New Video: “The Bible as Jewish Meditation Literature”
Another video in The Bible Project‘s series “How to Read the Bible” came out a couple weeks ago…this one was a late insertion between the “Literary Styles” intro and our first video on Narrative. Tim and Jon felt it was necessary to touch on the “lifetime of reading and rereading” that the original Jewish authors of the bible expected from their readers.
Because the overall message of the video was that biblical writing is intended to be slowly “digested” over time, the frantic style of the previous videos would have been inappropriate…we needed something, well, more “meditative.” And since we were also trying to reemphasize the unique historical origins of this writing style, I decided to turn to ancient art:
New Video: “Literary Styles in the Bible”
The third episode of The Bible Project‘s series How to Read the Bible came out last week, analyzing some of the overarching subgenres of biblical literature. Check it out:
From the beginning, we knew that we wanted to use three different artistic styles to represent the three categories of narrative, poetry, and discourse. But we didn’t want to leap into it haphazardly, so TBP gave me an extra week to fill up a wall will inspirational images and “visual development,” and to establish “rules” for how these different visual worlds would function. (TBP’s art director, Robert Peréz, is really into creating these “rules.)
New Video: “The Story of the Bible”
Here’s the second installment of the “How to Read the Bible” series I’ve been storyboarding and illustrating for The Bible Project. This episode, “The Story of the Bible,” tries to sum up the whole shebang in five minutes and eleven seconds!
Because this short video progressed in such huge leaps, we tried to unify it with the patterned repetition of a few types of shot composition…most notably the “fork in the road” motif that ties it all together.
New Video: “What is the Bible?”
Since completing the monumental “Read Scripture” illustration marathon for The Bible Project last October, I’ve been working on a new series called “How to Read the Bible,” which is basically an introduction to Biblical literature. The first of a planned fourteen episodes went live this week. Check it out!
Though I did most of the illustrations and all the storyboarding, I owe a LOT to writers/narrotors Tim Mackie and Jonathan Collins, magician animator/illustrator Murphy, and animator Joshua Espasandin. Also a huge posthumous thanks to Aaron Douglas, an American painter associated with the Harlem Renaissance whose work I greatly admire, and whose vibrant palette and evocative, geometrical composition inspired the painterly sequences in this video more than a little. This video is dedicated to him.
A lot of the art in this five-minute video slips by pretty quickly, so here are a few pieces that you can scrutinize at your own pace. It was a huge relief to be able to draw movie theaters and motorcycles in addition to my usual repertoire of camels, temples, and bearded dudes in sandals! We’re hoping that all future videos will also feature “bookends” set in the modern era.
Reflections on “Read Scripture”
For the past year and a half, I’ve been illustrating for The Bible Project, a non-profit here in Portland that creates short, educational, animated videos about the bible. Though this is a contracted position, it’s effectively a full-time job for me. It’s the gig that finally pried me away from my editorial position at Dark Horse Comics last September.
Specifically, I’ve been drawing for the “Read Scripture” series, which examines each biblical book’s structure and message. That means I drew an enormous, poster-sized diagram for almost every book of the bible! (The exceptions: Exodus, Joshua, Samuel, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews were drawn by the incomparable Mac Cooper; Ruth, Esther, and Ephesians were drawn by Robert Peréz.) You can view all the videos that have been released so far HERE.
I don’t write these videos; the extensive research and voiceover are the work of Tim Mackie (who also officiated my wedding!). Also, I’m not responsible for the videos’ lively animation…a team of awesome motion graphics artists are responsible for making my static drawings come alive. It’s a collaboration for sure.
I just finished drawing Revelation last month (the video won’t come out until 12/15), so I’ve been trying to gather some of my thoughts on what this experience has taught me. The lessons learned are too many to even list, but a few stood out.
Read More