Une vie héroique

While I was in Nice over the New Year the French media was buzzing about the imminent release of Joann Sfar's biopic of Serge Gainsbourg. Through the Gainsbourg: Le Film blog I discovered a project set up by Brit illustrator Jonathan Edwards- Draw Serge!  inviting illustrators to contribute their images of Serge.  Here are the roughs for the final above.

Life Class

 Latest batch of life studies from the Bristol Grammar School Life Class as requested by O. Grillo of Ealing and M. Cruickshank in Roehampton.

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Sketching at Henry Moore

London Exhibitions

Last week I re-charged my cultural batteries in London. I was reminded what an incredible centre it is for art exhibitions. In which other city could you see Michelangelo's 'Dream', read VanGogh's letters to his brother, marvel at Henry Moore's ouvre & scrutinize hundreds of Ronald Searle originals all in one day?!
In my experience only Paris has more top exhibitions simultaneously on the go (and London admission prices are catching up with the French capital too; for £12 a pop they should throw in a complimentary catalogue).  I was in town to see the exhibitions celebrating Ronald Searle's 90th birthday but also managed to squeeze in the big 3 major crowd-pullers.

First up, the Henry Moore retrospective at TATE Britain. I was somewhat disappointed by this- the Moore installation at Dulwich a few years ago was more impressive. It seems Moore's monumental bronzes work better outdoors. I realize there's only so many you can heave into the Tate galleries but the sculptures on show seemed to cancel each other out.

More interesting were the works on paper-several sketchbook pages are on display & for the first time I saw Moore's 'blitz' drawings in the flesh. These were records of conditions during WW11 when Londoners sheltered from the bombing in the tunnels of the Underground. I've never forgotten seeing as an art student Moore's 'sheep' sketchbook, impressed by his sculptural use of cross-hatching.

Later in the day I happened upon a Moore print in an antiquarian book shop window; a fine drawing of a rhinoceros, its form similarly expertly rendered.

Early next morning I walked along the Strand to the Courtauld Institute where temporary exhibitions are supported by a fine collection of Impressionist & post-Impressionist works, Dutch masters, numerous studies by Tiepolo & Tintoretto & that picture of Adam & Eve from the title sequence of Desperate Housewives (actually by Cranach the Elder). I was there to see some drawings by Michelangelo that I wasn't familiar with-a series of 'presentation' drawings made to woo a much younger man that the old artist was smitten with. (Were these part of the Michelangelo show at the British Museum 4 years ago?) The highlight of the series is the 'Dream'- it's unimaginable how the artist conjured up this masterpiece merely with chalk & his fingers-breath-taking stuff.

If only Vincent Van Gogh knew that even his hand-writing would turn out be so popular! His correspondence with his brother Theo is the major blockbuster this season with lines stretching the entire courtyard of the Royal Academy. I waited an hour to get in & spent 10 minutes shuffling along the glass cases peering at the fragile, brown letters before a power-cut plunged the galleries into darkness. We all stood murmuring in the gloom for 5 minutes before being ushered out the fire escape. In the confusion I took advantage of the disabled security alarms & slipped one of the priceless canvases under my coat & made for the exit. A ransom of this kind is the only way to coerce a refund from the RA beaureaucrats!

Ronald Searle is 90 today!

I'm in London for a couple of days attending the various festivities surrounding Mr Searle's 90th birthday. Follow the news on my Searle Tribute Blog.

Back on the lecture circuit

 

Last week I was invited to talk to the animation students at Newport Film School by my old college chum & Resident Cartesian Theologian James Manning.  I hope my random ramblings were of some use to the next generation of UK animators.

Lecturing is a great way to force you to focus on your process & approach.  It helps you clarify your thoughts on why and how one works.  I'm sure if I keep doing it I'll eventually make some kind of sense.

I'll be doing my presentation on Ronald Searle's work in animation & film titles at the Cartoon Museum, London on March 30th.  

Interesting article here on comicbook artists finding work as live-action storyboard artists & directors.

Life Drawing Winter Term 2010

A new term of life drawing has begun and after a couple of months out of the life-class it's back to drawing off the rust. These are the strongest drawings out of 2 weeks of struggling. I enjoy the work-out though . . .

Films of the year

A little late with this but after due consideration & spurred on by a debate with cineast pals in SanFrancisco last week here's my top 5 of 2009, in ascending order:

Fashion designer Tom Ford impresses with his super stylish & assured directorial debut.  Interesting cinematography (the use of colour draining in & out is effective), period perfect production design & a towering performance from Colin Firth.

Documentary following Slovenian national hero Martin Strel as he swims the Amazon with only a skinful of beer & wine to protect him from the piranhas.  Driven crazy by the sun, polluted waters & ill health this is a testament to will power & the human spirit. A film like those Werner Herzog used to make before he hooked up with Nicolas Cage (this just beats out boxing documentary Facing Ali-an excellent portrait of the opponents Mohammed Ali faced in the ring.







In a strong year for sci-fi movies District 9 showed what you could do on a relatively low budget with imaginative fx while Avatar showed the sky is the limit when the money is no object.  But Moon showed them both that real-life model moon buggies still rule!  Sam Rockwell gives performance of the year-twice!

I was blown away by Let The Right One In early in the year-just when you think the cinematic vampire genre is moribund the most original horror pic in years comes out of Sweden.  The use of shallow focus & compositional framing in this flick is masterful.  I re-watched it recently on dvd & the director's commentary reveals that she is really a he!

And my film of the year is actually two- Mesrine: Killer Instinct/Public Enemy is a dazzling, brutal account of  infamous French outlaw Jacques Mesrine.  This is everything Michael Mann's Public Enemies should have been-dynamic, sexy, shocking and Cassel burns 1000 times brighter than Depp's Dillinger.  Along with Jacques Audiard's Un Prophet the French reclaimed the movie-gangster crown in 2009.

1910

A couple of weeks ago while driving back from Nice I stopped over in Paris for a special screening of 'A Monster In Paris' -the film I storyboarded on between 2006 and 2008.

Bibo had invited me to attend a work-in-progress screening of the picture with the rest of the crew. Also in attendance was Matthieu 'M' Chédid who has composed the films music & songs and also voices the eponymous monstre. Vanessa Paradis plays the heroine & Danny Huston channels his father's unique timbre as the villain of the piece.
The studio is well into animation and on target for their Easter 2011 release date. Animation supervisor is Fabrice Joubert who was just Oscar nominated for his short French Roast.

The production is now suitably based in the Studio Méliès, built on the site of the original studio of cinema effects pioneer Georges Méliès.
The film is financed by Luc Besson's company Europacorp. Besson himself is finishing up work on his new film 'Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec'-an adaptation of Jacques Tardi's comicbooks. It's set in the same period as 'A Monster In Paris' and looks like a live action version of that film.

'A Monster In Paris' is looking great so far-the animation style is really loose & cartoony. The production design by François Moret and his team is outstanding. The film has been made with as much class, skill & style as the French produce clothes, cakes, wine & fine art. Only 14 months more until the monster is unleashed . . .

New Year with the Searles

Uli & I had another chance last week to visit Ronald Searle & his wife Monica. As last time we had a splendid lunch in their favourite restaurant then the rest of the afternoon back at their place. Monica kept brewing her strong coffee to counter-act the champagne which Ronald kept pouring!


This time we were privileged to be permitted access to the inner sanctum of chéz Searle. Few are allowed to see his studio & study but his work & sketchbooks were due to be shipped off to the Wilhelm Busch museum in Hanover where his archive is held. Ronald gave us a real treat & let us look at anything we fancied-he really is the most generous 'world's greatest living cartoonist' that I know!


Of course Ronald's collection of his own books is incomparable-he has all editions (plus proof/copy versions)in mint condition. There were several that I'd never even heard of.

Seeing the 'top-shelf' was nirvana for these dedicated Searle fans-a lifetime of sketchbooks! Last time we browsed his Scrooge and Monte-Carlo books but here were the rest-Morocco, Palm Springs, Hawaii, Dublin, Germany-all the original notes & drawings Searle made for the HOLIDAY magazine reportage.


It was all we could do to flip through as many as possible, Searle graciously letting us photograph anything we wanted. Naturally we couldn't get everything-between carrying on the conversation with Ronald and Monica, climbing up & down the step-ladder & the effects of the champagne-it was tough to focus! I'll be putting the rest of the photos up on the Searle blog soon.

Researching Searle I'd struggled to find 'A Step In The Jungle' a documentary made by the BBC in the 70s. Luckily Ronald possesses a copy on VHS and we were able to watch it with him adding commentary-

Monica too has her own collection of her husband's work & was very pleased to share with us her 'Mrs Mole' drawings. A special series of over 40 pictures that Ronald made for her every time she was ill. She would always awake to find another depiction of a day in the life of Mrs Mole- Monica herself in fact-easing the misery of her illness.
It was an honour & very touching to see these personal drawings. They're very charming, lovingly crafted and infused with the Searles devotion to each other.


Once again regretfully it was time to leave the Searles in their cosy little house in deepest Provence. Monica told us the bicycle in Searle's work is symbolic of happiness. With Ronald approaching his 90th birthday in March they're still going strong & the finest people to spend a Saturday afternoon with.

American Odyssey pt.2 On The Road

". . . we were on the edge of the desert, somewhere around Barstow . . ." when we began to wonder exactly whose idea it was to drive to Portland via Vegas! The plan was to head out east for a couple nights in the casinos then north to Portland via Salt Lake City & Twin Falls, Idaho. We'd return to LA through the Redwoods, Napa Valley, San Francisco & Santa Barbara- a 2000 mile round trip, in a week!

Las Vegas is more surreal than I could ever have imagined-nowhere does fabricated over the top decadence like Vegas.
We stayed at a quiet little place off the strip- the sophisticated & understated Hard Rock Hotel!



The casino CCTV must have observed me standing in a corner to make this drawing -I was soon surrounded by 3 burly security men checking what I was noting down in my black book. When they saw I was merely sketching the most senior said "pretty good . . ." and they left me alone.

Vegas to Portland is a long drive-especially if you make a 4 hour detour into the desert to see the Grand Canyon-only to find it 'closed'! The changing landscape we saw across 800 miles was impressive. We stopped in Salt Lake City, Utah-it was freezing there but those Mormons sure keep a nice, clean town. We saw a lot of exotic road-kill along the route and travelling hundreds of miles meant it was only a matter of time before we killed something. Thankfully it wasn't a raccoon or a deer or a bison but a hapless pigeon who met his maker when our radiator grill struck him at 90mph!



Rolling into Portland we instantly fell for this charming city. Despite the rain & mist the town has a relaxed vibe to it that you instantly warm to. The lovely folks at LAIKA had set up a tour of the studio for us-we were gob-smacked by the detail of the sets & puppets for Coraline. Many thanks to Patrick, Chris, Jan, Tony and everyone for making us feel so welcome.



On the way down to San Francisco we took a breath-taking route through the great Redwood Forest and the Avenue of Giants. We also found the 'Chandelier' or 'Drive-thru Tree'-it's 2400 years old!


After that it was on to San Francisco down through the vineyards of the Napa Valley. . .






The steep hills of SanFrancisco give the city a unique character but they're hard work!

Of course while in San Francisco we had to visit PIXAR! I did my Ronald Searle presentation for an appreciative audience & then we were shown around by our welcoming hosts Daniela Strijleva and Ralph Eggleston.


That was the last stop on the tour-we were pretty exhausted after so much travelling & visiting friends & studios. On the last night we relaxed in Haight Ashbury before hitting the road next day back to LA.



Back in LA on the last weekend I hung with my old buddy from Uli's studio Leo. We went down to LACMA- I was keen to see their Picasso collection.


We spent a recreational last day in LA hiking up Griffith Park with Amid Amidi. We toured the observatory before Leo led us up a treacherous route to the summit of mount Hollywood. We braved the threat of rattle-snakes, mountain lions & Amid's moustache to see the incredible view from the top.





The 'Theme Building' restaurant at LAX is currently shrouded in scaffolding while undergoing renovation work. I flew back to the UK on the 7th December after 3 weeks of countless sights & experiences. I saw as much as possible & met more people in that time than in a normal year back home. America was good to us - I'll be back . . .