Friday, October 28, 2011

Extra-curricu-killer Activities

So I made a solemn oath that in exchange for not working a part time job while going to school (which I firmly believe at this point would be the death of me) I would start submitting my work to gallery shows and taking part in art events around Calgary. I have thus far kept my word and have enjoyed the results though I'm definitely feeling the vice of time constantly closing tighter on my nether regions.
This first piece is my first official submission to a gallery show:

Saint Portenta: Our Patron Saint of Possibilities

Acrylic and ink on wood panel, touched up in Photoshop for online viewing, this piece involved lots of research into the symbolism of Catholic paintings, specifically the Saint Portraiture. Because I am not a Catholic, or anything for that matter, I took a crack at what a Humanist Saint might look like. It is filled with symbols representing the potential of humanity as well as the destruction of our pre-conceived notions of good and evil. It was fun to get conceptual and do some research while applying what I've learned from my years in the design program.


(Detail)

This piece was displayed at the Low Brow art show in the Resolution gallery ( a beautiful space with a super nice owner and staff). Overall it felt great to have a piece in the show but as a critic I felt much of the show lacked concept, taking the idea of Low Brow as an excuse to paint pretty ladies with nothing to back it up. But there were some stellar pieces for sure and the opening was crazy busy.




And here are some process shots for my second year as part of chalk walk. It was tons of fun in the sun yet again, and I pulled in third place prize this year for this child-like chalk rendering of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. I really messed up the proportions on that central figure though. Geez, that looks awful. Aaaanyways...

Just finished a butt-load of storyboarding work for a client and started the graphic novel project at school. Can't wait to post the result.
Madam Bauhaus, comin' at ya.











Monday, October 17, 2011

The Holy Trinity of Real-Life Monsters: Plaque, Witches and Heartbreak, Oh My!


It's been a long time since I posted anything new but I'm making up for it today! Year Three at ACAD has been absolutely crazy. The projects are bigger and tougher but they're also way more fun. Lump in a bunch of freelance illustration work and that makes me one busy monkey. The top pic was our first assignment for Figure Illustration. I turned quiet and sweet Maaike into the horrid White Witch of Dutch mythology. Don't worry, she got her revenge by transforming me into a crotchety old man. (Some have said it's not much of a stretch :) Wish I had toned down the colors a bit (as usual) and I got some much needed practice rendering in Photoshop, though clearly more hours are required. I accidentally deleted that last one (my favorite) the night before it was due so I had to redo it. Such a techno-twit!


The second pic is from Information Illustration; the assignment was to illustrate something that we can't see and I felt it was my duty as a super-powered humanitarian and enamel avenger to reveal the dirty truth about plaque. These guys were fun to draw. I really enjoy doing work for a younger audience. There was a lot of info to cram onto this thing which definitely made it a challenge. Dig the colors and the handmade title font. Wish I hadn't gone too sloppy with some of the colors and I got chewed out by my instructor for that bogus pinky knuckle.


Finally we have a cover I was commissioned to do for my pal and writer extraordinaire James Davidge. His publisher will be releasing an anthology of his short story work in Fall 2012 and it was an honor and a joy to create the cover. He requested a Lichtenstein/50s Romance feel and I think I nailed thanks to some studies, textures and good ol' fashioned half-tone pattern (computer simulated of course.) But like the capital IDIOT that I am, I accidentally flattened the original Photoshop file so will probably need to recreate this at a later day. Damn my technological ignorance!!!

That's all for now. More work to come, including storyboards and the long awaited comic project.