lets work together

sorry i've taken so long to update - i always mean to - i've just been super busy - there for my blog takes a backseat - but stay tuned - im going to post lots more new stuff soon - anyway - here is the image of my fall mailer with the tagline - "lets work together" - i like the idea alot.

back to normal

This piece was for an article about looking forward to the olympics.
i really had fun doing this one - first time trying a few things - mostly the way the binochulars were handled.
its all painted etc. and back to regular size - about the size of a piece of paper.
holler

news

just finished working on a poster for the band "wolf parade" which i will post soon - it was a collaborative poster with four other montreal based artists - one was good friend Jack Dylan (www.jackdylan.ca). Anyway the idea was an exquisite corpse - all of the styles are pretty different so it will be cool to see what people come up with - as their pats are covered until everyone is done. Other than that i have another cool piece that was about the olympics which will be posted in a few days.
thats about all thats new.


*edit* heres the poster - guess which part i did? I tried to illustrate myself in the small portion that i painted - the font looks bad - but i had nothing to do with that - infact the whole poster sort of looks bad - i think its hard for m not to be in total control of the finished product - i see too many things id change.
whatever though right.

the secret handshake

blessed is the secret handshake
acrylic...and pretty large.

finally posted

heres that blackberry piece finally posted - it was a really fun one to work on. the article was about investigating the new blackberry - you know like its features etc - i sort of pictured this hardy boys-esque scene with someone peering into this cavernous space thats actually where the screen would be. its a really big piece - gottab be over a foot and a half tall - so working this large allows one to really just screw around and get right in there. anyway, thats it -
100% acrylic...obv.

artistaday.com

hey i was featured on artistaday.com, a very very cool website - although the feedback was minimal it was good and it made me really happy!

hey hermano(s)

Im working on a really cool illustration right now about "investigating the new blackberry and i thought id post the sketch work...you know...just to keep things fresh. also will be sending out my first mailers this week which i am excited about - the whole sorting through magazines thing etc is such a nightmare. THERE ARE SO MANY PUBLICATIONS. thank god im style locked into a select few! (truth disguised as joke) anyway - i'll post the final as soon as i can - im painting it tomorrow. WOOT!

ishmael

i recently did this illustration as a book review / commentary on the novel ishmael. first off, i REALLY liked the novel - even the very obvious ending. i thought alot about how i wanted to portray ishmael.
huge - but vulnerable. hulking. most importantly trapped - but not in a
conventional way - you see, obviously he understood how to be free and
how to save - yet he was still a captive. i tried to play with this
idea, extending the bars that confine him only to theparameters of his frame. so technically he's free - but obviously he's trapped.
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
freaky

somehow this never got posted

better late than never

SO AWESOME

i was featured on drawn.ca!!! its such an awesome site and i was so happy to see it!!!
AWESOME!!!
oh - and lots of new illustrations to be posted here soon. im just not able to post some of them yet...but soon!!

more mapmusic stuff

more logo stuff for map music, pretty simple but fun to do.

the cost of raising kids

for an article about the cost of raising kids. Tried some new stuff which was great and this was the first time i have made an image that just sits in white space. whatever the client wants right?! fun project!!!

this and that with design

so I've been doing alot of random design work since ive been in montreal. its really fun stuff. i know i know - but pete - you're an illustrator!! well i'll be posting new illustrations soon too - so chill. maybe even some sketchbook stuff. im serious. updated ALOT.
this was for mapmusic.org. its bsically this guy named robbie tucker who's raising money for research. the design was pretty simple for me - basically setting some type, getting rid of the previous logo on his shirt and the smudges on his guitar. fun part was coming up with a simple "hero" logo for mapmusic -heres the before and after - it was really fun to get to work with this guy and work with such a cool picture.
oh and BIG news soon too this week!

update

sorry for the lack of updates post school - ive just been so busy. in montreal right now - thats awesome - been having alot of fun! i am going to be updating way more as ive been busy illustrating - but just doing random things too. oh and these were cool
!\\

website!!!

my website is up - its a little small and might be rebuilt soon - but it works and im happy about that.

peterthomasryan.com

exciting times!

4 of 6 ... or something like that ... i cant remember

this is a piece for the series im working on about the womans life.
this was about a small business she ran. in our conversations she told
me that although she worked hard and made money she was paying out what
she was receiving. almost like she was a filter for the money - it was being slipped into her hand on one end and slipped out on the other.

theres also a quick second of it in context to an ongoing project - there is type to be placed that i will post...once placed

i had alot of fun painting the money and hope to incorporate more stuff like that into my work.
all acrylic

waiting

this is the front side of the mailer im putting out this spring - i'll post the reasoning and the printed version in a week or so. there is also the cropped - colour corrected version above
im pretty happy with how it looks and its going to be really exciting to have these to handout at our grad show -
WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD COME TO!

6 of 6 in the series

this piece is the sixth panel in the series and like the first one is subject to change slightly when put in context with the series - it discusses the womans ideology that cancer saved her life by giving her a second chance. theres alot i wanted to do with this one. first and foremost it was important to me that the amount of water she be surrounded by be infinite. i think thats important because it shows the dependency on the lymphoma ribbon life preserver - without it (the aspect of her life) she'd be a goner. in contrast to that it also establishes a sense of peace - i guess thats reinforced by the expression on her face. i also wanted to find a good balance of how much the life preserver looks like the ribbon and vice versa - i think i found a nice balance. i'll post the others in the series this week sometime
painted acrylic


EDIT* - i have added the revised final at the top. the changes were pretty minimal and really included adding some more water ripples at the bottom and a horizon line at the top. it was a big choice but i think benefits the piece both ascetically and emotionally.

1 of 6

this is the first in a series of six. the subject is of a woman dealing with / and carrying around her emotional childhood.

i'll post the others this week, its just been super busy.
painted in acrylic.
oh - it might also get modified slightly when the last ones are finished - if needed - but thats more or less it.

working

so heres the final. i took a few days away from it because i was starting to hate it - but im really glad its done and think it turned out awesome. i put it next to the "rough" to get an idea of where i began to where i finished as this post started as a process post. the eyes took a long time to paint. jeeez, but i got the effect i was hoping for. man, i have SO much work to get done before school ends - so i guess ill be posting more in the next few weeks. - i guess keep an eye out for that

RABEEZ

this is a 5"by5" spot about rabies. essentially the article discussed ways of getting rid of rabies through information and education.
i thought it was cool to "erase" the problem.
acrylic.

theres also an alternate version

first of 08'

so its 2008. hence the title of the blog. this is the first finished bit of illustration i've done. its for the cover of the magazine "travis". the two main focus' of the month of february are "going green" (ways of becoming more earth friendly) and valentines day. the challenge was to synthesize the two to create an image that speaks of both.
im very happy with the way the final turned out and will post a jpeg of it when its placed within the context of the magazine.
s'all acrylic.



*edit*
added recently is the in print version of the illustration. to really fit travis i worked into it digitally a bit and really saturated the colours. the whole idea is to make people want to pick it up.
its different from the origional in some ways but in alot of way i think its just stronger. hopefully it will be effective

the willies...

so this piece is for a "heaven and hell" project. like always i found a cool article about how country music is turning rock to stay popular. its sad times when hank williams cant do it for you anymore. so the obvious illustration solution for me was to paint willie nelson dressed up as gene simmons. this was so much fun to do.
its all acrylic silk screened and painted by hand blah blah blah.

think thin

this was for a book titled "the desperate womans guide to diet and exercise". the idea is that a desperate woman is going to go to any means necessary to get thin - thus is tying herself up nice and tight.

TIGHT!

new project

This is pretty fun - basically the project was to illustrate the palindrome "stressed desserts". I was told to find a secondary source of information to give the work some depth. I found this great article about how men lose their sex drive with age. Seems pretty self-explanatory from that point. In crit it was pointed out that it would be cool if the candle had a slight curve. Would have been cool - but I think this still totally stands up. Pun intended

another new post

This isn’t finished - but it’s basically a piece on equipping children with the tools to defend themselves. The part (likely most important) that isn’t finished is the little bubble wand she's blowing into to create the monster of a bubble. Im having a problem choosing the colour. ill likely let it sit for a while and come back at it soon with fresh perspective.
more things to come .

wine

this is a book cover illustration for the "how to" book - "the way to make wine". get it?? huh huh

big drip

this piece is for an editorial about the negative effects of bottled water consumption (pretty long story) and the final took a while to get to. i felt at first i had clearer solutions but this is the one the art director (rick) ended up going with - this is the first final ive made for rick sealock and he's a challenging guy - but really cool and im sure i'll make better images as a result of him.
its acrylic and silkscreen.

back

so these are super fast turn around postcards about a trip we took. it would have been nice to work traditionally - but time wasnt on my side - im guessing there will be alot of new work up soon - oh - and these are sorta low res jpegs - but they give the idea i want - from sober and traveling to wild and drunk.
exciting times

environment and learning

this illustration is about how plants and trees and what not help kids learn
or something to that effect

one of 3

which means there's 2 more to come - these are REALLY fast turn around postcards that illustrate the secret written on them. obviously. 2 more to come

new year...

so we're back at school and im sure that most of you are well settled in. this is my first project now that i am back this is the first painting ive really done this year so im glad to be back into the swing of things.
i think i hate not taking steps with every bit of new work that i do, so with that in mind i was heading in some new directions - maybe for a bit, or maybe just one project ...we'll see.
anyway - this was for a project regarding a recipe for something. mine was for excitement...but then i crossed that out and decided it was for trouble.
dad, thoughts?

extra credit (running out of punns)

this was for an article about consumerism that followed 9/11. - the basic idea was that the magnetic stripe of a credit card was replaced with a tower - then i doubled it. thanks to devon for the articles. the whole thing was done super fast - ive been pushing my process to see if its realistic - but from start to finish this was only a few hours and has a neat - "created on wood" look - although it so wasnt .

good grief

from an article regarding grief following 9 -11

give a hoot

so this is a scan of the coffee sleeve i designed. for a terminal coffee shop - coffee known as red eye. hense the owl (night time -blah blah blah). acrylic on illustration board
*enter comment by my dad*

Woop - there it is

heres the final before text and all of that of this subscription card.
im really happy with how it turned out