DPI Magazine

A couple of months ago I was interviewed for DPI magazine out of Taiwan. It's a great art magazine, featuring illustrators and artists from around the world. I believe I am featured in the September issue. I haven't received my physical copies yet, but I really like the design of the pages. I always feel a little odd answering questions about myself. I tend to be the type of artist who would just like the work to speak for itself. I am always more than flattered though, at the interest in my work, it's process and my inspiration.

Doritos

At the start of July, I was fortunate to land a job doing artwork for a Doritos campaign. The job itself, was a little different than anything I had ever done up to this point. It was for a store pallet, you know, those cardboard displays that hold merchandise. In this case, bags of Doritos.

The thing that made this a little different for me was that the majority of artwork was going to be cut out and assembled on top of the pallet for a diorama effect, or like a pop-up book. The artwork had to be done to fit the proper predetermined cut proportions, and seemed very confusing at first look. Also, the deadline for a project this size, with this much artwork, was extremely short, but I managed to pull it off, with very long hours and the miracle of the computer.

The concept is an Asylum, where two discontinued popular flavors have escaped. I had to do around twelve separate pieces, that create the entire pallet.

Above is the main structure, the front of the asylum.

Below is the front gate illustration. The gate wraps around the entire pallet, Thankfully the design is repeated on front and back, the only difference is the flavor of Doritos that have escaped.

This image is for the posts of the pallet. It's a wrought iron fence pole, that is repeated 8 times, two on each side. Because I had drawn a lock on the post, I had to create a second post, without the lock, so each side would look like a gate. I also created an image for the front of each tray, to make them look like the bars on the fence.

Finally, I needed two guards chasing the bags of Doritos out of the asylum. These were done last, and under great time restraints, but they were going to be printed fairly small, so I could get away with a much looser, quick drawing. Like all contracts, as an artist you always wish for more time to flush out your ideas and artwork.

Here are some photos of the final pallet printed. I believe the campaign runs until Halloween, in a Krogers Grocery store near you.

I'll try to do another post soon, with a closer look at some of the details in the drawings.

The Hamlet Idiot

I'm moving to a Hamlet. The stresses I spoke of in the last post where those of buying a house (not pictured above). The deal is done and we move in two months. It's around 1 hour from the city (Toronto) and very close to a lot of other little towns. We have a very private forested lot, and a small river in the back. We also have a lot of work to do to the place, now and probably for a long time after. It is ours though so all the work will be more than worth it.
My studio will be in a loft barn down the road. It is the first time my work space will be separate from my living space. I can't wait.

Changes

It's that time in life again when changes need to be made. It's been a stressful month, and the next few aren't going to get any easier. In the end, it's all good news and for the better. Go north young man.

Updates?

I just realized I'm not updating things as much as I'd like. I just wrapped up a doozy of a contract, so I've been laying low for the last week or so trying to get things back in order. When I can, I'll post all about it, as it was probably one of the most unique things I've ever illustrated for.

I'm going to cancel my ADUMBRATE sketch blog. I actually forgot about it when I got busy, so I figure it's defeating it's purpose. There is no use of me keeping a daily sketch blog if I'm not going to post on it daily. I'm going to try to incorporate more of that type of thing here and try to get full use out of this blog.

I've started on a little personal project with a relation, so hopefully I'll have something cool to show in the coming weeks...

Wednesday Morning Sketch NSFW

A very quick morning drawing to warm up for the day ahead. NSFW and all that jazz.

Old Man Metal sings We all Destroy!

Threadless 2

I have another t-shirt design up for voting over at Threadless. I did a quick design the day after I uploaded my first entry.

You can vote here.

As soon as I have enough time to sit down and come up with some cool concepts I'm going to do some more. I love the concept of their business and it's kinda fun to do these things.

Threadless

I've entered an image for judging over at Threadless. I tweaked an older image, 'God said No.", just to give the site a try. I felt it was actually a t-shirt worthy picture. If all goes well, I'll make some more as it seems like it can get to be kind of addictive.

To vote for my design, please visit here. All votes are more than appreciated and I'll thank everyone in advance.

Adumbrate

I've started a new Sketch Blog.

This is still my main spot for news, finished art, ramblings and whatnots. The new blog is just for sketching and maybe random thoughts that don't mean too much. The goal is to put something up daily. It will showcase quick sketches, rough drawings, color tests, art in progress and/or scribbles. It should be fun.

You can find it here.

It's called Adumbrate. This is for many reasons.

Print on Ebay

I'm officially an Ebayer! I put one of my prints, "The Man Who Sold the World" up on ebay this morning. It's up for bids and this way it can be picked up for a little less than offered in my store. The listing is here.

This is more of an experiment really, and if it goes well, I'll do it again...

Inky Friday

I'm having way too much fun today playing with Ink!