Gisborne artist adds animation to his resume

The Crumb Factory have a gig at Gizzy Local in Lowe Street on August 5 and the video can be seen on YouTube.

A new animated music video “Kitty” is a first for Gisborne artist and musician Brian Campbell who has created a bitingly satirical clip about a cat who may look innocent but has a secret urge.

The accomplished painter, printmaker, poet, musician and surfer has added another string to his bow — animation.

The video accompanies the song written by Brian and recorded by his band The Crumb Factory. It follows Kitty as she goes on the prowl accompanied by such lyrics as, “Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. But don’t let her pull the wool. Some things are not as they seem . . . She’s got a murderous heart”.

Brian said he had the character in his mind for a few years before he finally decided to create the animation on an iPad.

“I’d done illustrations and cartoons before but not on an iPad. You just load it onto iMovies which comes with the iPad and I edited it on that,” he says.

“Every frame is a drawing and some of them are quite time consuming - it can take a couple of days to do three seconds but other parts came together quicker — it depended on how much movement there was. It was a bit of a learning curve.”

He enlisted the help of Gisborne illustrator and animator Steph Barnett who was able to share a few tricks of the trade.

“There was a lot of time involved but that’s probably because I was learning as I went.”

The Crumb Factory made up of Scott Casley (drummer) and Paulus McKinnon (bass guitar) has been going for around 10 years. Their friend Peter Stewart played electric guitar on the recording of the Kitty song.

“I think the video appeals to both cat lovers and haters. They look so cute but then you see what they do to their prey.

“I’ve had good feedback from anyone who’s seen the video but it needs to get out to a wider audience - maybe it needs some influencer to get on board. It’s been an interesting process just to see how far it will go on YouTube.”

Brian’s last exhibition of paintings was Head Above Water, created for Hastings City Art Gallery, which explored a world in which humans are the architects of their own downfall. With a career spanning more than 40 years, he uses satire, fantasy and humour in his work to tackle issues such as conspiracy theories and climate change. The Kitty video has his trademark humour and style but uses the new medium of animation.

■ The Crumb Factory have a gig at Gizzy Local on August 5 and the video can be seen on YouTube.