Ladies

The one new year’s resolution or whatever you want to call it that I seem to be coming through on is to draw more people. Drawn from photos I’ve been collecting in my “Ladies” folder, with ink on crappy paper with pleasing results. A couple are stars… Recognize anyone?

It’s Super 8 time.

I haven’t made a Super 8 film in about five years (woah), and the reason these two lovely ladies are on my desk is that I’ll be using them for a new short animation project I’m about to start work on very soon.

Digging them out got me all excited. I used to be a regular participant in the Montreal Super 8 Film Festival, where I made this film amongst others. Super 8 film cartridges are three minutes long and festival rules meant all editing was done in-camera, ie. figure out your shit, shoot it and screen it no matter what. Once I got in a bike accident while shooting but that’s another story…

For this project I’ll be filming backgrounds for my animation. I look forward to the touch of “real film” aesthetic it will give my piece. Speaking of which, is it ironic to take a photo of Super 8 cameras with a cell phone set on fake “old” photo mode? If so it wasn’t intentional, but appreciated in hindsight.

Freedom Flight

Here’s another image from Gooseplay, the book I’m illustrating for my uncle (described in this earlier post). I thought I’d put it up today in honour of the real golden eagle I just saw while walking my brother’s dog in Vancouver*. It was huge, and hung out in a tree for a bit before the crows bothered it away. I believe that’s the first golden eagle I’ve ever seen in real life. So here’s a scene from the book where one is freed from captivity and goes for a fly to celebrate.*

A card for baby Elpi

It’s tradition in the Netherlands to send a card to friends and family announcing when a baby is born. I was commissioned to do this one for my cousin Marten and is wife Puck, to announce the arrival of their daughter Elpi.

It was a fun little project, especially receiving my card in the mail all the way from Rotterdam. Felicitaties!

Bird Count 2011

We were having a little party last month and my brother gave my friend’s sons the crazy idea of counting all the birds in our place. It took them a looooong time, and I thought I should post their OFFICIAL results:

In case you can’t count, that’s 75! And I even think they missed some.

Qualifying bird imagery included but was not limited to:

a drumskin…

a tray…

a penguin…

that eagle again…

and images from my animation…

Great job guys. Now, who can top it?!? Bird count 2012 is ON.

“You Get This” (Briarpatch)

Here’s a cover image I did for the January issue of Briarpatch, a great Canadian magazine based in my home town. The article is about how community organizations increasingly bear the burden of responsibility for sectors of society that are actually the responsibility of government. (Click to enlarge)

Backhomes t-shirts

My band The Backhomes will be playing a small show for friends in Montreal today. In honour of the event we designed some tshirts that were screen printed at the Olio Artists Cooperative in Victoria (where I’m excited to become a member this year).
Note the two different kinds of screens used in this project…

The lettering is directly inspired by Old Kraftsman, a series of vintage instruments made by Kay Guitars, including my beautiful guitar (on the left below) and lapsteel where the Old Kraftsman logo is kind of visible…

If you’d like a tshirt send me an email.

Best wishes for 2012

A little “moving greeting card” for 2012. Times are tough, and there is lots to worry about. We all feel the weight of the world on our shoulders these days, as we should. Things need to change. But we can’t let ourselves worry and fret to the point of debilitation, to the point of paralysis. Never stop dreaming of the world you want to see. (Viewable full sized here).

 

Prints

Now available.

BOOM or BUST: A handmade dice game!

As hinted about in a previous post, I’m excited to present BOOM or BUST!

So there’s this great dice game my friends and I have been playing for years. It never really had a name, and the rules were always changing, which made it hard to teach to new players. I thought it would be a fun project to illustrate/design an “official” version that includes everything you need to play in one cute handmade package…

Inspired by the times, BOOM or BUST lets you win (and lose) without all the tedious economic inequality and taxing social upheaval!

Just in time for the holidays, this handmade diversion is available on my Etsy shop while supplies last, as are four brand new PRINTS of some of my fave recent illustrations/drawings. Limited edition, professionally printed on archival fine art paper, signed & numbered, and made to fit most standard sized frames with ease. They look fabulous – check em out!

The Lucky Ones

A new piece for The Boston Globe OpEd section. Written by an American woman living with her family in an impoverished region of India, the article is about teaching her children compassion and understanding before they become desensitized to the poverty they witness every day.

Click image to enlarge

BLACK GOLD now online at the NFB!

I’m excited to report that the animated short I made for the National Film Board of Canada‘s Hothouse program, BLACK GOLD, is now officially released and online. I’ve got it up on my website, but I’ll send you to the NFB site to watch it because I want to give you a chance to explore all of the amazing films and animations they’ve made available for free, including the other 5 films made by my talented colleagues during Hothouse.

For those who don’t already know, Hothouse is an annual program that supports 6 emerging filmmakers in creating a one minute animation in 12 weeks—a super short timeline as far as animation is concerned, especially for newbies like me. It was such a privilege/dream come true to work with the NFB, and I can’t wait for my next animated project. Let me know what you think!

holiday shwag

In the off-hours I’ve been working feverishly on a bunch of new things to sell for the holidays, including prints, cards, and—something completely new for me—a game! Below is a little hint. I can’t wait to show you the full package, hopefully in the next week or so.

First flight

Here’s another image from Gooseplay, the children’s book I’m illustrating for my uncle Ben about a boy’s adventure with a migrating flock of geese in British Colombia.

It’s rare to be able to post process work when you’re doing a book, so I’m glad to have the chance to do so here because I learn a lot from putting images online. It allows me to see them in a new light, which is difficult when you’ve been looking at the same thing all day and you’re acting as your own art director.

This image of the boy’s first flight is what I suspect will be used for the cover. It doesn’t feel done but that’s enough for today. Below this is my original “sketch” as explained in the last Gooseplay post, from when we first started this project seven years ago (before I was an illustrator).   Click images to enlarge

play

Okay, so when I’m working on a longer project I often need to take a day or two’s break (if I can) to switch stuff up and play. Here’s something I did today. I’ve been giving myself these fictional tight-deadline “don’t think too much” jobs where I go back and find an old image I never used or something and just play with it. I drew these ladies last winter. Seeing them all together made me think of a hot chick band, and then I thought wouldn’t it be fun to do an illustrated book of women in rock bands? Talk about dream project. Anyway, I’m starting with the cover! (click to enlarge)