A Taste for Life: The Supa Strikas Spur Day Experience

On Saturday the 20^th August 2011 the Supa Strikas team (Richard, Loyiso, Bonisa, Yandi and Andrew) took 28 lucky fans to the Amitola Spur in Gugulethu, Cape Town.

On the day all the kids were treated to a delicious Spur burger, Supa Strikas quiz and were given a character illustration workshop from the Supa Strikas head illustrator, Bonisa Bonani.

There were various prizes on offer, with the overall winner from the artwork/creative story walking away with a brand new Blackberry cell phone!

At the end of the day everyone walked away with a full belly, Supa Strika merchandise and a bright smile on their faces. Strika Blog interviews event organizer, Andrew Flanagan, about the experience.

What were your hopes for the day?

I hoped that the kids would arrive and be visibly excited about the day ahead. That they would engage with Bonisa during his illustration workshop in order to gain the valuable drawing skills. I had hoped that they would have sufficient Supa Strika knowledge so that we could gain valuable insight into our true fan base. I wanted the kids to have a great Saturday afternoon at the Spur and walk away a happy and committed Supa Strikas fan!

What surprised you most about the event?

The amount of in-depth knowledge some of the kids had about Supa Strikas and their sponsors and how much they enjoyed the illustration workshop. Many of the kids had to be told to stop drawing and eat their delicious Spur Burger. I had imagined the opposite, that as soon as the burgers came all chaos would break out and the illustration workshop would have gone out the window, however it was quite the contrary!

If you could take one moment from the entire day with you always, what would that be?

It would have to be the celebration from the 2^nd placed winner of the Nokia phone and how chuffed he looked in his new Supa Strikas hat. This kid in particular knew every Supa Strikas players jersey number off by heart and the smile on his face after winning was priceless!

The First Line in Animated Defence: Storyboarders

By now we’ve all met Wickus and Kay, the storyboarders on our latest season of Supa Strikas.

But do we really know them? Where do they come from? What do they want? What are their surnames?

Only Strika Blog asks the questions you want to know (and never knew you cared about):

Strika blog:

What were you up to before Strika reached out and touched you?

Wickus Coetzee:

When I moved to Cape Town from Pretoria (originally from all over South Africa) I started straight away with storyboarding for two international shows. After that I was illustrating 14 issues of a Hercules children’s book as a freelancer.

Kay Carmichael:

Sitting at home, unemployed for six months after a bad studio experience. I’ve been at three other studios, mostly working as a 2d animator (ironically drawing much less for that than I am now) and generally bopping between Johannesburg, where I’m from, and Cape Town, where I like to be.

Strika blog:

What did you study and why?

Wickus Coetzee:

I studied Graphic Design and honestly I don’t know why… but then did some courses on Film and photography. I love Visual story telling.

Kay Carmichael:

I studied Animation Directing at AFDA JHB - quite by accident - I was there to study writing originally. But the megalomaniac Disney nerd in me had its way and I found myself storyboarding, directing and animating stories as well as writing them. Actual competence came later.

Strika blog:

What’s your fave animation?

Wickus Coetzee:

Favourite… mmmm not sure. Truly I like most animation.

Kay Carmichael:

Beauty and the Beast!

Strika blog:

Who’s your fave Supa Strika?

Wickus Coetzee:

I would say Klaus and El Matador: they are just such fun characters to board.

Kay Carmichael:

Dancing Rasta’s my favourite; he climbs freaking Everest to relax.

Strika blog:

What are your hopes for Supa Strikas and your time with Strika?

Wickus Coetzee:

My hopes for Supa Strikas would be that it grows even more in popularity. And if I could be a part that, Awesome!

Kay Carmichael:

I hope to have a long and fruitful stint at Strika and I’d love to get into the comics side and learn as much as I can there.

Strika blog:

What do you think is the future of Supa Strikas and Shakes?

Wickus Coetzee:

A movie of course!

Kay Carmichael:

I think Supa Strikas will soon have a real-life team representing them (dinosaurs included), and discover alternate universe versions of themselves as an all-girl team :-)

Strika blog:

Riiiigghht…

And now you know!

The Exhibitionist

Strika illustrator, Loyiso Mkhize, was recently interviewed for an article in the Tonight.

Read it here:

http://www.iol.co.za/tonight/news/local/mkhize-an-artist-by-design-1.1102657

When we heard that he will be re-launching his exhibit as a collaborative piece, we decided to throw our own questions at him.

SB: What can you tell us about your upcoming exhibition launch?

LM: Well the upcoming launch is a joint effort seeing myself and a lady by the name of Leila Bennelli showcasing our stuff. I'll be re-introducing my series entitled "Reflections of inner truth". She will be launching her jewellery range entitled "The Leila Benelli collection” for the first time.

SB: How does this differ from your current exhibition at the Framery Art Gallery?

LM: It differs in the way we are packaging the entire experience of the opening night. We are fusing both national treasures (fine arts, jewellery) into one message: "Reflections of inner truth and beauty".

SB: Tell us a little about your latest collaboration?

LM: Well, I met up with Leila on a radio interview that she was doing of me and my exhibition. Little did I know that three weeks later we would meet again, only this time we would be discussing collaboration. It kinda just happened really.

Wanna know more?

Get to the Framery Art Gallery on 25^th August 2011 for Loyiso’s collaborative re-launch of "Reflections of inner truth and beauty".