hours to go!

hey internet peoples!!

this year is just about up, drinks are being poured, lists for changes are being made... and after all is said and done, its just another day. 

hey so the world didn't end a couple days ago, thats pretty cool, would have been a bummer for sure! hope everyone is doing good, in good health and all that, high spirits. things are good on my end, been busy here and there and so on... lets see... biggest piece of news; got ENGAGED! madness i know. if you know me you know its been a long time coming and i couldn't be happier! now comes the incredible stress and panic of planning the actual event. 

on the art front its been pretty quiet. i did however come to a revelation... i'm an "illustrator" more than i am anything else. if you ask me to draw you a ninja squirrel i will laugh for a few minutes and get it done with gusto! though having to stop and try to think of getting back into galleries; creating a new body of art and being super deep and such... my brain shuts down. so let's not worry about it and have some fun! 

here are some watercolours i was messing with. can't seem to drop the SKULLS heh.

on to some work i've been up to, and awesomeness to come... here is the new cover for the 2nd installment of ALL YOUR FATES, an awesome multi-dimensional novel on WATTPAD, and soon to be much much more ;)   that is all i will say for now. lets just say i will be buying a crap load of new pens!

here is a link to chapters! READ!>>  ALLYOUR FATES  <<

also! will be launching new site, shaking off the past and moving forwards! intend to get back into the thick of things, working the FB fan page, the tweets, the blog, the whole nine! here is a monster i drew at work. yay free time at work to draw random stuff!... mostly monsters. yep. it is what it is.

 

wish you all the best. hope 2013 works pretty sweet with you all. lets all get our shits together and live awesome lives! 

lumbar support

hello there,

hows you been?

i have been ok. slaving away at this and that, trying to find a little me time here and there.

have been having some crazy dreams man, which always seems to be the case! in one dream i as losing my mind a la A Beautiful Mind... in another dream i was having an odd dream involving Ice Cube... we were discussing his shitty movies and the bad choices he has made leading up to them. t'was weird.

i will now go into a rant reading from a terribly scratchy scribbled dream written out in the middle of the night. nonsense begin!:

i think it begins with you. we're just lying in bed. however you are someone else. you are telling me this... a connection between a lake drying up and a thought about the end of the world. more people.... word i cant read... dancers. explain truths? -change- im being tested by my aunt. taking multiplechoice questions... simple but nothing makes sense.. i start to make connections between number and things. people. dancing. random thingd in room leading them all to think i am crazy though i know i am not. -change- there are children. idiot savants. again numbers. connections. writing on glass, remembering the dreams. head in the dreams. trying to explain the dream where people all think im crazy - all the while i start to make connections and begin to write numbers. at one point im writing a series of numbers and as i do i see the larger.. matrix of the numbers in my head. as i weite they change and you and i get goosebumps and begin to laugh... crazy. again you. not you... i am explaining everything to you and you are concerned. you are being played by Katie Holmes.. Dustin Hoffman plays my doctor. he says sometimes i get angry and have moments of delusion and nonsense... -change-.. waiting in elevator. kid drops bus transfer no.69. numbers are missing from elevators.. it starts over again. your hair is black. blonde. wig? you are tired of hearing about my dream, of my memories. its all a mess... and it goes on like this for 2 more pages.

fun right? yea i know.

here are some scribbles scribbled out while not busy at work.

also. Superman All Star was released as an animated movie based on the graphic novel. it was pretty awesome. awesome in that it was actually very nicely tied to the book. as such it was not so much enjoyed by the peeps i watched it with as they don't fall Superman at all and could not really follow what was going on and why.... well, i liked it.

lately i have been watching Batman the Brave and the Bold while i paint and such. its pretty cool. the style is different from the usual Bruce Timm. still very enjoyable. storylines are "cuter" than usual.. eh well... for da kids!

also!! a blog i follow entitled Action Figure Blues which reviews and discusses action figure... action picked me as their super random lucky monthly comment winner and i won a Robin figure! hurray for me! this is awesome because i didn't have one. and yes i needed one. now you know. again thanks to Andy of AFB and Mike's Comics n' Stuff for the lovely prize

here is another random doodle. i dunno.

but yea. my back hurts. boo-urns.

quarter century and counting

hey,

so, my birthday past a few days ago. the birthday celebrations were pretty alright. good times were had. whenever my birthday rolls around i can't help but be in a bad mood. not because i am getting older, but because i always try to set some sort of plans/events in motion and they always fall short. 'round my birthday "week" i'm usually quite the diva, i don't mean to be but it just happens... and then i can't shake it off. but whatever. thats over and done with. had fun with friends at Centreville, followed by an unexpected get-together at the gallery, dinner with the family, good times.

unfortunately looking back at what i have accomplished thus far at 25 i can't help but noticed its been mostly eating/spilling on myself, video games, sleeping, and really doing nothing of merit. all in all i have been a slug of a man and need to snap out of it. between this post and the last there are many things i have wanted to say/share but for whatever reason didn't get around to it... so whatever they were, they are now in the yesterdays.

enough of that. here are some drawings i recently coloured. :D

here is the office-y tree character and skull guy again. in this case i decided that i'm the skull headed guy, the girl is my girlfriend. awww... i don't know who that makes the other characters.

not sure where i am going with this one... colour-wise. may just scrap it as colour altogether.

i like how this one turned out. i've never stuck to such a limited palette before. i think its good. like my phony Japanese writing? its just numbers mashed together. haha maybe i should have just researched some kanji. like "strength" or something.

also here is music video for a song i'm looping lately.

more blogging to come. random stuff.

thursday and friday

hey,

i have nothing huge to report just yet. as such i will let you know what is going on this week. short notice yes, but still.

first up is IT'S MEANT TO BEE

a cool group show going on at Dat Salon featuring some lovely Toronto illustrators, including yours truly. the.... rules of the show are that the artists are to use only black+yellow medium + the colour of the "canvas"... so this should be interesting.

411 is as follows:

Start Time:	Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 8:00pm
End Time:	Friday, July 9, 2010 at 12:00am
Location:	Dat Salon
Street:	442e Duffrin st
City/Town:	Toronto, ON or click HERE for facebook page.

next up is a show at SHOW & TELL gallery.

'The Beauty of Failure' a solo show by Anthony Lister.

this guy is pretty awesome. he produces some super great comic-book inspired paintings; raw lines and colours. its stuff i personally find very inspirational... even though i am obviously a failure at describing it.

411 is as follows:

Start Time:	Friday, July 9, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time:	Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 7:00pm
Location:	Show & Tell Gallery
Street:	1161 Dundas St. W
City/Town:	Toronto, ON or click here for facebook event page

so.. yea. this is what i am up to later this week. that and the usual.

i will try and post some new work soon. also some exciting news about other projects i am working on. yes yes.

summer stuff

hey,

so it is officially summer. this is good. also bad. it means the year is soon coming to an end. it means that super heat waves of death will begin to wreak havoc over the city. it means that cold Coronas will be served and beaches will be visited.

when i was younger my family would always go camping. at least once a year, usually leaving on my birthday (july19). so many memories of cold lakes, mosquito bites, camp fires, froggies... overall good times. unfortunately the years have not been kind to such family activities. our family, once huge and connected is now old and dispersed. family outings of the sort involving cousins and uncles are a thing of yesteryears.

my younger brother (15) is growing up on summers wasted away video-gaming and tv watching into the wee hours of the... morning. that just ain't right. how is he supposed to break bones or get lost in the woods if he doesn't leave his room?

kids belong outside. thats where life happens.

treasures of time

today i sit typing on one of the computers at my "alma mater"... as i continue to count my internet-less days. today, however, i am armed with a USB stick! meaning i am not completely naked in the web that is the internet.

i have no relevant information to share but i do have pictures...well... just 3 but still... i want to share.---

ok so this is an amazing little clay sculpture i found at a second hand store the other day. it has this weird little demon guy sitting on a horse or something. there was a second one with a purple similar demon eating icecream... but i decided to only buy one. didn't want to be greedy. anyways, i think it is most amazing. there is no writing or anything on the sculpture so i don't know where its from... if any of you out there know. please let me know.--



next we have these two super awesome autographed photos of AdamWest (Batman, duh) and Julie Newar (Catwoman) that my girlfriend's lovely parents got me for my birthday.
of course they went up on my wall pretty fast. which really just made me think how much better they would look had i a sweet loft with exposed brick walls and such to hang them on. really the only photos that would top these would be an autogrpahed (to me) photo of the late, great Christopher Reeve. but alas he was needed elsewhere. life is funny like that... or something.--
speaking of life and death and enjoying it while you can... in case you did not know... contest is happening. do it up.

this is all i have to say for now.i have an insane amount of work to upload to ye olde website once i get the chance. keep checking back. much love.

part of a complete breakfast

lately i have been drawing, photoshop-ing and painting almost daily. my breakfast meals (my food when i get up, regardless of actual time) has been composed of honeynut cheerios with strawberries and blackberries, followed by a healthy dose of sketchbook and coffee.

which is awesome. but it also means i have to get out more. which i have been doing! to walk the dog... which means cold, freezing, leash holding hands of death. damn unexpected ice wind!!

anywho... i have nothing exciting to say. have an art show starting... in a few hours i suppose. that is good.... hopefully that goes super-fantastic. we are getting it catered! which apparently means springrolls! oh delish. who needs wine and cheese when you have greasy stuffs!!?
now if only i had words of wisdom to impart on you dear readers... but i dont.
this is what i have been up to:

drew this some time ago. got to colouring it. not sure about the purple.

this thing was drawn same day as one above. coloured it the other day... tried some collage aspects. some elements work. enough of them to leave it be.

the birds with belly teeth are relatively new. somewhat the same design of a penguin i drew maybe 4yrs ago now... wow so long... and i still love shoving mouths into belly regions! mostly on birds... i make myself wonder sometimes... other times not so much. i'm not sure what is going on in this picture. it will probably be a long night for the penguin looking guy.
the tree/bird/henchman character is new. i love him. so much i will paint him!!

i did say i wanted to paint him. no clue how this will turn out. this is how it goes. this thing is pretty big... well for me anyways. 3x4 feet.

this came out this "morning" and was coloured shortly after. fresh!!
does anybody want to make this a tshirt for me?
ps. don't steal images!! -- bad karma!

i will close with this. drawn seconds before the hydra monster. debating whether to colour at all. debating whether to make it a series... a bible study of sorts.

smiles and snares

its amazing how i have gone from fighting the urge to blog blog blog to worrying that my blogger account thing will be shutdown due to inactivity. i suppose i have been busy. as of late much of my time has been taken up by art-making, art-showing, and being a full-time boyfriend. which has lead me to discover that without my art and without my loved ones.... i am nothing.

good or bad? only time will tell.

anywho. i was participating in a big art festival shindig. gaggles of art lovers and peeps alike. monies aside, its the reactions that i will always hold dear.
i was treated to people that would stop and take in the work, taking the time to come as close to the work as i would hope, smiling at me and walking away. some would stop to chat, ask questions, deliver kudos and words of approval. then there were the individuals that would glance over as one would their side mirror while driving. some would walk up to my wall and walk out without pausing. and of course, there were the ones that would make faces that i could only read as disapproval, often accompanied by words out of my reach amongst themselves. fortunately i have evolved to the point of being able to find satisfaction in such dissatisfying moments. more importantly there was a small blonde child that exclaimed to his mother "these are amazing!" after that, i was untouchable.

i have given much thought lately as to what kind of artist i am. who do i cater to? who's approval do i seek? who's opinion really matters? though i don't actually have answers to those questions i have come to realize that i can't be an artist who demands a particular environment for their work. i understand that serious work requires serious presentation... but after thinking about it i have concluded that in my heart art is for everyone. although not everyone can afford to own a piece (i do need to eat) the pictures need be accessible to everyone. and lets face it, not everyone is going to stroll into a pristine white-walled gallery.

art is for the people. i should do murals or something. yes that would be awesome.

here is a random drawing i coloured today. i am not much for backgrounds.