D E PA R T M E N T
13 KEYFRAME
When Matt Jones
moved to L.A. to
work at a small
animation studio
in Culver City's
Hayden Tract, he
would set out on
his lunch breaks with a sketchbook to
explore his surroundings. He was struck
by the innovative architecture that
had sprouted up in the old industrial
zone, mostly designed by local
architect ric en oss specially
intriguing was the Samitaur Tower,
an information tower and viewing
platform. Its texture seemed to change
throughout the day and into the night
when it was illuminated, Jones says.
A storyboard artist for the past 15
years on feature films such as Maya
and the Three and Spider-Man: Into the
Spider-Verse 2, Jones uses painting
and sketching as a way to explore
and familiarize himself with new
environments. He calls his set-up
"relatively lo-fi." Whether on his
bike or in his car, he carries a bag
containing a water jar, paint, brushes,
paper, a metallic baking tray for a
palette, and a GorillaPod to record
the process on his phone. "I try to
maintain spontaneity and embrace
happy accidents," he says. "I'll do a
quick pen-and-ink sketch to solve
any perspective problems, then
loosely pencil out the broad shapes
on the Canson paper and get stuck
into painting." For Samitaur Building,
he used gouache paint on heavy
Canson paper for the final result.
Samitaur Building is part of Jones' Iconic
Places series, which can be found in
the art book AM3RICA at his Etsy shop:
etsy.com/shop/MattJonesOriginalArt.
ARTIST: Matt Jones
TITLE: Samitaur Building
MEDIUM: Gouache on Canson paper
SIZE: 9" x 6"
HAPPY ACCIDENTS
A R T & C R A F T
WINTER 2021 13
