EXPERIMENTS IN DRAWING

drawing while walking series: "intro/truck" (2009)

drawing while walking series: "that building next to the brewery" (2009)

drawing in the dark series: "right here" (2009)

drawing in the dark series: "the great bellydancer" (2009)

i was walking around at the beach down in the area of the children's festival the other evening. they had been taking tents down all day, as the festival had just ended, and i guess they decided to leave one tent out and open because there was nothing left in it. i looked around for security gaurds and didn't find any, so i went inside the tent and sat down in the dark. for some reason i decided to pull out my sketchbook and start drawing (i say, "for some reason" like i don't know that i had that YACHT song bouncing around in my head. "why would you be drawing in the daaaaark? when you could be drawing in the liiiiight."). i couldn't see. well, to be fair, i could barely see. i could sort of tell where i was putting lines, but not really sure what they looked like all together so i mostly just winged it and let my hand go free. i had this vague idea of what things were going to look like but i couldn't focus so intently on each stroke like i normally do when drawing. it was a very freeing experience. when i came out of the tent, i opened my book and took a look at what i had. above you can find 2 of the 10 drawings that i did in the dark. these ones turned out the best. frankly, i love the style and i'd like to experiement more with this style this summer. it was around that time that i did end up seeing a gaurd slowly cruising around the fenced off area, so i made my way towards the burrard street bridge.

it was then that i came up with my other, almost equally obtuse idea of drawing while walking. this is a very difficult thing to do. you have to constantly look up at what you're drawing, while shooting the eyes down to the page every now and again to make sure things are working out. that, coupled with the fact that the perspective of what you're drawing is constantly changing, makes for a unique drawing experience. above are another 2 drawings that i did from this series.

i highly recommend both styles of drawing. i found that they were both good exercises for "letting go" and feeling what you're drawing more than just trying to make it look right. so if you sketch, i suggest you try either one or both of these styles of drawing when you get a chance. i'll try and post some more at another time.

until later,
-justin

ART AUCTION

"beauty queen" (2008) - up for auction!!!

hello all,
i was recently told the terrible story of scott harding and the asshole who essentially ruined his life in a hit and run accident in new york. deb dawson, who i have the pleasure of working with on a daily basis, has set up a sort of art auction to help scott out with his hospital bills. i donated one of my drug paintings to the cause (seen above). if you were ever looking to buy any of my work, this is probably your best chance. i've never really sold anything before so this is a first. i think the prices range quite dramatically in the auction, so if you head over to the website you might find a great deal on something. i suggest you check it out. lots of really great stuff including original drawings from animators like bill plympton and marv newland. so go take a peek!

until later,
-justin

BEAUBIEN MAGAZINE and IDEAFIXA MAGAZINE

"a question for the panel" (2009)

busy busy busy! gotta go! go! go! never clean! never clean!
it's been a hectic few months for me. just got back from a trip visiting my brother in prague (photos will come soon, i promise. just gotta organize), been doing a lot of design work in the studio as well as some of my own animated junk which i know i keep promising to put up here, but is no where near a point of completion yet. patience.

in the meantime, i have a couple of tidbits of news. above, is a drawing that i did for a poem called "a question for the panel" that will appear in the new beaubien magazine in june of 2009. what's the poem about? why the baby with a beard? i dunno. guess you'll have to wait and see! if you live in montreal, vancouver or toronto you should be able to find it somewhere. they have a list of places that carry the magazine on their website.

in other news, if you'll recall a while ago, i was doing some illustration for the online magazine ideafixa (the fear and loathing issue). well, it appears that they have a best of book coming out soon and they selected one of my drawings to be in the book! i'm very honored to have been selected. i'm not exactly sure when they plan on releasing the book, but if you check back with the website, i'm sure they'll have the info up there as soon as they know.

-justin

CHRIS WARE ANIMATED

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

been a while. got some stuff to put up soon. rough drawings for a new strip, photos from my trip to prague, tests from a new spec spot. stay tuned! until then, enjoy this short that was animated by john kuramoto and designed by the prolific chris ware. the music in the piece is andrew bird.

see you soon,
-justin

BATMILK!

i've really been pushing the nfb lately, i know, but they've been putting out some fantastic stuff. right now, they have this little program on the go called hothouse. they just finished their 5th year and things really seem to be picking up. i thought i'd take a moment and share my favorite film from this year. it's called "batmilk" and it was made by the delightfully twisted albertan brandon blommaert. you should check out the other films from this year's program. very cool stuff!

stay tuned. more of my work is coming soon.
-jbones

DARFUR PSA

("drawings" darfur psa: 60 seconds)

here is the final 60 second version of the darfur psa called "drawings" that we just finished in the studio. this was the first spot that i designed from beginning to end. i animated a few of the scenes throughout as well. it was a great learning experience. i got to draw with crayons, play with tea and paper textures and experiement with water effects over the course of the 6 weeks it took to make this. the content is a bit tough to swallow but that was kind of the point. so, as sad as it is, i hope you can still enjoy it.

stick around. chris and i are doing some crazy tests for a different commercial that we're working on that i just might put up soon.

love always and forever,
-justin

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE - MY GIRLS VIDEO

animal collective "my girls" video

i'm a huge animal collective fan so this is a pretty big deal for me. and as far as i can tell, the my girls video is perfect. its elegantly psychedelic and upbeat and is almost literally the animal collective personified in visual form. the melting band members at the end always make me want to yell "WOOOOO!" along with them. so cool. i just hope they keep finding great videographers for their videos. great videographers who animate... and who's names are justin... longoz. call me dudes! i'm right fucking here!

check out some more animal collective and animal collective related videos:

peacebone

fireworks

water curses

who could win a rabbit

leaf house

winter's love (live in an apartment)

live at the old market in brighton (2004)

panda bear - people party live (part 01, part 02)

avey tare and kria brekkan (doctress) - foetus no-man live in philidelphia (2006)

looks like today was a big video day for this blog.

woot!

okay,

-justin

NFB FILMS ONLINE

still from norman mclaren's oscar winning film "neighbours"

just last month, the nfb (national film board of canada) launched the new nfb.ca site. it's like a gold-mine of incredible canadian films. they have documentaries, experimental films, old news reel stuff and a whole bunch more. i've mostly been watching the animated films. i recommend checking out the animal movie by ron tunis and grant munro or the street by caroline leaf. both stellar films. and of course, watch as many norman mclaren films as you can.

i thought i'd just post "when the day breaks" right here because i just love the film so much and i think that everyone should see it at least once. i hope you enjoy it!

bye bye for now,

-justin

MOWER FEWLT DRAWEENS

untitled 003 (2009)

untitled 001 and 003 (2008, 2009)

doing the hula in maui '92 (2009)

i found the charger for the digital camera so i was able to take photos of some more drawings. the first one there is just as big as the other giant old man head from a while back. you can see them side-by-side in the second photo. the 3rd one there is taken from a hilarious postcard i found with these old women doing the hula in maui. it was priceless! they were all leaning towards one side in mid dance, but they all sort of looked like they might have fallen directly after the photo was taken. too funny.

also wanted to say that i may have lost it on the whole nu nu's thing. so, i'm sorry about that. i still agree with about 80% of what i had said but i guess i could have been a little more respectful about it?2...3...4...

if i had just listened to the gap band and not "taken the chance to disrespect", i'd be surrounded by beautiful cartoon babes and i'd be able to drive my bendy limousine to my tape-deck robot that says "disrespect". remember that the next time you go to disrespect.

more lataaz,

-justin

NU NU'S CAN SUCK ON MY CHARELSTON CHEW

"fuck nu nu's sandwich bar in vancouver" (2009)

i'd like to start this post with some advice: if you're ever in the area of broadway and granville in vancouver and you're thinking to yourself, "i'm hungry but i don't want subway because i ALWAYS get subway, what else is like subway that i can eat right now?" don't go to nu nu's sandwich bar. jesus god. a tiny little, dry-as-a-nun's-vagina, piece of shit sandwhich that takes them 2 seconds to literally THROW together, will end up costing you 9 or 10 bucks. these aren't big sandwiches either. no special sauces or neato packaging. just tiny little, my-mom-is-a-lazy-bitch-and-i-hate-her-sloppy-bologne-sanwhich type of sandwiches. i ordered my chicken melt and the woman obviously didn't feel like making it for me because she was trying to sell me on the window sandwiches which i didn't want. who would? i mean, you're a sandwich bar for chrissake! you're telling me that it's too much for me to ask you to make my sandwich right there in front of me? you have to try and low-ball me with sweaty, soggy discount foccacia? get a job lady! gawd! and the interac machine had the balls to ask me if i was tipping 15% OR 20%... as if! you haven't served me in any way shape or form. you put wet sprouts on aged bread. who the hell do you think you are?

next time, just go to subway again. you'll feel better about yourself and the people who work in your neighbourhood. yes, it's so bad at nu nu's sandwhich bar that you'll actually wish you'd just stayed a boring and shitty individual who went to subway like an idiot.

in other news, we just finished the animation for a commercial that i designed! woo-hoo! it was the second commercial i've done design on and the first commercial i did ALL of the design for. i also did some animation which is always fun for me. as soon as the sound is finished, i'll put the spot up on this bitch for y'all to see. it's a PSA for darfur. it's pretty intense but i think it turned out nicely.

so stay tuned folks!
-justin