I plan on shooting a new performance video in the coming weeks.....watch this space for a new song soon!
:wave:
:wave:
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- * - George Harrison lifesize Marionette creation - * -
- Thread starter Figments Friend
- Start date
Some good happenings lately -
Over the past 3 days i have been filming NEW VIDEO PERFORMANCES of my George Harrison marionette. SIX new videos of 'George' in action were made, and the first of the new series will be up on YouTube sometime next week. I will of course post all links here as soon as they are live and ready for sharing. I think a couple of them are a step up from 'Any Road' which is currently up to 900+ views in a months time. THANK YOU to everyone who watched and shared! MORE are coming next week!
I may not release all of these at once...at this point i am not entirely sure. When i rewatch them i will decide then when the time to upload comes. There is one i am still on the fence about releasing ( due to a performance standpoint) so i may re-film it at a later date.
The other big news related to all of this is that i have discovered while experimenting around with 'George' during filming is that he can play REAL guitars! This was a wonderful surprise, for now i do not have to make special 'foamboard' models for him to use. This ALSO is a great discovery as it opens up George's ENTIRE catalog of songs now for play. I cannot express in mere words how stunning a realisation this all was. So in the forthcoming videos, you will see 'George' play REAL guitars..both acoustic AND electric. I have to say he looked mighty proper holding a old 50's Gibson model...It was a surreal 'Harrison Experience' moment. One neat thing is that if his hand is operated correctly, 'George' can actually strike the strings and create notes. Now THAT was rather surreal. I suppose i should not be so surprised, i mean, it's George Harrison for cryin' out loud..of COURSE he can play 'real guitars'!!
So a very exciting week on my end.
The new performance videos are:
* - "Pisces Fish" - My new fave...the song lends itself extremely well to 'George's' movements, plus some cool lighting is used.
* - "The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' - 'George' is in fine form as he plays his Uke along to this favored tune.
* - 'If Not For You" - I filmed this just for fun, as i love the song and i was so amazed that 'George' could now play my real acoustic.
* - "Jai Sri Krishna' - Something i filmed exspecially for the spriritually enclined, 'George' blisses out in the garden.
* - 'That's The Way It Goes' - Another video i shot just for the fun of it, as 'George' plays a old Gibson. I may reshoot this at a later date, so i am not entirely sure if this will be released at this point.
* - I also had a friend film me performing 'George' so folks that are curious can see how i operate him. 'Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' was reshot in this form, so viewers can get a 'Behind the Scenes' ( or in this case 'Strings'!) look at what i do to bring 'George' to life.
Over the past 3 days i have been filming NEW VIDEO PERFORMANCES of my George Harrison marionette. SIX new videos of 'George' in action were made, and the first of the new series will be up on YouTube sometime next week. I will of course post all links here as soon as they are live and ready for sharing. I think a couple of them are a step up from 'Any Road' which is currently up to 900+ views in a months time. THANK YOU to everyone who watched and shared! MORE are coming next week!
I may not release all of these at once...at this point i am not entirely sure. When i rewatch them i will decide then when the time to upload comes. There is one i am still on the fence about releasing ( due to a performance standpoint) so i may re-film it at a later date.
The other big news related to all of this is that i have discovered while experimenting around with 'George' during filming is that he can play REAL guitars! This was a wonderful surprise, for now i do not have to make special 'foamboard' models for him to use. This ALSO is a great discovery as it opens up George's ENTIRE catalog of songs now for play. I cannot express in mere words how stunning a realisation this all was. So in the forthcoming videos, you will see 'George' play REAL guitars..both acoustic AND electric. I have to say he looked mighty proper holding a old 50's Gibson model...It was a surreal 'Harrison Experience' moment. One neat thing is that if his hand is operated correctly, 'George' can actually strike the strings and create notes. Now THAT was rather surreal. I suppose i should not be so surprised, i mean, it's George Harrison for cryin' out loud..of COURSE he can play 'real guitars'!!
So a very exciting week on my end.
The new performance videos are:
* - "Pisces Fish" - My new fave...the song lends itself extremely well to 'George's' movements, plus some cool lighting is used.
* - "The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' - 'George' is in fine form as he plays his Uke along to this favored tune.
* - 'If Not For You" - I filmed this just for fun, as i love the song and i was so amazed that 'George' could now play my real acoustic.
* - "Jai Sri Krishna' - Something i filmed exspecially for the spriritually enclined, 'George' blisses out in the garden.
* - 'That's The Way It Goes' - Another video i shot just for the fun of it, as 'George' plays a old Gibson. I may reshoot this at a later date, so i am not entirely sure if this will be released at this point.
* - I also had a friend film me performing 'George' so folks that are curious can see how i operate him. 'Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' was reshot in this form, so viewers can get a 'Behind the Scenes' ( or in this case 'Strings'!) look at what i do to bring 'George' to life.
wdwhoneymooner
Well-Known Member
That is an incredible accomplishment! I'm a huge Beatles fan (been listening for over 30 years) and would love to have a mini-George to hang in my car. Well done!
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
Now this one really has me excited to see. I love behind-the-scenes kind of stuff.
Be sure to let me know when this goes live. :wave:
Will do..it will be my pleasure!
This will be one of my first stops to post links when all is up and live next week.
The 'Behind the Strings' segment is quick and simple...just my friend filming 'George' performing a verison of 'The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' while i am seen controlling him from above. He zooms in a little to show my hands operating the crossbar controls, as well as showing the scale of the figure. When you see 'George' and me in the same shot, it is surprising as it makes clear how truly LIFESIZE he is!
At some point later in the year, if there is interest, i may film a short 'Documentary' video telling the story of how he was created, and a more in depth view of how he is animated/operated. I will hold off on this...and see what sort of reactions his other upcoming performance videos go over.
This will be one of my first stops to post links when all is up and live next week.
The 'Behind the Strings' segment is quick and simple...just my friend filming 'George' performing a verison of 'The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea' while i am seen controlling him from above. He zooms in a little to show my hands operating the crossbar controls, as well as showing the scale of the figure. When you see 'George' and me in the same shot, it is surprising as it makes clear how truly LIFESIZE he is!
At some point later in the year, if there is interest, i may film a short 'Documentary' video telling the story of how he was created, and a more in depth view of how he is animated/operated. I will hold off on this...and see what sort of reactions his other upcoming performance videos go over.
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Came across these today, and thought it would be of interest to include them in this thread.
Here are some of the 60 or so preliminary drawings i did to plan out every feature realted to the ' George Harrison ' marionette.
Much of what you will see was changed during his creation, particularly the crossbar controls and his visual appearence. Most of the internal workings and sculpted diagram ideas were used and executed almost exactly as originally drawn.
I will make notes where there is something that might be of special interest.
First up, one of the first full sheets of doodles i did to get out onto paper what had been in my head for about a month to see if this was feasable.
^ At this early stage 'George' was sporting his half-shaven 80's appearence. The main focus at this early stage was plotting out how the different animations would work in the context of his facial layout. In simple terms, would all i wanted him to do actually be able to happen internally in this figure. 'George' was originally planned to be a small marionette..much like your standard sized puppet figure...that would be operated on a tabletop and walk around. This changed later on as will be shown.
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^ Another early set of drawings, this time focusing on how the different facial animations will actually be tackled and built. All of the concepts here were actually used, with only very slight changes.
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^ This page represents what ideas i had for creating various aspects of his body, specifically his outer clothing and various limb details. Several pages were drawn outlining ideas for how his body should be made, but i chose this page to share as it has more variety ( and hopefully more interest!) Note the three figures on the top of the page- these are the three different clothing choices i was pondering over while construction was underway.
Came across these today, and thought it would be of interest to include them in this thread.
Here are some of the 60 or so preliminary drawings i did to plan out every feature realted to the ' George Harrison ' marionette.
Much of what you will see was changed during his creation, particularly the crossbar controls and his visual appearence. Most of the internal workings and sculpted diagram ideas were used and executed almost exactly as originally drawn.
I will make notes where there is something that might be of special interest.
First up, one of the first full sheets of doodles i did to get out onto paper what had been in my head for about a month to see if this was feasable.
^ At this early stage 'George' was sporting his half-shaven 80's appearence. The main focus at this early stage was plotting out how the different animations would work in the context of his facial layout. In simple terms, would all i wanted him to do actually be able to happen internally in this figure. 'George' was originally planned to be a small marionette..much like your standard sized puppet figure...that would be operated on a tabletop and walk around. This changed later on as will be shown.
-
^ Another early set of drawings, this time focusing on how the different facial animations will actually be tackled and built. All of the concepts here were actually used, with only very slight changes.
-
^ This page represents what ideas i had for creating various aspects of his body, specifically his outer clothing and various limb details. Several pages were drawn outlining ideas for how his body should be made, but i chose this page to share as it has more variety ( and hopefully more interest!) Note the three figures on the top of the page- these are the three different clothing choices i was pondering over while construction was underway.
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Continuing now with the initial sketches that led to 'George's' creation.....
^ During the time i was working on sculpting his head, i did a series of sketches outlining ideas for how his arms and hands should appear and what they should be made from. This picture above shows a series of images covering all aspects of how he should strum his ukulele. Everything was considered, from posture, finger pose, appearence in general ( tendon lines, knuckles, fingernails, etc.) to help create a sense of realisim. The bottom half of this page shows the complex 'slide bar' i originally planned on making to enable 'George' to move his left hand to 'hold chord notes' on his uke when playing. This was never made primarily because when it became obvious this figure was turning out much larger then expected, this animation would have proved troublesome and difficult to operate. There was so much else to be mindful of when performing 'George' you would need another person to just operate his 'slide' hand. Another image of interest- in the bottom right hand side you can see the spoof i did of the banjolele's brand label. The original 'CN' was changed to a similarly styled 'GH' in honour of George.
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^ One of several napkins i drew on with ideas and planned strategies for how 'George' should be operated. Since he is a marionette, the strings were to be positioned to reflect where the various animations were to happen. The layout of the strings, and the shape of the crossbar controls, varies greatly from figure to figure. No two are ever the same really...as each character is usually of different size, weight, and has a different number of features or animations to control. Almost all of the charactersi had made up until this point were single-hand operated figures. 'George' had a far more complex array of animations, and required very careful considerations and planning to acheive the correct string layout and more importantly crossbar control layout. You can build the coolest puppet in the world, but it is really useless and a wasted effort if it cannot perform! So the top part of this early stage of development shows the string placement for both the head and body. At this point i knew 'George' was huge and would probably always perform seated..thus we see the string layout for his arms. The bottom half shows a few of the insane multitude of variations i made in trying to come up with a proper set of control bars. I must have gone through at least 30 different variations before reaching one that fit his needs perfectly. These shown were never used.
Continuing now with the initial sketches that led to 'George's' creation.....
^ During the time i was working on sculpting his head, i did a series of sketches outlining ideas for how his arms and hands should appear and what they should be made from. This picture above shows a series of images covering all aspects of how he should strum his ukulele. Everything was considered, from posture, finger pose, appearence in general ( tendon lines, knuckles, fingernails, etc.) to help create a sense of realisim. The bottom half of this page shows the complex 'slide bar' i originally planned on making to enable 'George' to move his left hand to 'hold chord notes' on his uke when playing. This was never made primarily because when it became obvious this figure was turning out much larger then expected, this animation would have proved troublesome and difficult to operate. There was so much else to be mindful of when performing 'George' you would need another person to just operate his 'slide' hand. Another image of interest- in the bottom right hand side you can see the spoof i did of the banjolele's brand label. The original 'CN' was changed to a similarly styled 'GH' in honour of George.
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^ One of several napkins i drew on with ideas and planned strategies for how 'George' should be operated. Since he is a marionette, the strings were to be positioned to reflect where the various animations were to happen. The layout of the strings, and the shape of the crossbar controls, varies greatly from figure to figure. No two are ever the same really...as each character is usually of different size, weight, and has a different number of features or animations to control. Almost all of the charactersi had made up until this point were single-hand operated figures. 'George' had a far more complex array of animations, and required very careful considerations and planning to acheive the correct string layout and more importantly crossbar control layout. You can build the coolest puppet in the world, but it is really useless and a wasted effort if it cannot perform! So the top part of this early stage of development shows the string placement for both the head and body. At this point i knew 'George' was huge and would probably always perform seated..thus we see the string layout for his arms. The bottom half shows a few of the insane multitude of variations i made in trying to come up with a proper set of control bars. I must have gone through at least 30 different variations before reaching one that fit his needs perfectly. These shown were never used.
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^ Here is a very early napkin drawing i did to clarify what i had in my mind at that early stage for the controls for 'George'. The two control bars shown were a must, as one controls his head animations while the larger one handled the arm and hand animations. These two sets of animation needed to be seperated as the timing would be seriously off on both the lip sych animations and the hand strumming motion if melded together. Also, due to 'George' being lifesize, there was no way my stubby fingers could handle pulling all those strings together! So the 'splitting up' was always planned right from the start.
In the end, this layout was not used. The actual control bars came out looking like a reverse version of this, with no interlocking hook used. No back string or shoulder strings were used in the end, as they were not needed. The actual controls i ended up making ended up looking 'backwards' when compared to this early version...the strum string is now where the back string was to be shown above. The very bottom shows a pattened stripe that was to be used to decorate the control bars '..for a touch of George..' as the scrawled lettering says in the bottom right hand edge. The final controls were indeed decorated - strips of Indian/Nepalense patternwork designs and a small 'Dark Horse' image were smoothed into various decorative points within the wood.
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^ Another napkin drawing, this time showing the correct animation sequence for 'George' to strum his uke. At this point i was near completion and most of the project was finished. This was drawn out just to give me a sense of what needed to happen when i finally strung the uke and placed it in George's hands. The black triangles show in which direction each string needs to be going in to create the illusion of actually strumming the instrument. It takes seven strings for 'George' to strum. If i had added the 'slide' feature, it would have been eight. The various angles and smooth movements are achieved by the combination of rocking back and forth between the seven, with the primarily 'strum string' attached through his guitar(s) being the key component.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into what went into making 'George'. When i finally get the new batch of performance videos up, you will get to see him in action with me at the controls.
^ Here is a very early napkin drawing i did to clarify what i had in my mind at that early stage for the controls for 'George'. The two control bars shown were a must, as one controls his head animations while the larger one handled the arm and hand animations. These two sets of animation needed to be seperated as the timing would be seriously off on both the lip sych animations and the hand strumming motion if melded together. Also, due to 'George' being lifesize, there was no way my stubby fingers could handle pulling all those strings together! So the 'splitting up' was always planned right from the start.
In the end, this layout was not used. The actual control bars came out looking like a reverse version of this, with no interlocking hook used. No back string or shoulder strings were used in the end, as they were not needed. The actual controls i ended up making ended up looking 'backwards' when compared to this early version...the strum string is now where the back string was to be shown above. The very bottom shows a pattened stripe that was to be used to decorate the control bars '..for a touch of George..' as the scrawled lettering says in the bottom right hand edge. The final controls were indeed decorated - strips of Indian/Nepalense patternwork designs and a small 'Dark Horse' image were smoothed into various decorative points within the wood.
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^ Another napkin drawing, this time showing the correct animation sequence for 'George' to strum his uke. At this point i was near completion and most of the project was finished. This was drawn out just to give me a sense of what needed to happen when i finally strung the uke and placed it in George's hands. The black triangles show in which direction each string needs to be going in to create the illusion of actually strumming the instrument. It takes seven strings for 'George' to strum. If i had added the 'slide' feature, it would have been eight. The various angles and smooth movements are achieved by the combination of rocking back and forth between the seven, with the primarily 'strum string' attached through his guitar(s) being the key component.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into what went into making 'George'. When i finally get the new batch of performance videos up, you will get to see him in action with me at the controls.
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Fabulous news everyone! I have been able to upload the FIVE NEW 'George Harrison Marionette' performance videos. Woo hoo! Those of you who have 'subscribed' to my YouTube channel should be amoung the first to see them!
On October 1st, i will lauch them publically by posting all direct links HERE for everyone to enjoy. SO on October 1st, "Uke Happens" yet again!
EPCOTPluto
Well-Known Member
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Ladies and Gents...the moment you have all been waiting for...
Here now for your enjoyment is the ALL NEW collection of 'George Harrison' Marionette performance videos!
Now enjoy FIVE new videos - four songs performed by 'George' along with one special 'Behind the Strings' segement giving viewers a peek into how he is brought to life.
Direct links -
"Pisces Fish" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nWkM6ll7y4
"Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWskGzt91f4
Behind the Strings segment -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-66P7i0erXE
"That's The Way It Goes" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeeGgGaUlE
"Jai Sri Krishna" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LNsoDPvHgM
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Ladies and Gents...the moment you have all been waiting for...
Here now for your enjoyment is the ALL NEW collection of 'George Harrison' Marionette performance videos!
Now enjoy FIVE new videos - four songs performed by 'George' along with one special 'Behind the Strings' segement giving viewers a peek into how he is brought to life.
Direct links -
"Pisces Fish" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nWkM6ll7y4
"Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWskGzt91f4
Behind the Strings segment -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-66P7i0erXE
"That's The Way It Goes" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUeeGgGaUlE
"Jai Sri Krishna" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LNsoDPvHgM
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Latest batch of photos, these from the video shoots this past Summer.
Enjoy!
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Enjoy!
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I'm so glad this thread was bumped because I haven't caught it till now.
I can't even begin to tell you how freaked out I am right now from your George puppet...and that is a testament to the unbelievable job you did creating it. Your napkin notes on the design and everything show the level of detail and creativity that had to be put into this guy. And your puppetry is just amazing.
And the Wuzzles! OMG! I just got a bunch of warm fuzzles when I saw them.
Have you made a Pinocchio yet? I would love to see more of your work.
I can't even begin to tell you how freaked out I am right now from your George puppet...and that is a testament to the unbelievable job you did creating it. Your napkin notes on the design and everything show the level of detail and creativity that had to be put into this guy. And your puppetry is just amazing.
And the Wuzzles! OMG! I just got a bunch of warm fuzzles when I saw them.
Have you made a Pinocchio yet? I would love to see more of your work.
Thanks muchly.
Absolutely none to date...anyone here wanting to 'help out' with that, feel free !
:wave:
I'm so glad this thread was bumped because I haven't caught it till now.
I can't even begin to tell you how freaked out I am right now from your George puppet...and that is a testament to the unbelievable job you did creating it. Your napkin notes on the design and everything show the level of detail and creativity that had to be put into this guy. And your puppetry is just amazing.
And the Wuzzles! OMG! I just got a bunch of warm fuzzles when I saw them.
Have you made a Pinocchio yet? I would love to see more of your work.
Thanks Laura..glad to hear you enjoy him!
Yes, i made a Pinnochio ( and MANY other Disney Characters) way back in the 80s when i was a teen. They are far more simple in design then 'George'. I have some photos, at some point i will have to scan and post em'. Right now The Wuzzles are the only two i have a current photo of.
Disney character marionettes i have made over the years...here a list off the top of my head-
Mickey and Minnie ( naturally..)
Pinnochio and Jiminy
Five of The Wuzzles ( all but Hoppo)
All six original Gummi Bears
Roger Rabbit ( the best, by far, performance wise)
Flik ( 7 inches tall and very cool)
Sebastian the crab ( 'crab size' with realistic animations - crab walk is neat)
My fave is Roger Rabbit...a GREAT puppet character. I still have the marionette i made of him hanging here in my room. Most of the others i have 'retired' and put away in storage.
The one pic i DO have currently shows two characters that today could be included in the 'Disney' list i guess...since TDC now owns them...
^ Baby Gonzo ( of Muppet Babies fame) and Wembley Fraggle ( of Fraggle Rock fame). Both of these i made in the mid 80s.
Here are a few photos i have of some of the original characters i created for my show over the years. I ran a for-hire entertainment offering called 'Circus Showplace Marionette Shows' from the mid 80s up to the late 90s. I still do public shows, but it is usually few and far between gigs these days....
^ Peter and Penelope Penguin, who i made to perform a act in my annual Christmas gigs.
^ Rock n' Roo and Taylor Koala, of the rock band 'The Psychographic Pagodas'. This was another skit i used to have in my show.
^ 'The Wackadallies' Samelitte ( left) and Marsven ( right). I made these alien creatures back in 1992. Oddly, Marsven looks a lot like a certain Disney alien we all know. Interesting.....
^Donna Doggette and Kitrina Kittie, a pair of singers i made for a show about friendship ( thus the dog/cat pairing).
For those who may be interested...and are users of the social network 'Facebook'...
'George' now has his very own Facebook Page!
Search 'George Harrison Marionette' or click on this direct link if you are already signed up for Facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/George-Harrison-Marionette/108744329145003?ref=mf
I thought it would be a fun way to promote the performance videos, and keep all the drawings, reference photos, and written stories about his creation in one spot that anyone, anywhere can view.
Stop on over and have a look....
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In other news....
There is talk now of adding a couple of more videos to the collection. Two songs are being considered, and filming may well take place in the coming months.
'George' now has his very own Facebook Page!
Search 'George Harrison Marionette' or click on this direct link if you are already signed up for Facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/George-Harrison-Marionette/108744329145003?ref=mf
I thought it would be a fun way to promote the performance videos, and keep all the drawings, reference photos, and written stories about his creation in one spot that anyone, anywhere can view.
Stop on over and have a look....
-
In other news....
There is talk now of adding a couple of more videos to the collection. Two songs are being considered, and filming may well take place in the coming months.
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All new photos of 'George' , photographed last month.
More will be forthcoming as in the coming weeks work starts on the latest batch of new performance videos.
Enjoy these in the meantime!
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'George' poses for the camera with his favourite ukulele
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When the mood strikes him, 'George' is known to pick up his uke and do a improptu performance...much to the delight of onlookers.
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A experimental photograph, done for artistic purposes.
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The play of light on 'George's' face makes a nice image. The tiny turquoise 'Dark Horse Records' lapel pin he wears can be seen in this closer view.
All new photos of 'George' , photographed last month.
More will be forthcoming as in the coming weeks work starts on the latest batch of new performance videos.
Enjoy these in the meantime!
-
'George' poses for the camera with his favourite ukulele
-
When the mood strikes him, 'George' is known to pick up his uke and do a improptu performance...much to the delight of onlookers.
-
A experimental photograph, done for artistic purposes.
-
The play of light on 'George's' face makes a nice image. The tiny turquoise 'Dark Horse Records' lapel pin he wears can be seen in this closer view.