Biteneck Beatniks on You Tube

HERE!!!

I know a few people had difficulty downloading it from Sardine's website, so try this link to youtube instead, should be available for viewing there.

Frankenstein's Cat art show is effectively 1/3 complete! Below are the first three paintings, still moist with paint I can assure you. These three will be reproduced as art cards to take out to MIPCOM in a couple of weeks, freebies to give away to broadcasters, distributors, production companies, suggestible bartenders and the like. Thereon in I'll hopefully be able to take a bunch of them with me to book signings and the like.

As soon as the 9th painting is complete I'll be able to list pricings for both the original paintings as well as the limited edition giclee prints. Enquiries are, as ever, jolly welcome :-)

Bada Bling!

Biteneck Beatniks teaser trailer ONLINE!!!

HERE!!!!!!

As I believe I've mentioned recently (just a bit) I've been working on the teaser trailer for the BITENECK BEATNIKS animated series. Sardine Productions in Canada are the prod company and while I've been taking care of the characters Ian Culbard has been designing the backgrounds. The end result looks very groovy and we're tremendously pleased with it - we just need to see how things go next month at MIPCOM in Cannes now. As you can see the teaser is now up and running so do take a look.

Thanks to Nik's pestering in my last post, here's some of the work in progress on the FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT art show. This is the way I work, starting with the darker colours that make up backgrounds and then building lighter. Also, you can probably see I start at the rear of the image and work forward through every component through to the foreground. More often than not this means that the characters are the last things that get illustrated, but by that stage it's usually quite exciting for me to see the painting finally come together.




Ahead of MIPCOM we're looking to get some postcards done of these first 3 paintings to promote the show, as well as possibly feature the originals at a CCI cocktail party. Either way I'll be making sure I get a bunch of the cards myself for future promo ops, and certainly to bring along to signings.

Bada Bling!

Crack open the paint pots!

Just got back from a family holiday to France which I can genuinely say is the first holiday I've been on in many a year where I've managed to completely switch off from my work. What a treat! Back in the groove now.

Booked flight and accomodation to get over to MIPCOM in Cannes in October where I'll be promoting work on BITENECK BEATNIKS, FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT and an (as yet still under wraps) new project in development. Hopefully have the development deal in place for that before I go.

My FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT art show is now in production, and these are the first three layouts. As mentioned previously I'm looking to produce 9 episode paintings that capture the show, and these will be reproduced as limited edition giclee prints for sale down the line. The art show itself will hopefully feature in galleries all over - do contact me if you're interested.

Also, I've stuck my details into FACEBOOK if anyone wants to find me and add me - there aren't many Curtis Joblings there I can assure you...

Bada Bling!

Bart Simpson Art Exhibition

Wrapping up on coverage of the Bart Qee here at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles , the wee fellas having just featured at San Diego Comic Con.

More than 50 customized 10" Bart Simpson Qees will be on display from artists all over the world including works by: Matt Groening, Attaboy, Tyson Summers, adidas, Moody, Sam Fout, Jim Koch, Nicoles Chevallier, David Lanham, DYZLA, Lounge Kat, Triclops, Matt Sharp, Mark Nagata, Doink, Veggie Something, Baby 168, Inu Art, SashaHuber, Vincent Skoglund, ODM, Colette, KW, ColorWeekly, Thick Magazine, Nada One, Joey Potts, DGPH, Akira Yamaguchi, B, Wing, October Toys, AlanYip, Bernhardt Geyer, Chad Carothers, Toy2R and many more!!

About Meltdown Comics: Meltdown Comics is the largest comic book shop on the West Coast, located in the heart of Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. Meltdown opened in 1993 and has since become one the most respected comic book stores inthe world. With a sophisticated approach to merchandise and operations– and a reputation for hosting successful events in their Melt Gallery– Meltdown is a must-see pop culture destination in Los Angeles.

In short, Meltdown Comics is somewhere I'd really like to visit! Won't be there myself but anyone who checks in here who is LA based (and I know there are a few) then do call by for a look-see. Speaking of the Simpsons am hoping to catch the movie this week if I can persuade Nanny to look after the grandkids...

Bada Bling/Curtis Jobling Official Website

... is now open for business!

The official website has indeed been a long time coming but hopefully is worth the wait. There's a comprehensive gallery section on there that will be getting work added to it as time goes by, including sketchbook sections too. There's also links to the Curios Cow animations that I did with Seed Animation, with thanks going to Morgan Powell of Seed for producing the website.

Hope it's well received!

Bada Bling!

Qee Bart Exhibition @ Taipei Toy Festival

The Taipei Toy Festival kicked off on 7th July and the Bartneck Beatnik DIY Qee appeared with the rest of the completed gang. Some great stuff there on show. After the Festival ends the show sounds like it's going to be split up, with some of the pieces going to a Hong Kong show and the rest appearing @ the San Diego Comic Con.

There's Bartneck, bottom row on the left!
Awww, bless...
Yow! Angry mob!!!

Was well received by all accounts anyway - just looking forward to my official BITENECK BEATNIKS toys coming out with Toy2R now.

SHOWCOMOTION

I attended the Showcomotion Media Conference in Sheffield, UK, this week and found it to be rather ripping. It was a veritable Who's Who of the UK Broadcasting and Animation Industry. That's right. I said veritable. BBC, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Disney - all the main players were in attendance. Then there were all the major UK studios and distributors too, including Aardman, Collingwood O'Hare, Mackinnon & Saunders (yep, that'd be us) etc etc. Tremendous stuff. If you're looking to break into kids tv and need to hear some words of wisdom, you can't go wrong by getting yourself along. Same place, same date, each year. Heartily recommended.

10" Bart Simpson DIY QEE - "Bartneck Beatnik"

I've been asked to participate in a BART SIMPSON/FOX/QEE Project for the San Diego Comic Con 2007. The nice chaps at Toy2R, specifically Ray and Anko, sent out my "blank canvas" Bart maquette to paint up in a manner of my choosing. Seemed only obvious to do him in the style of the Biteneck Beatniks, especially with the obvious puntastic name for the characters doubled with the fact that Toy2R are releasing a series of Biteneck Beatniks toys, kicking off with a Ron Go Bongo.

If you're over in San Diego, do call by and take a look at the Qees. I shan't be there *sniff* but I hope they're well received. The hand painted toys will be auctioned off, with some of the proceeds going to the International Red Cross. Get bidding kids, it's a worthy cause and the toys are FAB!


Additionally, in other Biteneck Beatniks related news, I'm close to announcing a development deal for the animated series. We're working on a teaser trailer to take over to Cannes for MIPcom in October with a rather wonderful Canadian animation company. Ian Culbard is on board to share design duties, specifically for the backgrounds for the world of Chillville. Should be able to release more details very soonly...

There's always next year...

Back from Annecy which was a tremendously fruitful trip, complete with some very interesting and exciting leads on new projects in development. FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT did not win, and possibly suffered from not actually being on the telly yet unlike it's competitors. CHARLIE & LOLA and SHAUN THE SHEEP snaffled the top TV prizes and very worthy winners they were too in my opinion.

Met up with Niel Bushnell and Gordon Fraser while out there (Farmageddon) and Chris Williams, director of Animex. It's fair to say that Niel (inadvertently) supplied most of the laughs and accompanying tears! Also caught up with the delightful Amid Amidi who spent most of the festival eating from what I could tell...

There was a terrific Stand for the Cat at the MIFA tent which was garnering some very enthusiastic responses. We had some cat pawprints graffiti'd onto the carpet in the tent leading through to the stand, plus one of the animators had done a bit of stealth tagging outside aswell. A nice vibe all round.

Thankyou to all the new (and old faces) I met up with and chatted with while out there. And to those of you who we're looking to work with in development, as the great MG would say.... : "Let's get it on!"

Dusting down a long forgotten sketchbook...

STILL unpacking.

One thing that has been rather a lot of fun while working my way through a myriad boxes has been unearthing old sketchbooks, none more so than the one whose pages I've scanned below. This particular sketchbook is only a teeny A6 affair, something one can safely stash in the jeans' back pocket. Leafing through it I discovered all the early design work from a number of my projects, published or otherwise. Below is the first design I did for Bobby from DINOSAURS AFTER DARK. Beside him you'll probably recognise my first (and possibly only) colour design of CURIOUS COW. The pages here are particularly pertinent to current work schedule, as this was the sketchbook I conceived FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT in on the train journey from Warrington to London years ago. The two pahes below show the very first Cat drawing as doodled on a bumpety-bump Virgin rail carriage, all wobbly-like and pretty much as he appears on the cover of the book. And the pages that follow show the first couple of paragraphs as I toyed with the idea on the journey, again, pretty much verbatim as they appear in the book. Got off the train and showed it to the editor @ Hodder Headline and it was commissioned off the back of it.

Below are the first designs from the MY DADDY picture book, featuring the three girls from the story. Further down the line as I looked to develop this as an animated film I revisited the look of the characters and design approach, but again these are how they appeared in the original book.
Lastly here's CHEEKY MONKEY in his earliest guise. Still cheeky but slightly different shape to his face. The accompanying words are from POCKET DOG, which I developed with Ian Carney.
So that's what I've been up to. Reminiscing. There are loads of other sketchbooks that I'll pull artwork from too, although time is at a premium at the moment with production work on the CAT taking priority.

Bada Bling!

Annecy - booked it, packed it, fluffed off!

Got the reservations made for Annecy Film Festival last week. Shall be joined there by Niel Bushnell and Gordon Fraser of FARMAGEDDON fame. Am sure they won't hinder my networking attempts... not much! :-D Niel and I have spoken about collaborating together for some time now so hopefully there's a project or two that we can really start to put meat on the bones of.

Am keen to post developments of new projects on here but suspect until I get option deals in place I'll have to sit on them for the forseeable. Ian Culbard and I are currently negotiating an option with Sardine productions in Canada to help develop BITENECK BEATNIKS into an animated show. We already have the support of Northern Film & Media who are helping us to develop a pilot animation, so here's hoping we can forge ahead with those helpcat vamp kids.

Sketchwork continues on the FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT art show - I'll be putting a few thumbnails up of those paintings next as work in progress. The show itself thunders on with a real momentum, and the work being produced at Paris's Quatre21 studio is pretty spectacular. Keep having to pinch myself that it's actually going to be on the telly come September!

Also, if you get the chance check out Gus Hughes blog - he's an animator from Ireland studying in Teesside - I met him at Animex this year and he's not only a bundle of fun but his work looks a bit special. Recommended.

Bada Bling!

Yum yum, new house...

Good grief, how slack am I? Been quite a while since I posted but I reckon my excuse is bonafide, especially as we've just moved house. Safely ensconced in new abode, with a mountain of boxes dogging my every step. I seem to be engaged in some cunning game whereby I move box after box from one room to another without actually opening any... New carpets arrive on Wednesday so Mrs Bling and I are furiously painting the walls of the living room before they get here. Not easy when you've a toddler, a baby, a mad dog, two psychotic cats that want "out", and a hundred boxes to contend with!

Normal posts to resume soonly, thanks for patience to those of you who've been checking by - I'm not normally this hapless, promise.

Moving house

The day nears!

Friday 30th sees us "up sticks" and leave our idyllic village in North Yorkshire for the hustle and bustle of suburban Warrington across the Pennines. We've spent the majority of this week thus far packing our house into boxes - who'd have thought one could accumulate such a vast collection of tat and rubbish over a few years? Anyways, this hopefully explains why this isn't one of my regular posts this week - normal service should resume next week!

Bada Bling!

PS: That's Mr & Mrs Bling up top, by the way. It's been a hard winter in Yorkshire. The kids are in the sack...

Frankenstein's Cat in competition at Annecy Film Festival!

We got some good news today - the CAT has been chosen to compete at the Annecy Festival this year, quite an achievement as we don't have a completed title sequence and end credits yet. Hopefully we'll have that sorted before the festival in June, fingers crossed...

Also, it's ambitious but I'm going to try and produce a new art show in conjunction with the series - 30 paintings for 30 episodes in a pastiche/homage of those old movie posters I love so much. It's a tall ask as time is pretty scarce as it is, but if I can try and forge on it might be a nice gallery event. Plus, if interest is there I'll be looking to get lithograph prints done of them in sets.
I've a particularly squidgy soft spot for THE WOLF MAN. Classic. Once I've got maybe 5 paintings done I'll pop them on here. The house move is around the corner though so don't expect them any day soon! :-)

Dragons and Dinosaurs

Ahhhh, Wales. Land of Rarebits and my mum and dad's static caravan.... I vivisted NEWI in Wrexham yesterday to do a talk and workshop to their animation and illustration degree and masters students, and what a lovely time I had too. Thanks to Jim Walker for looking after me for the day and arranging everything, as well as Des, Alan and Martin too. Apparently Magnus Scheving from Lazytown was there doing a similair talk the other week when Animex was on, and I was unable to attend because of that but hope to be in touch down the line - he's not just the creator of that particular show but he also plays Sportacus to the uninitiated. If you want to know what Sportacus looks like just put "buns of steel" into Google and see what you get - it should go straight to him.

Yes, that's me at the back of the table scribbling furiously as we all got stuck into a few exercises in the afternoon. That's right, the drawn kind rather than anything actually physical. I mean, look at me for goodness sake!

As promised here are some more images from DINOSAURS AFTER DARK, involving Bobby our protagonist getting up to all kinds of scrapes and hijinks with the big thunder lizards. Sliding down the rooftops above the City Hall...

... climbing up the office blocks and jumping off them all! Obviously with most books I'm associated with there's a suggestion of something slightly sinister, and that happens in the book were the dinosaurs then decide for one last game of hide and seek, and if they find Bobby they might... just... eat him! Thanks again to Jon Emmett for such a wonderful engaging text :-)

By the way, before I go. Primeval? Prime Drivel more like. Nuff said...

The Prehistory of Mr Bling

It took me ages to break into picture books.


I first started visiting publishing houses in London after finishing work on MARS ATTACKS, and would try and get down there at least once a month to "blitz" the publishing houses. I'd initially made contact via introudctory letters and phonecalls to the companies I was interested in getting on board with - Hodder, Collins, Penguin, Macmillan and the like. Then it was a case of keeping the relationships bubbling away, sending down new samples of my work whenever possible, calling up and in as often was deemed non-stalkery and generally just reminding them I existed.

"I got the same old story from all my peers, there ain't no room around here for a gee-tar man..."

Each of the art directors and editors I met pretty much unanimously said they loved my work. However, the couldn't employ me. It was simply too dark. My influences were Tim Burton and Lane Smith, and consequently I had real trouble "lightening" my paintings. When I eventually sucked it up and tried this approach, I got my first commission from Harper Collins - to illustrate "Dinosaurs After Dark", a text written by the lovely Jon Emmett. It was a story that immediately captured my imagination, following the adventures of young Bobby as he sees a dinosaur creeping past his bedroom window at night. The book is inspired by one of both mine and Jon's favourite books, "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.

I'll put up some more of the artwork in the next few posts for you to take a butchers at - the original artwork adorns my children's nursery, although some of it is for sale. We're actually looking to get this off the ground as a kids show too, so watch this space!

Thanks to Glazey for kindly compositing these huge paintings as Jpegs ;-)

Surprise Endings

Well, it was World Book Day on Thursday of this week, and I've been visiting a couple of schools to celebrate said event; Hemlington Hall in Middlesbrough and Selby Abbey in Selby. A big thankyou to all the teachers and kids who made me feel so welcome. Special thanks to the boys in Hemlington who reminded me when drawing Curious Cow that I'd forgotten to add "his dangly milking bits!" I kid you not. Neither me nor the teachers knew where to look!!! :-D

One of the messages I tried to get across to the children was that good stories have surprise endings. In the case of "Frankenstein's Cat" there are two for the price of one. First off is the one below, where when Nine asks the Doctor to make him a companion to his horror the Doctor reveals Frankenstein's Dog, Fifi!


Then at the very end of the book there's a final reveal with the message: "What you get isn't always what you ask for - just bear that in mind when you ask for a puppy next Christmas" The page is turned and there's an endpaper piece of art with Fifi leaping out of the box and sending the three sweet kids sprawling:

I'm making a return visit to Borders Teesside Park tomorrow, Saturday 3rd, doing signings and doodlings again directly connected with World Book Day. If anyone is around it'd be lovely to see you there - shall be in situ with my Venti Vanilla Latte from around 11am.

Monstrously good news!

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!

After 8 months on the market and now with our second estate agents it's finally been sold. This being the first time I've ever sold a home I'm not in a hurry to go through the experience again. Tres stressful. We've found a lovely house at the other end, in Warrington, Cheshire, and our offer there has also been accepted. We've been told to expect to move in in 6-8 weeks!

Sadly, this does mean I won't be attending the Red Stick Festival this year as both events collide. I hope to be there next year though on double the schedule!

Been a busy couple of weeks post-Animex with Frankenstein's Cat production design work kicking up a gear. I designed a couple of episodes this week (a pet pageant episode and a Halloween one) and the scripts are providing lots of room for fun new designs.

A completed episode, with full music score, is winging it's way to me as I type - the only thing that's missing is the credits and a title sequence, something we've yet to settle on. I personally can't get the beginning of SPONGEBOB out of my head!

Thanks to Glazey for his kindly compositing work as ever ;-)

PLEASE VOTE!!! Threadless Submission: "BUB THE BUILDER"

Dearest Badablingthingies!!

Thanks to the help of the lovely Nik from Zombiedollar$, I've put forward "Bub The Builder" as a Tshirt design for Threadless and lo and behold the blooming thing has only gone and been chosen! It's in the running in the open competition so I would ask ANYONE to please call by Threadless and give BUB THE BUILDER your vote. It means signing up but it's utterly painless and spam free. If I get enough votes then it means I don't have to keep washing the disposable nappies for the babies and I can dress them in something other than potato sacks and dishclothes...

Your support is utterly appreciated.

http://www.threadless.com/submission/110065/Bub_The_Builder

ANIMEX Festival Review

Another Animex Festival has been and gone and, as ever, has lived up to it's growing reputation of attracting the very best from the animation world. And me.

Joining the usual suspects of speakers this year were such industry luminaries as Oscar winning producer of W&G Curse of the Wererabbit, Claire Jennings, and big bad bebop Hull-fop hippety hop beatboy JAKe, creator of Geek Boy and all round top hairy bloke. A nice touch this year was the award given to the evergreen creator of Acting For Animators, Ed Hooks, who received his Animex "Lemmy" at the end of festival dinner, to everyone's delight. Congratulations Ed, can't think of a nicer fellow in Animation.

The Cat maquette you see above was wheeled out during my speech (which was shockingly full of innuendo, smut, double and single entendres I'll be the first to admit!). It was presented as an example of things one can do to help raise the profile of a project when looking to chase that greenlight. I asked Colin Batty some years ago to make me a maquette, and the talented sausage came up with this definitive sculpt.

The box was made by Chris Keogh at Mackinnon and Saunders. What you can't see on the reverse of it is the address to Castle Frankenstein, Oddsburg.

As well as an insight into the development of Frankenstein's Cat, I was also able to show the pilot of a "pre-Curtis" Bob The Builder as made by Ealing Studios many moons ago. This was by way of explaining the sometimes long and meandering path by which a project goes from page to the screen. The pilot raised many eyebrows in the audience as it's little known that it was ever made.
This fine collection of male specimens consists of (l-r) Dougie "The Mouth" Pincott, Professor Paul "The Stare" Wells, Curtis "The Tongue" Jobling and Chris "The Lobe" Williams. As you may be able to gather this was from the end of Festival Dinner after much swigging of dirty liquor!
Ahhhh, the lovely, divine, Claire Jennings, ex-Aardman (sorry Claire ;-) ) Poor Claire had to endure my company, dad jokes, inappropriate questions and general rants throughout the dinner. Watch this space as the Jobling endeavours to work with the Jennings in the near future!

Thanks to everyone at Animex for helping me, Emma and the kids to feel as welcome as ever and thanks to everyone who turned up, both at my workshop and lecture. If you came and listened, do please post comments - feedback always appreciated.

Bada Bling!

Brrrrrraaaaiiiinnnssssss.........

It's that time of year when ANIMEX International Festival of Animation rolls round again, as the great and good of all things cartoony descend onto the frosty streets of a northern English town. The colourised "Bub The Builder" above will be getting screened during my talk on friday - I tried desperately to get this baby submitted to Threadless T Shirts but couldn't work out the software :-/ This is where I expect Andy Glazebrook to leap to my rescue like some hairy faced supergeek!

Further to my last post on Lottie, here's how she measures up to Nine (well, this incarnation of her anyway). You'll also see how Nine himself has evolved in the tail department - we went with a broken crank handled spotty tail to put further distance between our cat and the cat belonging to a certain preschool builder!



If you ARE going to be at ANIMEX, do please come by and say hello. I promise I'm quite approachable, if a little ginger, so if you've no aversion to short fat hirsute fellows then amble on up...