Oh, Baby!

OOOOOH BABY am I ever excited that my first board book, "Oh, Baby!" will be released in September (from POW Kids)! It notes a number of interesting moments in a baby's life that often go uncelebrated.

You can pre-order here.

Wallzical

Hurray! Wallzical.com has launched!

I had a great time creating illustrations for three sets of Wallzical's reusable, educational wall decals: The Big Race, Alice the Camel and Zoo Escape.

For the month of October, use the code WALLZICHAD10 to get a 10% discount! (Wallzical only ships to the USA for now.)

Work/Life 3

I'm pretty excited to be part of Work/Life 3: the UPPERCASE directory of illustration. This edition's theme is "An Illustrated Life" in which participants explore the good (and the not-so-good) aspects of working in illustration. Each illustrator offers their unique take on this theme and have created an original illustration specific to their interests and their life, based on a custom assignment from UPPERCASE editor Janine Vangool.

My assignment was based on a comment I made during my interview with Janine.

You wrote, “Having a son put a schedule and structure into our lives.” How else has he changed you? Create a humorous illustration showing how your child is in charge of your life.

During my concept development process I wrote in my sketchbook, "In my house, Brin is the centre of the universe." You can see my execution of this idea is below. Better yet, check out all the illustrators' work by getting yourself a copy of Work/Life 3!

Sketches

I always love to see the sketches from illustration that I admire. I'm often surprised by the decisions the illustrator has made from sketch to the final piece. 

In my own work, I often encounter unexpected visual problems translating line-based sketches to shape-based illustrations. Because my sketches are usually small and fast, I tend solve a lot of visual problems on-screen, where I can zoom in and see small elements in detail. 

If you find these sketches interesting or helpful, let me know!

13

I was honoured to be asked to participate in the Southern Saskatchewan Chapter of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and Not Nowhere's collaborative, fundraising poster project, "13".

Thirteen Saskatchewan Photographers and thirteen Saskatchewan Designers were asked to develop a poster which explored the subject of "13".

I was very fortunate to get the chance to work with photographer Andrew Hudyma.

Before I started developing ideas for the poster I knew that I wanted to keep Andrew's photo completely intact. This meant I wouldn't retouch the photo, crop it, change the colours, or apply any filters.  

As an unexpected result of this rule I made for myself, both Andrew's photograph and the elements I created for the poster design work well independently. However, I like to think together they create a poster which is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Andrew's photo:

My design:

The final poster:

 You can check out the rest of the poster designs here.

A big thanks to Rhea Liebel, Carey Shaw and Danielle Tuchelt for creating this wonderful event. 

No Junk Mail

I've been super-frustrated with the amount of flyers and other junk mail I've been receiving in the last while. So, I looked online and at a few stores for a nice-looking "No Junk Mail" sign. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one. So, I thought I'd create my own.

It turned out pretty well so I'm offering the high-resolution file to anyone who might like it, for free!

The file is 5 x 7 inches at 300 dpi. Print it on your desktop printer, or at your local photo lab. 

Get the high-resolution file here: http://bit.ly/TLTKcd

Dr. Octopus on Threadless

Once in a while I'll create a superhero illustration. You may have seen my Batman or Iron Man. Because I'm a total nerd for Dr. Octopus, I entered the Threadless / Marvel Entertainment Spider-man contest.

If you're into scoring Threadless designs, I'd appreciate if you'd consider giving my Doc Oc submission a big, fat 5!

You can score my design here. Thanks!

More Greeting Cards

Check out another bunch of greeting cards created for Hallmark! Such a great company to work with!

A Toy Whale

Sometimes, I'm surprised by how small and wonderful our modern world is.


Earlier this year I received an email from 82-year-old Roberto Lou of Guatemala. He created a toy wooden whale, inspired this guy from my free ebook, Do You Know What I Am?


Check out Roberto's video below. You can also view more of his incredible work here.

Check out this handful of greeting cards created for Hallmark Greeting Cards! Hurray!

Touchdown!

As a fan of the Canadian Football League and Saskatchewan Roughriders, I was pretty excited to get a chance to work on a bunch of spot illustrations for their online fan survey. The survey also included a field goal kicking game at the end which I provided digital elements for.

Check 'em out below! Hike! Hike! Hike!

Two for the Road

Most illustrators and designers love working on gig posters. I think it's because the goal and message is simple — "Come to this show".  Generally, these projects provide creative freedom, coupled with interesting restrictions which tests one's creativity. They are an opportunity to create a great piece.

When Belle Plaine asked me to develop a poster for her Two for the Road tour, I was thrilled. I love her music, had seen her play live, and had recently met her at a little workshop I gave at Creative City Centre.

  

Belle came with a loose concept: show the slightly chaotic experience of a cross-Canada tour.  Belle and her bass player, Elizabeth, fill a car with instruments (including a double bass), gear, and suitcases. With barely enough room for themselves, they hit the road.

As I started sketching and thinking about the design and concept, rather than drawing the car, I thought the poster could represent the vehicle. Filled with  stuff, but also looking outward; experiencing all the things we see and do when travelling cross-country — wildlife, coffee, radio, greasy diners, the foliage, weather, etc.

Because this poster will be used at different venues across the country, we needed to have a way to either plug in details ourselves, or let the venue hand-write them in. The gig posters I like often have the image and type integrated together. With that in mind, we didn't want one big blank area for venue owners to customize. We wanted something a bit more subtle and thoughtful. We think the solution turned out pretty well. 

The project became a labour of love for me. I was so happy when it was well received by Belle, friends on Twitter, and on Dribbble.

My friends Wade and Dean suggested the poster should be silkscreened. I'm happy to share that the girls at Articulate Ink are working on an edition of 200 prints. They do great work and I can't wait to see the finished product. I'll be sure to share photos when I do.  

These prints will be available at Belle Plaine shows and via my website, within a couple weeks.

A Wonderfully Eventful Three Years

If you look at the date on the post below, you’ll see I had abandoned this blog about three years ago. Life has changed a lot since my wife and I announced we were expecting a baby. 

Most importantly, our son Brin was Born Sept 30th, 2009. He’s a happy boy who loves to run, play with cars, and eat pizza.

Also noteworthy: I became a partner in Saskatchewan’s (arguably) largest advertising agency. However, to make a very long, complex story short, I discovered working at an agency is not for me. So, I quit. Now I work as a freelance illustrator, full-time. 

I hope to use this blog to share some of my experiences and observations about freelancing and illustration. Of course, I'll also share my work. The blogs I enjoy most are those with short, easy-to-read, regular posts. I’ll do my best to remember that. 

I hope you find it helpful and/or interesting.

Ultrasound

My wife and I are expecting our first child on October 14, 2009! We went for our first ultrasound and the baby is happy and healthy!

WCR Poster

For all y'all in Saskatchewan, or close by, you should check out WCR's rock 'n roll show on April 3rd (featuring young Brodie Aikman on the skins).

If you can't make the show, or don't like loud noises, check out the poster I rigged up for the event!

Big Rock Beer

Big Rock Brewery features a contest to award the best print ads and commercials for Big Rock, created by Big Rock drinkers.

The illustration below was created to go on coasters used where Big Rock is served. Fill in the word balloon a to create your own funny Big Rock Beer ad!

Private 'Stache

If you're like me, you like t shirts with mustaches on them.

So, why not head over to Threadless and score my t shirt design?

Merry Christmas!

Hey everybody! In response to Saskatchewan's current Christmas-like weather, I thought I'd post these Christmas cards I illustrated!

iPhone Wallpaper

There are thousands of fantastic free iPhone wallpapers out there.

So...um...here's three more!



All images © Chad Geran. All rights reserved.

Calgary Farmers' Market

Check out these poster illustrations created for the Calgary Farmers' Market, via the fine folks at WAX.

See what problems polygamy can cause?