Now on Tumblr

I've moved the blog over to Tumblr. Head on over for the latest news and process posts!

Also, my new, stripped down website is up and runnin'.

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"

Loving this font, Inlove by Ariel Di Lisio via MyFonts.

Check here for Poetry in the Raw dates.

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

{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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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.

ECCC Sketch

Sketch I worked on on Saturday at Emerald City Comic Con

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!

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

Come check out the fundraiser for the Birds on Bikes Baja Bike trip at the Anza Club on January 28th.

:S:L:P:

ARTence Preview

Here is a preview of a piece I just finished for ARTence, an Italian online exhibition celebrating the "2010 - International Year of Biodiversity." The event will be promoted online throughout 2011 and is intended to raise awareness of how scientific research contributes to sustaining biodiversity.

Check back in the new year for a look at the full image and a link to the rest of the project.

:S:L:P:

PechaKucha Night Victoria

I'll be giving a 6.6 minute presentation at PechaKucha Victoria this Thursday, November 25th. I'm calling it "He-Man, Gorillaz and Me." C'mon out to learn how 80s cartoon marketing and an animated pop band can make you a better person...or something. Here's a couple of preview slides.

:S:L:P:

The Cowboy's Last Lament

A couple of quick sketches I did for Narwhal Magazine's story The Cowboy's Last Lament.

The beekeeper's widow Passion McPerry:

"Passion McPerry replied, “Don’t put much stock in God, I’m afraid. We been abandoned by him. Look at the horrible things in the world: the floods, the droughts, the killings. And this, too.” She raised her arm to reveal a rabid weasel dangling from it."

The lamentable Cowboy, fanny pack and all:

“Hot day today, huh, cowboy?” she asked, eyeing his rugged, weather-beaten good looks and soulful, shimmering fanny pack.

:S:L:P:

Hard to Tell and stUmp available at Studio 6 Print Shop

Hard to Tell and stUmp are now available at the Studio 6 Print Shop. Gallery quality Giclée print on natural white, matte, ultra smooth, 100% cotton rag, acid and lignin free archival paper using Epson K3 archival inks. Three different sizes available.

:S:L:P:

Hard to Tell

stUmp

New work and website update.

{ } Ok, summer is officially over and sad as I am to see it go its passing is marked by some great changes and, as the weather wettens, a return to the drawing board. So, what's new?

I just updated my site, adding some older design work, a new illustration and an updated T-shirt design I did for the Climbers' Access Society of BC.

The new illustration, stUmp is a tribute to my gradfather, who spent most of his life wandering the woods looking for fresh tracts of timber to deliver to the sawmill in Penticton, BC. Now when I wander the woods and see new trees growing out of old stumps I wonder how those original loggers would feel about the state of our forests.

In other news, I'm moving into a brand new studio in October at the 221a Artist Run Center in Chinatown. I'm looking foreword to working around all the talented kids that occupy the space behind the sliding wall.

More news, work and wonder soon!

Thanks for reading,

:S:L:P:

:S:L:P: An interview I did for { justalilhype } online mag including a few elusive pics of my grad project (that I have yet to scan...)(thanks Chaya Bogorad for the pics).

Homeless Sketches

:S:L:P: Just spent 3 lovely weeks in the South Okanagan recovering from 4 years of art school (still not fully repaired...could be sometime before full normalcy is regained, if ever.)

Between working on a couple of commissions I managed to eek out a few sketches.

And here they are...(wow, I'm still in vacation mode, so I shall leave it at that.)

Flawed PalindromE {{Part 5 Process}}

:S:L:P: As I'm still waiting to scan the large scale pieces of my grad project so I can post them on my website I thought I'd bide my time with a little process post. Here's are some progress shots of the 4th and 5th parts of Flawed PlendromE (my grad piece).

This piece started with a memory of a family crest that hung in the front hall of my Grandmother's house in Penticton. You can see a pelican vulning (pulling out its breast feathers to feed it young with blood) at the top of the crest. Thanks to my uncle Rod for sending me pics of the family crest.

::I liked this image of self-sacrifice and thought it would act as a good bookend to my piece concerning of the pitfalls of youth (which I think ends when you discover that which you have to offer the world and begin to put it before your self).

::Watercolour washes on top of light pencils on wet Rives BFK. Burnt Umber, Purple and Cobalt Blue.

::More washes. Fleshing out shapes. Panes grey.

::Adding darks in acrylic to gauge contrast.

::Details.

::Lightend with gouache and acrylic.

::More lightening.

::Flawed PalendromE {Parts 4 and 5} Watercolour and acrylic on Rives BFK, 64.4cm x 60.7cm

The top half of this was separated and framed separately in the final piece.

::You've got one more day to check out all the great stuff at the grad show. Run!!!!