Cette post est Énorme!

Big Post of what I've been up to in Paris so far. It's been about 5 weeks and i'm loving the work (see further down), and heading out and absorbing the Parisian culture.


Place Des Vosges is a lovely Park in the heart of le Marais. It has a few fountains which drew my attention as kids often played around, and in them!






Pere Lachaise is a huge cemetery with the graves and tombs of many famous (and wealthy) French people. It's very impressive to see these huge and elaborate tombs, which can be pretty much buildings and in some cases, towers, dedicated to the memory of the deceased. Worn iron doors and eroded sculptures really characterise this 'city-like' place. I loved the way the light was falling over these structures...






Le Jardin de Luxembourg has been my haven since I have been here. My first flat was right opposite this and so most evenings and weekends were spent drawing the many people chilling out. There are Chess players, people playing Tennis on the many courts - there is also a basketball court so I was challenging the residents!
If you come to Paris, you have to visit this place.










So the film i'm working on at the minute is based on the French comic book, 'Titeuf'. (This is an image from the comic - for the film, the characters have obviously been 'featurised').
The line is really clean so it has taken a while to get used to it after The Illusionist, but i'm learning! There are many artists assisting at Neomis who have worked on lots of features, like Prince of Egypt and all the Disney films that were done at the Disney Paris Studio (which, when it closed down, became Neomis - speaking of which, someone said I was working at Glen Keane's old desk, but somehow I don't think so!), and so I am trying to learn from them. It's pretty hard though!


I've been trying to speak to the Animators also and the other day, Antoine Antin and I were looking through each others sketchbooks(!) Needless to say, I was blown away - I think looking through someones book eliminates any kind of editing or selection process that you get with a blog or folio - all drawings are on display - and there weren't any of his that I wouldn't add to a folio!
I think he noticed my awe, so he tore out some pages and gave them to me..... aiite!


The Illusionist came out here and it was a pretty big thing with posters everywhere and write-ups in magazines. I saw it and really liked it - Congrats to the team for all their hard work!!