Jakob H Jensen

Happy Holidays!!!!

2011-12-24T09:58:00.001-08:00

Season's Greetings!!

2010-12-19T21:51:00.001-08:00

Hiccup, meet Hiccup!

2010-03-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a little drawing I made for Cressida Cowell, the writer of "How To Train Your Dragon", the book.
Although our film differs quite a lot from her book, she assures us all that she's perfectly fine with that.
They are two very different animals, but with the same heart, so to speak.
I was very fortunate to Supervise the animation on Hiccup, and while I'm still
far too close to it I feel that Cressida's Hiccup and our Hiccup somehow inhabit the same soul.
I hope fans of the book feel the same. The film opens this weekend. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it!

A study in silhouette

2010-03-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

A fun little thing I did a while back for an animation class I gave.
I gave it a B-.......

AB Ed 3

2010-03-09T16:24:00.001-08:00

AB Ed 2

2010-03-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

AB Ed

2010-03-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

This guy was never used in the film. I think he sort of preceded Hamegg as an antagonistic character of sorts.
Again, this is me following up on Luis' designs.

How embarrassing....

2010-02-22T15:13:00.001-08:00

To everyone who's posted comments since, well my first Holiday Card it seems, my apologies for never realizing you did.
You see, I'm an idiot!.... I never realized that I had the power of censorship in having to approve your comments (thank you, Rune for enlightening me).
What a dumb concept! Dammit, I approve, welcome and thank you for all your wonderful comments. What idiot wouldn't?

Anyway, I'll try my best to keep posting a little more regularly (although it seems I'm running out of worthy posts already).

AB Alternative take on President Stone

2010-02-16T16:28:00.001-08:00

I did these sketches as we departed from the earlier look of the character. Totally different vibe.

AB President Stone & DR Elefun

2010-02-16T16:24:00.001-08:00

AB President Stone

2010-02-15T18:42:00.001-08:00

Now, this guy here is an early incarnation of President Stone, then General Stone. Again, these are improvisations over a theme by Dr. Grane. It may or may not show that we both are very fond of the simplicity of the Muppets and things of that nature.....Ok, fine, maybe it doesn't show.....

AB Soldier

2010-02-14T21:54:00.000-08:00

These were some poses I did for Luis Grane off his designs to explore their character a bit. The soldiers in the final movie look nothing like this, of course......

AB Twins

2010-02-03T14:48:00.000-08:00

Theses are my version of Luis Grane's designs of the twins, slightly bastardized by yours truly as I attempted a few character poses.

AB Kid Poses

2010-02-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

As you can see these were done quickly..... I think I took a few cues from Bodart here. I aspire to one day share his effortless draftsmanship. At the rate at which I'm drawing theses days, it surely will take a while....

AB Faces alt.

2010-02-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

I went over the same page one more time to see what else I could find. It's more or less the same, but I think I prefer this version.

Astro Boy Designs

2010-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

I figured I'd post some of the design/character pose work I did on Astro Boy before we started to animate. I had a blast working on the show, primarily because I got a chance to work with my good friend Luis Grane who of course served as the show's Character Designer. I mostly did turnarounds and expression sheets from Luis' approved designs for modeling, but what I'll post are more exploratory material (and quite off style..).
Hope you enjoy (all three of you)....

First, a couple of faces.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-27T16:32:00.000-08:00

Forgive me friend(s?) for I have sinned....It's been a year since my last doodle......
Oh well.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T16:37:00.001-08:00

The book's on Amazon!!

2008-01-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

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Get it on Amazon!

San Diego Comic Con 2007

2007-07-15T02:59:00.001-07:00

Happy happy, joy joy! My good friends Gabriele, Donnachada,
Jeremy, Scott , Morgan and I will be at the Comic Con at
Booth #831. Please stop by and see us.
Stop when you see this banner!
I'll also be signing books at Stuart Ng's booth on Thursday from 5pm-7pm.

My book is here!!

2007-05-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

I'm very excited to announce the arrival of my new book," My First Imperial ABC"
I'm still working on setting up a website, but if you're interested, it is available
for purchase at www.stuartngbooks.com.
Here are a couple of pages.
I'll also be at this years San Diego Comic Con to sell the book. See you there!
More on that later.

Hero Worship

2007-05-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

From the book

Liberty

2007-05-29T13:07:00.000-07:00

From the Book

Some faces

2007-05-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

2007-04-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Been busy on a commercial
(and getting my book printed! Stay tuned....)
Here's an old drawing I found. When you don't know what to
draw, just pick up an old National Geographic mag.

Doodle 10

2007-03-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

Nude Descending a Staircase 1

2007-03-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

Reclining nude update

2007-02-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Reclining nude!!

2007-02-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

The Ratzingers

2007-02-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

This was (ironically enough) commissioned
by an undisclosed catholic very dear to me, who
most certainly will burn in Hell for it. I,
however, was only following orders.....

Doodle 9

2007-02-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Doodle 8

2007-02-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Doodle 7

2007-01-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

The happiest of New Years to all of you!
Sorry for not posting so much.

Doodle 6

2006-12-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

The rain it raineth on the just,
And also on the unjust fella.
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust hath the just's umbrella.
-Lord Justice Bowen

Doodle 5

2006-12-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

Doodle 4

2006-12-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Doodle 3

2006-11-29T21:33:00.000-08:00

Sorry for stalling...Been busy appearing to be busy...

Sinbad 6

2006-11-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sinbad 5

2006-11-15T22:09:00.000-08:00

Sinbad 4

2006-11-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

Sinbad 3

2006-11-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

Sinbad 2

2006-11-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

Sinbad 1

2006-11-01T23:09:00.000-08:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Sinbad was the first big character I was entrusted to
supervise at DWA. Although I was thrown into the deep end
never having dealt with a team of that size before (15-20
animators), I couldn't refuse such an opportunity. It still stands
as one of the most gratifying experiences of my career. Even if
nobody saw it....
Following are some of my model sheets.

Doodle 2

2006-10-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Some quick studies I did of one of my favorite american
contemporary painters Malcolm T. Liepke. He has quite a
unique way of sculpting the face, I think.

Over the Hedge 15

2006-10-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is more or less the final version of Ozzie. Once again,
largely the brainchild of the great Nico Marlet, the only thing I
could do was to "dumb it down" a bit. If only I could show you his drawings....Wawawooweeweewah!!

Over the Hedge 14

2006-10-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Over the Hedge 13

2006-10-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

The Weasel. That's right, he's not in the film. He appeared
in the original script, where he was run over by a truck. Pretty funny
but ultimately a bit too morbid. So we killed him completely!....
I did this turnaround from a pose Nico Marlet did. It was then sculpted
by the great Raffaello Vecchione. But that's pretty much as far as we got.

Over the Hedge 12

2006-10-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Here's an example of the orthographic drawing (or blueprint)
which is done after the general design is approved. Like I have said
before, it's very hard to maintain some of the asymmetrical features
that inevitably creeps into a design, mainly because models need to
be symmetrical, for some reason. However, once built and rigged, it
is possible to regain that asymmetrical appeal by means of off-setting
features when building expression. It took some getting used to...
My good man Brian Jeffcoat modeled Vincent as you saw him in the final
film in record time based on these drawings.

Over the Hedge 11

2006-10-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Here's the final approved full body of Vincent.
If I find them, I'll post my orthographic "blueprints"
that I did for modeling based on these final designs.

Over the Hedge 10

2006-09-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

So here is finally the Vincent we all agreed upon. It's still
loose, but the basic feel and proportions are there. I'll
post a full body drawing soon.

Over the Hedge 9

2006-09-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

A much too skinny and not very treatening Vincent.
NEXT!!!!....And where are his eyes?!...

Over the Hedge 8

2006-09-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Back to some more exploratory drawings of Vincent. The hard
part of designing anything for CG is that up until now characters
are modeled symmetrically. Since most things in nature are more or less
asymmetrical as a default, the fact that the designer can't rely on this
makes it very hard to achieve appeal in a neutral pose. However, I don't
think one should worry much about this in the exploratory phase. I sure
didn't....

Doodle 1

2006-09-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Just a little doodle I did a
loooong time ago.

Over the Hedge 7

2006-09-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

This Mole-type character never actually made it into the
final film, but I thought you might enjoy him. Perhaps when
you re-visit the film you can imagine him always being there,
just below the ground.

Over the Hedge 6

2006-09-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

Over the Hedge 5

2006-09-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Over the Hedge 4

2006-08-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

Over the Hedge 3

2006-08-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Here's an early attempt of Vincent's noggin'. Maybe it looks more like a dog than a bear?

Over the Hedge 2

2006-08-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

Here's another one of RJ and Vincent. It's not quite the final design yet, but we'll get there, I promise. What was technically challenging about Vincent as a character, was that he had to be designed to work as a bi-ped and quadro-ped in one. But then, so are real bears....

Over the Hedge 1

2006-08-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

Copyright DreamWorks Animation

This is Vincent from Over the Hedge. I had such a blast doing this drawing. At this point in the production the overall style had already been established by the amazing Nico Marlet, whose work is truly breathtaking. I tried my very best to emulate his way of drawing, first and foremost to keep the integrity of the style, but really just because it was so much damn' fun!

Welcome!

2006-08-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all! Nice of you to stop by. I'm going to be posting some of the character designs I've gotten the pleasure of doing for DreamWorks Animation as well as random personal doodles of no particular significance. I'm doing it purely in the hopes that you will enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed doing them!