I'm a big ping pong fan, and we have a community table in our building. This is a game though which you can't play by yourself, so I'm always super excited when friends visit as I eventually lure them to the Ping Pong table. Then I thought, we are an entire building/community of people who are not really in touch with each other. How amazing is it that we have a Ping Pong table in our building and how sad is that nobody  knows who else plays? And so after a few months of convincing the building staff (it's an apartment building and not a condo, I think that makes a difference) they finally decided to go through with a little tournament.

​Ofcourse I volunteered to do the poster for it. I wanted it to make is something authentic and unique. I think that now overtime I do an illustration for a specific purpose, that it should be unique only to that purpose and not usable in other instances. If people wanted generic stock illustrations or graphics then there's a place for that. That's why I have the very casual looking dude with the slippers, the house keys, the ghetto ping pong racket, and the recycling bin (which is next door to the ping pong room). This is what makes is special and unique, it caters directly to the audience in mind, it speaks their language. It's not just any ping pong tournament, it's a ping pong tournament for these specific people who live in this specific place. It's for a niche market.

Every commissioned illustration must be a special unique gift to it's audience and nobody else.

Expecting warmer weather this Spring? Looks like you'll be waiting in vane. Whether you like it or not.

Imaginary pundits suggest this winter may have been mild, but what it lacks in intensity it will more than make up in longetivity. Get ready for a colder than average spring, a chilly summer, a freezing autumn and ice age of a winter. But why this phenomena?

In the midst of the deep freeze of February 2015, Canadians were asked but he Canadian Winter God whether they prefer their winters to be less intense and longer. 95% of Canadian humans and raccoons over-politely said no, they willing to suffer through a brutal winter so that they could enjoy longer periods of good 'patio' weather.

However, the Canadian Winter God, being a god after all, doesn't give a flying leaf what the people think or want. He decided to make this winter less intense and longer anyways. To add to this dilemna, Canadians going to Cuba to escape this wrath, will be a facing a new, and and even great castrostophe.... American Tourists.

This Friday (the 25th of March) a bunch of us went and watched this movie by Zak Snyder. I didn't like the last one but with all the hype, of course I was still curious about this one. Sitting in the dark and frequently using my mobile phone as a light source I wrote notes as the movie progressed. Here they are, illustrated

Superman's hair style remained flawless throughout the movie. Through exploding buildings, fires, nuclear disasters, monsters and so on! This movie also teamed up with Turkish Airlines in a very weird way.

Whenever Lois was in the slightest bit of trouble (and also when she wasn't) superman swooped in to the rescue! What a creep!

It seemed like really the only way to beat superman was with Kryptonite, and I felt after a while this method just isn't interesting anymore, and just makes for any excuse to show batman beating up superman (Fans probably get off on this sort of a thing).  I don't remember what happened int he original Dark Knight comic by Frank Miller, but it definitely was more intriguing!

This was movie was just grim grim grim. I feel like rather than advertise Turkish Airlines so much perhaps they would have succeed with some Anti Depressant commercials. I go to a movie to enter a fantasy land, not to see how everything just sucks! Zak Snyder, you've depressed us again!

I have no answers for this one! Is it some sort of a political reference to the terrorist attacks in Paris and that America stands united with France? Can you think of any other reason? 

Superman releases a day before Good Friday? Superman, the saviour, that is doubted by his people, is persecuted for doing good, has special powers, came from the skies above .. dies, and then at the end of the movie, his grave trembles. Coincidence? Decide for yourself! 

Other comments.. Many funny attempts during the movie to hide Zod's penis.. Doomsday being created and taking up about 20 minutes of the movie, a story that was the best selling comic of all time and took about 10 issues to complete! I say this is on par with botch up of Venom in Spiderman 3!

Now that DC comics owns Mad Comics, do they really go and do a proper satire of it? 

It has been a couple of weeks now since this event has passed and I really should have written this blog then. But, perfect conditions hardly ever exist, and here I will try and recreate the excitement and energy that reverberated through me back then. A whole blog could be written on just our visit to Florence and Pisa, but for now I will focus on soley these workshops.  Firstly, what are these Schoolism Workshops? Bobby Chiu  and Kei Acedera of Imagnism studios (a concept art studio in Toronto) have been organizing these talks by successful artists who have made meaningful contributions to the Animation Industry. These talks have been held all over the world and received tremendous reception. The two workshops of which I will cover were held in Florence this December. I shall being with Peter De Seve.
 
Extremely charming with surprising spontaneous bursts of humor and a flair for the theatric, Peter was entertaining from the get go. For fear of revealing too much about what he talked about and spoiling for others that have not seen him yet, I will try to just create a general picture. 

Peter started of by showing some of his earlier work as a child and his black and white illustrations for newspapers. He mentioned how important it was to ‘do the type of drawing that you grow up on’. This holds true possibly for any artist, as most of us propelled into a drawing frenzy by the excitement created from the art that we admire. His influences ranged from Bugs Bunny to Frank Frazetta and Heinrich Kley to Gus Bofa. I think it’s always important for us to stay in touch with art that we love and keep it somewhere where we can see it easily so that it continually fuels our passion. Also, it’s important to get away from ‘normal’ influences like these and to visit museums and parks and discover interesting designs that as Peter states it ‘use shapes in a surprising way’. Which is really what you want to do as a character designer.

One thing I noticed about Peter was that his spontaneaouty (don’t think that’s actually a word) and humor in person were directly reflected in his work. As he sat for a break at half time (after two hours) I looked over at him and told him that he was actually best (during his talk) when things went wrong and it required improvisation. And this very theme he then talked about later as he said that one should ‘see mistakes as opportunites’ and there are ‘things that you can only learn from accidents’. This lead to an insight on the shortfall of digital illustration where it is altogether to easy sometimes to fix mistakes. This can lead to less decisive, confident and spontaneous work. One can see in his techniques in watercolour that there is a lot of that happening, and really helps to bring life to his drawings. With traditional illustration there is more of a sense of commitment the marks you are putting down, whereas with digital there is always ‘undo’. In real life there is no undo button and we are imperfect in every way possible and this is what his art reflects. 

Going back to his philosophies in life he talked about the notion of being ‘open’ to opportunities and not be too rigid with your plans. (he never planned on being a character designer for animation) Also, he mentioned the importance of ‘preserving yourself in the art that you make’ and ‘protect the artist that you are’. Very often in studios there is a tendency to become a stylistic chameleon but you have to always find a way to express your individual point of view.

He had few remarks about shape that are worth noting. Firstly that one must develop a consciousness of shapes. He tries to distill the shapes to say as much as he can with as little as possible.  Also it’s important to remember as a character designer that the shapes you create must be easy to animate.  Additionally one must learn to think volumetrically, like a sculptor. I feel that perhaps doing some sculpture would profoundly help one with getting more volume in his or her drawings. 

One amazing thing that I never knew about Peter De Seve’s illustrations were the amount of details that went into them and how much he used real life references. He mentioned that New Yorkers really take a good look at the covers so he has to make sure that he is thorough. Everything from the wine glasses, to the bricks on the road to the types of trees are specific to New York. These subtleties are really important as drawings not only communicate a story and make you laugh but also are documents of history.  People will look back at these in 100s of years and see how we lived and what type of a culture we were. 

Peter talked about how everyone around him is an influence on the characters that he creates. If you actually know the peson that you are drawing then you can provide a much deeper and more realistic character. You understand the psychology of the person you are drawing and subtleties may even come about subconsciously. I think we have to be constantly observing people around us, and not forget them when we are drawing by ourselves, keeping them with us always. He showed us some examples of how subtle changes in emotions on the face led to dramatically different stories. He also talks about the most interesting moments of people are those moments ‘in between the static and the obvious’. Carrying a sketchbook and drawing from life are almost cliché’s now but it cannot be overstated how important these activities are.  Peter also mentioned costume design and how vital it is that it adds to the characters. He showed us a great example of Normal Rockwell and how he painted a boys shoe. ‘Every element helps to tell the story’ This is so so crucial in any illustration, that there is attention to detail but nothing unnecessary. 

As we all sat with our mouths opening salavating as this living legend created swooping scratching marks on his paper that projected on the giant screen at the Florence theater I noticed something very unusual about his drawing that I never would have guessed if I hadn’t observed it myself. 

Alas, I cannot reveal anymore as I feel this delight is something to be experienced in person. Check out schoolism.com to see when the next Peter De Sever workshop is, as I have only scratched the surface. He goes into detail on his process work for New Yorker Covers and character design for Ice Age, Robots and the upcoming ‘Little Prince’.

 My next blog post will be on the tremendous skill and talent of Mercelo Vignali (the workshop that followed after lunch). Stay posted!

Last weekend I was in Lausanne (Switzerland) live scribing (taking big visual notes)  for a conference about dog food. The teams were discussing new ideas of what kind of products can be created in order to take their brand to the next level. Since I had already done some preliminary sketches I was familiar with the concepts they were about to discuss.  I was a bit nervous before they started as I wasn’t used to drawing directly in pen. I felt more comfortable as I went along though, and just took it as a large way to take notes with fun drawings in it.  

Here are some important lessons I learnt from this event..

1. Listen carefully and be selective

Don’t draw everything single thing that is being discussed. It is important to to know what is important and what is just side chatter. Familiarity and preliminary reading help with this. Also what's useful is to take small notes before you do the bigger drawing. Once you are sure that something is of importance then you can proceed to draw it.

2. Maintain a hierarchy

It’s vital that for the sake of design and clarity, some things are clearly bigger and more important then others. These include key words, and iconic images. Scribing is like taking visual notes, but to the next level and designing things well, more sophisticated.

3. Choose YOUR medium

Use a medium you are comfortable with and feel comes most naturally to you. You’ll see in  most youtube videos and most events scribers use Felt tip markers in various colours. That’s the norm, but if you are comforatable with coloured crayons or watercolours, by all means do that.

4.    Have fun, be spontaneous!

The whole purpose of you being there and doing this is that you keep the audience awake and stimulated. Have a sense of humour, play with words, extract funny meanings and take it to another level.

5.    Remember the purpose

At the end of the conference, the speaker might use your drawings to summarize the event. Make sure that they are organized, easy to read and are truly representative of the talks. If you’re not sure you should talk to someone who is familiar with the proceedings and let them guide you!

 

 

I am a freelance illustrator. Above is a picture of my desk in a Co working spot in Alicante. Not a huge desk, but that's all I need to get my work done everyday. Why do I rent this space when I could just as easily set up a bigger desk at home and work from there? Why do I pay a monthly rent to leave the comfort of my home and work outside? Here's why...

To get here I have to get up, get dressed, and leave the house. I have to climb down a bunch of stairs, walk up hill for 10 minutes then downhill of ten minutes. Then I have to do the same to come back for lunch, and then return after lunch and then go back home when I'm done. I'm getting the juices flowing for at least one hour a day.

That's right, no bed to play that dreadful symphony that lulls you towards it all day. No fridge and food cabinets to get up and raid every time you crave to ruin your health. No interruptions.  Just you and your work. Funny how easy focusing becomes when there are no distractions around. I highly suggest that you watch this video by John Cleese and his philosophy on creating boundaries of space and time.

As opposed to those ninja turtle and bart simpson figurines staring at you all day long, you are around real, living, breathing, reproducing organisms. Reality? Check.

We crave to have more and more time, but the more time we have to do something, the longer and longer we take to do it (without necessarily improving the results). Over here, you know your time during the day is limited, and you have to perform in this time. On the other hand, at home time seems endless and it seeps into your sleeping time, eating time, tv time, nose digging time and so on. In my co working, the timings are 8:30 to 20:30 on weekdays. That's it, I have to do what I need to do within this time.

Now you can be home, relax on the sofa, watch tv, eat food, burp, fart, roll on the ground, do random handstands etc. You don't have that table sitting there calling you in that guilt enducing fashion every second.  This is no place for business baby.

It doesn't matter if you have got projects on the go or not. It doesn't matter how much work you have or how much money you're making. The fact is, you are getting up, getting dressed and going to work. This routine is an important one for you to feel that yes, you are contributing to society, and you are getting out here. Maybe its the good old caveman instinct of sharpening the tools and going out hunting. Whatever it is, it works.

Light bulb went out? Don't worry about it. Garbage day? Don't worry about it. All the maintenance is done for you, as the place is kept sparkling clean, because that's part of what you are paying for.  You just worry about what you need to get done.

Have a Skype meeting? Well guess what, you're dressed up in clothes, there is an office behind you with people working. This as opposed to those home Skype meetings in pyjamas with your mother cooking curry in the background. Co workings normal also have professional meeting rooms with projectors.

Ever since my lovely wife Elena had told me that she had to go to Brussels for an interview I have been excited to visit the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Located very close to the centre, it was a twenty minute walk from our hotel. As I arrived towards the Museum, I was greeted with a giant statue of Gaston Lagaffe, a character created by the great Andre Franquin.  The entrance to the museum itself is quite subtle and I missed it on the first go in my excitement! Entering it, it is filled with all sorts of great statues such as Tin Tin and friends on the moon and their actual rocket ship, Spirou, Asterix, the Smurfs and the  real 2HP Citroen of Boule and Bill. In short it is a comic lover's dream come true, specially those familiar with Belgian Comic Book artists such as Peyo, Herge and Franquin.

A chronological section is devoted to the evolution of the comic strip. On the left we have 'Jonas eaten by Whale' from 1299. Apparently Monks were doing comic strips long before anyone else was! Also in the gallery were great gestural sketches of wrestlers by Katsunika Hokusai and a real revelation to me was Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland by the great Winsor McCay. I was amazed by the large prints of this strip and stunned with their visual and narrative brilliance. I can now see what a profound impact this must have had on Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes.

Firstly, I didn't realise till recently that the Smurfs were a comic strip created by the Belgian artist, Peyo. Then as I entered his section in the museum I was bewildered by the amount of work the man has done. This includes Johan and Peewit, Poussy, Benoit Briseter, Johan L'ecuger du roy and Pied Tendre. What I was dumbfounded by was the improvement of his work from 1949 to 1959. In these ten years he transformed from just another artist you would see on deviant art to a legendary comic book artist. Motivation defined.  If in ten years from now I can create something like the smurfs then gosh! What more can I ask for?

What I didn't know about the Smurfs were how funny the three panel gag cartoons were! I didn't even know that you could tell such great jokes in only three panels. Again just amazed at Peyo's work. It seems like he hit on all cylinders when he did the smurfs. Such original characters and such great jokes and story lines, and a dreamy setting.  I also learn about the Black Smurfs, that were the result of a Smurf getting stung by a black fly that makes their skin black and they lose their vocabulary and get very aggressive. I'm not going to say anything about race here, but is it possible to avoid that topic?
All in all though the little statuettes of the Smurfs were super cute, especially the miniature piano and the clothes line with their pants drying :)

Marc Sleen was a prominent Belgian illustrator, little known the outside world (because publishers didn't think he would sell outside Belgium) but well love in Brussels. His cartoons display local eccentric characters in the way that Mario Miranda did.  Every city has a great cartoonist that really represents the culture of the city and it's characters and this was who Marc Sleen was for Brussels. Additionally,  He was  a Wild life enthusiast and constantly strived for animal's rights. What struck me the most in this museum was his preliminary work. He seems to have drawn the whole image in pencil in quite good detail and the drawn it again and inked it. This confirms something that my good friend Amin Faramarzian told me the other day, 'no good artist gets it right the first time'

And of course we have to have something about the current comic strip scene in Brussels! There was an exhibit on the new comic stip collective called 'Brus 2: Brussels in Shorts' and I was immediately drawn the cover by Stedho. I've put a few of his pencils up because I really like his work, and I also noticed that he doesn't really ink his work, rather blue pencils a rough and then goes over it neatly with a graphite pencil and then probably removes the blue lines in photoshop and adds colour. I really like the flow of his work. And then there is also the work of Kim, the gruesome story of a murdered prostitute visualized in quite a bit of detail. Though not a big fan of the story itself, I like the way it was told. Shockingly, the comic was not for sale in the shop!

This was a critical visit for me that really opened my mind to a lot of things. I'm super inspired by what I experienced. I've fallen back in love with the comic strip. I haven't been into comic strips for the last ten years or so but hopeful this has changed. Quotes such as 'A comic strip is born from the will of it's author' had an impact on me. I learnt about inking techniques, I learnt that you must study the results of others, but create your own unique technique. I saw the importance of creating rough work. I learnt about the importance of suspense in the last panel of a daily strip... and lastly I learnt anything is possible with focus, love, and dedication... and greatness takes time, there are no overnight results.