Arai Helmets

So I’ve been working on some designs for Arai Helmet with a friend of mine, Michael Turnbull.

They’re all finished, but unfortunately, I don’t have the mock-ups for most of them. But here’s a taste of one design I did! (just imagine it wrapped around the back of the helmet)…

Green Think Tank Illustrations

I did some drawings for a book about going green and changing the way we think about saving the planet and whatnot.

I didn’t feel the ideas presented were incredible, but I do like my illustrations I did. SO don’t try to figure out the meaning, just look at the lines and colours and stuff.

SOHERETHEYARE!!!

Anime North Drawing EXTRAVAGANZAAA!

So I went to the Anime North convention this year at the TCC by Pearson Airport in Etobicoke, Ontario.

It was a lot more fun than I expected! best of all, I got a bunch of art done, all of which got sold faster than I could draw them!

So here’s a look at all the drawings i did, starting with the 3 that I went to the convention with as prints:

So you’ve seen this one already. I made it on the morning of my birthday!

The next two are inspired by famous War photos. The figures, however humanoid, are animals. I probably won’t use this treatment, but this was to inspire myself to make a graphic novel based on the war, but told by animals (in a similar vein as such legendary books like MAUS, The Mouse Guard, and Watership Down.

Next, I started drawing anything that came to mind on large 9×12 sheets of paper, stamping them with my name and slapping them on the table. Almost as soon as they filled up space, they began to disappear! The following images are all images that I drew and sold at the convention this weekend! I apologize for the size and bad lighting and quality of some of these images, but since I was unable to photograph them by any other means, I made due with what was available. (edit: I recently fixed them in photoshop, most, if not all of them should look crisp now.)

Some images, due to how quickly they sold, did not get photographed. but the bulk of them are here.

One of the first illustrations to hit the table on Day 1 of the convention.

Another great one from Day 1. Flew off the table before the cat vomit hit the floor!

A peanuts’ nightmare.

FRUITS!!

The surprise star of the show. This drawing got me LOTS of attention and even before and after it was sold, I found myself drawing it multiple times for other people. This is actually a photo of the second one I drew. Definitely a first place candidate for a t-shirt. I also became a fan of drawing bubbles where it made the least amount of sense.

Another repeat request image. Noreen dubbed it the Kamikaze toast.

Several requests for this one as well…personally, I feel bad re-enacting this sad, sad exchange. Pig never really did get a response from Sausage.

Curse those fascist penguins!! (idea credits go to Kara Hagedorn for her doodles back in high school)

It is said that he led a long, full and wheat-y life. Regardless, Loaf was still appalled to lose another front portion.

Noreen suggested that the egg came first.

Just a fun random Image which inspired the next two commissioned images!

This was a commission for a couple looking for a gift for a friend.

They came back the next day and requested this wonderful image for another friend of theirs. Similar subject matter. I tried my hardest to make it look like it was happening on land. Despite the bubbles.

A local band approached me to do a piece for them. They wanted Bear to fight his longtime friend, Squid. the band, as you can see was called FACE the band. I hope to see how they use it.

Another piece inspired by the image requested by the aforementioned band. Oddly, someone else bought this illustration. It depicts the aftermath only. The shattered photo, a mere memory of Bear and Squid’s former camaraderie.

Another fun commission, this one for a girl as a present to her boyfriend. I found out hilariously soon after making the image that the Monkey and Hamster were supposed to represent the girl and her boyfriend respectively.

A commission for a girl who wanted her favourite character from Death Note depicted riding a donkey.

A nice young lady approached me about drawing a character she created and her octopus friend. Before I could sit down to draw it, this happened.

She came back on Day 3 and asked for this drawing. I’m assuming he’s another character she created. My guidelines were: He’s a bum, and he has a stuffed doll thing. Excuse the post-it note.

“Giraffes sleep funny. Can you draw that?” TA-DA!

A bit of a non-sequitur, but while drawing this, I met a beautiful redhead who reminded me of Michelle Junkin. I think Michelle would make a killing at conventions with her characters, seeing as most of my commissions involved animals.

“know what this is?…it’s a brain sucker. know what it’s doing?…STARVING!”

This is my tribute to David Hellman and his work on the absolutely mind-bending and beautiful game, Braid. “I’m sorry, but the Princess is in another castle.”

A great little random one that sold pretty fast despite the act of fun-loving violence being depicted.

Fries and Potato!!!

Protractor always gets left out. The buyer came back later and produced one of those protractors on a clear plastic ruler and asked, “if that is how the protractor feels, how does this one feel?” I had no coherent response. She promptly slinked away.

Mushroom: The later years. He works at a call center to get by these days. He also wears ties UNDER his arms. It’s an anatomical thing.

Yep…

Word got around that Carson was the guy to see for all your random drawing needs. This girl wanted a sloth and a giant cupcake. I drew…a furry creature and a giant cupcake mess. She was happy, so I guess I am too!

A great collab with friend and talented artist, Noreen Rana. It sold almost immediately, even with it’s higher, doubled sale price.

Another fun collab with the legendary Noreen Rana.

I’ve decided to turn some of them into t-shirts. If there are any requests for which ones, or even brand new drawings, feel free to email me at carsonw@gmail.com!

The t-shirts will be hand-silk screened and possibly limited runs. If you’re interested in one, please don’t hesitate to ask me about it!

That’s it for now, folks! thanks for reading!

An Update on Recent Activity

So it’s been a while! I’ve been in Korea teaching English! you can keep track of my adventures there, at this website:

http://carsonvskorea.blogspot.com/

art-wise, this is what I’ve been up to since I left for Korea (probably not in chronological order):

Band posters:

Band poster for a Lifestory Monologue show.

Header for an illScarlett myspace event page

Poster for a Junction show.

Assorted other work:

Design for a Tarot card set by photographer and friend, Tanya Orr.

A design for the Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong, welcoming Canadian officials and employees to Hong Kong.

Another design for the Canadian Consulate in Hong Kong. This time, for a handbook catered to those looking to work elsewhere in the world.

That’s it for now, I have some doodles on the way, they just need scanning!

Beijing Trip end :(

My trip draws to a close 🙁

We went out for some really good Dim sum this morning and went to the Llama temple to see Buddha. Then, we went to the antique market to grab our stamps we had made. I also ended up buying some really nice paintings. 

Afterwards, we went to the silk market and I bought a few chinese calligraphy brushes. After spending a bit of time browsing around in the area, we went out for some dinner near by and now we’re back at the hostel.

It looks like our trip is coming to an end, and that makes me sad, because I know I’ll miss hearing and speaking a language that makes better sense to me. The food as well, I’ve really grown to hate Korean food in its bland lack of variety and flavour. 


So some news people might have missed out on:

Prior to my trip, I kinda realised how much me and my boss butt heads. We flat out do not agree with each other and after many discussions and frustrations, and constantly belittlement (at my expense) I decided enough is enough. A few days before my trip to Beijing, I sat down with my boss and told her my intentions to leave the company, since I am obviously “not good enough and not qualified enough” in her opinion. I paraphrase a little, but that’s basically what she meant to say.

Rather than stick it out for a pointless fight, I decided I’m done with Korea. I gave my 2 months notice before leaving for vacation. 

2 more months of that!!! oh well, after, I think i’ll head to hong kong. when I get back to Korea, I’ll work on getting a working visa. 

OKAY! time to pack! byebye everyone!!

Beijing Trip cont’d

HAPPY NEW YEAAARRR!!!!

so yesterday was okay, we went to the Temple of Heaven and it was blisteringly cold.
 
Knowing full well that we had a Kung-Fu show to go see and NOT miss like last time, we went straight back home and ate at the hostel. Leah still wasn’t feeling well, so she went to sleep. We all got together to see the Kung Fu show, which turned out to be 90% dancing and showy bullshit and 10% real kung fu. Even then, it was Wushu, which is good to watch, i guess.
 
Anyhow, we decided it’s just a big lame-o tourist trap. I could tell the second we went in and saw more white people than chinese people.
 
we came back and finished the night doing not a whole lot.
 
Today, I think we’re going to the Summer Palace. I hope it’s warm there. preferably SUMMER warm, but I doubt that.
 
Im feeling a bit better, my nose stopped running

Beijing Trip cont’d

So it turns out Leah got food poisoning. And I’m still sneezing and coughing and i still have a runny nose : (
 
So we ended up postponing our Xi’an trip for when Leah felt better.
 
Yesterday we did very little since Leah was bedridden all day. We went back to Tianmen Square to see the National Museum, which ended up being under construction : ( so we went someplace to eat, and then after some great difficulty, grabbed a taxi to BeiHai park again to finally see the Pagoda….which was closed off. We were late by 30 minutes. But we took photos near and around the thing.
 
I should also mention that it was deathly cold out. anyways, we spent over an hour trying to get a taxi from that area, finally caught a taxi that didn’t turn us down or already had someone in it, and got back, exhausted. 
Leah was feeling a little better, we ordered food at the Hostel and stayed in for the night.
 
Today, We decided that Xi’an will have to wait, because of the hassle and the headache of findinf cheap enough flights or train tickets. We settled on going another time. I think I’ll go later in the year when the weather is nicer and much warmer.
 
Today we made reservations to see a Kung-Fu show, went and got myself some chinese medicine and went to the Antique Market in Panjieyuan. I bought some old illustrated short stories from the 80s and Gavin bought some limited edition Mao playing cards, a tea pot, some other stuff and me and him paid a lady to inscribe our chinese names into stamps for us. She’s using the old writing, so it should look really pretty.
 
While waiting, we went to eat congee and afterwards, came back to find the market closed. Apparently the woman waited for us to come back but had to close her stall and she didn’t have the key. we’ll have to get our stamps another day.
 
Bad luck struck again when we tried in vain AGAIN to get a taxi. it took us so long to find one and finally when we did, there was some confusion, we left Leah and Brittney on the road and wasted even more time trying to grab them and get them into our taxi. We had about 10 minutes to get back to the Hostel to get picked up to go to the Kung-Fu show.
 
Did I mention it was RUSH HOUR?!? suffice to say, an hour later we were nowhere near home and I had to go to the washroom. We found a subway station, ditched the cab, took that, and ran back to our Hostel. By this time we had verifiably missed the show. We moved our reservations to tomorrow, and are now having dinner again at the hostel. 
THE END! the saga of bad planning and horrible taxis continues!