Ice Cream for Crow

Sitting in my studio, semi-delirious from the heat. A couple of things spring to mind: Captain Beefheart's video Ice Cream for Crow (so cool and so hot) and a poster project for Intrepid Theatre in Toronto. Feeling the heat like a human cannonball. Looking to get to the beach as soon as possible. Wish I could launch myself into the water.

 Worked with Clint Hutzulak at Rayola Design on this project. Love doing posters!

Everybody is fighting for their slice of the pie these days, including those in the legal profession. Here is the latest cover for Canadian Lawyer.

Summer is a season of unrest. Stay cool, folks.

Juggling Type and Dancing Bears

I always enjoy adding lettering into my artwork. This cover for Anvil Press' Valery the Great allowed me to design the title type, layout and illustration. This book just hit the shelves and has been receiving great reviews.

I got the call from Rayola designs last fall. Working on a book cover is always an exciting challenge, like jumping into a pool of endless possibilities. The book is a collection of stories, one of which centres on a young woman who performs on skates with a Russian dancing bear. I wanted to capture a retro, small-town circus feel in the type and the illustration.

Here's a brief synopsis:

Valery the Great is a crackling, electric collection of dark humour that follows the bizarre and beautiful lives of its protagonists. Sometimes sweet and gentle, sometimes sharply sarcastic, the unique narrative voices in this collection are always powerfully touching.

I was given some suggestions by designer Clint Hutzulak. Here are some of the thumbnails submitted.

I was asked to 'weird things up' as much as possible by the client. How awesome is that? To emphasize the mythical nature of the bear, I used a map of the constellations as a backdrop, putting it in place of Ursa Major. I used a simple colour scheme and added in playful elements.

Here is the illustration with the type sketched in.

 

I was told by the author the cover was everything she could hope for. Everybody wins.

“The writing is lively, like good gossip at a journalists' watering hole or a fighters' hangout. McCluskey is a vigorous, colourful and often humorous writer, with a sharp and sometimes wicked eye.” -- The Globe and Mail.

Blinded by Science

I knew who Magnus Pyke was before his rants of Science! set the tone for Thomas Dolby's ubercheesy techno pop smash hit. He was a panelist on the show Don't Ask Me. Hey, I'm a science geek.

The age of the gentleman scientist has passed, but there are like-minded individuals toiling away in relative obscurity, observing the world around them, taking notes and filling sketchbooks. I spent my formative years collecting insects and keeping a journal of sketches of the creatures I saw in the wooded ravine behind my house. That experience, and the observational skills it involved, laid the groundwork for a budding young illustrator. You have to have a boundless curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.

I had the chance to illustrate a cover for University of California, Berkeley's College of Engineering magazine Forefront.

 

Forefront used an illustration on the cover for the first time. Kudos to designer Alissar Reyes, who I worked with on the cover and inside layout. I also worked with Silas Pandoori and Todd Edmonds at Iron design, creating the cover for Cornell University's Connections. Another first-time use of a fullly illustrated cover.

 

When I went to University, my two favourite courses were Biology and Art History. At the time, I would have happily chose a career in either field. Art won out. I still love doing these assignments, being an illustrator exposes me to so many different ideas, concepts and theories.

The article for Stanford discusses artificial intelligence. It is an interesting look at using technology to diffuse complex and dangerous strategies and conflicts. Alissar nailed this layout contrasting a photograph of the scientist featured in the article with the illustration I created. They do look alike!

I followed up the cover illustration with inside spots based on the three main factors upon which human intelligence is based: learning, knowledge, and reasoning. Developing artificial intelligence requires an incorporation of all of these elements.

I know that computers are becoming more and more sophisticated and that we are fast approaching the time when artificial intelligence matches wits with users on a day-to-day basis. Programming a computer to play chess is one thing, but when the day comes that my computer suddenly cracks a joke that makes me laugh, I will throw it out the window. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, the one thing I really can't stand is a smart-ass.

Springtime

Nothing like a change of seasons, and nothing more exciting than springtime. Once the snowdrifts melt and the yard gets cleaned up, it's time to play.

Spring was on my mind when I whipped up this cover for the Washington Post's Real Estate section. Snowflakes were still drifting by the studio window when I was working on this piece, but it was warm and bright in the studio.