This was an exercise in improving the value (Black and white contrast) in my drawings. I found an interesting collection of models covered in black greasepaint. The light would reflect off the black grease to a give extreme white reflections. Perfect for drastic light and dark values. I like to give myself exercises or projects in my sketchbook. I’ve heard from multiple designers and artists in a variety of different medias from graphic design to painting that everything stems from drawing. So work at it.

At my last job, I always had my sketchbook in my bookbag to draw during my lunchbreaks. Part of my job was searching through stock photos to find decent usable materials. I came across this photo and just had to draw it for some reason.

I grew up in South Porcupine Ontario Canada. It’s a small town known mostly for gold mining and subjecting us to Shania Twain. Ya, that was us. Like a lot of kids growing up in northern Ontario, I was in love with playing hockey. Goaltending to be specific. I’ve been a goalie my entire life and as a kid the one thing I wanted more than anything else in the world was a crazy cool airbrushed goalie mask. Eventually many years later I would order my first professional paint job. I drew out a precise sketch in colour of what I wanted and sent it away. The green helmet above was painted by Heath Morrell a very talented painter that I’d recommend anyone to contact for some crazy skills on your grills.

A few years later, it’s time to change the green monster because I clash with almost every jersey. I wanted something with more neutral tones that could compliment most jerseys. So this time I went ahead and painted the adapted Monster myself. I went with a neutral whites and greys for the skin and as an accent I painted the gums a mix of dirty blond to chocolate brown. Now this helmet could match no matter what colour my jersey happened to be.

*Funny side-note: Immediately after altering the green helmet, I was recruited to play for a team wearing classic green North Stars jerseys.

We are surrounded with giants waging wars over our attention during our free time. They want nothing more than to capture our attention when we rest our feet after a day at the grind. Can’t catch your favourite program at air time? No problem, DVR or TiVo it. Buy an On-Demand cable package. Just sit and watch it.

“You love your American Idol? Well here’s a list of other great shows you’ll like.”

It’s easy to get lost in the noise. Just don’t forget to unplug sometimes. Live a little and step out. Tomorrow isn’t a guarantee.

Photo Credit to Patrick Kerby

I had so much fun with last month’s World Collabs contest that I could not wait for the next feature to be released. For anyone unfamiliar to the Abduzeedo World Collabs, it is a competition where one designer is asked to submit a design concept and contestants take the artwork and use the elements to create something unique. This month’s designer was a new name for me, but his work is definitely worth checking out. João Oliveira is a portuguese graphic designer and illustrator, born in 1986 and based in Porto.

For more information read the interview with Abduzeedo or visit his website.

Above is a few select pages from the Fender Guitar Catalog I created.

“You don’t need a client to work. If you want to create something, just do it.” Great advice from James White of Signalnoise. He reminds designers every week on his broadcasts to stay busy creating new work, even if that means working without a client. Be your own client, create something you want to see in your portfolio.

Last month I featured an incredibly well-executed annual report design by Wanken. Having never tried an annual report before and seeing just how much work goes into creating one like Shelby’s, I was inspired to plant my feet into a new design project.

The Subject

I chose Fender Guitars as my subject client because it was a product that I was very familiar with. I’ve been somewhat of a guitar-geek for about 10 years now. In high school I worked in a tiny guitar shop spending most of my time reading through product catalogs, wishing the minimum wage I was collecting would eventually land me my dream axe. That never did happen, but I digress.

Fender has a rich history of creating excellence backed by a lineup of legends in the music world like Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The company has been around since the breakout of Rock & Roll and Blues. They were the innovators behind the first electric guitar. Known by many names over the years, the modern Fender Telecaster® is synonymous with Rock & Roll and Blues history.

The Direction

When I sat down a started thinking with my sketchpad my final concept was to create somewhat of a throwback to the early days of the Fender brand. Without realizing until much later in the project, subconsciously the design path I was on had some help from a 2006 Pepsi commercial. A child Jimi Hendrix stumbles upon a Pepsi machine and a Coke machine on opposing sides of the street. After considering his option, he chooses a Pepsi and takes his first sip. In that moment notices a Fender Telecaster in the window facing him. He then looks over his shoulder and sees above the Coke machine was an accordion shop. “That was a close one” is the final tagline.

So that was the theme that was running in my head. Something that you could see on the set of Back to the Future when McFly steps out of the Delorean and into 1955.

The above are select pages, the complete catalog will be available in the portfolio eventually.

The lovely fellows at Abduzeedo launched a new monthly contest for designers looking to explore the methods of some of their favourite designers. Designers are asked to submit an original incomplete design piece, and it’s up to the participants to complete the work. The contest is open to anyone and this third installment featured none other than Canadian Colour-Wheeler and design broadcaster, James White of Signalnoise.

I tried to approach this design as if James and I were working on this together. During his weekly broadcasts, he often addresses his inspiration being toys and characters from his favourite childhood cartoons, comics and videogames so that was going to be my approach. I wanted to feature something very common from the early 80’s that could work well with the rainbow flare style James uses.

I guess picking Voltron or Heman would have been more accurate to something James would draw inspiration from, but where’s the fun in that? My Little Pony, let’s roll out.

Be part of the creative-chat every Thursday at 3pm EST on the Signalnoise Broadcast.
To participate in the World Collabs contests, visit Abduzeedo.com.

This is an old project from a few years back when I was in design school. I really had a lot of fun with it. The assignment was to create a magazine ad for a local theatre house in the style of cubism.

I had never made any sort of attempt at cubism before and wasn’t quite sure how to approach it. After doing a bit of homework, I was off creating my first piece of cubism ever.

Looking at my reference shots, I figured the Madhatter would get the most appeal out of the cubist style. I began by drawing random straight, interconnecting lines over a reference shot of the Madhatter. After I was happy with the mess of connecting shapes, I used some transfer paper to place the lines on a fresh sheet of paper. I scanned the lines and printed them on some fresh paper and began rendering with Prismacolor pencils.

This is a poster design I submitted for the Applied Arts Young Blood Awards Issue this year. I am pretty sure the nominees have already been notified so I guess that means “better luck next year, Mat”.

I began this piece when I was half way through reading George Orwell’s classic 1984. I don’t want to get too into an essay about it, but the theme in the novel is about Big Brother keeping the working class where they need them. They only exist because Big Brother allows them. I really enjoyed this book and it inspired this poster.

I created a giant Goliath monitoring the city while the man in main focus contemplates his plan to infiltrate the system.

Frustration, oh the frustration in airbrushing a goalie mask. I painted my first goalie mask 2 years ago and I’ve painted a few more since then but let me tell you, it is a tedious process. I enjoy it, but I don’t promote it. It’s more of a hobby for me. I really just enjoy doing it for friends and my own goalie mask.

There is just too much effort that goes into making a good looking helmet that won’t be destroyed with one slap shot. Constant sanding to make sure every inch can grip the paint, mixing and layering your colours. Add the challenge of painting on a 3d object with a wavy shape and then hoping you don’t muck it up at any point and you’re done.

This helmet was for a friend that I met playing local pickup hockey. He asked for a mayan statue on both sides and some space on the chin for a future team logo. I drew up the sketch as a guide after I prepped the helmet for work. I don’t normally go into that much detail on a sketch, but I was waiting to receive his helmet and had time to draw. It’s always a great idea to map out where you’re going before you start a project, you’ll save so much time and hassle that way. I was a massive culprit of designing on the fly when I was student in college.

FITC Toronto 2010 Highlight Reel from FITC on Vimeo.

This is the maiden voyage for this blog. I was somewhat tripped up as to what exactly should be my first entry, the first thing that came to mind was this highlight video from the FITC conference. I live about 6 hours drive from Toronto in beautiful Montreal, and I have a younger brother whom I am indeed indebt of a visit sometime in the near future. So there was an intense inner battleroyal to try and sneak some time off, jump on a Porter flight to Toronto for the FITC conference.

Unfortunately, the closer the day came; the harder it seemed to manage the trip. I was extremely excited to see 2 specific presentors and personal heroes of mine, Scott Hansen of ISO50 and James White of Signalnoise. Each of them are recognized for their unique style and inspire me with not just the level of excellence in their work, but the community they create through their outreach to young designers.

The reason I chose this particular topic to be the premiere entry is simply because I’m so disappointed in myself that I didn’t just shut up and go, I wrote this post as my first step to being there next year. So I hope to see all of you next year, and to Scott and James: raincheck?

Cheers.