<![CDATA[LEE SHEARMAN

<![CDATA[LEE SHEARMAN - News]]>Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:04:29 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[COMIC: PAPER TOOTH]]>Sat, 17 Sep 2022 17:09:46 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/comic-paper-tooth

Developments sketches for the pages for Paper Tooth Comic (coming soon)

]]><![CDATA[Studio: September 2022]]>Sat, 17 Sep 2022 15:30:57 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/studio-september-2022

A shot of the latest studio --- zine collection, books reshuffle since moving to Winchester.

]]><![CDATA[Paper Tooth / Illustrated comic]]>Sat, 17 Sep 2022 15:24:40 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/paper-tooth-illustrated-comic

I am working on a narrative comic (working title Paper Tooth) that collects various tools and materials used by illustrators.

]]><![CDATA[Sketchbook]]>Fri, 16 Sep 2022 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/sketchbook

Train drawings with Pentel brush pen

]]><![CDATA[ZIne Haul from Xoa Bookshop Prague]]>Fri, 16 Sep 2022 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/zine-haul-from-xoa-bookshop-prague

A recent trip to Prague with Illustration students from the University of Portsmouth. I scouted a bookshop Xao Gallery and bought a Selection of zines. Rich and inventive riso wonders!

https://xaoxax.cz/

]]><![CDATA[Protoype: making a box for tapestry soundbook]]>Tue, 12 Jul 2022 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/protoype-making-a-box-for-tapestry-soundbook

Busy working out the dimensions of the tapestry box, endless prototypes were made to make the lid fit correctly. It will house the book and the mechanical music box.

]]><![CDATA[Sketchbook drawings]]>Tue, 03 May 2022 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/sketchbook-drawings

A selection of ink drawings from my sketchbooks

]]><![CDATA[Гобеле́н (Tapestry)]]>Mon, 10 Feb 2020 18:50:23 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/-tapestry-micro-library-book

My submission for International Artists’ Books exhibition Love and Music, 2020.
Six hundred and sixty-two 3mm holes punched along a 13.3 foot long paper strip, accordion-folded into a 120-page book, and wrapped in a printed paper belly-band. Using a 1:16 scale version of The Bayeux Tapestry as a guide, the exact head position of each of the 626 human figures (embroidered into the original tapestry) were marked onto a 13-foot long strip of 160gsm paper, and punched out as 3mm holes. When the pages are removed from the hardcovers they can be fed and wound through a 15-note mechanical music box, sounding notes.

Гобеле́н (Tapestry)
Dimensions:35mm (w) x 45mm (h) x 35mm (d) (closed), 35mm x 4600mm (unfurled)
Weight: 35 grams
Materials: saffron-coloured rayon book cloth, 160gsm caramel-coloured paper, inkjet 140gsm wrap, card.

]]><![CDATA[animation: Multipane camera rostrum]]>Wed, 22 Jan 2020 14:11:18 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/multipane-animation-camera-rostrum

After making several practical versions of a multiplane rostrum I assembled a more abstract sculptural piece from wood, acrylic and metal.

Multiplane Rostrum (Artists’ Maquette) is a ½ scale model of piece of equipment used in the creation of stop frame animation. The handmade scale model is a speculative sculptural piece with mechanism with frame, scrolling, trays and moveable arms. The various mechanisms allow visual materials such a filters to be passed below and in front of a camera in and out of the frame. The sculpture, which is a sculpture on what an animator needs to create an animation, speculates on the various processes involved in making abstract animation.

Title: Multiplane Rostrum (Artists’ Maquette), 2019
Dimensions: 24cm (w) x 28cm (d) x 29.5cm (h)
Materials: wood, Perspex, acrylic, metal, brass

‘Traditionally, experimental animators have avoided the standard animation stand and the production-line procedures of the commercial studio. One common bond among all experimental animators is that, in varying degrees, they personalize their equipment and techniques, as does any fine artisan or craftsman. Some animators have gone far beyond the conventional mechanisms by building complex devices…’

- Cecile Starr & Robert Russett from ‘Experimental Animation’, 1976’.

]]><![CDATA[LECTURE: ANimating 'stories in transit']]>Wed, 08 Jan 2020 13:11:07 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/lecture-animating-stories-in-transit

This coming March 2020 I am giving a lecture at The Royal Drawing School alongside Joan Ashworth about our involvement with Stories in Transit. All welcome.

''Joan Ashworth and Lee Shearman will unfold their contribution to Stories in Transit, Marina Warner’s project working with refugees in Palermo, Sicily that uses storytelling and narrative games to exercise the imagination of the participants.

Joan and Lee have worked with one of the stories, as told by Dine Diallo; one of the young refugees from Guinea. After an oral telling of the story by Dine, participants in the workshop made drawings in response, which were then translated into articulated silhouette and translucent paper cut-out figures. Using this artwork as material for animation, participants filmed sequences using a variety of creative techniques.

Joan and Lee will discuss and reflect on the processes involved in creating the animation, show examples of the paper puppets as well as screening clips from the film so far and reveal the next steps for the Stories In Transit project. shall be discussing our contribution to Stories in Transit, Marina Warner’s project working with refugees in Palermo, Sicily that uses storytelling and narrative games to exercise the imagination of the participants. We will discuss and reflect on the processes involved in creating the animation, show examples of the paper puppets as well as screening clips from the film so far and reveal the next steps for the Stories In Transit project.''

ANIMATING 'STORIES IN TRANSIT'
March 18th 2020, 6.45pm
Royal Drawing School, Shoreditch Studios, 19-22 Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3SG
£5 / £3.50 concessions

Read more about Stories in Transit website, or my reflection here.

]]><![CDATA[ANIMATION: Adapting an embroidery easel into an ipad rostrum]]>Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/animation-adapting-an-embroidery-easel-into-an-ipad-rostrum

ANIMATION: I have been experimenting with various ways of fixing an iPad above my work area. Rather than buying a metal camera stand I wanted to make something that could accommodate various additions, and be cut into and adapted into a multiplane camera rostrum. I found this embroidery easel made from pinewood so it is light but strong, and could easily be modified. #animation

]]><![CDATA[ANIMation: Rotoscope / gif]]>Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/january-11th-2020

Two Rotoscope Gifs I create in Procreate. I traced two instances of wind-blown tarpaulin.

]]><![CDATA[SOUND: Logic Pro X]]>Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/logic-pro-x

For sound production for upcoming animation projects I am using Logic Pro X since migrating my sound work from PC (Cakewalk & Soundforge). I am also using a U-PhoriaUMC404HD external sound card together with a Boss Micr BR-80 and a Sigma TM-15e+.

]]><![CDATA[Pop up paper kiosk / penguincubator]]>Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/pop-up-paper-kiosk-penguincubator

PAPER ENGINEERING: I designed, illustrated and assembled a miniature paper pop-up kiosk/ vending machine based on The Penguincubator. It was illustrated in Indesign, printed and assembled from two sheets of A4 180gsm card. It is a speculative maquette that suggests a book dispensary.

]]><![CDATA[EXHIBiTION: THE ASSET STRIPPERS / MIKE NELSON]]>Thu, 31 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/exhibtion-the-asset-strippers-mike-nelson

I visited The Asset Strippers by Mike Nelson at Tate Britain.

'Mike Nelson has transformed the heart of Tate Britain into somewhere between a sculpture court and an asset strippers’ warehouse, carefully selecting objects from a past world, the post-war Britain that framed his childhood. Nelson’s project has been informed by the Duveen Galleries’ origins as the first purpose-built sculpture galleries in England, intended to rival the sculpture court at the British Museum and the V&A’s cast room, turning the neo-classical galleries into a warehouse of monuments to a lost era and the vision of society it represented.'

I was contacted by Heloise Laurie who is writing her PhD at Paris University. She asked for my recollections my experience of an earlier exhibition by Mike Nelson entitled 'The Coral Reef', which I had seen back in 2011.

Do you remember how you first heard about this work and what led you to visit it?
I first heard about Mike Nelson and his work back in 1999 when was I studying Fine Art in Portsmouth University, UK between 1997-2000. As part of the course, practicing artists would visit our University each week to talk about themselves and their work. One of those artists was Mike Nelson. During his artists talk he talked about his early career, inspirations and his work- including installations he had been working on. One in particular was Agent Dickson at The Red Star Hotel- an installation at Hales Gallery, London 1995. It was a kind of space shuttle built from stacked boxes; inside of which was a 'cabin' a small cramped room with a hammock, a painting, some crash helmets, tin post and pans, books. The visual impact of this work - in a red-lit room made quite an impression on me. His discussed his work- which blended fact and fiction- along with slides. It really inspired me - so I actively sought out his work. I saw The Coral Reef for the first time at Matt's Gallery, London back in 2000. At that time Matts Gallery was located on Copperfield Road, London. I think it was the first time The Coral Reef was exhibited. I saw a listing for the exhibition in Time Out. It was the first time I had visited Matt's Gallery also.

According to your recollection, how long was your visit of " The Coral Reef " ?
I visited the gallery on my own and I remember vividly the work and I wondered about The Coral Reef for several hours.

Were there many people that day in the artwork? Did you have to wait to enter or did you feel that you could not go at your own pace inside the work?
When I visited The Coral Reef installation at that time, in the afternoon -the installation was empty! I was fully immersed in the work, on my own, allowed to wonder about the rooms freely. At that time Mike Nelson was not as well known as he has now become.

At the entrance of " The Coral Reef ", was it necessary to sign a discharge of responsibility in case of accident or were you advised to be careful or not to touch the elements of the artwork?
At the entrance I signed in, but for the Matts Gallery mailing list. I don't think I signed anything else.

Were there any « guards » in the different rooms of the artwork ?
As far as I remember, there were no guards.

According to your recollection, how would you describe your physical attitude in the artwork?
The installation was a labyrinth made of interconnecting reception rooms- perhaps 20 or so, each with their own light source, each room built with furniture, and remnants of a former occupant. Doors had to be pulled open, some were badly fixed, and some were heavy. It was cold. The Coral Reef was immediately fully immersive.

From your recollection, how would you describe your feelings in " The Coral Reef "? Would you say that your feelings evolved during the visit ?
The rooms were convincingly built and they were fabricated well. I had never visited Matts Gallery before, so I wasn't even sure initially where the Coral Reef began and the gallery ended. I initially thought that the contents of the rooms were the work, and the rooms formed the gallery. From my initial exploration of the first room, to the last- my feelings changed.

Do you have tactile, sonorous, olfactory memories of the artwork?
My memories of the work are quite vivid and detailed. I remember the smell of the installation. Chipboard, paint, as if the whole had been hurriedly built, and very recently. The smell of plaster, and dust. The doors creaked when opened, the floor was uneven, and dusty. The light in some rooms was dim, in some TV screens flickered. I felt uneasy, and unsure about what I was supposed to do, and where I could go.

Do you remember how you could move from one level to another or from one room to another? Would you say that there were strange passages ? ( If yes, can you describe them a little ?)
Most of the rooms were on the same level, interconnected by a door, or corridor. Some doors were heavy and slammed shut, others were thin, some had windows, some solid wood. The corridors were small, cramped. The corridors and rooms were very different to each other, some painted different colours. The interiors were varied I felt as if it were a three dimensional sculptural collage.

Do you particularly remember one or more moments?
I remember the experience. From first entering the gallery wondering room after room to exiting, and buying the accompanying exhibition book Extinction Beckons. It was like visiting a closed but expansive film set. I remember TV screens, altars, sleeping bags, masks, bike helmets- and the overall feeling that the rooms had been very recently occupied. I felt uneasy.

Was it easy to find a place in the work? Did you feel like knowing where to go or did you feel like you were wandering?
I definitely felt I was wandering. I was lost both physically and mentally, metaphorically. As I explored the rooms many questions arose in my mind. Was I allowed to wonder? Why would someone build this? What were these rooms? What did they mean? Is this wall part of the gallery? Is this reception part of the gallery? Could Mike Nelson have really built all these rooms within the gallery space? What is the significance of the items on the room? Is this installation finished? Am I alone? Am I being watched?

I unfortunately did not have the chance to visit this artwork. Would there be anything you could tell me that only visitors could perceive?
As you wander through the rooms you feel like you are going in circles. When you come to the last reception room, which you are sure is the entrance- as it appears the same reception room as you remember, you leave. But instead of the gallery door you expect, it is actually another room, and you find yourself in a kind of storeroom, with scaffold and paint pots. It looks like the remnants of materials used to build The Coral Reef. It is disorientating. It is definitely not the way you came in.

This 'trick' of The Coral Reef is wholly impressive. I was amazed, and horrified. After the realisation of the identcal rooms I re-explored The Coral Reef with more vigour. I realised that you don't actually walk in circles. I re-examined each of the rooms, and the first and last reception rooms. The only indication that the first reception room entered was any different to the last reception room- was the date circled on a wall calendar is different. You might not have noticed this.Without prior knowledge that the first and last rooms are different is important. The moment you realise cannot be expressed in words or pictures, You really have to experience it first hand.

From your recollection, when you left the artwork and you were back in the museum space or in the street, what was your feeling?
I felt I was witness to a trick, but an impressive trick that I enjoyed. The scale of the work was impressive.

Anything else you think it's important to say about this artwork?
The work has many layers, and it is best to see the work without knowing too much about it beforehand.

If you were to explain to a friend what this work is about, what would you tell them?
I would say very little about the work itself- especially if they were going to see it for the first time. The power of the work comes from the uncertainty- and initial immersion, the surprise. Conceptually I thought the rooms were interconnected reception rooms from different countries. I think I would say The Coral Reef is an installation; a blend of fact and fiction, rooted in literature.

Did you like this experience? Did you (or do you have since then) comparable artistic experiences?
I enjoyed the experience. It was transformative for me as an artist. I have never seen work that has come close to the grand trick of seeing this Mike Nelsons Coral Reef at Matts Gallery that first time. I did see The Coral Reef again when it was at Tate Britain in 2011, but the work was quite different- and it was busy with people. It seemed smaller, and my experience was diminished by its location, my familiarity of the concept and the sound of other people in the space. I think I was extremely lucky to see The Coral Reef at Matts Gallery beforehand.

Have you seen any other works of this artist? If yes, what did you think of it?
I saw A Forgotten Kingdom, (ICA, 2001) and Triple Bluff Canyon (Oxford, 2004), and was impressed, but the work made less of an impact.

]]><![CDATA[ARTists' books: ministry of books]]>Tue, 15 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/artists-books-ministry-of-books

MINISTRY OF BOOKS @ University of Portsmouth
I helped move The Ministry of Books collection to a new book room. Now the collection of artists' books their own space alongside Zinopolis.

]]><![CDATA[UV painted Sculpture]]>Tue, 15 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/uv-painted-sculpture

I made a balsa wood cityscape painted in Neon Pink UV paint for an upcoming exhibition at Stour Space

]]><![CDATA[MICRO LIBRARY BOOKS: HAL-9000 MINIATURE CONCERTINA]]>Wed, 09 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/micro-library-books-hal-9000-miniature-concertina

A mock up of a miniature concertina books based on HAL-9000 from 2001; A Space Odyssey. I made this mock up to coincide with the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition at The Design Museum, but the idea was rejected at quite a late stage so I didn't continue with the production of this book. The wrap is based on the control panel and safety warning from the film prop. The cover had red acetate covering a hole cut through. More info about Micro Library books here: www.microlibrarybooks.com

]]><![CDATA[MICRO library books featured in the blue notebook]]>Tue, 08 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/january-08th-2020

I was asked by Tom Sowden to submit some artwork to The Blue Notebook (writing on contemporary artists’ books) THE LIVERY OF LUSK & MURK OF ILLUSION

Read more:
Micro Library Books
The Blue Notebook

]]><![CDATA[DESIGN: MINISTRY OF BOOKS LOGO]]>Fri, 04 Oct 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/ministry-of-books-logo-redesign

GRAPHIC DESIGN: I redesigned the logo for Ministry of Books at University of Portsmouth, based on Maureen O'Neill's original design. I used indesign to create the circle and traced over Maureen's ministry icon.

]]><![CDATA[Bookarts: Zine, books, print Collection]]>Sat, 07 Sep 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/bookarts-zine-books-print-collection

My collection of the illustrative wonders that I have picked up at various Illustration and book fairs the last few years. Sorted these out at the start of the Academic year. There has been some great books made this last year.

]]><![CDATA[COMMISSION: MOVING TO MARS MINIATURE BOOKS]]>Tue, 03 Sep 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/commission-moving-to-mars-miniature-books

I am working with the poet Pip Rowson on a series of miniature books to coincide with the upcoming exhibition at The Design Museum ' Moving to Mars'. We set about researching and speculating relocating to Mars.

Arrive, Survive & Thrive Mars Books
Design Museum Moving to Mars Exhibition
Moving to Mars Micro Library Books Collection

]]><![CDATA[Artists talk: lOTHAR GOTZ @ Towner Gallery]]>Fri, 05 Jul 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/artists-talk-lothar-gotz-towner-gallery

I attended the artists talk Lothar Gotz gave at Towner about the trajectory of his arts practice, inspirations, influences and ideas behind Diagonal Dance the current commission at Towner Gallery. The conversation between Noelle Collins and Lothar about the commission was especially illuminating and I felt there were many themes in his work that relate to my own.

My note taken during the powerpoint talk in the Towner cinema, written in dark.

]]><![CDATA[Pop up Collage Diorama]]>Wed, 19 Jun 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/pop-up-collage-diorama

I designed and made a pocket-sized pop-up diorama collage.

]]><![CDATA[NEW Micro Library book collboration: FATHOMS by pip rowson]]>Tue, 04 Jun 2019 23:00:00 GMThttps://www.leeshearman.com/news/new-micro-library-book-collboration-fathoms-by-pip-rowson

I collaborated on a miniature handmade concertina-folded book featuring a poem by writer Pip Rowson. The poem incorporates thirteen captions from fathom charts. This artwork is a full-colour inkjet print on 160gsm paper, which has been cut, scored and folded down into thirty-two 35mm x 50mm pages, and bound in tweed green rayon hard covers. This first edition of 'Fathoms' is part of the Micro Library Books 'Featured Artist' series and is limited to 50 copies.

Dimensions Closed: 35 x 50 x 14mm
32 concertina pages, 160 gsm white paper, inkjet print, tweed green rayon cover, 35 x 50 x 10mm

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