look at that city with the kind of eye I have been referring to, and it's dark...

Construction on Hillside and Douglas

Morning Rise on Shelbourne

Before the Rain . Victoria BC

The Gorge

Buildings on Douglas

Cold Sunrise

That atmosphere seems adequate for the characters living within it, even though, there is a notion of emptiness that can be overbearing from time to time.
But it is not all black.
By chance, there is also white.

Michelle

Voila,
That's all for now Peeps.

Sincerely,

Serge
May 19h 2014

Chapter 120 . Meanwhile in Victoria...

At the beginning of the year, my friend Mike, who moved back to Victoria from Montreal The Great, contacted me to offer me a spot in an online magazine he was working on.
My spot would be the comic strip section, or at least, a spot in that section.

As I was interested, I started to think about what I could do that would be appropriate, being that, the Magazine, called The Virus by the way, was about the City of Victoria, what's going on here and so on and so forth, I ain't gone go into any details about it here.
Clearly, I needed to talk about Victoria, to draw about Victoria, to do something about that City that I learnt to like while drawing The Case of the Chinese Cemetery.

After much reflection upon that subject, I decided that it could be cool and entertaining to do comparisons in between Victoria life style and other parts of the world.
Remember, it had to be a comic strip, so, very few images to tell a full story, it doesn't seem so, but, it is challenging.
If I was to compare, I could be nice, or terrible, I could have empathy or be brutal... It seemed like a lots of fun to me!
So I did...
And, here is the result:

Comic Strip . Meanwhile in Victoria

However, turned out that Mike is a tad late on his project and, the magazine is still not online.

Fair enough, really.

So, I decided to share the strip, and called it in the end M.I.V.

And, there will be more to come, stay tuned!

Voila,

That's all for now Peeps.

Sincerely,

Serge

May 13th 2014

Chapter 119: N O W . New Song by Spaceboys & The Sweet Things

Chapter 119: N O W . New Song by Spaceboys & The Sweet Things

45 RPM CD cover

Back in 1997, I was working on a project I called "N O W".

If I am not mistaken, it included different use of media with a common theme. It did include a giant painting and a song.

I didn't recorded the song, but put it in one of my drawer for "use in the future"...

And decades went by...

About 4 years ago, the band and myself ( Linda on drum and Nick on many instruments) decided to recorded it.

We went for a Trip-Hop style, which perfectly matched what we were doing at the time.

We decided to use digital instruments only.

We did it.

Published it.

Never really liked it.

And forgot about it.

Yes... But no...

It always stayed in the back of my mind.

And time passed by. And I went to Brazil. And I went to France. And I came back to Canada... 

And time passed by a little more...

.

Few weeks ago, I played the original studio file, and my god, was it ever poor.

We got together, so to speak as, Linda lives in the States, and Nick in Aussie land, but we still managed, as always, as it is how we play together.

Throughout long insane distances.

We put Linda in a back of a full set drum, drum machines were not enough, I picked up a guitar, and Nick mainly produced the whole thing.

We kept Mel's unforgettable voice, but got rid of Darcy's for the background vocals.

Nick re-produced every single details, and here are, with a brand new song.

I must admit, it's weird.

But it's way better, as fart as we are concerned.

Here it is:

Free Electronic Press Kits template from ReverbNation.com

Of course, like always mainly, we also designed the CD cover for the 45 RPM, based on the 33 RPM, and here it also is:

N O W - 45 RPM Jacket

And, last but certainly NOT least, the video made for the song.

In regard to it, I will just say that it is from another time, a time when time was slow...

Et voila, that's all for now folks.

Enjoy the music.

Sincerely,

Serge

May 20th 2012 - Victoria BC

Chapter 118: And Up the Hill We Go...

... Just like Bilbo Baggins, into the Spring and down to the Shire...

Cherry Tree - Victoria BC - April 2014

As the sun rise up, with it's warmth and upbeat future, I sit down and take my pen.
It seems it is more than time for an update.
So, here it is, in short and no particular order. And, I will get back to it in details in a close future.

1. The blog has been updated!
It was more than time!
So, the look of the blog has changed, it's subtle, but still, the side bar has also been updated and is more relevant to what I do at the moment, two new sections have been added (I'll get back to those later), MUSIC and COMIC . THE CASE OF THE CHINESE CEMETERY, which represent my biggest projects at the moment, and  am going to try my best to write regularly, just as I use to do...

Navigation Bar

2. Music
Please, visit as you wish the MUSIC section, that's where you can find all the updates regarding the musical projects of Spaceboys & The Sweet Thing, the band I play with.
We are presently finishing the producing of our most recent recording, a remix of the song Now for the upcoming album Skin. It will be released as soon as possible.
MUSIC page:
http://sergefoglio.blogspot.ca/p/m.html

Spaceboys & The Sweet Things

3. Graphic Novel: The Case of the Chinese Cemetery
This is a huge deal, and lots about it could be said, but again, I will get back to it in details later.
To make a very long story short, about 1 year and a half ago I went back to my original inspiration, comic books. I had stopped drawing comics nearly 30 years ago, mainly because it was too much work. Yes, I am also lazy...
But anyway, I met an uncanny character years ago, a private investigator named Hessfog, and eventually, we decided to make a graphic novel based on his cases.
I had to develop a new style to facilitate production, and we also decided to go for a Film Noir look, clean and dry.

The Case of the Chinese Cemetery . Front Cover

One of the most interesting point about the project was the fact that Hessfog wanted to create a feeling of reality, everything had to be a reproduction of reality.
I ended up taking hundreds of reference pictures, and every single shot is as it would be if you were standing in the original location.
But more about the project and the outcome can me found here:

4. Location
I now live in Victoria, British Columbia, Vancouver Island.

Sun Rising on Douglas St . Victoria BC . April 2014

And the city is as it always is, magnificent and reborn with the Spring, when weather permits...

Cherry Trees in Blossom . Victoria BC. April 2014

Sunset in Stadacona Park . Victoria BC . May 2014

Sunset . Victoria BC . May 2014

Light & Shades . Victoria BC . May 2014

Construction . Victoria BC . April 2014

Sunrise on Shelbourne . Victoria BC . May 2014

5. Life
It would literally take a novel to write what happened in my life during the past two years.
To summarize it, everything changed...
Professionally, family wise, and relationship wise.
Only my friends, my real friends, remained...
One of them, after a most unexpected turn of event, became close to my heart, closer than a friend usually becomes...
She now walks beside me, her hand in mine.

M.A.

Et voila, that's all for now folks.
Oh, one last thing before I go, keep the faith!

Captain America Mural

Sincerely,

Serge
May 20th 2012 - Victoria BC