Sunday, January 28, 2007

Paris Sketchbook part 2

One hot weekend last August we took a day trip to Chantilly, outside Paris. The chateau itself is remarkable but it was too hot that day to sit outside & draw it. We sought solace from the sun in the shaded gardens & after eating ice-cream with real chantilly cream found these petit maison normande.


Gare de Lyon. The last place I saw in Paris before I boarded the TGV train to the South.


Musée du Panthéon Bouddique displays the Asian Arts collection that established Musée Guimet around the corner. Hidden at the rear of this little known museum is a wonderful Japanese garden.


More quick sketches of people in the streets & on the Metro. These were each drawn in probably 10 seconds or less.


Sculptures de Rodin et d' Henry Moore à l'exterieur du musée de l'Orangerie.


People I sketched while travelling to & from work on the Paris Metro.




A skinny French house!



Out of Picture publisher Paquet put on a party for the Blue Sky boys at a club on the Left Bank. This is the band that played. I seem to remember they were quite good but it was very late & a copious amount of punch had been consumed.





Opera Garniér




Metro Champs Elysées Clemenceau sortie sur le Rond Point des Champs Elysées, en face L'Hotel Dassault.




The Louvre is so vast & intimidating I avoided it for the whole summer. Before I left Paris I spent a couple weekends visiting & decided to concentrate on just ONE section. I chose the new department devoted to the tribal art of Africa, Asia & Oceania.







BHV is a big department store on the Rue de Rivoli, across the road from the Hotel de Ville.






This is the Brasserie de L'Est, opposite Gare de L'Est. The station has trains coming in from the East of France & Germany so this restaurant is popular with arriving Germans. Sauerkraut & huge plates piled high with sausages & meat are the house specialty.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Un Monstre a Paris



Bibo Studio used this image as their New Year greetings card. Created by Francois, Zébé & Julian in Paris it gives a glimpse of the heroine Lucille & how 1910 Paris is being pre-visualised for the film.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Badly dressed Welshman makes bid for French Presidency

Er, not quite, but my bid for glory in the French media starts here. When the French Interior Minister of Business & whatever came to visit us I made sure to wear my loudest hawaiian shirt for the photo opportunity. Unfortunately the vibrancy of my threads didn't reproduce too well in the newspapers.




Fortunately there was a colour publication too.

Here I'm showing the Minister (second left)& his buddies how to draw a sexy girl.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Doodles


Some goofy animals I drew just for fun!

Saturday, January 20, 2007

HONEYSTARS



Back in March last year I posted designs I did for Uli Meyer Animation on a HONEYSTARS commercial. CGI whizzkid Joan Cabot has recently posted an in-depth 'making of' on his blog.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Cadeaux Noel

Look what goodies Santa brought me this year!



ANIMATION BLAST! Issue 9 - at last! Well worth the FOUR year wait. Excellent articles on Johns Sibley & Dunn. The article on 'forgotten movie' TWICE UPON A TIME is fascinating. I hope this film becomes available on DVD. Looking forward to issue 10 Amid.


BLAST!issue 9 is perfectly complimented by Amid's other publication, CARTOON MODERN. Congratulations to Amid for an informative & oustanding visual feast. So many fims & artists I was not familiar with. This book is 50's heaven.



This is a collection of Arthur de Pins'comic strips for MAX magazine. Beautiful colour work & cute, sexy characters in funny situations.



I caught NAKED BEACH FRENZY a couple years ago at the London Animation Festival & can't wait to see what frenzied Kricfalunacy Spumco have cooked up with the other episodes.


New book from master colourist & big nose specialist Voutch.




Comprehensive collection of the best of Eldon Dedini, including a DVD with a 30 minute documentary on the man. Eldon's mantra- wake up everyday & BE HAPPY!

Bonne année!

Happy New Year all. It's back to the French Riviera and back to work on the 'Monstre'.
We're well into storyboarding now with half the film on the go & it's shaping up nicely. Can't wait to see the story reels once the panels have been edited.
BIBOFILMS have opened a teaser site for the movie here with a story synopsis & info on job openings.


Concept painting by Patrice Suau. Layout drawing by Zébé.
Poster below by Zébé.


All Un Monstre a Paris artwork is copyright BiboFilms.




Voici l'équipe de Monstre. Derriere, gauche a droite- Stephane, Bibo, Bruno & Antoine. Devant - moi et Seï. Manque Habib et le deux Alex's! (Ils travaillent à Paris). Le producteur Pascal prenait la photo.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Merry Christmas!

I wish you a Merry Christmas one & all! Here are some early presents for you, first some colour sketches for ideas I've been noodling with lately.





Also updated my GARY blog. Added the third part of the FAMOUS ARTISTS COURSE to the MORGUE & updated the MOLESWORTH, LONDON, USA & St.TRINIAN's sections of the RONALD SEARLE blog.
Added a new painting to my HEIDI blog.
I started a FLICKR set of my Paris sketchbook too. Link on the right.
I hope everyone has a great festive season & New Year celebrations. Catch up with you in 2007.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

SCOOP!

Yesterday the Cote D'Azur media press descended on our small team as the Minister for Industry paid us a visit. We all shook hands with the man & had our photos taken while Bibo was interviewed & Monsieur Ministre gave a speech. The Region wanted to thank Bibo Films for bringing the production to Nice & encourage other film-makers to come too.

Bibo & Bruno appeared on the regional news last night & the photos made it into the papers this morning. Here's a pic of Bibo getting in the way of my storyboards!



More info for French readers here, &here.

Bibo Studio Brings World-Class Film Animation to Nice 04/12/2006

“The Côte d’Azur is to France what Hollywood is to the United States, star system and show business, but also technology and know-how,” states Bibo Bergeron, director and producer, Bibo Studio. After seven successful years with Hollywood giant Dreamworks, Bibo Bergeron is coming home to France and has chosen the Côte d’Azur to establish his own studio. With 1,000 square meters of space on rue de la Liberté in the heart of Nice, Bibo Studio will invest € 1 million in its network of 3D animation stations, and plans to create 120 jobs over the next three years. Bergeron cites as key factors in choosing the location: the proximity of Sophia Antipolis, the film industry’s regular visits to the Côte dAzur for festivals and markets, and the technical training available at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, with which he will partner to develop a Masters in Film Animation. “We want our Nice studio to become a benchmark in the production of film animation,” Bergeron continues. Bibo’s target market includes producers of Europe’s high-budget animation films (€ 15 to 25 million). Its first production will be “Un Monstre à Paris,” directed by Bibo Bergeon and developed with EUROPACORP. With his storyboard team in place in Nice since November, Mr. Bergeon will continue production in Paris until Bibo’s Nice facilities are fully operational, in May 2007. The arrival of Bibo Studio in Nice is a major event for the Côte d’Azur, which today reinforces its cinema activity, known around the world in the days of Studios Victorine.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Aquarium Porte de la Dorée

Sketches made at the 'Poissons et crocodiles d'Afrique.' expo at the Paris Aquarium.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Le Magnifique



Stef, Will Kane & the rest of France will probably already know this film but I'm 35 years late in discovering it! My French colleagues showed this to me & it's a revelation! Mike Myers must have seen this before making the Austin Powers films, it has all the ingredients that Myers used & more. Belmondo is a comic genius, Bisset is gorgeous, the production design is fabulous & the 'parallel' realities an inspired take on the super-spy genre.
This is one movie that fulfills the thrills promised on its groovy poster.

Belmondo poster gallery.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Super Baby



I made this small painting for an old friend who was holding a charity auction. It's based on his baby son.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

RATATOUILLE



The countdown begins ... 8 months to go ...