Happy Spring!

(Except it's still about zero degrees!).

Afternoon Experiment

Today I made a messy, scrawly little drawing in my sketchbook and then thought to myself, "hmmm, I wonder what I can do digitally to really enhance this guy and maybe make him go from crappy to (wait for it) snappy (aw yeah)!"

...Welp, turns out not much, it's still a bit amateur looking... but I got to do some fun experimenting with the overlay feature in Photoshop. And colouring with my tablet is always really therapeutic, so I'm not gonna write this one off completely. I'm happy with the colour palette, at least.

Happy Whatever, I Don't Care

Can you tell I'm feeling pretty ambivalent right now? Ha. Anyway, I threw this one together in the forty-five minutes I had between eating dinner and going to pick up a friend to see a movie tonight - not my best, but I figured having a little sketch to ring in the new year wouldn't be such a bad idea! Generally speaking, I hate NYE as the idea of it is always so grand and sparkly and wonderful, but usually what happens is that no one really wants to commit to any concrete plans because they're all waiting to be invited to The NYE Celebration That Will End All NYE Celebrations (I don't think it even exists), so everyone ends up making really mediocre plans at the extreme last minute. Like, I'm talking, you get in your car and you start driving but you have no idea where you're even going yet and everyone in the car is arguing over the destination-type last minute. And then you find yourself stuck on the Skyway at 11:59 PM and everything sucks. Anygoo.

In all honesty, this last year was pretty awful - a big struggle in almost every way imaginable for me - encompassing quite a few existential crises, so I'm very glad 2012 is over. At the same time, I know whatever issues I am currently grappling with aren't going to go poof into oblivion the moment the clock strikes twelve, which is why I guess I'm growing more and more jaded about celebrating the new year as time goes on. But, hey, just means I'll actually have to work harder!

Anyway, happy new year, if you're into that sort of thing!

Edit: Wow, this is getting some mad love on tumblr. 10,500+ notes!? Insane! Thanks, guys!

Step 1/? of Digital Colouring

So, I've already started playing around with a few colour schemes for the "girl on steps" drawing from the post below. Here's one such scheme - just messily threw a bunch of colour on the drawing. This could turn into a bit of a "step-by-step" of how I go about colouring in a drawing, so I've included the original on the left.

A little sketch - keeping with the architecture/building facade theme I seem to be on lately (*cough*allthetime*cough*), completed this afternoon. Snow days are sure nice for getting little projects like this done! In a while, you may see this one again with a little added texture and colour.

Buildun'

What I Ate Today: An Infographic

...because I know you're dying to know what is currently turning into waste product inside of me right now.

The original is a hastily scrawled black and white pen (Faber-Castell) drawing; taped it up on the wall, snapped a photo of it, brought it into la computadora and did a little colourin'.

House Dudes Redux

Still colouring in more old drawings!

It's been a while, but I am making art again. I got a tablet a while back, and have been experimenting with adding digital colour to my black and white drawings. This is the second one I've done.

KO Two Photography Logo Re-Design

Lately I've been doing some work for the super-creative Kendel, for her business KO Two Photography. Kendel asked me to re-design her "birds" logo into something a little more whimsical and playful. It ended up being a bit more complex, but charming, if I do say so myself! The image below is the finished result of what will become the cover of one of her photo albums she puts together for her clients:



If the background looks familiar, it's because, yes! I've used it for a few other things. Kendel liked this background so much she wanted to see it used in her business materials, as well!

To visit Kendel's home inspiration blog, click here! To visit her wonderful etsy shop, click here!

Etsy Shop: Thank You Cards

Coming soon to my ever-so coming soon etsy shop: thank you card three-packs! These cards will be available in a variety of colours and patterns. Link in the doobly-doo. Here's a little taste:







And the backs of the cards:

Project Port Dalhousie

Recently, my city approved a project called "Port Place" which is set to start development soon in the historic waterfront area known as Port Dalhousie. Port Place is a 17 story condominium, theatre, and a boutique hotel, which (I believe) will also feature a small shopping mall. Sounds great if you're a tourist or someone who happens to be loaded with the $400,000 - $3,000,000 the condos are set to sell for. If you're an average citizen of the city like me, however, you'd probably be lamenting the loss of a charming, nostalgic little area where you spent your summers growing up - hanging out on the beach with your friends, riding the carousel, taking strolls on the pier, traipsing the old candy store, having picnics and watching fireworks in the park, etc. The city plans on demolishing a large chunk of Port Dalhousie to make room for Port Place, which won't just ruin the historical aspects and allure of the suburb while running many of the businesses out, but will also cause the loss of it's friendly, local sense of place in exchange for massive amounts of tourist dollars. It's always ALWAYS about the money, in the end.

Anygoo, I've come to terms with the decision, and have decided to make the best of it by turning it into a little art/illustration project. I will be drawing historic Port Dalhousie building by building, to remember it as it was. I may not finish the project by the time demolishment has started and finished, but I've taken photos to work from so it won't be a problem.

The first: Murphy's seafood restaurant and inn, situated right on the corner of the block set to be demolished. I only ever ate there once as it was always out of my price range, but it was delicious.

I'm on Etsy!

Well, so far this summer has been one of ups and downs (yes, I know life usually is, but for the most part my life is pretty monostatic... not a word, but let's roll with it), but I have to say right now the UPS are definitely winning out:

-successfully completed a month's worth of pilates + on Couch to 5K week 4, have not died yet! + eating better = lost 8 pounds of blubber!
-completed an interiors drawing course at Sheridan College and rocked it, of course
-GOT MY LICENSE finally finally finally and can now drive my own arse to wherever the hell I want to go and won't have to suffer cabin fever in the crazy-making winter months!
-POOL PARTIES POOL PARTIES POOL PARTIES POOL PARTIES... and BBQs!

The big news that is relevant here, however, is that I've finally worked up enough chutzpah to start my very own little etsy shop!:


I'm starting off with a few prints of older illustrations (these are currently in the print shop), and I'll soon be branching out with newer illustrations, plus stationery, etc. For future use, there's a linked picture in the sidebar, or you could just bookmark me. As you can see, I don't have anything for sale yet, but I will soon enough so stay tuned!

New Project...

I was just doing some free-drawing today when I started illustrating some text, which led me to a new project idea. I tend to produce ideas, get really excited about them, and then trash them later, but I *hope* I can stick to this one (but alas, I've said this many times before, of course). I'm not going to say what it is I'm scheming up quite yet, but you can probably get a good hint from the pictures.

Crafting: Stamps!

Last night I attempted creating my first stamps ever. I used Speedball carvers a Speedball Speedycarve rubber block. It was surprisingly simple, as the carving block cuts like butterrrr. The stamps themselves look pretty amateur, but they stamp quite nicely (and I love the look of white ink, but unfortunately the pad I bought was super cheap and isn't ink-y enough):



I'm addicted! I've also created two trees, a skull, a mountain, and the letter F... which I'll have to re-do as I forgot the number one rule of stamp-making: always carve things in the reverse! Anyone have a use for a backwards letter F?