This picture is an artistic rendering of the 18th century movement called The Enlightenment, and features the last great thinker of that time period, German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804).  One of the most revered and controversial figures of The Enlightenment, Kant argued that a person’s actions should be guided by their own sense of reason and morality, and not by the influence of state machines like government or the church.

Here we see Kant behind the wheel of a Citroen DS-51, which met with its own share of criticism when it was unveiled in 1955.  Featuring front wheel disc brakes and a revolutionary hyrdopneumatic suspension system, drivers could change a flat tire without the need of a jack.  Like Kant’s ideas, the DS was decades ahead of its time and its sales were moderate in a shaky post-WWII economy.

Directly to the right of Kant we see Progress, giving him an approving “thumbs up” (or perhaps hoping to hitch a ride to The World of Tomorrow!) With the influence of the church weakened to a feeble grasp, the industrial revolution was free to continue unfettered, allowing for such advances as radio and the telephone (both included in the illustration).

Shown crumpling under the front left wheel of Kant’s DS is Simpler Times, who died with a cup ’n ball game in one hand and a pinwheel in the other.  Portrayed as a beaver wearing a traditional feathered headband, this character is also meant to represent The Plight of The Native American, who was hit especially hard by the advances of the 18th and 19th centuries.  Sometimes lovingly referred to as “History’s D Students” by anthropologists, the natives that Columbus encountered in 1492 A.D. had yet to invent the wheel.

About to meet the same fate are the twin brothers Contemplation and Sentimentality, necessary casualties of any great human advance.   Kant’s expression of terror is quite true to life:  In his Autumn years, Kant adopted a stance towards his teachings similar to that of Victor Frankenstein towards his creature; Kant was horrified by The Enlightenment’s impact upon the natural world but was by then quite powerless to stop it.

In the background  we find Our Generation:  Inextricably linked to technology and the artificial, this little robot finds the greatest enjoyment in the simplest of things.  He feels that, as a result of some cosmic error and through no fault of his own, he was born in the wrong century.

This is, I guess the first acrylic painting that I did, in January of last year.  It turned out that I wasn’t very good with paint and my first attempt might have been my best.  I’ve drawn this little fellow a few different times, and if I had to name a direct inspiration for it I would have to point to the movie Condorman, an idiotic but good-hearted superhero movie from the 80’s.  It was about a comic book author who actually became his book’s character and fought crime.  He had no super powers and his costume was just a spandex body suit and some expandable wings that helped him glide from high places to low places.   It was great.

I thought I’d repost it here before taking some of the old features of the site down once and for all.  Enjoy.

More acrylic on more canvas.

Acrylic on canvas, based on actual events.

New drawwwiiiinnnng, took me forevvvvverrrrrrr, pretty gayyyyyyyyy.

Tattoo design for my friend Nick.

This is another magazine illustration I did.  The deadline was a tight one but I think it turned out alright for the amount I bit off and tried to chew.  Given more time I would have coloured it differently, but let’s not sit gazing out the window wondering what might have been if we’d only had crayons enough and time to do it.

I made this drawing for the cover of Renew Canada, out on newstands right nowish.  They asked me to come up with a futuristic looking city, which I did, and then they told me to clean it up and make it look shinier and more well-functioning and happier, which made me question why they’d hired me at all in the first place, if a shiny and contented version of the future was what they were after.  A couple of versions later this is what we ended up with, all slick and working and sparkly and, secretly, in the back of my conniving little mind, a small chunk of the earth that was blown to high hell a few centuries earlier, still floating around each other in some kind of atmosphere, still working just fine, but still just barely hanging on after the worst has happened.

Hi Everyone,

Cisco came up with the idea for this one, told me what it was and I drew it in pencil.  Then I gave it back to him and he inked over top of the pencils, gave it back to me and I touched it up and coloured it in photoshop.  The end result is this sharp little collaboration.