NEW e-BOOK!

 I've published a new e-Book on my Gumroad store. 80 pages of paintings, drawings & photos of my trips to Mexico City and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Buy my product

MAYA & THE THREE 'Divine Gate Battle' storyboard scene

The Divine Gate seq in ep7 of 'Maya and the Three' was a blast to storyboard. Jorgé came up with the ultimate 'threshold guardian' and I got to pay tribute to all my fave movies; the rock monsters from 'Hellboy II' and 'Galaxy Quest', the mecha-gate warrior in 'Labyrinth' and of course Harryhausen's Talos in 'Jason & the Argonauts'. I tried a gag where Picchu gets so mad at the Gate for harming Chiapa that he crushes the widescreen with his frown!

Maya and the Three

Huevos rancheros! It was a blast boarding 'Maya and the Three' Every scene had a mix of comedy, action & emotion and I love stretching all those staging muscles. Jorgé would ask for "MORE!" to make the drama more exaggerated than a telenovella (there's some subtle stuff too). He encouraged me to incorporate my cinematic influences: Mario Bava, Herzog, Ridley, Tsui Hark, Spielberg, Harryhausen, Crouching Tiger, Leone, Lean, Clive Barker, King Kong, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Kurosawa, Cocteau, Jodorowsky…The hybrid TV/feature model we used worked brilliantly; we had sufficient time to do a couple passes, get feedback from the team, make fixes, get it into editorial and then sweeten scenes again with strategic revisions. Here's a supercut of some of my favorite shots I got to draw on the show.

Process vid!

How I draw a long pan with character running for they storyboard animatic of my Roald Dahl short.

Halloween!

It's the month of spookiness already so here's a new painting inspired by a photograph of Elvira at the house from Psycho. She looks like the ultimate Hollywood real-estate agent! 

The original painting of the Mistress of the Dark is for sale here

New e-book!

 

A collection of notes, sketches and draw-overs on Gesture Drawing. A guide to the essential building-blocks of capturing the essence of a pose quickly and efficiently. All the notes I posted on the Artof_GestureDrawing IG page summer 2020 are included + more sketches, draw-overs and text.

Available in my Gumroad store here

Roald's Nest

I created a short film for Roald Dahl day 2021! I found footage of Dahl talking about his writing hut and creative process and thought his wonderful voice would make him the perfect narrator for an animated version. All creatives need their own writing hut; a creative space whether it’s a corner in a cafe or a private studio- it’s a place to think and dream without distraction. I grew up in Wales reading Dahl’s stories and discovered he was Welsh too (Norwegian parents). I knew many of the places in Cardiff that his family frequented. He built his hut after seeing that of another Welsh writer, poet Dylan Thomas, and copied the design. I’ve packed more easter-eggs inn here than the BFG has bottled dreams. Dahl fans should be able to spot them all.

Wolfwalkers

 Robin meets the wolf-girl Mebh while searching for her bird, Merlin, in the forest.

Grandma busts Yokai!

For my Story Class feature film ‘YOKAi’ I did a scene where we see Grandma attacked by yokai in the corridor of her apartment block. The fight has more dynamic staging but for one shot I wanted to go flat and watch her dispatch the invaders with her improvised yokai-busting kit in a homage to the #Oldboy corridor fight. The tone of the film is a Japanese Gremlins meets geriatric Ghostbusters! I couldn't use the soundtrack from Park Chan-wook’s film but found a copyright-free track. See the version with sound effects on my Instagram

AM3RICA art book $20 for 4th July week!

Get your copy at my art store here

'My Life, Drawing' eBook preview

My latest book on drawing shows my path from learning classical life drawing techniques at art school then making the midi-set change to a gesture drawing approach at Californian animation studios. My digital e-books on painting and gesture drawing available here Check out my GESTURE DRAWING channel for 100s of vids of me drawing from a model in class. My original art & printed art books for sale here

Drawing CLEOPATRA

1-2 minute sketches of a costumed model on a 'Cleopatra' theme. Check out my GESTURE DRAWING channel for 100s of vids of me drawing from a model in class. My art & art books for sale here My digital e-books on painting and gesture drawing available here

Streaming Chess

 

The Streaming Wars have begun...

Mando- the ultimate cowboy dad. Disney finally figured out how to do Star Wars and it was in the long-form TV format!

Mother will protect us. #HBOMAX launched this year with big-budget, bizarre sci-fi #RaisedByWolves creatively led by Ridley Scott.

Joe Exotic- another twisted parental figure! The eponymous #TigerKing from the #Netflix show that dazzled us during the first weeks of the quarantine

Stop the clock! Grandmaster Scott Frank returned to #Netflix with a series that somehow made chess captivating! Beth Harmon reigns as queen of the limited streaming shows. Checkmate in the Streaming War

The Crown returned with an expert political chess-player; Margaret Thatcher. However season 4 saw her out-maneuvered and ousted which means the amazing Gillian Anderson departs the show.

Another king.... Iorek Byrnison, King of the bears! His Dark Materials returned to HBO with an even more visually impressive second season

Primal returned with season 2 on @adultswim The Frazetta/Creationist fantasy show is stunningly rendered in traditional 2-D animation. Spear and Fang from 'Primal' round off my ‘2020 streaming TV chess war’.

Drawing Chinatown LA

Pre-pandemic footage from Chinatown, Los Angeles when we could mingle freely! Plus some time-lapse process video of a couple of studies I made recently of Hop Louie's Seafood restaurant. An ink drawing and a color painting.If you're looking for Christmas gift ideas check out my original artwork and art books at my Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/shop/MattJonesOriginalArt

Holiday gifts

If you're struggling to think of Holiday gifts the 'AM3RICA' art book is available here plus original artwork; paintings and cartoon work. Store link

Also available (limited copies left) my first collection of paintings 'JONES PAINTS AMERICA'