The Birth of DEAD Shakespeare

My most recent piece was inspired by a list of things. It's been coming together for a several weeks, I guess. Started as a simple sketch for fun, developed into a final piece I'm very excited about. I feel this piece will lead to many more similar ones.

Several Saturdays ago, I lazily sketched out a skull without much thought. I added some wig-like hair. All of a sudden, the sketch became a dead Shakespeare.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, a couple weeks later, I ventured to Chapters with a friend who's asked me to illustrate some children's book she's writing. We went to the graphic novel/comic section looking for ideas. I came across a comic that caught my eye - bright, youthful colours, beautiful type work, unusual layouts - The Death Ray by Daniel Clowes. Published by Mtl's own Drawn and Quarterly and soon to be made into a movie. Clowes also wrote Ghost World! And man, do I love the colours. These jpg's don't do them justice but these are the colours that inspired DEAD Shakespeare.

Last week I was looking through pictures from En Masse and Station 16's recent visit to the Fountain Art Fair in NYC. I came across a photo of the back of a van that they were all painting on. Some beautiful typo work. I found out yesterday, from my buddy EARTH CRUSHER, that the work was done by an Mtl artist named What is Adam.

Here's a pic of that awesome typo!

Check out this great vid by Fred Caron, showcasing En Masse and Station 16 at the Fountain Art Fair:

En Masse @ NYC x Fountain Art Fair from Fred Caron on Vimeo.

I let the thoughts wander a few days and voila - they just melded together to form the base for this new piece.

Love how unexpected the creative process is.

Here's the final result:

The new-age CAT LADY.

Oh, you haven't heard? It's cool to be a cat lady again, in fact, it's chic. Been sketching a lot about the modern, Montreal woman, in her many facets. Well, the sketches are more representations of myself, I guess. But they're coming out interesting and beautiful and full of narrative (which is something I've had difficulty with in the past when sketching). I will be doing a series of these I believe... I'll keep you posted.

I've been drawing a large/intricate/detailed sketch a day. It's been keeping me centered and allows me to focus my thoughts and keep my vision aligned towards creativity. It's also helped me realize the positivity in letting go while creating and just trusting myself for the next step. This becomes easier and easier the more I draw and more I allow myself creative freedom and guiltless lines (ie. drawing before planning, just doing it, not worrying).

This notion of letting-go really comes through as I bring the drawings I've made into photoshop. It's all about playing around and seeing what works. 

Le Catnap - C'est Rich

This is a great example of a few elements of design that are essential for me when creating: Texture (created using a few scans of really nice paper that I recently purchased), Contrast (lines in hair, title, central point of focus), Colour coordination (love me some turquoise but especially love it when it's next to a sanguine), Strong lines (see for yourself). Oh, and as an added bonus, my new favorite element: Typo.

Hope you enjoy it - I LOVED making this piece. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Modern Montreal Woman.

I am Eebs Berenstein - hear me roar!

Beginning sketch. (After a few practice attempts at the 'Eebs Berenstein' portion). Came to me as I was walking home... Was thinking about the stitching on baseball caps as inspiration for the Eebs.

Final product. Round 1. Tweeked the sketch after I scanned it and worked with some fantastic paper and a picture of myself to create texture and depth. 

Makes me think of a circus/burlesque show!