williamjoyce

[williamjoyce]

Every summer I read The Great Gatsby. I was first forced to read it my sophomore year in high school. My mother was dying, my family was falling apart and I had become very withdrawn. My usually terrifying English teacher assigned me and no one else the task of reading The Great Gatsby. She knew that I drew and painted. She told me to do a series of illustrations from the book. She was ancient, strict, demanding, seemingly cruel, always caustic and had the demeanor of an dowager empress. I was confused by her sudden, specific attention. I suspected I was being set up for some sort of humiliation. But I was wrong. There was great intuition and kindness in her act. I melted into Fitzgerald’s extraordinary prose by the second page. Gatsby is a tragic book. Among the saddest ever written. But it has a strange, elusive power. “There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life...it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness which I have never found in any other person and which is not likely I shall ever find again.” I was a ratty looking hopeless hippie kid. Practically feral. Yet somehow Gatsby’s glamour and his unshakable hope and belief in a single perfect dream cut through to my bedrock. I did my illustrations. The first mature works of my life. All my books are about dreamers or are hopeful dreams of the possibilities of joy and life. I owe it in great part to Gatsby and to my peculiar and wise English teacher. And this matters to me during this summer of Covid. Illustrations by JC Leyendecker. Francis Cugat. Tom Purvis . . #greatteachers #thegreatgatsby #thepowerofdreams #thepowerofstory #storytelling #hope #jcleyendecker https://www.instagram.com/p/CCi4UmTlMgm/?igshid=1atk5qww0o1uo

[williamjoyce]

His name is Arkadan. He is a hundred and twenty years old. The porcelain of his once perfect face has begun to age and crack. He is among the most beautifully constructed puppets ever made by the master of magic and puppetry Gaston LeDoux. Arkadan is a “stringless puppet”. An automaton made of gears and metal and machinery more elaborate and refined than any puppet ever made. And he has a soul. A noble soul. He is in love with his fellow puppet named Beauty. She is aptly named. She too has a soul. She is brave, kind and quietly strong like Arkadan and she loves him with all of her clockwork heart. But she has been lost for over a hundred years. Since the hurricane that struck New Orleans in 1899 and destroyed the theater where the two of them were the leads in the greatest puppet show the world had ever seen. And in that storm their master and maker LeDoux had died and the many extraordinary puppets in their show had been scattered throughout the French Quarter where have hidden and survived in secret all these years. Never discovered by the humans, they live in attics and walls and cemeteries and abandoned relics of the city’s gothic past. They have been existing in a constant state of embattlement and intrigue. There is an evil puppet in their troop. The cunning and powerful Mephisto. He also loved Beauty. And like Arkadan he searches for her still. But at last she has been found. By a little girl named Simone. And on Halloween night in 2020 Arkadan and Mephisto will wage a desperate race to take Beauty. One of them to save her. The other to possess and enslave her. We have modeled Arkadan after the movie star and brilliant actor Montgomery Clift. A tragic man who died too soon. His face shattered in a car accident and his life cut short by his ensuing addiction to pain pills. What else is fiction for but you make a better or kinder ending. . . . #puppets #magicshow #puppetshow #animationdesign #characterdesign #ipadprocreate #ipaddrawing #ipadart #artdolls https://www.instagram.com/p/CCdhTtmFBdG/?igshid=1df7w8ifrx0hh

[williamjoyce]

A dear friend passed away, Jim Hayes who built the sets and props for our short film “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore”. I reassembled some of the old sets recently and posted about them hoping that doing so would cheer Jim up while he was sick. Five thousand miniature books, six blocks of the French quarter in New Orleans, Morris’s book themed piano and bed and desk and 10,000 other tiny props that made the film real. They were Jim’s work. He’d worked with directors as varied as David Lynch to Sylvester Stallone. But he took us under his lanky arms and taught us everything he knew. He was a constant ray of sunshine. Our shooting schedule was insane and there were times when I’d ask the impossible of him. He’d grin his jacko’lantern grin, say “okay William” and a few hour later he’d present a new set. Making movies is hard. Jim was the kind of guy who could help hold a film production together. His gentle, patient, always calm demeanor chilled everyone out. When we won the Oscar for Morris he made a tiny miniature Oscar for Morris’s desk. I keep the Morris set up on my work desk now and work with it surrounding me. It makes me calm and nostalgic and somehow peaceful. I’ll be doing a reading on Wednesday in Jim’s honor on Simon and Schuster’s Snack and Read Live at 11:00 PDT/2:00 EDT Go to Facebook.com/SimonKids. . . . #kidslitart #kidslit #picturebooks #picturebooksaremyjam #animationart #productiondesign #simonandschusterkids #morrislessmore https://www.instagram.com/p/CCWD6G_lrQa/?igshid=h025o3q0ltwl

[williamjoyce]

This week I became enchanted by a strange, elegant, deliriously entertaining film called “Judex”. Made in 1963 by George Franju, it is a reimagining of the epic silent film serial of the same name by Louis Feuillade which was part of his trilogy of insane crime serials that dominated French popular culture in the early days of cinema. Even their titles give shivers of delight “Fantomas”, “Les Vampires” and “Judex” (Latin for justice). They are surreal, romantic, pulp fiction fueled joy. Super criminals with world crime leagues enact heists and kidnappings with blimps and airships and preposterous new (and sometimes never existed) technology and always while wearing flamboyant disguises, costumes and capes. In these films crime is a form of high theatrical art to be committed with flourish and panache. And the 1963 version of Judex is a wonderful poker faced celebration of of the originals. The film opens with a costume ball where everyone is dressed as giant birds. The villain (of course dressed as a vulture) is murdered at the stroke of midnight by a poisoned glass of champagne (or is he?) what follows is perfection: beautifully dressed people clad in masks(pre-Covid!)and capes and armed with secret gadgets or daggers go about kidnapping heiresses, dashing to their secret lairs and committing increasingly elaborate crimes in an affectionately recreated 1900s imaginary France that never was. And all in the name of justice and unrequited love. There is a black leotard clad femme fatale, and poison gasses, and packs of loyal guard dogs, and magic screens, and mental telepathy, and secret disguises, and chain smoking assassin nuns, and scrappy kid sidekicks, and caped avengers(very Batman) even a random circus of acrobat crime fighters with lines like “My father the lion tamer hated you. But his lions ate him so now we can marry.” When the beautiful femme most fatale is finally killed a boy (who she tried to kill) cries sorrowfully over her body “she was magnificent “ So is the film. It will be in my dreams forever. Happy femme fatale Friday. . . . #judex #tcm #silentfilm #classicfilm #sketchoftheday #illustration_daily #williamjoyce #batman #wearamask https://www.instagram.com/p/CCLqZjnFFyu/?igshid=1jk2ntlgkvlea

[williamjoyce]

This week I became enchanted by a strange, elegant, deliriously entertaining film called “Judex”. Made in 1963 by George Franju, it is a reimagining of the epic silent film serial of the same name by Louis Feuillade which was part of his trilogy of insane crime serials that dominated French popular culture in the early days of cinema. Even their titles give shivers of delight “Fantomas”, “Les Vampires” and “Judex” (Latin for justice). They are surreal, romantic, pulp fiction fueled joy. Super criminals with world crime leagues enact heists and kidnappings with blimps and airships and preposterous new (and sometimes never existed) technology and always while wearing flamboyant disguises, costumes and capes. In these films crime is a form of high theatrical art to be committed with flourish and panache. And the 1963 version of Judex is wonderful poker faced celebration of of the originals. The film opens with a costume ball where everyone is dressed as giant birds. The villain (of course dressed as a vulture) is murdered at the stroke of midnight by a poisoned glass of champagne (or is he?) what follows is perfection: beautifully dressed people clad in masks and capes and armed with secret gadgets or daggers go about kidnapping heiresses, dashing to their secret lairs and committing increasingly elaborate crimes in an affectionately recreated 1900s imaginary France that never was. And all in the name of justice and unrequited love. There is a black leotard clad femme fatale, and poison gasses, and packs of loyal guard dogs, and magic screens, and mental telepathy, and secret disguises, and chain smoking assassin nuns, and scrappy kid sidekicks, and capped avengers(very Batman) even a random circus of acrobat crime fighters with lines like “My father the lion tamer hated you. But his lions ate him so now we can marry.” When the beautiful femme most fatale is finally killed a boy (who she tried to kill) cries sorrowfully over her body “she was magnificent “ So is the film. It will be in my dreams forever. Happy femme fatale Friday. . . . #judex #tcm #silentfilm #classicfilm #sketchoftheday #illustration_daily #cinemafantastique #williamjoyce #batman https://www.instagram.com/p/CCLqZjnFFyu/?igshid=11tgkp5tg1xok

[williamjoyce]

I thought about what Jack Frost would make of these last months. Of the protests and the virus and the divisions that both have engendered. He is sworn to be a Guardian of children. He is a brave and deeply empathetic being. He knows what it is to be ignored, unseen, and to feel uncared for. He would use every power he possessed to listen, understand and help. He would stand strong and unwavering against injustice, cruelty and willful, hateful ignorance. He would be hopeful. . . . . . #jackfrost #rotg #illustrationartists #influencer #kindness #librariansofinstagram #kidslitart https://www.instagram.com/p/CB0X2pklBIA/?igshid=1czz8oqxme6ix

[williamjoyce]

Being a dad is the closest thing any man will get to being a superhero. We seldom wear capes but we are believed in by the children in our charge. We hold a tiny hand in ours and without a word we say “I am here. You are safe. I will help you find your way.” Of all the things I can be or have been a father is the best. It makes me be more than I knew I could be. A hero. A magician. A brave man. A kind man. Sometimes even a wise man. Happy Father’s Day to you all. . . . #fathersday #fathers #heroes #fathersofinstagram #superheroes #superheroart #fatherhood #artoftheday https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtOTkzFY7e/?igshid=1xefcy2yfvvak

[williamjoyce]

Day after day of life seeming to unravel. I write. I paint. I reach out through Skype or zoom and try to help young minds or sway older ones. I am drained by days end. So I Binge watch each night. Drinks with socially distant friends on Fridays to solve the worlds problems. Then back to the escape of the binge. Socially significant documentaries abound. Great shows with the breadth and scope of novels seem to fall from trees. What shows have given you great pleasure or hope during the troubles we share? Please let me know. Images are all from @vintagepulps. Most are by the mad genius Virgil Finley. . . . #bingewatching #copingwithcovid #socialdistance #angermanagement #howcanihelp #inspiration #storiesmatter share? https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQTaa5Ferr/?igshid=17zqokadwp5zd

[williamjoyce]

Concept art for Mr Spam Gets a New Hat. . . . . #illustration_daily #conceptart #conceptualart #illustrationartists #kidsliterature #kidslitart #surrealart https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-Wv_tFOWx/?igshid=jiqkpvkkkxkz

[williamjoyce]

#blackoutday2020 #blackouttuesday https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8o5C4l9ei/?igshid=dj3o7amia2hj

[williamjoyce]

“Mr Spam Gets a New Hat!” is a jubilant mix of surrealism and romance. Mr Spam lives in a charming cottage with his flying dog named Speck and a house full of helpful dishes, cutlery and appliances (all of which can sing and dance) He has many dreams in his heart but none as joyful as his dream of love for The Lady in the Polka Dot Dress (Dot for short) who lives next door. Dot loves Mr Spam too. But circumstances keep them apart. At least until Dot makes a magical painting of an all powerful Derby Hat of Hope which Mr Spam must wear and wield to defeat the powers of The Meanie Men who are bent on destroying their dream of happiness and romance. The story is a soufflé, a lighter than air concoction that is equal parts Rene Magritte, Buster Keaton, Salvador Dali and Singing in the Rain. Apparently the darker our reality gets the brighter my stories become. These last months I have produced 4 of the most daft and dreamy tales of my career.Covids and crazy Presidents, injustice and brutality are all around. My outrage has its own coping mechanisms. I I think, I argue, I try to reason, I protest, I vote and I create. I hope it helps. Happy weekend everyone. Here’s to fly dachshunds and Hats of Hope. And a tip of the hat to my colleague @joebluhm . . . #hopewriterlife #dogsofinstagram #illustration #animationart #kidslit #kidslitart #librariansofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CAxoZcglLsq/?igshid=qfd9kppw950u

[williamjoyce]

I had a strange deadline yesterday. I was asked to pick which of the many stories I’m working on I’d most like to make into a short film and then begin production as soon as possible. I love making short films. Especially ones based on my stories. Picture books are well suited for adaptation into film. They both use pictures to tell their stories. But film is a different beast. Making books is more of a singular endeavor. Film requires a team of collaborators and great gobs of money. My first short film was an adaptation of my book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. It took roughly 30 people a year to make the film. We hand made miniature sets based off of the books illustrations and computer animated the main characters and composited the two elements together. This first image shows Morris having fallen from the sky during an Oz-like storm with the pages of his story scattered to the winds. To recreate this image for the film we recreated this house and the landscape with meticulously constructed miniatures. If you scroll further you’ll see another image of Morris entering an enchanted room populated by living books scroll further and see the model we made of the house but also stacks of the books. We made over three thousand miniature books for the film. We even made stand in miniatures of our main book characters including the oldest book in the library. We would later animate him but it helped to have this little version of him to place in our shots as we set up. we became very attached to this toy version of him. I’ve dug out many of the elements we made for the film and will be presenting them in a virtual talk this Sunday the 24th at 1:00pm eastern time on Instagram live with @booksofwonder in New York City. I’m trying to help as many bookstores as I can right now. The pandemic has made the survival of book stores very difficult and we must help them anyway we can. I can’t imagine a world without book stores. They are places of hope, possibility, wisdom, escape and yes wonder. So please, please join me tomorrow at @booksofwonder. Go to their Instagram and we will indulge in the wonder of books and films and telling stories.#bookslover https://www.instagram.com/p/CAiAFH8HLIV/?igshid=1hpfnyskoh58r

[williamjoyce]

It was intensely nostalgic reassembling some of the Morris Lessmore miniatures for yesterday’s live chat with Peter Glassman at New York’s Books of Wonder. Peter is a prince and his book store a national treasure. The sets have been in storage for almost ten years which seems impossible. For one insane week my crew and I built, set dressed, lit and improvised 136 individual shots on a soundstage in Shreveport my home town. Twelve sets. 11,000 props. 3,000 miniature books. All made by our hands. All based on the book of Morris which was in progress. Jim Hayes our wonderful prop builder gave us crash course in everything we needed to know. We had money for 4 days of shooting. The gaffers and union guys gave us the last 3 days for free. The camera crew the same. They believed in our vision and determination. I’ve never worked so hard. I’ve never been so happy. None of us who were there will ever forget what it was like. We were working on pure adrenaline and instinct. Bravo everybody. Thanks for tuning in yesterday. Happy memories of an artist sort on this strangest of Memorial Days. . . . #movieminiatures #productiondesign #animatedshort #oscarwinningshortanimatedfilm #kidslitart #childrensillustration #animationdesign #librariansofinstagram #thefantasticflyingbooksofmrmorrislessmore @booksofwonder https://www.instagram.com/p/CAnQ510HEnM/?igshid=osniaednakto

[williamjoyce]

It was intensely nostalgic reassembling some of the Morris Lessmore miniatures for yesterday’s live chat with Peter Glassman at New York’s Books of Wonder. Peter is a prince and his book store a national treasure. The sets have been in storage for almost ten years which seems impossible. For one insane week my crew and I built, set dressed, lit and improvised 136 individual shots on a soundstage in Shreveport my home town. Twelve sets. 11,000 props. 3,000 miniature books. All made by our hands. All based on the book of Morris which was in progress. Jim Hayes our wonderful prop builder gave us crash course in everything we needed to know. We had money for 4 days of shooting. The gaffers and union guys gave us the last 3 days for free. The camera crew the same. They believed in our vision and determination. I’ve never worked so hard. I’ve never been so happy. None of us who were there will ever forget what it was like. We were working on pure adrenaline and instinct. Bravo everybody. Thanks for tuning in yesterday. Happy memories of an artist sort on this strangest of Memorial Days. . . . #movieminiatures #productiondesign #animatedshort #oscarwinningshortanimatedfilm #kidslitart #childrensillustration #animationdesign #librariansofinstagram #thefantasticflyingbooksofmrmorrislessmore https://www.instagram.com/p/CAnQ510HEnM/?igshid=1md1cuoitfbjb

[williamjoyce]

I had a strange deadline yesterday. I was asked to pick which of the many stories I’m working on I’d most like to make into a short film and then begin production as soon as possible. I love making short films. Especially ones based on my stories. Picture books are well suited for adaptation into film. They both use pictures to tell their stories. But film is a different beast. Making books is more of a singular endeavor. Film requires a team of collaborators and great gobs of money. My first short film was an adaptation of my book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. It took roughly 30 people a year to make the film. We hand made miniature sets based off of the books illustrations and computer animated the main characters and composited the two elements together. This first image shows Morris having fallen from the sky during an Oz-like storm with the pages of his story scattered to the winds. To recreate this image for the film we recreated this house and the landscape with meticulously constructed miniatures. If you scroll further you’ll see another image of Morris entering an enchanted room populated by living books scroll further and see the model we made of the house but also stacks of the books. We made over three thousand miniature books for the film. We even made stand in miniatures of our main book characters including the oldest book in the library. We would later animate him but it helped to have this little version of him to place in our shots as we set up. we became very attached to this toy version of him. I’ve dug out many of the elements we made for the film and will be presenting them in a virtual talk this Sunday the 24th at 1:00pm eastern time on Instagram live with @booksofwonder in New York City. I’m trying to help as many bookstores as I can right now. The pandemic has made the survival of book stores very difficult and we must help them anyway we can. I can’t imagine a world without book stores. They are places of hope, possibility, wisdom, escape and yes wonder. So please, please join me tomorrow at @booksofwonder. Go to their Instagram and we will indulge in the wonder of books and films and telling stories.#bookslover https://www.instagram.com/p/CAiAFH8HLIV/?igshid=1tt1dl113iwi7

[williamjoyce]

I had a strange deadline yesterday. I was asked to pick which of the many stories I’m working on I’d most like to make into a short film and then begin production as soon as possible. I love making short films. Especially ones based on my stories. Picture books are well suited for adaptation into film. They both use pictures to tell their stories. But film is a different beast. Making books is more of a singular endeavor. Film requires a team of collaborators and great gobs of money. My first short film was an adaptation of my book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. It took roughly 30 people a year to make the film. We hand made miniature sets based off of the books illustrations and computer animated the main characters and composited the two elements together. This first image shows Morris having fallen from the sky during an Oz-like storm with the pages of his story scattered to the winds. To recreate this image for the film we recreated this house and the landscape with meticulously constructed miniatures. If you scroll further you’ll see another image of Morris entering an enchanted room populated by living books scroll further and see the model we made of the house but also stacks of the books. We made over three thousand miniature books for the film. We even made stand in miniatures of our main book characters including the oldest book in the library. We would later animate him but it helped to have this little version of him to place in our shots as we set up. we became very attached to this toy version of him. I’ve dug out many of the elements we made for the film and will be presenting them in a virtual talk this Sunday the 24th at 1:00pm eastern time on Instagram live with @booksofwonder in New York City. I’m trying to help as many bookstores as I can right now. The pandemic has made the survival of book stores very difficult and we must help them anyway we can. I can’t imagine a world without book stores. They are places of hope, possibility, wisdom, escape and yes wonder. So please, please join me tomorrow at Books of Wonder. Go to their Instagram and we will indulge in the wonder of books and films and telling stories.#bookslover https://www.instagram.com/p/CAiAFH8HLIV/?igshid=1fgl74mo0fuo2

[williamjoyce]

One of my favorite book stores on earth is Books Of Wonder in New York. It is a jewel, a treasure chest of children’s books past and present. Whenever I walk down West 18th street and see its handsome banner blue waving above the entrance my mood improves vastly. It is as it proclaims; a place of wonder, filled to bursting with exquisite books for readers young and old. The pandemic has put a desperate strain on bookstores everywhere and we must do what we can to help them survive. Im very excited to be doing a virtual event with Books of Wonder on their Instagram this Sunday at 1:00 eastern standard time. I’ll be talking about the making of my book and film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. I’ll be presenting props and miniatures from the film. Describing the inspirations behind the story. And I’ll tell the amazing and screamingly surreal story of going to the Academy Awards and actually winning an Oscar. I’ll be answering questions via instagram. You may buy books which I will sign bookplates for. Google books of wonder and look under events for details. Please join me. We will have fun. . . . #kidslit #kidsliterature #childrensbooks #childrensbookstore #thefantasticflyingbooksofmrmorrislessmore #williamjoyce #rotg https://www.instagram.com/p/CAdCd5lHZvP/?igshid=1b0cmf4yi8kno