An illustration from a while back, on hearing the news that China has banned the new Christopher Robin movie…
“The Winnie the Pooh character has become a lighthearted way for people across China to mock their president, Xi Jinping, but it seems the government doesn’t find the joke very funny”
The French edition of Wonderland came out last week from Bao/Paquet, changes from the english version (aside from the French) include a return to non-matte paper so the colours look closer to the original series, plus a revision of the word balloons and text so everything looks more hand-drawn/written. Hoping to get some copies of the book soon 🙂
Not quite the top ten but Wonderland’s on the list at least :p
“… presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens”, says the website.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/greatgraphicnovelsforteens/ggnt10.cfm
Trailer done for the French edition of Wonderland, called “”Au Pays des Merveilles” which translates as… “Land of Wonders” i think :p Always with the plinky rinky Burton-Elfmanesque music! Why must it be so? :p
Thanks to the folks at artprintasia , got a high-res scan of the painting.
For the french edition of ‘wonderland’, out in 2010…still needs some colour correction though i think 
Did a painted version of the wonderland cover, mostly for the French edition that’s due out next year. Oil on canvas, 30×40 inches. It was also a chance to see if I could replicate in traditional media a piece that was coloured digitally before, and whether it was a process that I’d enjoy. Mixed feelings ultimately I guess; on the one hand it was an interesting challenge somewhat simplified by having an original to refer to , but that also meant a kind of constraint, so maybe there wasn’t as much a process of discovery and figuring things out as there usually is when painting.
DVDs watched whilst painting: season 1 of Battlestar Galactica (Edward James Olmos is great, mixed feelings about the religious angle) and seasons 2-3 of the Wire. Which felt a lot like the brilliant Homicide Life on the Streets, which totally made sense when I found out that Homicide was based on a book by the creator of the Wire :p
The above image, from this website, shows some of the concept art for “American Dog”, a Disney movie that turned into “Bolt” after its original director, Chris Sanders was removed. This was apparently due to disagreements over storytelling with John Lasseter, and therefore raises parallels (in my mind) with other projects where the orginal directors/creators were removed for failing to solve “storytelling problems” (Jan Pinkava on Ratatoullie is another case and maybe Glen Keane on Rapunzel Unbraided as well) .
Apart from any talk of conflicting egoes, it does make me wonder: What exactly is good storytelling?
Pixar movies have been used as a gold standard for a while now in critical circles, and on Ratatoullie, Brad Bird is often cited as having fixed numerous storytelling issues in a matter of weeks. But here’s the rub though: as much as I loved the 2 Toy Stories and Iron Giant, I’ve been underwhelmed by later Pixar movies, from Ratatoullie to Wall-E; Bolt was a pretty bland movie as well.
Which makes me wonder what the movies would have turned out like if Sanders and Pinkava had been allowed to carry out their vision; something more personal, less commercially driven perhaps? Or were there really objectively quantifiable problems with their approach? Is good storytelling a subjective thing or is there some sort of universal (or at least human) standard we can point to? (say…a 90% rating on rottentomatoes? :p)
I guess I worry about these issues working on my own stories, particulary the current Malinky Robot GN: is there enough direction in the plot? Emotional engagement of the reader? Is the conflict resolution placed at the right time, at the right intensity? What would a John Lasseter make of the Brothers Quay or Jan Svankmajer?
Who exactly do we write for, and to what end?
SDCC this time round was a different experience, with booth-manning tasks (ordering books, keeping track of sales etc) adding a new wrinkle to proceedings..
First stop after a 17 hour flight was downtown LA, where I’d sent all the books to old RISD friends Danny and Sue, here’s them helping to load their car with many boxes for the drive to San Diego. We then had to figure a way to get the boxes to the exhibition hall itself , despite a trolley with a dodgy comedy wheel that wobbled like a drunken sailor :p
The booth itself, shared with Flight and Gallery Nucleus was centrally located, thought the best way to find it amidst the mayhem was to look for the Marvel banner hanging from the rafters.
The Wonderland HC trade did good business, and i drew quite a few mary anns and chesire cats :p
There were the usual assortment of costumes, though i didn’t get a chance to snap a picture of someone dressed in full Judge Hershey regalia :s
Lots of toys and figurines of course, including original Coraline Stop Motion figures and custom Storm Troopers (my fave ones were the comic con fan and popsicle versions :p)
There were old faces to meet like the folks from the Flight crew, and new ones too, with Mike Allred being the most exciting just cos I’m a big fan of Madman. He’s pictured here with his family 🙂 I missed the Doctor Who panel with Russell Davies and David Tennant, but still got to meet a Dalek, plus one of this guys from Yo Gabba Gabba! :p
Also there were the folks from Secret Identities, it was nice meeting everyone there after only ever communicating via email. There were photo ops with Larry Hama and Kelly Hu too (its a guy thing, i think :p)
David Sung (animation director) was one of the many people I met at the con, and he was kind enough to show me and danny round the disney studio lots (though the actual animation dept was out of bounds cos of secret secrets), above is me and danny pretending to be mickey mice.
They also had original props on display, the best of the lot was a couple of Steve Zissou headgear, including the red cap worn by Williem Defoe.
Before you knew it, it was time to pack everything back into boxes and say goodbyes.
The saddest one was with Munki, Danny and Sue’s cat who i first met back in art school days at RISD. She’s now 14 years old and was rather ill, and I probably won’t be seeing her again next time SDCC rolls round. Bye bye munki!
more pics at: facebook
Haven’t got a copy yet, but they had the Wonderland HC trade on display at the Disney Hyperion booth at the American Library Association Midwinter Conference recently, and Tommy sent me some pics of it …. :p
In less fun news, ruptured my right achilles tendon last week, so its going to be crutches and rehab (and no footie) for the next 6 months or so :p (the foots not as mangled as it looks – that’s just the backslab :p)
Meabwhile some paintings and original comic book art up at the J Cafe at the MICA Building ,140 Hill Street, #01-01, S(179369) here in Singapore until Feb 18th 🙂
opening hours:
Daily:
11.30am – 4.30pm
6.30pm – 10.30pm
contact: 6337 7009
Thanks to Kelvin from Asian Art News for the hookup, and J Cafe for putting up the show 🙂 For more info goto : Singapore Art Tours
The Secreter Robot Spy Factory 