I Am Sam Jones

Cbeebies Winter

2011-12-19T13:08:00.003Z

Say hello to Josh, his sister and their friends the ducks. Keep an eye out for them on Cbeebies in the recent Winter ident I did for them. Will post the video soon!

Little Dudes

2011-12-15T15:35:00.006Z

Little Dudes, a blog for things to do in South Manchester for babies and toddlers, has done a piece on the Autumn animation I did for Cbeebies. Read it here

Autumn Watch

2011-12-09T16:06:00.003Z

The above image is taken from the recent Cbeebies ident I worked on called 'Autumn'. Watch it here

Hey Little Cupcake!

2011-12-05T11:25:00.002Z

Here's a sneaky peak at my winning window design for Hey Little Cupcake! and Spinningfields in Manchester. It's currently winging it's way to the printers, so when it's up on the window I'll post a few pics of the final image. Until then keep your eyes peeled, and maybe treat yourself to a delicious cupcake whilst you're there!

DFF for Young

2011-12-01T12:40:00.003Z

I recently worked on this film for Young through Kilogramme. The image above is taken from the section I did of the piece. It's a charming pop-up book world and as always with Young, it's a beautifully designed piece and was a joy to work on.

Brrrrrrrr-ear

2011-11-24T15:22:00.003Z

A scarf is becoming mandatory at the moment. Even for bears. Sadly this fella didn't make it into a recent project, but at least he's toasty warm. Due to the tiny scarf obviously, not his massive fur coat.

Happy ever after

2011-10-28T12:34:00.004+01:00

I animated this piece for the lovely people over at Young. It was a really tight turn around, but fun to work with such great designs. Watch it on vimeo here.

Hello Autumn

2011-10-25T14:31:00.003+01:00

Some concept work for a Cbeebies Autumn ident. Will post the final animation soon, as I've heard a lovely rumour Cbeebies are starting to show it this week!

Hey Cow

2011-07-29T14:47:00.004+01:00

Concept work I'm doing at the moment. It's for a short film so will post more soon.

Jump around

2011-07-06T12:46:00.003+01:00

I did this little piece for the E4 E-sting competition.

Sharpie

2011-07-01T11:51:00.004+01:00

Crikey it's been a while apologies!! We'll skip over that and my lack of blogging and get straight on with the juicy bits...

http://vimeo.com/25811815

The above is an image from the recent film I've completed with Kilogramme. It was made for a project called Sharp Futures. The aim of Sharp Futures is to encourage schoolchildren from underprivileged areas of Manchester to consider a career in the creative sector. Three schools were shortlisted to have their storyboard for a film about the environment animated. It was a close competition with all three schools producing some excellent ideas, but the winning pitch was decided as MCMA Boys school. I've been working with the students since the end of last year and did the majority of the work on the film's direction, animation and design. David Ridges animated Sharpie's pipe travelling scene with Jon Turner lending his 3D max skills to the project as a whole.

The majority of the content of the film were decided on by the students and they got a brilliant reception at it's premiere on Wednesday night! Plus it involved me animating a lot of penguins, which is surely a bonus in anyone's opinion?! Particularly when one wears a tie.

Hope you like it!

A buzzy bee...

2010-03-09T17:37:00.005Z

Here are a few business cards I've been making. Ribbons and buttons (I love buttons!) make up these little flowers, which turn into brooches you can pin on to jazz up your outfit.

Hopefully they'll bring a little smile to whoever gets one, and give the wearer a little buzz...sorry!

Socks away

2010-02-26T10:12:00.003Z

These are 2 designs I entered into the "Design a sock" competition via the Print and Pattern blog. They are not exactly patterns, but I think a bit of scribbled colouring-in gracing a leg would look delightful!

38 days to go....

2010-02-19T14:46:00.006Z

So it was pancake day Tuesday, followed by the beginning of lent. Other years I've given up the usuals of chocolate, cakes (was going ok, until I remembered my birthday falls during lent!) and ice cream. This year I've turned my attention to biscuits.

Now I didn't use to be that much of a fanatic on the old biscuit crunching, unlike an old housemate, who we would often find curled up in his bedroom with the freshly topped up house biscuit barrel emptied, smothered in crumbs and a dazed, bewildered look as to his last half an hours crazed actions. Yet since leaving Uni and working in a studio, I have literally become the cookie monster! Endless cups of tea have always kept me going, but if there's a packet of biscuits somewhere nearby then I can't seem to resist a dunk as well (chocolate hob nobs being my preferred favourite...the king of all biscuits where a spot of dunking is required, as Peter Kay will back me up on).

So on Wednesday, with a lonely cup of tea on the desk, I drew a few of it's forbidden companions for old times sake. I feel its going to be a long 40 days...

Walk like a Robot

2010-02-16T17:30:00.005Z

Hmmm so it's been a long looooong looooooooooooong time since the last post, but I think we should skip over that!

I've been pretty busy, with quite a few projects on the go. Here's a couple of images from the first for a pitch, with a robot theme (if you hadn't guessed...)

Christmas cheer

2009-12-11T12:23:00.004Z

Just 2 weeks to go....to get you in the festive mood here's an image from an animated card that I've been working on at the moment.

Wibble Wobble

2009-11-27T17:47:00.002Z

Here's some jellies to help you get into that Friday party feeling.

And that's NO accident

2009-11-26T15:03:00.003Z

This is an advert I worked on last month with Kilogramme, for Camps Solicitors. It's on TV in the Northwest at the moment, and I think after that it's getting rolled out across the rest of the country.

I got to direct it, and do a fair bit of the design work which was brilliant. They wanted something lighthearted, with no accidents in sight and happy smiling people. I think you'll agree, that with the national treasure that is Richard Briers doing the voice over, it definitely gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Like Chai Latte. Now where is that chocolate fudge brownie...

The Incredible Mr Z

2009-11-25T14:36:00.008Z

Time travelling back a few months on this one, to the 28th September to be precise. Kilogramme were invited by Hewlett-Packard to take part in an animation challenge along with 11 other agencies. The brief being to produce a 40 second advert based around 'A day in the life of Mr Z'. Mr Z is a character designed to represent their new Z-800 computer, and with just the beginning and end scenarios given, the rest was up to us to conjure up. Oh and did I mention this all came with a 2 week deadline?

It was my first directing job for Kilogramme, and the freedom of the brief with the ability to inject my own personality into the piece was a real dream. Picking a 50's public information film style theme was a real joy to design with as well, with a vignette and some crackling After Effects touches wrapping the whole short up nicely.

And so on the 28th September, we were invited to the BFI on the Southbank for the screening. Where I was delighted to meet the fellow competitors and watch their films, eat an awful lot of scrummy canapes and pick up this lovely ornament to put up in the old glass cabinet. Great stuff.

Penguins are GO!

2009-11-24T10:50:00.007Z

So it's been a while since my last post, and in that time its been busy busy busy.

Therefore, to apologise for my lack of commitment and neglect, I will be challenging myself to post something everyday this week!Wooooooooooo hooooooo I hear you cry, indeed exciting stuff...(Yes it is Tuesday, and I am a day late already, but it's a start!)

Sunday was D-day for GoPenguins, with over 200 of the little beauties hitting the streets of Liverpool. I can confirm that beauties they are, as Friday I attended the launch party for all those involved, in turn getting to see the colony all under one roof(well roofs...they spilled out into the hallway there are that many!).

They are all dotted round the city, ready for you to discover them on the treasure hunt that is 'A Winters Trail'. So head over to Liverpool now, pick up a map and get following that trail!

And mine? Well he's in St Paul's Square, but you'll have to go find him before I reveal what he looks like! Instead here's a sneaky peak to get you on your way....

Good riddance...

2009-10-15T10:09:00.005+01:00

Two friends of mine, Pat and Danny, left yesterday to explore the world for a year. I'm sure they'll have a go at a few new things, experience some life changing moments and have many MANY adventures. Pat has gone and made a blog to keep us in the know of his whereabouts and what escapades they encounter.

http://www.wherespatgone.blogspot.com/

You should really check it out. YES it will make you jealous, and YES they are probably sitting on a beautiful Thai beach right now, but knowing Pat and Danny, hilarious comedy and tales will ensue.

P p p p p p p p p p p p p p .........

2009-10-06T12:26:00.005+01:00

Found out some fantastic news last week that I have been commissioned to paint a 5ft penguin for the Liverpool 'Go Penguins; A Winter's Trail'!

I am very VERY excited as

a. I Loooooove penguins

b. I LOOOOOOOVE penguins

Here's a link to their website so you can keep an eye on the countdown

http://www.gopenguins.co.uk/site/index.php

And a lovely picture of ...ahem...some naked penguins so to speak

There will be around 90 of the little critters hitting Liverpool in November, something not to be missed.

BLISS

Harry on 4mations!!

2009-09-10T12:27:00.004+01:00

Brilliant stuff yesterday as the wonderful 4mations blog posted about my animation Harry. They gave it a lovely little write up, made me a very happy chappy!

The link to it is here

http://www.4mations.tv/2009/09/harry/

They have a lot of other stuff you really should check out, plus they have commissioned 13 short films to be produced by some tip top British animators...definitely need to keep your eyes peeled for them!

Harry

2009-09-04T13:32:00.002+01:00

As promised here is a link to 'Harry' on Vimeo. Hopefully be putting a few more animations up soon, but I have to wait a little bit before they are ready for public viewing.

http://www.vimeo.com/6398469

Anyways enjoy!

And so it starts...

2009-09-02T16:53:00.007+01:00

I feel this is going to be the beginning of a long, and hopefully, beautiful relationship. Yet I expect many tears and tantrums, hard work and many MANY sleepless nights, is the actual truth of the matter.

So here is a still from my recent animation, 'Harry'. Finished only last Friday! Will post a link to it on Vimeo soon...