New Work: Wired kids 24/7



New piece for Macalaster magazine.
Experimenting with a much more limited palette.
To carry this out means sacrificing realistic colour. (ie making hair navy blue) which is fine with me - hope the AD feels the same way.
Also experimenting with incorporating pattern - the orange dots pattern.
I think the limit palette works and is more interesting than realistic coloring but
it is a departure from my normal colouring style so ...i'll wait and see if the art director approves it!

New Work: Facebook girl



Am working on a piece for Macalaster U. called "All teched out". It explores the pros and cons of university kids being wired 24/7.

I drew the sketch very quickly as i was in mad rush to get to a party.
Because i worked quickly the drawing has a nice loose energy to it. Is much better than something i'd work on for hours.
i have to learn this lesson over and over.
javascript:void(0)
I'm going to do the lettering in white and add lots of background elements for interest.

Input: Illustrator and printmaker Nate Williams

Insert 2 images here.
I think Nate Williams is one of the best illustrators working today

His work contains beautiful spontaneous drawings, a very unique colour palette with interesting colour combinationsn fun
inventive lettering and great silk screen like textures. Its also vey strong conceptually.

In addition to being very talented he is also incredibly thoughtful and articulate about his process
On his website he explains that he began a zine called Hola amiga in order to "
nurture and explore the subconscious realm, all in a very low tech way. "

Hola Amiga consists of three main components: Input, Output and Reflection. (sounds like a blog)

Input

are the things going on in my life at that specific moment in time. Input are things ranging from music, environments, letters, emails, cultural learning's to things people say, concepts, observations, food, books, weather, mass media, relationships, inspirational people, experiences, exercise, etc .. basically anything a human experiences.

Output

is Hola Amiga .. the disregarded, impulsive, spontaneous, unconsidered, unplanned, unstudied by-product of life's daily influences. These are my drawing, sketches, thoughts, etc.

Reflection

is something I just do in my head. This is when I try to bridge the gap and explain the relationship between the Input and Output. Most of the time I don't realize why I decide to use specific imagery at the time. Eventually I track down the source/influence. In life a lot of the time you have an idea and then you execute it. With Hola Amiga I do the opposite ... I execute it and then sometimes successfully track down the idea. Really not much different than trying to explain the odd events of a dream.

i think this is all great.
It also blows my mind that Nate took the zine one step further and decided to apply this approach to his life as well as his art.
He wanted to invest in the less tangible things like learning a language, living in another country, learning about history and nature, and most of all, just having the free time to experience, think, wonder, and discover.

so he quit his job, sold his house and moved to South America where he currents lives.

This guys really knows how to LIVE.
Inspirational.

Design Sponge podcast: The woman behind Dwell

Today I listened to Grace Bonney's interview with the two women behind Dwell Studio: Christiane Lemieux + Jennifer Chused. The designers explained that they initially designed bedding to go with the very modern "Boutique hotel" beds going on in the late 90s. They created very clean geometric patterns to go along with the furnishings.
(I remember their big dot duvet made such an incredible impact on me when I first saw it)

Dwell's well known chocolate dot pattern

Some gems from the interview:
When the big companies started ripping off their geometric patterns they didn't worry! They used it as a kick in the pants and decided to "jump off that band wagon and move in a more 'decorator luxe' direction."
They travel the world for inspiration. Christine feels that 'you are a more relaxed when you travel -- so your best ideas come to you then'. "We are always looking for the one piece of fabric at the flea market that contains genius".
Really inspirational interview. Highly recommended.

Ps. Design Sponge has many other great podcasts in their archive including interviews with Thomas Paul, Denyse Schmidt and Lotta Jansdotter. Inspirational and great company when folding laundry!