From the Lab

A roundup of recent experiments. These are personal pieces that I create when I need a bit of a creative kickstart.

Living in Isolation

February is a waiting game

Creative Mindset

Deadlines: before and after

Experiments and Orphans

I create mechanisms without purpose that serve no apparent function. It's a process, tied deeply into a search for something undiscovered.

It feeds and informs my work, weaving into completely unrelated assignments, illustrations, and prints. Some of these never see print or publication and are 'orphans'.

Here are a number of recent pieces that emerged from the process. A number of these are from the 'Heavy Thinkers' series, based on old dynamo diagrams, discovered in a dusty old set of instruction manuals.

Unwound/wound

Apropos of nothing, a colossal mouse head spewing electrons and random subatomic particles.

Ground Control

Lost Memory

Deep Learner

Undecided

Retrofit

Influencer

 

Spun

Pushing colour and textures with this one.

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If you would like to purchase prints, please see my online gallery at Big Cartel.

Heavy Thinkers

I saw the movie 'Shape of Water' and I loved the machine aesthetic of the sets. I collect old technical journals and I mined the images for some heavy industrial drawings and got to work. I haven't had a lot of creative time recently, I just finished a major children's book project and a lot of editorial work.

Here are the images in the series, these are all two colour transparent images on an warm background. I really enjoyed working on these, and I kept the series rolling, longer than I would have anticipated. It's great to create flow and get swept up by an idea that carries you along. I don't know where I am going with this yet, I may be creating a series of riso prints. Stay tuned.

Test Run

Heavy Thinker #1

Positive Vibration

Data Miner

Troll

Maximum Productivity

Ad Infinitum

Hello 2017

Let me quote a little Dickens to kick things off:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…"

Here's a personal piece called 'Disruptor', about the unpredictability of technology and politics, the feeling of seismic shifts beneath our feet.

This year felt like some kind of reallignment, or hiccup, or catastrophe, depending on your viewpoint or politics. I am hopeful for a new beginning in 2017, but frightened by the pace of change. 

Having said that, I have to put together some images from the fall. I've been super busy the past few months, always thinking about posting some work, so my first resolution for the year is right here, read on.

Here's a piece for Reader's Digest about understanding and treating Migraines. It's an interesting article and my son suffers from them, so I could really connect with the subject matter. Scientists are working on new strategies, getting a better understanding of triggers and brain physiology in the hunt for new insights and treatments.

I got a little lost in the details on this illustration for Watershed magazine about perils and peculiarities of pipelines.

Pour This Story Down Your Pipeline by Orland French.

Terry Gilliam was a huge influence on me when I was growing up, I always loved his animated work and connecting all these pipes and random elements made me think of the great things he did when he was starting out. I had a lot of fun pulling this together.

Big Data

Squeaking this update in on the last day of summer.

Things ramped up quickly this September, I have some exciting news I am waiting to announce on a national poster campaign. More to come on that in the coming months!

I started teaching again this semester at Sheridan, I work with third and fourth year students on courses related to information-based illustration. I have asked my fourth year students to consider where art and science intersect, and the workshop has been dubbed 'big data'.

We are surrounded by big data and live in an age of information. Understanding and being able to communicate knowledge and ideas visually is critical in business and media. This workshop explores illustration, science, observation, and data visualization through a series of research-driven exercises. Students are encouraged to foster creativity and curiosity, defined accurately and effectively through different media.

I took it upon myself to illustrate some technology-driven collages. How do we relate to our digital devices? How does it serve us and/or control us? All of our likes, searches, purchases and comments are tracked and quantified, packaged and traded. At what point does social media reward us for our patience and commitment? More and more, the fruits of our labour feels tainted. The new iPhone 7 was launched while I was working on these. Not much of a wave, or movement, or ripple. Just another costly upgrade.

Here are some images from the series.

'Status Update'

This piece is about digital surveillance.

'Interface'

'User Persona'

Here's a little doodle that summed things up nicely: Concept Engine