There was an incident at a supermarket in Canada where an aggressive customer refused to wear a mask and went on a racist rant, it was inspired by this cartoon... oh no sorry, it's the other way round, this cartoon was inspired by that incident.

This came idea came up when I was chatting with fellow illustrator Andrew Dorland at a RAID (artist collective) social distanced bbq on Monday. 

I also got a letter on Instagram detailing that perhaps it was culturally insensitive to depict a man with blue face paint on the left. This could be taken the wrong way, as a political statement saying that Scottish people have been acting like this in the pandemic. Really, my only purpose was to make the revolt as dramatic as possible and have a point of reference that people could relate to (braveheart movie) and make the situation even more ridiculous.

Spent Sunday at the Center island in Toronto.... Thankfully it wasn't actually this crowded.. while we were there...  well this is summer in 2020, who woulda known.

This is a strange one, I spent all morning thinking of an idea.. came up with this, then the penciling and inking was fine but spend ages on the colours! I didn't have a clear idea when I was drawing it and thats why it took so long. Somehow I need to have the decision made in advance, or perhaps do some rough colour sketches and choose.  Anyways, a frustrating experience! In the moment my drawings always seem bad to me, and as time passes and I look back, I realize they're not so bad after all.

Do the colours work? I don't know, I experimented with so many. The colour choice was important in this one as it helped with the message. In this case, maybe. I don't want to ruin this cartoon my overanalyzing it. It is what it is, time to move on!

My original idea was to show that Canada was a diverse place and the letter colours are different skin colours.. might have been a bit too subtle though, who knows! Below is the original drawing and you can see that had some more stuff in the background, but I got rid of it, as I felt this was stronger by itself!

 I'm really happy with this weeks illustration! I used a combination of brush and dip pen which I have never done for a commercial illustration and it worked well. The pen worked for smaller curves, details and 'hard texture' (like the bricks) objects while the brush worked for bigger curves, more sweeping lines, and 'softer textures' (like the ground and grass). Funnily enough as I was doing it, I knew exactly what colours I wanted to use, so that saved the decision making and experimenting time later! The article is not out yet, but when it is I will post the link. Oh yes, here is the original sketch proposal..

I'm really glad they went with A! B would hav been fun too though, and C would have also been fine, but definitely my las choice.  I'm working with a great editorial team here.

For some time I was maintaining the habit of reading fiction everyday out loud (paid more attention that way) and this is a wonderful book. Love the way it's written with different people's accounts. However this cover was terrible and I felt I had something better in mind...

This is the original thumbnail I did real quickly, very small sketch, barely the size of my palm. Somehow it turned into a circle, and since it wasn't really for a real book, this was fine. Next stage, I scanned it, lightened, made it bigger, printed it, then refined it with pencils.

The pencils stage were done on a letter (a4) sized page. I really like how the negative space from the test tube fumes formed the background of Mr Hyde. Next, I scanned it, lightened it and printed it in on photo blue on a bristol paper of 11x14 inches.

I was actually really happy with the final inks! The negative and positive shapes played out really well, and am happy with the lettering too.

And here is the final piece! I definitely lost of the negative positive interplay of the black and white version, but gained a lot in the mood of the piece, Dr Jekyll stands out nicely, while Mr Hyde is sinisterly blending into the red background. I feel there is good balance and harmony in this piece. It wasn't a big hit on instagram, but the right people liked it, and most importantly, I was happy with it!

Create an illustration about how to cut spending with an imminent recession looming...

I really felt like the first one was really strong as I was able to get all 10 points of the article into one scene, but I make sure to at least stretch my brain a bit and try to think of two more ideas.  That was the one chosen in the end... the only comment was that the guy cooking looks to calm and confident, he needs to be a bit worried.

So I added the screen showing the economic downturn which serves its purpose in making him look up and be concerned. The points in the article are..

1. Reduce your streaming services
2. Cook at home
3. Get coupons and discounts

And the rest you can check out in the article itself, right here, https://www.moneytalkgo.com/8-places-you-may-be-able-to-cut-your-spending/

The title of the article is '5 things to consider if you're worried about your finances right now'. I was given this brief yesterday, March 23rd at around 1pm. I had to come up with an illustration that was expressing the idea but also wary of the sensitivities of the institution publishing it (TD Bank). 

I normally come up with at least three to five concepts but time was limited, and this is all I could think of at the time.  I wanted to show a meditating figure with the solutions around her, with a backdrop of tension. The idea was rejected however as the team felt it was too relaxed, and would not be relatable.  Ans so I came up with some more ideas..

And so I came up with these options sitting on my bed trying to get my son to nap at the same time. I wanted to focus more on the aspect of social distancing, and working from home tie the idea into that. The team went for option A, but felt that it shouldn't be too negative and there should be some sort of positive element in it showing the solutions.

That night I went right for it, and created this. The hardest thing was getting the expression right, so that the person seemed worried but also slightly relieved by possible positive things in the situation. The team liked it but felt however that the dollar signs were not necessary (perhaps too dramatic). I was worried that we would lose the financial aspect of it.. but then in conjunction with the headline it might work.

And this what the final looked like. I'm quite happy with it for the time it took to complete  (basically had half a  day). I like that the sense of isolation is clearly evident in the image and reflective of the times. The headline helps is make sense. I feel its a mood the people can relate with right now, and thats what's important, it reflects the times. 

Want to read it? Check out this link..
https://www.moneytalkgo.com/5-things-to-consider-if-youre-worried-about-your-finances-right-now/

This is the first page from this 6 page short story that is in the RAID 3 collection that just came out the summer. It was a lot of fun to work on with Andrew Healey! (who has himself written some PJ Masks episodes in the past). It was a great journey figuring out the story, and watching how it evolved into what it was and was still developing till the last day when the ending was finally determined (its a fun one so you better read the book!) The book has also work from amazing talent from the comic industry who have done brilliant work for DC and Marvel too. 

The book itself is available at the RAID Stores along with the first two editions. They do have some mature content, so not for kids!