♦ Art Appreciation Monday! ♦

Welcome to another Art Appreciation Monday!
Today I am very happy to spotlight a very special, talented artist, Oh Jessica Jessica!!
To my horror, I realized, it will actually be Art Appreciation Tuesday for Jessica by the time I post this! (Oops!)

Cityscape

Not only has she let me post some of her excellent artwork, like this lovely pastel city skyline, on my blog to share with you, but she has also included some behind the scenes pictures of Crochet Noir in the making!

Although, I cannot put the video directly on this blog post, if you click on the title "Crochet Noir", you will be taken to Vimeo where you can watch the short film in full.
Crochet Noir, is absolutely spellbinding, it breaks the fourth wall with it's crochet references and at times I completely forgot that I was watching stop motion crochet dolls! It has all the professionalism and quality of a big budget film, the only downfall of "Crochet Noir" is that it is devastatingly short!

Ariana: What's your name?
Jessica: Jessica Harris, but since it's two very common names, online I go by 'Oh Jessica Jessica'
 
Ariana: Are you human/boy/girl?
Jessica: I'm a lady.

Ariana: What Country/Planet/State are you from?
Jessica: From Australia, based in Melbourne at the moment.
 
Ariana: Do you have brothers/sisters/only child?
Jessica: I have one full sister, and three half sisters.
 
Ariana: Do you have any pets?
Jessica: No, never had any pets. I'm allergic to the fur.
Ariana: Do you have a favourite food/drink?
Jessica: Definitely chocolate. I have such a sweet tooth. And my favourite drink would have to be beer. 


Ariana: Birthday?
Jessica: Let's just say I'm a Virgo. And a Dragon.

 Cave

This picture holds SO many questions for me, I feel like there is an untold story that only, OhJessicaJessica, knows... I cannot help but be drawn back to look at this picture again and marvel at it's air of mystery and how the colours add to this effect!

 

  

Ariana: What inspires you most to draw?
Jessica: That's so tricky to answer! I don't know. It's just something that I've always done. I draw every single day.
 
Ariana: How do you cope with lack of inspiration?
Jessica: Oh that's funny, I'm feeling that way at the moment. Sometimes, I take a break, other times I try and push through it and try to produce something, anything, even if it takes a lot longer than normal. At the moment, I've decided to focus on something else (colouring things that I've finished inking) and it's helping.
 
Ariana: What are you currently using to create your art with?
Jessica: Right now I'm doing a lot on the cintiq. But still I draw my roughs with pencil on paper. When I paint I mostly use gouache and acrylics.
 
Ariana: Do you have a favourite media to draw with?
Jessica: Pencil on paper. It's so relaxing.
 
Ariana: Do you do custom artwork for people?
Jessica: Yes! I'm available for commissions. Feel free to contact me through my website ohjessicajessica.com
 
Ariana: Would you say the area where you live inspires some of your artwork? 
Jessica: I'd say my work is inspired by my life in Australia. The comics I'm writing at the moment have a lot of influence from growing up in Perth and how everyone knows everyone there.

Ariana: Do you feel like the place you live, or things that you've grown up with, influence your artwork?
Jessica: I don't know, but as far as my style is concerned, it's a melding pot of all the things I loved to draw when I was starting out. So a bit of Disney, some anime like Berserk and Cowboy Bebop, a lot of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, and also Edward Hopper and Jeffrey Smart.
 
Ariana: Your drawings are fantastic, what would you suggest for someone who is just beginning?
Jessica: Don't give up early on. A lot of people come into my work (I work in an art supply store) and explain how they're just starting drawing again after twenty or thirty years. They're always so nervous and scared about it, which is understandable, but I always think if they'd kept it up, even just casually, they could've used those decades to work on their skills and be much further ahead.

Belinda 

A character designed by, OhJessicaJessica! The facial expression and body language of this character is a key element in projecting an opinion about her, she seems shy or perhaps unsure about something.

Ariana: What is your current favourite finished work?
Jessica: I have a problem with finishing things at the moment. I would say my favourite thing I've done is all the Inktober pieces from last year. It was really exhausting but pushed me to create a lot in a really short amount of time. You can see them here: http://ohjessicajessica.com/inktober15/

 Inktober

 

These are just two of the many amazing Inktober illustrations that Oh Jessica Jessica created. There is so much sadness in the first picture of something lost, while in the second, the two women look so excited and curious! The contrast between these two pictures is not just emotional, but the colours too, while in the first we have mostly black and white, whereas the second with the two women has the pop of red in it too! 

Ariana: How long did it take you to get as good as you are?
Jessica: About twenty years. I'm still learning lots, and have areas that need improvement.
 
Ariana: How long does it take you to finish a picture?
Jessica: Depends. A sketch might only take half an hour. A fully inked piece can take a couple of hours, or a couple of days depending on the details. If there's backgrounds involved it takes a lot longer.
 
Ariana: Do you have a favourite thing to draw, movies, people, animals, etc.?
Jessica: Definitely people and faces. I really like drawing hands as well.
 
Ariana: When did you decide you wanted be an artist?
Jessica: Very seriously in the last year of primary school, grade 7. I used to have all these pictures of Meg from Disney's Hercules' blu-tacked on the wall in front of my desk. And I just really wanted to be an animator. I'd been drawing way before then, but I think that's when I really knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
 
Ariana: Do you have any interests outside of drawing?
Jessica: Yeah! I really enjoy cycling. I commute to work and it's become super addictive. I also like to sew and crochet. I made a film with crocheted puppets a while ago now called Crochet Noir. At the moment I'm making a blanket and it's taking forever.

Ariana: How long did it take you to make "Crochet Noir"?
Jessica: It was my graduate piece, so I made it in my last year of Masters at the Victorian College of the Arts. We had one year to create a short film. The first semester was mostly writing the script and designing the puppets. The puppets took the most amount of time. I had a lot of trial and error with how to put them together. And at one point the wire in Joe's arm snapped, so I had to remake that whole limb. The shoot was really intense, I think it was only six weeks. And we were still making sets in between scenes.

Ariana: For those who don't know what a film noir is, how would you describe it?
Jessica: Oh gosh that's hard. It's partly a visual style, the high contrast lighting, set at night mostly, but it's also got recurrent themes, such as emasculation, and the disillusionment of the American dream in a post-war era.

Ariana: "Crochet Noir" reminds me of the Maltese Falcon, (Joe made me think of Humphrey Bogart!) did you watch that film before/while working on "Crochet Noir"?
Jessica: I watched so much Bogart when I was doing research for this film. And because I was fan-girling over him a little, Joe slowly began to take on his features. Especially the eyebrows. My favourite Bogart film would have to be “In A Lonely Place”.

Crochet Noir - In progress! Here is a picture of Joe in the making, it's crazy to think that there were tiny skulls carved for these dolls (there is a picture one of the skulls used for the dolls below), when I look at them I don't think of them being filled with wire so they can bend, but they are and it's absolutely incredible!

Ariana: What inspired you for the plot? Did you think of it while watching a noir film?
Jessica: It was spawned from conversations with my partner, Adam. We were talking about this puppet I had made the year before, and since we're both fans of action/crime films we were joking about how weird it would be to have these cute puppets being really violent. The plot was something I struggled with, partly because I knew it would have to be concise as there's only so much you can accomplish in eight minutes of screen time. I also wanted there to be the themes of disconnection and entanglement (played up by the fact they're all made of yarn).

Ariana: How did you fix the eyes on the crocheted dolls? They're very lifelike, sometimes I forgot that I watching crocheted stop-motion dolls!
Jessica: They're actually doll eyes from Ball Jointed Doll supply websites. I used them because they were so lifelike. But designing the puppets heads was really tricky, because I had to make a socket for them to sit in and also be able to pivot around. I ended up carving a lightweight skull from balsa wood and smoothed the eye socket with some soft air dry clay. The eyelids were really tricky too, I molded them from plastic and painted them. I moved the pieces ever so slightly with a pin during the shoot.

Crochet Noir - In progress! The skull of one of the puppets, with the eye sockets already carved for those amazing realistic eyes!

Ariana: Do we get to look forward to a continuation of "Crochet Noir"?
Jessica: I really hope so! I've been thinking about the rest of the story in my down time. I'll begin writing it soon, and then it's just a matter of applying for funding.

 

Crochet Noir - In progress!  Joe is about to go into the cafe right here! It's so amazing how they worked this scene to where it really looked like a street. I can't believe there isn't really another building right in front of the cafe!

Ariana: How big are the dolls used in the stop-motion short, "Crochet Noir"?
Jessica: Not very tall. I think they were about 20-25cm in height. I couldn't make them too big as the sets would have been massive and the studio at school wouldn't have been large enough!

 

Crochet Noir - In progress picture! I always find it fascinating to look behind the scenes, and to see a work in progress like Crochet Noir, stop-motion is a very time consuming process and you have to be very careful not to move anything too drastically from scene to scene. 

Ariana: Did you teach yourself to crochet or did you take classes/learn from a friend?
Jessica: I taught myself. From a book on how to make amigurumi robots. I think it was called “Crobots”. They were super cute! I liked that book because the instructions were really simple and clear and easy for a beginner.

Ariana: How long did the dolls take the make?
Jessica: Months. They took the most amount of time, just because there were so many parts to stick together. Also, I had to make clothes for them and sew in the hair (I used embroidery thread for that and set it with hair gel). Then I had to make the mouths and eyebrows. They turned out really complex, which is what I wanted, so I could get a large range of expression.

Ariana: Did you sew the doll clothes with a machine or by hand?
Jessica: A little bit of both. I think the larger seams were on the machine, and then any details or small things were done by hand. The material for Joe's suit was a pain because it kept fraying. So there's a lot of glue in there too.

 

Crochet Noir - Costumes in progress! While this picture of dolls without their heads may look a little creepy, it is important to focus on the other details like the wardrobe of the dolls too. Notice how both dolls have different style shoes and aren't uniform, despite wearing the cafe uniform, they are both completely different individuals with different lives!

Ariana: Are you ever going to write any books? Or film scripts or something? I loved the plot line, it would be really amazing to see more films/or/read more of your work!
Jessica: I'm working on comics at the moment. Not in the same genre, these are mostly romantic comedies and slice of life stories. I've got quite a few of those written up and I'm in the process of inking the first short story called “All My Crushes”. I'm going to post them on Tapastic and also Tumblr when I start posting pages. And of course, I've got lots of other ideas I need to consolidate and start scripting, including the full story of “Crochet Noir”. There's just not enough hours in the day.
 
Ariana: How do you wind down after drawing? 
Jessica: Usually I would draw as a way to wind down before bed, but since I've been working a lot on the cintiq recently, I crochet to wind down. I find it helps to do something that doesn't involve staring at a screen to switch off.

Ariana: What would your advice to other artists be?
Jessica: Don't compare yourself to other artists. Just compare your work now, to the work you've done in the past, because it's always changing and evolving (and improving, although it may not feel that way). I've got all my old drawings from when I was in primary school up until now and it's really fun and rewarding (sometimes cringe-worthy) to look through them and see my progress. Everyone starts somewhere. 

 

My sincerest gratitude and thanks goes to OhJessicaJessica, who agreed so kindly to do this interview with me! Not only was she kind about my slowness on getting the questions to her, she also answered the additional questions (that I sent later on) about "Crochet Noir"!  She also sent me all the fabulous pictures of her artwork and the "In progress" pictures of Crochet Noir! 

OhJessicaJessica, is yet another wonderful inspiration that I hope you will all learn from, and that she'll inspire you to go out and make artwork of your own! 

Thank you so much for participating, OhJessicaJessica!

If you enjoyed OhJessicaJessica's artwork, you should visit her website here!

♦ Follow her on Instagram here! ♦

♦ Like her on Facebook here! ♦

 ♦ Follow her on Tumblr here! ♦

And keep a close eye on her tapastic page where she'll be posting comics in the near future! 

Eddie

Another one of the characters that, OhJessicaJessica, designed! This one is called, Eddie, and in contrast to Belinda, he seems to have a bit more confidence or is not in a situation where he is unsure of himself. Compare the two characters and while it is difficult to compare two people who are different in so many respects, it's really fascinating to see how OhJessicaJessica drew the facial and body expressions of these characters.

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