Thursday, July 31, 2008

work in progress


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.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Jaffa sketches

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.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tourist


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.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The guru is IN



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.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

J-Town


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.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

really cute



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


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.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

She's trouble


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

Friday, July 4, 2008

Don't move his bowl


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

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Quentin the Chihuahua


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.