JaMiE BaKeR: fallout

Working at LAIKA Studios in Beautiful Portland has allowed me to meet some wonderful artists. None of whom I had met before, but some who’s work I was already familiar with.

VERA BROSGOL is incapable of doing an un-appealing drawing. I have seen beautiful storyboard drawings simply SQUIRT from her fingertips (personally, I have to GRUNT mine out). Not only a bad-ass storyboarder, (one of the tiny story-team on CORALINE) Vera is also a comics artist extraordinaire (a founding member of FLIGHT). I saw a book she is working on now and it is just super; the writing, the drawing, the works. More about Vera on her site and not-very-often-updated blog.

GRAHAM ANNABLE’s brilliant work was familiar to me long before I ever met him. He is one of the founders of the HICKEE comics anthology and his YOUTUBE animation has given me chuckles for ages now. Graham’s sense of animation timing is truly hilarious. He too is a super storyboard artist (another CORALINE alumnus) and this master of all things also finds time to keep a regularly updated Blog

CHRIS TURNHAM’s lovely designs for CORALINE can be seen on his Blog. His beautiful artwork also graces the walls of one of the project development rooms at Laika (I sneak in there to check out his paintings for inspiration every so often). Chris is part of a book collaboration with his friend Kevin Dart, and more info about Chris’ very own art prints can be found at at his folio website.

Last weekend, I was back in the Bay Area for a preview screening of UP, the 10th feature film from Pixar. The studio always puts on a good show at their WRAP PARTIES and it is a delight to see co-workers aglow in the joy of watching what they have worked so hard to make, while partying in fancy finery; evening gowns and tuxedos, even top hats and tails.

The film is fantastic, and watching it was extra fun for me because a good amount of my work actually made it into the final film; not always the case when you work only at the very beginning of the process, which was the case for me here. I am philosophical about having most (if not all) of my work cut out of projects because, after all, that exploration and opportunity to revise is what storyboarding is all about. So it was a special treat to see a lot of my work in the film. I very much enjoyed the working on this project with a crew that was full of gracious people, all the way UP to the directors themselves. However, all those good vibes didn’t make it a cake walk; I worked harder on this film than any other!

The most gratifying part of it all is to see the finished film. It came out wonderfully. This film has a blend of madcap silliness and yet emotional realism that is difficult to strike, but one of the things I most enjoyed about it. I have never seen a story like this before and I think it is one of the best that Pixar has ever done (though I clearly have my own bias on that score) but I can state with absolute conviction that it is certainly my favourite film that I have worked on thus far. I hope that you all like it too. It opens everywhere on May 29th.

In recognition of the sweep of the Annie Awards by a certain bear last week, Here are some doodles I did a few years back. I post here today one sketch for each F-Bomb dropped by Mr Stevenson during his acceptance speech on that night.

Here is the preliminary digital sketch for the previous post, before I tidied it up and shifted the pose a little based on some feedback from my friend/client who I was doing the drawing for. There is something loose and fluid that I like about this earlier, scribbly version though.

The finishing was all digital, done on my 15 inch Cintiq, but the process started out by doing a few pages of pencil thumbnails, from which my friend chose the design elements she liked best. I posted the pencil thumbnails earlier, here, here, here and here. So the final picture is a combination of bits and pieces from all of those.

I think I have an idea for how to use some of the other thumbnails too, for another project I have in mind. Which just goes to show that cheesecake doodles are never a waste of time.

Here is another bit of professional work done on a project that went into hibernation. It is an exploration for an easy-to-draw futuristic flight suit. Although the colours I had in mind were black, grey and purple, I hoped that it might look a bit skeletal when worn.

A few years ago I was given the chance to design my version of a certain martial arts bear that is currently entertaining audiences in movie theatres across the land. The job was only for two or three days, just until the creative team came to their senses and used the supernaturally talented designer who was already working at that studio (there is a certain sense of satisfaction in knowing that my lameness was instrumental in pushing them in the right direction). In the short time available, I only got as far as a few pages of scribbles, but this Big Baby version is one of my favourites of the several variations I came up with.

If you haven’t seen this movie yet, by all means hurry out and see it soon. I think that it is one of the best animated movies in years. It is gorgeous to look at and beautifully animated with some of the best action sequences I’ve seen in any movie lately; fast paced, kinetic and cutty without ever being confusing… The story is funny without being flippant or snide, or drenched in pop-culture wise-ass-ery. Plus, it really delivers some pure, sweet moments that aren’t saccharine, which is one of the hardest things to do in any movie.

Here is my take on “the baddie” in a project I worked on recently. The job died almost as soon as I delivered the artwork… which was a bunch of character studies; both B/W sketches and a few colour pics like this one. 90% of such jobs tend to die on the operating table.