Stuart Ashen’s Poundland Peril

I am not a huge fan of Youtube videos that feature people 'reviewing' things. I find that most videos feature someone wittering on about something in their collection (I detest any video that start with “Hey everyone, wassup?”) However, these videos make the talented few shine all the brighter, case in point the videos of comedian and technology reviewer Dr.Stuart Ashen. Ashen delivers videos that are both interesting and funny were he reviews electronic knockoffs, bad games and items bought from Poundland and they are very good!
I have been subscribing to his channel for a few years now and back in October Ashens set the Not-100-Videos competition. Inviting viewers to submit artwork that incorporated what his videos were about and what they meant to us. Once correlated the pieces would feature in a future video where a winner would be announced. So I thought I would have a go, assuming that you are interested in how I work, I shall talk you through the creative process...


After some thought I decided to create a cover for a fake Spectrum game called ‘Stuart Ashen’s Poundland Peril’ depicting Ashen weaving his way through a Poundland shop dodging enemies and elements from his videos. Once I had finished the drawing I photocopied it to thin a3 card.


Using acrylic paint I apply the background colours and re-apply outlines and detail that was lost.


4 hours later with the main colours applied I add shadows, define outlines and add further detail and colour as I go.


7 hours later the painting was complete ready to be photocopied.


To maintain a Tony Hart, ’Hart Beat’ feel I stuck the print to pastel blue card,wrote my name and age on the back and posted my entry.


As promised Ashen produced a video announcing the winners of the competition. So impressed with the standard of the entries received he decided to feature each one in a series of 3 videos.
At the end of 2 of 3 I was delighted to discover that ‘Stuart Ashen’s Pondland Peril’ had won the fine art category! As you can see from the video standards were very high.



And here we have my prizes! The fake PSP that plays old Nintendo games, Ashenthology 1 dvd “And Bully's Special Prize!” a Lego Samurai figure! My thanks to everyone who left comments on the page and of course to Stuart Ashen for arranging the competition and selecting my painting!
“Potato!”



© Arfon Jones 2010. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.