Becoming a Hermit

Moving into this new city was definitely weird at first. This is an exaggeration of how i was feeling at the time. I was always a very social person when we lived in Guelph. Maybe, quite possibly to a fault. Back in Guelph I would go out at least once a day to get a coffee and I would inevitably I would run into someone I knew, a social connection would ensue, I would feel satisfied and then I would go home. For the first week or so living here I felt like I lost that desire to go out and explore and socialize. I’m slowly getting back to my self now that I’ve since ventured out on my own to find my spot. There was actually a day however that my wife sent me a text encouraging me to go out of the house and explore because she was a little worried that I was turning into a hermit. It wasn’t really who I was. I’m now getting out and back to myself finally. We’re settling in quite nicely now and we can see ourselves here for a while. It feels good to get back into the swing of things. For now you can enjoy this quick little moment I was feeling less than excited to get out.

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Strange New Land

This is my attempt at sequential art on my own. I’ve done a few comic style pieces for clients however they were all based on ideas that some else presented to me. This is going to be an ongoing strip of sorts that I hope to have fun with based on my experience in this strange new land I’m living in. I lived 32 years of my life with my mother in Cambridge, Ontario. It was the place I was born and the place i called home for most of my life. I blame my long time at home on fear of leaving the nest if you will. If it wasn’t for my wonder wife letting me live with her for a while as I built up my illustration career I might not have left home when I did. For the past four years I’ve been living with my wife in Guelph, Ontario. It’s a small city of 120 000 ish people. I planted roots there, met many wonderful people, and found myself very comfortable there. The idea of moving to a new city was frightening. I was very scared. My wife and I both were a little scared of what was going to come. We now live in Hamilton, Ontario. We’ve heard the gamut stories good and bad about this new place. This comic is just a small representation of how strange it felt to be now living in this new city of almost 600 000 people. Life in the big city my Dad always said. As we get more and more comfortable in our new surroundings I am increasingly excited about the opportunities that will open up for me, the people we will meet, and the adventures we will go on now that we live in the Hammer. From here on it’s HammerTime. Hope you enjoy the little strips. Thanks for checking it out.

Medical Map: Houston Medical Center

This is a map I did for the talented art director Chris Skiles @lucky11studios. He is always a pleasure to work with. This was a lot of fun as most of the maps I do are. The best part about doing a map is that you get to learn so much about a particular area of the world that you might not ever get to visit. However when and/or if I ever find myself traveling to any of the locations I’ve done maps for, I have an advantage in that I am already familiar with the area. This happened when I did a map for Providence. Coincidentally I traveled to Providence a couple months after I did the map for a conference. It was great because I felt like I had done my research and knew my way around. I will be posting a few more maps I completed recently in the coming weeks when they are published and ready to be seen.

WORK/LIFE 3 by Uppercase Gallery

YAY!! I can finally share my contribution to this great illustration book called WORK/LIFE 3. Uppercase Gallery puts out the third volume of their illustration directory. The first two were a great success and so they decided to do a third one. I was delighted and honoured to be asked to participate again. I’ve been in all three and would be more than happy to do a forth. I urge you all to pick it up. It’s available to order now. It’s chalk full of talented artists with a large variety of work to motivate and inspire you. Watch the trailer below.

New Personal Piece I call Brainstorming

This was a personal piece I did recently. The idea came from the frustration I was feeling with myself for not being able to come up with ideas that I felt were solid enough to make a nice looking image I’d be happy with. I’m sure this is the case for most artists. I’m trying to figure out how to take story telling to a sequential arena and start doing comics that might lead to a graphic novel one day. I feel like I don’t really have as much of a problem coming up with ideas for still images as I do for narrative pieces. I think what happens to me, if I may be candid, is that I will think to myself that I lack the ability to create stories. I know I tell stories and I have stories of my life but then something in me seems to almost dictate self doubt into my brain and tell me that they really aren’t that interesting and most people could care less to read let alone care to see it in a visual form. Working out thoughts as I type. Just seeing that written down I realize that maybe the visual part of my story is what will make it interesting. I’ve seen some comics on the internet that quite frankly are yawn factories. However I am compelled to look at them and read them because they are visually stunning. I guess I just figured out my dilemma. Just do the damn thing and shut about it. I need to tell my mind to zip it when it decides next time to tell my brain that something isn’t worth doing. If I like it then it most certainly is worth doing. Now that I think about it, if a story is worth telling someone then it’s worth drawing for everyone. Okay. I feel better. Self help really does work sometimes. Have a great day. For now I hope you enjoy this piece. Thanks for the support and I love you all.