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 Eric Owen Moss. Especially 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.
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