PET MONSTER

A group of the artists from work recently teamed up with a local second grade class to create a fun art collaboration. This project was the brainchild of the awesome Mitch Mortimer. As an artist creating products for kids, he thought it would be fun to ask some kids to interpret one of two prompts:

If you could have any pet what would it be?

or

What scares you?

Mitch then took the drawings created by the kids and invited some of the artists in our department to expand upon them. "If the Giant Killer Gorilla's hand is warped with 7 fingers....keep it that way but add detail and form to it. Laser shooting farting robot from the future with green skin and one eye? Perfect-o! Enjoy that one and amp it up. Don't try to fix what they did...but make it 'real' in your own way."

Here is the outcome from my swap. I loved the eyeball hands as well as the kid running away. It was such a fun project and really helped remind me about one of the reasons why I love illustration so much. We have the power to bring anything to life. Anything you could possibly imagine. Like eyeball-handed pet monsters that eat your broccoli.

We wrote notes back about what scares us or a pet we'd like to have. I said I'd want a pet that flies so we could go adventuring.

HEY ADOPTED BROTHER....

My favourite theme yet on Ten Paces and Draw was posted this morning. This week the theme was....... Arrested Development! I had a blast finishing up Nat's sketch. Too many good juice moments to choose from. It was a bit of a sparse turn-out this week, but you can check out the other illustrations right here.

CANCULTURE INTERVIEW + INTERACTIVE MAP

The nice folks at Canadian blog CanCulture interviewed me last week and published it last Wednesday.  There's a little behind the scenes look into the creation of my Vancouver map. Many thanks to Melanie and Louis for taking the time to chat with me and for putting together the rad interactive map! You can check out the full article right here.

POKEMON BATTLE ROYALE OPENING

I've had the Pokémon theme stuck in my head all weekend. The show opening was such a blast! The nice folks at Light Grey Art Lab let me snag a few photos from their flickr to share with you here. The Light Grey Art Lab team did a stellar job and the place was jam-packed. (There was even a line down the block before the doors opened!) It was a great event (the very best) and I'm so happy that I could be a part of it.

The online gallery is up now if you want to take a look at all 151 Pokémon. There are a few prints still for sale (including some of my Porygon).

1, 2, 3, and 7 from Light Grey Art Lab flickr
4, 5, 6 from my instagram

POKEMON BATTLE ROYALE

I was so excited when Alyssa and Bryan asked if I wanted to participate in the Pokémon Battle Royale show a few months ago. I haven't really kept up with any of the newer versions of Pokémon—or any of them, for that matter. For me, it is all about the 151 originals.

Despite the fact that I was complete rubbish at collecting the trading cards back in fourth grade, I have fond memories of watching Pokémon after school and hours spent playing Pokémon Snap. For those who don't know, Porygon is the only Pokémon that was created in a lab. It was only featured in one episode of the tv show because that episode just happened to cause almost 700 kids in Japan to have seizures (even though it was Pikachu that caused the seizures, not Porygon!). So, I thought Porygon deserved a little love.

The Pokémon Battle Royale brings together a list of 151 stellar artists who have all put their own spin on one of the original 151 Pokémon. If you live in/near Minneapolis you should check out the show opening tonight at Light Grey Art Lab! More details here. (It's going to be the very best).

SNEAK PEEK—PORYGON

I mentioned a little while back that I was participating in the Pokémon Battle Royale show at Light Grey Art Lab next month. The show paired up 151 illustrators with the 151 original Pokémon and I chose #137–Porygon. The show opens on April 20 in Minneapolis, so if you live in the area please feel free to come and revel with other Pokémon nerds! Chelsey and I will be driving up from Milwaukee for the opening. I finished up my piece over the weekend and wanted to share a little teaser. I'll post another update next week with a few more details.

P.S. Light Grey Art Lab currently has a Kickstarter going to raise funds to add a computer lab to their space for teaching art and design classes. It's a great space run by some amazing and talented people, just sayin'. If you're interested in learning more or backing them you can do so right here. 

ILLO CRUSH

It was a lovely surprise this morning to go and check one of my favourite illustration blogs and see my beetle illustration peeking onto the page! Amy has started a new feature called Illo Crush where she asks her favourite bloggers to share some of their favourite illustrators. Mallory (from one of my other favourite blogs to check for illustration inspiration) is kicking off the series and was kind enough to include me in her list. You can see the rest of her picks right here.