I almost left this one black & white. I’m feeling more and more attached to textures and patterns over colour treatment of my drawings. In the end, the flat colouring was so appropriate to the content of the image, I kept the colour in.

We’re all flying blind, with or without this new censorship policy. Does this actually make things any worse? Does it make things better? If it makes us think about how much control we all actually have ( which is much less than we like to think ) over how we communicate online, that‘s a pretty important thing right there. I think the key here is to keep that conversation going.

But I’m not trying to get all sentimental here.

One friend in particular, though, deserves an acknowledgement, and an apology, for my inconsiderate absentmindedness.

I’ve already posted about the 2011 Zunior Holiday Blender. Creating the cover to Zunior’s annual holiday album is one of my favourite projects every year, and this year’s wouldn’t've been possible without the help of my friend, Asad Chishti, photographer-extraordinaire, jack-of-so-many-trades-it’s-humbling-for-the-rest-of-us, and all-around nice guy.

With his permission, I stole this beautiful photo of the Toronto skyline from his flickr page for the illustration below. And forgot to credit him.

So, thanks Asad! And sorry for not acknowledging sooner. This image definitely wouldn’t've been as good without your help.

Fifteen Christmases later, I knew, as soon as I’d heard the concept and list of contributing artists for this year’s Zunior Holiday Album, that the Violet Archers would use ‘The Wreck of the Edmund’. How could they not?

Sure enough, they did, and I love it, as much as I do the Rheos’ cover. Working with Dave Ullrich of Zunior Records has been a thrill for me from day one. I was an Inbreds fan back in those days, too, so knowing that Dave likes my art enough to put it on his albums is pretty big for me. All of the people I’ve been connected to by association has definitely added to the excitement for me. Thanks to Zunior, I’ve now worked with, albeit indirectly, both halves of the Inbreds and at least three Rheostatics, as well as members of a whole new generation of Canadian indie-greats who may otherwise have floated below my radar.

I think this year’s Holiday Album is the best one yet. It’s the fourth I’ve been a part of, and I haven’t been disappointed by a single one. You can read all about the concept here. Everyone involved in the project volunteers their time, effort and creativity, and 100% of the money raised from album sales goes straight to Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank. So grab your copy today to support a great cause and hear some amazing holiday music.

Trust me. Even if you don’t like Christmas songs, you’ll love this record!

PS: I made 10 different covers for this year’s album, all using the same concept that drove the music. But for now, you’ll have to buy the album to see ‘em all!

They’ve doubled in size since the Pixies show, and the full band didn’t hurt their sound at all. Part of what had impressed me initially was their minimalism. By contrast, the fuller sound this weekend showed how much energy they can draw from their music, and how much potential they have as a band.

I’ve been listening almost non-stop to their album, Temporary Resident since the show. It’s just as good as their live show. I’ve seen far too many bands who are great on-stage, and their studio efforts don’t live up to that expectation ( or vice-versa ).

The September issue is on newsstands now. Here are my two illustrations for the article, and you can read it online here.

Thanks to Shayna for sending me another great article to illustrate for the ‘Patch, and to Ian Hussey for writing this piece and educating the ignorant like myself!

I think I’ve always drawn in two different styles. My life drawing style, and my studio style.

The looser, more interpretive life drawing style has always gotten more of a response from viewers, but I’ve always had the problem of not knowing how to “finish” these drawings. They look good as drawings, usually black & white, but is that enough to make them illustrations?

The concert sketches I’ve posted here in the last few months have been an attempt at a more finished solution to my life drawings. Here’s another take.

Thoughts which have led me here:

What do I like? Simplicity. Minimalism. Rawness. Music. Texture. Pattern. Repetition.

How do I incorporate these things into my work? Found textures. Halftone patterns. Low-res/high-res contrasts. More fluid lines. Geometry. Spatial relationships.

I’m currently finding myself more and more intrigued with the idea of this contrast between high-resolution and low-resolution image quality, and how that contrast can be exploited, particularly in relation to the other solutions mentioned above.

This, again, is a life drawing, drawn on-location in North Bay, Ontario, about two months ago. I did a lot of these location drawings while I’ve been on the road, and I’ll be posting the ‘finished’ versions in the next little while. So here’s the first.

Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption, North Bay, ON

As far as illustration clients go, Dave’s one of the most open-to-new-and-strange-ideas I’ve worked with. And even after a few years of producing work for Zunior in my cut paper style, Dave was completely willing to take a chance on a more comicsey-style cover. The back cover was also done in a fairly untested style, using elements of my cut paper process, combined with an ink / digital method bridging the gap between my old style and my comics work.

The album is available for the insanely-low price of $3.33 from zunior.com here. Check it out!

The Variety Store EP by Egger

Track Listing