A New Self

This week I made a new cartoonish self-portrait. I made it mostly for fun and to test out my new Wacom tablet. But I also thought it was time to replace the self-portrait I've had in circulation for the last year where I look a little too serious.

As usual, I started with a sketch using animators pencils. I then inked over the sketch on a light board on two separate sheets (so my layers would already be separated once I brought it into Photoshop.)

Concept Art Booklet is Ready!

Since I got back from the first leg of the Photobooth Expedition (Los Angeles & Montreal) I have been working away at the concept art for Photobooth, A Biography and it's finally ready! The people who contributed to my IndieGoGo campaign and selected the Combo Pack perk will be getting one in the mail shortly. For anyone else interested in having a copy, you can buy it now on my Etsy page, Two Hands Two Crowns.  It's $15 Canadian plus shipping. Every copy is hand bound and the pages are printed in rich black.

Custom Cross-Stitch & Crochet

My life has mostly been about photobooths as of late, but I have snuck some time in to work on non-photobooth related endeavours. A few weeks ago I was asked through my Etsy Two Hands Two Crowns shop to do this custom piece. It was a fun break to work on a needlepoint again because I’ve been doing lots of graphic design, illustration and crocheting lately….

Speaking of which my piece for The View from Here, a show happening at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto from April 21 to July 15 is 99% finished. It’s a large crocheted wearable sculpture. I have a photo shoot on Tuesday with the talented Lindsay Duncan to help me document it before I ship it off to the show. I will wait until the show opens to share the fruits of the photo shoot, needless to say I’m really excited by it all!

Two Hands, Two Crowns, Two Tattoos

A week ago today I visited the private studio of Lydia Stalingrad, formally of Utility Tattoo here in Halifax. My very wonderful friend Krista Leger, who has two tattoos herself came with me to tell me distracting stories, take some photos and calm the anxiety of a tattoo newbie. (All the photos here were taken by her.) I first thought of getting these tattoos exactly two years ago when I was staying in a cabin in Northern Saskatchewan, I started working on the designs then and last week I was finally ready to make the commitment.

On a technical note for tattoo geeks out there, getting the tattoo on my dominate arm (left) hurt noticeably more than the one on my right arm. However, my left tattoo has being healing very fast whereas my right arm was bruised and swollen in the following days.

My motivations for getting the tattoos are a combination of being too personal to share + probably boring to other people so I won’t go into the reasoning here. Though, yes it does relate to my company name Two Hands Two Crowns.























I got these in one sitting so I'll be going back for tiny touch-ups once they're healed. I'll probably post photos of the finished products in four or five weeks time. I’m quite pleased and excited for them to be all healed up!

Writing Right: Two Months In!

Well, I’ve been perfecting the dexterity of my right hand for two months now. And, I have to admit, the novelty of the project is starting to wear off as my skills have plateaued. My penmanship and speed certainly have improved but consistency with the shapes of my letters and developing a personal style are still months and months away.

I also have to admit that I missed my daily lessons on more than a few occasions towards the end of March. I have been busy! I was judging at the Nova Scotia Canadian Improv Games tournament, taking Two Hands Two Crowns special orders and doing illustrations for Picnicface’s book being published by HarperCollins this autumn. I’ve also been working on an EXCITING TOP SECRET PROJECT that hopefully will be ready to share online by mid-May.

Here’s the latest ambidextrous drawing video (this one is edited down two minutes and has music to go with it, so hopefully it is not as dry as the first two.)

Any advice on how to rekindle my relationship with my right hand?

Two Hands Two Crowns Contest Winner!

Jack from the United Kingdom is the contest winner! I like his stream of consciousness approach to list writing and I also want to personally try some of his suggestions. His list is posted below (for the North American readers, in the UK candy often comes in paper or plastic tubes.) Jack picked the lion button for his prize.


ways to make art in everyday life

-Put sweety tubes on your pets legs for an interactive "robot" installation
-While waiting in a ticketed que imagine you are playing the national lottery (to increase chances of winning take many tickets)
-Video the suffering from a hangover and edit it into an "Exorcist remake"
-frame used loo-roll as expressionist painting
-Cut holes in the crotches of your trousers to make effective and fasionable jumpers.
-Speak at half your normal speed, hey presto a David Lynch eerie dialogue
-Talk to a stranger
-Be very, very messy when applying mustard and ketchup to things
-Walk slowly backwards with a video camera then watch it rewind to create the effect of walking forwards.
-Walk forwards with a video camera then watch it in rewind to give the impression of walking quickly backwards
-When using skype on an Ipad put it to your ear and pretend you are a midget with an Iphone
-Pretend you are a giant by treating your Iphone as an Ipad


Thanks to everyone who contributed a list, more contests to come in the Spring!

Writing Right: One Month Mark!

I’ve been practicing writing and drawing with my right hand for one month now! One of the things I’m doing to measure progress is recording a video of myself drawing the Two Hands Two Crowns logo on the first day of the month. The new video is up, check it out! Also here are some lists related to my new pass-time.

AMBIDEXTROUS OBSERVATIONS:

1. It is surprisingly fun, I look forward to my lesson every day!
2. When I practice in a waiting room or on a bus, people can’t help but stare and formulate ideas. I assume they assume I grew up in the wild and just enrolled in elementary school.
3. Cursive is easier than printing because you don’t have to lift the pen, however is doesn’t look as neat.
4. Its very annoying to write while wearing a watch, I’ve started removing it before each lesson.
5. When drawing with both hands, even if my brain can send two messages to my hands, I still only have one set of eyes.
6. I hold pens differently in my left hand than I do in my right, soon as a let my right hand hold a pen the way it wanted to, things got easier.
7. When using both hands simultaneously, drawing is easier if the hands are mirroring each other, however, when writing it is easier if the hands are doing the same action.
8. I’m mildly better at basic mental math, perhaps this is because of my left brain is more simulated.
9. It’s not hard to make your printing look perfect, but very difficult to make it look perfect while writing at a reasonable speed.
10. On February 9th, CBC’s radio program Q featured Gwendolyn Bounds, a specialist who talked about the benefits of handwriting on the brain. This made me feel infinitely superior to the average person.

NEW EXERCISES FOR THIS MONTH:

1. Designating one day every week where I only write with my right hand.
2. More simultaneous exercises, both mirrored and identical motions.
3. Start making the switch from pencil to pen.

The image above is of a simultaneous lettering, when I did it I kept my eyes mostly on the right sheet, trusting my left hand to know what it was doing. Normally (when writing with just one hand at a time) my penmanship is at least twice as good as what you see there. It seems by ordering my brain to do two tasks at once, each task is executed at half its normal quality. Interesting!

Two Hands Two Crowns Giveaway to Best List!

My new website is up and I feel FANTASTIC. I owe many thanks to talented web designer Scott Borys for putting up with me for a second time (Scott also programed my first website.) Designing it and setting up my Etsy shop occupied so much space in my brain for so long that I feel very exhilarated to move on to new projects. Firstly I’m helping with the new online photobooth art gallery, Fotomaton.org. Secondly, I’m doing the illustrations and cover art for a new book. And thirdly I’m designing the t-shirts, posters and a mural for an improv festival happening this spring. (More on these as they unfold.)

And for the next three months I’m going to do a new weekly series on the blog. Each Sunday I’ll showcase a photobooth strip I’ve found along with a narrative I’ve fabricated. Stay tuned for what I think are riveting photos!

And now the CONTEST DETAILS!

In celebration of my new website and the Two Hands Two Crowns shop on Etsy I’m giving away a Beast Button (of the winner’s choice) to the Best List. The list must be original and related to Art, Design or Craft in some way. Post it below in the comment box. There’s no maximum number of entries per person and the “judging” will close on Wednesday March 2nd at midnight EST time. I’ll be judging the entries with my experience as a self-proclaimed list-connoisseur but there is no rubric. Be creative, have fun and good luck!

Writing Right: Lesson #1

A few weeks ago I was sitting in a coffee shop sketching variations of the Two Hands Two Crowns logo. The logo is mostly symmetrical and so I decided to pick-up a pencil with both hands and have at it. I’m left-handed but my right hand has always been useful with a pair of scissors, a computer mouse and a crochet hook. The right half of my drawings looked like they had melted but I felt like a superstar. A really cool ambidextrous superstar.

For years now I’ve dreamt of being ambidextrous and you know what? 2011 is gonna be the year. I searched Halifax high and low for Hilroy Exercise Notebooks (the ones with the dotted lines in the middle) and starting today I practiced my alphabet in uppercase and lowercase letters and in cursive. I will come up with exciting variations of the lesson plan every day. To track the progress of my drawing abilities I’ll also practice the THTC logo and make a video at the first of every month. I’m committing to occasionally posting updates of my progress as an incentive to keep with it.

Here are today’s sheets and here is a link to a video of the first drawing (which I didn’t have time to edit or put music to and is consequently a very dry 4 minutes of footage.)

Also, you may have noticed a new look to the blog. The website is days away from being ready and this is the new look. The Two Hands Two Crowns logo can be found on the ribbon in the header.

In anticipation of Two Hands Two Crowns

I’ve been a busy bee working away on new items for a more focused product + project line. It will replace my current line, Go Eat Some Poison Productions. (I started working under that name when I was 17, and feel like its time to update it a bit to reflect who I am now.) The new items will be available for sale on Etsy in December. In the meanwhile I'm still toying around with a new logo. The company name is Two Hands Two Crowns. I won’t go into the backstory for the name but I will say it relates to a pair of tattoos I’m getting in November. Currently I’m trying to come up with a simple but eye catching logo, though along the way I’ve had some fun experimenting with some more elaborate designs. I've had a Wacom tablet for almost a year and haven't got much use out of it (I just like drawing on paper), so playing around with these designs was good practice for my hand to screen coordination. I’ve posted some of the “just for fun” and early drafts here and would appreciate any comments/ feedback you’ve got, as it may help me solidify the final design! Click to enlarge the images.