Shiny Pliers....

Coughing up blood, I think I've had enough...

2012-01-04T08:27:00.000-05:00

Original design, pre production

Front Cover

Back Cover

Final Product

I'm largely planning on posting odds and ends from the tail end of 2011 over the next little while, starting here with one of my more interesting projects of last year. I was hired by a friend to create this as a gift for a colleague based on that person's dreams (both cover images). I used the facilities available to me at my new-ish job to print the final product and apply it to the book. Being unfamiliar with working with adhesive vinyl, there was a bit of trial and error, but it worked out quite well in the end, especially thanks to tips and guidance from the more experienced folks where I work.

Yeti vs. Spruce

2012-01-03T20:02:00.000-05:00

A new online poster for the upcoming edition of the Wrecking Ball in Toronto (see prior designs here and here). Definitely my favourite design of the three and one of my better recent poster designs. Not a bad way to start off 2012 (happy new year by the way).

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T08:27:00.000-05:00

The Line is Drawn...

2011-12-21T08:24:00.000-05:00

I recently "auditioned" to become one of the new artists for Comic Book Resource s' "The Line is Drawn" column. The idea behind the column is visual interpretations of different themes (odd teamups etc.) pertaining to the world of comics. The two ideas I illustrated were the following:
1) A famous/real/non superhero person as a superhero (top). From a list of 200+ such individuals, I chose Nikola Tesla (top) and gave him the abstract treatment. Note Tesla Coil insignia on the costume.
2) A team up between two characters who hadn't met up before. I chose Mr. Fantastic and Plastic man and gave them the hyper stylized treatment showing them taking on their respective arch rivals Dr. Doom (top) and Dr. Dome (bottom, clever?)
I never really expected to be chosen to be among the new artists (I haven't checked back to see who was), but these were fun exercises. I'm not ashamed to say I still enjoy a good superhero comic.

Saccharine

2011-12-20T08:36:00.001-05:00

A recent strip that appeared in issue #3 of Grawlix which was themed around relationships and breakups.

Illostribute-Albert Dorne

2011-12-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

I've been way too behind with adding new posts to this here blog, but full time employment will sometimes disrupt things a bit. Earlier in the fall, I was asked to participate in the site Illostribute by it's proprietor Toby Neighbors. It's a site that gets together a variety of illustration types to pay tribute to other illustrators, in the case of my first post it was Albert Dorne. I confess that I didn't really know much about his work before being asked, but became interested in what I could do after researching his work, especially given the major differences between our styles. The results of what everybody came up with, plus some samples of Dorne's work can be found here, and there really are some incredible pieces to see. My seasonally appropriate contribution is below, check out the original here.

Thanks very much to Toby Neighbors for asking me to partake.

Taddle Creek Issue 27

2011-12-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

"Christmas Mummers" Cover Illustration

"Dreyfus in Wichita" by Cary Fagan

"The Saxophonists' Book of the Dead" by Gary Barwin

"Rue du Doo" by Derek McCormack

"Opening Act" by Amy Jones

Tonight (Dec. 6) marks the launch of issue 27 of Taddle Creek in Toronto. Once again I had the pleasure of doing illustrations for the fiction and for the first time also the cover. Due to the theme of the issue being based around music, and also the launch's proximity to Christmas, I decided to do a stylized version of Newfoundland mummers as a cover image. Hopefully people will get that, but if not it might make for a strange conversation piece. If you're in Toronto, check the launch party out tonight. It happens at The Boat, in Kensington Market, and you can find out more info about what's going on here. There's a tonne of great work in this issue, especially a gorgeous 4 page story by Pascal Blanchet and an overview of Doublenaut's amazing poster work.
Thanks as always to Mr. Conan Tobias for his patience and for putting out a great issue.

Illustration Friday 04/11/11-"Stripes"

2011-11-04T15:38:00.000-04:00

Illustration Friday 07/10/2011-"Contraption"

2011-10-07T19:51:00.001-04:00

A fall themed addition to today's Illustration Friday subject. A touch on the late side, but I had to get a haircut. Happy thanksgiving, to all my fellow northerners.

The Wrecking Ball-Oct. 22 2011

2011-10-04T15:46:00.000-04:00

Above is my most recent poster design for the semi-regular "Wrecking Ball" in Toronto (first can be found here). I held off on anything image based, mostly for time reasons and in the end I found it fun to mess around a bit with lettering dominating the image. I enjoy working with letters, especially those I create "by hand", if you will. Once again, thanks to Natalie Walschots for having me do this.

Illustration Friday, 30/09/2011-Hibernation

2011-09-30T16:27:00.001-04:00

Sketchbook Detritus-17/09/2011

2011-09-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

Saturday night brought me to the lovely little town of Alton, Ontario to see my wife's band play a set at a little bakery/watering hole. Along with me came my sketchbook to see me through the boredom of the first act and the between band periods when Lindsay wasn't around to keep me company. As you can see, my Kaiju obsession came out a bit as I just wanted to mess around a touch with all the grotesque things that can go on in my head. The bottom series of sketches were drawn during the set by headliner Ryan Masters. One of his sidemen played pedal steel at a point of the set, but looked nothing like the bruiser type I drew. I just thought it would be fun. Ryan himself is represented in the second sketch. He spent most of the set with a toque over his head (it was a frigid night) and at one point dedicated a song to the bats flying around his head. It created a nice visual in my mind....

Mr. Monitor (sort of) Comes to Life!

2011-08-19T10:03:00.002-04:00

It's been a bit of a quiet period on the Mr. Monitor front, based partly on my having to focus on paying work and also based on a need to re-tweak the way I was doing it. In the meantime, I've created my very first pepercraft interpretation of the character for the most recent issue of Broken Pencil (on newsstands now). Every summer the magazine has a "DIY issue" that focuses on how to's and little tricks and tips for the budding indie artist. For fun's sake, we decided to let people have their very own Mr. Monitor to tote around with them or gather dust on a bookshelf. The version in the magazine is in b&w, but you can download a PDF version here.

New strips should be coming soon, I'll be posting about them here when they appear.

New Work in Print-Tidings September 2011

2011-08-18T11:20:00.000-04:00

This month's Bon Vivant column posed the question, "Do real men drink coolers?". I do believe I attempted to answer that with a resounding "yes" (right in the kisser). I was messing around with a couple of new texture styles and methods of rendering colour with this piece and had a bit more fun with looser shapes than usual.

Sketchbook Detritus-01/08/2011

2011-08-02T11:47:00.000-04:00

Sketchbook Detritus-25/07/11

2011-07-25T12:18:00.000-04:00

Shiny Pliers Back Online...

2011-07-20T10:44:00.000-04:00

Screen capture of my new main page

So the big happenings in my world would be the re-emergence of my personal site at shinypliers.com. It was a long time coming, but I'm super happy with the results.
Big thanks to Scott Willemson at Bamboo Cricket for the amazing re-design and to Helen Yousif for her photographic contributions. Please check out their work.

New Work In Print-Tidings July/August 2011

2011-07-18T14:13:00.001-04:00

A continuation of sorts of my posting from last week, this being for Tidings' Bon Vivant column from the July/August issue. The central question I followed for this issue revolved around the best wine to use when breaking up with a girlfriend. I decided to show the aftermath of what would happen with that situation.

I've realized that every time I post a photo of the pieces in print that I've neglected to show a better detailed digital version, which you can view above.

In other news, I have a new piece up on Torontoist today which you can find here. If you're into Weird Al Yankovic, you might find it of interest. I can't post it here as of yet, but will do so later in the week.

More good news should be a-happening in the world of Shiny Pliers this week as well. Stay tuned....

New Work In Print

2011-07-13T11:52:00.000-04:00

Some recent print products that arrived in the mail:


Creative Quarterly #23


Promotional Piece for Three In A Box's Box Lunch Summer Promotion

This Magazine July/August 2011

The Wrecking Ball! a Scream UnFestival event

2011-07-07T13:06:00.000-04:00

Above is another recent poster design, this time done for my friend Natalie for her first "Wrecking Ball" event which brings together the worlds of poetry and metal. All this takes place on Saturday July 9, so if you're looking for something to do on a Saturday night, give it a look. All the official info is below. Thanks very much to Ms. Natalie Walschots!
_____________________________________________________________________________

This summer, The Scream Literary Festival is taking place in Toronto for the final time. To honour the Scream, we're throwing a party celebrating the two best things on the planet earth: poetry and heavy metal.

The Poets:

angela rawlings
Damian Rogers
Chris Doda
Dani Couture

The Bands:

Sylvus
http://sylvus.bandcamp.com/

Vilipend
http://vilipend.bandcamp.com/

Ein Traum (members of Gates)
http://gatesritual.bandcamp.com/

July 9th
The Hard Luck Bar
Doors at 8pm
$8

Come give the scream the wake it deserves. Bring your livers and your earplugs.

The Scream is dead; Long live the Scream!

Awesome poster by Matthew Daley http://www.shinypliers.com/

SPONSORED BY: Canada Arts Connect! http://canadaartsconnect.com/

Creative Quarterly 23

2011-07-05T17:16:00.000-04:00

I've been a bit behind when it's come to posting about this–mostly because I've yet to receive the printed copy and the online version only went up recently–but good old Mr. Monitor recently received some love from the folks at Creative Quarterly. The above image appears in issue 23 alongside a whole host of really great samples of illustration. Even though I'm really not that much of a pro contest type of person, it's an honour to have the work recognized...

New Work-Taddle Creek No. 26

2011-06-16T11:57:00.000-04:00

"Melt" by Amelia Kahaney

"Unfaithful" by Alexandra Leggat

"A Fog" by David Ross

"The Many Faces of Montgomery Clift" by Grace O'Connell

From the Press release:
Issue No. 26 of Taddle Creek will launch on Friday, June 17, at the Jet Fuel Coffee Shop, 519 Parliament Street (in Cabbagetown, just north of Carlton). Doors open at 8:30, at which time free ham and non-ham burgers will be served, as will free beer, courtesy of Steam Whistle Brewing (Steam Whistle + Taddle Creek: 2001-2011!). Helping you digest will be three five-minute readings by James Lindsay, Grace O’Connell, and Damian Rogers.

And in the event you have any money left over, why not pick up a copy of the summer issue, featuring new fiction and poetry by Chris Chambers (who?), Julie Hartley, Amelia Kahaney, Alexandra Leggat, James Lindsay, Peter Norman, Grace O’Connell, Damian Rogers, and David Ross.
Plus: a comic by Joe Ollmann, an interview with Evie Christie, the return of Alfred Holden, Dani Couture’s Animal Effigy, Lindsay Zier-Vogel’s love letters, Dave Lapp’s People Around Here, and a cover by Jack Dylan.
Now doesn’t that sound like something to suffer through free food and beer for?
_____________________________________________________

Above are my contributions, illustration wise to the issue. Big thanks to Conan Tobias as always...

New Work-Playback Magazine

2011-06-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

The latest issue of Playback magazine has hit the newsstands and sports an ode to our glorious future in my cover design. Any chance to illustrate robots, especially in canine form, is one I'll gladly take!

New Work-The Lowest of the Low

2011-05-26T12:40:00.000-04:00

Above: Poster design for LOTL anniversary show at Massey Hall, Toronto. May 7, 2011. 3 Colour Screenprint, run of 200

Above: Gatefold design for 20th anniversary LP Edition of LOTL's "Shakespeare My Butt"

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Toronto indie band The Lowest of the Low's release of their breakthrough album "Shakespeare My Butt" . I was happy to partake in designing both the poster for their concert at Toronto's legendary Massey Hall (a variation was used for shows in Buffalo) and a brand new design for the gatefold of a new pressing of the album on vinyl. I've worked with LOTL guitarist Stephen Stanley at his day job as an Art Director/Designer at Brunico Communications (where my wife used to work) and he's always been super supportive of my illustrations. When the Massey Hall show was announced in the winter of this year, I proposed creating a poster and thankfully he and the rest of the band were really into the idea. Out of this they asked me to do the LP design which was a pretty great surprise and a bit of a daunting task (due mostly to my tendency to be anal). The original idea on my end was to tell a sequential story tied into the lyrics and themes of the songs on the album, which after a large amount of tweaking became a series of individual images that are connected but don't tell a direct story.

• The first panel contains references to the album title-via the Shakespeare character-and the songs "4 O'Clock Stop" (the watch), "So Long Bernie" (the shop in the background) and "Just About "The Only" Blues" (the man playing harmonica in the window)

• Panel two focuses on the song "Salesmen, Cheats and Liars" via the typical salesman caricature

• Panel three references the song "Rosy and Grey" (the name of the beer) and a line from "The Eternal Fatalist" ("You nearly drank up all of my beer"-hence the empty beer case)

• The fourth panel touches on the songs "For the Hand of Magdalena" (via the quote on the postcard) and "Letter from Bilbao" (via the postmark and address). My wife provided the handwriting since mine is very crude/illegible and hers has a nice femininity to it (obviously).

• Panel number five focuses on the song "Under the Carlaw Bridge", which has some of my favourite lyrics on the album and I felt deserved a stark panel all to itself

• The final panel ends on a lighter note referencing the songs "Gossip Talkin' Blues" (the birds chatting amongst themselves) and "Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes" (the "King Henry" character stepping up to steal the shoes from the wire)

A big thank you is in order to Stephen, Ron, David and John for letting me be a part of this and for all the great feedback as this was put together.

Sketchbook Detritus-Edmonton Long Weekend Edition

2011-05-24T12:49:00.000-04:00

I finally broke the Western barrier of Ontario over the weekend and ended up in Edmonton for a family function on my wife's side. When I could find time, I worked in a new travel sketchbook and these were some of my more fun ideas, including a doodle dedicated to the late great Macho Man Randy Savage (which I scrawled as soon as I read the news).

Savage was one of my favourite wrestlers as a young WWF fan, even though I made the error of cheering against him the first time I ever saw a live wrestling event at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1986. On TV he put on some of the best matches ever, was definitely entertaining and had the best voice. RIP Macho Man...

Boozin' With Beelzebub...

2011-05-11T15:41:00.002-04:00

More new work arriveth in the mail for me this week in the form of the latest "Bon Vivant" column. "I'm allergic to sulphur, are there any wines I can drink" was the chosen question for this month and who better to represent the downside of sulphur than the devil himself? I looked to Jim Flora for inspiration and came up with a super stripped down 2 colour representation that's one of my favourite pieces so far this year.

Kipling Station

2011-05-10T09:54:00.001-04:00

I contributed this here one pager to the "Subway Issue" of Toronto based comics anthology, Grawlix, which was released over the weekend to coincide with TCAF. I decided to step away from the digital world for a change, partially due to time constraints, but also to come up with something a bit more loose and similar to my sketchbook doodles or what I tend to do at the Comic Jam. I went straight to ink, which meant a lot of trial and error and more than a few re-renderings, but I'm quite content with the end result. It has just the touch of whimsy that works with the subject matter. Please check out the website or contact Dalton Sharp at cartoonyou@yahoo.ca for information on grabbing a copy...

New Work-Broken Pencil Issue #51

2011-05-09T15:40:00.000-04:00

The newest issue of Broken Pencil (#51), arrived in my mailbox today and above are my illustration contributions. The top illustration accompanies the main article "Art on Two Wheels: The Rise of Cycling as Culture". In particular the piece is inspired the Bicycle Music Festival-a festival entirely powered by bikes attached to generators-but I thought it would work better if the bike was powering a camera as opposed to something music related. I'm pretty happy with the minimalist approach I took to it, although I should have omitted some of the texture in the background.

The bottom is the header image for a new column in the magazine called "DIY Drama" which reports on all the little beefs that might be going on in the indie community.

Issue #51 also includes the B&W version of the newest Mr. Monitor, which will be slow in showing up online due to some changes to the BP website. The issue also features spectacular illustrations by Raymond Biesinger, a great strip by Vicki Nerino and more....

Here

Kill Shakespeare Cover Contest Entry...

2011-04-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

My friend Tiff, she of Toronto comic shop The Silver Snail, brought to my attention that the fairly popular comic "Kill Shakespeare" was having a contest to design the cover for issue #11 and persuaded me to partake. I confess that I've never read the book before, but why let that deter me? Luckily IDW (the publisher) recently reissued the first issue for a mere buck in an effort to drum up new readers, so I picked it up and got a feel for the book. Above is my entry, which finished a distant (way distant) third in fan voting on the Kill Shakespeare Facebook page. The issue revolves around Hamlet (the main character) fleeing into the Globe Woods to escape his enemies and that's what I centered on. Any excuse to design trees. A thanks is in order to Tiff, for getting me wise to this, anybody who voted for the piece on Facebook and my dear Lindsay and our friend Adam Earle for trying to rally support.

Recent Tidings Work...

2011-04-20T11:11:00.000-04:00

I'm nearing five years as a regular contributor for Montreal based wine magazine Tidings and it continues to be a fun job that gives me a great amount of freedom to mess around and many changes in my style/technique are usually worked out here, to mixed levels of success of course. The two illustrations posted above are my first for the year. The top (Feb/March 2011), illustrates a column in which the writer (Peter Rockwell) discusses Portugal (represented by the rooster) as an underrated wine producer that's just beginning to catch on. The bottom (April 2011) accompanies his advice for what types of all purpose wines one can bring to the party. I like that I don't show too much of the character's facial features and show their nervousness through the clenched teeth and excessive sweat. I can't wait to post my next column, but I'll have to wait until May for that...

Sketchbook Detritus-Early April 2011

2011-04-12T09:59:00.000-04:00

While out and about the past few days....

The Global 100 2011

2011-04-04T08:32:00.000-04:00

I'm up to my sixth year of doing covers for the Global 100 edition of RealScreen magazine, and while it's sometimes hard to find new ways to have fun with "Globie", I'm always pretty happy with how things turn out (except for my cover in 2007, which was a turd). This year we decided to make it an homage to Banksy due to the popularity/notoriety of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and the increase in Banksy's media profile. The rendering of Globie is an amalgamation of a few past cover interpretations, slapped together in illustrator and then given a heavy stamp filter treatment in photoshop. I did the title by hand using a pilot parallel pen on heavy toothed paper for a nice bleed. Realscreen designer, Mark Lacoursiere came up with the great treatment on the RealScreen logo and it makes for a great overall presentation if you ask me.

Above is the printed version of the cover, below the image taken from my original file...

Happy Pancake Tuesday...

2011-03-08T12:25:00.001-05:00

Nothin' like fresh pickings from the sugar bush...

Ken Mode etc. Show Poster....

2011-02-21T18:25:00.001-05:00

Above is a freshly completed (as of this afternoon) poster design for an upcoming screamingly loud show in my fair city. As far as I know there are no plans for prints, so it's strictly an online piece.

Illustration Friday: Sweater...

2011-02-14T10:33:00.000-05:00

I didn't get a chance to complete this week's contribution to "Illustration Friday" on Friday, but I think it's nicer to start one's week off with a vision of manliness doing yard work. This week's topic was "Sweater" and my reason for this image is based off a true story of sorts. A friend of mine recounted how he was going to call on a friend and as he got on to his street he noticed a man mowing his lawn. He thought to himself "Why the hell is he wearing a sweater in the middle of summer?" and then gasped and chuckled when he came to the realization that the "sweater" was 100% natural.

Mr. Monitor #15...

2011-02-07T15:44:00.000-05:00

Mr. Monitor #15 follows close on the heels of #14 and features the return of the always crafty L'Ourque Ganyon. Give it a look right here...

The Mjolnirs Are Coming!!

2011-02-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

A poster design I was commissioned to do by UK based Rackets (a racketball like sport best described here) team "The Mjolnirs" they've come to Montreal as of today (Feb. 3) for the Canadian Amateur Championships. The team got it's name from the hammer of The Mighty Thor, which in turn is a reference to a move in the game where a player hammers the ball towards the court wall. A fun little job and I'm generally pleased with the outcome.

Mr. Monitor #14

2011-01-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

My webcomic, Mr. Monitor, keeps on chugging along somehow. I never give it the time it really deserves and if I were a New Years resolution type of person, I'd resolve to do just that. I've just completed #14 (now online here) and I think I'm finally at a point of satisfaction in how the strip as a whole functions and looks, but I can imagine I'll be messing around with the colours right up until this sucker ends. It keeps things interesting that way. This particular episode was influenced by the great/madcap Belgian film "A Town Called Panic", namely in the look of the cars (as seen in the sample panel above). See it if you haven't, it was one of my favourite viewings of last year...

...

T'ain't nothin' sweeter than riding the rails....

2011-01-16T21:41:00.002-05:00

My contribution for this week's installment of "Illustration Friday" based around the theme "Chicken". I don't know why anything I do with chickens always seem to involve harmonicas (see here ), but there you go...

The Bearshark!!

2011-01-12T15:42:00.002-05:00

A tribute/portrait of my dear friend, Christopher "The Bearshark" Gramlich. A fearsome beast....

Sketchbook Detritus-03/01/11

2011-01-04T16:26:00.001-05:00

I was listening to a lot of Devo yesterday, hence the ode to Mr. Mothersbaugh. I need more marker colours....

Torontoist's Heroes and Villains 2010-The Good Guys!!!

2011-01-03T19:08:00.004-05:00

From the top: 1. José Bautista 2. Snakes and Lattes 3. The Human-Powered Ornithopter Team 4.The Canadian Opera Company 5. The National Theatre of the World

I decided to take some slacker time off after my deluge of pre-Xmas posts and found myself posting the follow up to my "Villains" post (here) in these early days of 2011. Where that post was all about the yin, I bring you the yang. The positive to the negative, for not all was to be frowned upon in this city of mine last year. Let's run through this lot, hmm?

1) José Bautista- My second interpretation of a sports figure and one of the bright spots in a Toronto Blue Jays season that found the team struggling for points and the love of a city too enamored with a substandard hockey team. Bautista led the American league in home runs and was the Blue Jays' MVP for 10. I depicted him as a kind of mighty hunter with his bat and a slain baseball at his feet.

2) Snakes and Lattes- I focused on pure stylization and my take on the name of a new café in Toronto in which a small $5 fee allows you unlimited time to play any board game you want while sipping on the brown water.

3) The Human-Powered Ornithopter Team- How's that for a mouthful? An Ornithopter is a human powered flying device that flaps it's wings like a bird (the idea of which goes back to both ancient mythology and Da Vinci's time). A group of U of T students had the first successful flight of such a device in August and this post honoured them. Soviet art meets the classic Superman catch phrase.

4) The Canadian Opera Company- The other COC has been staging slightly unconventional operas such as "Nixon In China" and bringing in non opera fans. This was my attempt at an opera singing caricature of Tricky Dick, although I feel it looks more like Mr. Magoo in hindsight.

5) The National Theatre of the World- Last but not least, Toronto theatre/comedy heroes whom came to prominence in 2010. I based my piece on stylized portraits of company principals Matt Baram, Ron Pederson, and Naomi Snieckus.

The entire list of heroes (and villains) can be found here and as I said in that villain post, there's plenty of fantastic illustrations to be found.

Tossin' the Candy Caber...

2010-12-23T16:34:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas you wee beasties.
I look forward to a week of being idle and reading comics. Hope it's a good one for whoever's reading this...

Let it Snow...

2010-12-23T16:10:00.000-05:00

I was recently approached by the Toronto based design firm Hambly and Woolley to create an image for their annual Christmas card for 2010. Every year the firm donates a dozen pigs and sheep to needy families via World Vision and the image on the card relates to that gift in some fashion (which is also a visual pun on the company name-get it?). I took the whole idea in a fun and whimsical direction and was very influenced by the pond skating scene in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which was always my favourite part.
Thanks go out to Bob Hambly at H&W for creative direction and Dominic Ayre for colour correction in the final (seen below).

Torontoist's Heroes and Villains 2010-The Baddies!!!

2010-12-23T01:03:00.002-05:00

From the top: 1. The Imagine Concert 2. Chris Bosh 3. G20 ISU 4. Dislove of Toronto 5. Blaming Pedestrians

My first year as a Torontoist contributor is coming to a close and with that comes an opportunity to participate in the annual "Heroes and Villains" lists–one of their most popular segments, so I hear. For any non-Torontonian reading this, the series outlines a variety of different people, organizations or events that affected the city over the course of the year, for both good or bad. To end the year on a more positive note, they ran the Villains over the course of last week and are running down the heroes as I type this rambling nonsense.

"Daley, what was going through your head while doing these?" you may ask. Great question, so I'll tell you:

1) The Imagine Concert was some large scale hippy concert being planned by one of the clowns who promoted the original Woodstock and was touted as the biggest concert to ever hit Toronto. Of course it never happened. I figured I'd take the obvious hippy image of a peace symbol and add some snakes to the fingers to show the two faced "snake" sides of the promoters' false promises.

2) Chris Bosh-the now former Toronto Raptor who left town after another lacklustre season by the team and proceeded to be less than graceful towards the city in his Tweets afterward. Hence the image of him "siccing" his evil twitter birds on Toronto. I'm not all that stout with likenesses, so I tried to keep him at a minimum in the illustration.

3) The G20 ISU- given the overreaction of too many of the police at the G20 in the summer, I interpreted them in the form of a rabid, monstrous attack dog

4) Dislove of Toronto- another simple idea using Toronto as a voodoo doll for all the negative feelings from the rest of the country, suburban dwellers and the local media, especially during our recent municipal election. The central figure was influenced by the look of Bela Lugosi in the movie "Voodoo Man"

5) Blaming Pedestrians-because sometimes the media have a tendency to blame pedestrians when they get hit by cars. As an avid walker I've encountered many a shitty driver (and cyclists) who think they own the road (although, to be fair, there are plenty of pedestrians who have no clue and think they're free to walk however they please). The image was influenced by Dr. Octopus, some sort of shadow creature and Ed Roth and is in the form of a judge to act as some sort of tribunal passing judgment on the poor sap they just flattened.

Check out the entire list here as there are plenty of great illustrations on display. I'll blab about my heroes next week...

Taddle Creek #25-Fiction Illustrations

2010-12-12T23:54:00.000-05:00

"Stop Loss" By Kelly Ward

"Our Many-Splendoured Humanity" by Jessica Westhead

"Remember the Story" by Stuart Ross

"Atikoken is for Lovers" by Amy Jones

This past week saw the release of the 25th issue of Toronto literary magazine Taddle Creek. This was the third issue that featured my illustrations accompanying works of fiction and I feel my best contributions to the magazine so far. I decided to mess around quite a bit with these and loosen up at the same time, because if I can't have fun with what I'm doing, what's the point really? Notable experiments include taking a photo of the pattern on my kitchen table (as seen in the backgrounds above) and using it as the background for the "Stop Loss" illustration as well as using found wallpaper patterns for "Atikokan...". As per usual, the magazine is top notch and worth checking out either on many a Canadian newsstand or via here. Thanks once again to Mr. Conan Tobias for having me, I'm looking forward to the next go round.

Sketchbook Detritus-11/11/10

2010-11-11T10:39:00.001-05:00

Somehow bored doodling turned into Wolverine last night...

Steamwhistle Design a Deck Contest 2010

2010-11-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

I've long wanted to see my work on skateboard decks but have never had much success accessing that industry. A few near hits here and there, but nothing worked out in the end. It was always in the back of my mind though, so when I found out Steamwhistle Brewery had a yearly contest to bring art, skateboarding and beer together in one room, I figured "why not". If my design (above) didn't get in, at least I had an image to promote if I wanted to hit up various skate companies. Lucky for me my design was chosen and will be showcased along with over a dozen other designs at a wrap party on Friday (Nov. 12) at the Baitshop, a gallery/skateboard shop in Toronto.

I based my idea on the above sketch which was something I'd doodled around a year or so ago. I'd worked with no success on some more conceptual ideas that just caused me nothing but frustration. As is often the case, simpler is better and it was true this time.

My next step was doing a pencil sketch to scale (above) and then working everything out in illustrator. After it was chosen by the Steamwhistle folks, I took the board to the Baitshop for printing and the end result is as follows (complete with handy beer ad on the back):

The link to the event is here. If you're in the Toronto area and can make it you can RSVP via an email on that page. My personal thanks go out to Mike Arlotto at Steamwhistle for having me and Ken at the Baitshop for the great print job....

Ghost in the antique...

2010-10-29T15:09:00.000-04:00

Be careful when listening to those spook shows ladies and gentlemen!
Have a fun Halloween. Don't get a stomach ache shoveling all that junk in your trap...

Wild Waterfall...

2010-09-29T14:08:00.001-04:00

This summer was a first for me as I had the opportunity to design characters for an iPhone app promoting milk for the Dairy Farmers of Canada. I've really enjoyed their series of 10 second ads that feature amazingly wacky animation, so when I was approached to do this I didn't even hesitate. It made for a nice change from my usual editorial grind as well. The team at Twist Image, who put the game together, were quite easy to work with and encouraged fairly wacky ideas, even though we had a short turn around.

Opening Screens

Game Play and End Screen

I'm afraid I don't have any proper screen caps as of yet, so above is the best I can show for how it looks. My wife's iPhone was used and she has some sort of mirror screen cover, so it's hard to capture with a camera.
Here are the original designs of what was used:

Above: The main lumberjack character. Final screen "victorious" image + 2 views of him riding in his log. I didn't really stray that much from my sketches (below), except that they wanted me to make him less squat/fat looking. I also tried a character that was more of a "white water" type, but since lumberjacks are much better, I'm glad this was the route we took.


Lumberjack Sketches

The twist of the game, if you will, is that the "waterfall" in the title is actually a little girl drinking milk. If you lose, you get swallowed in the torrent, if you win, you escape and bounce on her growing bicep. There wasn't a huge variation between the final rendering and early sketches, but I tried a separate look for a variation that didn't work quite as well...

Lastly, here's all the little details I rendered. Variations on the paddle, the various bubbles you have to either avoid or pick up and different takes on the waves. Certain bubble types weren't used and the final colours of the waves were changed to look less like water and more like milk.

So there you have it, my first, and hopefully not last, sojourn into the world of games and animation by proxy. You can download the game for free here, or at the iTunes store, but if you don't have an iPhone you can watch the lumberjack bob up and down in the waves for kicks. You can also run through some of the TV spots at the site as well.

A Year of Years

2010-09-22T14:56:00.000-04:00

Above are some pieces I recently provided for the September 2010 issue of Avenue Magazine (link), which is a Calgary centered lifestyle magazine. The article was centered around the boom in lifestyle books that chronicle a year in the life of the particular subject and the way that they drastically changed their lives. The book in focus was Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project" which was her chronicle of developing a more "posi" lifestyle (I've got the PMA!!), and that's what influenced the splash page (top). I based the design on a solar calendar and chronicled the central subject's year from a depressed "baby new year" type through to being a happy "old man" at year's end. The themes for the accompanying spot illustrations are both about the voyeuristic nature of reading these types of books and how some people treat them almost as some sort of guru as to how they can live their lives.

Here's the final results in print:

Sketchbook Detritus 21/09/10

2010-09-22T14:21:00.001-04:00

Last night I went to a panel discussion moderated by my wife, who helped present it as editor of Broken Pencil magazine. The title of the talk was "Are Zines History?" and the panel debated and discussed the relevance of creating small press zines in the age of the internet. At one point I decided to pull out my sketchbook and do some doodle portraits of the panelists. These were done on a knock off moleskin (the choice of hipsters everywhere) using a Copic Multiliner pen with a 0.35 nib.

(L-R) Ian Sullivan Cant, Megan Speers, Chris Landry

I will admit that attending kind of made me want to try my hand at doing a zine just for the sake of fun and getting weird ideas out that don't necessarily need a full render. We shall see...

Back in the saddle again....

2010-09-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

Good day to you all and a very happy first day of autumn! The day I've been feverishly awaiting since the first humid spell of late May. As is obvious, I'm no fan of summer and the heat and I find myself coming out of hibernation when the fall rolls around, hence this post out of nowhere after a month of inactivity. What have I been up to, you may ask? Aside from prolific bouts of comic reading and sitting in dark rooms with the shades drawn and AC cranked, I'm going to use this week to get up to speed with some of my late summer art based shenanigans.
One thing common to summer are weddings and this year my wife and I had our fair share, all within a span of two weeks (including two in one day). I sometimes like to give friends a piece as a wedding gift and when our friends Lisa and Kenny legitimized their coupling, they were the lucky recipients of the following:

"Game" FC Giclee Print, 18" x 24"

Both are avid video game types, so I decided to update a piece I'd created a few years earlier for a group show based around video games (see below). It was something I was never 100% happy with and feel that the "mark two" version of makes a bit more sense, even though it's a bit more abstract/absurd.

"Zap" 2 Colour Letterpress Print, 5.75" x 8.75". 2006

I used the above as my initial template in the sketches, but as I messed about with the final, I came to the realization (with some input from my wife) that it worked better if the head was actually an arcade game as opposed to having a guy with one strapped to him. And from there a shining new piece for the walls of newlyweds. I just hope it doesn't scare the crap out of their son....

Bonus sketches!

Sketchbook Detritus-August 01/02

2010-08-11T12:59:00.001-04:00

While out and about in early August....

Storytelling is Carnivorous...

2010-08-06T13:05:00.000-04:00

Another new-ish piece in the latest issue of Lucid Media (#7). This one goes along with a profile on erstwhile Canadian personality Sook-Yin Lee in conjunction with her recent film "Year of the Carnivore". I don't often do portrait type illustrations of actual people, but I'm always open to a new challenge. I definitely didn't get her likeness in this piece, so I had to get more conceptual thanks to some suggestions and prodding by Lucid editor Ryan Warring Bird. Here's the key to all the floating elements: Meat-ties in with the title of the film, Pills-the article discusses the history of mental illness and depression in her family, Bus-her role in "Shortbus", Music Notes-her history as a musician and the hearts are symbolic of the main quote of all her movies and stories being love stories at heart.

Here's how it looks in print:

Meet the Presses...

2010-07-22T23:52:00.001-04:00

I recently did my first illustration assignment for Lucid Media (link), a Toronto based independent arts magazine. The piece accompanied an article by Reid McCarter about the Toronto small press publishing community and the Small Press of Toronto bookfair that took place in early June. My copy of the magazine showed up in my mail box and here's how the spread looks in it's B&W printed form:

And now in glorious full colour:

My Jim Flora fixation was definitely foremost on my mind as I was working on this. The whole idea revolves around the "one person wearing many hats" reality of the self publisher. From the writing, to the printing/manufacturing to the final sale of the product. In this case, in a public setting like a book fair. It's been a while since I've used collage in anything, so that was fun. I shouldn't be scared of using collage in my arsenal, there's that little nagging side that makes me feel as though I'm "cheating", but whatever.
Lucid is out and about in various magazine stores in Toronto right now and features a lovely cover by Charlene Chua...

Sketchbook Detritus-June 30 2009

2010-07-05T10:20:00.000-04:00

While out at Pen Club for the first time in ages last Wednesday....

Torontoist-Food Safety at the G20

2010-06-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

To coincide with that very important meeting of very important people in the city of my dwelling, I provided this illustration to accompany an article on Torontoist about how the security overkill went all the way to how the food was prepared. The illustration depicts a waiter type coming against a brick wall of secret service while trying to serve dinner.
The article was written by Stephen Michalowicz and can be found here

Newsstand Illustrations for Torontoist...

2010-06-29T10:25:00.001-04:00

A series of illustrations running in rotation daily at Torontoist. Here's an example of how today's looks: http://torontoist.com/2010/06/newsstand_june_29_2010.php

Deep Gin and Summer Grills...

2010-06-21T16:35:00.000-04:00

From the July/August 2010 issue of Tidings, on sale now....

Amusing Myself While Out For Chow....

2010-06-21T16:30:00.000-04:00

More places need craft paper and crayons....

Taddle Creek-Summer 2010 Issue On Newsstands Now...

2010-06-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

L: "The Quiet" by Michael Christie
R: "Strange Attractors" by Danielle Egan

L: "Snorkel" by Judy McCrosky
R: "A Private Woman" by David Ross

Taddle Creek’s long awaited Out-of-Towner issue is now on sale at a variety of fine newsstands. This historic issue sees Taddle Creek temporarily remove its Toronto-centric restrictions, and features authors and artists from coast to coast in all directions. To celebrate this one-time-only event, the magazine is proud to also announce The Taddle Creek Travelling Series of Happenings, a tour that Taddle Creek hopes will see it play to tens of people across Canada and the U.S. this summer and fall.
Taddle Creek’s Out-of-Towner issues features new fiction and poetry by Michael Christie (Victoria), Danielle Egan (Vancouver), Jesse Patrick Ferguson (Fredericton), Judy McCrosky (Saskatoon), Catherine McGuire (Sweet Home, Oregon), Peter Norman (Halifax), David Ross (Toronto), Alexandra Wilder (New York), and Elana Wolff (Thornhill, Ontario). Plus, an essay on Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood by Sarah Gilbert (Montreal); a photo gallery of and essay on Saint John, New Brunswick, by Ian MacEachern (London, Ontario) and Tony Tobias (Toronto), respectively; a profile of Vancouver’s Lee Henderson by Toronto’s Mark Medley; comics by David Collier (Hamilton) and Jason Turner (Vancouver); illustrations by Matthew Daley (Toronto) and Zach Worton (Montreal); all the regular features, including a short piece by Jenn Hardy (Montreal) and Dave Lapp’s People Around Here; and a cover by Pascal Blanchet (Trois-Rivières, Quebec).
It’s an issue well worth the five dollars. Taddle Creek hopes to see you on the road this summer!

NXNE Poster Show 2010

2010-06-14T09:39:00.000-04:00

North by Northeast (NXNE) is having its annual Poster Show at an Art Gallery this year! We have taken the show out of the conference and into Twist Gallery (Queen/Dovercourt)! Artists in this showcase have made exclusive gig posters for literally hundreds and hundreds of bands as well as art prints and tons more. Who would think that simple ink, paper and a squeegee could made into so much awesomeness!

Twist Gallery provides a stylish, spacious exhibition space to see this great work. There will also be live bands and DJs scheduled for the run of the show. You’ll see a slimmed-down version of the exhibition at the Hyatt (370 King St. W) and Dundas Square during NXNE.

Artists scheduled to participate...

Crosshair - Chicago, IL - http://crosshairchicago.com/
Large Mammal Print - Oaklyn, NJ - http://largemammalprint.com/
Budai - Pittsburgh, PA - http://crayondracula.blogspot.com/
Dwitt - Minneapolis, MN - http://dwitt.com/
LeDouxville - Seattle, WA - http://ledouxville.com/
Nat Damm - Seattle, WA - http://natdamm.com/
Crash Design - Portland, OR - http://crashamerica.com/
Jack Dylan - Montreal QC - http://jackdylan.ca/
Lil Tuffy - San Francisco, CA - http://lil-tuffy.com/
Cricket Press - Lexington, KY - http://cricket-press.com/
Uncle Charlie- The Woodlands, TX - http://unclecharlieart.com/
Patent Pending - Seattle, WA - http://patentpendingdesign.com/
Michael Deforge - Toronto, ON - http://kingtrash.com/
Doublenaut - Toronto, ON - http://doublenaut.com/
Popfuel - Toronto - http://popfuel.com/
Adam Swinbourne - Toronto, ON
Matt Daley - Toronto, ON - http://shinypliers.com/
Salvatore Angileri - Toronto, ON
Roxanne Ignatius - Toronto, ON
Stacey Case - Toronto, ON
Tomas Del Balso - Toronto, ON
Playdead Cult - Toronto, ON

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NXNE Poster Show 2010
June 14 - 28
Twist Gallery (1100 Queen Street West - above The Social)
Toronto, Ontario
11am - 6pm
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Extended hours on June 14, 17, 18, 19 + more TBC

http://nxne.com/conference/poster-show

One for the kiddies...

2010-05-26T20:12:00.000-04:00

My friends, Scott and Stacey, are having a baby in the next few days. They asked me to paint a mural on the wall of the baby's room. I haven't painted in about 5 years, so I was scared. As it turns out, I'm not as rusty as I thought.

Above: The digital illustration I used as a "sketch. Scott had a projector attached to his computer that we were able to use. They knew they're having a girl, so they wanted an image that involved a little girl and their dog Webber...

Above: And so the work begins...

Above: The fine details added...

Above: Girl detail...

Above: Webber detail...

Above: The finished piece
All photos by Scott Willemsen

Thanks and congratulations in advance to Scott and Stacey. It was a fun project and worked out much, much better than I'd hoped...

Melvins Illustration in June 2010 Exclaim-Out Now...

2010-05-26T09:45:00.001-04:00

For quite a while now, my favourite band has been the Melvins (I've been bordering on scary fanatic levels of worship in fact). When Exclaim Magazine came calling and asked if I wanted to do an illustration of the band for their June issue, of course I said yes. For my interpretation, I combined it with another one of my favourite things in the world, that being Japanese monster movies. Fitting, since I more or less see the Melvins as an unstoppable force since they've only gotten better in their 25+ years of existence and are showing no signs of slowing down.
Thanks to my friend Christopher at Exclaim, I've heard the new album "The Bride Screamed Murder" and I'd say it definitely ranks among their best....

They say that life's a carousel-Spinning fast, you've got to ride it well....

2010-05-17T00:20:00.000-04:00

In tribute to the late Ronnie James DIo....

Sketchbook Detritus-11/05/10

2010-05-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

Doodled while sucking back caffeine with Ben Rivers...

Mr. Monitor...

2010-05-06T13:26:00.000-04:00

If I had my way, or a heftier bank account, I'd pretty much work on Mr. Monitor stories all the time. As it stands, I've been able to put out 7 parts online in the span of around 18 months, which is kind of sad considering each part is only a single page. My perfectionism once again takes a hold of me.
History lesson-I first created Mr. Monitor in 10th grade, which makes him 20 years old this year. I'm showing my age, but whatever. I spent the rest of high school doodling him in the middle of class and coming up with ridiculous stories that I never completed (thankfully). In my third year of college I brought him back as a back up feature in my early mini comics and it turned out people liked his stories much better than what I was doing in the main features. I never completed the serial I had him involved in when I gave up on doing zines, but I never really forgot about him. Now he's on his third incarnation as a web comic, one that's constantly being messed around with, but that's the fun of the online medium if you ask me. I think this incarnation, as far as look and story are much better and I'm glad I'm doing it this way. His sub site at Broken Pencil was just re-done, so if you're at all curious follow this link: http://www.brokenpencil.com/mrmonitor/
Thanks to Derek Winkler for putting the page together and to my wife (and editor) Lindsay for giving me a reason to pull this story out of the mothballs again and a place to host it.

The Page 100 Project-And the Ass Saw the Angel

2010-04-29T15:44:00.001-04:00

Fellow cartoonist and former Torontonian Jason Turner has recently come up with the inspired idea for "The Page 100 Project", originally for his own curiosity, but has caught on with a variety of other cartoonists. The idea is to flip to the 100th page of a favourite book and in turn give it the comic treatment. I chose to do Nick Cave's "And the Ass Saw the Angel" and above is the end result...

The Glutton...

2010-04-28T10:35:00.000-04:00

I was recently invited to partake in the 7 Sins International Graphic Contest and above is my contribution..

The Manimal Show-Aftermath 2

2010-04-19T11:59:00.004-04:00

Here's my contribution to the Manimal show. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce Syrup Pursadobla-he's got snakes for arms!!

"Syrup Pursabobla"
14x18" Giclee Print
Edition of 5
Printed by William Oldacre @ Fine Art Print Studio, Toronto

I based the final off a random doodle in one of my sketchbooks that I happened to like. For those of you who care about the whole process of illustrating, here it is:

The Manimal Show-Aftermath 1...

2010-04-19T11:23:00.003-04:00

Friday (April 16) was the opening night of the Manimal Show in Toronto, of which I was a participant. I snapped some pictures during set-up and here's the best of the bunch:
Setting up the front window at the Smiling Buddha

The final set up of the front window

Manimal Art on the walls...

More Manimal art...

Thanks go out to Ryan James Terry for putting the show together and congratulations on the great turn out and success of the night. Thanks as well to the folks at the Smiling Buddha.

Manimal Art Show-Friday April 16.

2010-04-13T15:13:00.001-04:00

From the press release:

Come one come all!
Olive Industries is proud to present the Manimal Art show!! Be it (hu-)Man? Be it Beast? Be it somewhere betwixt the twain? Only your eyes can see the truth should you muster up the courage to witness the sheer spectacle of such things as only the Heathen Gods and 10 visual artists could imagine.
Featuring new works by Matthew Daley, Holly Gilmour, Claire Manning, Mitch Papineau, Ryan James Terry, Michael Aaron Tessier, Tina Tsai, Elan Umholtz, Paul Wolk, Damian Zuch, the evening will surely mystify, amazify, and confound patrons of all ages! (who are 19+!!)
Entertainment for the ears will also be provided by rock and roll artists Rescue Room, electronic musicians TAngA, and acoustic duo When We Was Young.

Recent Bon Vivant Excursions...

2010-04-01T17:06:00.002-04:00

Top: Choco Tastes-Tidings Feb/March 2010
Bottom: Mondo de Vino-Tidings April 2010

Fresh of the Presses....

2010-03-31T12:41:00.003-04:00

....and into my greasy mitts. This is the fifth cover I've contributed to the magazine and might just be my favourite.
For the uninitiated, RealScreen is a trade magazine focusing on the documentary and reality TV industries. They have a yearly profile on the top companies/trends in the industry and I get the call to provide the cover featuring the "mascot" lovingly dubbed "Globie" by the editors. Since cake shows are all the rage on TV and this being the fifth anniversary of the issue, we went with a celebratory theme....

Duelin' Comic Cons...

2010-03-18T17:31:00.003-04:00

Done for a recent posting on Torontoist about two separate convention companies dueling for supremacy in the Toronto area. "Wolverine" representing Wizard World, which is having it's first con on this coming weekend and "Superman" representing the Hobbystar group, which has had a bit of a stranglehold on things for the better part of a decade. What can I say, superheroes, or those who dress up like them, just too fun to draw.
Full article HERE

Old Strips Week-Part 5

2010-02-26T20:01:00.003-05:00

Some heavy blogging here today. With this third and final post of the day, I bring my old comics retrospective to a close. First up is another contribution to Don't Touch Me, this from April of 2007. Let's examine, shall we...
Secondly, as featured in the Fall 2007 edition of Broken Pencil. I was asked to do a "write up" of sorts on that year's Toronto Comics Art Festival. The theme for the particular issue was "horror" so I thought the conversation with Seth was a fitting subject for the story. The title block is an homage to the classic EC books. Not one of my favourite pieces (last minute once again), but there's something charming about the whole story, especially the nod to my grandfather. It's likely the closest I'll ever get to doing an autobio type of story...

Perspective...

2010-02-26T19:48:00.003-05:00

“In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.” ~unknown

Done for the site Illustration Friday. This weeks theme being "Perspective" and based around the above quote. The illustration is pretty much a literal interpretation of the quote and a good excuse to do illustrations of pets...

To the Batcave Old Chum!

2010-02-26T10:57:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to the original article on Torontoist (Link)

Old Strips Week-Part 4

2010-02-25T16:47:00.002-05:00

The final Bawdy collaborations. Sigh.
As of late 2006 or so "Tastes Like Chicken" folded, as sadly too many small magazines seem to do. Seeing that I felt like I was finally getting the hang of this, I proposed to Wayne that we continue either as a web strip or to try and pitch a collection. He seemed into the idea at first, but unfortunately we quickly fell out of touch. Maybe he just wanted to move on and this reminded him too much of TLC's end, who knows? Such is life and it was a fun little run. When last I checked on him, Wayne's been writing under the name Justin Shady for outlets like the AV club and even wrote a graphic novel for Image called "Missing the Boat"(2008), which I have yet to check out but it looked pretty nice (samples here).

I'd really like to thank Wayne for the opportunity. It was an all around fun time...

Old Strips Week-Part 3

2010-02-24T15:09:00.005-05:00

This post is a continuation of the one below in a way. After my first submission to Tastes Like Chicken, publisher Wayne Chinsang took a liking to my work and proposed a collaboration. These strips are the first three results. Wayne was full of odd ideas and great rhymes which made these strips a true pleasure to work on. He was also open to my need to mess around, just as long as I got the strips finished by the (tight) deadlines.
The first strip was done in colour to be put on the magazine's website as the strip was initially supposed to be web only. The third strip is the result of my computer crapping out on me as well as an extra tight deadline due to my having gone on my honeymoon for two weeks. I had to leave the modern era behind and composed it using a grease marker and rubber stamps for the letters.
More installments to follow, click on the images for a better view..

Old Strips Week-Part 2

2010-02-23T18:25:00.005-05:00

Today's installment in this wildly popular series comes from the latter months of 2004 and was my first of many contributions to now defunct magazine/website "Tastes Like Chicken". This same strip also appeared in a highly different form a few years prior in the final issue of a Canadian indie comics anthology called "Sunburn". I was never really happy with how the original strip turned out, due to the fact that I rushed it, the pacing of the nursery rhyme didn't work and the art was pretty bland and muddy. This version was much preferable. It was more to the point and much sadder. Those trees look pretty odd though...

Old Strips Week-Part 1

2010-02-22T15:19:00.005-05:00

I'm in the midst of putting together my latest Mr. Monitor installment (read the first 6 here) and thought it might be a bit fun to revisit some of the strips I've done through the years for various anthologies or magazines. I'm actually surprised at how much I like quite a few of them. Certainly much better than some of the dreck I crapped out in my "zine years".
For the first strip, we travel way back to the year 2003 for this one. "Howlin' Terry Upright" was made for the Summer '03 issue of long running Toronto comics anthology "Don't Touch Me" and was the first comic I'd ever rendered digitally. It also includes some of my early experiments with using outside textures. How very novel..

Fun fact. I was the first person ever to purchase a copy of Don't Touch Me at a convention in 1994 and have a life time subscription for that honour. DTM (and Toronto Comic Jam) founder Dave Howard was one of the first people to support my early, shitty attempts at zine making and has been a great source of encouragement over the years. A tip of the hat to you sir...

Profile on Design Inspiration..

2010-02-12T14:39:00.003-05:00

I recently had the chance to yammer on and share my endless wisdom on the great blog Design Inspiration. These things are great fun to do and I'd like to thank Jeff Andrews for asking me to participate. Do yourself a favour and check out his blog Sugar Frosted Goodness (link) as well as his great design and illustration work (link)
Click on the compelling glasses to head over to the interview...

Life is short, full of stuff...

2010-02-03T23:07:00.001-05:00

Today (Feb. 4) marks the one year anniversary of Lux Interior's sudden passing. The Cramps were a band that I grew to appreciate more over time and I was definitely bummed when I'd heard the news. In lieu of further eulogizing, here's my visual tribute to one of the greats...

Lux Interior (1946-2009)

He was once a little green slab of clay.....

2010-01-12T00:24:00.003-05:00

Merry Merry (I Need Your Huggin')

2009-12-21T19:26:00.001-05:00

The holidays are always tough for cracker headed boys.
Best of the season to all...

Brick a Brack...

2009-12-08T16:08:00.005-05:00

Some random recent snippets:
Above: My friends, the Dawsons of Bramalea, recently welcomed their 2nd son, Rex Fisher, into this here world. I made them this card. Sort of a visual pun on his name...

Above: "Twitter Fiction Takes Off"-from Broken Pencil #45 (Fall 2009)

Above: "Hands Off"-This is my contribution to "Lust" the first of the Seven Deadly Sins series of group shows happening at the Beverly Owens Project (link)in Toronto. The show runs from Dec. 3-Jan 3. and features the work of 100 different artists and illustrators.

Taddle Creek-Winter 2009 Issue

2009-12-07T09:05:00.004-05:00

As a continuation of my post below, here's the four pieces I contributed to the current issue of Taddle Creek (on news stands now). Thanks go out to Conan Tobias for having me on board...

L: "Corey Was a Danger Cat" by Heather Hogan
R: "My Life Among the Apes" by Carey Fagan
L: "See You Next Tuesday" by Stacey May Fowles
R: "Savage" by Nathaniel G. Moore

Taddle Creek Launch-Thurs. Dec 3

2009-12-02T00:24:00.007-05:00

This Thursday, December 3rd, Taddle Creek launches its pretty-new-looking, full-colour winter issue at el Mocambo, 464 Spadina Avenue (just south of College). It all starts at 8 p.m., on the second floor. Admission is free, magazines are the non-literary-magazine price of $5, and entertainment is provided by Stacey May Fowles, Nathaniel G. Moore, Terry Murray, Lindsay Zier-Vogel, and Paul Bellini as the voice of Taddle Creek.

Though admission is free, please do bring some sort of canned good for the el Mo's Serving Charity. It's all the bar asked of Taddle Creek, and each canned good will give you a chance to win some wonderful door prizes.

If you can't make the launch, the issue is now on finer newsstands everywhere. Do pick up a copy. And remember to keep on top of upcoming Taddle Creek events by becoming its Facebook fan at www.facebook.com/taddlecreek.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My connection to this here party is that this particular issue is the first to feature illustrations as contributed by me, so if you're in the Toronto area, come on by. Since the magazine's not officially out, I won't be posting my pieces as of yet, but I'll say that I'm quite happy with the end results...

Twist Away Those Gates of Steel...

2009-12-02T00:06:00.005-05:00

Well that only took me a week...
Above is part two of the Devo posters, a bit of a departure from my usual style, but a little change is good for the soul. Once again, big thanks to Studio 19, Shawna from Warner Bros. as well as Michael from the Devo camp for putting one aside and the nice lady with the clipboard from ATG for letting the Mrs. and I into the post show schmooze. A couple of the best nights of my life!
If anybody's interested in copies of both posters, please drop me a line: matt@shinypliers.com

I've Got Eyes All Around....

2009-11-24T01:36:00.006-05:00

I'm not normally one for the "oooh look at the famous people I met" type photos, but this night is one of those exceptions. I had the supreme honour of designing the posters for Devo's first trek through Toronto in 25 years. It was both a scary and amazing experience. They're doing two nights in town, this particular night (Nov.23) was devoted to the classic "Are We Not Men", night two (Nov.24) will be based around "Freedom of Choice". The perks of being a part of this is that I was able to get into the meet and greet which was also a scary and amazing experience, but I got to meet a band I've been a fan of for a number of years and they were a swell bunch of fellows (regardless of my extreme nervousness and lack of clear communication ability). As for the show, it was an amazing experience-end of story. Looking forward to night two...
Above: Poster design for "Are We Not Men..." signed by the bandAbove: Mr. Mark Mothersbaugh and I showing off our marketing plan to dominate the cereal market...Above: Me again with Bob 1 and my lovely lady Mrs. Lindsay Gibb (look at that hair!)

Thanks abound foremost to the band for letting me do this, Shawna Samboceti at Warner Brothers for all her work being the liason between the band and I and to Bianca and Mike at Studio Number 19 for their usual top notch printing work. I'll have the second design for night #2 up tomorrow...

Pictures at an Exhibition...

2009-10-15T09:49:00.006-04:00

This would have to definitely be one of the most fun CD projects I've been a part of in a long while. As done by my close friend, and erstwhile gentleman, "Friendly" Rich Marsella (link), "Pictures at an Exhibition" is a re-interpretation of the classical piece by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881). The artwork was influenced by 20th century Russian and Soviet illustration, while trying to avoid the obvious Soviet era iconography. To all the Jim Flora fans, the front cover is an homage to his classic illustration to "Inside Sauter-Finegan" (link)
For anybody in the Toronto area, there will be a CD release accompanied by a similarly themed artshow at the Tranzac on November 7..

Edward the Great...

2009-10-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

When I was about seven or so, I first saw the cover to Iron Maiden's "Killers" at a record store and it pretty much scared me half to death. You have to admit that makes for an effective cover. Being a good little catholic at the time, I saw anything to do with the band as completely satanic and I would be disturbed any time I saw a teenager sporting a t-shirt with Maiden mascot Eddie's mug plastered on it (although I was secretly fascinated). By the time I was in my early teens I came to my senses, became a full fledged metal nerd and Eddie became my new hero. The more I saw of the artwork on their albums, singles and merchandise as done by Derek Riggs, the more I'd want to be able to draw like him and would scrawl Eddie after Eddie in whatever notebook or school binder I had available. I became a huge comic book reader around the same time and thanks to these influences I put away my dreams of becoming either a yuppie or a pro wrestler and decided that being an artist would be my goal in life.
This homage to the "Killers" cover was done for the third issue of Uppercase Magazine (link) in a section called "Cover Me". Here a variety of illustrators and designers re-interpreted some of their favourite album covers in some pretty radical ways, so check out the magazine if you get the chance. "Killers" is not my favourite of the classic Iron Maiden covers, but I figured that since it's effect on me indirectly influenced my future career choice, it would get the nod....

Label Extinction

2009-10-13T23:14:00.004-04:00

Bon Vivant column, Tidings Magazine-October 2009
On newstands now....

Profile In Now Then Magazine

2009-10-13T23:02:00.004-04:00

Top: Cover Image, Now Then Magazine-October 2009
Bottom: Poster Insert, Now Then Magazine-October 2009

I recently had the honour of having my work profiled in issue 19 of "Now Then" which is a free independent arts and culture magazine based out of Sheffield in the UK. I'd like to give my thanks to Mr. Matt Jones (link) for having me be a part of this and for the continuing excellent work on the magazine. Check out some back issues here including a link to a free download of issue #19.

Three Years of Tidings-Pt.3

2009-09-21T22:18:00.005-04:00

Left: Barrel History-Dec. 08/Jan. 2009
Right: Uneasy Cork-Feb./March 2009
Left: Screwcap Controversy-April 2009
Right: Starting a Collection-May/June 2009
Left: Sunshine Wine-July/Aug. 2009
Right: Silent "E"-Sept. 2009

Three Years of Tidings-Pt.2

2009-09-21T21:49:00.005-04:00

Left: War of the Worlds-Oct. 2007
Right: Tons of Body-Nov. 2007
Left: Picky Families-Dec. 2007/Jan. 2008
Right: Fit to Drink-Feb./March 2008

Left: Pairing Pizza-April 2008
Right: Sugar Overload-May 2008
Left: Cooking Wines-Oct. 2008
Right: Ancient Tipples-Nov. 2008

Three Years of Tidings-Pt.1

2009-09-21T20:44:00.004-04:00

This fall marks three years of my longest lasting recurring gig, which is illustrations for the "Bon Vivant" column in Tidings, which is a bimonthly wine magazine based out of Montreal(link).
The funny thing about this being one of the more fun jobs I've had, is that I don't drink. Never have. But I digress, here's to a fun three years. Here's some of my "greatest hits" if you will...

Left: Nouveau Wine-Nov. 2006
Right: Stop With the Cheese-Feb./March 2007

Left: Classy Chablis-April 2007
Right: Beautiful Legs-May/June 2007
Left: Terroir Talk-July/Aug. 2007
Right: Great Finds-Sept. 2007

Rated R Show-The Aftermath (With Pictures!)

2009-09-19T18:34:00.002-04:00

Last night (Sept. 18) was the opening of the The Rated R Show, in the tight confines of the Gladstone Hotel's Art Bar (here's a link for you non Torontonians). Although my time there was brief, it was a fairly fun night, largely spent reminiscing about mid-90's 'zine shows with fellow survivor, and show participant, Jennifer Ellison.
There's a great variety of work to be seen, so if you're in the Toronto area from now until October first, please try and check it out.
A big thanks and hi fives to show curators Eric Kim and Mara Sternberg. I hope they managed to finally get some sleep after last night.
And now, pictures....