Scott Kolbo

I have not had the chance to attend a Yuma Symposium in the past, so this will be my first trip. I have been working hard to come up with an easy and succinct way to explain what I do with my animated projections and to get those of you who are brave enough to attend my session involved in a big collaborative drawing. Some time ago I got the idea that it would be interesting to have a swarm of birds swoop in and lift one of my reoccurring characters (called "Heavy Man") off the ground by grabbing his clothes with their beaks and levitating him for a few seconds. The idea was much easier to come up with than it was to execute, but I have been using low-tech animation and special effects tricks for a few years, so I thought I could pull it off. I generally begin my projected pieces by documenting some sort of a performance or action in the real world... In this case I fastened some fishing hooks up to thin monofilament and used a series of pulleys to lift various portions of the models clothing. I recorded this event with a DSLR camera and then went to work editing the video. I deleted the background and adjusted the colors to get a clean image with no wired visible (take that hollywood). 

After the video was edited and ready for some birds to show up I started animating a swarm of crow/starling flying creatures that could lift this poor sucker off the ground. Let's just say that animating a flock of birds was more work than I expected... I Know......I Know.....

After some trial and tribulation I finally figured out a fairly simple and straightforward technique for creating this kind of animation (which I am excited to share with you at the Symposium). Now I can make swarms of birds attack anything I wish - which has led me to some of the pieces that will be on display in the presenters exhibit.

Once the video and animation elements are ready to go I project the moving images onto a piece of paper or panel and create a drawing that interacts with the projected imagery. I have also been experimenting with adding drawn elements on top of television monitors and other electronic devices. I love the way that the fuzzy and "cheap" digital imagery interacts with the sharp and organic hand drawn lines and tones. 

There is a tension inherent in mixing the two media that I find fascinating. I believe that it springs out of my background in traditional printmaking and I hope that I will be able to sell some of you on this argument when we meet face to face in the near future. 

 I wish you safe travels and many adventures along the way. See you in Yuma.

- Scott Kolbo  Yuma 35 presenter

 Click here to view Scott's Web Page