The Pegbar

For the second year running, I helped Pukeko Design decorate Aberdeen Pavilion for the Mayor's Christmas Celebration on December 10th. Last year, I made several signs for the event - some entrances and exits as well as signs for balloon animals, Mrs. Claus, BeaverTails, and the Snack pavilion. This year, I created several more entrance and exit signs and transformed the balloon animal sign into a train for the new train ride. On the day prior, I helped set up the trees, snow on the pavilions and craft stations to create a magical winter wonderland.

I was thrilled to create more of the signs, as I really enjoy working with traditional media. The signs were 8 feet by 2 feet plywood that I prepped by priming them. For the entrance and exit signs, I then taped off a border and painted a coat of dark green acrylic over the surface. When that was dry, I re-taped the sign leaving the border free, and painted 2 coats of gold around the border. I printed out the letters I needed using Harrington in a large point size, cut them out and traced them onto the sign. I first painted the letters with a mixture of light blue and white, then painted over that with a coat of silver. I used foam and wooden snowflakes as stamps and pressed them randomly over the surface of each sign.

For the train sign, I painted over the balloon dog and sketched in a train with charcoal. I then painted it using a variety of reds, greens, black and gold.

The smoke on the train was added at the last minute at the venue, where I also did touch-ups on last year's signs. It's always fun to work on city events; I'm thrilled I got the chance to do so again.

I recently worked on this invitation for a black-tie party. I came across this tutorial a while ago, and since then have been looking for the perfect opportunity to try it. Then, while trying to think of ideas for this invitation, Ryan came across the manipulation of Admiral Ackbar below.

I immediately wanted to turn it into an old-timey illustration. If you follow this blog, you probably know that I have a bit of an aesthetic obsession with fancy mustaches and octopi. While Admiral Ackbar is not an octopus, he seems to be the next logical choice, and appeals to my nerdiness.

I sketched several thumbnails of Admiral Ackbar based on screen captures and other artists' interpretations, then came up with a sketch I was satisfied with. I scanned it in and inked it in Manga studio, then exported to Photoshop and used the faux-letterpress technique described in the tutorial linked above. If I'd intended it for print, I probably wouldn't have used the technique, so a web-based invitation was the perfect vehicle for it. I'm very happy with the end result.

Admiral Ackbar (c) Lucasfilm.

Carleton University's Sock 'n' Buskin Theatre Company has several wonderful plays under its belt. While I attended, the only play I saw there was The Rocky Horror Show (which was great!). Since then, I've gotten to know people involved with several of the shows. The plays chosen for the season are always interesting. Their production of Urinetown last year was a really fun play to watch, and this year's post-apocalyptic version of Shakespeare's Macbeth will no doubt be just as inspired.

I was asked to create the letter-sized poster for October's production of The Scottish Play. Keeping in mind the eerie elements of the play itself, I had the idea of making a crown that looked like a cemetery as the focal illustration. I submitted a quick layout sketch depicting the idea, then when it was approved, got to work on a more detailed sketch. I scanned it in and submitted a layout with text in the font I wanted to use. I inked it using Manga Studio (which is fantastic for inking), painted in the flat colours, then got to work shading and playing with may layer settings, until it had just the right unsettling light.

I was delighted to be asked to do this year's Lumiere festival poster and website banner, for the second year in a row (you can see last year's artwork in this post). This year's theme focused on Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, so the parade image was meant to include all stages.

I really love working on posters for the community - it's such a thrill to see them posted around town.

Wow, it's been a while since I posted to this blog. This is not to say I haven't been keeping busy - various projects keep popping up, which I love. I've just returned from a refreshing trip to Vancouver (mainly refreshing because it meant I got to escape Ottawa's cloying heat for a short time and get some coastal air), but prior to that I was working steadily on posters for one of Ottawa's Roller Derby leagues, the Capital City Derby Dolls. Working with them on poster concepts is always a treat - for the past few months I got to do the poster for their Dirty Dancing-themed bout, their UFC-themed bout, and their Fresh Meat open house. As a result, I've wound up with a fun gallery of mostly-cartoony derby posters.

Comments and critiques welcome.

It's been a solid 2 months of derby-related work for me with the launch of Roller Derby Season. I had the privelege of designing the poster for the Rideau Valley Roller Girls' Inner-League Bout, which just took place on May 28th. It was an exciting, no-holds-barred match as the league was mixed up into two teams, white vs. black. The black team took the first half, but in the second half the white team clobbered the competition.

I submitted 3 initial concepts to the league, and when they chose their concept, worked up a cleaner rough. I scanned this and set to inking in Illustrator using the pen tool. The gallery below shows the evolution into the final image. I had initially submitted a final greyscale illustration, using red for the lips and red for the text bars, while my full colour version used a burgundy. The Roller Girls opted to use the red for the bars in the full-colour poster, which I love. I find the little pops of the same red throughout really eye-catching.

Much to my delight, May 30th's Dr. Sketchy's session was Star Trek themed. I look forward to more overtly geeky sessions! DC heroines, perhaps? I think this marks the first time I've stuck with one medium throughout the 3-hour session, using only my ebony pencil and a sparing application of my eraser.

A Company of Fools is Ottawa's first professional Shakespeare company. They put on outdoor performances of Shakespeare's works, usually with some clowning thrown in. Recently, they asked me to design the poster illustration for their soon-to-open production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. This was my first venture into theatrical posters, and I have to say it was a lot of fun to develop and refine the central image. From the attached images, you can see the evolution the illustration went through before it became finalized. My favourite critique from the client: "A little less Disney, a little more Calvin & Hobbes." I'm very pleased with the final image, particularly as it pushed me outside the boundaries of my usual style.

I recently had the opportunity to help out a Capital City Derby Dolls team, the Dolly Rogers, with their team logo and first bout poster. I always enjoy working on derby-style illustrations, and am over the moon with how the poster turned out. I was able to attend the bout this past Saturday, and the Dolly Rogers hosted a fantastic game against Kingston's Limestone Crushers. I began with a sketch of the character I wanted in blue col-erase, scanned it, and brought it into illustrator for inking. I converted the strokes so I could live paint fills, and then worked up the poster layout using the character and her colour scheme as a starting point. I've been heavily inclined toward polka dots lately, and i like the touch of whimsy they add to the poster.

Local boutique Victoire came up with a fantastic contest idea recently. The contest called for mix tapes (well, CDs), and the winning compilation gets a $50 gift certificate. The contest ends on March 31st, but I determined my playlist a while ago. Since I had time, I decided to create some album art and practice my Photoshop painting skills in the process. I sketched my initial thumbnail, corrected perspective using the grids in Illustrator, and brought it into Photoshop to paint. Above is the result. It's a great, nostalgic throwback for me - it's been ages since I've made a mix for anyone.