Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 13/29.

Okay, now that the Metal Flake Remix show is out of the way, it's time for...

... more dinosaurs. Spinosaurus:

(Another one I first saw in the Extreme Dinosaurs exhibit.)

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Days 28-29/31.

Coming down the home stretch with the shotglass project, how. Two more finished tonight:

... and just two to go. (Don't worry, Millie. One of 'em will be your moose shotglass.)

Ink and Photoshop again.

While we're all here, I'm open to suggestions re: themes for the remaining months of the year. Obviously I'm drawing dinosaurs in February, but after that... ?

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 17/31.

And another:

Go Habs!

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 15-16/31.

Playing catchup again, so this post will be a two-fer:

 

Ink, coloured pencil, gouache.

Pencil, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 01/31.

Happy New Year, folks. Yes, it's a whole 'nother year, and so I figured I needed a new art project.

'Cause all the existing projects just weren't enough, of course.

The new idea is, I draw a quick sketch of a different shotglass every day. Day in, day out, for the whole 366 days. (Yep, 2012 is a leap year.) Trying not to go into it with too many preconceived notions, so I'm not putting any hard-and-fast rules into place. I might do these in charcoal, ink, coloured pencil, watercolour... whatever floats my boat on that particular day. It's as much a disciplinary exercise as anything else, although hopefully it'll help mantain my drawing muscles as well.

So without further ado, may I present you with the inaugural shotglass of the day:

Coloured pencil and charcoal.

Stay tuned for more, every day of 2012.

Cheers,
Bret Taylor
Vancouver, BC
January 1st, 2012


EDIT: After a month I'm realizing that I just don't have 366 shotglasses in me. So, it'll be shotglasses in January, dinosaurs in February, etc. etc.

Hot Rods 2

Hey, I just released a new Hot Rods calendar in my RedBubble store.

Get 'em while they're hot.

Experiment in Terror.

I had what we call a "bizness meeting" with my friend Karina Halle today. Which generally means Jack Daniels, food, some talk about art, music, and of course her Experiment in Terror series of horror novels. The third book (Dead Sky Morning)came out recently, and that was the start of my involvement in the project - I drew the map that appears in the opening pages.

Just for fun I whipped up a full-colour version, too:

If you're not familiar with D'Arcy Island (and I wasn't), it was the site of a leper colony for Chinese-Canadians from 1891-1924. A pretty grim real-life story, but worth looking up. The book uses the site and its sordid history as its setting. I'm still reading it, but so far it's really creeped me out several times. Which is a pretty rare quality in a horror novel these days, my friends.

Anyhow, Karina has 5 more books projected in the series, and has enlisted my creative abilities to help with the process. In addition to the map, I've designed a logo:

(Part of the premise of the books is that the two lead characters make a web-TV show about their paranormal exploits, so the logo for the book series doubles as the one for the fictitious show.)

The next project was more involved: a definitive portrait of these characters. It started with this basic sketch:

We made a ton of changes to this, but the basics still made it all the way through the design process. Once we nailed down the basic looks of Perry and Dex in the pencil stage, it was time to do inkwash renderings of them:

I also had a slew of ideas for background treatments for this picture. In the end we used three separate concepts, including one where I made a collage of pages ripped out of the first book, Darkhouse (kind of a weird and surreal experience to take a friend's book and literally tear it to pieces).

Without further ado, here are the three different versions of the illustration, which Karina will be using to promote the books:

So that, is essence, is the beginning - for me at least. We've got a ton of ideas for future illustrations (I'd like to incorporate some photography and sculpture to accompany the more traditional illustration), and I'll be helping out in any way I can when the trailer for Dead Sky Morning is being shot. We're even trying to arrange a trip to D'Arcy Island, which hopefully isn't anywhere near as haunted as it is in the book.

Cheers, then. A toast to creativity, collaboration and chills down your spine.

Shirts, Shirts, Shirts.

Uploaded two more t-shirt designs to my store yesterday:

Already sold two of the bee shirts. More designs to be added over the next few days. I will, of course, keep you posted.

Welcome to March.

Hi there. Welcome to a brand new month. Lots of news to report, so bear with me and I'll get right to it.

First off, the Dawn Patrol triptych is done. Having the paintings photographed on the weekend for posterity's sake, and then it'll be time to ship them off to their new home in Calgary. Thanks, Regan.

Secondly, a handful of other commissions (including a book cover that I can't talk about yet) are either done or nearing completion. So if you're interested in having something done, now's a very good time to ask. Drop me a line and we'll talk.

Thirdly, a major milestone has been reached - art sales actually paid my rent this month. It's a pretty great feeling, let me tell ya. Especially in an economy as bad as this one.

And fourthly, I've set myself up a Cafe Press shop. Just a Basic account at this point, so I'm quite limited in terms of what I can sell. Right now there's a mousepad, an iPad case, and these three iPhone cases:

(More to come as I investigate further options, obviously.)

That's a pretty good start for March, right?

Space Girls.

Just a quick shout-out to Mike Hoffman. His Space Girls blog now features my Astrochick illustration from the Hey Ladies book.

Thanks, Mike.

Calendar Cover.

Been messing around today, choosing cars for the calendar, investigating RedBubble's print specs and such, and designing the cover. Sounds like I might be able to drum up some real interest in this project.

Here's a first draft of the cover design:

Thoughts?

Inspiration: Bob Peak.

Let's talk about Bob Peak today, shall we?

Bob was a legendary illustrator - another one of those whose names you might not know, but whose work you have definitely seen. He got his start in magazines and advertising, back in the days when you could still make a living as an illustrator in those fields. His work from that era is amazing - incredibly dynamic, bold, adventurous, full of movement and all sorts of visual excitement. His work appeared in (and on) Time, Newsweek, Cosmo, TV Guide, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Boys' Life, Esquire, Look, the Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, etc. etc.

It's his move posters that you'll recognize, though. Apocalypse Now, the Star Trek movies, In Like Flint, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, My Fair Lady, Funny Girl... he revolutionized the whole artform. He jumped into acrylic paints when they were a relatively new medium, and inspired generations of illustrators and painters.

Commercial artist/blogger/all-around cool guy Leif Peng has a great collection of Bob's work in this Flickr set. Go take a look; I'll wait right here.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Okay, you're back? How was that? I could trawl through those images all day, personally. That art, regardless of topic or client, is just something to see, and it's really inspiring me to get my Bob Peak on.

For more info on the man, check out his official site. You can also see a few samples of his work right here.

Enjoy.

Greasy Wheels.

Hey folks, just completed a little teaser trailer for the hot rod book. Be sure to watch it at the 480p setting instead of 360; the improvement in quality is pretty drastic:

Thoughts on the Editing Process.

Earlier today I was alternating between editing a picture and posting on Twitter, and things kinda went like this:

Just been doing some touchup on an illustration, and it prompted a question for my fellow artists (especially the ones whose rendering styles are relatively loose). If and when you’re cleaning things up, how do you decide which lines stay and which ones need to be edited or removed?

'Cause y'know, I think about these things sometimes. Especially when I'm doing something that's more mechanical than creative. Didn't get a lot in the way of replies, but the one guy who did answer gave a nice, in-depth, nuts-and-bolts reply. (Thanks, Wes. Much appreciated.)

Anybody else have some feedback? What I realized about my own process is that every piece seems to have its own internal logic as far as style is concerned. Which only makes sense, given that I rarely work in the same style. How 'bout the rest of you creative types?

More on the Automotive Front.

Lots of automotive art coming from me these days. I'm havin' so much fun it's ridiculous - I keep flashing back to the cars I used to draw in junior highschool (except now I've got 30 more years' experience under my belt, of course). And I've got many, many ideas to choose from, but you can never have too many.

Anything you folks would like to see?

The Beginning of the End.

You heard it here first, folks. The last picture in my book is officially underway:



Still have to ink the linework and tweak some details, but this one's progressing pretty rapidly.

Details, Details.

So now that my book is nearly done, I need to start looking at the specific details for when I get it printed. For instance, there are two different paper stocks I can use: the 80-lb. matte-finish "traditional" paper, or the 100-lb. silk-finish premium stuff.

Personally, I'm leaning towards the premium, because it'll look and feel better, and it only adds about three bucks to the price of a single book. It is 35% heavier, though, so I'm assuming shipping costs will be higher.

Thoughts and opinions?

My New Video.

Hey, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this:

Mopar Madness.

Hey, folks. Been tweaking and updating a lot of my older art the past few days. Here's a couple I dug out of the archives from 2001 and 2002. In both cases the colour scheme in the top part of the image was the original, and the one in the bottom part is something new.

Anybody got a preference?





I suspect I'll spin off more variations as well. I'd really like to see flames on that Dart.

howyadoin graphics

Well, the big day has finally arrived: I found a place online to sell prints of my art.

I've only got a few pieces up yet, but needless to say, there'll soon be lots more. Check it out here, if you're so inclined.