Links to the articles they illustrate will be provided when available

links to the articles they illustrate are in the descriptions.
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Skype was a great resource throughout this contract and allowed both face to face communication and real time mutual adjustments to the art, taking out all kinds of guess work & ensuring client satisfaction.

We worked from all kinds of ideas and sketches, mixing, matching, and tweaking concepts in staged revisions. The client had asked to incorporate the wheel, the banner, the ship, the crane, the crown and the Newfoundland flag all in this one image. That’s a lot of stuff but with methodical staging experiments I got a strong design plan.

I started with analogue drafting tools developing the line and ink work, then redrawing the lines in a vector based program to work the rest of the piece in a digital environment. Finally the client decided on a colour image & the shirts are being printed as I write this-I’ll be sure to include a photo when I get mine in the mail!

How did the client feel about the job?

“Ian was a pleasure to work with. He came well recommended by a trusted source and he didn’t disappoint.  He was very creative, offered lots of options and was open to suggestions. We will use his services in the future for sure”

Geoff Cunningham B.Comm
Director Offshore Operations
 A.Harvey & Co. Ltd.
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After several ideas and propositions we went with a “Ford through the ages” concept, choosing vehicles that really incorporated the zeitgeist of their era and positioning them around a speedometer that functioned instead as an odometer for the company, the images working around the television as a compositional anchor.

It involved a lot of research but I got the vehicles and their positions down pat and went to work. I painted in bold line work progressively filled in with washes of colour, touched off with chrome highlights that reveal shiny details in different viewing angles.

I can also now impress my friends with my car recognition abilities. (as long as it’s a Ford)
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Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

Links for the articles to which they refer are provided in the captions.

After bouncing around a lot of great ideas we decided on working with Nathaniel Dooks, a talented young actor. He read specific stories to the guests he had chosen from Canadian authors in a mini performance; Nat would engage the guests with leading questions and regale them with stories according to their responses. Meanwhile I work on a black & white figure drawing from scratch in a variety of media with Nat’s performance as the subject matter.

The piece was a complete success and the Gala was magnificent, with a scrumptious banquet and inspired performances by artists such as Christina Martin and Three Sheet. A couple of my favourite teachers from my school days won awards, and I had a really great night.

The deal was that if anyone came in & provided their email info then five dollars was donated to the Legacy Fund for young Canadian athletes and had an artist draw what inspired them on the spot.

We hired another artist, Jono Doiron, and together we had a great day going through the inspirations and coming up with images. Clearly we took some liberties with our interpretations at times.
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I packed up & went off to PEI for a fantastic weekend and had a great time working the bottles. I was a little frustrated at first by their limitations but as they were solvent based I used the hand sanitizer from the tasting part as a medium to work the marker inks to great success. I even got to help make a couple’s anniversary special!