Old News Dump: Feb 11, 2007 – Sept 21, 2009

September 21, 2009 – I’ve updated the illustration section with a couple of new illustrations. Take a look here. Also, I guess I should out my secret project, now that I’m sort of tweeting about it. I’m working pn a comic with a buddy of mine, Jake Gosselin. We, along with another friend, Rob Simon, have started up a comic publisher sorta thing called Shatterday Comics. It’s in its early, zygot stage, but I’m pretty excited about it. You can follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/shatterdaycomic. Here are a couple of model sheets I’ve put together for some characters in the story.

September 15, 2009 – Despite being busy nearly constantly, I don’t have much I can post here – either because it’s unpublished and I don’t want to step on the toes of those who’ve commissioned the work, or because it’s part of a big project that I haven’t yet announced. Just so this site isn’t such a ghost town, here’s a portion of a thing I’ve been working on. Enjoy.

July 22, 2009 – It’s been a while since I’ve added anything to my design section. NFL Kicker and fellow Regina boy Jon Ryan asked me to put together a logo for him. I’m positive this design will put the Seattle Seahawks in the Superbowl.

July 6, 2009 – My derby poster has been posted on Fracture Magazine’s Bout Posters page. Cool!

July 5, 2009 – I can’t remeber if I’ve mentioned this before, but my wife is involved with The Pile o’ Bones Derby Club. It’s a flat-track derby club. No, there are no Gator Skaters. Yes, it’s still awesome. I put together a poster for their next event. If you’re in the Regina area on July 25, get yourself to the Callie.

June 13, 2009 – Been busy, but I haven’t been doing stuff I’m ready to show here. I’m starting a new project that requires a skill set I haven’t completely mastered, so I’ve been doing some self-instructions. It’s getting there, but it’s not ready for prime time.

One thing I have managed to put together is a picture of Parker – the character from a series of books by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake). Over at the Almost Darwyn Cooke blog, there’s a contest to win an advance copy of Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of the Parker novel, The Hunter. All you need to do is submit your take on Parker. My original plan was to do something more in the style of the MODOK I did a while ago, but I started doing some sketching based on a photo and I got a bit wrapped up in it. I think if I can find some more minutes I’ll do another (because I really want that book – I’ve been on a huge Darwyn Cooke kick of late).

May 16, 2009 – Good news and bad news this week. Good news: my cheque and sample magazines came in from subTerrain #52. It’s on the shelves, go pick one up. They also threw in a complimentary subscription, which I thought was very classy. Bad news: my bike was stolen. By cowardly, disease ridden pricks, I have to assume.

Win some, lose some.

Here’s a caveman.

May 4, 2009 – Cool news. My site has been mentioned on ¡Journalista! – The new weblog of The Comics Journal. I’m a comic nerd (we’ll, truth be told my nerdiness isn’t confined to comics, but comics are high on my nerdometer) and to be even tangentially connected to The Comics Journal is enough to give me a big, broad smile. Happy day for Gav.

And, to keep my promise of a drawing for each post, here’s a sketch.

Also, I’ve updated the images on my illustration page. Check it out, yo.

April 28 , 2009 – The issue is back from the printers, so I’m told it’s safe to post the illustration I did for sub-Terrain magazine.

I’m pleased with the way it turned out. I can’t wait to see it in print. Let me know what you think.

Over the weekend, a couple of my prints were auctioned off at a Pile o’ Bones Roller Derby fundraiser. Besides getting some nice attention for my art, I got to listen to some good local bands and enjoy the sight of tough girls on roller skates (not blades – never even mention blades) selling shots. The hottest Roller Girl by far was Ang Xiety – MROW!

The sad news related to the above story is that in getting the two prints to donate, I discovered that they were the only two not water damaged. The portfolio in which I had them stored was victim to my leaky basement. Sad, sad day.

April 19 , 2009 – Much has happened since my last post, but I’ve been plagued by a devil virus that’s been decimating the Queen City. I’ve seen this cold linger for over a month in some unfortunate wreches. It’s a dirty tease, too, occaionally waning and delivering hope of recovery only to return with a mucusy vengence. I believe I’m on the mend now, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

First exciting piece of news: I got my first postcard-generated commission! YAY! I’d almost tossed the e-mail as spam, but luckily I took the time to read it. It was from a Vancouver based literary magazine called subTerrain. They requested an illustration to accompany a short story by J. Jill Robinson. So I did one. I don’t want to post it yet, as the magazine hasn’t been published, but once I get the go-ahead from sub-Terrain, I’ll put it up for all to see.

The other news is that the store is open!

March 31, 2009 – The answer is no, it’s not too offensive.

“The pictures uploaded to your shop seem fine for now. If we find any material questionable at any time you will be notified.”

I’m glad I asked, though. This is about the most offensive thing that I plan to merchandise, so it guess it’s full steam ahead.

The other quick note of good news is that my sowing of postcards has yielded it’s first harvest. I’m pretty happy to report that I’m in the process of doing an illustration for a Canadian literary publication. I’ll post more details when I can.

I’m more than pretty happy. I’m really super happy. Should I use an exclamation point? Okay. I’m happy!

March 29, 2009 – Is this too offensive for Cafe Press?

I’ll soon find out. I’ve finally decided it’s time to start up an online store. I’ve looked at some of the sites out there that offer on-demand products, and I’ve decided to give Cafe Press a try. They’ve got some good points, but under their list of prohibited content is “Inappropriate content or nudity that is not artistic in nature” and “Material that is generally offensive or in bad taste, as determined by CafePress.com.” I’d consider the above artistic in nature, obviously, but does Cafe Press? We’ll soon see. When you sign up for the Premium Store, you have a 15 day free trial before you need to start paying. I’m using this as a window to see if my work is considered artistic in nature, or if that tag only covers beautifully lit black and white photos of attractive nudes. I’ll keep you posted on how this turns out.

If you want to check out the store, it still in its in infancy (closer to a zygote than anything else) but you can find it at http://www.cafepress.com/gavindelint. If all goes well and they don’t shut me down for depicting a ding-a-ling, I’ll be adding more items. If they do; see you at zazzle.com.

March 25, 2009 – Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. You may know him as MODOK!

From an article on Drawn.ca, I found the March Modok Madness blog. The concept was just too enticing to pass up. MODOK is one of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s stranger ideas, and I was thrilled to have an excuse to draw him (and to do some Kirby dots!!). The good folks at the MMM blog were kind enough to post my efforts.

March 16, 2009 – Often before I work I like to do some doodles, just to loosen up my fingers and noggin. I’ve been finding I’m really digging the doodles. I’ve been trying to improve at certain aspects of my craft, so some of my recent self-directed projects are less like fun and more like work – frustrating, frustrating work, while the doodles are just play. Below are a couple of the recent ones.

Feb 23, 2009 – Last Friday, an old chum and fellow artiste Jefferson Little and I finally did something we’ve been planning to do for some time – a Drink’n’Draw. We took some paper and pencils to a local lounge, ordered a pitcher or two of beer and caught up with each other as we drew. After a time, we’d call out ‘switch’ and start defiling the other guy’s work. Jeff and I are very different stylistically, but the stuff still works (IMO). You can see the two we finished that night here and here. Sorry about the pop-ups, but I want to keep this site as a showcase for my style and I don’t want an art director to see those and think that’s how I usually draw. I love them, but the point of them is to just be free to doodle without really worrying about anybody judging them – except Jeff, I guess. Anyways, if you really need some images, below are a couple of photos of Jefferson and I during a collaboration some years ago.

Feb 18, 2009 – As a project to keep me busy, I’ve decided that any blog post / news item must have an accompanying illustration – even those that have nothing to do with ongoing projects. As such, here’s the first in the series, entitled Benjamin Linus Must Die.

Those that follow the program Lost know what I’m talking about. Seriously, next time a character has a gun on Ben, don’t let him talk, just shoot him. It’s as though he has a super power to talk his way out of anything. He reminds me of a character Alan Moore created for the WildC.A.T.S. comic book named Tao. Tao’s power was basically that he was smart. Really, really smart. My favourite scene from the Alan Moore run on WildC.A.T.S depicted Tao trapping another character, Fuji, in a mental loop just by engaging him in conversation. When the rest of the ‘C.A.T.S found him, he was just a mess, slumped over and repeating both sides of the conversation he was having with Tao. It was brilliant. I don’t think Ben could accomplish the same thing, but I wouldn’t put it past him, either. The number of times he’s provoked a blood thirst in someone only to talk them out of doing him in has to be in the double digits.

Next time, please, shoot first, ask questions later.

Feb 14, 2009 – Happy Valentines Day! I’ve done a few cupids in the past, but the one that means the most to me is the one I did for my wedding invitation.

It was probably the best night I’ve had, not in small part because it was the best party I’ve ever thrown. Good times had by all.

Feb 11, 2009 – I’ve decided that I might luck out and reach some more eyeballs if I posted my news up on blogger as well as on my ‘official news page’. My google analytics should let me know.

February has seen me sending out my first round of self promo postcards.  I’ve been focusing on the Canadian publishing industry, but soon will cast the net a bit wider to include international magazines.  From there, I’ll retreat back to native soil again to target Canuck advertising agencies.  Hopefully I’ll get some nibbles.

I think my Killer Kowalski vs Big Foot table is installed at the Freehouse, but don’t quote me on that.  I dropped it off there over a week ago, so I’m just assuming.

I’d made that Killer Kowalski mask to provide a villain for my son’s Batman.

Batman won the battle.