STORY BY JASON GREEN, STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY JOCELYN ANAYA
The Cypress College Art Gallery welcomed the father-son duo, Jon Davis, and Benjamin Davis, to discuss their work in the art industry as part of the new gallery, “Invisible Features” and “The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles 61st Annual Illustration Competition” on March 19.
The art gallery opened on March 7 and showed two exhibits at once. The “Invisible Features” exhibit includes work from Todd Harris, Layron Dejarnette, Jon Davis, Benjamin Davis, Mark Page, and Deon Nuckols. The exhibit was curated by Donivan Howard, an art professor at Cypress.
The exhibit was created to showcase underrepresented artists in their respective art industries. Professor Howard has connections to all of the artists that are featured in the gallery.
For “The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles 61st Annual Illustration Competition,” the exhibit shows works from the winners of different categories in the competition, including Student, Editorial, and Book.
Also, displayed is the winner of the Joseph Morgan Henninger Award – Best of Show: Pearl Jam by Peter Diamond. According to illustrationwest.org, “This award is presented to the best of all the Gold Award winners and is named for SILA’s first President during our founding year in 1953”
Mounted next to Pearl Jam is the winner of the Patrick Nagel Award for Excellence: Harlem Urban Dance by Martin French. According to illustrationwest.org, “This award is presented to the second best of all the Gold Award Winners and is named to honor a great illustrator, Patrick Nagel.”
(Left to right) Harlem Urban Dance by Martin French, winner of the Patrick Nagel Award for Excellence; and Pearl Jam by Peter Diamond, Joseph Morgan Henninger Award – Best of Show. Photo by Jason Green, Staff Writer
Jon Davis and Benjamin Davis started their presentation shortly after 12:30 p.m.
Jon is a graphic designer, whose work spans from movies such as “Ender’s Game” to “Dredd”. He also worked on the graphic for The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s fifty-third award show.
He attended Los Angeles Trade Technical College, where he studied design and visual communications. He originally went into illustration, but advertisements by then were more photography-based.
He has been the creative director at Twentieth Century Fox and Lionsgate, in which he led movie marketing campaigns such as “Shape of Water” and “The Divergent Series”. Jon also held the position of Creative Director at The Walt Disney Disney Company, leading domestic and international film campaigns.
Posters of movies that Jon Davis has worked on throughout his career. Photo by Jason Green, Staff Writer
Benjamin initially pursued 2D animation at Gnomon, but after playing the video game, “God of War” (2018), he switched his path to game animation. He considered the video game to be “flawless” as he admires everything about it, from the animation to the story.
Gnomon is a for-profit college that focuses on digital arts and helps students reach their goals in the entertainment industry.
Benjamin met the art director of “God of War” (2018), Rafael Grassetti, during an artist summit at the school. He shared unfinished animation reels with Grassetti, and Grassetti recommended he apply to Santa Monica Studio. After being satisfied with the progress of his animation reel, Benjamin applied to Santa Monica Studio.
He was then hired and became part of the production of “God of War: Ragnarök” as a gameplay animator. After his colleagues at Santa Monica Studio recommended him to apply to Riot Games, Benjamin applied there. Now he is a gameplay animator at the company.
Jon recommended art students who were in attendance at the event to draw out their ideas as thumbnails because it helps with materializing ideas. He also mentioned that if a drawing can work at thumbnail size, then the idea will work at large sizes. He recommended following eight art rules.
The eight rules include unity, gestalt, focal point, legibility, value, variety, quick reading, and mood.
Jon spoke about the concept of buckets in marketing which are categories of content that appeal to audiences. Jon then applied them to the movie poster of “Safe” and discussed how each element comes together to make an artistically successful piece.
Jon talked about some of the difficulties that come with the graphics. He said that the actors do have a say in their appearance on the poster. Some actors would appear larger or smaller in the poster, legal teams influence this as well. Additionally, the Motion Picture Association, formally, the Motion Picture Association of America, can censor what is shown on these graphics, so Jon had to move around them.
Benjamin showed the process of his animation of a “League of Legends” character’s recall, which means going back to base in the game. He spoke of Hwei’s recall animation and said there are several steps before his job can take place.
The process begins with character art, in which concept artists collaborate with narrative designers or the game director to create a character design. This process is drawn in 2D. After approval from the game director, the design is transferred into 3D, sculpted digitally, and textured. Following this step, technical artists rig, which means adding a skeleton to the 3D model to make it move.
After rigging the 3D model, animation takes place. Benjamin starts by sketching out the character in different movements and poses. He said the animation needs to be interactive and that it needs to be tested to make the animation fun.
“You want it [the animation] to feel good,” Benjamin said.
To animate, he uses software such as Maya and Spline. After the animation, Benjamin works with visual effects artists to complete the character.
The animation of the “League of Legends” character, Hwei. Photo by Jason Green, Staff Writer
A student asked the duo a question about artificial intelligence affecting the art industry. Jon said, “The people who are scared of it now, to me, are just not used to it.”
He used Apple’s “Siri” as an example, explaining that when it was first introduced consumers were scared, but now they accept and utilize it all the time.
Benjamin said, “If somebody who cannot draw is trying to hire a concept artist and cannot verbalize or show what he is trying to do, I could do some A.I., Midjourney, whatever I do […] real quick, and hand it to a professional and the professional will give me something original.”
Benjamin said that some of his influences include his father and his father’s friends, including Professor Howard.
“Just seeing these guys, like, on that creative level really inspired me to be like ‘I don’t know no 22-year-olds doing this right now’,” said Benjamin.
When salary was mentioned during the Q&A, Jon said “If you take care of it, it will take care of you,” he said. “You can eat well.”
Near the end of the presentation, Howard gave attending students drawing prompts, which Jon and Benjamin provided feedback on.
Overall, the event provided those in attendance an in-depth look into the processes that go into the work the Davis father-son duo created. This allowed for a successful presentation of their work and allowed students to learn about an art medium they may not be familiar with. They were also provided with substantial feedback from both artists.
The art gallery will host two events next month. On April 4, Deon Nuckols will have a presentation at 1:30 p.m., and on April 9, Mark Page will also have a presentation at 12:30 p.m.
