Sheep

My second attempt at this image. The first version was way too cute and "fluffy". Not what I was intending and this one comes closer to the mark.

The ink battle continues.

Who let the dogs out?

Been working on this one for a while (maybe even overworked it). I'm not too sure if I should show this at the outdoor art show. Help me folks. Yea or nay?

ink drawing

I remember the first time I saw Bernie Wrightson's ink renderings for Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, it made me want to draw with ink in that style. However as a young boy, with an attention span of a gnat, my pursuit of the Bernie look quickly disappeared when I heard my mom call us for dinner. But his illustrations remain with me to this day and whenever I use pen and ink, he's the bar that I'm reaching for.

This ink drawing, from the ones I've uploaded so far, approaches his technique the closest (however, I'm not even near his level) and now that I'm drawing seriously, I hope to continue my pursuit of the "Bernie technique".

ink drawings

I'm trying to cover a few price point bases for my upcoming out door show in 10 days (gulp!). I thought I'd try my hand at pen and nib again and see where it takes me. The original intent for these drawings, aside from the lower price point, was to produce them in a lesser amount of time...as it always happens, you add a fine nib point, me and a small area to draw in, I usually take longer to draw what ever image I've chosen to draw. I think I need to work on my OCD.

These ink drawings will be based purely on my whim. Don't look too deeply into any hidden meanings from them. It'll simply be an exercise into draw something I think is cool, will make an excellent composition and just drawing it really well (I hope).

image and type vignettes

Not too sure about this one. I don't think it's up to par with the other ones. Any thoughts?





I'm thinking I might do a second version of this one. I really like how it turned out.




Well the start of another outdoor art show season is here and I'm scrambling to get enough work to show and hopefully sell. It'll be my first year participating in the Riverdale Art Walk show in just over three weeks. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time and since I don't want the responsibility of renting a car, I need all my art work to be small, light and compact. Hence, the continuation of this series of type and image vignettes.

You might recognize some from a previous post but I thought I'd repost them because the original uploads were really not great scans and I had an opportunity to get better ones for this time around. Hope you enjoy.

sketchbook 04/29/11

Been busy trying to producing enough new work for an upcoming art show, so I haven't had enough time to sketch in my book. However here are some spreads. The one drawn at the Rex, a local blues and jazz bar was particularly fun to do.

sketchbook 03/28/11

One of the benefits of sketching people in public and letting them know you're sketching them is meeting them...getting to know hem a bit. Megan was today's subject of my Starbucks' hotseat image. She was a real trooper and didn't move all that much because she was studying for her LSAT's ;). I also found out that she and her husband just moved to Toronto and have been here for only 2 months… not the most glamorous time to move to Toronto, but Megan and husband welcome to Toronto. It gets better in the summer, I swear.

sketchbook 03/26/11

sketchbook 03/20/11

I have to apologize to Leilani. I drew her quite a few days ago and I promised I would upload to my blog that night after work. It totally slipped my mind until today when I made another promise to another customer I sketched below. Sorry Leilani, but here it is.


Here's the hot seat customer I sketched today. Cheryl is her name. A project manager by day and an aspiring writer by night, or in this case afternoon (bad father joke, but I like 'em a lot). She said my drawing made her look angry. I'd like to think of her expression as intense concentration... a look that she bares while writing the next Canadian classic.
Cheryl if you need an illustrator for any of your stories, give me a shout!

I've also noticed that I tend to get a likeliness with some, but others, I miss the mark entirely. Don't know why that is, but it was in this case. Nailed Leilani but Cheryl was a difficult model to capture accurately on paper. The quest continues.

Globe and Mail illustration

Well I finally have my first paying gig as an illustrator/artist. It was a last minute call for an image of a wedding cake that would go with an article about William and Kate's possible wedding cakes. It appears in The Globe and Mail, Canada's national paper, no less! I'm pretty stoked about it, but what really frustrated me was the missing credit in the print edition. However, my name appears in in the online version after my contact spoke to the online editor. So here is a capture of the online version (with the credit)

A special thanks to Michael Barker for passing my name to the people who needed this image.

Here's a link to the live article. I'm cake #7

sketchbook 03/16/11

3x3 apples

Just finished my 2 sets of 3x3 apples. My original intention after finishing the larger piece was to do these guys to hang at the Starbucks where I work.

When I finished the blue piece I was apprehensive about the numbering system I used and I still am. Any thoughts on that from the blogosphere?

sketchbook 03/10/11

Sam, a Starbucks customer and good sport for posing twice for me during my Starbucks breaks... thanks, Sam.

sketchbook 02/11/11

Playing around with some type.

An apple, or two, a day…

I've been working with acrylic paints lately and I have found it to be quite the challenge. A few factors inspired me to start this project: I was sick at the turn of the new year and I had a lot of apples in my fridge. The large scale painting I was/am working on has really discouraged me with acrylics and I needed something to bolster my confidence with this new medium. So I thought painting something everyday that had a clear starting and ending point on a smaller scale would help with my mindset.

So that's how the Apple a Day project came to be. After completing all 31 apple paintings, I assembled them to resemble the month of January 2011 and dated each canvas with the corresponding dates I painted them on.



42"x48", acylic on canvas.

And here are some of my favourite apples:

sketchbook 01/28/11

Another pen spread from Dufferin Mall. I thought a bit of water from boiling some beets would add a nice touch to the spread. I was wrong.

I'd also like to thank Reana who sent me a black S.K.B. SB-1000 pen which this spread was drawn with. If you don't know, this pen is used by James Jean, a extremely talented artist. It took some getting used to but I'm liking how it feels in my hand now.

sketchbook 01/26/11

My first post for the new year.
Stay tuned for some more stuff in the near future. I've been working on an acrylic painting that hopefully I'll be uploading in the next two weeks.

sketchbook 12/21/10

Laura Crickett

A friend asked me to draw her portrait as a gift for her parents. I had a bit of trepidation starting this drawing because my track record with drawing friends and family isn't that great. But I have to say I'm OK with the end result. I hope Laura is too!

sketchbook 12/18/10

I find it really difficult sketching family. This is another attempt at sketching my dad. Some parts are bang on, yet others are so far from what he really looks like. However, there is some overall resemblance.

Christmas Sale of my giclée cafe drawings

Tis the season! Wouldn't this make a great present?!!
I had a few giclée prints left over from my art shows this past summer, so I thought I'd put them up for sale here on my blogger site.

Here are the details of each print:
- They are all printed on German Etching paper (same texture and feel like the original watercolour paper I painted them on).
- measurements: 12x9 inches. with a .25 in. white border.
- number of prints available:
Darkhorse: 1
Rooster: 1
Naco: 2
I Deal:1
NIche: 3

Each piece is stamped with my wood chop and signed.
Each giclée is $90 CDN + shipping.

If you're interested in one or more, please email me..

Thanks for your continued support.

Merry Christmas all.
WIl

sketchbook 11/24/10

sketchbook 11/15/10

sketchbook 11/11/10

Jerry and Jiles were my models for my 15 min. breaks at Starbucks.