Anorak Magazine: Draw us a game.

Woot woot it's time for Anorak Magazine's yearly competition :) Last year it was all about drawing a black & white colouring page, this year it's about designing a game.

Here is my entry!

Howie the worm was born last year but never left my sketchbook. I'm glad I got to use him at last. When I was a kid what I loved the most were mini-games within games so that's what I went for. This way kids can do some thinking, have fun with their pencils and practice their numeracy skills.
You can view the full gallery here, the competition is oh so fierce!

Orange frogs and black monsters.

Today I present you with an illustration created for OrangeFrog Logistics, a Vancouver based company offering logistics and procurement project management services.
The brief was simple: illustrate the many services and goodies offered for free on the Internet versus some less than forgiving big corporations. It is quite hard to sum it up so you can read the article ---> here.

This time I went digital and used both Illustrator and Photoshop. As usual I went into details as you can see on the close-up :) I included popular apps and websites, books, magazines, a bag of samples and more.
This was a fun job, I look forward to working again with OFL! 

Metamorphosis - The Lady in furs

It is all in the title, this next illustration is a cover for Kafka's novel "The Metamorphosis". The plot is about Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman working in the textiles industry who wakes up one day in the body of a "vermin".
In the book, the poor guy is treated horribly by his family and is confined to his room. As the story unravels and his metamorphosis sets in, his "picture of the lady dressed in all furs" for which he had built a frame becomes even more important to him. It is the only element in his room that he tries to save, probably his way to cling to his former humanity, his former life...
We have all seen beetles and gross bugs illustrating the book, however it is interesting to know that Kafka had insisted in a letter to his publisher that the bug should never be drawn nor seen "even from a distance". It is also why I decided to not show a giant insect!
So there we go, the lady in furs is on the wall, decay and mould slowly getting to her as the symbol of Gregor's metamorphosis.
Technically speaking, the lady is a graphite drawing that I manipulated in Photoshop to give it a vintage feel. As it is supposed to be a cut out from a magazine I have superimposed a 1915 German newspaper spread and added a fold so it would look more "homemade". I also took the white frame and cloudy background of a 1920 fashion photograph to create her own background.
The picture was then framed in the photograph of an antique gilted mirror. The wall itself is a mix of various textures, from monoprints to photographs. For once having a mouldy wall was useful!
The pattern is a collage made of tiny painted pieces of paper. It was inspired by a 1900's fabric design (Gregor's industry) combined with daffodils (narcissus) the symbol of rebirth, metamorphosis.
I must say it was real fun to use so many media and try to blend them together.

"It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer."

Oliver's Wharf with a twist

Here is an illustration that started as a graphite drawing. Definitely the first of a serie!

Rock my Valentine

This week I designed and screen printed my very first greeting cards, hurray! I must say the whole printing process was quite satisfying. It is one thing to see one of your design in a magazine or on a billboard but getting your hands dirty and then hold the actual piece is quite different.
I sold two already and the remaining stock is at the Parkshot Gallery. I'm now working on a bigger collection and an online shop. We'll see how it goes!

Hand drawn type and lil' rock playing the air guitar

Every card is a bit different, I had fun with various pinks

Message inside and logo on the back cover