NINJA CAT!!!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to keep you in the loop on my latest project ... NINJA CAT!

Ninja Cat is a children's book that I collaborated on with a writer friend of mine, Jason Campbell. The book follows the adventures of two happy-go-lucky Ninja Cats, Scout & Claw. The book made its debut at this year's FanExpo in Toronto.

To pick yourself up a copy come by Guerilla Printing & The Comic Book Lounge or contact me.

Bye, bye Porsche

Check it out, here's another illustration I did for The Canadian Sportsman. I really like how this one turned out. See below for the sketch. Right from the start this illustration was ready to go. Let me just pat myself on the back for a sec. Enjoy!

Paper Trail Comic Overview – VIDEO « The Electric Playground

Check out Zen Rankin talk about SketchKrieg's new book Paper Trail. It's the collection of our art show that we had at XPACE Gallery in the beginning of 2011. Here's the link to the interview:

http://www.elecplay.com/all/spotlight/paper-trail-comic-overview-video/

Enjoy!

-Tyrone

Spaceman & Horse-cicle

Hey! Here's another horse illustration! Love drawing astronauts ... so much fun. I need to draw more of them ...

Late Xmas Illo ...

Hey! This post just missed Christmas ... darn! This illustration was done for The Canadian Sportsman ... enjoy!

Jockey Spy

Happy New Year! 2011 was a busy year for Guerilla Printing. Meeting a lot of creative people and seeing their amazing work. Even though we've been swamped with print orders I still had the time to do some illustration work. Check out this illustration for The Canadian Sportsman. Enjoy!

A tribute to my childhood.

My interpretation of Neil Gaiman's Sandman

Horses, shopping and UFOs!!

Check out this illustration I did for The Canadian Sportsman. To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the article is about. They just tell me what to draw & I do it. It's pretty much the process that goes on when I'm working with them. I don't mind makes my job easier.

MASCOT DESIGN!!!

Hey there! Here's a mascot design I did for Maximum Sports Nutrition. It was real fun to do.

Their first idea for the design was to have it as a bulldog (as seen below). They then changed their minds and decided to have it as a wrestler. So there ya go! Enjoy!

Babysitting & speech rehearsing

Finally have time to squeeze in an update! Here's more illustrations from the educational book!

Even More ROM Animal Sketches

Deal with it!

Jay Leno T-Bonin'!

Here's and illustration I did for The Canadian Sportsman. The article is about the writer and his friends trip to Hollywood. Even though I'm not a fan of Leno he sure was fun to draw.

I was trying a new technique with this piece. I decided to strictly used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. I had fun with this piece.

More ROM Sketches.

This time it's animals.

Miss the Show? See it Here.

SketchKrieg write up in the National Post!

Check it out! Sketchkrieg! has a write up in National Post (Friday, Feb. 4th, 2011). If you have a chance pick it up and most importantly come to the show!! February 4th, 2011, at Xpace ... starts at 7pm.

Paper Trail at XPACE: February 3!

This is happening in February: the XPACE Cultural Centre exhibits 'Paper Trail,' an art project that takes the Surrealists’ ‘exquisite corpse’ technique and runs it through a pop art meat grinder of comic illustration. Showcasing the work of SketchKrieg!, 'Paper Trail' is a collaborative comic book narrative intended for gallery viewing.

It started like this: one SketchKrieger would create one comic panel -- any size, any format. That panel would be passed along to a second illustrator, who was then instructed to illustrate a new panel within the next four days. That illustrator would pass that new panel (and the original) to a third illustrator, and the cycle would continue. The sequence was illustrated one panel at a time, each illustrator unaware how the previous illustrator intended the story to progress. No plot or outline was devised before committing ink to paper. Everything was intended to be surprising and improvised. And no dialogue was allowed.

The resultant story (currently still in progress) is full of bizarre twists and turns as the paper chain progresses. In-between gutters, genres flip from post-apocalyptic saga to romantic comedy to political thriller. Characters die and are reborn, their motives change as often as the illustration style.

We hope you can join us for the opening night party! Details below:

Paper Trail Opening Night
Friday, February 4th, 2011
7:00 p.m. start
XPACE Cultural Centre, 58 Ossington Ave.
Toronto, ON
Free!
(Show continues through February 5)

The Gladstone's 5th Anniversary Community Partners Party

Hey everyone! Happy New Year!! Just wanted to let you know that I will have a couple pieces up at the Gladstone Hotel this Friday, January 21, 2011! Come check it out ... it's going to be a good time ...!

-Tyrone

ROM Drawings

Our Animation Portfolio Workshop students went to the Royal Ontario Museum and we drew some stuff. While drawing historical items you can't help but imagine the stories behind each them.

Best of 2010!

I realize that year-end lists are the height of self-absorption, but everyone else is busy making them. Don't I have as valid an opinion as, say, Amazon.com?

But the main reason I'm posting this list: I haven't done as much illustration over the holidays as I was planning and am stuck for a blog post. These lists are relevant — they're all cultural artifacts that, in some way or another, will influence my work — so this is a valid exercise. Also, I want to see if any of the other Sketchkriegers are willing to share their lists.

I've kept it to comic books, movies and songs (in no particular order). I could add other categories, but books are a dangerous territory for me to enter (as a book publicist), television shows are difficult to rate as ongoing entities and few tapestries have made an impact on me this past year.



Comic Books
(Read in 2010, not necessarily released in 2010)


1) Afrodisiac - Brian Maruca & Jim Rugg
Killer concept, and the vintage illustration styles are expertly done. I thought it could stand to amp the satire up a bit, but that's a minor complaint.
2) Daredevil: Born Again - Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
Never thought I'd put a Frank Miller book on this list, but this was when he was 80s-inner-city gritty before going completely off the deep end. The story also focuses on the great supporting character of Ben Urich, Daily Bugle reporter. And David Mazzucchelli (Batman: Year One) is a fantastic illustrator.
3) Criminal 3: The Dead and the Dying - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
Everything Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips do is outstanding, but I found this Criminal installment, with three separate narrators and three intersecting stories, particularly affecting.
4) Scott Pilgrim 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour - Bryan Lee O'Malley
The final chapter to one of my favourite comic series of all time did not disappoint. I found the hyper-realistic, super-manga backgrounds a bit jarring, but it was a satisfying finale. And Scott Pilgrim's character arc from beginning to end is really something.
5) Walking Dead 12: Life Among Them - Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
As the television series premiered (and kind of wobbled at the end), I threw myself back into this fine zombie-centric horror series. And while the twelfth volume was certainly not the most intense or disturbing, there was something very unsettling about it all.


6) Cinder & Ashe - Gerry Conway & Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
I picked up this 80s gem on a whim at a convention, remembering the ads in the back of DC comics from that era. It's a streetwise tale about two mercenaries (one a Vietnam vet, one a Vietnamese war orphan) tracking down a killer. I liked it way more than I should.
7) Irredeemable - by Mark Waid & Peter Krause
If you aren't reading this series, you really should be. Ever wondered what would happen if Superman lost it and turned evil? It would probably look a lot like this book. But Irredeemable takes that concept into more and more complex and darker corners with each issue.
8) Tales Designed to Thrizzle - by Michael Kupperman
Totally bizarre, absurd comedy gold. 'Now with too much colour!'


9) Turf - Jonathan Ross & Tommy Lee Edwards
I'd pick up any book illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards, but this series, which mashes up vampires, 1930s gangsters and aliens into one world, is really out-there. In a good way.
10) The Hipless Boy - by Sully
A great slice-of-life graphic novel about a young man living in the Mile-End area of Montreal, finding love, dealing with fellow artists and way more. Funny, touching and unusual vignettes of life, published by great Canadian indie press, Conundrum.


Movies
(Watched in 2010, mostly released in 2010)


1) Marwencol - Jeff Malmberg (dir)
Captivating documentary about a man who copes with a horrible trauma by creating the fictional WWII-era town of Marwencol in his backyard, populating it with dolls (many of whom resemble people in his daily life) and photographing their adventures.
2) Tron: Legacy - Joseph Kosinski (dir)
Say what you will, but with those visuals and that music, the movie could dispensed with a story altogether and I would have enjoyed it immensely. One of the only action blockbusters that delivered in 2010.
3) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Edgar Wright (dir)
Despite having a completely different second half than the books, this was an incredibly faithful adaptation, and probably more of an achievement in advancing film language than Avatar. Really like no other movie I've seen in capturing the comic book feel. And hilarious, too.
4) Inception - Christopher Nolan (dir)
The zero-gravity Joshua Gordon-Levitt fight ensured this movie's inclusion.


5) Rubber - Quentin Dupieux (dir)
I saw this at this year's After Dark Film Festival. A car tire gains sentience, gains the ability to destroy things with its mind, goes on rampage. All with a Greek chorus of onlookers watching and commenting on the action from a safe distance. But it's actually way better and smarter than that synopsis makes it sound.
6) The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman - Wuershan (dir)
A film from mainland China I saw during the Toronto International Film Festival; my favourite of the fest. The story follows a knife through three generations (in the possession of a butcher, chef and swordsman, naturally), and is one of the more inventive and funny movies I've seen in a long time.


7) Streets of Fire - Walter Hill (dir)
Okay, this movie came out in 1984, but I'd never heard of it before this past year. It's as if someone took a Meat Loaf song and turned it into a feature film. Amazing songs, bizarre fictional setting, sledgehammer fight. What more do you need?
8) Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky (dir)
Showgirls for the art-house crowd. I'm happy that Darren Aronofsky is back in the freak-out operatic mode of his pre-Wrestler films.
9) Four Lions - Christopher Morris (dir)
This movie does the seemingly impossible: makes a genuinely funny movie about four Islamic terrorists. It's entirely believable, but entirely humourous, too. Cringe-worthy laughs all around!
10) The Social Network - David Fincher (dir)
This movie was crowd-pleasingly good. I loved the Winklevoss twins (they get all the best lines), the despicable protagonist, the Trent Reznor score. It's a solid movie.

Songs
(All released in 2010)

1) Die Antwoord - Evil Boy
They're a troubling group to like, but I really love Die Antwood.
2) The Like - Why When Love Is Gone?
The Like is so incredible now that they've turned mod. And this Isley Brothers cover is the best song on their new album.


3) Daft Punk - Tron: Legacy Soundtrack
How can you pick one song? So epic!
4) Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
The Suburbs is a phenomenal album, but I like it best when the Arcade Fire gets all dance-tronic. Like with this song.
5) Sex Bob-omb - We Are Sex Bob-Omb
Second entry where the soundtrack and movie both made the lists. Coincidence?
6) Yeasayer - Ampling Alp
I saw the video late one night on 'The Wedge' (apparently that still exists) and was entranced. Bought the album the next day.
7) Diddy Dirty Money (feat. Skylar Grey) - Coming Home
Guilty pleasure. I can't tell you why I like this song so much. I hate every other Diddy/Daddy/Combs joint. Why can't I resist this one? Why does Diddy dress like Wesley Snipes in Blade?


8) Los Campesinos! - A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State
My favourite new song by one of my favourite bands. Is it possible to be both twee and punk? And with such clever lyrics? It upsets me in a way.
9) Crystal Castles - Baptism
Good album. Good song.
10) Janelle Monae (feat. Big Boi) - Tightrope
It's been a bit tainted since becoming the official advertising jingle for some new car model, but it's super. I'm surprised it didn't go much of anywhere. Y'know. Before the car commercials.

Okay. I want to see your favourites! I need to discover new music, movies and comics!

Wolverine Sketch

Step by step.

Day by day.

Silent Night...YO JOE!

Here's a holiday special Canuckleheads comic I did for the Joe Canuck newsletter.
Silent Night

Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

The World of Comic Strips

I recently was (very kindly) given the Doonesbury 40-year retrospective book, which was an amazing surprise. I used to follow Doonesbury pretty ferociously when I was a kid, back when I followed comic strips. I used to save the comic sections of the paper in a banker's box, and re-read the Doonesbury strips pretty regularly, trying to keep track of the ever-expanding cast. I don't think, at that point, I realized it was a liberal satire of conservative America. I just liked the drawings, mostly. Really dug how Garry Trudeau drew eyes.

But his recent interview with Stephen Colbert made me really excited about this retrospective book. He's been doing the daily strip for 40 years! I get bored of my comic work after an issue or two. And I remember how much a struggle it was to do weekly strips of the time-traveling comic adventures of Mort 'n' Newton for my student paper, Imprint, when I was in university. Forty years of daily comic strips is immense!

The book is pretty immense, too, at about 10 lbs! I had a hard time carrying it home. And it's structured interestingly, too, set up by character, rather than chronologically. The coolest part is a big fold-out in the centre that tracks all the characters, their relationships, their histories. It's crazy!

I'm looking forward to delving into the monster book and re-reading some Doonesbury. And now I'll probably understand more of the politics. Anyone else read Doonesbury? Or anyone read comic strips? I used to love them, but haven't read them for years. Any recommendations?

Doonesbury has a good website, too.

Old Journal/Sketchbook Entries

I recently turned 30 and I decided to look through some old sketchbooks and journals of mine to see how far I have come. So many memories come floating back. Some of these entries were pretty entertaining so I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

An entry made around my "clubbing" phase during Illustration year 1:

In college/university, I became well acquainted with the notion of sleep loss:

One time I dressed up as a woman.

Back in grade 9 I used to give girls notes with a secret code. I also used that code to write a secret journal entitled "Do Not Read." Only certain people were allowed to read the secret decoder wheel that I made in ceramics class.

I translated a few of these entries and it turns out my head was in a strange goth phase. A potent combination of listening to too much Marilyn Manson and not getting laid.

An entry I made when my friend Stan got hit by a car. Dark times come swirling back.

A few more "emo-ish" entries.

I kept a newspaper article when I was in my grade 8 poo poo humor phase. I thought it was funny at the time. Now that I read it and think about how sick and screwed up this guys was.

Some notions I sometimes subscribe to, even today.

In Art Fundamentals I made some friends that I still hold dear today. We used to make our own fun when everything got too expensive.

Some strange dream-based character design.

I think I drew this when I was intoxicated. I am not sure.

I was, and still am, hypnotized by Christopher. Some things never change. The wheel is turnable.