The Clydeside Cowboy
3D Animated working concept for a futuristic central-belt solarpunk cartoon.
In Clydeside Cowboy I was inspired by the late ‘Birdman of Pollok’ – Colin Macleod and the activists of the Pollok Free State to create a 3D animated concept trailer for a central-belt set, solar-punk cartoon about the future of my home in Abronhill. Influenced by Afrosurrealism and early 90s Cartoon-network, Clydeside Cowboy honors the socialist architectural history of Cumbernauld and the diverse working class community of Abronhill.
This project and concept is a love letter to Cumbernauld, it’s socialist architectural history, communities and natural environment. The aim of my project was to use 3D modelling and animation to convey a sense of hope for my hometown and community; using surrealism and whimsy I have created a family friendly animation, and hopefully an episodic show, to support the hopeful Solarpunk artistic movement. To achieve this I set about the following goals: I wanted to use painted normal maps and hand painted textures, to convey my own illustration style – leaning into a graphic and cartoonish representation of my local community shopping center. Key cinematic, stylistic and narrative inspirations for me were Studio Ghibli, Into the spider-verse, 90s/00s Cartoon-Network and the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem!
Clydeside Cowboy is a 3D animation which reimagines the future of my own community, the end of capitalism and the beginning of a communal, library-economy. The future of this show will have you following the Clydeside Cowboy as he runs a lost media library and its delivery rental service, where anyone can borrow and return local movies and music from the past. Much like the 70s Matt McGinn song playing in the trailer.
I grew up and went to the high school George Forsyth filmed Gregory’s Girl (1981) in, which is now a fenced off and flattened wasteland – so a large part of this project, for me, was to make something for Abronhill by an Abronhill local. I think it’s common for us in Scotland to feel like we’re just the backdrop and rarely ever afforded opportunities to make our own films here and I’d like to be part of a changing this, growing up with Gregory’s Girl being part of my scheme’s history made me think this was more possible to do than it actually currently is! But! Through using free, open-sourced software – Blender – to animate in, I think will pave the way for more working-class artists to get their own stories heard; it definitely feels like the dawn of indie animation and games and I hope more hands get making and more untold stories are told!
The political inspiration and motivation behind Glaswegian Solarpunk can be found in the history of Galgael and The Pollok Freestate. A historic moment of working class, central belt climate solidarity that came about in the late 90s and was pioneered by the late and great Colin Macleod. Please consider supporting Galgael as they continue to provide wonderful community work here in Glasgow – https://www.galgael.org/ I hope my art in someway can convey the message as set by the wonderful people of Pollok: our schemes, our natural environment, our people – all unified as one circular community. Finally, if you would like to support art and community spaces within Cumbernauld please consider supporting or donating to the wonderful bunch at Creative Space Cumbernauld to help local artists get the supplies and studio space they need! https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/creative-space-cumbernauld/
Cumbernauld Town Center Year 2224
