Pie not

for an article about disabilities effect on the bottom line. one of those solutions i cartwheeled over. always need to remind myself to keep things simple. whether its in my ideas or my execution - my best stuff comes when i dont over work it.
hey, my first illo using a pie chart :)

this, and that...

So, I was fortunate enough to do some spots for this months issue of WIRED - this one in particular was about dreams - specifically "nightmare on elmstreet" and Freddy ruining peoples sleep. grab the issue if you wanna see more - theres a fun series. Im pretty sure they werent all used, in print atleast but i'll post those sometime soon too.

I also had some good news that i had a piece included in this years SOI annual. so thats nice.

hands up, baby hands up...

I had the extreme pleasure of sharing a magazine for the second time with Juan Solon. This time, RBC Dexia (the magazine put out by my bank) (royal bank). my job was to illustrate 3 articles, and by God, i did just that - first was about smaller, alternative investments reinventing themselves as a good investment rather than certain debt. the second, about finding the select opportunities within the asian marketplace and the third about china opening up to currency trade with canada.
after handing this in I hear back from the AD that they wanted to change the canadian currency to the Euro - i was a bit bummed because i liked the portrait i painted - they needed it soon, so i decided i would use PHOTOSHOP!!!!!! it was a pretty easy, graphic bill - and i think it looks pretty good!now for roughs. i had a million roughs for these. i'll post a few randomly - lots focused on developing industry:

take it or leave it

This image was / maybe still is going to be used for a winter postcard. the thing is, im not sure if i like it, or hate it. this is ALWAYS the way i feel about promos - i usually make about 6 a year, and usually only end up mailing 2. the idea behind it is that i still work traditionally, and im trying to spin this a a good thing. you know, have some fun with the concept of digital images. like most promos, this was a rejected rough from months and months ago. so, yeah or neah?

snakes on a plane

I feel like i painted this piece ages ago, happy to be posting it. This was for Harvard Business Review (a real dream client of mine) about the dangers of the internet. Yes, there are some...lots in fact. This was a real bitch to paint, and about three times i started over on the same piece. you may notice in areas that the texture is pretty whack (like the scales area). when i finally got it looking the way i wanted i decided to keep all the imperfection in, i think it looks better this way. moral of the story, all the frustration was worth it, at least for me. read the article here if you like, its good. heres a few of the many ideas that didnt make the cut...
this one isnt drawn out amazing - but i think its a really cool idea - having the navigation arrows circling around the kid like sharksi also went a bit sci fi with a few ideas, which for me is somewhat of a long shot - but fun to throw out there anyway :)
thanks for stopping by

Angles in the outfield...

Im actually kind of proud of that title. So, time for something a bit different. Last week I was asked by Wes at the LATimes to do a large piece for the envelope section about the movie Inception. Its been about a year of working with the LATimes and Wes throws a lot of assignments my way, so I set out to really knock this out of the park. Basically, they were running a quiz about the movie and my job was to do my best capturing the spirit of the film. Daunting. After lots of roughs I set upon a very ambitios task. So many of the films aspects seemed inspired by, and reminded me of amazing artist MC Escher. Escher had an wonderful way of showing the sureal, in a way that is believable - I decided to do my research on his work, and on optical illusions. images that show a reality that could never really exist.
Inspired by this image and others I sent Wes a load of roughs and really tried to sell my favourite idea - Using this image as a template I set out to re-create this world of weird angles and numerious realities but infuse it with elements from inception - eg. water rushing in windows, mountaintops, a van going over the edge, explosions, a cafe like enviroment, a safe, an elevator, and lots of people fighting, or, just hanging out.Wes went for it. Shit. I had bitten off more than i could chew, as it was due in 3 days, along with a smaller spot image. I buried my head and started planning, drawing and painting. Days came and went, but i didnt leave my desk (except maybe to get coffee)
- i have more process pictures but they wont load for some reason :(
anyway, i tried to draw it out so it could be viewed from multiple angles - heres twoThere was also a spot - which is a little nod at Leo's totem in the film, with a mix of the surreal i was talking about earlier.finally, I submitted a LOT of roughs for this, heres one i was sad didnt make the final cut:Thanks Wes! This was a great project!! Its in todays paper - go pick it up if you can!!
thanks for reading :)

Sea Quest

For the last couple months I was doing a regular spot for MoneyWise in the UK. it was for an ongoing feature about first time investors, and following them all the way up to experienced investors. The AD wanted to continue with a nautical theme - guy in boat, etc. sometimes these illustrations are great opportunities to make a well traveled metaphors a bit more fun with the way you draw. We decided to go with the (reoccurring) character happily trekking across a sea of ticker tape. As much as i love super clever conceptual solutions, Im learning to love making more fun, narrative work too.
Heres a couple of roughs - there were a bunch of nautical themed ones, these focus a bit more on mixing in varried amount of new investments and investment growthIt was a great pleasure working with you Mark - thanks for the fun!!