Done, hi ha holidays, see you in Holland!
May 2009 Archives
I am really milking this illustration, I don't think I have ever written so many blog entries about one illustration. But the magazine came in the mail today, and I am really proud, it is a big fat heavy glossy magazine, incredible. And there is more incredible news, Michiel stumbled upon a very sweet deal, an ultra cheap flight to Amsterdam! And because it is my turn, I get to go. Monday afternoon at 12.20 I will touch down in Amsterdam. I think it's almost been five years! I'm not sure if I will even recognize Holland. After I booked the flight we celebrated.
It's not often that I am asked to do a new version of an old drawing. Goes to show even my parental thingies can lead to greater things. The green was a given, I would never choose that shade of green myself. And I don't know if I am quite so happy with my result yet, but I am ging to wait and see what the client says.
The Dutch illustrators organization sent me a magazine about infographics, and this very cute image immediately caught my eye. Even more so when I noticed that it was done by someone I know, Chantal van Wessel, she is one of my contacts at Wegener publishers. And hers is the first image John Grimwade -Condé Nast graphics director- picked for his personal selection. Congratulations Chantal!
Click the image to enlarge or go to Luxity's website to see legible enhancements. I had an intern for this assignment, an art school student from StJoost in Breda, the same art school I went to a quarter of a century ago. Only I never studied illustration. My student keeps an internship blog, it's interesting, you can not only read what I had to say about her version of the illustration, but also what the client thought.
Now the front is easy enough, but the typography on the back! I reaeaeaeally suck at typography, always have. And my font collection is not in mint condition either. I've already summoned a local graphic designer to the rescue, but I'm afraid he's declared it weekend.
Sometimes I am nice, and I send a bunch of sketches to a client to choose from. You can see how I warmed up in the process, upper left is the first one I did, bottom right the last one. And besides that there is a lot of breaking news here, but everything is under control, all the broken bits neatly swept under the carpet. Michiel is an entrepreneur all of the sudden. A self made man. Both of us are going to make our own money from now on, no more working for the man.
Oh, I see I forgot to blog yesterday. Wait, I can add my previous parental advice column spot illustration there. Later. The tricycle above was actually mine. I drew it from an old picture, only I was standing beside it in the picture. I have vivid memories of this tricycle. Because it broke in two!! As I recall it almost immediately after I got it. I even remember where it happened, almost exactly where the picture was taken, on the sidewalk in front of our appartment building. Can't have been very good quality.
This is the parental adice column spot illustration of two weeks ago, when my computer was kept hostage at the genius bar. I did the colouring and uploading of this one at my dear neighbour Danny's house. Thank you Danny, you saved my life. And now I get the chance of explaining the so called diffence in style between these parental thingies. Well that is easy enough, sometimes I don't have that much time! When I have to be quick I take a brush and a bottle of ink, that's all. No difference in style at all, really.
Dinner almost ready, drawing done, and Michiel cleaned the gutters and replaced the caulking on the porch roof. I say let it storm. The group portrait above is the third in a series. Every time they have a batch of editors at Wegener publishers turning fifty, I get to draw them. Which has also led to the celebrities dinner series, that I do for one of Wegener's magazines. And of which this one is only the first of hopefully many more to come.
I never told you about my lilac tree did I? The lilac tree must have happened when the computer was in the shop. The lilac tree was in our next door neighbour's front yard, and it was in their way, smack in the middle of their overgrown front yard. So neighbour Rick of two doors down had a splendid idea. He dug it out, put it on a tarp, and they carried it over with three strong guys. It is proudly standing at the side of the porch now, and I can hide from the church a little more. My front yard is really becoming something, everybody keeps giving me trees and plants, it is incredible. Yesterday I noticed a new peony, neighbour Anne had planted it while I wasn't even home! 
The most interesting thing about yesterday -mothers day- was that I realized that my mother died 43 years ago at 43 years of age. Isn't that something. Which means she would have been 86 if she hadn't died, and would therefore probably be dead anyhow. But it is quite something. Other than that, we didn't do mothers day, four people congratulated me, a streetcar driver, a friend of Piffin's, and two neighbours. Not a bad score. We saw the grad show at OCAD, and Otger has made his mind up about going there. Peace of mind all around.
And I baked brownies and two loaves of bread. I am becoming something of a fanatic in bread baking. I really loathe the bread from the supermarket, it is just juckie. And nice organic bread is five dollars, which amounts to a fortune if I buy it on a daily basis. And a gigantic enormous bag of flour is thirteen dollars. Flour that not only makes heavenly bread, but also brownies, muffins, banana bread, apple pie... I say fuck the recession.
And we carry on like nothing ever happens. Did anything happen? I had coffee at Garnet and Becky's. I chatted with Michelle in the street. And with Gerald, and with Don, and with Marilyn, and with Kevan. I went for a jog. I shopped for groceries. What a life. Oh and a fun letter from Otger's school: "On Monday, May 4, the Toronto District School Board's automated phone-home system which reports student absences experienced a serious malfunction. The result was that the system subsequently made hundreds, if not thousands, of unnecessary calls to the homes of Danforth CTI students and their parents or guardians. [ ] Suffice to say, I feel very badly that a system that is informed by such obvious good intentions caused so much grief to so many students and their families." We didn't get those calls. But I can just imagine what must have happened in the homes that got them. You were not in school! Yes, I was! No you weren't! Yes I was! Oh my.... Would I have believed Otger? I'm sure I would have. Do you believe me? 
There's tons of things I should have blogged, but for now I am just overjoyed that my Mac is working again. For everybody who thinks Macs are flawless, think again. It was in the shop for over a week! And out of warranty of course. Four hundred and fifty dollars poorer I show you the books that came in the mail last week. MY drawings with a QUERIDO logo on them. Unbelievable. And inside the book drawings by everybody who is anything in children's illustration: Carl hollander, Fiel van der Veen, Babs van Wely, Peter Vos, Tonke Dragt, Mance Post, Peter-Paul Rauwerda, The Tjong King, Jan Jutte, Alice Hoogstad, Wim Hofman, Margriet Heymans, Peter van Poppel, Harrie Geelen, Jaap Lamberton, Annemie Heymans, William Steig, Peter van Straaten, Sylvia Weve, Martijn van der Linden, Peter van Hugten, Joke van Leeuwen, Rotraut Susanne Berner, Marit Tornqvist, Geerten ten Bosch, Ingrid Godon. I am glad they didn't tell me that beforehand... (Please anyone who sees this book in a bookstore, send me a picture!)
