CODE BLUE

A while back, I animated a short educational film for the Sierra Club.

Below are a few concept art images and the film.

Code Blue: Ocean rescue & revival from Denver Jackson on Vimeo.

Clyde - short film

CLYDE from Denver Jackson on Vimeo.

Storyboards

LOST fanart

Lost is coming to an end and I am both excited and saddened for the season finale.
There have been many awe surprising, wtf, and tearful moments within this show. The soundtrack just seems to strike the right cords and the characters drive the show. Nothing on television has done what this show did. Lost... you will be missed...

Howard's second chance

Howard's second chance is a webcomic I recently completed and it experiments with the infinite canvas idea. Click on the image above and enjoy!

Flinn

Flinn from Denver Jackson on Vimeo.

Here is a short film my friends and I did over the weekend. It was a lot of fun shooting this. Hope you enjoy.

I want to post an interview I did for Michael Regina!
You can find it here! Michael had a really awesome introduction that left me smiling so I wanted to say thanks Michael! :)

I recently had another interview with CBC radio for my storybook and going in, I was extremely nervous being on the air live. All the thoughts of a whole province listening to me and the fact that there would be no retries flooded my mind. I ended up doing okay but it left me thinking of many different situations that are in a similar vain. For instance, at ComicCons, I am asked to do sketches for people. The best way to draw something for someone in the moment (being 10-15 minutes) is to relax and not take things too seriously. Once we take the situation seriously, that's when we start messing up. All the best sketches I've done was when there was no pressure (like in my note books in high school.) I guess the point is, know that it's not the end of the world if you fail. It's experience and you can only get better at it from that point on. Many people tend to take the safe route out of life (getting a degree because that's what society has told us to do) because they are afraid of failure. Don't let it stress you out. If you're passionate enough about something, it'll work out in the end. If you fail a few times, it's just life asking you, "hey, are you really that passionate about this?" And if the answer is no, then you'll quit. If the answer is yes, then you'll pick yourself up and keep going. :) *I think I'm stealing that line from someone else... I'm unsure where I've heard that before but it's true!

Have a great week!

The White Boned Demon trailer from Denver Jackson on Vimeo.

Hey guys!

So here's a short film called 'the White Boned Demon.' It's only the trailer but you can get a feel for the whole film. I plan to do the 'Astra's Melody' film in the same style (or a very similar style.)

Also, if any of you are living in Victoria BC, you can pick up a copy of the book at Legends Comics! The book itself looks great! It's perfect bound with glossy pages. The gloss really makes the art pop!

Hope you all have a great week!!! :)

Show Reel

ShowReel 2009 from Denver Jackson on Vimeo.

More updates

Guess who that is!... yea... it's pretty easy.

Anyways, I'm getting into animating a music video this week. I'm pretty excited as I haven't animated something for... about a year now... (animated as in truely traditional 2d hand drawn animation!)
Also, this coming week, a print run of 200 copies of Astra's Melody will be arriving! Many copies will be sold to personal friends and others will be put into a proposal and sent to publishing houses. And while on Astra news, the screenplay is currently being written! The style will be very similar to that of 'the white boned demon.'
Keep posted on the Astra's Melody film news!

Show Reel 2009

Here is my Show Reel for 2009!

http://vimeo.com/10171240

Enjoy! :D

Scene+Heard

So, I got my very first interview! Check it out here.

There are six shorts in total each with very different styles and stories. My film is a mix of many different techniques I've learned over the years including a very comic book take with film. I spent an entire month working on it with getting about 8hrs of sleep in one week (The other two weeks weren't so bad.) So, come check out my little film this weekend if you can! It's screening at the Metro Theater. Doors open at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

Storyboards

Happy Valentines day everyone!

These are a few storyboards from 'the white boned demon.'
The music is currently being composed by Marc Junker. The film will screen on February 20th to the 21st at 7pm. There's a poster for it advertising details in my last post, so come check it out if you can!

Scene+Heard

A story from 'the Journey to the West.'

I've been hard at work on my next film for the Scene+Heard event. It's ten minutes in length and consists of fully drawn/animated backgrounds with live actors. The way the story is being told is pretty theatrical and in turn, I wanted the film to be the same.

The story itself is an interpretation from a chapter of "The Journey to the West."

The travelers face the demon monster known

as the White boned Demon!

Anyways, hope you found this sneak peak interesting!

The Yellow Submarine

The Yellow Submarine project is an environmental awareness project that I was contracted to do for the Sierra Club. This was a fun chance for me to experiment with a very minimalist style. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

ALSO!...

Amulet 3 update can be read on Kazu Kibuishi's blog as well as Jason Caffoe's blog!!

Check them out!

Astra's Melody Cover Art

SO!... Updates... Well, I've had, once again, the amazing opportunity to help out on Kazu Kibuishi's next graphic novel... Amulet 3! The flattening artists have just finished work on the book last week and almost all the pages have been colored. I must say that Amulet 3 is breathtaking and the story is once again amazing! I can not wait to get my issue of the book coming out in the summer I believe... more updates closer to the time.

Also, I've been working hard finalizing a storybook title Astra's Melody. It's a short picture book that I did just little under a year ago. (Cover up above) I've had many people asking if they could purchase a copy so I'd figured I'd attempt to get it published. I will be selling private copies of the book (perfect bound) some time next month. *limited edition! So let me know if any of you would like to purchase one.

And two days from now!... I will be teaching a manga art class at the Greater Victoria Art Gallery! I'm pretty excited to pass on knowledge of my experience in comics to younger kids, hopefully inspire them!

Anyways, these are all the updates for now, keep posted on more soon!

What I know about life thus far...

Most of my life, I always thought of ‘art’ as a side occupation while working a regular office job. I would grow up, have a family, go to the office, come home and work on art for a hour or two. But it wasn’t till recently I realized that ‘art’ is my ‘office’ job. And it is something I will do for the rest of my life.

Looking upon life as a young 23 year old, I find we all have wants and needs.

The most basic of need is food. We all need food to survive and we will do what ever it takes to find that means of survival. We all need oxygen, sleep, love.

And we all want many things; a plasma screen tv, a Ferrari, a house on the lake. But we don’t need these things.

Now, think about dreams. We all want our dreams to happen. But do we all need our dreams to happen? The truth for most people is no. We make the compromise. We get lost in the comfort of a day job.

But we can convince ourselves quite easily that we need something. Such as, I need that shirt or that pair of shoes to go to that dance... Or I need that particular stylus to do work. And we find a way to get what we need.


I’ve realized that I personally need to tell stories visually through art. I can’t survive without it and will do what ever it takes to keep telling stories! I will spend the rest of my life making that dream a reality due to the very fact that it is something I love doing, it is the only way I'll ever be happy. Therefore this is something I need!

Once something is a need, we tend to find a way.
We as humans have amazing capabilities and potential. Especially many of us fortunate in this day and age to have a roof over our heads, have money to spend on wine and Christmas presents, or watch a film in 3D... Now obviously we have regular jobs that allow for all these comforts but don’t make the mistake of turning that into an excuse.

There are no rules stopping us from making what we love into reality, the only rules are the ones we restrain upon ourselves. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something! Whether it be your loved one or your parents. I know the discouragement that gives you first hand and it hurts.

I’ve seen a few people who get discouraged by others. They tell themselves that they’ll never be able to paint, or play like that person. But why not tell themselves that they can do just as well? Why not use that as motivation or inspiration?

I’m fortunate enough to have friends as passionate as I am. Friends who are constantly working on a dozen different projects because they love doing it.
And truthfully my friends motivate and inspire me from the work they do, the support they provide, or their involvement on my projects.

And if you think you're not 'talented' at what you love doing, I say that's bullshit. If you love something, that's talent enough.

Set your goals high. Never settle for anything less.

Dreams are life and like the great Ian Malcolm said, “life finds a way.” :)

Hope you all have a great new years! 2010 is the year! Make it happen!

Sparky update!

After over a years work on the Sparky Story arch, I've finally gotten down to the perfect timeline!
I've already completed most of the production on the final chapter of the Sparky Graphic Novel - which, originally was meant to be one of the first chapters to the book.

Anyways, I'm tired and do not feel for typing so... I'll leave you all with this art piece. Enjoy. =)

halloween art!