This started off as a doodle for a character for a Christmas card I’m designing… but I got carried away and brought it to this stage.
I’ve been trying to figure out ways to use illustrator quickly while utilizing its strengths. I’m finding flat shapes of color are the most effective because doing vectored ink lines take forever to do properly. Another thing I’m learning is to figure out exactly what you want before going into illustrator. It's a powerful cleanup tool... but it's a terrible program to draw in and I wasted a good hour or so trying to fix some mistakes caused by bad planning.
I’m super stoked about this illustration of the week project and I have a lot of fun ideas planned. I’ll keep you posted!
I've decided to start up a little project for myself called, simply, illustration of the week. In an effort to start building up a portfolio of finished work I am going to be posting a new illustration every week.
Since one of my rules with this project is to try something new with every illustration I thought I would try to do all the cleanup with this one in illustrator. I've been so reluctant to use that program for years... but I'm quickly realizing its potential when used in conjunction with Photoshop, especially for the kind of illustrations I want to do. I'll be playing with this more in the upcoming weeks.
I think Trent Reznor has an interesting way of approaching music. He lets sound design be part of the writing process. So, he might start with a drum loop, and then keep adding to it until a song emerges. He doesn’t do with every song but it’s refreshing to hear music without much of a formula. Also, I like that he sits in a studio without a band and creates this intense sound pretty much by himself… kind of like a cartoonist.
I’ve always wanted to make music. There have been a couple of times I have tried to learn instruments but I have just given up before I get over the learning hump. Then I have to start over from scratch. I seriously want to make music in some capacity at some point.
When I do, it will likely be by myself with a computer and sound.
Here's a design for a little something I'm working on for the third issue of gangLion, a new(ish!) comic anthology based out of Toronto. In this issue we're experimenting with spot color. We're using green! It's exciting to have a new tool to use as a narrative device.
I'm having a lot of fun working on something that's pure fiction so I hope it works out!
This is the first mini in a series of (hopefully) more than one. Initially I was going to call it Fragments but I changed it to Boredom Pays. I want to be able to do whatever I want with the title so something a little more ambiguous is fitting. All of the comics are online, here, though I have taken care to re-letter a bunch of the older ones to make them more uniform without bothering to go back and change the files in the older posts. Some of the writing has been tweaked too, though, not much. The comic itself is 20 pages, 8.5x7 and will have a color cardstock cover after the first printing (which, dear readers, is disappearing fast!).
I’ll get it up for sale on here and Etsy soon; in the meantime I’m down with trades if anyone’s interested.
This past weekend Lisa and I tabled at Canzine, Toronto’s big annual zine shindig.
Last year we went to Canzine on a whim to check it out for what it was. We came out so inspired and jacked up with excitement that we talked about making zines for a good couple of hours. We knew we just had to make something.
So, after a few months of procrastination, we made our first zine! We decided to make our small vegan cookzine, Small Potatoes because we love food so damn much. Lisa made all of the recipes and wrote them out in pen while I did the illustrations and formatted the book for print. It has been quite well received and we plan on making two more volumes when we’re a little less busy with life.
Also, over the past year, I started making comics. Comics are something I have always been interested in doing but never thought I was good enough. Before I went to art school I had made some comics but lost interest when they mostly turned out awful. In my final year of animation school I used comics as a distraction from the work I was supposed to be doing. I discovered that I really do love making them.
Now, a few months later, I have a collection of comics I’m proud of.
I don’t think we would have done this stuff if we hadn’t gone to Canzine last year.
This Canzine was our first time ever tabling. I felt a little nervous being on the other side of the table selling our stuff in person for the first time. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a huge sense of accomplishment. It’s rare that those conversations that you have that get you so riled up to create stuff go anywhere. I’m so proud of us for sticking to our guns and doing it. We’ve come full circle.
All I want to do now is make books and draw comics. I feel, for the first time in a long time, that I’m on track and I know what I want to do with my life.
I thought it might be fitting to re-do the first autobio comic I did to kick off the last year or so of comic making for the last page that I am doing for my first (real) mini comic.
For the past month and a half I've had this temp job delivering compost bins for the city of Ottawa. I had to get up really early every day which has really screwed up my sleeping schedule. I cant stay awake past 10:30pm.
The job itself is alright. Well, if you can stomach your co-workers comparing Somalians to Cockroaches(which I can't). The weird thing with these kinds of jobs is that you get some of the most undesirable people together and put them in a truck. Over the past six weeks I've heard some of the most horrific, bigoted things I have ever heard in a work place.
I feel very out of place.
Yesterday I almost sent a co-worker to the hospital by knocking over a stack of bins weighing 240lbs. It came about two inches from his face. Today I called in sick and I don't think I will be returning to the job.
Hard to believe, I know, but it's a true life story!
