[projectaon] Fwd: <>--- Interview Questions : Answer No.3b ---<>
- From: "Jonathan Blake" <blake.jon@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Project Aon List" <projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:07:19 -0700
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <paj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 8:47 AM
Subject: <>--- Interview Questions : Answer No.3b ---<>
To: Jonathan Blake <blake.jon@xxxxxxxxx>
_____________ M I D - W I N T E R- 2 0 0 8
_____________ PETER ANDREW JONES PUBLISHING
---- ORIGINAL PAINTINGS : LIMITED EDITION PRINTS & BOOKS : ART
GREETINGS CARDS
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AFFETTI : CRUX MILLENNIUM : HEROES & VILLAINS : RURAL DREAMS : SOLAR
WIND : URBAN DREAMS : WINGS OF FIRE
PAINTINGS of CHURCH STRETTON of LUDLOW of SOUTH SHROPSHIRE of
SHREWSBURY & PAINTINGS of LONDON
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______ MEMO
Hi Jonathan,
Herewith answer to Q3b
3b) Does "Heroes and Villains" contain the artwork for the "Fantasy
Questbook" "Starflight Zero" (by David Fickling and Perry Hinton)?
Yes.
Do
you have any memories on painting these works to such a tight brief
from the authors?
It was "a pleasant nightmare".
I really, really enjoyed that project but probably for all the wrong reasons.
David and Perry were terrific fun to work with. I was bowled-over by the
sheer extent of their enthusiasm and dynamism (which normally tended
to rely on me in projects, not on authors!) so it was a "joined-up energy
fest" with Philippa Dickinson, then editor at Puffin, joining in for
good measure!
But it was a really, really, tough job. It was "totally experimental" from an
Artwork stance. For production reasons I could not paint on wood panel
which was my normal "bullet-proof" technique. Print production costs
(budget restriction) meant I had to paint on paper, which was not a big
challenge since I started out in the mid-70's using "the English method"
on stretched paper mounted on card, but this had to be flexible to go around
a drum to be scanned at the printers so Philippa hunted down some special
plasticised coated paper which turned out to be a b___h to work with, a
nightmare. I spent a lot of deadline time struggling with this technical issue
on top of the fact that the tight publishing dates were unsuited to this
"new experimental concept" (increased workload).
On top of these technical issues, deadline issues and added studio costs
issues (it needed a lot of communication back-and-forth) it was tough
on the brain cells. Now, I loved a lot of the jobs I did, especially TV jobs,
because they did stretch the intellect I have to say, often needing to
understand intricate technical, production or directing, even acting (as
in actors) issues, so I was by no means a stranger to having to "go
into the other parties territory and comprehend what the brief really needs"
indeed, I think it was a skill I was noted for, my willingness to get my
head around the nitty-gritty of "the job".
On top of the above restraints I had to produce the "ship's computer
readout panels" etc but of course, in those days, there were no computers
to draw them on, so they had to be drawn organically and I then had my
photographer do a treatment on them to make them physically compatible
with the flexible main colour Art.
In many ways it resembled many of the tv jobs I did, the difference being
that when my studio participated in a tv series (eg. Captain Zep,
Space Detective) the work was handled by a team, with me taking a
particular responsibility, say, the backgrounds, but with "Starflight" there
was just little old me!
I really enjoyed working with the guys, I loved the challenge, but it was
tough, and even though I was very used to "tough" there was so much
material to get through we agreed the only way I could do it was to let
the authors take the lead and just "do as I was directed" so this job
differs from the so many other roleplay works I did in that I "gave
myself over totally" to the directions of the writers and the editor
and just joined in as "the brush-pusher"!
What sort of leeway did you have in creating these
works?
Given all the above, I can't really remember! It was so intense I have
no particular recall as to what input I had from a "choice of subject" sense.
I did of course decide on the designs of characters, the spaceship, etc but
again, the tightness of the brief did not allow for total open-ended freedom
and had to very specifically follow author briefs, which is why I say
it resembles
tv, where the producer is at the top of the apex, the director next, a designer
and then the brush-pusher. There has to be a structure to ensure the project
is cohesive and this roleplay product, in this case, needed total cohesion
of the authoring input from everyone, so on a job like that, when
ideas free-flow
around the team in order to support the core objective one tends not to be
"a star" in that sort of scenario and adopts a team player position.
Relationships with all my clients were always on a "ask the other party what
their view is" since that is only common courtesy if someone is trusting you
with their livelihood and talent and also our studio built a large part of its
professional reputation on the "go the extra distance" ethos so we always
respected, and listened to, the client, so "mucking-in for the good of the
project" was not in any way uncommon, even at one point, having a four
hour(!) long meeting with a paperback client to thrash out how best to launch,
develop and sustain a series of books, important when a publisher is throwing
money at it, but "Starflight" was the only time this ever occurred in
the roleplay
publishing area, where intense discussion existed throughout the
creation of the artwork.
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PETER ANDREW JONES PUBLISHING - "Decidedly Different"
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~~~~~~
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