People who follow me on Twitter, or have conversed in person for a short while have likely caught on that I’m a big fan of tools. I’m fascinated by productivity and process, and what gets us from the start of something to the finished product, or desired outcome. Often times, people get hung up somewhere before the end, and in this article I’d like to talk about one of the ways this occurs: how you view your tools.

So what is a tool? No, I’m not talking about that jerk off who invites himself into a group conversation, or unknowingly is used by others. I mean the material tool that– by definition is “used to carry out a particular function.” I see a good many people (including myself) often mislead by the idea that their current set of tools is inadequate, or they become sidetracked by the newest and sexiest solution for your problem. Others who have commented on these issues in the past have sometimes suggested the title of “utility porn.” Rightly so. Periodically, I end up getting bored with a tool I have several years of experience with, and end up looking for something new, which means time in research, and figuring out how it works, and if I’m lucky: I learn it as well as the perfectly good tool I had before then. Read the rest of this entry »

I found some time at a coffee shop this past week and managed to migrate from Posterous to WordPress in the wake of news that Twitter had acquired the former of the two services. One less task on the list, and it helps lay some foundations for updating my home domain which is currently rocking a nice 404. More to come…

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RGS0H2cxVTqQz8nLuxi0JV46ysYfPchq_FfiJsXWd…

As I continue researching solutions and uses for this domain, I’m starting to realize how the idea of writing isn’t likely to go away, and yet the platform used here is insufficient. As such I’m beginning to lean more and more towards Google Docs to publish content, which will allow me to store it elsewhere and ensure that when the overhaul comes, I won’t jeopardize what I’ve said here.

More to come…

Amongst the ho-hum scribbles of any designer, the few gems that rise above are at times scarce. Until today, I hadn’t made it outside of that stagnation. It’s important to remember though that some of the best work comes out of the times where you continuously make, instead of spending days and days on one single piece.

Similarly, I was inspired by an image I came across previously, and it knawed at me until I satisfied the urge. I don’t often scale my work very large in Photoshop unless forced into it, because I find the vast amount of working area to be more revealing. I have to stress over more detail in the work area, while in Illustrator, I can start small and scale later. So I created the image at 2560×1920, meant to be used as a wallpaper mostly for myself. The exercise/goal was photorealism, no use of tutorials, and accomplishing a visually appealing image.

Here’s the end result:

Full resolution for download can be found here. Read the rest of this entry »

Today marks the first week following the completion of my first semester at Emily Carr University. It was a tiring, thrilling, and engaging road over the last four months, and I’ve enjoyed it sincerely. Big thanks goes out to my teachers in this round: Alexandra Phillips, Celeste Martin, and Trish Kelly.

I’m always drawn towards things that make me uncomfortable, and that right now is sharing my work from this semester. So without further delay, I give you my works, in whatever creative quality you find them.

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Looking at the following of Parkour, and its explosion into the view of regular society, it’s easy to be awed at some of the stunts and moves these people are pulling off. As a long-time practitioner, and also an outsider to this scene, I feel it’s perhaps easier to see this than some who are immersed with it daily.

The problem I see with Parkour today is a simple one. It’s continuity; Not for the art, but the practitioner. I’ve seen it many a time at jams, happening upon the odd practitioner, and virtually every Parkour video on the Internet today. The big, flashy moves are neat to look at, and one sufficiently knowledgeable in the art can see where these moves are used to offset someone lacking in foundational training. But far too many people are using Parkour in short, expressive bursts, rather than thinking in terms of transportation. When Parkour first hit mainstream awareness, it was explained as I still (and hopefully others) tell it today: with a heavier focus on getting from point A to B in as efficient a manner as possible, regardless of obstacles. Whether it be explosive and dynamic, or smooth and fluid, people are still operating on a start-stop basis. I recall back in 2004 when Ryan Leech of Norco trials riding fame produced Manifesto, where he attempted to transform his art by eliminating setup and recovery hops. This allowed for a much more fluid approach, and far greater continuity. It required significantly more skill, concentration, and awareness to attain this sort of level. It was so obvious, and yet groundbreaking all the same. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m an avid reader. Anyone who knows me beyond a casual introduction will be aware of my almost neurotic obsession with consuming information. It doesn’t matter what, so long as it’s new and it’s data about something. It stems ultimately from a childhood of heavy reading; I owe thanks to my father in particular for backing it financially where he could with buying books and encyclopedic materials. I used to swear up and down as a child that one day I’d know all tangible information of any discernible utility. Hah. The naivety of youth. As an adult, having tasted the bittersweet sobriety of reality, I know now that is a farce. It is not possible in this day and age to be a renaissance man, or any such offshoot of the all but romanticized idea. Think tanks, savants, lurkers on Quora… They have something to offer the world intellectually, certainly. Of what that is, I know not– though I do admire them. I’m drawn to people who know more, if for no other reason than leeching that knowledge, through some form of osmosis or whatever. Sometimes it’s simply acknowledging that these people have a genuine interest in the outside world.

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Holy. Well, that daily tracking of art didn’t go over too hot.

In the last while, I’ve been keeping up fairly well on small sketches, but they’re process stuff and pretty small. Since September 1st, I started University at Emily Carr for my degree. The workload is pretty decent, but it’s still ramping up; Time will tell how heavy it actually gets.

This past Monday, we had a nude model in to assist with an experiment in surrealism. We were asked to sketch for 20 minutes before we rotated our sketches to a fellow student, who continued on the drawing, and then we repeated that once more. It’s astonishing what can come out of a drawing when three separate people work on one drawing. None of them were bad at all, though I’ll definitely have to work on my drawing skills. I still very strongly dislike pencils and charcoal. Pretty much anything that isn’t ink-based, so there’s something to work on. Read the rest of this entry »