Overview of My Creative Process
Including what inspires and influences my work.
From thumbnails to final art, the creative process of other artists has always interested me. Learning from the Golden Age of Illustration to now (eg. Beatrix Potter, Edmund Dulac, Sir John Tenniel, E. H. Shepard), we are always learning. Here is how I approach a project and work through specific problems.
The Big Chill Festival 2021
Featuring Ella and the Freeze in concert.
Story time with her best friends.
Show and Tell Day at School
Why not take your pet alligator to school for show and tell? What could possibly go wrong?
Wild cat?
Summer is coming. Girl makes friends with a fish. Simple, quick sketch and paint.
Sunset Observer’s Society: We meet every Wednesday, if we are near the planet neighbourhood. (A little nod to Shaun Tan)
Facing your fears without compromise. The creature is all your self-doubt, fear and anxiety manifested into a thorny rose bush. The Rabbit Knight must face the beautiful yet dangerous form with confidence. War of the Roses from within yourself.
Boy in Lake Summer ‘71 - Lakelse Lake Provincial Park. (Near Terrace, BC.)
Climbing up the Stone Tree roots at Minnekhada Regional Park. (Coquitlam, BC.)
Miya’s morning forest walk with her best friend.
Robin’s morning visit.
Run like the Wind. Colour and ink detail.
Mouse-fish and Jellyfuzz showed them the way out. Obviously the deception did not work. This was a doodle that got out of hand, maybe a story there, maybe….
A scene from Harvey - Starring James Stewart (1950) ”Thank you, Harvey. I prefer you too.”
One of my favourite films full of wonderful quotes and imagery. This is an older piece from 2013.
Flying Fairy on her nightly rounds being followed by her cat. Various on the previous Starlight Girl theme.
Starlight Girl & Owl - Light Up the Night Sky. Rough, line art and final watercolour rendering for spot illustration.
A little girl is surprised by her beloved cat and a flying pufferfish. These illustrations were drawn and painted traditionally, then digitally comped in photoshop.
I was thinking of Gertrude Stein's “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” when I drew this picture.
Part of her 1913 poem "Sacred Emily".
Boxy and Boxter in the Park. Remember to clean up after your dog.
Everyone loves storytime.
Dog Ears: Experiment in a new nib pen/ink and watercolour technique.
Miya outside in the rain.
Puddle Dance in the Rain (Something new and positive for 2021)
Creative journey developing my alter ego “Fang the Illustrator Cat”. Specializing in Children’s Illustrations.
“O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree”
A quick watercolour sketch in between Christmas day festivities 2020. After the long and drawn-out year, snowpeople enjoying the winter season.
Revisualizing “A Bigger Splash” by David Hockney: I thought it might be interesting to build an isometric and vector versions of Hockney’s 1967 painting. I took a little creative license on the house and poolside Have a look at my iso rough sketch. Hockney’s reference image was derived in part from a photograph discovered in a book on the subject of building swimming pools. Check out the animated isometric gallery.
The Pot O’Honey Incident
Big fan of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and Ernest H. Shepard’s drawings. Here is my version in the same style as E.H. Shepard.
Cat vs. Elephant
Curious Cat doesn’t know what to do with a mouse-sized elephant.
The Visit in the woods to the wondrous Carrot Patch.
I was practicing on a piece of mixed media paper and this was the result. My studio view is a wonderful forest, teaming with wildlife. Possibly, E. H. Shepard came to visit my thoughts today. This inspired me to develop a storyline for this little bunny family scene. More to come in the future.
Artist-in-Forest
This was a practice illustration that I developed into a gif and a full frame 10 second animation.
Artist in his forest studio. (gif loop)
A big Robin sleeping in tree
A big Robin asleep in a tree. The action is about to begin.
Tea and Storytime
Tea and stories with her favourite pals and books.
Piggy and Bunny’s Birthday Picnic
I created this for my granddaughter Miya’s first birthday. Her favourite toy is a blue bunny and her favourite colour is pink. She was also born on the year of the pig. I ended up painting two versions of the drawing. The first time it felt a little too dark in value and tone.
Piggy and Bunny’s First Birthday Picnic - June 2020.
Sarah’s Aquatic Speedy Delivery Service
Sarah runs an aquatic delivery service between Vancouver Island and all the gulf islands. She is very busy but happy to see all her aquatic friends during her deliveries. I was listening to The Beatles - Yellow Submarine (1969), The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966) and of course the soundtrack to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004).
When cousin Giraffe came to visit the Island…
I wanted to create a busy island ferry dock (think maybe Richard Scarry - “Busy Town”) but in my style and very colourful. Composition is in a triangular pattern of interest (giraffe - giraffe distant - back to pig on motorboat). I was listening to U2 - Joshua Tree (1990), Fleetwood Mac -Greatest Hits (2014) and a Beatles playlist.
When cousin Giraffe came to visit the island…
Fluffy Cat Series
Creating a cat series with a limited colour palette using yellows and magentas. I enjoy experimenting with this cat, so there will be more painting in the future.
Gator Tree Island.
A swampland treehouse surrounded by alligators and other dangerous creatures.
Little Owl’s first day at flight school.
I was definitely channeling Bill Watterson when I painted this composition.
August submission for SCBWIdrawthis challenge.
The prompt word is: Dress-Up. Never sit in a recliner at a dress-up party, you may never get up again.
An apple falls from a tree in a wild forest orchard
Here are some of the drawing and roughs that I combined into the spread for a future book. Still a work in progress.
Start of a new adventure or not…
Spot illustration for a story about friendship and longing.
Fictional version of myself in my art studio - From rough to finished piece
I roughed out several small thumbnails in a stretch book and scrap paper. This is then refined and transferred to watercolour paper using a light table/pad. Inking and watercolour paint to finish.
My studio wall with several projects in the work in process (wip) mode.
A simple fall leaf watercolour
I collected several fall leaves and took a few photographs of the trees in my neighbourhood. These were all comped into a line drawing and transferred to watercolour paper. I used a few tricks with cellophane and coarse salt to get the effect of sunlight glowing through blurry upper branches.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - On the terrace of the Museum
After a wonderful day at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, my wife relaxes on the sun terrace of the Secret Garden at the Art Museum of Montreal. A view of Le Château Apartments in the distance and the Salle Bourgie - Entrée des artistes in the foreground. Perspective lines on the photograph to help me line up the terrace and the buildings. After several sketches and to get a correct enlargement of the image I cleaned up the drawing on tracing paper and transfer to watercolour paper. Watercolour with pen and ink. The final painting was a birthday gift for my wife in 2018.
Dimensions: 43 cm (17 in) x 35.5 cm (14 in)
Anna’s hummingbird - Line art and Watercolour
An Anna’s Hummingbird that we see in our backyard from spring to late fall in Vancouver BC. Another birthday gift for my wife in 2017.
The Big Lebowski (1998) - “Eight-year-olds, Dude.”
One of my favourite Coen Brothers movies. Ink line work with copic marker colouring.
Serenity (2005) - River Tam in her epic heroic stand against the Reavers
Two different versions of River Tam’s sword battle against the Reavers. One with loose watercolours and the other with loose copic markers. (Big fan of Firefly series)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Compilation of the villains and dust storm in the background
Two versions of a compilation of four character elements done with pen, watercolours, copic markers and ink wash. One of these pieces was a gift to my VFX school. Think Tank Training Centre a wonderful school in North Vancouver. https://www.tttc.ca/
Painted studies of Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes”
Big fan of Bill Watterson and his iconic “Calvin and Hobbes” series.
I have been practicing his style of drawing and painting from many years. Along with Richard Thompson, Beatrix Potter, E.H. Shepard, Quentin Blake, Shel Silverstein, Ronald Searle, Sandra Boynton, Mercer Mayer, Richard Scarry, Michael Martchenko, Charles Santore, Matthew Groening, Raymond Briggs, Theodor Seuss Geisel, Charles Schultz, Ralph Steadman, Maurice Sendak, Jean Giraud, Berkley Breathed, Mary Blair, Thomas Kinkade Syd Mead, James Gurney, Tim Burton, Chris Riddell and Tomi Ungerer.
Here are some other artists that I follow: Shaun Tan, Dan Santat, Jon Klassen, Gavin Aung Than, Peter De Seve, Chris Mould, Jake Parker, Brian Lies, Edward Gorey, Aaron Becker, Michael de Adder, Matt Jones, J.R. Krause, Nick Galifianakis, Gabriel Evans, Mateusz Urbanowicz, Olivier Tallec, Oliver Jeffers, Pascal Campion, Simon Stalenhag, Stephanie Birdsong, Noah Klocek, Corinna Luyken, Beatrice Blue, Nathan Fowkes, Kiri Østergaard Leonard, Ryan Higgins, Beatrice Alemagna, Brendan Wenzel, Sophie Blackall, Scott Robertson, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Simon Tofield and Marie-Louise Gay.
“Winnie-the-Pooh” illustrations by E.H. Shepard
A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard were my first introduction to storytelling and illustrations. My scottish school teacher mother would read to me and I would try and draw the characters. I have never stopped studying the works of E.H. Shepard, Beatrix Potter and Theodor Seuss Geisel.
Pooh Bridge is a real bridge in Ashdown Forest, near Hartfield, East Sussex and was originally called Posingford Bridge. It dates back to at least 1907.
“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known”
Several variations of E.H. Shepard’s drawings combined into a single composition.
My ink watercolour version of E.H Shepard’s Christopher Robin and friends leaning over the railings of Pooh Bridge watching the river slipping slowly by.
Now something much harder — Vincent Van Gogh
My reference was the “Sunflowers (F458), repetition of the 4th version (yellow background) January 1889”. On canvas as a gift to my wife on mother’s day. I would like to try “The Starry Night” or a large version of “Café Terrace at Night” someday.
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
My tiny gouache paintings.
Ref.: Café Terrace at Night (F467) & 1888 & Sunflowers (F458)- 1889
Vincent van Gogh figurine is from “Today is Art Day” online store.
My oil painting version of ref.: Sunflowers (F458) - 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh
Bob Ross and his painting
Who doesn’t like trying a little Bob Ross style painting. I painted this picture with gouache not oil or acrylic paint (easier to work with on a small tiny canvas). Where did his squirrel go?
Please watch Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed Documentary on Netflix By Ben Falcone
“I can’t think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to others through painting. Exercising the imagination, experimenting with talents, being creative; these things, to me, are truly the windows to your soul.”
My ink line art and watercolour of the Mad Artist picture.
Mad Artist At Work (or Life Happens)
All these imagines are what was happening in my life at the time. Drawn over a few months and then I combined the loose sketches into one piece and then transfer to watercolour paper.