[lotus ink blog]

moving!

2010-02-15T20:08:00.002-05:00

it would appear that t42 is finally started and a new blog has appeared! [lotus ink blog] will now be discontinued and all new posts can now be found over at the new...

t42 [ sketchblog ]

art pun on the run

2010-02-02T23:57:00.001-05:00

Jill said I should do a vignette-y painting. I heard Vin Yeti. I sure do wish t42 was up... or even started.

we are thinking of rebranding in the near future!

2009-09-06T17:03:00.009-04:00

I am in possession of a new sketch book. After 5 years I finally finished the last one. I'd almost forgotten the joys of the crease shadow when scanning. So amateur but so authentic! Yeah, Jill helped pretty my Ariel up.

Hmm, what else is new... oh we're still oogling Vector Magic after many months and thinking of purchasing a license. It looks like a pretty fun program for digitizing traditional stuff. Though I'd likely use it more for lineart, here's an example of what it does to watercolour. Looks just like it from a distance but now it's gained great powers of scaling! Well it would if it wasn't just a screenshot. You can try it out for free at http://vectormagic.com/home

I guess the only other things I have to say for now are: District 9 was a great movie, custom framing is expensive, and I wish I knew when Diablo 3 was being released! Oh, and after much deliberation we might change from Lotus Ink to Tea 4 Two (with applicable website/blog/card/etc. changes) because we (think) we have a better idea of what we want to be now and this rebranding will be more a mutual effort than my tagging along with Jill's Lotus Ink. It's better done sooner than later.

back to business

2009-08-27T15:56:00.002-04:00

My position with UTM has come to an end, all the work is finished up, and while it was a great three and a half months I am beginning to realize how much I put everything else off to the side during that time.

One thing in particular that scared me was when I checked my lotus-ink mail, which I generally trust to redirect to a personal mail I check daily. That is one frightening inbox and I am currently doing my best to sort through the incredible amount of spam that is not filtered and find the important things that may or may not have actually made it to my personal inbox!

Also, yesterday marked the first time all summer I sat down and sketched for fun, and it really made me reflect on how exactly the years have drained that spontaneity and why. That's still a thought process in progress and I will need to discuss with peers and friends.

So, my thoughts at this point are that I am happy to have a couple of weeks now to reassess priorities and pick up on some neglected areas. Among other valuable lessons, this summer has driven home the fact that I am a poor multitasker and place all my energy in one place at a time. Perhaps not a bad thing, but good to know.

And with that, I'm diving back into my inbox and other such tasks and ending this on a radishing note.

images of my utm summer

2009-07-29T11:50:00.015-04:00

Summer BBQ at Lislehurst for the labs I've been working in that I was lucky enough to be invited to! The party is in the back, but there are a couple people from the lab chilling out front. The property is the residence of UTM's principal and it's pretty much the coolest place I've ever been.

Samples of work. The first was a gift for my supervisors, the rest are illustrations of Rhodnius Prolixus reproductive and digestive systems for the Orchard lab's work.

Myself at work in the lab!

summer shirt shuffle

2009-07-07T11:47:00.005-04:00

iRO is hosting a summer t-shirt design contest with Cameesa and my first design has been approved.

"voting" is a bit different on this site, compared to Threadless. you have to give support by "crowdfunding" which is basically prepaying for a design you like to get it printed. you can check out the specifics on supporting here.

check it out and give support here!

post beeday post

2009-06-19T21:21:00.005-04:00

Yes indeed my birthday passed just recently and have a looksee at this fine fellow Jill had Vicki make for me! The dastardly antagonist of Ninjatown himself - Mr. Demon! Very fine, yes. A new desk companion.

The last month has zoomed by while I have immersed myself in biology and the wonderful and curious people who study it. So far so good with the University of Toronto position. I have my little desk and I flutter from lab to lab collecting photographs and watching dissections so I can illustrate things like this! Although I am abandoning this one in hopes of something better and more accurate. It's a digestive system by the way, of a blood sucking insect. Which one will remain a mystery!

site update!

2009-05-16T16:05:00.002-04:00

same layout but lots of new work up.
check it out!~

hardest. theme. ever.

2009-05-01T21:39:00.002-04:00

I found out I don't qualify to enter this into the contest it was for but that's fine because I did it as a personal challenge anyways. I don't think it's possible to illustrate good vs. evil, as it's not even possible to define, but I took a shot at coming up with something different than the usual interpretations of half-black/half-white portraits and devil vs. angel girls. I don't usually take a second shot at paintings like this if the first attempt fails but this time I did and the 2nd time around turned out much more to my liking so it was worth it.

I'm looking forward to starting at UTM on Monday and getting back into drawing regularly and learning a lot at their biology lab. I was sick this week and thought I might not end up missing the first few days but it's clearing up and looks like I'll be ready to roll!

little ladies

2009-04-29T11:37:00.005-04:00

my contribution to the Harvey James' catgirls as human girls activity. i did two cause i couldn't decide which design i liked better. these were pretty quick and fun to doodle up ^^

back to the goblins

2009-04-29T10:46:00.019-04:00

Once upon a time, I decided that I would flip to a random page in my cooking ingredients book and Jill and I would draw something from that page as a goblin. The time was two days ago - that something... was a prawn. Prawn Goblins.

Then, once upon this other time, Jill said we should participate in Harvey James' little lady drawing project... which was just another excuse for me to draw goblins. Although... he did state that they should be drawn as 'human' girls... hohum~ Sometimes it can't be helped.

And then upon this OTHER time I painted a nice watercolour but didn't post it because I thought I might have to post it somewhere else first but then I promised to post it later. We shall call this the tale of the promised one, and revisit it another day >.o

Now I am going back to being sick, good day!

professional radishism

2009-04-23T12:59:00.006-04:00

As I was informed again recently, some parties are of the opinion that linking a blog on a professional portfolio site (such as we have here) may in some way degrade the professionalism of the site. I'll admit that of the many fields of the service industry, even among the self-employed/freelance, artists and writers seem to be far more likely to do this than anyone else, but I have to wonder why we do/don't expose the behind-the-scenes sides of ourselves and what the pros and cons are. My initial (and lingering) sentiment has been equal parts confusion and mild offense, because I, for one, greatly enjoy looking behind the curtain and learning more about the people that do STUFF that interests me, but I suppose this opinion is not always shared at higher levels in the professional world. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to think that there was a real person behind these illustrations, much less that they might have their own interests and processes or, heaven forbid, say bad words once in awhile! Maybe it is a bit self-centered to assume people give a crap about what we do from day to day, but I suspect there is more to this curious form of journal-keeping/news-sharing than simply ego or a desire to undermine my credibility by exposing my imperfections. Anyone visiting an artist's or author's or anyone else's site usually has an option of clicking that Blog link, and I have to assume that we're all adults here and take responsibility for our actions. I just don't feel like a blog is something we should be ashamed of and hide from industry view by excluding it from a portfolio site, ESPECIALLY since it's the only thing that we update even remotely frequently at this time. But, then again, I have a notorious record for writing colloquial resumes that are flat out rejected in favour of the prim and polished lines of self-celebration and achievements that give no insight into character but are so very popular these days. How like an artist it is of me to rant against the almost 'politically correct' sanitization of the professional world but hey, meet me, talk to me, and maybe you'll see that professionalism isn't a mask I put on with a suit and tie or a carefully crafted facade I present to clients - it's a set of ethics and a commitment to quality. Gosh that leads me to another rant, about flipping the bird to employers who have just hired you because something better comes along, and this expendable society we live in where everyone else is just a stepping stone to your own success, but that's one for another day. So, I'll leave the last word to the radish general... oh, I see... he's speechless. Radishes, what are you going to do with them?

no teef

2009-04-10T22:56:00.000-04:00

Help, I've forgotten how to watercolour again!

i blogged a little... in my pants

2009-03-30T22:43:00.005-04:00

I haven't updated because I haven't drawn. I haven't even wanted to draw. With the courses I have this semester I'd way waaay rather read up on politics and literature than do any of the actual art work, but one of those magic moments came along recently. This magic moment cost $63, but it made me want to draw again... and I did. I think the only reason I'm in sci/tech is to learn how to draw awesome bugs and birds and rodents and trees to surround my true love - goblins. Except we don't even get to draw any of that shit anymore. Anyways, the magic came out of a Jean-Baptiste Monge faerie art book, and it was like BAM from the first image. It was like discovering Brian Froud all over again. I had a little artgasm, shelled out the $63 I definately can't afford, and went home to savour it. By the next day I had drawn. Today, I drew again. It's madness, I remember how to draw for fun! So here, I smooshed everything together:

Who knows, tomorrow I may even draw again. One thing's for sure, I'll be drawing this summer, at the UTM biolab. I'm super happy to say my co-op placement involves drawing bugs and bug parts and offers a whole biology department worth of study material. I suspect I will not wish to leave in the fall when class comes round again, but the shiny, ever elusive degree lays just beyond the bend.

birds + bees

2009-03-21T07:25:00.008-04:00

the birds and the bees show was great fun! got to see tons of school chums i haven't seen for months and lots of great work. i hope lots of pieces get sold to help fund the grad show more but at least they have enough money for the book to get printed now.

here's the digi colour rough and the traditional final of my piece.

(i kinda like the colours in the rough better XD)

this was my first time doing a photocopy transfer onto wood. i got coached through it with the help of Vicki and Ilichna. i wasn't aware just how much i had to scrub the paper off for this process. it didn't peel off at all. after i burnished it and waited for it to cure it didn't really want to move. it was a good learning experience, and now i know not to do it on board! it really helped me keep my lineart though, which is why i wanted to try it. some lines had to get reinked after painting over the transfer but not alot. all in all i'd still say it was a success. i'd definately like to try this more in the future!

photos from the show and purchase information can be found at
the birds and the bees blog.

hyein pain

2009-03-16T14:21:00.002-04:00

my friend Hyein had this striking photo of herself on her flickr that i just had to draw.

darkstalkers tribute

2009-03-13T22:06:00.008-04:00

so Udon Entertainment held another Capcom art tribute contest, this time for Darkstalkers. last time i missed the deadline, hearing about the contest too late, this time i got an entry in on time but didn't make the cut. over 2000 entries from around the world! craziness. bet the book will be awesome though.

i picked qbee thinking she wouldn't be drawn as much as other characters *coughmorrigancoughfelicia* and tried to do something unique by doing a sci/tech illustration of her. she is a bee girl after all. i guess techies can influence interps too!

now with threads!

2009-02-18T20:09:00.006-05:00

i've been meaning to get into doing shirt designs for awhile. i have pages of roughs for shirt designs that i want to do. this one just got approved to be in the running on threadless. now for the 7 day voting period!

ps, vote for me!

gateau

2009-02-17T10:20:00.004-05:00

here's an art trade of a friend's Ragnarok Online character. i'm playing around with "more marketable" illustration styles. i've always loved smart flats and so i kinda used this as a style test. inspired by Marguerite Sauvage.

deep deep deep drown

2009-02-10T11:25:00.011-05:00

I recently got pretty engaged/enraged with a project for an architectural class, and this was the result.

The project was an architectural collage, and my take on it became a comment on the project rather that the project itself, as I saw it as aesthetic ambiguity in relation to form and function and the resulting identity which is quite open to interpretation. As usual, I found myself digging quite deep in this material, which I think is good in an academic situation but would probably not make me such a great illustrator in a practical business sense. Sometimes I wonder if I do this to compliment or to compensate...

organizing organ eyes

2009-01-28T18:23:00.005-05:00

small update. logotype for my sister's band that i've been designing.

they're rather picky clients but we came up with something in the end that we were all happy with. something classy yet funky that says indie psychadelic folk. music genres are so confusing these days.

edible info graphics

2009-01-19T17:53:00.005-05:00

i didn't get to visit Zach's parents this christmas and therefore was unable to give them their present. i recently got them a fresher one from work to send via UPS and decided it needed a map, like what they have in pot of gold etc so you know what you're eating, cause i won't be there to tell them what flavours are what. i actually wanted to do this for all the chocolates i bought but i ran out of time.

i think the end result was pretty cute. just something quick and useful. it kinda made me think of something Jho would do.

progress

2009-01-10T15:05:00.008-05:00

ESL certificate, check. Readmission, check. New art, check. I'd call that progress. Good luck to y'all (and ME) in 2009!

Old sketches. New comp. New colour. Gobbos on cheese.

Free time at Grandmas. Too much masking fluid. Overworked. Hidden profile.

Cool frame. 4"x4" eyeball series for cool frame.

Fingers crossed for UTM entomology co-op position. End.

presents + paintings

2009-01-09T19:44:00.009-05:00

long time no post! i once again attempted to create art as presents for my loved ones this christmas. i don't think i was quite ambitious as Vicki but i completed what i had planned to make. 3 traditional acrylic pieces all on a fun super thick cardboard.

first is for my sister. she asked me at first if she could commission a piece from me for her band. the lines were already done by her, she just wanted me to colour it. i told her we'd figure something out and she could pay me later. i then gave it to her as a christmas present, oh how tricky of me.

after this, i have discovered that ballpoint pen is much more forgiving on acrylic than any other pen. i take this to mean they are friends and will continue to use them together in my traditional escapades.

these other 2 pieces are for my mum and her fiancee. portraits of their dogs, Nugget and Shuba. i don't really have a lot of experience drawing, let alone painting, dogs, so i was pretty happy with how these ones turned out.

life tetris

2008-12-11T12:52:00.003-05:00

Yes, Life Tetris is what I'm playing. Except in this game the lines never stop building upwards, so all that really matters is making sure there are no awkward holes in your stack of blocks, which is quite hard. Some pieces I'm working on fitting in include: A) School - lining up a passport, OSAP loan, Jan. readmission into Illustration with a custom timetable, completing missing year 3 classes, getting set up with a paying co-op position for next Summer (fingers crossed for UTM entomology lab), and finishing my degree next year, B) ESL - completing my ESL teaching certification courses, pounding through those textbooks and learning as much as I can about teaching because no matter how good 6 intense days are they can't teach you everything about teaching, and potentially going overseas with a group to teach in 2+ years, C) Writing - completing all edits on the novel I just finished, getting feedback from the proofreaders, continuing my agent search, perfection the query letter/synopsis, and maybe SOMEDAY getting around to actually SENDING said letter, and D) not going broke during this time frame. I'm also trying to find time to finally read Spiderwick. And no, I really have no new art aside from collabs with Jill on our X-mas card and a video game loadscreen, booo.

of grump bears and monsters

2008-11-19T17:27:00.006-05:00

grump bears in acrylic on 6x6" canvas, mine is the orange on blue one on the right,

and a traditional version of a panel from my CHAOS2 comic. this is a 12x12" wood panel also done in acrylic with pen and ink detailing.

i should probably get back into traditional work again. i've been stuck doing digi stuff for so long. fortunately these were all pretty fun and not frustrating (as i was expecting them to be XD)

still not king

2008-11-19T13:54:00.012-05:00

Heeey there internets! We visited the ROM and the AGO recently during TORONTO ADVETURE NIGHTS WITH SCOTT and, as expected, we discovered dinosaurs and art! Overall I'd say the ROM was more fun, because honestly who likes looking at art? The highlights at the ROM for me were the giant turtle, sloth, and armadillo. I like giant versions of things that are small today. Also, the 'Insects and Asians in Miniskirts' section was quite good. But honesly, who makes out at the ROM in a room full of bugs? The highlight of the AGO was the AGO. The building rocks, the art is ok. And no, we didn't do anything mean while we were so close to OCAD.

Artistic accomplishments of the last month include:

My face. No wait, spontaneously dying my hair some blonde-orange colour that doesn't show up as much in this pic as it does for real. My hair is now like a golden field of wheat gently blowing in a cool Fall wind... no wait, that's a Winter gale out there.

Art table! Replete with art! Art products! and primed minis! Jill and I have been working on some wood and also canvas, using acrylics, watercolour, ink, gouache, and yeah pretty much everything. Too bad it's kinda blurry. Here we have a grump bear (half of a pair, based on the buttons Jill and I made), some kind of cyclopean jellyfish (the watercolour made this thin wood go all flakey/splintery), and an old mouse skeleton sketch from two years ago that I'm not sure what to do with now. Ideas on how to finish that one? (the red one)

And last but not least, this (which speaks for itself clearly)! The 'crap' is just a cut out piece of paper, it's not ACTUALLY on there so I could leave it off or change it to 'carp'... AHAHAHAH...

Now Jill just needs to post hers! Post, Jill, post!

frogdoodles

2008-11-05T15:52:00.004-05:00

a little traditional tidbit i managed to crank out at Zach's grandma's house. awwww, aren't they cuuuute?

imma weiner - PRAC 08 juried show

2008-11-03T11:22:00.004-05:00

It turns out that if you're a decent artist, and decently lucky, and have someone who's willing to help you by shelling out hundreds of dollars for framing, you can win at these juried show dealies! I was mostly expecting to get totally wiped, this being my first juried show, but I was fortunate enough to have both pieces (the cat shoe pen + ink and the pistol and rose pastel one) I entered accepted as well as win one of the medium level awards. This is most cool! Jill and I hit up the reception on Thursday night with my Grandmother (who seemed to know everyone) and there was lots of good work and interesting people to be seen. Of 180 entries, 70 pieces were accepted. I entered the adult category and was probably the youngest person to take an award so that makes me feel speshul, aww. And what did my Grandmother have to say about it? "Win a bigger one next time!" Ok, I'm on it. Thanks PRAC, thanks Grandma. Z out.

digger monkies

2008-10-16T18:34:00.002-04:00

Digger Monkey, not artist, has been my profession throughout the last two months. I joined up with an archaeological team to make some lewt and ended up staying a bit longer than the initial two weeks. It's hard. It's dang hard, but it pays well and I'd rather have poison ivy than work sales. I did a bit of artifact illustration while I was at it, an arrowhead, some pottery, and an old military jacket button. The arrowhead, and all other native tools, are deceptively hard to draw. They have to show how the chert was flaked to form the tool, so it ends up more like mapping than illustrating.

But now, at last, both Jill and I are back in Oakville, doin' stuff and... yeah, stuff. Bein' done. Kinda. I think I have to return to Sheridan next year if I'm to finish my degree, but I don't see that happening. Rather, I shall drift like a jellyfish in the ocean of life, swept by the currents and occasionally stinging people. As you can tell by that awesome metaphor, I have been doing a lot of writing. Well, actually I have! I'd super-dee-duper like to have something published this year so I'll be working on that, maybe try to bring the Rotten Fruit Sprites back. Hopefully Chaos 2 is completed someday and Furt and Gus are exposed to the world. ANTI released their days and week issue at last with my rotten bananas in it so anything is possible! I also need to hook up with people again, as I've been in the middle of nowhere for two months collecting great stories to share about propane and outhouses, timber wolves, and collapsing docks! Hooray! And how did the Liberals lose Oakville?

illustrative 2008

2008-07-17T12:55:00.003-04:00

Hey all, just wanted to share the website of an Illustration festival being held it Zurich I believe and now taking submissions. Could be a good chance for some international exposure. The website is http://www.illustrative.de so have a looksee.

In other news, big thanks to my GRANDMA for help getting some work framed for my first go at a juried show coming in the Fall in Pickering. I also picked up a watercolour book while I was there, and I NEVER buy art books so you know it must be good! It's called 'The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook Landscapes' by Gordon MacKenzie, and aside from being a really nice book design, it has a lot of tips and tricks (watercolour is all about tricks!) that are applicable to more than just landscapes. I've also been reading another book about fairy art and it's origins and it's surprising, at least to me, to find that Shakespeare was possibly the greatest contributor to the movement towards an interest in fairies, for adults and children alike. Without the popularitiy of plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream, fairy (and I use the word very broadly) art may never have gained enough interest to develop the richness it has today.

As for my personal art, I have neither drawn nor painted in a good month, and it's damn near time I remedied that!

illustrophile feature

2008-07-17T11:32:00.002-04:00

yes, it's a bit late, but i wanted to post a screencap of our feature on illustrophile (thank you so much, btw!) so here it is! click the image to go to our feature on the illustrophile blog.

creative spaces

2008-06-26T15:02:00.003-04:00

Living and working in someone else's home is a huge damper on creativity. I thought when we came down to Ottawa to work for the summer I might still paint a bit at night and check out the arts community in this area in my off time, but by the time I've put in my shift and gotten back to my room that's just big enough for a bed, table, and laundry basket, all I want to do is vegetate. Shower, dinner, putter on computer, collapse. In 2 weeks I haven't written or drawn anything, and it's a total null mindset - no ideas, no execution, just existing. I think that working in your own creative space is best, working in a public space is not bad, but working in someone else's space is hard as heck.

However, it WAS quite neat to see our studio up on Illustrophile. Jill had said a bit about it before we left Oakville and I was looking through and seeing a few familiar names but I didn't think about it much after that, being so busy. Obviously Jill did though, because 2 days ago she called me over to show me the site again and I was pretty surprised to see 'hey... that's us!'

The last thing I did before we left was a submission for on online showcase magazine thing called ANTI. I wanted to get something in for their Days and Week (which I always think of as 'daze and weak' now) theme and the deadline was two days after we left Oakville, but I don't know what's up with it now. I got it in a couple days early but their page still says submissions open, deadline June 15th so I'm just waiting to see if something happens there. And here it is, my week long rotting banana project (which made my work area smell quite wonderful). I love painting rotten fruit!

fruits, veggies, and relocating

2008-06-09T23:03:00.008-04:00

Vicki Nerino fashioned me this wee zombigranite pin, the first (I hope) of a veritable army of Rotten Fruit Sprite characters of its kind. Thank you Vicki!

As for myself, I've been painting fruits and veggies for various nefarious purposes. Like this rhubarb!

Art is however going to have to take a back seat for the next three months as we return to the Ottawa area to work (first at a strawberry farm, then doing interior finishing) to build up those much needed dollars that artists frequently lack.

P.S. Lots of good stuff to see over at illustrationmundo.com, I've been enjoying browsing and seeing a few familiar faces!

ma'am sir show @ passion

2008-06-09T19:08:00.005-04:00

Filipino artist show!
this Thusday, June 12th @ the Passion Lounge
774 Younge St, just south of Bloor
opens @ 7pm
free before 8pm or $5 at the door

first show after the grad show! i'll have 3 or 4 pieces up. hopefully i'll be part of many more, but Zach and i are headed back to Ottawa at the end of the week to work there for the rest of the summer. i'll still be trying to work on my Chaos2 story, which i've been slacking on horribly, and i also wanted to do some *gasp* traditional pieces for the Square Foot show @ the AWOL gallery in August. hopefully, hopefully.

J~

website update

2008-06-07T19:22:00.006-04:00

lotus-ink.com was updated today! 4 new pieces in scitech, 1 in personal and there's now 4 friend banners up in the link section. go check it out!

and here's something i forgot to post awhile back. it was my good friend Cyp's birthday from studioqube at the start of May so i drew him a present.

J~

rotten fruit sprites

2008-05-12T14:00:00.004-04:00

I've grown quite fond of Furt (the orange), Gus (the banana), and the others (zombigranites, molddoggs, Stinky) whilst working on the Rotten Fruit Sprites piece for Chaos 2. Fond enough that I think I'd like to do more with them - but what more remains to be seen! The story for Chaos 2 is finished now, it's 9 pages and an end page, and is 'to be continued...'. Now I have a couple months to stare at it and make little changes before the big print date. Below are a couple character studies done during the design stage that I've also made into buttons. Afterwards I found out there was a book character awhile back called the Stinky Cheese Man that my Stinky character resembles but I don't know if mine should be changed now... they're kinda similar but it seems pretty generic to put a round cheese on a body so maybe it's not so bad.

a bit late, but...

2008-05-05T15:32:00.004-04:00

CHAOS!! a small graphic novel anthology put together by a group of friends from Sheridan college in the 2008 graduating year. it was a really fun and exciting project and being published (well, self-published, but still published) is a great feeling. having a hard copy of your work in print is just amazing. we're already started on the second volume. our contributer list has doubled and it looks like it'll be another exciting ride. we'll be at FanExpo in August selling CHAOSv1 and hopefully v2 as well.

[click the photo to go to the CHAOS website]

J~

sheridan illustration grad show (part 2)

2008-05-04T10:03:00.007-04:00

the grad show was a huge success! it was a lot of fun and packed the opening night. unfortunately i didn't talk to any of the industry guests and mostly hung out with friends and family but i did get to chat with a lot of people i don't get to see very often, so that was nice.

on to the photos! [click the photo for a link to a big photo collage]

website!

2008-05-02T19:08:00.002-04:00

the site is now up and operational!
check it out: www.lotus-ink.com

J~

get with the arting!

2008-05-02T15:08:00.007-04:00

I've been working on preliminary roughs for my Chaos the second contribution, dragging up 3 year old characters of mine and getting a little inspiration by looking at Scott Campbell's work.

Furt & Gus: Rotten Fruit Sprites!

Also, throwing it out there (briefly for now, more details later) for friends and peers, Jill and I do have a button machine and can take care of small scale (500 or less per order?) button production needs, for self-promotion, selling, next year's grad show, or whatever other purpose you might find for buttons!

Z out

welcome to the world

2008-04-30T13:03:00.002-04:00

Wait, haven't I been here before? No? They call this the 'real world' for some reason, like it's all been fun and games up to this point, but now we're in for some SERIOUS business!

Jill's grad show was nuts. That was a LOT of people, fortunately some of them were old friends and family we hadn't seen in awhile. It was a good time, but I can say I've had my fill of downtown TO life for awhile.

Thanks to my buggered up wrists, I doubt I'll be able to finish my sci/tech illustration degree this Fall, but it won't stop me from being an artist *dramatic stance w/ lens flare*. Basically my ability to use a computer is severely reduced, but I never really liked those newfandangled things anyhow. I'm going back to the old, slow, no undo button way of working for everything but I don't mind all that much. The biggest trouble is the translation to digital - figuring out the specifics of preserving traditional quality once it's transferred to digital.

Right now we're finishing up the lotus ink studio website (coming very very soon!) and working on the first wave of promotional material (buttons, mailers, stickers, etc.). The biggest battle is getting our name out into a competitive market, and it's slow and sometimes intimidating, but that's the REAL WORLD!

Jill and I are both working on new stories for the second Chaos book (graphic novel anthology I think they call it), which will feature many peers (some from the first book like Jill, and some new recruits like myself) and a few special guests this time. I'm not giving anything away, but it's a safe bet to assume there will be fungus of some kind in my piece.

I think I'll leave it here for today, lots more to come soon though.

Z out

sheridan illustration grad show

2008-04-24T13:24:00.005-04:00

the annual Sheridan illustration grad show is tonight (7pm-1am) and tomorrow (3pm-10pm) @ the Burroughes Building 639 Queen Street West, Toronto. excitement! will update with photos and more news after the weekend.

J~

spring cleaning

2008-03-05T19:51:00.005-05:00

wiping and revamping the blog. it's now a dual purpose blog for myself and Zach as we're going to be acting as a studio together. interpretive and sci/tech work wrapped up in one sweet lil package. as Pete Ryan once said, "you guys will be a double threat! like a scorpion with an uzi!"

J~