JP's Sketchbook

Hey! what's up?

2011-04-08T10:19:00.003+03:00

I've noticed a few people are still signing in to follow this blog- Just a reminder that I've moved all bloggy activity to my site, so check it out, and if you like it, subscribe over there. Thanks people!

Just in case you're over here...

2010-11-27T07:14:00.004+02:00

Here's a piece from my current project, a comic based on the british warrior queen Boudica...you can see more stuff over here :)

Tel Aviv Sketchcrawl

2010-03-02T14:24:00.002+02:00

Hey, this is the last sketchbook post over here! There will be one more message from the managment, but for now please subscribe to the jpvine.com blog....

BY CLICKING HERE. :)

We were pretty wary of some heavy rains this weekend. Well hey, I'm british, so rain is nuthin'. But my Israeli friends are delicate flowers, so we opted for a nice cafe on Rothschild Boulevard, Tel aviv's most groovy, Bauhausy, and pleasingly human-scaled boulevard. Sketched there. Drank belgian beer on an empty stomach so sketches got wobbly. Then grabbed a gourmet burger at Moses, down the road. Nice, and simple.

A Drawing of the road:

And some of our fellow cafe dwellers. One couple did not like being sketched one bit, and went off in a huff...

This Girl had an interesting bottom lip. Glad she didn't ask to see my sketchbook.

I wound up at the pool, and thought I'd draw these old boys chewing the cud in the hot tub:

Death From above, p2

2010-02-18T21:49:00.003+02:00

Spinnig a few arty plates right now, but continuing on the comic. Here's page 2, and I'm slowly getting comfortable with the look of the piece. More to come!

And (if I may) I 'm going to remind you that this is the penultimate post over here, all the action will continue over there. Please update your bookmarks :)

Death from above

2010-02-03T08:51:00.003+02:00

I’ve been looking for reasons to practice my layout and comics skills, and this weeks Illustration Friday topic, ‘Focused’ is as good as any. It was a toss up between this idea and a rabbit staring at himself in the mirror. This seemed more dynamic, in the end. I’m pretty comfortable setting up a sequence in film formats, but -er- doing comics is hard!

Head on over to http://jpvine.com/2010/02/02/death-from-above/
to see work in progress, and may I remind you to sign in over there if you follow this blog, which I'll stop posting to in two posts time. Thanks!

RraaaaR!

2010-01-13T11:43:00.002+02:00

although this is more of a RaaaR! of fear than anything else. I draw pirates all day right now, but none of them are this hairy or ginger.

and a reminder: I've moved my blogging to jpvine.com, I'll continue to post here for only three more posts, but if you follow this blog, please sign in over there.

Have a great day. We're going to have another snowball fight at lunchtime, methinks.

Moving to jpvine.com

2009-12-30T21:17:00.005+02:00

Hi folks,

First of all, thanks for even reading this. I'm glad you're here.

Secondly, I'm doing the (probably ill-advised) move of switching my Blog over to the newly bells-and-whistle-enhanced jpvine.com,

And I would love it if you could join me over there. It will be fun. We'll have a raffle on thursdays. Please, update your links, and sign in as a follower right here. That would make me grateful. And to show my gratitude for you going through the tedium of numerous, potentially dull mouse clicks, I will send you a little something small, and unique to you, when I see you pop up over there.

Does that sound wierd? Hm.

Thanks again,

JPX

Late night painting

2009-12-23T09:27:00.002+02:00

I need a new painting for the bedroom wall....

Website up together

2009-12-22T00:28:00.004+02:00

Ahh, Christmas is coming. I would feel christmassy if it was a big deal over here, but it's a regular work day, which in some ways is actually pretty refreshing. I can only handle so much schmaltz and consumerism. We'll make do with a walk on the beach and friends over for mulled wine in the evening :)

As usual, boarding my behind off for Aardman, and still having fun with it.

And: my website has been overhauled and filled with new work lately.

Please check it out, I'd be happy to hear any feedback.

Le monkey

2009-12-15T01:01:00.002+02:00

I should go to bed because I know there's an insane amount of boards to draw tomorrow. Ah well. a warm-down monkey before bed....

Shaun book in print

2009-12-12T09:33:00.002+02:00

Got my hands on a preproduction Shaun book. Mmm. New print smell...
See more panels here.

Me, apparently

2009-12-10T13:03:00.001+02:00

Me doing 'The Storyboarding face'. Drawn by my annoyingly young and talented workmate Ashley Boddy.

Beat it baby

2009-12-03T22:25:00.004+02:00

It's late at the studio.

All quiet, apart from Daft Punk blaring in my headphones. I can't tell you anything about the sets they are building next door, apart from the fact that they are gorgeous. Can't wait to see the animation coming through.

As for me, I'm preparing Beatboards for our personal feature project, getting ready for pitches. Wish me luck:)

15 minute wakeup bird

2009-11-10T08:50:00.002+02:00

...before I start the dreary task of assembling another portfolio.

I'm in print- finally!

2009-10-27T18:14:00.009+02:00

I worked like a fevered chimp over the summer on a bunch of projects, one of which was this where's Waldo-style Shaun the Sheep book. And it's on sale now! er- in Germany. But, there are no words, and if you like this kind of thing, it's here on Amazon.

The very simple premise was that Shaun and his buddies bust out of the farm and go on holiday, while Bitzer tries to restrain them. The readers are supposed to find just Shaun, but I had to entertain myself with a few easter eggs, like a UFO breakdown, and extensive bike race, a duck party. That kind of thing.

First I sent the client roughity-roughs like this:
Just to get their buy-in to the angle and subjects.
Once that was done I penciled the illustration at full size. This was important because in Illustrator I would be zooming in so close, I would lose sense of scale pretty fast.
Then into Illustrator; first time I used this programme, and I really enjoyed it. The fun part about using the brush is that it can fill your strokes instantly. Which meant I could ink AND colour at the same time. I had only 2 days for each image, so time saving was crucial. My kids loved how fast a full colour character would appear on screen.

So I made layers in illustrator. The program would often complain due to the amount of vectors. My computer cried.

And finally, comped it in photoshop, added shadows, maybe texture and a bit of lighting. And onto the next one. The question is, where is he?

Edit: sketches

2009-10-20T16:51:00.000+02:00

I can't seem to get blogger to play nice with my images lately, so I've reposted the sketches if you want a closer look. :)

Grecian 2000

2009-10-18T15:23:00.014+02:00

My friend Kris calls from Greece. He's on a round the world trip with his wife, and has taken some time to hang out in greece and volunteer with the salvation army in Thessaloniki. I've been having a crazy summer and his invite to come on a wee adventure proves irresistible.

So we met up, and took a boys road trip. Of course, he's going round europe in a classic convertible. No other way to do it, right? So we headed for a town called Meteora, famous for it's absurdly mystical monasteries, all teetering on rock pinnacles. I have a thing for things built on the tops of mountains, and it's nigh impossible to do an unappealing sketch of these places :)

I'm a real spiritual guy, you know?

And here are the wheels:

Of course- A little beach time was in order too.

The director in me demanded a decent 'road' shot. This one almost involved rolling off the back when the car changed gear. Clever

Fluffy dice an absolute necessity.

Heading through sheep country. Picture by Kris

Shark

2009-10-15T23:28:00.003+02:00

A Collaborative Shark with my six year old. He's just keeping the blog warm while I prepare an awesome post for you.

Issue 2 in the works

2009-09-24T00:05:00.005+03:00

Hey folks- I'm working on the cover of issue 2 of Duck and Cover, hopefully the last late night before I nip off on holiday. First up- camping with the family on the shores of Galilee, and then a few days in Greece with an old, dubious friend.

Here it is, after colour in photoshop:

And here's how it looked in inky form. The layout/sketch was done by my talented compadre Mysh. I took the sketch and figured out how the light would work in photoshop beforehand. I like this approach because you can play with light and get it figured out before you start throwing paint around.

And for you Tel Aviv folks:

We'll be presenting the project and doing some live painting at the ICON festival, Tel Aviv,

5 oct, 4 pm. Hope to see you there.

I'm off. Take care,

doodlin'

2009-09-10T21:42:00.003+03:00

I like the freelance life. Means I stop when my brain is fuzz (4 in the afternoon) and do what afternoons are good for. Doodlin with a kid. (-mine, of course).

Music: Hello chanel from Imogen Heap's speak for yourself

Painting and arranging

2009-09-08T09:21:00.004+03:00

Here's a WIP for our comic Duck and Cover. I love painting on paper- The way it takes the paint, and shows the history of brushwork. I always enjoy others artists work when I can see their hand moving across the piece. This is on Hot Pressed watercolor paper. I've done a blue underpainting here, in acrylic, then I'll move on to oils for the colour and finish.

Talking of art materials, I've finally got them organised. I wanted to set up a kind of chef's station-style area, because I often stand when I'm working and want to be able to grab any materials that take my fancy for the piece, but also keep the clutter off my workspace.

Yikes. I'm boring myself.

Have a great day. Don't take anything too seriously,

JPX

It's in our hands....

2009-08-23T10:35:00.003+03:00

It's in our hands...., originally uploaded by jpvine.

It's a lot of fun holding something I worked on in print- and I can imagine it will get dangerously addictive. I enjoyed an evening selling them with mycomrade Oren at the Tel Aviv animation festival yesterday. Trying to decribe the story arc of this series in Hebrew was something of a challenge, but after a couple of hours and a beer it got easier.

Big plans for the series, future editions and live painting demos. So I'll keep you posted. :)

About the comic;

Only animals have survived the last nuclear conflict, but they have been mutated by the devasting effects of the war. Duck and cover roam the chaotic earth in a mysterious mechanical egg. They are pursued by the cohorts of -er- a megalomaniac chicken, desperate to lay his hands on the egg- a miracle of human engineering. But they are yet to discover what it is capable of...

It's epic. And needless to say, a bit silly.

Concept/Script: Oren and Mysh
Interior art: Mysh
Cover: Me

Got to get back to boarding. Have a great day, jp

Something Fishy

2009-08-17T21:10:00.003+03:00

Ink, charcoal, and Photoshop. My book 'glum, defeated creatures'will be published soon ;)

I'm loving indian ink, and think I prefer the directness of the the black and white raw painting before the colour work. As usual.

dispatches from the UK

2009-08-11T18:47:00.004+03:00

At Aardman, where amazingly for the UK, the sun is wafting through the windows. A big break from Israel where the sun hammers incessantly on your head. Miss the family though.

Here's a work in progress for a comic, due to debut at the Israeli Animation festival. I'm fighting with this one a bit, but hopefully she'll come through in the end. :)

Watercolour and digital.

Of sheep, aliens and cyber cities

2009-08-04T16:14:00.003+03:00

I'm enjoying a celebratory gin and tonic. Finally completed 8 huge illustrations for a book involving a lot of sheep, which I'll show you as soon as I'm allowed: maybe I'll give you a peek:

Why draw just sheep when you can have aliens? I thought if would be fun to work in a few different storylines into the illustrations. Some of you from the UK might remember the 'What-a-mess' books, about an afghan hound getting up to no good- but the most fun part were the tiny little backstory characters in the background.

In other news, my other business venture The Missing link is making another online commercial short, which I'll have on here soon. Here's a Bg for you:

More to come soon. Back to the Uk tomorrow, Rain, family, and a decent pint and a curry. :)

Watercolor

2009-07-24T10:41:00.002+03:00

A little doodle in progress. I'm halfway through my children's book....1 week to go before the deadline strikes. This one's a marathon.

The days of curly sheep

2009-07-14T22:28:00.002+03:00

THIS IS A SCREENGRAB from last night, a little sneak preview of my current project- I hope I can tell you more soon. I think I'm going nuts with drawing tiny little sheep.

On that note; My story crew has finally wrapped on 20 episodes of storyboards for shaun the sheep. Phew! I think I can call the period of my life between ages 30-33 the 'sheep period'. I can't wait for the 'chicken', soon to be followed by the 'toucan' which should take me to retirement.

Got to go draw some more.

JPX

Non kosher

2009-06-24T10:55:00.002+03:00

Piggy, Ink, charcoal, PS.

What's not to love about pigs? Good to draw and good to eat.

This is in honour of my 3 year old. Last night I told the kids to choose the books they wanted me to read. My son chose a children's book, whereas my daughter chose Muybridge's 'Horses and other animals in motion'.

Heheh.

Earnest, Chicken of the tropics.

2009-06-15T14:09:00.002+03:00

Stop, stop, stop drawing chickens and do some bl@*dy work, jp.

Ink and photoshop.

Wierdness before bedtime no2

2009-06-12T15:41:00.002+03:00

Photoshop.

I'm off to Jerusalem for dinner. Have a good one, folks!

Warmup sketch 1

2009-06-08T12:06:00.005+03:00

I love the smell of indian ink in the morning.

Iphone short

2009-06-07T11:41:00.006+03:00

I recently completed some BGs with my erstwhile buddies, Mysh Mashko, doing a short for an Iphone App. We completed this short in three weeks, whilst doing a bunch of other work, so we are, how do you say? -fairly chuffed with ourselves.

This is the establishing BG. I love anything involving planes, yum.

And here's the short.

The man is a genius

2009-06-04T16:43:00.002+03:00

I love my work. I do.
And as I get further along, I find myself more and more drawn to the design process. some of us just fit that mold- visual geeks that love to collect things together, combine random scraps of ideas and impressions, searching for the right angle of attack. We can stop and look intently at the sky and try to figure out exactly what purple-ish blue it would take to recreate it.
IF this is your thing then, go check out Lou romano's latest post showcasing tons of his design process on Pixar's UP.

I love this guy- Totally, completely creative. I just love the fact that he's working at the worlds most successful CG animation studio, and he figures things out with little model dioramas and spotlights on his desk.

Here's a great example of his searching for that elusive 'feel'- editing design visuals with music. filmaking with images. Love it.

Allnighters are destroying my will

2009-05-16T20:56:00.002+03:00

My wife is very patient with me as I enter these last few days of storyboarding insanity. She kisses me goodnight, and leaves me to work....And degenerate into a skeletal shadow of my previous self. If you are up all night, say hi, keep me motivated :)

This is genius

2009-05-12T01:09:00.002+03:00

This one time... from nelson boles on Vimeo.

The work of Nelson boles, created in flash, this is a stunning glimpse into some parallel universe. Super sound design and graphic sensibilty with gorgeous animation. This guy is off the hook.

Jaffa sketches

2009-05-10T21:10:00.005+03:00

After an insane period of storyboarding like a drawin' freak, I thought I'd do some -er- sketching, to relax. Went along the paradise of architectural decay, Jaffa. Hung out in the square with my good buddy doron and his lady Aline. I enjoyed the slanting light and the drifting tourists.

A little wierdness

2009-05-03T00:38:00.002+03:00

...before bedtime.

monkey misery

2009-04-26T15:01:00.004+03:00

from today's sketchbook- the latest in a long line of miserable animals...What's wrong with me?

Watercolour.

*Update*

Want to see him move?

This is what happens when you have talented flash animator friends! Check it out. By Oren Mashkovski, Flash fiend.

Mean Mutha-taurs

2009-04-13T18:19:00.003+03:00

Gosh, they did turn out mean lookin'. Minotaur doodle, charcoal, ink and digital.

I continue to plow through boards, a large portion of which are for Aardman's Shaun the Sheep. My crew are finally looking to wrap on more than two hours worth of story reels, so I'm very proud. It's going to be barbecue time soon :)

In other news, flowers are all over the place right now. In Israel, the seasons break down as winter (a week of rain) Spring (two weeks of explosive flowery profusion, soon to wither under the relentless sun) and.. Summer. They say Autumn exists here but so far I haven't seen any evidence.

Here's of pic of lovely wife and daughter in the flowers. If I had had a long-haired blond couple nearby I would have shot a 70's shampoo advert with them, frolicking about.

Bustin ma behind

2009-03-26T18:42:00.005+02:00

Hey there- Many many things are happening to me right now, both good and challenging. I'm now freelancing and having a hell of busy month, which is wonderful. But I walk with a permanent slouch and can't handle daylight. All that said, I'm truly excited about going into business on my own.
So, anytime you need a penguin painted- you know where I am.

More soon. I'm off to do allnighter number 2.
JPx

Adrenalin Lemmings

2009-03-11T14:30:00.008+02:00

Here's a test I directed for 'Adrenalin Lemmings', a project I created with Alex Orrelle of crew972. They came out of some rough sketches I drew about 4 years ago. I was trying to come up with something funny about koalas, but got distracted by drawing lemmings with crash helmets on in the background. So I thought it best to run with that, because koalas aren't exceptionally funny anyway.

The concept follows the activities of these four ambitious but idiotic lemmings as they use the urban jungle for their own perilous ends. It got picked up by a studio, and then got released back to crew972 again as their slate got cancelled. We're hoping somebody out there will give them a home before they explode.

The test was fun to shoot- we did it fast and dirty with a cheap camcorder, and a few health and safety infringments, hanging out of the side of the car.

Here a little vis-dev. They drive a modded lemming mobile- essentially an R/C car with the controller taped to the hood -I loved tamiya cars when I was a kid :)

Credits:

Director JP Vine Producer Alex Orrelle

Cgi and animation Producer Nir Ginat

Technical Director Menashe Morobuse

Compositor Ron Ganbar

Animators: Alex Orrelle, Nir Ginat

CG Modeller: Rafi Ben Aharon

Lighting and shading: Dror Revach

Sound design: Nati Zeidenstadt, Silk city Sounds

Music: Sepultura, Ratamahatta

Produced at Crew972

Visual development, a short history

2009-02-17T12:01:00.005+02:00

I've been developing a tv show here a Crew972 over the last year, and thought you might like a peek at the visual development. It's a knights and dragons-based slapstick social commentary.

... I'm still working on ways to pitch it.

Anyway, in terms of style: My catchphrase for the design style, for all the talented folks that I'll hopefully work with on this show, is 'funky medieval', -or Medifunk, or Funkieval. A quick google search tells me I might just have coined those last two. I'm hoping it will catch on, you know, like steampunk.

I took some visual reference from some gorgeous danish architecture, which despite not being medieval, were funky. It's all subjective.

-Filled a sketchbook with scratchy little drawings like this:

And then played around with colour in photoshop,

-followed it up with some very rough previs:

And then, bringing it all into CG, we mockup the look and feel, aiming for a graphic, textural look, that should in the end be the essence of Medifunk.

I'll keep you posted. :)

The Battery Menace

2009-02-03T17:36:00.004+02:00

How's about a bit of pulp-inspired cutout animation?

I recently had the fun task of designing this little viral for Mysh Mashko, a pair of directors over here. The brief was to get a classic b movie low-fi look. We collaged and distressed and scuffed up a bunch of photos in photoshop, and all the animation was created in flash. A soaring, ambitious picture, I think you'll find.

Oh, and I'm the guy with the gun.

See more at Mashko.com

lunchtime doodle

2009-02-02T12:46:00.002+02:00

Tel Aviv has the best lunch time food....kebabs, felafel, humus...

-too bad I brought sandwiches.

Sketch update

2009-01-29T18:11:00.004+02:00

I usually venture to and fro with my black a4 sketchbook and weapon of choice, a Japanese brush pen---ooh I love that pen. Can't find any more in my local art store, so may have to resort to mail order. Trying to get studies of people on buses usually ends up with awkward moments of eye contact with the subject. I'm not attracted to you sir/ma'am, I'm just - sketching you.

Want to smile?

2009-01-27T15:37:00.003+02:00

Just a reminder that bad news is not the only thing that comes from Israel right now.

A gorgeous music video that should set you up for the day nicely, made for Oren Lavie by the Animation duo Yuval & Merav Nathan.

quietly waiting

2009-01-24T21:06:00.003+02:00

A procrastination doodle for saturday. I have a free-ish evening, my wife has gone out to help deliver a baby (she's a childbirth coach) I have a storyboard to finish- but I am compelled to draw fat, flightless birds.

a-boardin'

2009-01-22T20:46:00.003+02:00

A little screengrab of my recent storyboarding- not by any means a great drawing, but you can see how I like to work- usually super loose to start with. I'm using flash mainly because I love the way its brush tool behaves- crisp and responsive, as close as I can get to my favourite real drawing tool, brush and ink. Flash also allows for very easy fills of colour, just one click and your character's flooded with colour. Coupled with the ability to work on a timeline and flip your drawings, it becomes an awesome boarding tool.

I use colour if it will help clarify the image to the viewer (and also because the perfectionist in me won't quit) -but in truth storyboarding is about working fast , intuitively, and not getting hung up on detail- genreally I try to hit somewhere in between.

That said, I'm desperate to get my hands mucky with some oil paints this weekend.
Have a good one, folks!

Patriot- animated short from Roy Iddan

2009-01-18T10:23:00.002+02:00

Patriot - Animated Short by Roy Iddan from Captain_Fantasy on Vimeo.

Take some time to watch Patriot, a short from a friend here in Tel Aviv, Roy Iddan. A classy piece of work that will keep your attention to the end.

Getting fishy

2009-01-02T21:59:00.002+02:00

New years resolution?

Finish stuff.

I'm superb at starting stuff. Finishing is my area of concern. I will finish this fish. And all the other stuff I started.

Acrylic and oils.

2009

2009-01-01T20:19:00.003+02:00

Happy new year. I look back on a wonderful and challenging year. I always seems to remember a year in terms of where I travelled- chronic wanderlust, I guess. Now I'm excited by what's coming up- learning so much and hungry for more. It's humbling to see the talent around me in Tel Aviv and Online, and so great to learn from it.

I spent my new years eve in bed. But also with champagne and wife, so that was just fine.

God bless. Have a great, fulfilling year. JP

Arr

2008-12-14T08:33:00.003+02:00

A Pirate for a sunday. And yes, I still haven't finished the promised ballonist story. It's coming...yikes. I wish life was a little less busy. In the meantime I'll post the rough colour key...

Back to storyboarding!

Der Lavender Baron

2008-12-03T21:57:00.004+02:00

Meet Erich Von Schmeck, AKA the Lavender Baron- A WW1 flying ace whose main instrument of war was a not a fokker triplane, but a hot air balloon. His first mission ended in disaster as he was unable to return to base due to lack of appropriate wind direction. He drifted aimlessly for some days before touching down on the Cornish coast, only to be speared by a local farmer.

German ace

2008-11-30T14:06:00.002+02:00

Adding to the previous doodle, I'm preparing a story about the German hot air balloon aces of WW1. Needless to say, their careers were short.

I'll post the story by the end of the week.

you're excited, aren't you?

French Policeman

2008-11-30T12:00:00.001+02:00

On storytelling

2008-11-24T21:51:00.004+02:00

Comics doodle, flash and photoshop.

I sat in the park at lunch break and finished Carlos Ruis Zafon's The shadow of the wind. Initially put off by the whiff of queasy gothic romance, I have to admit this book stole me completely.

Set in Barcelona during 30s, it is the story of a kid who finds a book, the last remaining edition by an unknown author. After discovering that someone has been systematically trying to burn every copy of work by this author, the kid is compelled to find out story behind the book. The ensuing web of intrigue and coincidence, evil, misfortune, and love, is exquisite.

I'm in the business of telling stories, and I'm not sure I'm that great, but the one thing I do know is the most valuable asset you possess is the mind of your audience. Depending on your art form, every member of your audience is willing to give you at least a few seconds of their undivided attention- A precious snatch of time with which to hook them- and then release the next hook- and the next- until the end.

That's all storytelling is- the release of information.
Our goal is to know our characters and events so well, that our only priority is how to release the information- how to coerce, to manipulate, frighten, humour, enrage our audience. Leading them to invest themselves in the story.

As I read, I realized Zafon's book is a Masterpiece of this skill. How gently he nudges his audience into his traps, until we realize how each character and plot component suddenly begin to clarify, to fuse together, fuelling an inevitable climax. We realize he is too good at his craft to question it, and just have to buckle in and find out what happens.

Please read :)

Pigs and planes

2008-11-18T14:04:00.004+02:00

I always dreamed of playing in a place like this when I was a kid. Hold on, I still do.

Colour version on the way :)

Just screwin' around...

2008-11-12T13:36:00.003+02:00

Charcoal, coloured pencil, oils, photoshop.

Illustration friday.... wise

2008-11-08T21:23:00.001+02:00

Wise guy. I'm cheating with this one, you may have seen it before, but it seemed to fit the week's topic.

LIFTOFF...nearly

2008-11-03T09:17:00.002+02:00

Nothing like the closing stages of a project- increased pressure, sure, but increased energy too. As we finish our renders, our sound, and now compositing- we're getting there.

The little critters will fly.

Of course, I can't show you anything of the final animation. That sucks. Hope that changes soon.

:) JP

Cowboys and sketches

2008-11-01T19:54:00.004+02:00

A fairly crumby elephant, but fun for warming up- charcoal.

We had my sons' birthday party this weekend. A wild west theme, that by the look of living room laid to waste at the end, was a success. I told the kids an improvised cowboy story with drawings, and my wife made the most awesome cake in history. Noah, in red, was immensely proud.

Oily critters

2008-10-25T21:17:00.002+02:00

Sometimes, there's nuthin' like oil paints. Some use them to paint portraits, landscapes, abstracts. I am still at the level of cheeky, bipedal rodents. We're currently in a bit of crunch animating these characters, which will be Cg/live action mix. I just got a bit pixel sick over the week so threw some paint around to relax. Consider this a sneak preview.

I'm going to wash off the caked sand from a volleyball match. I was told I jump like a frog. Oh well.

Note to aspiring oil painters. Do not organise your colours like this. You will end up fighting mud. I just get excited and throw down some colour everywhere. Do it properly. Hey, check out empty easel for a few good tips.

Girl

2008-10-07T09:41:00.004+02:00

A paintover of one of yesterdays' sketches- clearly attempting to channel the spirit of Alessandro Barbucci-

And the skateboard is by Alberto Cerriteno. If you don't know his work yet, GO. A stylistic rinsing of your eyeballs will ensue.

Been a long time

2008-10-05T12:59:00.003+02:00

Sorry, both of you, for the long gap between posts- had a crazy trip to LA, ostensibly to sell and promote projects- some of which was fun but mostly a bit crazy. That was followed by a fun three days in Austin, Texas- I like that town! Stayed in a hotel and storyboarded a lot with my work partner Alex, trying to win a big project. Sheesh. Work. Hurry. Lately I've been pretty stressed- wondering how animation, of all things should be stressful- but it's pretty hard work making it, right?

Lately I've been in a 'letting go' frame of mind. It helps a ton. So I'm not yet where I want to be- so I my work needs to improve- so I need to pay debts... ah well. Life is still good. I have an awesome family and food on the table.

Above, meeting sketches from this morning.

Samurai

2008-09-17T22:58:00.002+03:00

Or, big guy in kimono. I'm reading shogun on the train to work at the moment. It's awesome.

Banzai!

raiders of the lost chickenshed

2008-09-12T11:12:00.002+03:00

It seems that my default doodle is chickens. Watercolour pencil.

Gurus, thousands of them

2008-09-01T22:34:00.004+03:00

To be a top class guru, a top class set of dreads is in order. Pastel, ink, digital.

I'm just putting off the 100 storyboards I have to do.

...Must ... procrastinate....

...must...post...holiday...pictures...

Allright. Dammit. I'll get back to work. Have a good day. My daughter is the happiest person I know, so I hope she can cheer you up if you need it :)

JPX

what's with the beehives?

2008-08-24T23:33:00.002+03:00

I love beehives and especially when they are matched with horn-rims. Comes from reading the far side endlessly as an acne-ridden teenager. The lady on the right is watercolour. Her design got out of my control but I feel she's somehow more satisfying than the digital lady on the left. If you can be bothered, tell me what you think.

Off to turkey for 5 days of floating on an air mattress, with a beer of indeterminate origin in my hand.

xJP

jelly doodle

2008-08-21T22:07:00.002+03:00

A quick doodle while I wait for Toon Boom storyboard pro to download. Any one use that software, by the way? I'm trying to fix a decidedly wonky work pipeline as we work on 5-6 animatics at the same time.

monkeys

2008-08-13T09:18:00.003+03:00

Crazy busy at work.... Still enough time to draw monkeys on the bus, though.

rarrgg

2008-08-03T10:59:00.001+03:00

I was working at my desk last night and my two year old came in looking like a reject from a sacrificial ceremony.

There goes my new tube of red gouache.

Slowly slowly

2008-08-01T12:23:00.002+03:00

I realised one thing talking to my wife last night. I am so freakin' impatient. One of the reasons why why my work never reaches the levels I want to get to. But we're all in the same boat, right? Constantly wanting to push to be better, facing discouragement, learning somehow to deftly sidestep it, -or not.

That's why, I'm deliberately taking my time over this silly painting. Just to see what happens when I do.

It's Friday morning- I love this time of the week more than any other. The community rushes out and shops, eats breakfast in the cafes, cleans house, and then the calm of friday evening descends, to prelude what should hopefully be a day of rest. Sometimes it is restful, sometimes the rest is elusive. I try to to practice one thing in particular on Saturdays. (maybe it's a sunday for you?)

Contentment.

The rest of the week can be for succumbing to the drive to push on for better things for me, my family. But what's better for them is that I learn to be content. So I practice, every Saturday.

JPX

work in progress

2008-07-31T22:45:00.003+03:00

Thought I'd indulge myself in a little detail. I haven't used a ballpoint pen in years- using one today reminded me of being a teenager in English Lit classes, drawing excessively detailed margin drawings of blues men, random creatures, and comedy deformities. Will post the final, and you will be blown away.

maybe.

Jaffa sketches

2008-07-30T16:30:00.003+03:00

Met up with two studio friends and sat on a hilltop in Jaffa on saturday. Thought I'd break out the brush and ink. Apart from the fact you've got to carry water, ink, and toilet paper for all the ink spills, it's a fun, fluid sketching medium. I liked laying down a light wash then defining it with some nice blackness.

Jaffa itself is a fantastic sketching area, mixing tasty chunks of ancient urban decay and architectural details with a slightly sketchy atmosphere, teetering on the edge of the sea.

This lady stood in the middle of the fountain, and made for a nice living statue as she looked out to sea.

I didn't get much architecture in, but worked on tree shapes for a while. These people are cooking something tasty on their grill. A national sport here.
Lastly, some middle eastern dude, sketched at home.

Tourist

2008-07-22T22:53:00.004+03:00

Loving watercolour at the moment; I thought I'd put up a sketchbook page, with the tourist guy here. I must say design owes a heavy debt to the art of Sylvain Marc, particularly this post: if you don't know it, do yourself a favour, have a look. Here's somebody who use all the tools at his disposal to create work that is witty, tender, loose and beautifully designed.

Oh, and one more thing; all you Israelites that like to draw. (Yes, you two lurkers out there; I know who you are!) Join me in Jaffa this saturday for drawing crumbling ancient buildings and crumbling ancient tourists on the beach. 5.30 pm. You have my email.

The guru is IN

2008-07-20T11:26:00.004+03:00

Brush, ink, and photoshop.

Hey, anyone know how Wall-E ends? I discovered my 3 year old daughter has the endurance to watch only 90% of a pixar feature film. So we sat outside, while my wife and son watched the rest. Parenthood is awesome.

J-Town

2008-07-17T14:04:00.003+03:00

Met some friends in Jerusalem who are working on a feature up there, for a bit o' beer and sketching. we wandered about checking out the colorful, complex array of Jerusalemites passing by- Ethiopian orthodox priests, a group of female soldiers, a tramp with a bad cut on the head, strung out 'seekers', and all the regular folk too.I sat on a pavement and sketched but got defeated by the wind flapping my pages about. We gave up and drank beer in a bistro style courtyard place off Jaffa road.

really cute

2008-07-09T22:37:00.003+03:00

I don't usually do this kind of schtick, but I wanted to do some texture experiments, and zombie monkeys are as good as any place to start. I think deep inside there's a wannabe game designer in me. He's actually very friendly. Watercolour and photoshop. If you are interested, my almost favourite illustrator of all time, James Jean, has made some of his photoshop files downloadable so you can geek out over his use of the program to make gorgeous work a lot more gorgeous. I dig very much.

JPX

The quiet woods

2008-07-09T14:54:00.003+03:00

Only tenuously related to this week's Illustration Friday topic, 'sour'. Hm. Sour, sour...sour berries? Berries are eaten by, uh- bears?
Anyone who's owned a dog know how funny they sound and look when they have to throw up. My German Shepherd sounded like a cross between a ufo, a moose and a vacuum cleaner. This Bear is in homage to him.

She's trouble

2008-07-05T21:33:00.004+03:00

I'm getting a kick out of collage-y forms, slapped together with rendered, textural areas- like her face. I'm trying for as much simplicity as I can.

Here's a detail;

I was up in the hills around Jerusalem this evening. Gorgeous light and air redolent with pines n' stuff. Makes me want to do some landscape, someday.

Jp

Don't move his bowl

2008-07-04T11:29:00.005+03:00

It's chihuahua week at my place. I thought this might turn out funny, but he turned out a bit meaner than I planned. Don't be scared though.

On another note, my studio is in cahoots with Aardman to storyboard half of the second series
of Shaun the Sheep which I'm excited about. Looking forward to getting buried in story again. If you don't know the show, check it out- Tons of visual comedy within a very simple, typically quirky setting.

JPX

Quentin the Chihuahua

2008-07-03T16:18:00.002+03:00

I was up at 5, testing the notion I might be more productive in the early morning. The streets outside did have an ambient stillness that helps your mind get loose. Sadly, I didn't get much done, except the chihuahua. His ears need some more work. Oils and Photoshop.

Back in da holy lan'

2008-06-25T23:28:00.003+03:00

Hellooo....

Glad to be back, LA was a ton of fun but rather hectic. I remember a lot of running out of meetings onto the next meeting trying to figure out who the hell we're pitching to next...I'm back at my desk sketching again, trying to nail down a look for a this comics project I have sitting in my brain. This is pencils and digital colour. What do you think? I sometimes wonder if I'm far too obsessive about style and I end up producing *squat*. Going to try and change that. :)

Talking of Pencils, do yourself a favor and check out the gorgeousness of: Jorge Gonzalez,
delicious marks and atmospheric tones....

XJP

Piggy

2008-06-16T15:42:00.002+03:00

one of the most fun happenings in Florence was doing some sculpting demonstrations. I decided to make a simple little pig guy and go through some of the things I picked up at Aardman, mostly about mouth shapes, sculpting eyes and brows, and creating expression. nothing fancy, but so much fun.

I'm going to La now, no posts for a week, take care.

The Forgotten Dodo

2008-06-10T23:50:00.007+03:00

Now this piece ain't up to much in the final analysis, but I had a lot of fun doing it. Check out making of action below. Throw a lot of charcoal around, give it a simple slap of two tone colour and presto! A dodgy dodo.

Hey there toucan

2008-06-05T10:56:00.002+03:00

This dude has a knowing smile. I like toucans with knowing smiles. It's coming up to the weekend, and I really should be doing a lot of storyboarding, and less painting of tropical birds.

Anyway, this guy is going to be used for an after effects test. When I get the time.

JPX

What's on the painting table tonight then?

2008-06-04T22:59:00.003+03:00

'Tis a yellow bug. Will post when I'm done. Getting a bit computer sick, so time for some old fashioned mess. JPX

Wrestlers nativity

2008-06-04T01:19:00.004+03:00

This one almost broke me. Must've drawn and redrawn 5 or six times, and colored it every which way (with extremely mixed results) until I've finally arrived at something I can put up here.
Doesn't always go easy, does it?

It's their first baby.

2008-06-03T23:10:00.002+03:00

This evening, I think I was supposed to do something important...what was it? something to do with, um- paying a bill- or something my wife asked me to do....hm. Does drawing a cow race driver count?

dragin

2008-06-01T18:19:00.001+03:00

I don't usually turn out this sort of tosh, but he is kind of cute.

Firenze!

2008-05-28T22:43:00.004+03:00

Back from Florence, at least 3 kilos heavier. One of the best experiences of my life, teaching and drawing in front of 150 people- if you can call what I did 'teaching'. And meeting many wonderful people- artists, designers, teachers, even the president of florence, briefly. He gave us a prize, which seemed a touch surreal...we ate the best steak in florence at a restaurant called 'perseus'- the chef ambles out of the kitchen, grabs a lunk of meat from the overloaded cartful in the middle of the restaurant, lumbers back in and crafts the tastiest bloodiest steak I've had...mmm. Drawing and sculpting in front of an audience was nerve wracking- in a fun, productive way. Alex and I did sessions on story, animation, character design- and when we stopped doing that we ate and were carried around the city by our Florentine host Luca with aplomb. What a delight. Luca, you're a star- I'm coming back. and to you students out there- you were great. JP

being a dad

2008-05-20T22:01:00.004+03:00

This picture, taken by my two year old, kind of sums up why being a dad is so cool.

I'm off to Florence for five days to 'teach' animation...first time in Italy and I'm as exited as a juvenile spaniel. No posts for a few days. x JP

Wide snorkeller

2008-05-19T14:41:00.010+03:00

Hello, Illustration Friday! I enjoyed this piece a lot- I've been hankering to do an underwater scene, and adding a buoyant snorkeller with ample dimensions seemed to fit the bill. this lady is becoming a recurring theme in my work...this is an earlier piece.
This particular girl had a ten second short made for her, which you can see here:

I've also added a work in progress GIF. It's charcoal, pastel and photoshop. XJP

Octopus

2008-05-15T23:16:00.002+03:00

This octopus was inspired by a coupla things; Oktapodi, what looks set to be yet another phenomenal student film from Gobelins Ecole D'images (what do they serve in that canteen?) and James Jean- see links in sidebar- I obsess about what materials I should use to do my art- I'm the kind of person that picks up a brush pen in an art store and decides it is the future, and the very next day doing a charcoal sketch and swearing to give up all other materials. It's also wrapped up in a bit of a quest for a distinctive stamp of my own in the work. My conclusion is that I should just relax and learn to be a mixed media guy. This is something that you see in James Jean's work, taken to extraordinarily skillful levels. This combined with a visionary imagination, well.

So this is my octopus. Watercolour, ink, pastel, coloured pencil, all made invisible by some heavy photoshopping. :-)

ruler of the jungle realm

2008-05-10T22:42:00.002+03:00

I've long planned to draw while I tell my kids their story at night, illustrating it as I go- it has the desired mesmeric effect on kids that is useful to a parent at bedtime. I don't do it nearly enough. Tonight's sketch story involved a tiger with concussion, and I thought I'd draw him in technicolor after the kids finally crashed out.

OM

2008-05-07T09:51:00.003+03:00

Was researching Sadhus this morning...man those dudes get up to some crazy stuff! Mine is just taking it easy. Perhaps he's thinking about the next way to bend his legs around his head. I've got to get myself to India- go and explode with colours on the sketchbook.
Have a great day.

Illustration Friday- Seed

2008-05-05T12:34:00.003+03:00

Another seedy deal. I aimed for as much of a sense of suspicious activity on the rabbits as I could muster.

charcoal, Photoshop

toucan

2008-05-04T21:30:00.000+03:00

What is wrong with this toucan? why is it so concerned? My wife told me I only draw characters that look perplexed, confused, surprised, or lost. I guess they are just funnier that way... Have a nice night- or day, wherever you are :)

Redhead

2008-04-30T21:11:00.002+03:00

Last night's late doodle. I'm going to switch to clay now, so I can watch TV and sculpt at the same time. Bonus!

evolution?

2008-04-29T22:27:00.003+03:00

Now this is one of my stranger doodles.... this grandma certainly does seem to have chimps in her heritage.

Charcoal, ink, digital.

By the way, if you don't know her stuff already, please check out the work of Annette Marnat-
Her stuff is so good it made me want to break my up pencils and go back to serving cappucinos for a living.

I'm over that now.