Photography

I've focused on photography as my primary creative outlet from late summer through fall and winter of 2010 - rediscovering the passion for recognizing and appreciating one's surroundings, all things big and small.

A few life drawing sketches

Sketchbooks

The value of a sketchbook cannot be understated. The dimensions, the stock weight and colour, the feel of the outer cover, the binding: all particular to an individual. For some (myself), there can be no compromise. Canson used to make my sketchbook, a 7 x 9" Casebound canvassed hardcover, probably 80lb manilla textweight stock. It took light watercolour washes, and my ballpoint dug in enough to make use of noticeable lineweight variance. It was discontinued in 2007.

I tried a handful of alternatives, but none suited me. Too large, too small, stock weight too light or too heavy. It had actually somewhat stifled my enthusiasm for journaling, disappointment within the first 10 pages. So late winter I finally got fed up and decided to bind my own books. I bought an 18x24" pad of offwhite, 80lb textweight stock, which could again take light watercolour washes. I trimmed out 6 sheets per page, 8 x 9" each. I found some scraps of hardboard at HomeDepot for use as the hardcover and spine, and sprayglued canvas material to it. The pages were perfect bound with bookmaking glue. 2 books, 66 pgs each. Below are some pics!




They've held up pretty well so far, a few pages have had to be partially re-adhered, but more or less a successful project. Making them was fun, but filling them up is even more fun!
I may have been kind of inspired by my crafty friend Rosemary Travale, check her out! She's made a bunch of scrapbook/sketchbooks in the past, as well as everything else I can think of.

'Cabinet Athletes'

Digging through my archives, I came across this incomplete personal project from early 2007. The idea was to show another side of the (then current) members of the Bush administration. A little browsing revealed some physical activities each character was involved in during their younger days: Donald Rumsfeld played football (and wrestled) in University, Condoleeza Rice took figure skating lessons as a child, Dick Cheney wrestled (and played football) in University, and Alberto Gonzalez had pipe dreams of playing baseball professionally as a youth. Didn't get to sketching out George, but his activity would (of course) have been cycling.

The end product would have been a series of stylised 50's-era posters or 'trading cards.' Perhaps I will apply the same concept to the current administration...

mock-up of a final layout

dick cheney

condoleeza rice

alberto gonzalez

donald rumsfeld

LD

I've been to a few life model drawing classes recently. Not that I'd forgotten, but what a great reminder of how much fun it is to draw large, with a nice stick of conté.

(ballpoint pen)

Twenty-Oh-Nine: More Doin', Less Tryin'!

Well, had some password trouble when blogger switched over to google accounts exclusively, but that's all been resolved now. Only took 20 months. Wow... what have I been up to?
In terms of illustration, I launched my website www.rosekat.com last January. Two pieces were chosen for American Illustration 27, which was a nice recognition. My pal Alexei had some excellent work selected as well. Shameless Magazine published my first cover illustration last fall, neat!

I was recently laid off from my 9-5, so I'll be (happily) focusing more on illustration and design work in the near future. Sucks to feel the kick of the recession as it settles in, but I'm happy to have my routine shaken up! I'm working on some new things, so stay tuned for more regular posts!

On a personal note, my Grandma Helga turned a milestone 80 years old in December! She continues, through her kindness, sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude, to be an inspiration to her family. I'll leave this with a few snapshots from the past while.

mock cover for birthday celebration

screenprint by Heather Stainback, I took some
matte medium & a heat gun to it

Oh boy...

The Sheridan Year-End Gallery show is just days away! We've all been working hard to present ourselves and our work appropriately, ending our 4-6 years (depending) of studies at Sheridan! If you're free this weekend, swing on by the Steam Whistle Brewery for some inspiring work!

Check out our promotional web page for details at www.sheridanheadlines.ca

I'm working on a site that should be up in a few days, which will act as the main point of access for those interested in what I do as an illustrator. In the meantime, here is a link to the video I threw together in After Effects for my computer animation class this year.

See you soon!

No Pain, No Gain

This is the first editorial I did this semester. It basically illustrates the need to sometimes 'pull a few teeth' in order to succeed (if your measure of success is fiscal profit). The original version had the doorknob kind of floating in space-- my thanks to Marco for the suggestion of adding a context (the door and panels).
'Lexei and I were dickin' around with channels in photoshop the other day, and I really dug the red and yellow version, created simply by deleting the cyan and black channels. Hoo- ha!