My videos tend to highlight a particular obsession of mine at the time they’re made. This one is all about the shimmer.
Tyrekickers is a dreamy song, and it makes me think of afternoon sun slanting into abandoned cars and bouncing off mirrors.
When I make these videos, I steady elbow and forearm against the table. I use my left hand to shoot, and my grip is awkward at best. But it works. I use a Lumix GX7 with a Leica Macro-Elmarit 45mm lens. The blur while it’s autofocusing becomes my marker for edit points.
Sweet Billy Pilgrim songs have lyrics that float somewhere in between your heart and your head, and Tyrekickers is written with a sweet restraint.
“we stifle yawns
that show our teeth
sometimes days are just a promise that we keep
under arches
badly parked
we pick the locks of our lonely little hearts”
Putting on the glitz? Many calligraphers and artists use Finetec mica watercolors. These are almost of a gouache-like opacity when used relatively dry, so you can practically spackle on the golden glimmer if you so desire. Their creaminess gives them an almost 3D effect during application, with the pigment settling as it dries.
J. Herbin’s Emerald of Chivor is an ink that would be at home in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, where I hear they throw the best parties. Layer Finetec atop Emerald of Chivor and you get retina burn.
The bright bluish emerald blends with the gold at the edges, producing a glowing green.
This video featured a lot of unusual nibs. I also used a Barch-Payzant lettering pen, a folded pen, and a simple straightedge of wood.
The Kremer pearl luster pigment went straight into the Newton Prospector, joining the KWZ Honey ink that was already in it.
This is a flexible fude music nib with an overfeed. (It’s like the Cthulhu of nibs. Or the Megazord of nibs. Anyhow, it can do many tricks.)
The Romillo nib installed in the Newton Shinobi also saw a fair amount of use in the video.
Paper can make or break an experimental technique. My old reliable is Daler-Rowney heavyweight paper. I’ve learned to appreciate the unpredictability of Yupo. Canson XL Marker paper allows fountain pen ink and watercolor to dry on its surface without feathering, and with minimal buckling when sprayed with water.
iMovie is unfussy and renders quickly enough for my purposes. Occasionally I’ll use the stabilizer function when I need a clip to be a touch less vertigo-inducing, but that’s about it apart from the occasional use of cross-dissolve.
Hope this peek into my process is useful. Yes, I do wish I could make more videos, and explore more techniques. Someone give me a Tardis.
