Brigitte

Planted feet

2012-02-21T13:46:00.001-05:00

I had some free time, so I did a quick scribble.

Take a Look!

2012-01-06T12:14:00.002-05:00

Please allow me to toot my on horn for a moment (toot, toot!). The results are in and my submission to Blank Pages, for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz project, has been accepted and is now live on the website (page 15).

If you haven't looked into the project yet, why the heck not? There is plenty of room for more submissions. It's a book bigger than I thought!
I will admit I have never been very interested in ever reading the Wizard of Oz as a child, I was never interested in reading anything until my high school years in fact, but now I just love reading. The Wizard of Oz is full of surprises and I am really enjoying it! Now I read roughly three books a month and have built myself a fair sized collection consisting of fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, reference books, I've even started rebuilding my children's story books and picture book collection. Somehow, even the oxford dictionary made it onto my shelves. I'm not sure how that happened, seeing as I've never purchased a dictionary in my life! EVER. Maybe it grew legs and decided it wanted to snuggle between Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland, who knows.

As I continue to leaf through the story of Oz, I will also be keeping an eye open for any other prospective projects. Of course there are websites devoted to illustration contributions which are awesome (i.e. www.illustartionfriday.com) but here is another fun art project I literally just stumbled across that artists have been enjoying since 2008! Mail Me Art!
Mail Me Art has held two exhibitions, published two books, and has received over 1300 pieces of mail art during their 2008 and 2010 mailing events.

What is Mail Me Art? It is a London based project run by Darren Di Lieto (www.thelittlechimpsociety.com). All you have to do is grab a blank parcel, letter, or envelope and illustrate to your hearts content! No message required, the parcel or envelope does not have to have anything in it nor does your illustration require any special meaning. Just create for the sake of creating. Step two is to go postal and send your creation to the Little Chimp Society.

The next shipment of mail art is scheduled for 2012! So stay tuned or sign up for the LCS newsletter on the website. For more information, click any of the links above.

Happy drawing, Everybody!

Calling all illustrators and designers

2012-01-02T12:32:00.000-05:00

Happy new year everyone!

While browsing the web, searching for inspiration, I stumbled across a design company located in the UK that is holding an open submission to all illustrators and designers. It is free to submit and open to everyone! I highly recommend that anyone interested should submit, this is an excellent way to get your work noticed and have fun doing it.

Appropriately named Blank Pages, http://www.blankpages.co.uk/about.html , the concept is to fill the blank pages of the classic "The Wizard of Oz". Simple enough, right? You can learn more by clicking the link http://www.blankpages.co.uk/about.html

I have just submitted my first blank page only minutes ago and am playing the dreaded waiting game to hear if they will be including my work. In the meantime, I am continuing to read the entire novel and pick the next page (or two, or three, or four!) that I will be submitting. Fingers crossed!

As always, all comments and critiques are welcome. I also urge anyone interested to take up this opportunity.

Have fun and happy drawing!

2011-11-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

These are just a few of the creatures that have made it to paper in the last month or so. There haven't been many finished pieces recently as I have been illustrating for clients. But there is always time for sketching out these little guys.

The creatures I've been sketching recently have been heavily influenced by the bone structure of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex.

I've also had a request to draw a monkey fighting a palm tree.

Obviously, the tree would win.

A dream of paradise...

2011-09-06T10:18:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I noticed this sketch was missing something. It was the same thing I was missing, the beach!!! The summer is just not complete without a visit to the beach. At the time I had not yet gone and was missing it oooh so much, but a dreamy sketch would do just fine. I revisited my sketch and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

And not to worry, I've gone to the beach since finishing this quick sketch and summer ended.

English Breakfast

2011-08-28T11:11:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been so busy with work that I haven't been able to finish my last self project, but I think I should share it even though the text hasn't been added. So here is an illustration of english breakfast tea.

Despite popular belief, English Breakfast did not originate in England. The blend dates back to 1843 and an English tea merchant named Richard Davies who had immigrated to America, where it was developed and distributed.

The tea is described as full bodied and robust, it is typically served with heavy cream and acts as a "breakfast tea". Many of the colonial soldiers were given this tea to as part of a full breakfast to keep them full before a battle.

I chose the Boston harbour as the setting because this was the most popular place for English immigrants to make port in colonial times.

Oolong Tea

2011-07-21T19:54:00.000-04:00

The Name Oolong tea came to the English language, from China, meaning "Black Dragon Tea". However, dragons are mythical creatures so I chose instead the Panda. There are a few widely accepted origins of oolong, one theory is that it was first produced in the Wuyi Moutains during the Qing dynasty.

The leaves are traditionally oxidized by the sun, and no extra flavours are added. Leaving the tea leaves to dry in the sun causes them to curl and twist. I wanted to capture the soothing and calming taste of the natural green tea through the tranquility of the natural surroundings.

Orange Pekoe

2011-07-11T13:04:00.000-04:00

I have decided to create four sticker labels for tea packages. They are meant to fit on a universal sized tea package as 2x2.5 stickers, or 8x10 posters folded inside the package.

The four types of tea I have chosen are Orange Pekoe, Oolong, English Breakfast and Earl Grey. The idea was to display a short "history" of the tea. Each label depicts the time period the tea was developed and an animal from the region. One problem came up when doing the research, most of the history of tea is vague and general. So, please forgive me, the labels are not entirely accurate.

Orange Pekoe, although it originated from China, is a term coined by European trading companies and is generally a Western term. It refers to the high quality, oxidized tea leaf and the copper colour it produces. It may also have been referred to as "orange" as a marketing scheme to suggest a royal warrant. Orange Pekoe became particularly popular during the 16-1700's.

So this is my poster. Next up is Oolong...

Hamburger Monster

2011-06-20T12:28:00.000-04:00

While hanging out with some super cool illustrators and animators in downtown Toronto, we all gave each other a theme to draw. One theme was Hamburgers, this is my opinion on hamburgers.

Hamburger's hate me. When I eat them, it's like a monster is ripping out my insides. Especially Burger King!
This is three versions of what I imagine happens when I eat a hamburger. There is three just because I couldn't decide between photoshop, illustrator or the original pen drawing. Plus, it was fun.

Cover Redesign

2011-06-18T16:22:00.001-04:00

I've decided to revisit a few older projects from school. I started with graphic design, a cover design. This is what I came up with.

surprised animals

2011-06-12T10:12:00.000-04:00

Today's topic is surprised animals! I thought I'd continue after posting this drawing of an owl. The owl is one of m favourites, how could I not want to do more?

I really enjoyed this topic, maybe I'll continue. Maybe I won't.

2011-06-11T13:10:00.000-04:00

More pages from my sketchbook. I wasn't sure what to draw so i sat in front of a mirror and started sketching, nothing special. But I think it was a good mental warm up and I'm ready to move on to the next topic.

My sketchbook

2011-06-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

I just thought I would share with you some pages from my sketchbook. Enjoy.

What should I draw next? Any suggestions?

Friends.

2011-05-19T22:58:00.000-04:00

I took a break from sketches today and did more sketches. It seems redundant, but I enjoy it. There ivn't much thought to it, I just let my pencil loose and had a bit of fun.

Vintages: finished fox design

2011-05-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

Here is the finished piece. I engraved with a wood burning tool a design I had shared in my last post. The design is filled with ink washes as a finishing touch.

The engraving is mirrored on either side. Here is a close up of the side view. I really enjoyed this project and really want to get started on more like it. if anyone has any suggestions on what the next project should be, feel free to shout it out.

2011-05-04T22:35:00.000-04:00

The other day I went to a friend's house to help her move. I was immediately drawn to this wooden wine box, it was so bare I just had to take it home and attempt to give it some life.

As soon as I got home, I started sketching. The two themes I wanted to play with were wine and vintage, my instinct told me to turn to Dionysis (the greek God of the grape harvast). I noted that he would often be depicted wearing fox skins as a symbol of new life and would be surrounded by grape vines and ivy. Foxes, to me, seem like old souls and this plays well into vintage (since vintage is for those who feel kin with an older time).

Here is the final labelling I have worked out. I kept the line work brown because I am currently using a wood burning tool to inscribe the design onto the box itself.

I will be posting the final product, hopefully, tomorrow. In the meantime, I would love to hear your comments. Please feel free to critique.

Watermelon Sundress

2011-05-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

As promised to a friend from A128, I've started designing my line of spring dresses for girls. They are (clearly) inspired by fruit and berries. This weeks feature is a watermelon, sleeveless sundress. This dress is perfect for Mommy's little helper in the garden or Sunday breakfast with the grandparents.

Stay tuned for the next design, strawberry blondie!

Dinosaur DNA

2011-04-26T19:28:00.000-04:00

I know, this is an old image. But I have been meaning to tweak it here and there but have been so absorbed in my fourth year thesis that I have been putting it off.
I put this together for an assignment in school, where we would design a page for the National Post and they would critique the image. After reading an article on genetic engineering and remembering my love for drawing dinosaurs, I decided to throw this recipe together. The article read that scientists are working on cloning dinosaur DNA, just like in Jurrassic Park. They would hypothetically slice the dinosaur DNA with DNA from a large bird, such as an ostrich, and the ostrich would lay a dinosaur egg through invito fertilization.
Now, I did stumble across this article a while ago and science has developed quite a bit since then, but I hope for the love of a duck that this does not happen. Jurrassic Park did not exactly end well, and I am certain it will not end well if this does happen.

2011-04-19T17:37:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I posted my piece on three monsters reacting to their first romantic comedy when it was new. Since then I have scraped the first one and re-sketched, repainted, and re-edited the entire thing from scratch. I felt as thought the original was not clear enough in the message and believe this version reflects the mood of the movie genre better.

2011-04-19T17:33:00.000-04:00

It is the end of the school year and I will finally be graduating after four long years at Sheridan college. Once school is over, I figured I would go a bit crazy without any projects to do so I have taken it upon myself to create projects for myself. The first of many is a comic about a vacant bunny who causes unthinkable trouble while his owner is out. I have the background on the characters figured out am in the process of writing and drafting. This is one of many of the process sketches. I just need to figure out the names of the owner and the bunny. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear it. If your suggestions are strong enough, I will use them in my comic. Just let me know what you think.

James and the Giant Peach

2011-04-15T11:23:00.000-04:00

This is my design submission for the Penguin Design Award. http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/penguindesignaward/index.php
I wanted to focus on the dark and miserable atmosphere of Jame' life before his adventures with his insect friends, inside of the peach. The peach is meant to give the feeling of hope and magic.
We will see what happens May 18th, when the short list is announced.

2011-04-07T10:42:00.000-04:00

I finished my animatic for the grad show, coming up in seven days. it all started back during the holidays when I for some reason decided sketching a little girl hugging her new bear so hard its head popped off, was a good idea. Then i thought "wouldn't it be cool if it moved?" and I approached my electronic media professor and he replied, "Yeah, totally. Do it." So I did. and turned it into a promotional video to be played, along with the rest of the graduating year, at the grad show. I couldn't be more excited.

Road Rage

2011-04-05T18:26:00.000-04:00

Another thesis image done. This one is, clearly, about road rage. In Monster Land, if a monster got in an others way they would just push and shove their way through. They cannot do that here. They would have to learn to adhere to our laws, write their drivers tests and learn to control their tempers.

Process work

2011-04-03T20:04:00.000-04:00

Normally I don't show off my process work, mostly because I'm told to make a few bejillion rough thumbnails and I usually do two or three. But I really like the process work for this particular thesis piece, and it helps that my prof laughed out loud when he saw it. So this is my process, first I draft my idea.

As you can see, it's ridiculously simple.
Then, I move to final rough.

They are a bit different I suppose...
Next is finals!

Of course, the last two images I made because I am getting a little tired of water colour acrylics. So I went back to my old regular acrylics for a test run. Here is the real thesis piece still in progress.

At the movie theater

2011-03-31T18:08:00.000-04:00

My sixth piece from narrative is complete! My idea was that if a group of monsters were to go to the theater, of course it would be fun but that depends on which type of film they saw. For example, a romantic comedy might be terrifying to a monster, and super annoying to everyone else in the room with them.

Hair Salon

2011-03-29T16:52:00.000-04:00

My next image for thesis class, monsters in hair salons. Still needs some tweaking but this is the idea. There are more monsters to come so stay tuned.

Bookmarks

2011-03-25T18:19:00.000-04:00

Rather than making a business card that can get lost, I decided to make bookmarks as my giveaway instead. Hopefully they will get used after the upcoming Sheridan grad show. I'd love to get feedback before I send them to print so, please, let me know what you think.

Monsters

2011-03-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

Here are my new thesis pieces; monsters adjusting to our society. There are more to come. I hope everyone enjoys them

Tree Huggers

2011-03-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

This was a small thumbnail as rough work for a project last year. The project was to create a mailer and poster for one of three organizations, I chose Evergreen out of the three. The final looks nothing like this little girl and her cat. The little girl looks the same but instead i chose to go with a close up of her face with flowers sprouting out of her "imagination" (her head).
I still think they are cute even though I didn't use them. And this image still stays true to my style.

2011-03-15T10:58:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I don't even know why I draw what I do, it just feels right.
What started out as a bunch of quick rough sketches for my thesis, turned into a too-too wearing bear who just went fishing. I really enjoy the gesture of the figure but why a ballerina bear? I don't know...

2011-03-02T11:32:00.000-05:00

It's reading week and I am working on a story book. Work spaces can always get a bit messy especially when you have a small desk like the mine. It's so crowded in the closet I call my "studio" my work over flows to the floor. Maybe I should clean soon...

Maybe. Eventually.

2011-02-21T15:34:00.000-05:00

Earlier, this past September, I moved in with three people i had never met before. After we had all unpacked and had settled in we somehow congregated in the dining room and began to share some of our stories with each other and quickly became friends. One of the girls, Jannet, began telling us of when she was kid and her mother found her eating her turtle's food. Her mother was a little concerned and went to the pet store and asked if it was safe? It turns out it was. It's all protein, who knew?
Jannet then asked me what program I was in and told her "fourth year illustration", she got so excited that I could draw and said "draw me!"
And so I did, it was just a quick little thing but now it hangs on our fridge and everyday when i look at it I remember how healthy turtles are.

2011-02-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I was challenged with illustrating "today's ideal beauty". My Idea of beauty is very different than the idea of beauty portrayed in magazines and the media. Young girls are seeing that if you're a certain look and you are really really dumb then you're beautiful. Hence, the Bimb-O-Matic! Intelligent individuals go in and blond bimbos come out.
Unfortunately the original was lost forever, so I did it again. It's still a work in progress, but it'll be ready soon.

2011-02-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is an older piece from last semester, 2010. The idea was to create characters and give them a personality. I'm not sure if I pulled it off but I had a lot of fun creating it and I love making up characters.

2011-02-10T10:07:00.000-05:00

For narrative class, we were given the task of putting together our own story. This is the first page of possibly 9. I know you're probably thinking, "where is this going?" Well, you'll just have to wait to find out.

2011-02-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

I don't style my hair, my bed is my stylist. Every morning I wake up to a mess of curls and waves and never know what to do with it. Half awake and just looking for that first cup of coffee, I try to toss it all together as fast as I can. Results may vary.

2011-02-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

Last semester, I had an in class figure study with a theme. The theme was "deadwood". I'm not too familiar with the show so I came up with this image instead.

Table Manners continued...

2011-02-04T17:06:00.000-05:00

Another reason cats have bad table manners, they are always licking themselves.

Improper Table Manners

2011-02-04T16:08:00.000-05:00

This is why cats should never be allowed to eat at the table, they always play with their food.

2011-02-03T19:45:00.000-05:00

A pageant princess and her mother for a character assignment.