From the Lab

A roundup of recent experiments. These are personal pieces that I create when I need a bit of a creative kickstart.

Living in Isolation

February is a waiting game

Creative Mindset

Deadlines: before and after

Experiments and Orphans

I create mechanisms without purpose that serve no apparent function. It's a process, tied deeply into a search for something undiscovered.

It feeds and informs my work, weaving into completely unrelated assignments, illustrations, and prints. Some of these never see print or publication and are 'orphans'.

Here are a number of recent pieces that emerged from the process. A number of these are from the 'Heavy Thinkers' series, based on old dynamo diagrams, discovered in a dusty old set of instruction manuals.

Unwound/wound

Apropos of nothing, a colossal mouse head spewing electrons and random subatomic particles.

Ground Control

Lost Memory

Deep Learner

Undecided

Retrofit

Influencer

 

Spun

Pushing colour and textures with this one.

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If you would like to purchase prints, please see my online gallery at Big Cartel.

Robots on the go

Finished this piece for Wall Street Journal's investment report - retirees test drive robo-advisors. I really love drawing robots and I created a wheeled bubble bot for this piece. Thanks to art director Orlie Kraus for the call on this assignment!

Another recent assignment for German magazine Okonomie about drone deliveries in urban areas. Apparently, there is a model for suspending distribution centers by airships and using drones for short hauls to customers in cities. The future is unfolding faster than you can order a pair of toe socks online.

One more image, although this one isn't about robots or drones but it is about technology - the Equifax data breach had far-reaching implications for millions of people.

Senator Ted Stevens called the internet a series of tubes, so I played with that showing how security systems can fail. Unfortunately, another reason to lie awake at night.

Video Primer

One of the nice things about assignment illustration is the great people I get to work with. And one of the nicest is SooJin Buzelli. I was able to meet her in person at ICON 6 in Pasadena last July.

I always enjoy having creative freedom, and SooJin always brings out the best in the people she works with. Here is the latest illustration for Planadviser.

The concept for this piece was a primer on getting started in shooting video, and getting eyes focused on your finished product.

I had another piece 'run' in the spring edition as well. More robotic fun!

Mecanismos

Creativity can be daunting at times. Sometimes it's like reading a compass without a needle. What direction to take? I am working towards filling sketchbooks with drawings, but I struggle with the routine. When I am busy working, the sketchbooks sit on the shelf and gather dust.
Most of the work that I do is digitally based, so I do find the time to experiment with vector-based images. A sense of play that I have used in the CMY-X series and Retrobots. This series springs from my digital sketchbooks.

 Over the past couple of years I have been working on a series of screenprints. These are collages based on my collection of dusty old science textbooks, hardward catalogues and do-it-yourself magazines. Animating the inanimate. Bringing out the mad scientist in me.

 

When I started this series, I felt a strong need to experiment. I've worked on a number of small edition prints, working towards consistency. With this series, I wanted to produce 100 unique prints, using the same elements throughout, but mixing and remixing the different pieces. The heads and bodies are mixed and matched, in and exquisite corpse kind of way. It was exciting to play with different combinations of color, shapes and expressions.

Sixteen heads
Sixteen bodies
45 background elements
7 colors
100 prints

Thanks to Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping at Spark Box Studio!
I am putting the first ten in the series up at Illogator.  Or you can contact me directly and I'd be happy to send one along to you.