Diving at Molokini
Sunday July 18, 2010

While we were on Maui we went snorkeling at Molokini Crater. My kids including my youngest,Alice, enjoyed being pulled on glass bottom rafts along the reef. The reef was teeming with life: unicorn fish, various species of trigger, tang and angel fish, even a Humuhumunukunukuapua’a the Hawaiian state fish. The highlight for me was seeing an octopus and a white tip reef shark. On our journey home we spotted several sea turtles. These sketches were made after the fact from memory and some shaky footage I took with my underwater camera.

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Invasive Species follow our lead
Monday July 12, 2010

While I was in Hawaii I was shocked to find a northern cardinal. I can’t blame a bird that is used to spending cold winters in Eastern America for wanting to stay in this tropical paradise. Then there are the red-crested cardinals originally from South America, the Myna Birds and Kaji Pheasants from India.

Everyone has been attracted to the Hawaiian Islands be they people, plant or animal. We get really worked up about invasive species and true it is a problem but aren’t they simply following our lead?

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Visitors that never left Hawaii part I
Wednesday July 7, 2010

I just returned from a Hawaiian holiday. While walking the sandy beaches and swimming in the clear blue water I had an emotion and thought almost universally shared with visitors of this Polynesian paradise: “Let’s stay here forever.” For many this whim has turned into a reality: Europeans, North Americans, South Americans and even Indians have all established themselves as residents. One could argue that it’s tougher today to find the true natives because the immigrants are so numerous. I’m not talking about people I’m talking about, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds.

They all came the way people did; first as stowaways on sailing vessels, then on barges planes and some were even introduced on purpose. One of these is the cane toad; a native a South America and a prolific breeder (just ask any Australian). They were introduced to control pests in the sugar cane fields and stayed long enough to become pests themselves.

Every night after the sprinklers went off I could find scores of them hoping around looking for anything smaller than themselves to eat. On the back of their heads are large glands which when threatened secret a poisonous toxin. Since there are no big predators on Hawaii the toad has had little use of these noxious glands. On Australia, however, the toads have been responsible for the deaths of countless lizards, birds and even crocodiles who eat the poisonous toads.

All this aside they are really fun to draw, full of bumps, warts and attitude. I even had to sketch one of them playing baseball on my sketchblog.

More to come on visitors who never left Hawaii.

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Pensive to be in AFC's international Exhibit of Nature in Art
Sunday July 4, 2010

I am pleased to announce that my sculpture Pensive has been selected to be in the Artists for Conservation annual juried exhibition.

The purpose of the exhibition is three-fold: i) To support conservation through fundraising and education; ii) To showcase the extraordinary pool of artistic talent in the AFC; and iii) To expose the nature art genre to new audiences. Since its first annual exhibit in 2008, The Art of Conservation has become one of the most highly anticipated events in the wildlife art / nature art genres.

The exhibition features 74 original artworks selected by an independent jury and includes 60 paintings and 14 sculptures. Most artworks are for sale, ranging in price from $400 to $48,000 US. A total of 67 artists are represented in the show, from 8 countries, including Austra, Australia, Canada, Germany, Kenya, South Africa, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA.

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Cassowary paintings
Friday May 21, 2010

Cassowaries are some of my favorite birds. With simple proto feathers that look more like barbed hairs than feathers and tyranosaurian feet complete with a sharp inner claw they are one of the most striking birds in the world.
At the end of my animal drawing class at DreamWorks I took a moment to dash out these sumi paintings on 22 × 30” cold press book.

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Pride & Pedagogue
Sunday May 9, 2010

On this mother’s day it seems appropriate that I present my latest sculpture named Pedagogue. Pedagogue is a companion piece to Pride. Why name it pedagogue? The word pedagogue means a teacher of children. Lionesses are the glue to the pride. Males come and go but females are constant. As a general rule lionesses do most the hunting and rearing making them the professorial teachers in the pride.

The Male may defend and sire young but the mothers raise and educate them. Both Pride and Pedagogue are precasts and can be purchased through the J. Willott Gallery.

What is a precast? While the piece is still in clay we often sell the first sculpture in the edition as a precast. When a sculpture is sold as a precast the collector get’s the first piece in the edition and is able to follow the metamorphosis from clay to finished bronze.

Since the collector who purchases a precast gets the edition going with his or her purchase they receive a discount on their piece as well. For purchasing information contact:

73190 El Paseo Ste 1
Palm Desert, CA 92260
760.568.3180 760.568.3180
760.568.3479 fax
josh@jwillott.com

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Animal Drawing Part II
Monday May 3, 2010

This is an excerpt from a hand out I made for my DreamWorks animal drawing class.

After drawing primates we can begin true drawing quadrapeds and specifically digigrades. These are animals who walk on four legs using their digits (digigrade) or fingers.
Again it’s always best to compare your own anatomy to thiers; learn the similarities and the differences.
Cats:
Today we’ll draw Jaguars, Snow Leopards and around the corner Sumatran Tigers. Cat anatomy isn’t too crazy. You can figure out the articulation of their skeleton by crouching down on your fingers and toes.

First off notice that the shoulder blades are vertical and the elongation of the spine. The knee of a cat is tucked up higher near the belly. The most visible joint on the leg is actually the ankle and bottom of the foot. Cats are always on their toes.

Once you understand where the bones are you can fine where the muscles are. In a way you can anthropromophize your muscles on the lion to figure out how they work.
When Drawing cats use the spine to create a long sinous line of action, except for the lion and especially the Jaguar make them longer than you think they should be. Lions are somewhat stocky and squarish, the Jaguar is more like a pit bull. Muscley, stocky with a large round head.

snow leopard cubs
Cats, under normal circumstances are no wider than their head. The Ulna and radius in the forearms of cats are spaced similar to ours allowing the wrists to rotate back and forth. Dogs can’t do that. The Ulna and radius are butted together which gives them durable long distance arms. More on dogs another time.

When drawing remember to observe, the best thing you can do when sketching from life is simply watching. Get to know the animal. You can only draw what you know. Sadly in zoos almost all animals have repeditive movements. As an artist watch for these moments pay attention to the foot placement and the movement of the muscles. Then take a mental image and draw, without looking up. Trust yourself and what you’ve observed. Once you’re finished look at the animal again and see how you did. When drawing live moving animals and humans you have to hone your observational skills differently than you would for a model who holds a pose for five minutes or more.

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Animal Drawing Class
Monday April 19, 2010

A caricature of me by Dave Pimentel
A couple of weeks ago I lead my first animal drawing class at DreamWorks. When I was asked to lead this class I was ecstatic. I now I had a legitimate excuse to draw animals on company time. The class isn’t too strict, most artists who attend have had exposure to animal drawing to one degree or another. I offer instruction on techniques and animal behavior and anatomy. He had our first class a few weeks ago. The following are some of my notes I shared with the class.

When drawing animals it’s always important to realize that all vertebrate animals share virtually the same skeleton. In this course we’ll start with animals that are most similar to us and progress to animals that are more drastically different. Comparative anatomy is the best way to study and understand animals. So naturally we’ll start with our closest relatives: The Primates and more specifically the great apes.
All of the great apes share similar bone and muscle structure- but each is uniquely adapted to their environment. you can only draw what you know so it is paramount to inform yourself as much as you can about the anatomy and behavior of your subject matter.

Gorillas are vegetarian and so have enormous guts for digesting plant matter, Chimps on the other hand are omnivores and have slimmer waists. When Orangs they are on the ground they walk on the side of their feet not the soles because their feet were made for grasping, not walking.

Here is a basic overview of the skeletons of the major primates. Comparative anatomy is the best way to understand animals; you can compare the similarities and differences between the human body and the animal.

Gorillas:

Gorillas are sexually dimorphic, meaning the males are much larger than the females. Things to look for:
Males have a large crest on their head when they are mature- as Ian Redmond explained in his visit the muscles from the top of the head pull the back into its arched position.

This is a skull of a male Gorilla; you can see the cranial ridges where the massive neck and crest muscles attach. Also look at the space between the cheek bone and the skull. This area is full of massive jaw muscles.

This is a female skull; notice the absence of the cranial ridges, smaller canines and jaw.

Feet: The feet are not just hands- there is a huge sole pad and a huge big toe/thumb- the lesser toes are much smaller

The hands are massive and square, thumb is smaller and positioned lower than humans- this allows knuckle walking.

Chimps are great- They are active and very social. Like gorillas they are knuckle walkers but are much more arboreal than Gorillas. They are not as sexually dimorphic as gorillas.

Male Chimp (LEFT) – slightly larger and more robust than the female (right) – larger canines.

Chimp hands are very similar to Gorillas, thick square with a smaller thumb.

Feet are more different: lesser toes are larger, better for griping thumb is a bit broader too.

Of all the apes chimps have the most expressive faces-

Orangs are hairy tree swinging freaks. They are solitary and incredibly dimorphic sexually with the males having huge cheek flaps and throat sacs.

The males are much larger with robust skulls and large canines.

You can see how the feet of an Orang are not made for walking, they are almost always curled- when they walk they walk on the side of the foot not on the sole.
Orang foot; this thing is not made for walking

Orang hands are made for grasping and swing through trees not knuckle walking.

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An Artist also in Animation
Tuesday March 23, 2010

In this forum which displays my personal artwork; sculptures and ink paintings I rarely refer to my second artistic life; that as a story teller/ artist. For over five years I have worked At DreamWorks Animation. There I work as a story artist working closely with the director to, block out and write the movie through drawings called story panels. Animation is a unique artistic endeavor. Unlike live action, animation begins in a void, the actors have to be created, sets designed and built. Nothing exists without the imagination and creation by the artists. Feature animation is the collaboration of many different artists and departments. I started at DreamWorks working on a Movie that was produced by Jerry Seinfeld. When Jerry started he took a tour of all the different departments: story, layout, rigging, animation, effects, character effects and lighting. After talking with each supervisor from each department Jerry smirked and said “ Everyone thinks they have the most important job.” Rightly so, in animation all of us combine our talents and skills to make something bigger than any one of us. It is a truly collaborative medium.

The work I do in animation is on the front end, I am the cutting room floor essentially. Story artists board and re-board the movie many times over before it is ready to be animated. The process can be agonizingly slow. I was on one particular show for almost three years.

story panels from How to Train Your Dragon

The most recent film I have worked on is How to Train your Dragon, which comes out this week. It is a special film and I feel privileged to have my name associated with it, even though I played a small role in its development. Of all the films I have worked on it stands out as the most sincere and well made. When you see the final film on screen with your fellow artists it really is something else. The final film is something that is greater and bigger than anyone of us and that’s special. My hat is off to both Chris and Dean for creating a timeless classic.

However, after working on several films over time it is possible to loose your own personal identity as an artist and to simply become a cog in a complex windmill. Most of us fight this atrophic condition by doing our own personal work; something that we can truly call our own. As is apparent in this website, I sculpt and paint the natural world. In addition I write and illustrate childrens books in my spare time.

Kadogo the Next Big Thing

I have completed two stories, one has been published: Kadogo the Next big thing as part of the Scrambled Ink Anthology by Dark Horse, and Sid the Squid ,which will debut at the end of summer, will be a stand alone book. I have several other books which I am developing with Pippin Properties in New York.


This past weekend as I watched the crew screening of How to Train Your Dragon, I was mesmerized by the incredible amalgamation of time, talent and sincere story telling. Walking away I felt I would be remiss if I did not make mention of this incredible film. Some people may think I should focus solely on sculpting, or solely on animation, but the truth is they both cross pollinate and compliment the other. By working in animation I am exposed to many different artists who have extremely different approaches which improves my skills as an artist, and by doing my personal work, sculpting and story telling I am able to make my own artistic statements without the danger of becoming too isolated or out of touch.

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Pride, new sculpture
Tuesday March 9, 2010

Pride was originally meant to be a companion piece for Samburu Stretch. Unfortunately I was forced to send Samburu Stretch to the foundry before my armature was completed. Pride when it was finished ended up being quite a bit bigger than the aforementioned sculpture. And while sexual dimorphism exists in lions this couple would have been the record. To that end I have began another lioness sculpture who will be the companion of Pride.

I really enjoyed working on this piece. I don’t like to use tools I find they get in the way of finding the gesture and energy of a piece. Instead with my fingers & thumbs I am able to keep the sculpture rough and painterly.

I work really hard to avoid the minute details in my pieces and instead to focus on the broad bold statement. Keeping it rough and gestural gives my work the attitude and energy which could easily be overworked by details.

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