Watching the Detectives

I've found a new passion! ( to add to all my old ones...) I've recently started reading crime fiction or mysteries. My friend Mike Drake over at Strange Adventures introduced me to the super fun, super pulpy Hard Case Crime books. all great reads.It's gort me going back to my sherlock Homles stuff and Father Brown.Right now I'm reading a book called The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie, but more on that one tomorrow. These books are great fun because they're like puzzles and you can try and work out the ending or just enjoy the twists and turns.

A Little Paralyzed.

I've been a bit stuck lately, paralyzed by blank pages. Which totally isn't like me, I'm usually very prolific. I tried evrything to get my mojo back. I even shaved my beard off. Things are better now. I'm just a little overwhelmed. I feel a lot of pressure lately and have been struggling under that. Going for runs is helping and just staying relaxed and focused.

Pale Sketches

Just some doodles from my sketch book.

Drawing With The Boy

Here's a sketch book doodle I did with Henry helping me hold the pencil. I'm not trying to turn him into an artist(I think it would be cool if he's an interstellar astronaut...)but it's nice for him to grow up knowing about art and how to draw.

Oh Man...Wallmart.....

Julie went to Wallmart to get Henry's pictures done. I would have objected on the grounds that it's too cheezy but actually like the end result.

Running

Here's a sketch I did for a restaurant in Ontario.I've started running!I'm running for about 30 minutes a day. I'm actually enjoying it and it seems to help me craetively too. My wife's been bugging me for years to start so I finally caved.

PechaKucha

I had a fun night the other night. I got to partake in an international event called PechaKucha, which I think is Japanese for chit chat. About 100 people got together at a tavern(The Seahorse)and did slide presentations of what they do.From organic gardening to design to spam....all sorts of stuff. Really fun.

Still Thumbnailing

Still working on thumbnails for the books I'm doing. The above is for the Jeff Vandermeer story. Also in the works is an illustration for Steampunk magazine. As for life stuff Julie and Henry are visiting Julie's good friends in Calgary(which means 7 month old Henry has made it further west then I have!) And my teaching position is almost over, a matter of days now-just marking final projects. I'll miss it but it'll be good to be able to focus on just my illustration. Also I'm trying to lose weight. I've always been pretty thin but after I quit smoking over a year ago it's as though someone handed me a licence to eat junk. I've lost 20 pounds since the winter but need to take off another 25 or 30 to get back to my normal size. I'm watching my diet but the big thing are my new epic walks. 4 hours walking today. I find walking is also good for creativity.

Amother Little thumbnail

Henry & Julie

Love this picture of my family.

Robot

Here's a robot I drew in ink for a college assignment. I think this is when I really started to play with high contrast black and white.

special Broken scanner Post