The Three Orisha Queens

I'm working on a series of photoshop illustrations of the Orishas of the Afro-Cuban religion Regla de Ocha which has its origins in Yoruba Culture. The Orishas are something I come back frequently in my work. They are deities or saints that take care of the world and the people living here. They represent aspects of nature and have the traits of humans with our virtues and faults. Each of them has their own dance, music, costume and myths. There are a number of female Orishas, but the three queens are Oshún, Yemayà and Oyà. 

Orisha Oshún 

Orisha of sensuality, of love and fertility, of honey and sweet waters. Her home is the river. She is seductive and loves to party. Her dance is sensual and coquettish. She is synchronised with Our Lady of Charity the patron saint of Cuba.

Orisha Yemayá

The Universal Mother and Queen of the seas. She is also known as the Mother of the Fishes. Her dance echoes the movement of the seas, with the movements of her body and skirts, in calm waters and furious storms. She carries a fan of peacock feathers.

Orisha Oyá

The warrior queen of hurricanes, of the rainbow and lightning. She is the keeper of the keys to the cemetery. She is fearsome. Her costume includes all the colours of the rainbow and her dance is whirling and fearsome.

Line Drawings of the Body in Movement

Charanga Time!

We screened this animation at SevenArts in Leeds on Saturday 28th October at the Charanga del Norte performance along with a couple of other of my animations. I made this quickly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Charanga del Norte. It's a compilation of quick animations and characters I had made put together to the recording of 'Susana te pone a gosar' (Sue's going to have fun).

Charanga del Norte is a Cuban big band based in Leeds, UK led by Dr Sue Miller the flautist. I've worked with them a lot as a dancer. Charanga del Norte are celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2018 with a UK tour, http://www.charangadelnorte.co.uk/

I was doing some practise in drawing in Photoshop and I came up with this little character based on some kids who play nearby. I was exploring differents keys in photoshop to develope my Photoshop drawing skill. I decided to animate him and I wanted to show more expression in his face. 

Plans - short animations with high production quality

I plan to develop some short animations, one minute, two at the most, developing everything for high production quality for screening. I have many ideas for short animations like this. With very short animations I can focus on the technicalities of production quality without the pressure of a longer project. They will be useful for my portfolio and showreel. I can then use the skills I develop with these for my bigger projects. Some of the questions about which formats to use for best quality can be quite complex.

Los Zapaticos de Rosa (The Little Rose Shoes)

Los Zapaticos de Rosa (The Little Rose Shoes) is my latest animation. It tells the story of a little Cuban girl who gives her best shoes away. It is based on the poem for children of the same name by the Cuban poet José Martí. It was my final year project on the BA Animation course at The Northern Film School.

Here is a short video clip from the film.



And here are some still pictures from the film.

My plans - Animations for flute solos

I have had a plan for some time, with a musician I know, who is a flautist and band leader. We plan to collaborate creating animations for some of her flute solos to use in her performances. She knows a great about Cuban music. I worked before with her as a dancer and dance teacher at her band's performances. I am developing a character for this.