You also released a DVD‚ Sketching with Jason Seiler. How was that process?
appear in the Society of Illustrators show in New York. That must have been an honour...
How was creating the DVD? It was crazy and stressful! I worked on the DVD with my friend Nathan Cameron. It was hours of filming and drawing, all in between my normal work load. And after the filming and so on, we spent days editing and rerecording vocals, and then recording music and editing that into the DVD. We watched it over and over again to make sure everything was just how we wanted it. In the end it was all worth it; I’ve had a lot of great feedback from it. It’s helped and inspired a lot of people and that’s what I was hoping to do. I’m very grateful that it’s done so well. Nathan and I are planning on doing another DVD soon, this one on painting. You recently branched out into character design, working on Tim Burton’s latest film‚ Alice in Wonderland. Can you tell us how that came about? And how was the experience dealing with a big movie studio? That was great, it was very exciting to be a part of it and was amazing to see my characters alive on the big screen. I was subcontracted by Imaginism Studios and so I didn’t have any direct contact with the “big studio”. The way it came about was that I was asked by Imaginsim if I’d like to help them work on character design for the film? I said yes and that was it. I worked on the Tweedles, the Red Queen, the Bandersnatch, the March Hare, and the Executioner. For some of the designs I was first given rough pencils and notes saying things like “these shapes are desired”, and then was asked to take it to a finish. I had artistic freedom to do what I wanted with the shapes that were given to me but had to stay within a desired palette. My friend Bobby Chiu did many of the character designs that you see in the final film, and I worked with him on a few of my characters. The designs of mine that survived and made it onto the film were the Tweedles and the Bandersnatch. The
Red Queen looked a lot like my design as well, but I don’t think mine was the final. It was a great experience and I’d love to be involved in another film sometime. We’ll see... You’re obviously obsessed with George Lucas. You’ve painted him a number of times, including your impressive poster for the upcoming movie, The People Vs George Lucas... Ha ha . . . I just love his face and character! He interests me. I grew up watching Star Wars, the “original” Star Wars, and so I think George has been a big part of my life, of my childhood for sure. I actually just did another little watercolour of him too. Hee-hee... maybe I need a restraining order? I think what I enjoy drawing so much when it comes to George is his hair. It’s an amazing thing to look at. George looks like a Star Wars character, he’s like a mix of Jabba the Hut and a grey-haired Wookie! Besides being presented with awards too numerous to mention (that is, apart from the “Gold Nosey” and “Master Caricaturist” from ISCA), you were recently selected to
Yeah, 2010 has been a great year for me. I’ve entered shows for years and only every oncein-a-while get in one. This last year I made it into every show I entered. My work was accepted not only by the Society of Illustrators New York, but also by the Society of Illustrators L.A., where I was honoured with Silver for Entertainment/ Visual Development, so that was pretty cool. I was also lucky enough to make it this year in the 3x3 Illustration Directory! I’ve been blessed and honoured. After so many years of working so hard, it’s really nice to see it pay off. What excites me about this sort of thing is not the awards or being in the books, it’s being in the books or shows with so many other amazing artists and then getting to meet them. It’s great to hang out and chat with other artists, and most of them create work very different from me, and that interests me. As I said earlier, I’m not into the kind of work that I do, but I love other kinds of art! We’re really looking forward to you visiting our shores in November for the annual Stanleys weekend. Is there anything you’re looking forward to seeing while you’re out here? Thank you for inviting me. I am extremely honoured and excited to be coming to Australia! This is humbling to say the least. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with all you folks there down under, and to see the art that you are so passionate about. There are many talented Australian artists - I’m excited to see everything! On a different note, I’m also really into sharks, I mean I really love them and hope to see the ocean and who knows what else? All in all, I’m really looking forward to it and I hope everyone enjoys my class! Thank you for your time today, Jason! See you in November! The feeling is mutual. See you soon! www.cartoonists.org.au
25