Monday, August 8, 2011

Poetry in the Raw

I just finished up a poster for Not You Grandma's Poetry for their upcoming Poetry in the Raw 5: The Best of Poetry in the Raw.

Poetry in the Raw is an annual night of spoken word where poets preform, as they said in the Garden of Eden, "sans fig leaf."

Thumbnail concepts. Blue pencil and ink on bond. Various sizes.

The client wanted a clean, simple poster that enticed with intelligence rather then sexiness. We both agreed that the gist of the poster was literary rather then simply burlesque.

We settled on the second to last thumb, the concept of the female form emerging from a husk.

Rough sketch. Col-erase pencil on bond. Approx. 2 x3.6"

Refined sketch. Col-erase pencil on bond. 8.5 x 11"

While working the thumbnail up into a rough sketch I felt the husk idea created a cluttered composition and moved away from the simplicity the client had specified in our initial meeting.

I took the pose from the thumbnail and positioned the figure emerging from a pool fading into the negative space of the background. The challenge then became how to visually represent the spoken word with out resorting to the written word. I went with a "word" balloon filled with an organic filigree.


Blue pencil on Rives BFK, 22" x 30"

I drew the final drawing at a large scale and un-cropped in case I wanted to play around with the composition.

Photoshop CS5, 22"x30," 400dpi.

I wanted the contents of the balloon to represent the emotion contained in performed poetry rather then simply the written word. I also liked how the filigree had a visceral, internal organ or fleshy tongue feel. Like she's really "spilling her guts." I like finding a balance between the compelling and the repelling in my work.



Final poster composition. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS5. 11 x 17"


Check here for Poetry in the Raw dates.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Metropol CMYsKull


Metropol asked me to design an image for the light box in the window of their print shop at the dazzling Atrium building. After pulling a much appreciated all-nighter, Steve Webb got the giant-sized print up and it looks great!

Stop by their shop at 1311 Blanchard Street and have a gander, then order some new business cards or a glorious poster.

Prints are available there as well!

Here's a bit of process:

Sketch. Blue Col-erase pencil on Strathmore tracing paper. ~19"x27"

This piece started out as a large, random, warm-up doodle on a large piece of tracing paper I had on my drafting table. After playing around with it I stumbled on the coincidence that swallow tail butterflies have a natural CMYK(ish) colouring. Perfect for a digital print shop poster!

Pencils. Graphite on Rives BFK, 20"x26"

My scanner had a brain fart and created an odd stepped patern. After a stern talking to it sorted itself out.


Final colours. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator with acrylic and watercolour textures.

I originally did a 3 diminutional text treatment of metropol's CMYK logo but Steve wanted to keep Metropol's branding consistent so we decided to remove it and replace it with their 'M' logo in the top corner (not shown).


And here it is up and shining at the Atrium!

Prints available at Metropol, 1311 Blanchard Street, Victoria BC

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

{stUmp} print available at Society 6

Society 6 just chose my print {stUmp} for their online store. Get your very own contemplative woodsman to spruce up you favourite bit of blank wall. Your eyeballs will thank you for always.

Thanks Society 6!

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Monday, June 6, 2011

The Corner of Here and There

:S:L:P: Check out the East Vancouver inspired site I designed for Shane Koyczan at www.shanekoyczan.com.




Wednesday, March 9, 2011

ECCC Sketch


Sketch I worked on on Saturday at Emerald City Comic Con

Monday, March 7, 2011

Emerald City Comic Con




Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle was a blast! Check out picks of PUPA |ˈpyoōpə| with costumed con goers!










Jake from Adventure Time!!!!

Waldo

Frank of Donny Darko

Kid Vader!!!


Phoenix Jones! The real-life Seattle Super-Hero!!!!

Doug Tennapel!!! Creator of EARTHWORM JIM!!!!

Can't wait for next year!


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

New Year New Work

Two brand spankin' new illustrations:

The Presencing Suite by Attention Dynamics

Technical drawing illustrating an eight person biofeedback set up.




Birds on Bikes for Lauren Everall and the Birds


:S:L:P: