Leaper

Notebook #10 is out!

Notebook #10 

That's right, it's out, and my work is both on the front and back cover, and inside, amongst Edmonton's finest visual art, poetry and short stories.  Show Steven Teeuwsen and the local art community some support by picking up a copy at any of Edmonton's finer magazine vendors.

Here's a link to the Notebook site, but there isn't much there to ogle at. You gotta pick up a copy for that.

Doodling

I was just letting my pencil wander. This is what came out.

Sgt. Ossum issues the command

It's the only way to be certain.

Vue cover!

Here's my Vue cover. It's for a story by Fawnda Mithrush, featured in this weeks Vue, their annual Fringe issue.

So far everything has been working out, note for note, according to my evil master plan. It's always been in the back of my mind. If I can get the cover of Vue Weekly, then it's official: my career as an illustrator has begun. Special thanks to Pete, Vue's art director, for giving me the opportunity, and for doing a beautiful job on the headers. He made it look way better than I thought it could.

I Accidentally the whole Cover!

The Media gatekeepers over at FFWD were brazen enough to hire a yahoo such as myself to do the illustration for the cover, and the cover story. Titled "Mass Exodus", it was written by Julia Bevin and Anthea Black, the article discusses what is needed to build the Calgary Arts community, and the revolving door of artists who leave and return to Calgary once or more throughout their careers. Straight off the bat, I only had a rough description of the subject. I was asked to emphasize the themes of building, community, and people leaving. So I got to work Sketching, and sent them this:

You know, making it, I was thinking: Fuck yeah, they're building a giant red cow, but that guy is stealing bricks as he exodizes off to some other city. This is going to be the most awesome illustration ever! But no, the idea was rejected. The cow was too cheesy, the image was too busy, and it didn't quite fit with the story. In hindsight, they were right, and I was wrong. So I sent them a bunch more sketches, and they ultimatelysettled on this one:

So I cleaned it up a bit, and gave them the Rough draft:

They seemed happy with it, so I got busy with the Ball point pen, on a sheet of 11x17 bond paper, and whipped out this:

All coloured up, it came out like this. Fiddling with the colours ends up taking alot longer than you think it should.

I erased some of the bushes, lassooed the cloud and slid it over, and got this:

This is what it looks like, all said nd done, on newstands throughout Calgary:

And as an added bonus I threw in a drawing for the inside (beats me as to whether they ran it or not, I can't find it at the FFWD website):

Empty Calories

Here's some random stuff- warm up drawings and a little comic snippet. Things lifted from the ever growing pile of papers that accumulates on my shelf.

Prints and Zines!

I just got back from the printers and had a whole bunch of crap made up. Pick up one of these 17x19 signed beauties for the low price of 25 smackeroos. Or grab yourself a copy of PAB: 24 pages of doodly goodness, for only five bucks. Just e-mail me at rsumillang@yahoo.ca and we can sort something out.

Angela's Painting

"Our Lady of Ensenada"

Acrylic and ink on plywood, 36"x36"

Here's a Commission I did for Angela. It's based on a sketchbook drawing I made while in Mexico. The Painting turned out well, but after screwing around with Fred's camera equipment and Photoshop for 5 hours, I've determined that I am helpless to take print quality art photos by myself. So much for not making life more complicated than you'd think it needs to be.

Hair Squares.

Just some doodles lifted from my sketchbooks.

Revamp

I wasn't completely happy with the illustration I gave FFWD. My thinking got all uptight. Here I made a few simple changes and it looks so much better. I'll have to be more on the ball next time.

This is a quick sketchy version of the Eyeball I saw last night while falling asleep. When I get a chance I'll have to do a nice version. I've been meaning to get to the outerspace stuff for a while- I had a bunch of 'Alice In Wonderland In Space' type ideas last fall, and I'd like to get to them. They'd make a good series of paintings if done bright and big and cartoony. But while I type I'm procrastinating on paintings I should be doing now.

Loire Valley Wines

Hey, Sorry for the long deadzone between posts. First I was lethargic about the whole thing, and then, when Artwalk came along, I was super busy. But get a load of my first Bonafide Illustration. I drew her to accompany Kevin Maclean's article on the wines of the Loire Valley in France, Published in this weeks Issue of Fast Forward, in Calgary. Check out all the dead space to the left of her. I wish I had put something in there. Oh, Well. I'll do better next time. I had initially drawn her wearing coveralls and a plaid shirt, and with braids- workwear common in the region, but she came out looking like a hillbilly, so, no. Heres the original ballpoint pen drawing. As you can see, the face was replaced one I modelled after Audrey Tatou:

Stuff

Slow week, but I did manage to get few things done. You're only going to get to see my new coloured version of "Captains of industry"

Nextfest 2009 PartI

Here's the full meal deal, everything that's on the Walls at Crimson Empire, for those who can't make it out. It will all remain on the walls until the end of June at least, so if you get a chance, head down and see for yourself. Some of these haven't sold yet so if you're interested, contact me at rsumillang@yahoo.ca for inquiries. Also, prints can be made availible upon request.

Born in Hell, Cured in Rain (acrylic and india ink on plywood, 48"x24")

Ghost Breath (mixed media on BFK Rives, 30"x22")

Nextfest Part II

Vespertine (acrylic and India ink on plywood, 24"x48"), $700

Baroness Roar in a Frigid Squall (india ink and Acrylic on Plywood, 24X48) $600

Baconfield (mixed media on BFK Rives 22"x15"), $460 (framed)


Pesos and Black Roses (acrylic on paper, 17x14), $250 (framed)

The Ballad of J.Hutnad (mixed media on cardboard, 17X14) $250 (framed)

Nextfest 2009

Nextfest 2009 images Part III

Orderly Stains From the Men Before

(Acrylic and Ball point pen on Paper, 23X18) $450, Framed.

Into the Microscopic Abyss

(Acrylic on paper, 18x15) $350, framed.

An Hilarious Yet Comical Funnyman With a Penchant for Humour
(18x15, Acrylic and ballpoint pen on paper) $350, framed.

HELPSTOPFIGHTTHECURE!

(Ball point pen on paper, 17"x14") $300, Framed

The Church Ladies Will be Looking Forward to This

(ball point pen and india ink on paper, 17"x14) $300, framed

The Bosun One

(India ink on Paper, 14"x17, $300, Framed)

Sarah Hamilton wrote some great coverage of me in this weeks Vue. Thanks Sarah.

Friday 8-10pm, Crimson empire Tattoo. (11630 119st)

Words about me in the Sun

I managed to get some words about me in The Edmonton Sun, on Sunday, by Fish Griwkowsky, as part of an article about Nextfest. Right on, thanks Fish.

These are a couple images from the Zine, which I'm gonna to get off to the printers late today.

The peices are up.

My stuff is on the walls at Crimson Empire tattoo, as a component of the visual arts portion of Nextfest 2009

All thirteen peices will be up for the month of June and maybe longer, so when you get a chance, head down there and check out what I've been working on for the the past couple months. Get your nipples pierced while you're at it- they know what they're doing.

The Opening reception will be held Friday June 12, 8-10 pm. Come on down and drink the Kool-aid, everybody's invited!

Ball point pen fun!

Screwing around last night with the ball point pen- haven't used it in a while, I forget how much I love it! Look at how awesome these are!