Well the time has finally come when summer must end and school must begin again.  The past four months have been fantastic, being home with friends and family, and also resting my weary bones.  As of today I am back in British Columbia and ready to join another academic year at Vancouver Island University.  I promise to post more during the next months, no matter if it is finished work or process work.

The snapshot above is a process photo of a painting I’m working on right now.  I’m experimenting with painting techniques and materials to help me understand how to paint transparent and reflective textures.  The final product should be finished soon within the next two weeks.

Here is the second installment of my video journal project.  First and foremost I want to thank my friends who are kind enough to let me film some of our outings.  I try to make every bit of footage tasteful, while maintaining the integrity of the material.  No script is used and all footage is candid.

Update time!
My friend Nimit Malavia sent me this super-awesome postcard the other day.  And I’ll tell you why it’s “super-awesome” and just not regular-awesome.  First of all, the dude can draw.  His work has always been bananas and I always sit on the edge of my seat waiting to see his latest work.  Secondly, the back of the postcard has a hand-drawn sketch of Lil’ Jon!  Why you ask?  I have no idea!  But it’s super wicked!  And last of all, if you look close enough you can get a glance of Nimit’s handwriting, which is by far the nicest handwriting I have ever seen.  From afar it looks computer generated.  The man has robotic hands. And signs his name N$.  Who does that!?!  Nimit does!  Anyways, it was a whole lot of “cool” in one little package.

This update is more or less an update on what’s been happening to a lot of my friends.  I’ve noticed that many are branching out and challenging themselves with new, purely self-directed projects.  This is always inspiring for me to watch because I have always believed that there are two ways to get better at anything, and that is by “playing with better players” and also by challenging yourself to venture into unfamiliar territory.  So take some time to check out the links below.  There is a little bit of everything for everybody!

1. IRMA KNIIVILA is creating some pretty entertaining illustrations  of prepubescent Star Wars characters on her blog.
2. DAVE MURRAY has an interest in typography of all kinds and has started a photo-blog called SIGN LANGUAGE documenting his findings.
3. JUAN SOLON has ventured into web-comics with his new creation, MOTIVA-SEAN.
4. BENNETT SLATER gets his nerd-on delving into all sorts of nerd-related topics in THE ASTRONOMO.
5. ERIKA BROUWER has created a website called CANVAS, which is dedicated to supplying computer desktop backgrounds by guest Artists and Designers.

Since I don’t get to see my Southern Ontario friends that often, it’s essential for me to use applications such as Google Reader.  Or as I like to call it “My Secretary”.

This is the poster for the 2010 Superior Youth Festival, which is organized by Youth Zone.  This is the second year that I’ve worked with Youth Zone to develop a brand for the festival.  Last year I helped to re-brand their logo, which can be found here.  Initially I planned for it to be very type-oriented, but the chance of details changing before the event takes place was too much of a risk.  The headlining act is an up and coming Canadian band named These Kids Wear Crowns.  They were featured on Much Music’s program DISBAND.

Great news!
The winners list for Creative Quarterly 20 has been announced and I am one of them!  Of Empire Magazine was selected for the Design category and I’m super stoked for so many reasons.  First of all, this is my first time being published in a creative arts awards magazine.  Second of all, I won in the Design category and that means so much because I have been working hard for the last year, trying to understand and execute Graphic Design at a high level.  And finally, Of Empire Magazine is a project that I really put my heart ad soul into.  There are some projects that stay on your work desk and only get done within business hours.  This project was different.  Of Empire went everywhere with me.  And I literally mean everywhere — loose papers, photographs, sketches, etc.  No matter where I went or what I did, I was working on how to make it functional and authentic.  Recognition is always flattering, but being recognized for doing something that reflects yourself more than any curriculum and design brief is motivating.  So with that being said, I want to thank my AD Nancy Page and also Creative Quarterly magazine for their support of my work.

This is a sneak preview of the cover of the 2010 Thunder Bay Telephone Book.  Printing has begun and I am extremely happy to have a piece of my artwork in every home in my home town.  I worked in collaboration with Generator Strategy Advertising and Tbay Tel.  The theme of the illustration was the Special Olympics.  The curling trio are three notable Olympians from Thunder Bay.  Local heroes if you will.  Conveniently, one of Thunder Bay’s landmarks,  The Sleeping Giant, somewhat resembles an Olympic podium.  The rest writes itself.

Hey everybody,
Just thought I would give a shout out to Hawk & Squirrel: The Podcast.  H&S is a podcast put together by three former graduates of the Sheridan BAA Illustration program (like me), more specifically Nimit Malavia, Juan Solon and Chad Covino.  Episodes include intimate nerd-speak about everything specific to Illustrators.  So you can imagine how enlightening it is to hear people talk about the Pilot G-TEC-C4, which is a pen for all you regular people.  I’m still very satisfied with the too-ordinary Papermate Flexgrip Ultra Fine roller ball.  Just saying.  Anyways, for all you interested in the artistic process (in great depth) check out the new Hawk & Squirrel Podcast, also found on Twitter. And lay some feedback on these guys.  There’s a good chance your questions and comments will be presented in further episodes.

This is a little script doodle I was messing around with.  I have a love-hate relationship with any script typeface.  Let’s just say I think they are overused by amateurs who think it looks “elegant” and abused by bros who feel the need to tattoo their own name on their own back.  You know what I’m talking about.