Beep bloop beep beep

Test your knowledge of Movie Robots.

Gon' Away

I'm off to Florida for a few days. Yes, Florida. I can hardly believe it myself.

Feminists

Oh Happy Day

Happy Wedding, Happy Pride!

Blue Bulldogs

Cosplayer

This was originally to run in WIRED magazine, but the article got killed. Wah. I think this is a cute piece and I was pretty psyched about doing a watercolour for $$.

NYTimes Health Illustration

Speaking of colour, here's a piece I did for this week's Health section of the NYTimes. It printed fabulously, probably due to the very saturated and bright colour scheme (images on newsprint are automatically dulled down quite a bit). Something to remember for next time.

Colour Schemes

Sunburn

Dog

Procrastination Sketch: Figures

Some of you might be able to tell that I was watching Whisper of the Heart while doing this. But, uh, not from the penis-guy. Because Studio Ghibli doesn't roll that way. But anyway, I love that movie and you should see it.

Greenpoint Wildlife

Stevie Wonder

Test your knowledge of Stevie Wonder.

Greenpoint Music

I think I prefer the black outlines.

Carrie for Entertainment Weekly

Here are sketches and the finished illustration I did for Entertainment Weekly's Sex and the City issue (out tomorrow). I did four, but this is the lede illustration. Here's John Hendrix's contribution to the mag.

The sketches started out as depicting a SATC writer, but eventually they requested that it be Carrie herself.

AD William Hooks.

Shadowy figure

Greenpoint Misunderstanding

Blondie

Berlin: Citizens

Can you spot the graphic designer?

Berlin: Unicycles

Unicycles are strangely popular amongst Berlin children! We saw a kid on stilts too. German youth are clearly more advanced than their North American counterparts (with whom BigWheels are the choice mode of transport).

Greenpoint Anguish

El Mirage

I'm illustrating an article by Michael Musto, Village Voice columnist, for Entertainment Weekly right now. It reminded me of this old illustration I did for his column a while back. It's about El Mirage, which he deems the dullest sex club in New York. I enjoy the boy in the sling.

It's crazy looking back at old work and seeing how things change (and how you come back to some things too!).

Berlin: Androgyny

Berlin women do androgyny very well. Hot.

Berlin: Kissing

There was a lot of PDA in Berlin. As a Canadian, I really can't condone that...

Berlin: Bicycle-less Bicycle

Thick-Necked Man

Mariah Carey

Test your knowledge of Mariah Carey.

My job is awesome. Where else does "research" involve watching dirty ol' Mimi and her various breast slings bounce around in youtube videos? I was minorly obsessed for a few hours. 'Love this cheese.

Bon Appetit Spots

Here are some spots I recently did for Bon Appetit's current Travel Issue. They accompany an article about foodie travel in France. AD, Robert Festino.

I actually really like these little drawings. They are simple and the monochrome feels really classic. Like old-school magazine illustration. I am trying to integrate this more into my work these days, but it actually takes guts to present stuff that's so restrained.

Check out Today's Inspiration for a huge catalogue of classic publication illustration.

Red Trunks

Free Fall

Inspector Van Sant

Watercolour Play

ESPN Fantasy Sports

Here's a recent project done for ESPN's 10th Anniversary Issue. The concept: "Fantasy Sports are Fun"! The editors actually came up with the idea of the pinata party, which was initially a bit daunting. How exactly does one draw a group of kids grabbing at 10 specified athletes flying out of a pinata? But actually, I think the challenge did me good.







There's something that makes me think the image actually looks better in the layout than by itself. I'm not sure why. Maybe the "JACKPOT" extends the line of the girl's arm or something. Anyway. You'll notice the asian girl got a bit of a haircut and became a boy for the magazine version! I suppose girls aren't that into fantasy sports, but I do like the black of her hair in the original. AD Siung Tija.

Watercolour Scheme: Calgary

Watercolour Scheme: New York

Watercolour Scheme: Banff

Watercolour Scheme: Reykjavik

Watercolour Scheme: Vancouver

Dr. Seuss

Test your knowledge of Dr. Seuss. How odd to do an illustration about an illustrator.

Watercolour Scheme: Blue

Watercolour Scheme: Red

Watercolour Shapes

19th Century Japanese Toy Design

Via BibliOdyssey.

Boob Tomatoes

Yes, boob tomatoes. How else to describe them? Plus a few rejected sketches. For Esquire, AD Erin Jang.

"Color Chart"

I just spent the last 12 hours painstaking choosing a colour palette and manipulating balances. So it was strangely liberating to read about this new show at the MoMa about Found Colour. Here's the slideshow.

Usually I shy away from the idea of "straight out of the bottle" colour in my own work. However, at this moment, "colour as a ready-made" seems like a shot of fresh air. MODERNISM!

Warming Hands

Panther

I had my class at Parsons do a silhouette project. I think it's a great exercise; "the silhouette" should be considered in every illustration, even those in full colour.

Maniac, Maniac

Test your knowledge of Dance Movies. Then watch the clip below (kinda NSFW!). Yay Friday!

Children's Books

Here are some spreads from this month's Cookie Magazine. The theme was classic children's books. Fifteen illustrations in total! It was cool to work with the art director, Alex Grossman, to do something more thematic and integrated.






And a few close-ups of the main illustrations.

Tanuki Complete!

If you're wondering about the ball sac, it's explained in the post below. As mentioned before, this is an image for the upcoming volume of BEASTS!, published by Fantagraphics.

Another Monkey

Nepalese Farmer

Here is a job, start to finish, for the Asian edition of TIME Magazine (AD May Wong). The piece was a book review for a novel about impoverished Nepalese farmers in the mid-twentieth century. The book was a simple story and spoke to the plain truths about poverty: the poor are powerless, and the poor are destined to get poorer.

Here are the sketches (after a few hours of scouring the internet for reference on Nepal). I saw a great photo of a man carrying a seemingly impossible load of hay, and it seemed like the perfect metaphor for the burden of the poor. Case in point: research is NOT about just "getting the details right". It can spark creative ideas unto their own. Which is why research-gathering, not thumbnails, is step #1.




I started on two versions of the final. I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it. I have a minor obsession with a book by Vittorio Giardino that I have, so I think that (and Tin Tin) is why the Clear Line style comes up every now and again. I didn't end up taking it to final though.

Final!

Detail.