Viva Las Web Site

Lately I've been working on a web site design for a very talented photographer friend of mine named Shannon. She loooooves the 1950's and all that encompasses that time period. So -- for the design aspects of her website we thought, why not give it an older, retro feel. The digi-sketches above are roughs for the navigation buttons used to browse each particular gallery. They are themed after old neon signs from Vegas. By the end of the process the site will have somewhat of a 3D feel. Imitate the Vegas strip maybe. Possibly some flash design. WHO KNOWS! For now, concept, concept, concept!

P.S. Design School is pretty intensive. Kind of intimidating. And very time consuming. I will try to post something related to my West Coast conversion soon . . . hopefully.

Building Windows and Doors

At long last I can post the album artwork I have been working on for my good friend Jean-Paul De Roover. We began this project in late May. It was quite intensive. I really enjoyed the process of listening to the music, developing ideas and having my ideas be heard and critiqued. It was very liberating. I was also very proud of this project because I used next to no reference material.

The first spread is the front which shows a house taking on a life of its own. The second spread is the inside where the house represents two characters. We were trying to show the dichotomy between whether an individual should choose to use the door (the practical solution) or the window (the creative solution). There's a lot of underlying meaning in the artwork. I won't get into it right now.

The layout looks a bit weird to anyone who has not seen the physical product. The protruding top panels fold down into the 3-panel digipack. The digipack contains a full feature copy of the CD "Windows and Doors" and also a DVD package that includes music videos, photo gallery and behind the scenes footage. It is quite a unique and ambitious project to be orchestrated by one man -- Jean-Paul De Roover. Did I mention that the package has die-cuts and when folded properly forms a 3-dimensional house! Coooooolllll!!!

The release party will be on September 12th at Definitely Superior Art Gallery, in Thunder Bay. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend due to my studies. It's sure to be a great night.

Sneak-Peek

I have been pushing myself pretty hard illustrating the album artwork for my good friend Jean-Paul De Roover. Not until recent events have I realized how lucky I am to be a part of this project. There are a lot of talented people Jean-Paul brought in to work on this album in regards to web, photography, video, sound and of course illustration. The artwork is soooo close to being complete. My mind is going bonkers thinking about how cool this project will look after print. I have never seen a CD/DVD packaged so creatively. I'll post all album artwork soon when I can officially say that my role is complete. Good stuff. Anxious to finish and move on to my next project.

It's A Freakin' House!

Greetings from the Bay! After my short hiatus after graduation I am back on the illustration horse per say. I thought it would be wise to step back and try to consciously soak in what I have collected over my artistic education. Let it settle. Percolate. It felt good to see things from a distance and plan when I wanted to get back into the game. Well . . . check this out. See that small, white house on my desk in the photo above? See it? Good, cause that is the album I am working on right now. It folds out into a freakin' house with die cut windows and everything! I'm stoked be working on this project. The entire album is illustrations without a single line of type! I will post more progress shots as we move forward. YES!!! ~ followed by fist pump ~

Let's Fire It Up!

The Friendly Beast

11.5" x 14.5"

Acrylic on Stonehenge

I must admit that my venture back to Thunder Bay began somewhat rough. I didn't even have the internet today! I was going crazy! . . . but . . . things are beginning to turn around for me a little bit. I have a couple interviews this week, I ordered a new Mac book Pro and most importantly, I started to paint again! It's incredible what I can accomplish without being tempted by the digital sweet tooth that I call Photoshop. It's been a while since I've actually been able to sit down and paint. I have no idea what I'm painting, but I'm really doing it. I'm really doing it!

The painting above is a mix of things still in progress. I've been thinking about the roles of archetypal characters and scribbled some out on paper the other day. This creature is known as the friendly beast. Every story has one. He's the one that starts out as a thorn in your side, but moves up into a place in your heart. I wanted to get across the contradictory nature of a wild beast conflicted with a main of blossoming flowers -- chrysanthemums to be specific. I'd like to create more pieces based on the idea of conflict and dichotomous subject matter. Dark vs. Light. Good vs. Evil. Butter vs. Margarine, etc. Right now I'm happy that I'm painting again. I need to build up that portfolio!

Monsters & Villains

With school winding down I can finally show some of the final projects that I've recently completed. This is a series of posters I created for Information Illustration class with Clair Ironside. The idea of the project was to make a poster insert for the free magazines that you receive at the movie theatres. The theme of the poster was the greatest fifty monsters and villains in the last fifty years, having one representative per year. I was really pumped to throw down some ink washes to do some portraits. I love ink so much, it's a great medium to scan into the computer . . . which I eventually did and made the entire series into photoshop brushes. I'm happy how the project turned out. The only thing I need to know is what poster is the best because I would like to screen some prints to possibly sell on my website. So please tell me what you think! I need your help!

Cover Judging 101

Well, well, well, what do we have here? A thesis project! Or at least half of one. The other part of my thesis project will be coming soon (the film). I wanted to take a crack at redesigning the covers to some of the books in my book collection, Dracula, Frankenstein, Treasure Island & Spartacus. My design concept was to have a wrap-around image that can stand alone as a piece of artwork, but also act as a suitable book cover. I tried to keep compositional aspects as consistent as possible, being: placement, colour, aesthetic, type, etc. I basically tried to stick to an underlining framework based on the typography and graphic elements that I would eventually have to overlay. It was a great chance to learn how to stay consistent, but also show variety.

I will be displaying two of the final paintings for this series at the Sheridan Illustration Grad Show on April 23-24, at the FC Burroughs Building in Toronto. Drop by if you can to see the accumulation of four years of artistic progress.

Best of the Best

I know it's a little late in the game; however, I just realized that I didn't take advantage of my classes this year. Content wise that is. Everything I've done hasn't been for me -- more or less I did them to impress others. In this process I missed out on doing things that make me happy about art. So . . . I'm working on a little project right now regarding villains and monsters! Something a little bit more up my ally. I'm making a poster of the best 50 movie villains or monsters of the last 50 years. The samples above are some of my favourites. I'll have the whole poster complete in another couple weeks. So far I'm having a lot of fun.

Jolly Roger on the Face

Ahoy! I have a "new school" version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. It's the third book cover for my series of redesigned literature. I thought it would be cool to mess with the popular conceptions of pirates. I decided to make them younger having more sea weathered skin and influenced by indo-pacific culture. Long John Silver is on the right and Jim Hawkins is on the left. This was definitely not my favourite cover by far -- I ran into some difficulties along the way (i.e. wayyyyy to dark, etc.). I'm thinking since school is winding down I will only do one more cover. Things are really crazy right now. It feels good and bad at the same time. A lot is up in the air right now; however, I have always been a supporter of chance. Keeps me on my toes. More to come soon.

At the End of All Things

A little information illustration for ya' folks. This is a topographical map of the Sheridan campus and surrounding area. The point of this project was to plot this map based on my memories of each individual place. I categorized my memories as colours to differentiate the good from the bad. After completion I looked it over and shed a mental tear. It's been a blast for the past four years -- now there is only a month remaining until it's all over. But don't you worry, the weeks to come will be filled with my final academic projects (possibly ever). Stay tuned.

Procrastination at it's Finest

It's game time.
www.gregdubeau.com

Fitting Into Place

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Watercolour, Ink and Digital

14.5" x 8.5"

This is the second book cover redesign for my collection of classic literature, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein! What an incredible book. And to believe that Shelley wrote it when she was only eighteen! I wanted to interpret the Frankenstein monster to be made up of stretched layers of human parts instead of being stitched together. This gave me a great opportunity to make some new photoshop brushes to simulate different types of flesh and tissue. My favourite part is the cloudy eye. I tried to make the eye look milky like an eyeball with glaucoma. Which represents the monster being both dead and alive at the same time. I'm happy with how this piece turned out, specifically how I pursued my initial interpretation from start to finish without any doubt or hesitation. The next book cover I will be redesigning is Robert Louis Stevenson' Treasure Island. Yo ho.

So Much Craziness

I . . . am . . . rattled. I was informed today that the folder on the school server which I stored all of my work to date had been deleted. Cold turkey. WHAT!!! It's safe to say that I was on the edge of a complete George Costanza flip out. I met with a very scary man and let him yell at me for not properly using the school server. I left with a little more hope in restoring my files, but at the same time felt like I wanted to cry for hours. I felt the entire rainbow of human emotion in the range of a single hour. I'm OK now though.

Anyways, the piece above is an info illustration being pitched to the National Post's Avenue page. I broke down how much the elite NBA athletes earn and compare it to how much they contribute to their teams statistically. It turns out that Kevin Garnett makes $10,000 per minute while he plays. I guess that's the price to pay to win an NBA championship. I wanted to show a strong graphic element, but there was simply too much type to handle. Making the graphs was fun and I can see myself trying similar projects in the future.

Check out the new Brand Jordan commercial that aired this past All Star weekend. This kind of stuff really inspires me to pursue film and advertising. Michael does it again.

Blown Away

Blow Me Away
Acrylic on Stonehenge
14" x 11"

This was the first interpretive project of the new semester. I forgot to post it because it got stuffed to the back of my locker. We were to illustrate a linguistic expression. I chose, "that blew me away". I wanted to do two things with this project. First of all I wanted to get across a more whimsical/feminine feel. I didn't want to use conventional elements of "blowing up", like grenades, explosions or any sort of pyrotechnics. Consensus during the critique was that it was more of a "drifting away" than "blown away". I can understand that. This leads to the next goal I wanted to accomplish. I have been using many different types of papers to draw and paint on. I am trying to paint/draw each piece with the quality to be hung in a gallery. Most of my work is manipulated on the computer after the initial painting; however, I find a raw beauty to a half finished piece of artwork. This was a difficult project. I am not the greatest conceptual thinker.

Taking Control

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Ink, Watercolour and Digital

14" x 17"

So I tried to take a stab at illustrating classical literature last semester and failed miserably. The feeling of defeat did not sit well at all, so I decided to take another approach. Based on my collection of classic literature I am going to redesign the book covers as a part of a series. My first attempt was Bram Stoker's Dracula. The image above is a spread of the the cover, spine and back. I was trying to portray the whole sexual/manipulative relationship between Count Dracula and Jonathan Harker's wife Mina Murray. I've decided to add the typographical design after the series of paintings are complete. I'm aiming for six cover redesigns. I will post more progress as it occurs in the next little while.

Livin' The Double Life

For the past four years I have been living a double life. I am no superhero with an alter ego (but that would be pretty cool). Splitting the year between two cities is more difficult than I thought. Especially moving from the big city scene to small town living. Recently I've been reminded about how much I've missed since I have moved away from home. I've sacrificed a lot. And not too many people understand how much I have. I am almost done school and am looking for some stability. That sounds about right? Right? I don't know. I'm a big ball of confusion. The image above is a t-shirt design I did for one of my best friends birthday. We grew up together a long time ago. I'm looking forward to livin' the small town life again. True story.

Too Thick?

These are some spreads that I forgot to post a little while ago. I should start posting a lot more these days. Anyways, these spreads are for a foster parent recruitment campaign organized by Dilico Anishinabek Family Care. I was really excited to colour in some sketches in photoshop; however, the client wanted to keep the painting to minimal flat colours and have them outlined in THICK black lines. Not too sure that I agree with their choice. Oh well, they did not turn out horrible. The theme of the series was to take away the faces/identity and let their actions communicate the message. The spreads will be used in print ads and maybe on some buses and billboards. That would be pretty cool.

A Bright Future

Thinking Solar Energy

Ink & Digital

6" x 11", 300 dpi.

This is an illustration for my Environmental Philosophy class. We were prompted to illustrate an aspect of the environment that we are passionate about. I decide to make a commentary on solar energy and how it should be on our minds. In my opinion sunlight is the most abundant and under used resource on our planet. Our production of energy should be parallel to those of plants. A greater investment into bio mimicry can create low maintenance and user friendly means of producing clean energy. There has been technology recently developed to absorb and store sunlight as efficient energy. A spray has been invented that can transform any outdoor surface to absorb sunlight. Imagine coating rooftops, skyscrapers and even clothes! Every house hold would have its own energy source. And most importantly we would not have to rely on the burning of fossil fuels or the damming of waterways! One step closer to making our World a better place to live in.

No Class, Just Spare Time

Sexual Education I

Watercolour

9" x 13"

Sexual Education II

Watercolour

9" x 13"

These are two paintings that began as ideas in my sketchbook. I thought I would pursue them in the hopes of staying creative over the break -- plus I really wanted to bust into some watercolours! I tried some experimentation and such. Sorry for the reproduction quality. I find watercolour paper has a grudge against my camera and/or photography skills.

This is a take on male vs. female (guess which is which!). I tried to associate a theme of early sexual education through the school-like photos, uniforms, etc. I was aiming for the whole "boarding school" thing. Very upper class. I'm not concerned with the outcome, I just needed the painting time to reflect on the upcoming year ahead. So much is uncertain and I am more concerned for myself than ever before. The near future is scary and right now I'm feeling a little anxious and impatient. I was hoping to do more creative things over the break; however, I think I've been forcing myself to produce. Hasn't been working out in my favour. Right now I'm ready to head back to school and to confront the beast . . . I mean my future. Wish me luck.

New Horizons

I've been thinking recently about where I stand as a creative person right now and where I would like to be down the road. Considering that I am studying Illustration, you would think that my heart and soul would be here. Not so much these days. Lately I have been fooling around with multimedia. I still draw and paint from time to time; however, the idea of film, photography and graphic design has captured my interest. Seems like a silly idea considering I have one more semester until I receive my Illustration degree. I find that I am more committed and motivated when I jump between media, from project to project. I find my inspiration in all sorts of places. A few notable websites I frequent are Design by Humans, Process Recess, Jillian Tamaki's Sketch Blog, Toxel, Hedi Slimane's Diary, Fashion East, Chestionabil, Eclectic Cow, In Frame TV, SPY, Mads Jokob Poulsen and Sagmeister Inc.

I have also been trying to get some ideas on paper that I otherwise did not have time to work on while at school. The photo above is close up shot of a watercolour painting I have been working on. It's the first of a series of two paintings with the theme of Sex Ed. It's not quite finished, so I will post more progress/finals at a later date. I figure that I should create some new work right now considering that this next semester I will be diving head first into a documentary-like film project. I'm very excited about it.