2012. november 6., kedd

EXERCISES FOR THE ARTICLES AND VIDEOS – NOVEMBER ISSUE


EXERCISES FOR THE ARTICLES AND VIDEOS – NOVEMBER ISSUE


No Buy Day

Explain the following expression taken from the text.

  1. have an impact on sg……………………………………………………………………
  2. switch off from  sg………………………………………………………………………
  3. consumerism:……………………………………………………………………………
  4. disproportionate:………………………………………………………………………..
  5. detox:……………………………………………………………………………………..
  6. consumer conscience:……………………………………………………………………
  7. dump sg:………………………………………………………………………………….
  8. commitment:……………………………………………………………………………..
  9. distribution:………………………………………………………………………………
  10. a lasting relationship:……………………………………………………………………

Guy Fawkes Day
Watch the video and answer the following question?

  1. Who got together in 1605, which event is known as Gunpowder Plot?
  2. During which ceremony did they mean to blow up the parliament?
  3. What was Guy Fawkes in charge of?
  4. Why did they need to rent a cellar beneath the House of Lords?
  5. What did they hide in the cellar by March 1605?
  6. How did the Catholics get to know about the conspiracy?
  7. How was Guy Fawkes executed after his confession?
  8. What were Londoners encouraged to do after the King’s escape?
  9. What are the traditional things  the British do across the country on 5 November?
  10. Who search the cellars of the Westminster as a tradition?


Quentin Blake celebrates his 80th birthday this November. Find out about him.
The  following questions have been removed from the interview with Quentin Blake. Match the questions with the numbers.

a./        What do you like drawing best?

b./        Do you identify strongly with children?

c./        What does having been the first Children’s Laureate mean to you?

d./        Do you do drawings for grown ups?

e./        What do you do in your spare time?

f./        Where do you live?

g./        How did you begin to do children’s book?

h./        Where did you grow up?

i./         When did you start writing the words as well?

j./         what do you like to eat?

k./        What was it like working with Roald Dahl?

l./         Did you go to university or art school?



Word formation. The following words occur in the text. Form words in each category if any.

VERB
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
evacuate


inspire
illustrator


alteration


approval

imagine



distinction

promote



exhibition

encourage


arrange




How I draw –Watch the video and decide if the statements are true or false.

1.      He stores his works in two portfolios: in the first he has the preliminary work and finished illustrations for the book, while the second contains manuscripts and rough drawings.

2.      He sometimes finishes drawings out in nature.

3.      He does a complete set of roughs before he starts colouring.

4.      It’s easier to do both the words and illustrations by himself, because it’s just he, himself to argue with.

5.      He is trying to trace the original lines and draws them again.

6.      Normally he doesn’t spend much time checking his work.

7.      He doesn’t mind if it doesn’t quite fit the lines while colouring as it makes us feel as though something is happening.

8.      It doesn’t take much time to have a book published.

9.      After delivering a book he is still teeming with ideas.

10.  He uses ’magic pencils’ to charm the public.

2012. november 4., vasárnap

No Buy Day


YES!
Buy Nothihng Day poster 2011
Lock up your wallets and purses,cut up your credit cards and dump the love of your life - shopping.
Saturday November 24th 2012 is Buy Nothing Day (UK). It's a day where you challenge yourself, your family and friends to switch off from shopping and tune into life. The rules are simple, for 24 hours you will detox from shopping and anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!
Everything we buy has an impact on the environment, Buy Nothing Day highlights the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism. The developed countries - only 20% of the world population are consuming over 80% of the earth's natural resources, causing a disproportionate level of environmental damage, and an unfair distribution of wealth.
Follow Buy Nothing Day UK on TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

A simple fact

As consumers we need to question the products we buy and challenge the companies who produce them. What are the true risks to the environment and developing countries? We all know recycling is OK for the the environment, but consuming less is better and Buy Nothing Day is a great way to start.

 

FREE!No purchase necessary!

People around the UK will make a pact with themselves to take a break from consumption as a personal experiment or public statement and the best thing is - IT'S FREE!!!

For a quick start to Buy Nothing Day read the FAQpage. If you want to take part in more actively, which is far more fun, then you may want to organise an event - take a look at the TOOLKIT for info and ideas and check theEVENTS page. If there are no events near you - organise one! Get social and follow Buy Nothing Day UK on TWITTER and FACEBOOK.

24 Hour Detox

Participate by not participating!

Of course, Buy Nothing Day isn't about changing your lifestyle for just one day - we want it to be a lasting relationship with you consumer conscience - maybe a life changing experience? We want people to make a commitment to consuming less, recycling more and challenging companies to clean up and be fair. The supermarket or shopping mall might offer great choice, but this shouldn't be at the cost of the environment or developing countries.

Source: http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night



Quentin Blake celebrates his 80th birthday this November. Find out about him.

Q & A

1.
I was born in Sidcup Kent, although I was evacuated to the West Country
 during the war, which I hated. I enjoyed secondary school: I went to 
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, where I was taught English by 
a man called JH Walsh, who really inspired me.

2.

For the last 30 years, I have lived in South Kensington, in a late 19th 
Century mansion flat near Earl's Court. I came to see friends there all 
those years ago, liked it and stayed. It has turned out to be extremely 
convenient.

I love the seaside and spend quite a lot of time in Hastings on the South
 coast. Then, for about three months a year I go to France, to a house near
 the Atlantic coast in the South-West. I work there, too.


3.
I love fish shops and stalls, especially in France, where they are very good,
 and you can get mussels and oysters and all sorts of things out of the sea.
 I eat a lot of fish and like cooking it because it is so easy.

4.
I am never quite sure when work finishes and 
spare time begins. Sometimes I go and give 
talks and lectures and that is also work but it 
makes a change from drawing. In my real spare 
time I read quite a lot of books, so that there are
 generally eight or ten beside my bed that I have
 started but not finished and perhaps will never 
finish. Some of them will be in French. I read 
them quite slowly and underline the words I don't
 know, though I am often too lazy to look up what
 they mean. I also have a house in France. I can
 work there but my spare time is spent buying food (which seems to be 
much more interesting there than in England), especially fish and mussels
 and oysters. The countryside is very flat, so I can cycle round looking at 
birds. Herons are my favourite.

5.
I seem to remember I thought that if I went to art school I would never go to a university (I wanted to read English) whereas if I did go to university I would still have the option of doing art. That was how it worked out anyway. So I studied English at Downing College, Cambridge, from 1953 - 1956.

Then, not knowing whether one could make a living out of being a cartoonist, illustrator or artist of any kind - and the general view seemed to be that you couldn't - I also did a year's teacher training at London University.

Having done that I thought I should try to be an artist of some kind. I went to Chelsea Art School as a part-time student, not exactly to learn to be an illustrator, but to learn more about drawing and painting.'

6.
Probably at about the age of 5. I remember a visitor during the war saying "He draws a lot, but he won't speak!". I used to do drawings for the school 
magazine and also for Punch. I knew someone who drew forPunch and I started submitting drawings. I did get some little ones accepted when I was about sixteen or seventeen. That was a start. They paid me seven guineas each. I didn't know what to do with the cheque; I didn't have a bank account!

Then when I was at Chelsea I got a regular job doing two drawings a week for Punch and I also started drawing for The Spectator. I began doing small drawings for them until they decided that they were going to have an illustrated cover, and I started doing that too.

I suppose the first proper book I ever illustrated was while I was on National Service, before university. I spent three weeks illustrating a booklet - called English Parade - used in teaching those soldiers who hadn't yet mastered reading. There was no alteration to my weekly pay-packet, but I was able to live at home and I was allowed to wear shoes instead of boots.

From time to time I had to show my work to a lieutenant-colonel for his approval. A few moments of silence and then: "Very good, Sergeant Blake. But I think .. the grass in this one ought to be shorter." "Yes sir. I'll see to it, sir." "And I think the creases in these trousers might be sharper." Of course, the problem with making the grass shorter in drawings is that you can't cut it: you have to do the drawing again. But at least it was preparation for encounters with editors and (worse) committees, later on.

7.
I was interested in education, drawing and English, so it seemed as if illustrating a children's book might be something I could do. I thought: I don't know whether they'll like it or not. I was 20-something so I thought I'll just keep on with it for a bit and see where I've got to by the age of 30, and if it's no good I'll give up and if it's alright I'll go on. By then it had begun to be all right so I kept on.

I didn't really know how to start. I talked to John Yeoman, who is a friend, and said "Could you write a book so I can illustrate it?" He could and did. It was called A Drink of Water.

8.

It was in 1968, with Patrick. Really it was a kind of protest because I was seen as a black-and-white illustrator, so I was never asked to do anything in colour. I retaliated by writing this story about a young man who made things change colour when he played the violin. So you see, it had to be illustrated in colour.'

9.
What you really do when you start to draw is you imagine that you are that person and you go into the reactions you think you would be having. I find myself doing the faces as I'm drawing them.

10.
I like drawing anything that is doing something. I like activity. Dragons are good because you can arrange them in interesting ways across the page, get people to ride on them, that sort of thing. Most animals are interesting to draw. Cars are difficult unless they are a bit broken down.

11.

To begin with, I was a bit nervous. He was quite a powerful figure. But we got on very well. He liked winding me up - only in the most harmless way. I often wore these white shoes, and he'd say 'Here's old Quent' - no-one else ever calls me that - 'here's old Quent, he's going out for dinner in his plimsolls!'

What was so nice about Roald was that he actually wanted the pictures - he didn't like it if there weren't enough. Not all authors are like that. We worked together for 13 years from 1977, until he died.

12.
The truth is I don't make much distinction between the drawings that I do for children and the ones I do for grown-ups. To me, it's all just drawing. In fact I didn't start off illustrating children's books. I drew for magazines, I drew jokes, I did drawings for the covers of paperbacks - such as the novels of Malcolm Bradbury, Evelyn Waugh and Margaret Drabble.

The most enjoyable books for adults that I do nowadays are illustrations for the classics, and they are mostly published by the Folio Society. The most recent ones are Candide and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I've also illustrated Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, although it would be hard to say if that is for adults or children; it's really for everybody.

13.

Athough it was hard work, it was marvellous too. For two years (1999-2001) my job was to do everything I could to promote children's literature. I gave lots of talks and interviews and wrote lots of articles. There were several new books, including The Laureate's Party , which brought together 50 of my favourite children's books, and Words and Pictures, which is a book about my work.

One of the most exciting things that happened during that time was putting together an exhibition for the National Gallery. In Tell me a Picture I chose 26 pictures, one for each letter of the alphabet: some Old Masters from the gallery collection; some modern works and some present-day illustrations from various countries. What the pictures have in common is that they all tell a story in some way. And the best part was that I was encouraged to draw on the walls of the National Gallery - not something you get to do very often! Over 250,000 people visited the exhibition!
I also had a particularly interesting experience producing a book in collaboration with 1800 French-speaking schoolchildren! A group of teachers based near my house in France had the idea of collaborating with an author-illustrator on a real book to be based on suggestions made by children from schools in the region, and they asked me to do it. The book was to be about humanitarian issues: bullying, racism, pollution, war. Via the internet we involved other French-speaking schools in London, Dublin, Luxembourg, even in Singapore. I used as many of the children's ideas as possible, and much of the text was stitched together from the children's writings.

The amount of work involved by all the teachers and by me was truly enormous, but the finished book - Un Bateau dans le Ciel  (A Sailing-Boat in the Sky, in English) - is something I am very proud of. And the whole project took just a year from the first meeting to publication - une belle aventure (a wonderful adventure) as one of the teachers put it!

If you want to find out more about what I did as Children's Laureate, you can find it in Laureate's Progress, which is a kind of diary with pictures.

How I draw

How I draw

I do a freewheeling sort of drawing that looks as though it is done on the spur of the moment. Even a single drawing
needs a certain amount of preparation and planning. Most of the time I need to do a rough in which I find out how
people stand, what sort of expressions they have, how they fit on the page. For a sequence of drawings more
planning is needed, and one needs to think of a number of questions at the same time (which is part of the interest
of the job): is the method and medium of this drawing suitable to the atmosphere of the book? What goes on which
page? Do the actions carry on from one picture to another? Do the characters still look the same on each page? In
the attempt to combine planning with an air of spontaneity I've employed various techniques of which the one I
have found most successful, and have used for the last thirty years, makes use of a light box.




On the light box I put the rough drawing I am going to work from, and on top of that a sheet of watercolour paper,
normally Canson or Arches fin. Ready to hand is a bottle of waterproof black ink and a lot of scruffy-looking dip
pens. Essentially each of these is a straight double-ended holder (a German make called Brausse) with a nib, which
is flexible and scratchy, or a J nib, which is harder and broader. Or it may be some other kind of nib, or a brush, or a
reed pen, depending on the needs of the job.


What happens next is not tracing; in fact it's important that I can't see the rough drawing underneath too clearly,
because when I draw I try to draw as if for the first time; but I can do it with increased concentration, because the
drawing underneath lets me know all the elements that have to appear and exactly where they have to be placed.
Normally I begin with the most difficult piece of the drawing - some particular facial expression, some particular
gesture or stance - so that if I get that wrong, I don't have to repeat the whole of the drawing. Consequently, it's
not impossible for me to find myself at the end of a session of work surrounded by expensive sheets of watercolour
paper with a small face bearing not quite the right expression in the middle of each.



There are various other stages at which I may have to stop and start again - the drawing may be finished but
uncoloured or even completely finished before I decide that it lacks some flavour hinted at in the rough, or that
there's some quality of line or colour that doesn't seem quite consistent with the rest of the book. And sometimes I
may do two or three finished versions in the search for some phantom felicity. This comes under the heading of
Artist's Neurosis, and later I am not always sure why I made the choice I did or if it was the right one.
Watch Quentin in action here in 'Ten Minutes of Illustration' as he produces a piece of artwork in his studio, from
rough work to finished drawing.  
Filmed in 2003 by the National Gallery Company.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qCHoUZHcK9Q