Monday, July 30, 2012

30 day sketchbook challenge

Those of us in the Pixar Story Dept. recently initiated an unofficial assignment to fill a sketchbook in a month.  It was an attempt to get us to draw more outside of work commitments- in the event only 4 of us kept up with our books. We're used to meeting crazy deadlines here but this one was a push to hit, even for those of us who maintain a sketchbook regularly.
I kept the book in hand constantly rather than in my bag-it makes you more willing to open it and jot down observations (sage advice from ex-Bournemouth Animation tutor Peter Parr)


 I usually avoid 'commuter' drawings -I did hundreds of these on the Tube in London and the  Paris Metro but usually you just end up with a sketchbook full of floating heads!  But with the pressure on to fill this book I would inevitably spend my time on BART trying to capture some of the locals.


 Walking home through the Mission District after work I made a habit of stopping to draw anything that caught my eye, from old Victorian style houses to the roadworks on Cesar Chavez.
Strolling around my neighbourhood one weekend I discovered a park with a great view of Bernal Heights
 I figured a Dr Sketchy's session would help fill up some pages. This time the theme was 'zombie slaying'!


Town house on California & Van Ness.

Gesture Class helped fill pages . . . 



Noe Valley 24th Street


Oakland Broadway nr Jack London Sq.

Macarthur BART station, Oakland

'Pops' dive Bar in the Mission

Quick 'vignettes' scribbled while waiting for public transportation.







Half Dome, Yosemite

Kintetsu Mall, Japantown

Nob Hill

Ball Park

Dive Bar

Tenderloin view on Hyde & Post

Modern (ish) & vintage Bay Area transportation


Check out the books of John Hoffman, James Robertson and Ronnie del Carmen

21 comments:

Quentin Lebegue said...

Really nice work ! How big was your sketchbook by the way ?

Matt Jones said...

Regular A4 book-120 pages

Unknown said...

Wonderful cher Ami! Let's meet up some weekend in SF and fill one sketchbook over 2 days!

merf said...

4 pages a day! you did well, did you have time to eat!
love the big digger

Unknown said...

Nice sketches!

Matt Jones said...

Thanks! Some days I did 8 pages a day some none-but always enough time to eat!

Unknown said...

Nice work man as always :-)

Unknown said...
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Angela Entzminger said...

These are fantastic - excellent job. I particularly like the town house drawing.

Dan Yu said...

Amazing sketches! Keep them coming!

Anonymous said...

These are lovely!
What pen do you use to draw?

tomm said...

Beautiful stuff

Yon said...

Your sketches are such a treat to look at Matt! How long do you usually spend on your environment sketches like those Victorian houses you did?

Joe Giampapa said...

Inspiring!

paige said...

Absolutely beautiful and very inspiring!

Matt Jones said...

Thanks folks!

Andrew-there's some info on the pens I've been using lately here-http://mattjonezanimation.blogspot.com/2012/06/sketchcrawlin.html


Yon-I try to never spend more than 45 mins-1hr on a sketch. If I find myself looking for more detail to add then I stop. It's better to leave blank space to balance the detailed areas.

Jampix said...

Hi Matt, wonderful stuff! They are a pleasure to look at, I could say there's enough stuff here to publish another book, take care buddy :)

libra bear said...

Tha was such an enjoyable post. Even the inanimate objects in your drawings have life. Thanks for sharing

Mattias Adolfsson said...

Lovely sketchbook

Michael Brady said...

Wonderful stuff - I really like your gesture drawings! Did you study the Arts Institute at Bournemouth?

Matt Jones said...

Thanks Michael-I wasn't at Bournemouth but met Parr through friends who were.