Ch-ch-changes.

One big change, really: I've migrated the blog over to my shiny new website. You can find all future blog posts right here.

Thanks for reading, and I bid you all a good day.

Bret Taylor

Vancouver, BC

October 17, 2012

T-Shirt Thursday, Round 08

This week's t-shirt just had to be another dinosaur, with the show announcement a couple days ago.

You can buy it right here.

T-Shirt Thursdays, Round 06

With all the shark-week buzz going on lately, this one was a no-brainer:

And you can buy it here in my RedBubble store.

T-Shirt Thursdays, Round 04

A brand new piece in the t-shirt store tonight. Special thanks to my agent Tess and my friend Lynn for their encouragement on this one. And to Cynthia for wanting to get together and draw last week.

Oh, and you can buy the shirt right here.

900 Days.

Yep, it's true - Saturday marked the 900th day of my Thousand Days Project. Since January 1st, 2010, I've drawn/painted every single day, without fail. That seemed like an almost-ridiculous goal at one point, but the end is definitely in sight now.

I didn't do anything special for Day 800, because I was well into Birthday Shenanigans Week. Day 700 was the 1st of December, and in addition to chipping away at the numerous paintings I was doing at the time, I drew a quick headshot of a beautiful blonde.

So with all that in mind, I figured that Day 900 needed something out of the ordinary -  not a metalflake painting, not a dinosaur, not a sketchbook diary piece. But what?

Meanwhile, one particular illustration of mine has lain dormant for a long time - since September 15th of 2011, to be exact. This has been a long-gestating piece. I first started it in the fall of 2010, but it kept getting set aside in favour of other projects.

The first rough iteration of it looked something like this:

As time went by I slowly got closer to finishing it. In mid-September I did the blueline pencils:

This was scanned and imported into my Photoshop document, and the base illustration was set aside on my bar, waiting for me to do the final linework in ink. Anybody who's had a drink at my place since then has seen it sitting there, though oddly enough, I don't recall anybody ever asking about it.

I posted an in-progress picture online the night of the 15th, and walked off to a date with destiny. My whole world changed that night, and definitely without warning. Another story for my memoirs, I guess.

And I've seen that illustration almost daily since the fateful night, till it got to the point where it was just part of the furniture.

Until I was finally ready to finish it.

So without further ado (or cryptic remarks), here it is, the fruits of my labour of Day 900/1000:

Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 14/29.

Protoceratops:

Big Art Weekend.

It's finally summer here in the GVRD*. And what better way to spend a summer weekend than being immersed in art?

Friday night, bring a proud, card-carrying member of the Vancouver Art gallery, I attended the Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters opening. I honestly had no idea Matisse was so prolific, much less in so many mediums. His pen-and-ink work in particular really caught my eye - the linework was beautiful, and so fluid.

It was nice to see another Van Gogh and another Renoir, too. I feel a real kinship for Vincent in particular.

Saturday was mostly spent outside in the park, barbecuing and soaking up the sun with friends. That night we moved the festivities back to my buddy Mike's place for drinks and general good times, before closing the night at the Dover Arms. While we were all at Mike's, I whipped up a couple more Sketchbook Diary entries, including this ashtray:

And today (Sunday) I've been working on the playlist for next month's Metalflake Remix show. I haven't sorted all the details yet, but it'll be taking place the night of Saturday, June 16, and I'll be creating live art all night (expect an official announcement very soon).

In other art news, potential new painting concepts seem to be popping into my head on a daily basis now. Here's a couple to tantalize you:

Hope everybody else's summer is off to a great start.

*Greater Vancouver Regional District.

Sketch Diary.

So I bought a new sketchbook recently, and started carrying it everywhere. When I'm in a new place I try to find some small object to sketch - nothing major, just kind of a visual souvenir.

Last weekend I paid a visit to a city I haven't visited in a couple years, Victoria, B.C. Just needed a weekend away from Vancouver, and see some new faces and decompress. While I was there I saw this wooden rhino and had to draw him:

And yesterday I went to a fun little Sunday-brunch outing at one of my favourite restaurants, Cosca. Lots of cool visual details in the place, so I had lots of options to choose from. In the end I drew this lamp that reminded me of the restaurant's symbol (an artichoke):

And after that I spotted this chandelier:

I definitely need to do more of this. Stay tuned.

Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC
May 21, 2012

The Dino Show.

There is much news on the dinosaur front, my friends. Many more of them to draw - I went to the Extreme Dinosaurs exhibit at Science World yesterday with friends, and I got tons of reference photos and ideas.

They had full-size, moving, interactive mockups of the dinosaurs, plus several fossil skeletons:

 

So my new plan is, I want to do an all-dinosaur show - books, calendars, t-shirts, prints, you name it. I've already got a T-Rex available in my print store, and a handful of t-shirts already. Still a lot of details and strategies to be sorted, but I think this one's really got some potential - already sold one of the T-Rex shirts.

I'll keep you posted.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 10/29.

Finally back to the dino project tonight, with the alectrosaurus:

Really enjoying drawing the carnivorous beasties more than the others.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 09/29.

Hey there. It's been awhile, hasn't it? Been caught up in a couple of large paintings, and of course, being sick.

Fortunately I'm recovering, so here's an apatosaurus for you folks:

In other dinosaur-related news, the T-Rex piece from a couple weeks ago is now available in my print store. And for today (Leap Day) only, everything in the store is 25% off. The code to use is LEAP25.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 08/29.

Okay, so things have delayed a little by personal matters the past few days. But without further ado, here is your latest dinosaur, the Stegoceras:

Not the most handsome creature in the Jurassic era, to be sure.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 07/29.

In our latest installment, the guest of honour is the Ankylosaurus:

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 06/29.

Say it with me, now: "Compsognathus."

I love these little beasts. Apparently they were about the size of a turkey.

Six dino illustrations down, twenty-three to go.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 05/29.

Another fun day in the studio - woke up early, puttered around the place for awhile, and finally buckled down to draw this Hadrosaur:

This has definitely been the most fun dinosaur to draw yet, although the T-Rex did come close.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 31/31.

Well, kids, the shotglasses are done. Seems like a million years have passed since I kicked the project off on January 1st, all full of piss and vinegar and ready to draw 366 glasses over the course of 2012.

Then again, I had no idea at the time what twists and turns my life would take in January. Guess I can't fault myself for not being clairvoyant, though - I doubt that anybody else could've predicted the things that have happened to me any better.

So here I am almost a month and a half later, and the world as I know it is drastically different from the one I thought I was living in back in December. Some longterm plans hatched in happier times have been shelved, sadly. And the adjustment process hasn't at all been easy.

On the plus side, here's the last of the 31 shotglasses:

And I think the new idea of having a different theme every month will add some much-needed variety to the whole drawing-every-day thing. Dinosaurs for February are, as you've already seen, well underway. Other potential monthly topics include guitars, shoes, dogs & cats, dragons, and at least one other than I'm blanking on at the moment. I'm certainly open to suggestions from the floor.

Also on the brighter side, the work situation has taken a definite turn for the better, so at least that particular bit of stress and pressure has lessened considerably.

Onward and upward, right?

Bret Taylor
Lost in 2012.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 30/31.

And the shotglass project has almost drawn to close. Here's the penultimate drawing:

Ink, Photoshop. One more left...

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 04/29.

So after a herbivore ("veggie-saurus") last night, I wanted to draw something a big more... ferocious. Enter the Allosaurus:

Nasty creature. Apparently he could jump, too.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 03/29.

Day three brings us the mighty Stegosaurus:

(Are Stegosauri mighty? I'm not even sure. I just know I'm lovin' this project.)

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 02/29.

Well, all the excitement over the Triceratops earlier led me directly to Mr. Tyrannosaurus Rex:

Banged this one out in a couple hours tonight. This project is so much more fun than the shotglasses, it ain't funny.