Dark Side? Light Side?

Every month I get to create artwork for a Phil Callaway article in the Insights magazine. I love this challenge every time - he's hilarious and heart felt and usually a perfect candidate for a cheeky illustration. In August A Letter to Blain was published, in which he encourages a young man in the way of living a life of Joy. I keyed in on one phrase, and the general love of all things Star Wars, and came up with this piece.

"Go Make A Difference. Like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker you’ll have opportunity all day to choose the dark or the light. Brighten the world for others and the sun will shine on you." -Phil Callaway, A Letter to Blain

Grandma Acts of Kindness

A recent Insights digital illustration. Be kind everybody :)

Illustration Case Study

As you may know, one of my favourite things to do is illustrate. Here's a peak at my process! My own version of "how its made." This illustration is from the June Insights Magazine for an article called "Battling Disappointment." You'll be glad to know after numerous corrections I am finally able to spell "Disappointment" ("its like "appointment" with "dis" at the front!" -Robyn).

I usually start with a shape in my mind. Once it forms enough I put it on paper or ipad, then begin to bring it to life. I usually use a pencil, Photoshop and Illustrator at some point in each illustration. This guy was brought into photoshop for final texturing and some extra shading/refining. A bit of graphic accessorizing if you will.

I won't lie to you, there are many times that I get my roughs done and then realize that I hadn't planned well enough for incorporating it with the article. Sometimes it takes a bit of refining to get it all to work together! Never mind working it with the other 6 or 7 articles in each magazine...

I often plan to incorporate the title treatment within my illustration. Sometimes that means starting with the title, other times it means adding it once I have most of my elements put together. In all cases I hope and pray that the title doesn't change! 

Crazy Joy - Magazine Illustration

For the May issue of Insights I put together this illustration for an article called "Five Steps to Crazy Joy" by Phil Callaway. At one point in the article he mentions people who find dogs in sweaters funny, so I ran with it. I made use of my new "tattoo artist" light table :D and started with pencil sketches that became pen drawings, and were digitized then coloured in photoshop.

I love seeing these characters come to life. I don't usually have a completed concept or character in my brain when I start working, and its like putting my pencil to the paper draws them out of some corner of my mind. Yes, my mind is secretly full of little dogs in sweaters. I'll end on that.

Magazine Highlights: March 2013

Here are some more magazine shots. I'm sharing March today, since April hits the virtual newstands and most mailboxes on wednesday. As I put these together I realized I missed a few pages, but since they were mostly text I decided it didn't matter :D. I enjoyed infusing the easter issue with bright celebratory colours, since we have so much to celebrate this time of year :D (here is the full digital version if you'd like to read it).

Magazine Highlights

Here are some shots from a recent magazine (February 2013). I love how the colour scheme turned out (a bit of a green & purple mixture) and I had some fun with illustration and cupcakes :D. Oh and we can't forget my very first photoshoot with Barbie! Ironically, I had to do a lot of retouching to her face. She had lipstick drips on her chin! Thank you macro lens :D (and here is the full digital version if you'd like to read it)
I did not photograph the awesome frog or the cuddly lamb. Both are properly credited in print.

Show Me Canadian

Its a wonderful thing to be Canadian.

We like coffee, hockey, and ... beavers? oh and igloos, sled dogs, and seal hunting (how we pay for our  dial up internet/new parkas).

No really, we love to laugh about all the Canadian stereotypes out there that apply to a very small number of our population (but are none-the-less true). We canadians don't take life too seriously eh! We will poke fun of ourselves all day long. (Just don't suggest we're basically American - unless you want to see some mad kung fu slap down).

A few weeks ago I did up this illustration to go with the heading "Sharpening Our Edge." We discussed the possibility of using a wood cutter as a non-violent way to sharpen our edge, and once I had him in his plaid-covered lumberjack glory I had to add the beaver and Rrroll up the Rim cup. The concept was rejected in favour of a more serious approach, but I was so fond of him I got permission to share him on the blog.

What do you think? An appropriate amount of canadiana? Maybe someday we'll find the right use and the right audience. At least for that beaver...he's sharp.

Get Sketchin

All throughout design school I heard "sketch, sketch sketch. Don't stop sketching." "start with a sketchbook!" "lets see your sketches!"

I'll be honest, it has never come easy to me. Usually my pencil gets me the first 5% of an idea and then I jump to the computer. As I've delved deeper into illustration though, I've managed to figure out how sketching fits into my design process. Illustrations always start in my sketchbook, and more and more often so do the rest of my ideas. It's way easier to block out a layout shapes in 2 seconds flat than actually build everything before realizing the balance is off.

I've been really blessed to have the use of an ipad at work, and I've found a few apps that opened up a new world: digital sketching! I still haven't replaced the pencil and paper, but the ipad has worked its way into my flow as a new tool. And I can't lie, its much more satisfying to see your quick design show up in crisp colours or vector shapes than vague pencily scribbles.

If you're curious about my favourites, here they are:

Adobe Ideas: vector shapes you can whip up and then transfer to your computer for more detailed editing
Inkpad: the ipad version of illustrator (basically). You can do more detailed edits and built complex vector shapes.
Paper: my favourite for sketching! Its super quick and easy to lay out ideas, but the downside is you can only use these sketches as low res web images (all the bits in the image above are made in paper), no vector options here :(. if there were, this app would be KILLER. Oh also, you have to pay more if you want any extra brush tips or colours. boo!

Illustrated Lately

Here are a few of my favourite illustrations from the last few months:

"Stuff I Used to Covet" was based off of a line from the article that referred to all the stuff the author used to think was worth working for. I sketched out the bulging shed and scanned it in, originally thinking I could use my hand-drawn sketch as the basis for a photoshop illustration. My efforts were not getting me where I wanted to go though, so I ended up re-drawing the piece in illustrator to achieve the clean, vector-drawing look. I'm totally happy with the way it turned out: I love this style and working with a limited colour palette.

"Discoveries" Is based off of a reference the author makes to the archaeologist (have you ever tried to spell that word?! seriously!) who discovers King Tut's tomb. I ended up thinking about the character of  Jane's father in Disney's rendition of Tarzan, and he became the inspiration for my pudgy archaeologist.  I decided to flow with the disney theme and tried my hand at a disney-style illustration that I totally love. It was a good time for it too: all that gold! I had so much fun working out those glowing details, especially on his face. I love adding little details like a totally unbelievable thin floor - it ads an irony in how close the treasure was to the surface. Fun! One of these days I've got to hunker down and do a whole book. 

Hope you like them! 

Daddy of the Bride Illustration

From December's Insights Magazine for an article called "Daddy of the Bride."

A Christmas Favourite

This illustration for Phil Callaway's article in the November issue of Insights will go down as one of my favourites. Danny Brown had a great first Christmas.

I hope you're getting as ready for the holidays as I am! (my work brain has already moved past christmas into 2013, but my home brain is itching to get decorating!)

Simple.

some people are really good at being succinct. I am not. But I will try, because really, its simple. 

Recently everything changed for me when I realized, like really UNDERSTOOD, that life is much much richer when you think about others rather than yourself. We're all much more selfish than we realize. The next time you feel unworthy, awkward, ugly, or like a failure, just STOP, and find someone to serve. Nothing makes you feel worse about yourself than dwelling on the fact that you feel bad about yourself. The truth is: you are NOT any of those things. You are incredibly valued and loved by your creator! The only way you will understand that in your heart, in the midst of feeling the complete opposite, is to start living like you're worth it so you can see the proof. Focus on others, and eventually you'll look back and see the sunrise.

...was that ok to say? 

June Insights Magazine: What's over the hill?

Another favourite! I feel so, well, happy when I think about this issue. I think its the colours. I somehow pulled of the "bright for summer" look I was going for in the June issue, even though the weather here didn't really participate. I shared some photos of my fun cover project back while I was working on it, because I just couldn't keep it in! Click HERE to see the full digital issue and read the articles. Or just get the cliff notes version below, with some of my favourite images.

Using my hands

I always use my hands. I've had nightmares about losing them, because I'd have to be one of those (amazing!) people who learns to paint with their toes, or draw with their mouth — I don't think I could keep it all inside me.

Projects like this make me especially thankful for my hands though, because I don't think I'd ever master using an exacto with my feet. Hard enough with fingers, thank you! This month brought about a new opportunity to try out a new technique and be a bit more tactile than my usual computer-based artwork. I've been so inspired lately by the paper work of Owen Gildersleeve that when I found myself stumped for a photoshoot, I decided to take one from his book and make my ideal location! kinda. I love how this combines THREE of my loves, photography, illustration, AND crafting! Creating a scene in 3D (reminds me of the shadow boxes of yesteryear) opens up a new dimension of storytelling! I don't think this will be my last work of paper. yay!

Here are some "production shots", stay tuned for the completed piece on the cover of the June 2012 Insights magazine! (don't forget, if you're in Canada you can sign up to get it for free! And if you used to get it but stopped...that's because you didn't call to renew, silly. So just sign up again, OK?)