More from the Croisette. . .

Pleuvoir sur le croisette-quel horreur! It's umbrellas & plastic macs this weekend as the festival has been drenched & queuing in line ain't so pleasant. The cafés are more packed than usual so it's hard to find a spot to draw but I did this one from the ever popular Caffé Roma. Caught a couple movies yesterday-my reviews can be read on film critic Mark Salisbury's blog. Here's one animation related:


WALTZ WITH BASHIR

It's encouraging to see another mature themed animated project in competition after last years' PERSEPOLIS. Contrary to Marjan Satrapi's autobiographical memoir of being raised amid Middle Eastern conflict, it's an account of Ari Folman's quest to remember what happened to him during his days in the Israeli army.
Folman has said he chose animation as his medium because he had no other option-it would have been just talking heads if in live action & there is little video footage of the Lebanon war from this period. Instead he illustrates the war-time experiences of his comrades as they relate their memories in voice-over. Stylistically the artwork is just as bold & graphic as Persepolis but more realistic, similar to Linklater's WAKING LIFE or A SCANNER DARKLY but not rotoscoped.
A talented team of artists evoke the surreal horror of war expertly & often poetically.
It's a moving & gripping account of one man's desire to understand how he came to be part of one of the worst massacres of the Lebanon conflict.

Folman plans to use animation for his next project-an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's 1971 sci-fi novel 'The Futurological Congress'.

Festival de Cannes 2008

I can't believe a year has gone by already & I'm at my second Cannes Film Festival-I'm well on my way to the special recognition award given to longtime festival goers of 30 years or more!




I caught the first screening of KUNG FU PANDA & Dreamworks have set a new gold standard for themselves with this picture. Right from the 2-D opening sequence you know this is going to be a winner. In fact the title sequence by James Baxter's studio is so good one almost wishes the entire film was done in this style. It's limited, Flash style animation but with gorgeous textures & flourishes of full animation. Despite its meagre premise (fat panda masters kung fu) the film dazzles with its magnifecently orchestrated action sequences. Character designs are excellent & will have you yearning for the inevitable action/plush toys.
Expect this flick to be HUGE this summer, although how Dreamworks will squeeze the paper thin scenario for their desired franchise remains to be seen. This one however will defeat all box-office challengers with its 'awesomeness & bodacity'!


It's only Day 2 I'm already feeling fatigued but I'll be back in Cannes tomorrow to see more movies & make more drawings.A bientot mes amis. . .

Road rage

Motoring in France is always an adventure. Drivers here are just a touch more intense than in the UK. Most seem to think they're participating in the Monte Carlo Ralley & will risk their lives, vehicles & licences to gain that extra couple car lengths in traffic.

I recently had a close encounter with the charming family above who were unhappy about having to let me pass ahead of them on a roundabout. The matriarch was leaning out of the window & banging the side of the car like a frenzied baboon!
I'm driving to Lago Maggiore in Italy this weekend so I'm planning to stick to the slow lane & avoid trouble!
Bonne weekend-report from the Cannes Film Festival in a weeks time. Ciao!

The Big Red One

Early last summer I found this thick, A4 size sketchbook in a local papeterie & figured it would be perfect for café drawings. It has about 200 pages of rough, low quality paper that actually has a nice bite & adds texture to pen lines. I wasn't worried about spoiling a nice Moleskine or leather bound sketchbook & started bashing out gesture drawings to loosen up for the day.


I started it last July & just finished it in March. 200 pages with an average of around 20 figures per page makes that approximately 4000 people (& dogs) observed & sketched!


It would take forever to scan every page but I'll post up some of the better pages. It's interesting for me to see how I changed over the 9 months trying out different techniques, looking for different things;conversations, expressions, faces somedays, other days street scenes. It became a good discipline that helped me grow as an artist but I dread to consider how much money I spent on cappucinos!


Here are some of the cafés & brasseries where I would sit outside & sketch. The winter in Nice was just mild enough to sustain 'terrace sketching'. Some days the fingers did get a bit numb.






Apart from the odd street scene I concentrated mainly on les passants-passers by. I tried to capture different walks, body shapes, ages, attitudes etc. Sometimes my attention would be drawn by particular outfits people wear. The Riviera set can sport some pretty outrageous clobber, especially in the summer!

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More to come soon . . .

Aurora y Balaban

Raja & I watched 'The Orpahange' recently & we were gripped. We were clutching each other tightly in the cinema, watching it between our fingers! It reclaims every 'haunted house' genre convention with feature debut director Juan Antonio Bayona pulling all the right strings. There are a couple of moments that are real heart stoppers!
I made this drawing inspired by two great characters who show up half way through. Aurora & Balaban are 'paranormal investigators' played by Geraldine Chaplin & Edgar Vivar. They reminded me of the scenes in Poltergeist with the parapsychologists & the medium Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein). Let's hope Senor Del Toro sanctions a spin-off movie featuring these two.

Sketchcrawl 18

March 29th was the 18th World Wide Sketch Crawl & once again our small ensemble headed back in time to sketch another medieval hill town. This time we hopped across the border into Italy. I'd found this picture of Cerriana in a book of old photos by Jean Giletta & thought it looked really great to draw & it's only an hours drive from Nice, in the mountains above San Remo.

We rolled into town to find it deserted & populated entirely by 3-wheel Piaggio mini-vans. The streets of the old town are too narrow for cars so the residents use these to get around & transport heavy goods.


This month's sketch-crawlers were Carlos, Emma, Francois-Xavier & myself.


We found a great spot over-looking the town & set to work.
I warmed up with a sketch of F.X. drawing the old Roman church.



The architecture of the town is stunning with the ancient buildings somehow fused with the rock. There's an entire absence of town planning where houses have been built on top of each other at every angle!

I wanted to loosen up a little & went straight at the next one with diluted ink & a fat brush.


The locals were inquisitive & asked me why I was drawing the town-my Italian only extends to 'Bella, bellisima!' but they got the point.

An old lady with a hairy chin gave me a tour of the old Roman church, of which she was the guardian.

I ended the day with a drawing made from the same angle as the Giletta photograph.

Another fine sketchcrawl in glorious surroundings fine weather. Can't wait for the next one . . .


Everyones sketches from the day can be viwed here.

Zoo 2

Last weekend I returned to the zoo on Cap Ferrat for more animal quick sketching . . .