Winding Number Man. Continuous line drawing with colour sequence. Mick Burton.

In 1972, at the same time as I was experimenting with winding number lines such as in Petrol Polluted Puddle (see my post of 24.11.2014),       Winding Number Theory and Continuous Line Drawing

I drew Winding Number Man, which involved looping around in the same direction from start to finish.

Winding Number Man. Continuous line with alternate overdraw. Mick Burton.

If I had done this in a concentrated area, like the close spiral I used in Petrol Polluted Puddle, I would have had a long single series of overlapping colours.  However, as I progressed around the head, body, legs and arms of the man I avoided too many overlaps.  As I gained new overlaps, previous ones fell away.

The longest sequence of colours is six, whereas with PPP the real sequence is 19.  I could not cope with one sequence of colours that long, with only slight changes between each one, so I used a repeat rainbow sequence which provided the puddle effect I wanted.

The shorter single sequence of colours on the Winding Line Man gives him the form and density I required.

All along I had in mind something similar to the Michelin Man who advertised the tyres.  Here is a recent representation.

Michelin Man logo. Creative Review.

Strangely, I was remined to get on with this blog when watching the new Shetland TV series, where Detective Sergeant  “Tosh” McIntosh was trapped inside a caravan which was about to explode.  I paused the TV in the middle of the explosion and the freeze frame flame looked a bit like the Michelin Man.

Shetland explosion looks like the Michelin Man. End of Episode 3, Series 7.

Watch Episode 4 to see what happened to Tosh.