You Animated a What?

An Interview with Mark Andrew Webber

You've Animated a What?

A good degree may augment your art career. See what Albertus Magnus College can do for you.

Question: Where are you from? What did you study? How old are you? What's your claim to fame thus far in your artistic career?

Answer: I am from the town of Reading, in the county of Berkshire, which is 41 miles west of London, England. I have lived in Reading for most of my life (I'm 24 years old), though Ii have also travelled around the world (Argentina, India, USA, Australia, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands) and lived away from my home town, at University College Falmouth, situated in Cornwall, England, for two years. My studies have all been Graphic Design,(2 years National Diploma, 2 Years Higher National Diploma, 2 Years top up to make a Degree) Reading college (now TVU), was good at showing us the different media to use visually, which is where I learnt about printmaking, and where I started doing my city map series.

My biggest claims to fame are:

Being included in the ISTD Exhibition, My London, My City which featured 18 typographic installations by some internationally famous designers such as Alan Fletcher, Margaret Calvert, Ken Garland, and Derek Birdsall.
Winning a Silver Cube From the Art Directors Club in New York is also a good claim to fame, as it was mostly design organisations that were there, so it was great being there as a freelance artist among some big brand names.

We want to talk about your Linomations. We've never seen anything quite like them before. Did you invent the technique?

Thanks for the compliment. I am not 100% sure if I invented the technique, as you can never be 100% sure in such a highly populated world, though i had never seen it before anywhere, and I did create the name "Linomation" to describe this technique.

How did it come about? What inspired you to start carving animated videos?

Linomation came about from my love of animation + my love of linoleum works. I have always liked to try out ideas that come to me, and I generally don't care about the time it takes, which I know can put some people off. I can forsee the outcomes, so I always think that the work is very much worth it! It was at University College Falmouth, when we were told we could do anything we liked for one project, so I created a brief which gave me the opportunity to do this idea i had been thinking of for quite a while. The name just came from the obvious, Linoleum + Animation.
Is the process as painstaking as it looks? How many linocuts are involved in this latest Linomation? How long did it take you to finish it?

The process is just as painstaking as it looks, though I do listen to audio books at points when I don't need 100% concentration. I managed to listen to six full books for this latest Linomation.

The process for the this Linomation was: Generate ideas from research Storyboard - I estimated 300 frames.

Draw up frames using key frames from storyboard (which ended up being 296 frames)
Measure and cut out 296, 10cm square pieces of linoleum from big sheets. I did this as I went along, cutting about 40 out at a time then carving them.
Transfer the 296 frames onto the linoleum
Carve out the 296 pieces of linoleum
Scan into the computer the 296 carvings
Animate all 296 the carvings Print the 296 pieces of linoleum using a press, (I was able to print 12 at a time due to the size of the press.) This took two full days. Cut out the 296 prints. I made the border of each print look kind of like a Polaroid.
Scan in the 296 prints
Animate the 296 prints

It worked out at about 450-500 hours of work

Here's a time-lapse video of the whole process.

How and where do you show your Linomations?

I have shown them mainly on the internet, because I have not as of yet had an exhibition to show them in! Xfuns magazine did a three double page spread about my work, but that covered everything, and they only had a small section about Linomations, of which I had two done by that time. The second one I did (Typo Linomation) was shown at my end of year show in Falmouth in 2008.

What has the audience response been like?

Very good response. People have sent me e-mails asking to know more about how this was done, and also about when prints will become available to buy. Though I have to tell them that at this time none are for sale due to lack of funds for producing prints. One problem is that I am always producing work, and thus never get around to making them available to sell, or earn enough money to get prints done. I did get very lucky for this latest project. I asked T N Lawrence, the printmaker suppliers, if they could supply the linoleum free of charge, which they did. They supplied me with enough for 180 squares of linoleum, which was a great help, due to the latest Linomation being a charity-based project from which I will not make any money.

Which do you consider the most important venues for showing your Linomations, online or offline? We noticed that you're quite hip when it comes to using YouTube. The time-lapse video was very clever. Do you use other Web 2.0 sites?

In order of importance, it seems to me at the moment that Online is the most important, because of the possibility of blogging and linking to works, which expands the audience of people that will see the Linomation. People talk about the works and others pick up on it, and put it on their blogs. Though offline would be really great too, as i have some ideas for how i could show these in a show, like with a Zoetrope type set up. I think one of the best sites i have found for showing my artwork, has been Flickr.

A question for the crisis: Do you intend to make your living from your art? Now that art galleries have crashed and burned, how do you propose to go about it?

I would of course love to make a living from my art, and I do intend to do so in the long term. But due to my lack of money to make prints, I am currently looking for a part-time job for which I can then save up to buy my own press to produce prints from home, of which Ii could then work on as often as I would like, and actually get around to selling the works. I will be at this forever, as long as i can, and if i get to make some money along the way, then great, but money has never been the reason to create the works i create, its more of an obsession, a need, a craving desire to keep on.

Money is just the way this world works, but i live a life for experience not money. I would love to at some point in the future do some kind of residency, or get a sponsor, as i have a lot of ideas, and my city map carvings are going to continue, I luckily have the linoleum here at home to carve my next piece which is a city map of Paris, France. of which I walked around for 7 days in November 2007, I have nearly finished the design of the map, so will soon be carving it, to the scale of 180cm X 150cm. I am going to need some kind of help with the printing i feel for something on such a large scale, but i generally carve these things and think about logistics later.

What are the most exciting things going on artwise in your town?

I am not as of yet much involved with the art scene in my home town. I have tried to find out more about it, but it seems as though there is not much here! I have not found any printmakers yet. for that I have to travel to London, which is where I have managed to get the small amounts of prints Ii do have, printed. Reading does have a few art galleries, but they are more aimed at collectors of paintings. Its great that I live so Close to London with all their shows and galleries to see.

Not exactly a question. Please put down here your contact information and links to all the websites, blogs, etc. where you can be found.

Flickr: - http://www.flickr.com/markandrewwebber
My website: - http://www.markandrewwebber.com
myspace: - www.myspace.com/dexter121uk
Facebook: - Artist Mark Andrew Webber
My Email address: markawebber@gmail.com