What To Do Afterward

If There Is No Warning

The Airburst

These Are the Bombs

Atomic Attack

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I've been very busy at a new position; designing and illustrating theme parks. Unfortunately I can't post any of this artwork because of copyright, but it has been fun.
Recently discovered in my basement a booklet from 1951, published by Civil Defense Canada under the Minister of Health and Welfare, called "Personal Protection Under Atomic Attack". I scanned in some of the text and images and have created a series of posters. I have taken the liberty of omitting some sentences and reflowing the text, but they all are actual text and images from this book.
So in the spirit of the Fukushima meltdown and the current Cold War with Iran, I will be posting one a day for the next few days.

Niagara Escarpment

Springtime Sketching: two digital paintings (with their source photographs) from a hike along the Bruce Trail on the Niagara Escarpment.

SpaceBerg

Back to the Concept Art: an iceberg in a polar sea on a distant planet?

Flash Manga

Have been busy lately multi-tasking. Doing a website for someone, designing a house, and have been asked to do some animations in Flash, so I'm now learning that. Here are a few heads done in that program; the paintbrush tool is surprisingly nice to work with.

Mountain Moods

An exercise in mood: the same scene rendered in dark and light imagery.

Honest Ed's

More Illustrator: a tribute to Toronto's famous bargain shopping store.

Dog Show Girls

Had a little fun using Adobe Illustrator. Going to the dogs, I guess...

Cradle of Civilization

Another quick concept piece. Beginning of the world? Erich von Daniken meets Arthur C. Clarke?

Desert Gear

Visited the new Evergreen Brickworks complex here in Toronto on the weekend. Nice old gear driven machinery. When I started painting today, it wanted to turn into some sort of strange desert oil field concept.

Otello

More opera: the basic plot of Verdi's Otello as imagined as a comic page. High art meets low art?

Every Morning

Ode to my Cuisinart espresso maker. Every morning it's a different world.

Relook at Tintin

Not my work today, but the marvelous drawings of Hergé (George Remi). Lately I've been reading some Tintin (en français naturalement, c'est la bonne practique!) and the graphic compositions are inspiring. Most people remember this type of flat elevation panels, which may look old-fashioned but are interesting because they are so seldom seen today:

But other panels are based on the diagonal:

Negative space and foregrounding:

Directional layout:

Dynamic compositions:

I'm showing examples side by side, but it's even more interesting when the panel types alternate next to each other, as they do in the typical story. Another good book on graphic composition I recently bought is "Framed Ink" by Marcos Mateu-Mestre (who's linked at right).

Mountain Man

A series inspired by Tibet and the Himalayas. The monk-warrior out on a solitary mission. Could be a setting for a movie? Or a game?

Response

Northern Tails

Illustrations for a children’s book I wrote years ago, when my kids were young. It was kind of like a Canadian “Wind in the Willows”; with characters Arthur "Red" Squirrel, the Beaver, Miles Otter and Dexter "Toons" Loon. These are traditional watercolors.

Great White

Another space sketch.

Flyby

Been working on a lot of Fantasy and Space Concept Art lately so there should be more of these soon.

Vagabonds

Recent illustrations for a novel by John Foden. It’s about baseball, religion, politics and sketch drawing; and is a terrific read. John is still looking for a publisher so if anybody’s interested, let me know! Part of the plot hinges on some ballpark drawings done by one of the characters, so these were meant to look like works on paper but were done digitally.

Opera

Some digital paintings from a live production of the opera “Carmen”. Loved the costumes and the big emotions. My wife had a role and I went every night. Her website is www.omusic.ca

Vintage Vogue

Of course I eventually discovered the Wacom pen and tablet, and from here on practically everything I post will probably be digital. These are some sketches I did copying 50’s Vogue magazine ads. This test convinced me that I could get a hand drawn look but keep my hands clean! And few of these are my originals in matching style.

Life Drawings

Some work done during years of life drawing, in conté crayon and chalk pastel. There won’t be much more of this so I shouldn’t need the “Content Warning” on this blog.

Hand Drawings

A few pencil and pen & ink drawings. A couple were published in John Chen's "Architecture in Pen and Ink", Mcgraw-Hill, 1994, ISBN 0070110794

Watercolors

Next I thought I’d post up some traditional media images that I’ve done; some more recent, some not so recent. Here I’m showing some of my watercolor paintings.

Architecture

The purpose of this blog is to share my art and illustration work. Trained as an architect, for almost 25 years I’ve made my living as an architectural illustrator. That work is shown on my other website, linked below my profile and  jokingly referred to as “Bricks, Steel & Glass”. Just to give a starting point as far as where I’ve come from, here are a few of the thousands of architectural works I’ve brought to life over the years.