Along with the holiday season comes a handful of temporary changes. Most importantly, Christmas specials hit the air, and everyone tries their best to get in all of their personal favourites without scheduling conflicts. A few on my classic list include Garfield Christmas, Muppet Family Christmas, Charlie Brown and the Grinch. None of which were actually produced in the last 20 years, but all still going strong, and each special in its own special way.
Christmas is also the biggest shopping time of the year. Which means all of the best advertising, the biggest window display and POP budgets, and the slickest packaging, all come out to play. None of which sells me on anything, and makes me feel like I have to buy a product to complete my Christmas, but thanks anyways for elevating the level of cool promo stuff once a year. Businesses even fall in as well, slaving to get off the cleverest Christmas cards and thank-you gifts for the holiday season. Here is one of favourite holiday things I've done, breaking it out in MJ's honour

Here's a sketch of university life, from a while ago that I dug up. It popped into mind, having been working with the latest Wacom Intuos widescreen (review to come).It was an exciting experiment for me, being one of my earliest efforts combining digital colour over top of a grey wash. Having the wash underneath, really allows for some loose painterly work on top of it, and also helps to make working digital feel more like a real painting process. The felt tip Intuos nib is a perennial favourite for most of my digital sketching, due to its grittier feel. From an artistic standpoint, setting aside time for experiments like this, is an important step, to bridging the old and new and becoming fully aware of the expansive opportunities combining traditional and digital mediums can provide.

An illustration I did for the Winter issue of WO Magazine is out this week. For an an article about a rough fall off the fitness train, the image likens the journey to an apple falling off a truck and then trying to do yoga. It was drawn in ink first and then coloured digitally. Some texturing was added to break up the solid colours and give it the worn feeling of someone trying to get back in shape. Complete with a dude in purple tights..there's one in every yoga class.