Sometimes a Sketch is All You Need...

(click to enlarge)

... to set a mood and bring characters to life.

Gourmet Burger Taste Tester

(click to enlarge)

Photoshop CS4 + Cintiq

New Photoshop Colour Sketches...

Lamp (click to enlarge)

Ring (click to enlarge)

Giant (click to enlarge)

Playin around on a Saturday night... Photoshop CS4 + Cintiq

Old Man Character Sketch

(click to enlarge)

Some Colour Character Sketches

Taste Tester (click to enlarge)

Wistful Woman (click to enlarge)

Looking Ahead (click to enlarge)

Did a few quick digital sketches recently in the tradition of the oil sketch. These are quick and loose - just laying down ideas for characters. No photo references... just imagination and having fun!

Photoshop + Cintiq

Moody Self Portrait

(click to enlarge)

Photoshop CS4 + Cintiq 21 UX

Amid the Snow, Shots Fired...

(Click to enlarge)

Detail (click to enlarge)

Finished my latest illustration for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Mag, this one for a great story by John R. Corrigan about a border security agent in Maine caught in a rapidly escalating situation. I had loads of fun rendering the snow (as a Canadian, I felt right at home drawing this in late January/early February) as well as drawing the big ol' Chevy Tahoe with its snow-covered tires. By the way, she's wearing snow pants, which is why her leg seems bulky (I probably could have highlighted this better).

On the whole, I'm quite happy with the beauty (and tension) in the scene...

Painter + Photoshop + Wacom Cintiq

Self Portrait in Toque

(click to enlarge)

Adobe Photoshop + Wacom Cintiq 21UX

On the Memory Train...

(click to enlarge)

Just finished another illustration for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine... this one is for a fantastic story by Wayne J. Gardiner called "Memory Train" about an old man in hospital suffering from Alzheimer's.

Corel Painter + Wacom Cintiq.

Self Portrait Looking Ahead

(click to enlarge)

Self-Portrait Under Deadline

(click to enlarge)

Characters of Line.. Some Self Portraits in Pen and Ink

Self Portrait at Cote des Neiges, Montreal (2005)
(click to enlarge)

Self Portrait in Early January (2013)
(click to enlarge)

Self Portrait with Spiky Hair (2013)
(click to enlarge)

Self Portrait on Sunday Morning (2013)
(click to enlarge)

At the Mercy of the Mob... black and white final

(click to enlarge)

And here's the final version of my latest illustration for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (pencils here).

My goal with this illustration was to create a dynamic black and white composition full of contrasting angles (the placement of the long lights above, the top of the desk, the captive guy's legs, the angle of his torso and arms, and just for good measure the beams of light streaming down from above). I wanted the areas of black to emphasize and play off of these angles even more. I often work my blacks into my illustrations in a free, more abstract way... they don't always reflect the properties of light. In this drawing, the aim is to have the blacks work in their own way, with their own inner logic, to compliment the composition so that when you squint your eyes you get a dynamic, interesting abstract image in its own right. It's also important that everyone's faces are hidden, or partially obscured, to add to the feeling of anxiety and claustrophobia. At the same time, the woman's face is partially revealed because of the role she plays in the story.

Can't say any more than that! Look for the illustration and the accompanying story in the upcoming issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Mag...

As always, Corel Painter 11 + Wacom Cintiq 21UX.

Rough Night..

(click to enlarge)

Pencils, for an upcoming mystery magazine illustration...

Wacom Cintiq + Corel Painter

Lil' Thief

(click to enlarge)

It was a cold and drizzly weekend in Ottawa... good weekend to stay in and work up my "Lil' Thief" illustration, which continues my fascination with New York's garment district in the 1950's. You can see the pencils here.

Keyboard Player (5 min. SketchTime iPad Sketch)

Keyboard Player (detail)

Keyboard Player (click to enlarge)

I've already written about how great SketchTime is... It is my favourite go-to sketching app for the iPad and iPhone. As it happens I'm beta testing a new version right now, which includes more colours and even more shades of grey! Look for it soon in the Apple app store. This was the first lil' sketch I made while giving it a go on my iPad 3. As with all my iPad and iPhone sketches, I'm letting loose and having fun... not too worried about flubs, more interested in capturing a neat subject with energy and hopefully grace. Lately I've been enjoying selectively building up forms (the face, the forearm) while leaving other parts of the sketch less finished... Very quick sketch (5 minutes).

As a reminder, you can see all my iPhone and iPad sketches at my dedicated iOS sketching site: iosketch.tumblr.com !

Chance Encounter iPad Sketch

Chance Encounter (detail)

Done in Procreate on my iPad 3... definitely going for a loose, sketchy feel here. I've been doing a lot of iPad/iPhone sketches and posting them on twitter and on my iOS sketchblog, iosketch.tumblr.com

Lil' Thief... (sketch)

Process sketch for a new illustration. The drawing took about half a day (lots of referencing old photographs on the net). You may notice that the woman's torso has been adjusted (she's rotated leftwards slightly from the waist up. She was bent much too sharply toward the man in version 1 of the sketch...)

Done using Corel Painter 11's awesome "real 2B pencil" setting on Wacom Cintiq 21 UX.

The Button Man! Recent Illustrations (part two)

Here's the final version of a "pencil"* drawing I published in my previous post. It's a piece for a short story by Joseph D'Agnese titled "Button Man" (a great read by the way!). Look for it in the March issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

*All my drawings are done using Corel Painter + Photoshop on a Cintiq 21UX. Even though my workflow is 100% digital, I continue to be obsessed with merging the latest technology with traditional techniques.

Hope you like it!

Recent Illustrations... (part one)

Some recent illustrations for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine...