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.

Creative Minds.

So hey, I've just been interviewed by Franziska San Pedro over at Creative Minds. The results can be found right here.

Thanks for the exposure, Franziska.Much appreciated.

Gasser T-Shirt.

Been thinking about t-shirts again lately, and I thought of another piece of mine that could easily be adapted:

Gasser t-shirts are now available right here. In wide variety of colours, as they say.

Hit and Run.

Just got time for a quickie post before I head off to bed. Things have been busy as well the past week or so. After spending half the day doing photo retouching, working on this one was my idea of relaxing:

This one's got a long way to go yet.

Six Hundred, or: Power Trio.

So here we are at another milestone in the epic journey towards my one-thousand-day goal. Six hundred days. Puttered around with three small pieces to get up to speed today. A little drybrushing, a coat of clear...

After that the goal was to finish one of the big metalflake paintings. This particular one is titled "Power Trio" - think Rush, Cream, or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. First I did a couple hours of masking (my back and shoulders are still thanking me for that):

Once that was nailed down, it was time to slap on a bit of titanium white:

Eventually all the white areas were done, and the tape came off. Then I took the painting out on the balcony to take advantage of the early-evening light:

And that one's a wrap. I'm exhausted - done painting for the night.

600.

Bretutog.

And now for something completely different - I painted this when I was four years old. My grandparents held onto it for decades, and it eventually made its way back to me:

The title was my four-year-old's idea of what a native-Canadian version of my name would sound like. Even at four I was into mixed media and juxtaposing hot and cool colours.

Latest.

Well, things are proceeding nicely. Out of the twelve 8x8-inch paintings, eleven are now done. Just finished this one late last night (or was that early this morning?):

And I designed the lineart for another of the 8x24 pieces this afternoon:

The biggest hurdle to get past now is building up the layers of clearcoat on the remaining paintings. Love to get these finished by the end of August, so I can book the space for the show in September.

Oh, and I'll be spinning another painting off from this series - a friend has commissioned a big, expensive abstract piece. So essentially I'll be eliminating the white lineart that graces all the others and just going with a similar colour/texture combo. I may do a keyline in gold leaf, though. Just to show the depth of the clearcoat.

Good times.

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.

Skull Fragments.

Hey, I'm in the process of setting up my new fall line of t-shirts (because being a fashion maven has always been my secret dream).

You can see the first of the new ones, entitled Skull Fragments, right here.

Or preview the actual image right here, of course:

All Things Metalflake.

So, things are progressing nicely. All the glazing for the paintings is finished, and clearcoating is underway (the longest part of the process). Six of the eighteen paintings are finished.

Here's the latest:

Just designed these two in the past couple days:

 

And I'm looking at this for the next t-shirt tie-in:

Oh, and I've already had inquiries about two of those six finished pieces.

So far, so good.