digital

tattooed bottoms & other interesting things

| kirsti

DRAGON_w_interface

Dragon & koi tattoos, from Jonathan Vaughn Strebly’s 2011 talk on the stories told by tattoos.

I’ve just finished a fun little project illustrating some promo materials for the talented team who have put together this year’s Interesting Vancouver. The primary use is for the website, so that informed the format. They are intended as visual texture behind the content and were inspired by soundbites from past Interesting Vancouver talks.

SHOES_city

High-flung soles, from Todd Sieling’s 2011 talk on his photographic obsession.

WAVES

Drifting Bucket, from Tori Holmes’ 2012 talk on rowing across the Atlantic.

There are so many other great topics, with so many evocative stories I wish I had time to illustrate too, like: suits/armour/codpieces, iguanas, incarceration, terrified dancing dads, chocolate science, perfume science, beer, a transgender journey, foraging in the wilds of Vancouver, BC’s absurd liquor laws, and sex work in Vancouver, to name a few.

All the past talks are available through IV’s Vimeo page (where you might catch a glimpse of an actual tattooed bum).

This year’s Interesting Vancouver edition, taking place at the Museum of Vancouver, is sold out! As is the pre-talk dinner. If you’re interested in taking in next year’s Interesting Vancouver talks, subscribe to updates through their blog, twitter, or facebook page.

New Work ~ Calgary +15 illustrations

| kirsti

2 +15 illustrations

+15 illustration – Winter Activities Scene & +15 illustration – Snowball Fight | vector illustration

I’ve added new work to the illustration section of my portfolio (here and here). These were created for 2 +15’s (the covered, elevated walkways located above street level) in Calgary, AB to celebrate winter activities in the city’s parks.

The final illustrations were cut from frosted vinyl and adhered to the windows (vinyl and install by Artcraft Display Graphics), then lit by Eos Lightmedia. I haven’t seen the photos of the final install so I’m not really sure what the final installation looks like – but this is what the final vector files looked like when I handed them off for vinyl cutting. The work was installed January 2010.

The top illustration is 7’6″x aprox 90′ and covers all the window panes on one side of the walkway. The lower illustration (the snowball fight), spans 4 windows.

+15 illustration (winter activities scene) detail

Winter activities scene – detail
+15 illustration (winter activities scene) detail
Winter activities scene – detail

+15 illustration (winter activities scene) detail

Winter activities scene – detail

+15 illustration (winter activities scene) detail

Winter activities scene – detail

+15 illustration (snowball fight scene) detail

Snowball fight scene – detail

+15 illustration (snowball fight scene) detail

Snowball fight scene – detail

Snowball fight scene – sketches and rough inks

Winter activity scene – sketches

Winter activity scene – sketches

Sketchbook – Go By Bus

| kirsti

Go By Bus | pencil, digital & ephemera

This is a little Photoshop exercise using a doodle from one of my sketchbooks.

original sketch | pencil

This creature needs a name along the lines of this fish – the sarcastic fringehead. The sarcastic fringehead was on the recently aired ‘Fish’ episode of David Attenborough’s Life and I’m not sure what delights me more – its name or its looks.

Here’s another clip of a pair of battling sarcastic fringheads.

Sketchbook – Fox

| kirsti

Fox - ink sketch

Fox | ink + digital

I’m starting to experiment a little with approaches to colour for the book I’m working on. I’m neck deep in working the drawings out still so I haven’t allowed myself to fully delve into playing with ink and paint yet. But this was a quick little 15 minute thing I whipped up this morning. After labouring over getting drawings right, it’s nice to just ignore that aspect completely and just play with an idea.

New Work ~ lululemon Walnut Street

| kirsti

Portfolio update:

I’ve added work that I designed for lululemon‘s Walnut Street, PA store to my portfolio. The Ganesha in the process image above is the centerpiece for it. A while ago, I blogged a few early drawings.

Like the East Hampton and the Palmer Square artwork, I haven’t actually seen the final pieces as they were printed and assembled in Boston. I’m used to doing everything from beginning to end, including going to the printer’s and hovering over the piece as it slowly inches out of the machine. So it feels a bit odd to send the files off across the continent all by themselves and never see the result.

I’m assuming this piece made it up onto the wall… I’m not likely to be in Philidelphia anytime soon to see for myself, so if anyone else does, do let me know.

I’ve also licensed another version of this piece for another East Coast lululemon store, so you might come across a very similar one in another city.

New Work ~ lululemon Palmer Square

| kirsti

Portfolio Update:

This is a portion of the manifesto artwork I originally designed for the Palmer Square, Princeton, NJ lululemon store. This photo shows the top panel before it was cut out and mounted on a printed background. (photo courtesy of Seaport Graphics). The artwork was printed, cut and assembled at Seaport Graphics in Boston.

I’ve posted the full piece in the illustration section of my website.

There are a few work in progress drawings blogged here.