Thanos

Illustrator warm-up of Thanos, one of my favourite Marvel characters.


sketch:

TCAF / NY mag / NMAs / the Greater Good

I had an AMAZING time at TCAF this year! I was glad to meet many illustrators I've admired for years (including Daniel Clowes). I can't believe I almost didn't go...
Here I am drawing at the Owlkids table:

Here's a recent infographic for the current issue of New York magazine is also online. It supports an open-letter to LeBron James, encouraging him to become a NY Knick after he becomes a free agent.



I'm included among the National Magazine Awards nominations, and will be attending the gala in June. My entries can be found on the NMA site:
How to > Cottage Life > Captain Cottager Single Service Article package > explore > Do It Like An Olympian

Since April, I've been sharing a studio space with 3 other creatives. We're calling our collective, "the Greater Good". I'll be posting more on that in the coming weeks.

Here for There: Haiti Art Fundraiser

Mike (Zeke) Zavacky invited me to donate artwork for this Thursday's "Here for There" Haiti fundraiser. My sketch is entitled, "Where There is Life".

Entrance donation is $5. Proceeds from all sales is being donated to World Vision's relief effort.

Le Petit Mort Gallery
306 Cumberland Street
Ottawa, Ontario

Process Revealed: the Weekly Cartoon

Whoah! It's been a long time since I've posted... so much going on... undergoing a kitchen reno while preparing for the imminent arrival of our baby daughter!

Every Tuesday, I've got to submit my editorial cartoon to the Ottawa X Press by 4:30pm. I'm a moderate news and politics junkie, but I pay extra close attention to the news on Mondays and Tuesdays, scanning for topics that I hope will still be relevant when the newspaper hits the newsstand on Thursday morning.

This week, Jack Layton is allegedly going to prop up the Conservatives in exchange for this new social security thingy, under threat of an election call from the Iggy. This is juicy grist for the cartoon mill!

First thought comes to mind is that the NDP and Conservatives make strange bedfellows, which naturally leads to the classic metaphorical image of the two leaders in bed together. It's been done before billions of times, but it still tickles me. So I proceed with the artwork - still unsure of what the exact dialogue exchange will be. I ponder this while I draw...

Here's my initial caption:


Obviously this presumes the deed has already been done. But I stew on this a little, and then wonder if I've left out a little too much information. Revising it to:



But something about this strikes me as awkward. Then I arrive at a statement that implies the deed is yet to occur, and I figure I can get away with the possibility that Jack is undoing his tie, instead of doing it back up!

Latest Cartoon

It just sickens me that the latter can be considered even remotely newsworthy.

New Portfolio Website!

Phew! After months of setbacks, I finally managed to complete my new website! Hopefully the whole user experience has been improved. There's a bunch of new work up there, with more to come!

The Canadian Government is in Chaos!

ICE Awards: Best Illustration

Thanks to my friend Aaron Mackenzie Fraser, I just found out that I won an ICE Award for Best Illustration last night!

Here's a series of Treasury bureaucrat portraits, just completed for NY mag.

Keep Control: Series 2

A few illos from the native-youth directed "Keep Control" series...

The Hilarious Adventures of Mish and Mash

Owl Kids, the publisher's of ChickaDEE magazine, have just released a new joke book, fully illustrated by yours truly! It collects most of the illustrations I've done since beginning with ChickaDEE in 2002, and also introduces three new characters: Mish, Mash and the cagey Mush!

Crucified Ronald McDonald is a Cliché

My friend Drew Gonsalves sent me this article. I love that the author exposes the sacrilegious art "formula" for what it is.

2Magazine spots

Current Kayak magazine cover

and some Gabe & Allie spots (from the inside pages)

Carniverous

Meat cuts for NY Mag...

Tu Ciudad: Pop Quiz illoz

For the spanish community LA mag

Recycling Images

Envelope Dooooooooodles

Shazam!

is also the name of my cat.

Happy 2008

Profit magazine

Illustration for Profit magazine, for a series entitled, "Your Next Big Thing". This is a socio/eco-conscious Gen-Yer.