I almost never capture someone’s likeness on the first try. I only nail a portrait after a lot of calisthenics (unrelated mark making). Drawing, like any art form, involves a ton of unseen labour and practice. #BrushPenArt #SharpieArt #Caricatures
Practice Makes Better
Originally published in November 2022 in Blog
Storytime with Alison
Originally published in July 2022 in Blog
My latest title is a video book for kids. Even though I adore books on paper, I’m obsessed with experimenting with 21st-century publishing formats. I self-published this picture book through my imprint, Pen Jar Productions. Private imprints are another nod to our ever-expanding creative frontiers. When you are the writer, art director, and publisher you […]
Kay Thompson
Originally published in April 2022 in Blog, Toronto Illustrators
Art Classes: Cocoa & Paint
Originally published in March 2022 in Art Classes, Blog, Toronto Illustrators
Today’s Old Master Copy
Originally published in August 2021 in Blog
Look how the dog’s ear drapes over his leg like a neck tie! Today’s old master copy is after P.D. Eastman’s classic 1960 storybook cover, Are you My Mother? P.D. (Phil to his friends) was an American illustrator and screenwriter who trained with Walt Disney Productions and worked with the Signal Corps […]
Goodbye, Instagram. Hello again, WordPress
Originally published in July 2021 in Blog
What? You didn’t hear the news? Instagram’s 3-column scrolling gallery loved by illustrators, photographers and influencers alike is going away. The very thing that makes Instagram unique — its square photo sharing feature (and filters) — is about to be wiped out and replaced by all video all the time. But why? you ask. […]
How I Drew This
Originally published in July 2021 in Blog, How to Draw, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators
Process Porn: I drew this landscape in the @Procreate app using the “Peppermint” pencil ✏️ (in the Brush Library under “Sketching”). Paul Cézanne was my guide. His angled brushstrokes had a consistent rhythm. They look like the wind blew them all in the same direction. I prefer Procreate’s pencil tools to it’s oil brushes (at […]
Coco and Diana
Originally published in March 2021 in Blog, Toronto Illustrators
Reading is my greatest joy. This exchange appeared in Amanda Mackenzie Stuart’s biography on Diana Vreeland called Empress of Fashion. Diana described the conversation in greater detail: “Coco [Chanel] was a nut on armholes. She never, ever got an armhole quite, quite perfect, the way she wanted it. She was always snipping and taking out […]
Conversations on Zoom during Covid-19
Originally published in April 2020 in Blog, Cartoons, Comic, Illustration, Toronto Illustrators
