Here are a couple things I discovered this weekend while visiting home for Christmas. I found my very first record album I ever owned! My parents bought me this It’s a Small World folk song album when I was probably about three years old. I remember listening to this incessantly, and as you can see it’s pretty well worn. A children’s choir sings various folk songs, and of course the theme song is thrown in there. The words to the songs are on the back, so when I was old enough to read, I would sing along with the record.

I also adored the album art as a kid. I loved all the different costumes on all the children, and I remember trying to guess and figure out where each child was from based on what they were wearing. And what do I discover now? This fun and striking art was done by none other than Mary Blair. Signed by her on the lower right corner. Fitting, since she designed the ride at Disneyland!

Also, I came across my maquette for Julius, my character from my animated short Elegy. This was the first sculpture/maquette I ever created, not counting a bust I had to make for a class ages ago. I made this about four years ago with sculpey and painted him with acrylics as part of my pre-production for my animation. There are supposed to be puppets on strings hanging from his hands, but I never had the chance to attach them. I actually had sculpted the little puppets too, but they were reeeaaally clumsy. As is this maquette, but I still find it charming.

Julius holds a special place for me. His character pops up for me now and then, in some form or another. I’m sure you’ve noticed that in his most recent incarnation he’s been enjoying the snow with his red umbrella. He’s become a bit shorter since the making of this maquette and the animation. I liked the soft warm glow of the Christmas tree lights that bathes him here.

This is my fifth figure sculpt, a standing woman. Working with clay is still very new to me and a real challenge. A whole new way of trying to get anatomy, proportion, and gesture feeling right. I’m trying to learn to push gesture more, and I feel it could have been nudged quite farther here. But it depends on what feeling you’re trying to capture. Depending on your vantage, she can look demure or quite haughty.

Inside the theater, before Marjane’s interview at the Persepolis screening.
Watercolor done at home…

I tried to draw Marjane from memory today, but I find it pretty difficult to capture a person from memory. So here’s the only sketch so far that I was sort of feeling ok about.

I got to see a screening of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis last night at the newly remodeled Sundance Kabuki Theater. It was quite the event, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and popcorn, a man playing some lovely music on a giant standing bass, and media and press people flitting about. But the star was Marjane who was there herself, along with her co-director of the animated film.

Based on her autobiographical graphic novels, Persepolis follows Marjane’s story of growing up in Iran during the revolution, and her life outside of her homeland, when she flees. The animation closely follows the stark black and white graphic style of her comics, but has also been flourished with shades of gray and minute instances of color. There are so many striking moments, visually, graphically. Some scenes are told with only images, and ultimately end up being more powerful than if they had included dialogue.

Marjane discussed her story and her views in a brief interview on stage before the screening, and her striking firebrand of a personality really burst through. However, her sly humor also was very apparent. And despite the horrors that she faced during the revolution in Iran, and some of the horror that is depicted in in her story, Persepolis is just as much about the humor and absurdity of life and of coming of age in this modern world. I loved it, and will see it again when it is released in theaters.

Check it out! Woohoo!
www.nadinetakvorian.com

I just had a chance to check out the the animation design of Mary Blair over at the Cartoon Art Museum. I wasn’t aware of Mary as one of the first women concept designers for Disney, or her work by itself. However, you instantly recognize her style, since her designs and color styles are distinctly apparent in such classics as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Three Caballeros, and more. She designed the It’s a Small World ride in Disneyland! You can’t escape her work. We have all grown up with her style and whimsy, and I find myself smiling at images of her art that keep popping up in my mind. She managed to capture something iconic, full of warmth, surreal, and yet playful in her designs. I can only hope to try to emulate some her essence in my own work. Go check out the exhibit! It’s up through March 18th, 2008.

I managed to get out to the SF Zoo last Saturday. I woke up to have sun streaming through my window and decided on a whim to get myself and my sketchbook out there. It was a rather chilly first day of December, despite the sun. Here are some of my drawings, arranged on a couples pages.