Jess Johnson: from drawing to animation

Using pencil, ink and felt tips Jess Johnson has created her own world.

Johnson’s world is a science fiction based place she explores by drawing, she welcomes others to view her work in order to experience it for themselves.

Melbourne based artist Johnson shared her world with Spark goers this past week.

Johnson works predominantly in drawing, she has also been an installation technician, a gallery owner and lately she is veering into animation.

Johnson was born in Tauranga New Zealand in 1979, where she grew up drawing from an early age.

Tauranga wasn’t part of the art world while Johnson was growing up; there were no galleries or art shows around to show what the art world held in store for her.

“I didn’t step foot in a gallery until I was about 18,” said Johnson.

Jess left Tauranga for art school in Christchurch where she majored in painting.

Once she completed art school Johnson said she stopped painting; she had continued to draw for herself throughout art school but never really showed anybody.

Johnson then moved to Melbourne where she opened Hell Gallery, which showcased a wide variety of works while it was running, with her partner at the time. Hell ran from 2008-2011.

“I didn’t have a weekend for the three years it was running… it was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and we got a huge amount out of it. I was really exhausted by the end of it.”

While Johnson was running Hell she hand-drew posters of events and artists that were to be showcased in her gallery.

These posters rekindled Johnson’s desire to draw and when Hell finished she began drawing all the time, soon focusing fully on her science fiction world.

From here, Johnson has been working with an animator, Simon Ward, who has brought parts of her world to life, giving it movement and music.

“I didn’t really set out to document this arcane, sci-fi world, but the more time I spent drawing this is just what came out… it’s not something that I find I’m able to talk about in comprehensive language very well and I think that’s why I draw this world as oppose to writing or talking about it.”

You can see Johnson’s world come to life through Ward’s animation below in Mnemonic Pulse:

Johnson sees the similarities in her animations with animations used in video games.

“The drawings themselves have this graphic nature… giving movement and sound to the world seemed a really natural progression to go into.

“I have a big interest in the gaming world, I listen to podcasts about gaming, I’m friends with a lot of gamers, I like the advances in gaming technology that are happening but I’m not an active gamer myself.

“You can get really immersed in someone else’s world in gaming and I kind of want to be making that world myself instead of being subsumed by someone else’s. I think that’s why I feel an affinity with game development.”

From here the possibilities to expand Johnson’s work are vast.

She is open to the idea of someone writing a story within her universe, as long as it’s the right writer and she also welcomes the idea of it being made into a video game if someone with the right skill set presented themselves.

“I like the idea of something entirely new being created in that universe, that is of that universe, that is not necessarily from me.”

For Jess Johnson the sky is the limit and in her world the sky is infinite.

Follow this link to Jess’s YouTube channel: Jess Johnson.