Kazoo!

We're really excited to join forces with Jenny "Omnichord" Mitchell and Scott "Shopkeeper" Haynes to create an original audio/visual performance for Kazoo Fest 2016!  The official announcement is below:

http://kazookazoo.ca/look-hear-micro-grants-results-announced/

You Are Here

Did I mention that we moved to Guelph? We did. One of the cool things that we learned about Guelph after arriving here is that the Guelph Arts Council has made partnerships with local businesses and building owners to feature local artwork in shop windows that are located on busy streets with lots of foot traffic! I (Devon) proposed an installation piece for the second round of the Hatch Project and they accepted my proposal for installation in the window of Budd's (a classic department store and Guelph mainstay on Wyndham street since 1926)! Here are some pictures of me creating the piece:

As you can see from the last photo, YOU ARE HERE is a hand-illustrated map of Guelph that does not refer to physical landmarks, but attempts to trigger emotional resonances with experiences of the city. If you'd like to see it the installation with be up until the end of October.

Little Deaths at Ace Art

Here are some pictures I took during the installation of my piece entitled "Some Memories About Memory," which was part of a group show presented by MAWA called Little Deaths.

This Old Face

Here is my comic in it's entirety!
(You can click on each image/page for a larger view and read it in sequence from the top down.)

A few words before you begin:

This is an "autographics" text (a term used to describe a text that combines elements of textual and visual media to tell a sequential story see this essay by Gillian Whitlock if you are interested in learning more)

I have attempted to tell a story through "sequential art" which is a nice term to describe this kind of comic. As a form, sequential art can tell a multi-faceted story through the use of written text, illustration, panels/frames and gutter (negative) space. The deliberate placement of these elements on the page can control the rhythm of the narrative and the pacing of the story.

This specific story of mine is meant to challenge traditional ideas of biography and autobiography, while exploring the central thematic idea of an 'unreliable narrator.' This is an experiment in Life Narrative when the narrator can't be sure of the details...the reader must participate and draw their own conclusions of what they imagine the story to be.

The question is: How can you know a life? In old age and especially with memory loss, what can you hold on to show evidence of a life lived? Do you (can you?) look towards the face as a map and try to inform these lines with biographical/historical events?

A note on the artwork:
The text was hand-inked and all of the illustrations were drawn with a brush-tipped ink-pen. The components were then scanned, arranged in photoshop and additional shading details were 'painted' using brush and tablet. I then sequenced the pages, printed them out and hand-bound them in to a one-of-a-kind comic with a hand-embossed soft cotton paper cover to hand in as my final project for a class on (auto)biographical comics.

Please let me know if you like it!

Love,
Devon

New Project Almost Done!!!

Here is a little teaser: this is the hand-inked inside cover page to my new comic. Click on it to see a bigger view!
The comic is getting printed and bound (by me) tomorrow...

Check back next week for the pages that follow so that you can read the whole story!!

last night of illustration

It's been a great year illustrating for the Manitoban Newspaper at the University of Manitoba. Every week, I drew on average 2-3 main illustrations to fulfill graphic requests for different articles and then a whole load of "house ads" which helped fill layout space on the page the night before going to print.
The above illustration highlights one of my more political drawings. You can browse the Manitoban archives to see my my work from the last year. The paper will be back up and running again in June.

Now I can get down to business and draw my own stuff!!!
Stay tuned!!!

Welcome to Leap Day!

Here is a piece of one of my paintings that is featured on the cover of The Manitoban this week. It is acrylic and ink on canvas. I thought it would be a nice simple uplifting image for the newspaper as we move into spring.

If you are new to our little blog, please take a minute to check out some of my drawings in the archives, they feature ink-painted comics about some elderly folks I had the pleasure of knowing. Enjoy!

My Sweetest Valentine

Some people get flowers, others get chocolates.
I get a hand-made music video of a song that I like (by one of my favorite bands) performed by my husband and featuring my child.
Isn't Curtis amazing?!

You can take a moment and appreciate the incredible romance and talents of Curtis (aka Blunderspublik) Here.

draw! draw! draw!

hey pals, were you getting tired of looking at curtis' november haircut? man o man. we have been busy over here. i (devon) have been drawing lots and enjoying taking a class on graphic novels. this illustration above is from an article on free speech.

my tiny baby is now a 6 month old. my big boy is saying phrases like "yer wunnerful mommy" and "happy new year eweebuddy!"
everything is good. i will post some new illustration work soon...but of course you can always check me out over at The Manitoban

in other news: curtis is going to be taking a parental leave starting at the end of March so i expect this 'lil blog of ours may explode with creative projects in the spring. it's going to be amazing. stay tuned. xo

The Re-invention

If you haven't heard yet, I (Curtis) have re-invented myself for MOvember. Because this is the third year participating, I decided that a new persona might be a good gimmick to rake in some donations, so I became Mr. Bristles. Every day I wear a bowtie and a V-neck sweater to work, and I even changed up my hair-do to complement my petite moustache. Going in to the barberette, I brought a sketch of what I imagined I might look like post haircut. Here's my sketch:


I think she did a great job of making my dream-do come true, but you can be the judge. Visit my MOvember page and see for yourself!

www.mobro.co/mrbristles

ps. I especially needed a new gimmick to compete with last year's trading card promotion (2 of 4 pictured below).

Black Sheep Diner

Hey Winnipeg

I invite you to join me for the closing of my "Old Folk" Art Show this Friday November 18th 5-7pm at the Black Sheep Diner

COME AND BUY A BOWL OF CHILI!!!!
EAT SOME CORNBREAD!!

Sincerely. Come.

Devon

watercolour + ink

getting back to my sketchbook and off the tablet= nice, nice feeling.

happy halloween!

colouring for adults

two more illustrations to complete before this weekend ends but an outside contribution deadline extended (and looming) had me drawing madly this afternoon. so, here's the deal: the university radio station is in need of fundraising annually....so a genius plan of getting local artists to draw for a colouring book is hatched. MORE ON THIS LATER!!! i don't want to give too much away but the book will be available for purchase in the new year (full credit for this project inspiration + coordination goes to our fellow creative crafter buddy jenny henkelman.) but here you go, you can see my page. so many lines to fill in with colour!! devon xo

inspired

Curtis here...I was inspired by one of Devon's drawing assignments at the newspaper this week. She was charged with drawing "angry sports fans in the style of John Kricfalusi". I love John K.'s drawing style...and our senses of humour mesh about 70% of the time too. Anyways,here's what I sketched out at the coffee table:

Sure Devon's is better, but I think mine has a certain charm. Keep in mind that my kid was stealing all of my watercolour pencils as I was drawing it, hence some of the strange colour decisions.

departure

hey. hey. well, i have been a little overloaded lately and finding it challenging to post new stuff, even though there actually IS new stuff which is a nice feeling! also- most illustration work was been sports related the last two weeks...not my comfort zone, but great practice. This recent illustration is for an article discussing the new rule for no head contact in junior hockey. i made the ref a young boy and simplified everything down to gestural strokes on most of the body so the head signal and helmet area are highlighted as most visually important.

fake address, fake phone number

in the interest of sharing my invitation design, i had to make sure i wasn't broadcasting our personal info to the world...

so yes, this party invite marks a milestone for me as a mom!
My very first baby turned TWO today.

We are having a party this weekend coming up so naturally I had to hand-draw the invite. We printed them up on super glossy cardstock and kept them black and white. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

we are delivering them to all of our pals around the neighborhood this week and hoping everyone can make it.

our party strategy, which may turn out to be CRAZYMAKING, is to carry all of our instruments (including full drum kit) to host a toddler style jam in the giant field across the street.

my big little bro

i adore my brothers and i cherish our visits. recently, my youngest brother gord, made a detour from his trip west and joined me for some quality time, some toddler shenanigans and to meet his newest nephew.

i was determined to make sure gord left with some of my hand-printed clothing of his choice but i haven't been printing in awhile so it was slim-pickins!

so, i was digging through our bin of printed clothing, trying to find something for gord to wear to Australia (among other places). i really wanted something to work so i pretty much suggested every shirt i came across... the poor guy had to remind me about 20 times:
dev, I am size large. I am pretty sure i am size large.

man, baby brothers sure get big. (mine is well over 6 feet tall!)

i was so, so happy to finally see one of my favorite printed shirts fit him.

i was even happier to see that the photo we took of him modeling it happened to be in front of the original tree drawings that inspired the silkscreen in the first place. i couldn't have planned it better.

i wish i could see my little brother way more than a few days a year but i will take what i can get. at least i have his t-shirt size for future reference- maybe i will be more prepared by next summers dig through the bin!

speed drawing

i promised the paper an illustration this week.

we spent the weekend at the cottage and then we were back late and exhausted sunday night (deadline!!) after some bumper to bumper traffic on the highway (involving an emergency pull-over to feed crying baby in the middle of it all)

i mustered up some creative juices to sit down to the tablet/computer around 9pm and then proceeded to take about an hour to complete my 10 minute drawing.
some nursing, some singing of lullabies, some consoling toddler about bedtime, some rocking baby, some more rocking baby, some drawing while holding baby with other arm...

but SUCCESS! i finished it!

i might even draw again next week!

Duh...

This link makes more sense:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/359134/Illegible_Font_Fan

Sorry, i'm new to the internet. I haven't yet adjusted since the BBSs went down.