A beer that can solve crime...in Hawaii
My friend Ian makes beer in his basement. Now, although that may not sound like the most delicious thing you've ever heard, trust me, his beer is goooood. And, lucky for me, I'm usually around when new batches are ready for tasting. (I have really good timing. Also, I'm over at Ian and his wife Avery's house a lot, um, watching the Bachelor.)
Ian likes a lot of different kinds of beers, but I would guess that most of his favourite beers are IPAs or India Pale Ales - especially the American IPAs which are usually made with extra hops and are known for a punchy, citrusy bitterness. One of the beers he brewed recently was an IPA made with a type of hops called Magnum. Which, of course, led to the best beer name of all time:
I just had to make a label for it. You don't think Mr. Magnum himself would mind, do you?
 |
| Speaking of punchy, citrusy bitterness... |
Ian doesn't sell his beer (yet) but he is a longtime friend of the brewmaster at Sawdust City - an independent brewery that has a brewpub in Gravenhurst, Ontario - and when they get together they make some pretty sweet concoctions. (I'm still talking about beer).
Where Do We Go From Here
Set in a safe and unassuming Ontario suburb, the film follows seventeen-year-old Elliot (Atticus Dean Mitchell) as he learns of the sudden death of his older brother, Tyler. Flanked by his older sister, Sasha (Sophie Bennett) and Tyler's girlfriend, Abby (Nadia Litz), Elliot tries to find peace in the music Tyler left behind.
First-time writer/director Zachary Bennett paints an intimate and emotionally raw portrait of three lost souls looking for answers to a death that no one saw coming. Where Do We Go From Here explores the inevitable transformations that a loss can bring to a life.As you might imagine, the film is full of beautifully melancholy music, and it was important that that was reflected in the poster. Zach sent me a few production stills of the image he wanted illustrated, which I did using digital collage. Then, using a sharpened chopstick dipped in black ink, I wrote out the lyrics to one of the pivotal songs in the film. (I find that a chopstick gives me a really pleasing blobby and scratchy (yes, those are technical terms) ink line - even more so than a nib). I then laid everything out in Photoshop.
The film is being submitted to a circuit of film festivals so please wish them luck. I really think that more people should see this little gem (and I'm not just saying that cause I made the poster). If you're interested in knowing more, Meaghan has a great post about making this film on her delightfully entertaining blog Tight In The Knees.
For the nephew
Here's a piece my sister-in-law commissioned for my nephew Harris's room. She told me that the room already had a "retro-British" type theme (union jack pillows, blue and red) and I took it from there. The finished poster was 17" x 22" - a few inches larger than my own printer can print here at home - so for the first time I took my print to a commercial printer. It was a bit of a nerve-wracking process (did I set up the file correctly? Will the colours turn out okay?) but the folks at SML on Carlaw did an amazing job.
This "London theme" is timely as I am in the middle of planning a trip to visit my talented and very stylish friend Jenna from ahbon.ca who moved to Lyon, France at the beginning of this year. On the way there, I'm going to spend a few days in London, just to, you know, see what all the fuss is about. I'm joking, of course. I KNOW WHAT THE FUSS IS ABOUT. And I'm incredibly excited.
This weekend
 |
| art + Telegramme's custom framing = win |
Tomorrow morning will find me putting up five of my "Toronto's My Home...and I'll Be Here All Weekend Long" prints in the very cute Celena's Bakery on the Danforth. It's part of the Art of the Danforth - a really great neighbourhood art event that is happening May 20 (yikes, Sunday!) until June 10. There are a number of fun events, workshops, and exhibits happening throughout that time, though none may be quite so entertaining (and logistically puzzling) as the giant paint fight that everyone is invited to.
My prints are part of the official Art in Stores portion of the event - a huge number of artists are being showcased in the local businesses from Greenwood to Cedarvale along the Danforth. So I encourage you to explore this neck of Toronto, maybe pick up a baked good (or three) at Celena's Bakery, and see what the East End has to offer.
Also, I want to give a big shout out to Telegramme Prints - they did a spectacular job framing these and I couldn't be happier with how they look.
Communication Arts Annual!
It's only May, and it's already been a pretty fun year so far. I'm well into my second month of my self-imposed hiatus from stage management, and I've had the gob-smacking pleasure of seeing one of my posters in both the Applied Arts AND the Communication Arts Illustration Annuals. I've a good handful - the kind of handful that you almost have to use the other hand to help hold it closed - of projects on the go. I don't mean to sound braggy - I'm just THAT excited.
I can't wait to post more completed pieces of work as they are, uh, completed. (Hey, I'm an illustrator, not a writer).
I also wanted to say a BIG thanks to everyone who has commented here over the years since I started this blog. Your encouragement and kind words have meant the world to me and given me a lot of confidence. I've said it before and I will probably keep saying it until someone points out that I sound really uncool when I say it: the internet is cool, yo.
Now go draw something!
Here's an engagement party invitation I designed for a couple who had a truly wonderful engagement story involving a frozen lake at the top of Montreal's Mont Royal, some skates and a bench.
Also, the parents of the daughter just sent me this photo of the cake they had done (from Bobette and Belle here in Toronto - lucky!) Skates on a cake!
Applied Arts Magazine
I'm so thrilled to see my "Live from the Belly of a Whale" poster that I did for Mi Casa Theatre in this year's Applied Arts Magazine Photography and Illustration Annual. The magazine is full of work from such talented illustrators and photographers that I sorta can't believe I'm in here. Congrats to everyone in the annual: I am really looking forward to leafing through this issue and seeing all of the beautiful work.
Vertep Poster
I was commissioned to illustrate this poster for an innovative puppet show: it will take place inside a confessional booth and there is room for only one audience member at a time. It promises to be very contemplative, delicate, and a little melancholy (ie. right up my alley).
Since the puppet show is taking place within a larger festival, the performer who commissioned this didn't necessarily need a typical poster for advertising purposes; rather, he wanted something to offer as a possible keepsake for each audience member.
My niece is a pretty awesome kid. I may be biased, but nevertheless I stand firmly by that statement. Once a month for the whole year of 2012, I'm mailing her some dress-up outfits to help build up a tickle trunk of sorts. The outfits are just pieces I've found at Value Villages here in the city, and then put together in a sort of ready-to-wear ensemble.
And, because I'm slightly nuts, I've made these illustrated cards to go with each outfit. My niece is still pretty young, so I know the chances of her actually understanding all of these references are pretty slim, but hopefully her parents (my brother & sister-in-law) get a kick out of them.
Kid Party!
I really like making things for Mi Casa Theatre. They are an open and extremely creative duo who make great theatre out of Ottawa, Ontario. They commissioned me recently to design and illustrate their new logo (above) and header for their website (below). The menu titles were all hand-drawn to keep with their DIY aesthetic.
Here's a logo design I finished before the holidays but plum forgot to post. The two versions are for two different marketing uses - blue for the t-shirts, orange/red for everything else. The Bellows is a volunteer-run theatre community resource-slash-mixer that hopefully gets going soon. This recent weather is keeping us all inside our dens like grumpy, grumpy badgers!
Sketchbook Project has been mailed!
(Just in case you were worried.) Here are a few more pages from it....
Jillian Tamaki's FAQ Page is fantastic
It seems funny to say that. I mean, her illustrations are brilliant, beautiful, evocative. (I just finished and loved reading Skim, a graphic novel of hers that came out in 2008) But her FAQ page - which is aimed at the inquisitive and eager student who is hungry for the "key" to an illustrator's success - is filled with thoughtful, commonsensical support and advice.
Take this, for example:
Jillian Tamaki's website is here. And her blog is here. Both are great, but on her blog you can see her experimenting with things outside of her usual "style," which is fascinating. Plus you can look at her quilts. (Quilts!)
In other news, I just learned about a (relatively) new and ostensibly fun lecture series here in Toronto called Nerd Nite - tonight's topics are (1) microchips and (2) how America's history was influenced by bars. It could be promising...? Anyone here in Toronto want to come with?
Take this, for example:
It is well worth reading.What does it take for a young illustrator to be successful today?
There are 2 main things, I think.The first is my blunt opinion: you have to be good. Don't waste your time if you don't have the talent and/or motivation. No amount of promos, websites, mailers, new items in your portfolio will do you any good if the work is not up to snuff.That said. You don’t need to be the Second Coming of illustration. You just have to be able to make something someone can use. Many people are tripped up by never putting their work out into the world because they are crippled by fear. Which doesn’t make sense because if you thought your chances of success were low before, they are most definitely ZERO now. But I suppose that’s the point. You can’t really “fail” if you never try… that’s a very common attitude.
Jillian Tamaki's website is here. And her blog is here. Both are great, but on her blog you can see her experimenting with things outside of her usual "style," which is fascinating. Plus you can look at her quilts. (Quilts!)
In other news, I just learned about a (relatively) new and ostensibly fun lecture series here in Toronto called Nerd Nite - tonight's topics are (1) microchips and (2) how America's history was influenced by bars. It could be promising...? Anyone here in Toronto want to come with?
Whimsical Illusion
I saw this post on Colossal and just loved it. (Though to be entirely honest it took a few minutes for me to realize exactly what I was looking at.) This is street art meets optical illusion - and I'm heartily for anything that helps adults feel like kids again - even if just for a moment.
This is in Paris (but of course) as part of an exhibition called In_Perceptions at Le 104.
Colossal has a wealth of beautiful images. Go look at them. Go!
Sketchbook Project Mail-by Date Draws Near...
Yep, it's that time of year again, the Sketchbook Project's "you must have your sketchbook postmarked by this date in order for it to be included in our library" date. It's a few days away, and I've only got a few pages left to fill on my theme this year: Travel With Me.
Some may remember my submission last year. I thumbed through my old sketchbook just the other day (online! Because the Brooklyn Art Library is cool like that and every sketchbook has been digitized and uploaded and browseable) and I though, well, huh. It's so....monochromatic. Why oh why did I only draw in pencil?
So, this year, I'm breaking out the watercolours. I'm getting the pages sopping wet with colour. And I'm having a whole paintbox full of fun on these pages. And it is awesome.
(Also, I've already signed up for the 2012 Sketchbook Project Limited Edition - you know, the one where some of your sketchbook will be included in an art book they're creating. No big deal.)
Craft beer + good design = yes, please
This website is great. It's for (if you can't tell already) the Austin Beerworks brewery, from the creative peeps behind the fantastic Helms Workshop and Source. It's clean, it's colourful, and the brewmasters' personalities shine through. You especially should see the "How Beer is Made" info-graphic that references unicorns and narwhals. (Really!).
Dear Austin Beerworks, will you please start delivering to Canada? New website!
I am thrilled to finally launch my new professional website: www.kinnonelliott.com It's been a long time coming - but in a way I don't think I could have done it any earlier. I was still working on finding a coherent, consistent style, and amassing a portfolio of work that I was really proud to showcase. And, slowly, it's coming together. (This quote rings truer and truer each day.)
This website is just the beginning for this new year: I also plan on leaving theatre behind. I've given myself one year after my final contract, which ends in April 2012. And after that...? We'll just have to see....
Happy Holidays
Over the holidays I went to visit family and old friends in Ottawa, and had a really wonderful time. And one afternoon, one of those good, old friends (yes, we're old now) and I took four hours out of our jam-packed holiday schedules to make melted snowman cookies.
Sugar cookie base, royal icing, chocolate chips, microwaved marshmallows, coloured icing noses, faces, arms. Et voila.
Easy as...melted snow? Not quite. Did I mention that it took us four hours?
Mid-stage melted snowmen.
We thought we were really clever to mix the icing for the eyes/arms right in the ziplock bag, but it took us a lot longer than we thought it would.
But, in the end, we were happy with the results. My brother gave the sugar cookie base an "A +" and my 3-year old niece went nuts for the marshmallow head. Actually, that's all she ate off of the cookie. Ah, well.
This is some serious face application.
Happy Holidays!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)