When M. Sasek meets NBA

NRDC NBA Adds Up PSA - Ward Jenkins/Paul Golden from FFAKE Animation on Vimeo.

It's been a while since I'd directed anything lately, so it was a welcome pleasure for Paul Golden of Ffake to contact me about co-directing this fun public service announcement for the NBA and NRDC. That's National Basketball Association (of course) and the National Resources Defense Council - they're all about going green and recycling, etc. The PSA was a simple walk through of all the ways that the NBA has been working with the NRDC to make sure the league is going green - mostly through the basketball arenas and facilities.

Paul wanted to emulate the look and feel of M. Sasek and his "This Is..." children's book series, and I - of course, couldn't say no to that. It was quite a fun adventure working on this spot. Below are some of the first sketches I did of the NBA player and the NRDC scientist guy:

After some more sketches, finally got it down to a decent look for the scientist - more of a goofy guy who's a little behind the times with his basketball outfit:

Of course, we ended up having to change the gender of the scientist, which is perfectly fine with me. Just meant there was more work to do, while the deadline never changed.

Here are some of the rough, penciled layouts:


And now, here are the final backgrounds with final color treatments for the characters (they were all eventually reworked and animated in Flash).

Scene 01:


Scene 02: This scene required the most work. I referred to a lot of Sasek's books that had lots of downtown buildings to get the look right. Here's the regular version of the arena scene:

And here's the same shot, but with a cutaway of the arena:


Scene 03:


Scene 04 with the characters:


And here's Scene 04 background only:


Scene 05 with characters:


And here's Scene 05 background only:


Scene 06:


Scene 08, wherein we have to put all the appropriate logos at the end tag:



I know that I've shared a lot of images here, but you can see all these as well as a few more in this Flickr set: NBA/NRDC PSA.

Enjoy!

Book Idea

Been working on a picture book idea for a while now, and so I thought I'd share with you some of the character designs and a spread from the book. It's mostly in rough form - a book dummy, actually - with a few color treatments. Here are the main characters:
A Dad and his disapproving twins.
At one point, the kids have to get Daddy up since he doesn't want to. Both have to put their backs into it!

Of course, I'm in the midst of changing a big portion of the story around. As typical in creating stories, what sounded perfect one minute might sound completely ridiculous the next. Or, it's just not working. That happens in making books. The hard part is to be open and honest with yourself. And not get too married to certain aspects of the story. Because more often than not, you'll find yourself exorcising those parts in order to make the best possible story for your readers. It's been a learning experience for me, which is always a good thing. Below are some rough sketches of the characters:



So, it'll be interesting to see where this takes me. I'm excited about the possibility of reworking the story and seeing how all the pieces will fit. I love the process. It's not an easy thing, writing a children's book - that's for sure. Don't let anyone tell you that it's a cinch. It's not. Just ask any successful children's book writer out there - they'll be the first to let you know that it's a very difficult thing to master. So, yeah - it's going to be difficult, but I know it'll be fun going through the process.

That Michael Phelps Book I Illustrated

The 2012 London Olympics are in full swish and so I thought I'd showcase the first picture book I illustrated for Simon & Schuster, How To Train With a T. Rex and Win 8 Gold Medals, which came out in 2009 - a year after Michael Phelps made Olympic history by winning 8 gold medals during one Olympics. Quite an incredible feat, and one that might not be ever duplicated. The book was a challenge for me - not as challenging as what Mr. Phelps had to endure of course, but it definitely required endurance and stamina on my part - pulling all-nighters and working on re-dos and do-overs. And honestly, I enjoyed working on it. Being my first book, I wanted to prove to both myself and my publishers that I could do it. All the hard work was worth it.



I know that Michael is not doing as well in London as he did in Beijing, but that's okay. The book puts into perspective the crazy amount of training Michael went through for the six years leading up to the 2008 Olympics - maybe after achieving such a tremendous goal, his training wasn't as strong for the four years leading up to the current Olympics. Who knows? I wish him well. I've never met the guy (it's not typical for artists to actually meet the author/co-author of the picture books that they're working on), but I will definitely be rooting for the guy when he swims tonight. He may reach another record: winning the most medals ever for an Olympic athlete.
Here's a page on my site about the book:
How To Train With a T.Rex And Win 8 Gold Medals

And here's some more photos of the book in my Flickr set:
How To Train With a T.Rex And Win 8 Gold Medals Flickr set


Look! Michael went on Conan (back when he was still on NBC) to promote the book:

Vinyl Kid ends TODAY

Heads up - today is the last day that my t-shirt design Vinyl Kid will be available to order. After that, it's gone! Hurry! Hurry! (No pressure, but HURRY.) For show & tell, here's the rough sketch of Vinyl Kid:    

After that, I did final pencil lines using regular graphite pencil and a Prismacolor black pencil, which has a thicker, blacker line:



And here's the final with color added:

 

End of day today! Go and get it!

Vinyl Kid T-shirt Design

Oh yay! My very first t-shirt design for Shirt.Woot is now available! Titled, Vinyl Kid, it's part of a special sale on the site called Jukebox Heroes, featuring all music-related designs. The shirt will be available for ONE WEEK ONLY! Sale ends Sunday, May 20th.

If you love vinyl (and I know you do, since you're reading this blog), then go and buy a shirt (or 2, or 3) for yourself - or for your favorite crate-digger.

Coast to Coast, Baby!

I guess you could say that it's a soft release, but I'll have you know that my two newest books are now out! Behold, the covers:

NEW YORK, BABY!
SAN FRANCISCO, BABY!
One of the coolest things about the social networking aspect of having books released are the responses from friends who've spotted your books in storefronts or bookstores and then send you pics of the books. Checkit:

New York, Baby! spotted in a Brooklyn window by my friend Justin Lee:

 

San Francisco, Baby! spotted in a San Francisco window by my friend Bill Robinson: 

What's even better is that these photos are from each side of the country. Coast to coast, baby. I love it! Big ups to both of you, Justin and Bill, for your book-spotting ways.

Well, hey - if you see a City, Baby! book in your store, take a pic of it and share it with me! I might have to start up a Facebook page for the books and share the photos with others "out there."

(Note to self: email Chronicle Books about this, pronto.)

On the Eve of Teaching

I am sitting here in a mad scramble to finish up these notes for my very first class I'll be teaching tomorrow. Yes, that's correct. I'll be teaching a class on children's book illustration for Portland State University for the second half of this semester. I'm scrambling to get these notes together, to make sure I don't sound like an idiot and what am I doing? Posting something for the blog? I know, it doesn't make sense, but I don't care. I need a little bit of a break from all this note-taking and image-gathering, just to gather my thoughts somehow. It's been a long time coming, some folks have said to me. I agree. To a point. I've always enjoyed talking to students about what I do (I've done several appearances in the past couple of years wherein I've talked about my career, shown a few tricks of the trade & how I work, and showcased some of my vintage book collection), but it's an entirely different thing to actually teach. The more I think about it, the more nervous I get.

I hope I'm up for it. I guess I better be, huh? After all, it's only the potential careers of 11 some odd art & design students that're on the line here, right?

Many thanks (or blame) to Kate Bingaman Burt for roping me into doing this. She & her co-horts got a good thing going on at the Graphic Design department at PSU. Looking forward to being a part of the mix.

Cool 45 covers

When Andrea & I vacationed in Italy back in 1999, we checked out this cool flea market in Rome with lots of fun old stuff. Found this 45 record (above) in a record bin. Love the design. I've always cherished it. One of these days I'm gonna listen to this record. It's imperative that I do.

Fun Characters from Pageant

Here are some fun characters by a mysterious "Greenwald R." They're from Pageant Magazine, a smaller, "digest" size magazine for the "gentleman." Bordering on the cheesecake from time to time, the magazine actually has an interesting connection to Mad Magazine. Well, I wish I knew more about "Greenwald R." I've seen similar work done by this artist, but never have been able to find anything more about him/her.

New Look!

Well, would you look at that! A new look for this here blog. It's as if someone turned on the lights and opened up the curtains to let the sun shine in. Lots has happened since 2008, which was the last time I redesigned The Ward-O-Matic. I was working off a tweaked and re-tweaked Blogger template that I was sure wouldn't be a burden for me in the long run. But alas, Blogger introduced the "New Blogger" interface with a vast assortment of bells and whistles to design your own look for your blog. I refused to budge because I liked how my blog looked at the time. I mean, I didn't mind that the images I posted for each post were only 400 pixels wide. That is, until Andrea wanted to cook up a new look for her blog. She wanted big images and a simple, clean look. After many weeks of tinkering we finally got it looking like the way she had envisioned and I must say, I was impressed by how easy it was to change things around in the New Blogger interface. And I loved how Andrea's images filled the screen. Whenever I'd visit my own blog, I'd realize just how constricted and "small" everything was on it. So, here we are. A new banner (which I'll probably change again soon), white background, and simpler layout. After the switchover, I lost all the links and various what-nots over in the right column, but I'll put some things back in once I get the chance. In the meantime, enjoy the bigger, wider images here on The Ward-O-Matic. Perfect for all you image-hungry readers who'll want to share on your various Tumblrs and/or Pinterest boards.

 Which, by the way, I have both:

The Ward-O-Matic Tumblr
My Pinterest

Old & New Project

"Dropped Through The Ceiling" - my submission for the very cool Old & New Project. Different interpretations of various passages from the Bible, from a wide variety of artists (Christian, agnostic, atheist, etc.), Old & New Project has set it up so that proceeds from the sales of the prints will go to the non-profit organization Blood: Water Mission.

Old & New Project was conceived by designers Jim LePage and Troy Deshano. I'm honored to be a part of this fine project. Be sure to check out the other designs.

Henri's Walk To Paris

Henri's Walk To Paris, Illustrations © 1962, 2012 by Saul Bass and text by Leonore Klein, Universe Publishing, 2012.
A full 50 years later, Bass's only children's book that he illustrated is finally being reissued after being a sort of white whale for many a book collector and designer. I never owned an original printing of the book, but thumbed through a copy of one owned by a good friend of mine. (Is that the equivalent of having a girlfriend in Canada that your friends never seem to meet in person?)
As you might've expected, it's heavy on graphic design brilliance. Bass uses the layout of each spread to evoke a particular mood - whether it's filled with foliage from some unknown source (I can't imagine Bass doing the actual drawings of the trees and bushes in the background here), or with a single sentence.
Bass utilizes repetition a lot in the book to signify the bustling of the city: trees, churches, buses...
But one thing stuck out in my mind as I read through the book several times: there are no people. Well, there are "characters," but Bass doesn't actually depict a real human being aside from a crowd featuring circles with hats, a few well-placed arms and feet, and a couple of cropped legs.
Saul Bass does what he's good at: he simplifies elements to their basic shapes and symbols. What we know to be a little boy is simply an arm and two legs. He allows the story to fill in the blanks when it comes to the true character of Henri.
When he's given the chance to illustrate people in the little town where Henri lives, Bass resorts to depicting them with WORDS! He doesn't even draw them as shapes with features, just letters with hats. To the graphic designer, this would seem to be a brilliant move on the illustrator's part to showcase people in a children's picture book. Bass is calling the shots here. It's as if he's saying to the reader, "I know you know what these people are and what they do. You don't need to see their faces."
And for that, I applaud him. But to be quite frank, the book feels a bit stark because of this fact. Not always, mind you. But for some spreads there's a certain human element missing that I feel is needed. The layouts and text placement are amazing to look at, (and the designer part of me totally geeks out on these particular things), but I felt a certain detachment from some of the spreads. It seems to me that since Bass did not normally draw characters (not his strong suit), he saw this book as a challenge. How was he going to illustrate the story of of boy named Henri and his walk to the busy city of Paris?
Of course, this is the illustrator in me saying all this. As a Bass fan, I WANT to see Bass draw people. I want to see how he would've characterized the titular character, the townspeople, and Henri's parents. However as a Bass fan, there's a part of me that LOVED how he simplified the characters to just words and letters. A fun shortcut, if you will. You can imagine that yes, I'm on the fence with this book, but I'm probably over-thinking it. Okay, I definitely am. But oh, well. The great thing is that now anyone will be able to buy this book to see for themselves, and not just a book collector with $200 in his/her pocket. Universe has done a wonderful job of reissuing the book with rich color printed on nice quality paper stock. They did a great job in matching the colors, I must say. All in all, even with all my qualms about the lack of personality and warmth of Bass's characters, the story itself carries the book for any reader.

Plus, it'll look great on your coffee table.

Buy the book: Henri's Walk To Paris.
I shot more photos of the book. See the entire Flickr set here.

Universe also reissue M. Sasek's This Is... Series. Be sure to pick up the latest: This Is Munich. (I'll do a review of that one soon.)