Just returned from a weekend in the city. Dinner with an old friend, and Sunday afternoon tea with the beautiful and talented Andrea Scher (who was visiting family in T.O.) She is as inspiring in person as on her site and I so wish we had more time together. We chatted excitedly about life, the pitfalls of self-employment, and various sources of inspiration. She also got me completely hooked on the archives of the radio show This American Life. There I found a brief interview with comic artist Chris Ware (found under 2001), who tells the story of how he used to wear a superhero costume under his school uniform. I love it. Many hours of good listening are to be found and I have only just scratched the surface.

Upon my return home I was puzzled at the amount of email that had piled up (I was only gone for two days.) The reason being is that I have apparently been nominated for a Bloggie Award, in the Canadian category. Yay! To whoever nominated me thank-you, I am truly flattered (and surprised, there are so many other wonderful Canadian blogs out there). My friend Claire (aka. Loobylu) has also been nominated, please vote for her (as if I have to say that). It's funny, when I started doing this blog I wasn't sure if it was the right direction for me. But over time I have found it to be extremely fulfilling and strangely natural, (and I've actually gained several great clients because of it.) Not to mention the many amazing friends I have made because of it. Thank-you to all who continue to read and offer your words to me.

In other news...
The new Photoshop CS for Windows & Macintosh has just been released and some of my work is featured in it (editorial only). Now before you get excited about learning my Photoshop techniques I feel I must explain something first. Yes, I do use Photoshop but not in a technical way, (more intuitively, I tend to get overwhelmed by too many instructions). When I was approached about being included in the book I was very upfront about my skills. Here is my approach to illustrating on the computer.

1. Paint some things with real paint, scan them in using seperate layers.
2. Fly by the seat of your pants.
3. Try everything. Experiment. Play. (but don't get lost in the toolbox, it can be addictive, the drawing is what is important.)
4. When in doubt keep going. You may change your mind ten minutes from now.

So as you can see this is not even close to a technical approach, I do what works for me. I will say that Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas have worked very hard on this project and have included LOTS of valuable technical information and tips for those who would like to learn, (I am hoping to learn from them myself.) They mentioned to me that they wanted to work with images that did not look too technical or 'computery', hence my inclusion. It is worth a read.

Posted by kerismith at January 20, 2004 02:16 PM