Shall we make him walk the plank at cutlass point or just pop him straight in the Book Sniffer quick fire cannon!?
Cannon!? correct! here goes
Marmite
Yes / No?
So
very, very ‘Yes’! I LOVE marmite on toast. And I used to have it
on roast parsnips a lot when I was a student. Now you’ve said
‘Marmite’, I’m going to go and make some marmite-y toast, right
now!
What
do you listen to while you are working?
If
i’m lucky, all I can hear is birdsong and the odd tractor.
Sometimes I like listening to my girls playing around the house, but
if it’s all getting a bit noisy (and I’m really trying to
concentrate) then I stick my noise-cancelling headphones on and
listen to music. But it’s got to be either pretty easy going if I’m
trying to think, or loud and fast if I’m really getting into
something. I’ve just bought myself a digital radio, so lots of
music too.
What
can you see out of your studio window?
I
can see the scruffy outbuilding that I really want to be my studio,
but it’s full of car parts and needs new doors and windows and a
new roof... There are swallows having babies in there at the moment,
scattering bird droppings all over the place. And beyond that, I can
see lots of trees and some nice Welsh hills.
What’s
your favourite type of biscuit?
Jaffa
Cakes. If they’re a biscuit. Which they are, aren’t they? If they
don’t count, then I’d probably say fig rolls. Fig rolls are
brilliant.
Fancy
dress of choice...
Um...
Pirate?
Cats
or dogs?
Dogs!
When I was growing up, we had cats and dogs (three of each at one
point, plus the neighbours cats would come for their tea too). Cats
can be quite cute, but I love the personalities of dogs, and the
walks, and the stick throwing and the silliness. Cats like eating
things. Ours used to bring home rabbits and leave their body parts
all over the house. Which is a little bit off-putting. We have loads
of birds in our garden now, but when we had three cats, you’d
hardly see any. I like birds.
Tell
us your best joke...
I’m
not very good at remembering jokes, but I always remember this one.
How
does Bob Marley like his Donuts?
Wi’jammin
What
does Bob Marley say to his band when he buys them donuts?
I
hope you like jammin’ too
I
know it’s rubbish, but it makes me chuckle.
Which
three tools of your trade could you not live without?
My
Mac.
My
Wacom Cintiq.
My
photoshop.
Sniffed
any good books lately?
It’s
not a picture book, but ‘Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter’
by Leonard S Marcus is on my bedside table. It’s a series of
interviews with authors and illustrators, including Maurice Sendak,
Quentin Blake and Eric Carle. It’s fascinating and an inspiration.
Would
you rather be fired out of a cannon, or walk the plank?
I’ve
always thought being fired out of a cannon would be quite good fun,
as long as I was wearing a brightly coloured leotard and a big round
helmet, with an enormous net to catch me.
Funniest
thing a child has asked you at an event...
“Have
you ever killed someone and drank their blood?” It was a cute
little kid that asked me that. He had a pirate outfit, with a plastic
sword. It was just after I showed some photos of when I used to be a
pirate. I think he thought I was lot meaner than I really am, and he
obviously didn’t know I was a non-meat eater.
Are
you good at reading maps?
I
am good at reading maps. Geography was my best subject at school. I
got a very good ‘A’ level in Geography. Since I was a teenager,
I’ve been mountain biking and walking in the hills, so I’ve got
to know my way around a ordnance survey map. I’ve never found a
treasure map though. Some treasure would be nice.
Which
of your books are you most proud of?
I’ve
only done two of my own, so far. I’m proud of them both for
different reasons. I’d wanted to have my own picture book published
for many, many years before ‘The Pirate Cruncher’ arrived in
2009, and had lots of rejections from publishers and agents when I
first sent out stuff in the few years after university, so receiving
my first real copies was massively exciting. And a lot happened while
I was working on the book, including losing my Dad, so I was proud to
get it finished, and just wish he’d been around to see it.
Peg
leg or hook hand?
Hook
hand. As long as it was my left hand. And I could change attachments.
Like a Swiss army hand.
What
are you working on at the moment?
I’m
working on my next picture book ‘The King of Space’. It’s full
of robots, spaceships and aliens, and has absolutely no pirates
whatsoever. Not even space pirates. It’s taking longer than I
expected, and I’m full of self-doubt. But then I had a phase like
that with ‘The Pirates Next Door’, and that all turned out OK in
the end.
Where/how
did you develop the idea for King of Space?
The
King of Space was originally developed for an online art challenge on
a CG artists’ forum, called CG Talk. They run big competitions once
or twice a year, and I used to enter them for fun when I was working
in the Games industry, and to inspire me to do personal work and
build up a portfolio for illustration. The challenge was titled
‘Grand Space Opera’, and the first idea I had was a little kid
who wanted to take over the universe. I originally thought it’d
make a great comic project and kept revisiting the character over the
years, until Mike Jolley at Templar suggested it could be brought
down in age to a picture book. It was going to be my second picture
book and I’d roughed out quite a few pages, but ‘The Pirate
Cruncher’ was selling quite well and Templar asked if I could do a
pirate-y follow up. So the basic concept is that the little boy, Rex,
is trying to take over the universe with his secret robot army,
without his Mum and Dad finding out. I hope people aren’t
disappointed when it’s not pirates next time. People think that’s
what I do! There may well be another Jolley-Rogers story in the
future, but it’s ‘ The King of Space’ next!
Pirate
Vs Alien who would win?
I
think it would very much depend on which pirate and which alien and
their weapon of choice. That said, a tiny alien with an enormous
flob-blaster would probably be victorious against even the most
gnarly of pirates. But that would only if the pirate played fair, and
pirates don’t like sticking to the rules....
Have
you ever thought of changing your name to Jonny Doodle?
I
used to sign my work as Jonny Doodle when I was at school and
University. But then I was a bit tiddly one night, and a ouija board
told me not to. So I did as I was told. And I figured that Duddle was
a silly enough name, and people could make their own connection to
‘Doodle’. After I won the Waterstones Children’s Book prize,
somebody phoned my agents, Arena Illustration, and asked what my real
name was. So, Jonny Duddle is probably a silly enough name for a
children’s book writer.
How
is the film/animation process different to the picture book process?
The
big difference between designing characters for film and creating
picture book illustrations, is that the concept art for films isn’t
for publication. All the drawings are just a step in the process of
making a film. Hundreds of people are involved and a character
designer is a small cog in a huge creative machine. And all the work
is created under the guidance of the director. You can’t be
precious about any of your work, or sensitive to criticism, and
almost everything will need to be changed and developed. The drawings
become the characters in the film, which are in a different medium
and take on their own style and personality, between the hands of the
sculptor, the voice of the actor and the vision of the director.
With
picture books, it’s all about the image and how it interacts with
the story. I’m always aware that once the book is published the
image will never change. Books last a long time and anyone can look
at the illustrations for years to come. So I feel more under pressure
top get it right. I spent hours on end looking at illustrations as a
child, and I think that’s why I’ve developed my quite detailed
style, with lots of stuff for children to look at.
Which
do you prefer?
I
enjoy working on both, because they’re so different. A picture book
is something very personal that has my name on it. A movie is the
product of an incredible amount of creativity and craft from hundreds
of people. They are so different, and both very rewarding in
different ways. In an ideal world, I’d split my time 50:50 between
my own books and designing characters for films. The big dream would
be to see one of my own books being made into a film.....
How
did it feel to hand drawings to someone who would then continue
working on your design to create the finished thing (i.e; the
character models) and were you happy with them? Would you change
anything?
This
goes back to the previous question and the differences between
designing for movies and picture books. The sculptors at Aardman are
incredibly clever people and they take my drawings and put their own
stamp, and some Aardman magic, onto those designs. Everyone has
something to add, from Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt’s brief and
direction, my drawings, the sculptor’s clay models, the production
of the finished puppet, to make each puppet as good as it can be. And
then when it’s animated and has a voice, the puppet takes on a real
personality. My drawings are just one small step in the process.
How
much did you have to think about the fact that they would be moving/
talking/ have expression etc when you were designing them?
There
are lots of constraints when designing characters for stop-motion. So
you always have to think about how the figure is made, and how it
might move. Many of the characters use the same ‘skeleton’ (an
amazing piece of engineering in itself!) or share mouth shapes (which
are 3D printed, so each character has hundreds of interchangeable
mouth shapes), to cut down on the massive cost of production. In
stop-motion, the characters have to be able to support themselves. So
within a series of constraints, you’re trying to make the most
interesting and expressive character you can.
When
you are left entirely to your own devices and without having to
censor your work in any way, what do you prefer to draw?
Pirates,
monsters, aliens, robots, dinosaurs, animals, trolls, knights, cars,
funny-looking people and pin-up girls. In no particular order.
Your
work looks traditional/painterly but I think it's done on screen (I
might be wrong). What is the approach you use and how did you reach
that decision?
I
work almost entirely in Photoshop and Painter on my 21” Wacom
Cintiq. I work in a bit of a painterly way, with a similar process to
oils or acrylics, but entirely digital. I make drawings with either
pencil (which I then scan) or with a pencil-like brush in Photoshop.
The benefit of the Cintiq is that I’m drawing on the screen, which
feels much more intuitive than a normal tablet. Next, I do an
underpainting, either in monotone or blocks of colour, and then start
developing a more finished painting over the top.
The
big benefit of working digitally is that I don’t have to have a
fully worked-out drawing when i start painting. I can constantly
change elements in the illustration as I work, even making
significant compositional changes or tweaking colours as I go along.
Which lets me just get stuck in and have fun without too much worry
about messing it up. The downside of that is that there’s always
room for more fiddling, and it’s harder to call an image
‘finished’.
What
is the ideal food to eat whilst drawing and painting?
Eating
whilst drawing and painting is something I’m trying to do less
of.... Doodling is a fairly sedentary job, and eating marmite on
toast all day is expanding my waistline.
What
best describes your approach to your work? Are you patient, obsessive
about detail and can sit for hours. Or do you work manically, keep
jumping up to make drinks and eat biscuits and go shopping in
between?
I
can sit for hours and hours and work obsessively, but if I get a bit
stuck I’m suddenly downstairs making a cuppa and eating toast. I’ve
started turning off my router, which is at the other end of the
house, to avoid distractions like email, online banking, bbc online
and facebook. And I’ve been trying to work in album-length stints,
followed by a short break, before another album-length stint. That
seem to work quite well. Then it’s just choosing the album that
takes time...
What
does your sketchbook look like? Is it a total scribble scramble or is
it a neat, clean arrangement of finished drawings?
My
sketchbooks aren’t used enough. I don’t get out much, so don’t
get to sit on trains and buses with my sketchbook in hand, like I
used to when I was a games artist. I don’t sit in cafes and museums
much either. If I get to an art gallery or museum, I’m usually
chasing my two-year-old daughter around to make sure she doesn’t
break anything. I’m always at home and seem to be busy most of the
time doodling proper jobs on the Mac. A lot of my experimenting takes
place on the pooter, and I have lots of files stashed away. But I’m
making a conscious effort to do more drawing, and to use pencils,
paints and paper. I’m feeling a little jaded form years leaning
over my Wacom Cintiq, and I’m missing the smell and tactile nature
of paint and ‘real’ media. And it’s nice to look through old
sketchbooks, remembering when and where you did a drawing. But back
to the actual question, my sketchbooks are a bit of a mish-mash.
Which
5 things would you take with you if you were abandoned on an island
by a bunch of unruly Pirates?
A
fishing rod
A
barbecue
A
case of wine
A
big sketchbook
A
box of pencils
THANK YOU so much for letting us fire you out of the Book
Sniffer Quick Fire Cannon Jonny! You rock.
Check out Jonny's blog here!
Buy The Pirates Next Door NOW Check out our review here!
THANK YOU so much for letting us fire you out of the Book
Sniffer Quick Fire Cannon Jonny! You rock.
Check out Jonny's blog here!
Buy The Pirates Next Door NOW Check out our review here!
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