Un-Indigenous. Plants and creatures. One of my favorite things in life is growing things on my deck-top garden, so of course I like to bleed this love into some of my fictional creatures.

I’ve been sick a lot this month. But more than being sick of being sick, I’m sick of winter and am sincerely looking forward to green things and spring.

PS This one took A LOOOOONGGGG time to color for some reason.

While digging around in a pile of paper in my studio I rediscovered this page  from an unused Lere comic (about a year old). It doesn’t have its word balloons (I tend to change my mind about adding them before or after) but I actually like it. The comic itself had a very strict palette. Who knows, maybe if I ever get a breather, I’ll try to finish this story; it’s a cute one.

Back to work.

It’s still technically Autumn for eleven more days.

I did the cover for The Coast this week! The theme was charity and giving. It was super fun and exciting to do. Yaaaaaaaaa. It’s going to be weird seeing it around town everywhere this week. Warm fuzzy feelings….

Here is the finished piece without text…

Since I was under pretty specific art direction I really didn’t deviate too much from the thumbnail as you can see.

I’ve been so so busy this month! Sorry about the slow updates! More is on the way!

I can tell Chrismas is coming because I’m getting to draw themed things again. Here is an illustration I did for a local paper, The Coast. You can read the actual article here.

I basically wrote the names of my family and loved ones (including the Tenth Doctor) in there. I wont be seeing them this Christmas, so I thought a not so subtle tribute in print would be nice.

In the print version it appears in its b/w form:

I was SO ILL last week, folks. I’m trying to catch up on stuff now. That includes this week’s Finnegan update! See you soon!

I started this drawing while in Minneapolis for MIX! I was in a cafe with my dear pal Britt Sabo. It started out in a different direction. Um, the first image is NSFW. HAHAHA.

Below you can see the starting point of this illustration leading to the inks and the colors. SHA SHAAAAAA!

We went to a cafe and I had THE BEST latte ever and this happened to show up on my page. I guess I felt strongly about my beverage. Britt added the sweet taur part. Now you know the inspiration behind all of my work. All of it.

OH! THAT’S what I had in mind ALL ALONG.

Finally, the flats before I added the photoshop wizard stuff.

I have been meaning to make a post about my trip to Minneapolis. I shall. Probably before or at the end of the week!

I have a lot of work to do. It’s a good thing my cats are fine with waiting patiently.

It’s Hallowe’en month. I’ve got to find as many excuses to draw for it as possible. Maybe that will be my excuse to buy a new scanner.

I woke up yesterday to find the house really cold. It was 15 degrees, so I finally had to relent and turn on the furnace. Heating bills are the worst. We had to fill the oil tank pretty much as soon as we moved in here (it wasn’t filled for us….) and it was RIDICULOUS and traumatizing. But I stocked up on root vegetables as emotional compensation. They may be cold and windy, but the winter months have the best dishes.

OK, see you sooooooon!

A gig poster I did for an upcoming show. I was excited that it involved the Symphony. I went through so many design ideas before I came to this one. The thought of a moth falling in love with a star is lovely.

I had to do screen prints of this one:

It’s out of the norm for me do to something that isn’t figurative. I do like how the concept turned out.

I’m feeling so-so about how the prints themselves look. This is my second try at screen printing. It’s hard on the heart of a crazy person like me (who likes everything to be perfect). But, I’ll keep at it! I think I’ll assess how much people like it and perhaps offer both the screen prints and a digital print version. Any tips for getting those small details crisp?

Actually, halfway through doing this I started to get sick with some sort of stomach flu. WHAAATTTT. If I have any time (and extra dough) I might try doing this print again… I’d love to own my own tools and work-space for really getting into this art-form (I’m borrowing space at an artist run centre, which is cool but… I always feel rushed because I have to pay for the time…).

Anyway, this poster will be featured in an artshow, where it will be available to buy, as well as at the show itself. I am planning on going. I’m being given a wristband to the entire music festival for doing this poster! I’ve got plans to see The Stars, Dan Mangan,  Rural Alberta Advantage. If you’re planning on going to any Pop Explosion shows, let me know. I take suggestions VERY SERIOUSLY.

That’s all for now! Things are busy busy over here! But, I want to update with a full post of excitement regarding our Indie GoGo SUCCESS and more things and projects to come! I’m putting together the details for how I’m going to release this first series of comics. It’s thrilling, actually! See you soon!

Here’s a really bad photo of the pencils before coloring:

The anatomy probably isn’t the strongest. I just had the urge to draw eye shinies and parallel lines, I guess. I’ve been working non-stop on comic stuff recently, so I felt a little clumsy coming back to markers; I guess I should take breaks more often! Also, I have to buy a bunch of new markers. WARF!

If you’ve ever wondered about which brands and tools I use, I don’t really have a lot of loyalty. I go for whatever is cheap; though supplies rarely feel cheap when I have to buy them (like now, actually).

Markers: Whatever I can get my hands on (on sale, hopefully). I particularly enjoy using the Korean brand Touch (you can almost blend them like watercolors). Actually, I tend to use watercolor pencils with markers.

Drawing: I use the pilot refillable mechanical pencils, usually in light green (called Color ENO). The green is easy to take out in photoshop and not quite as hard on the eyes as a non-photo blue lead can be.

I mostly ink with pens (Pilot Drawing Pens). Sometimes I use nibs. I’m kinda on a spiritual journey to find the right inking tool right now… I bought a brush-pen recently, but I have yet to feel comfortable doing real work with it.

Paper: Most of my comics are done on a Smooth / Vellum bristol. For everything else, whatever I can get my hands on. Recently I discovered I can get 11×17 bristol from behind the staples printshop counter for a fraction of the cost of buying those pads from an art store. We’re talking 75 sheets for $7.50. Those pads cost more than that and only have 24 sheets. Economics!

ALSO: RULERS AND MY FUCKING ERASER PEN. I’m kinda weird and crazy about my ruler hoard. I can’t just use any ruler, I have a posse of rulers that I will go on magical quests to find any time I misplace them. That large one was liberated from my grade 11 art class many, many moons ago (that back says “room 148″) ha ha ha.

My fundraiser for printing some Finnegan Strappe is still going. I only have 10 days left!

OK. Back to work. Things are crazy and stressful and up in the air right now.