The internet wins again.

Another piece I did for Normative! (click to enlarge) Technically there were about 9 different drawings, but this is a little combo platter I made for my portfolio site. Oh, did I not mention my portfolio site?  Well, it exists. It exists BIG TIME.  Have a click why don’t you. On it you will find many things you may have seen on here where they are inconveniently located several clicks away.  On my portfolio site, you can take it all in at a glance by clicking the little grid icon.  The internet makes difficult things (like looking at the internet) so easy. Enough about the internet!  It gets all the attention!  Pay attention instead to my character design above!  Isn’t that woman’s cape stylish? She sure is using her smart phone to navigate a city! And that gentleman isn’t looking at lude photographs – he too is interested in the culture of a metropolitan area!  Or in purchasing more striped sweaters. Technology wins again (the internet laughed)!

Super Computer

I did a sample piece for Normative, one of Toronto’s loveliest design agencies (firms? gangs? What’s the word here for a group of designers in a big office with a glass conference room that I once, without thinking, flipped the double bird through to two OCAD pals who were inside in a professional meeting. That’s the type of classy behaviour you can expect from Gillian Effing Gee). ANYWAY my sample piece (click to enlarge a bit):

It’s a bit rough, since it was (as mentioned) a sample. The client (who remains unspecified) didn’t use it, and I like parts of it, so here it lays. It’s meant to explain the use of a new computer, and if you can’t glean that perhaps we already know why it wasn’t chosen.

Girl Gang

What’s better than a powerhouse gang of awesome girlfriends? I don’t know if anything is. Sync those cycles (bicycles or… other cycles) and ride out, girls. I did this illustration for a Simpsons themed art show (Fun Fact: it did not get in.) but I like it so much I want it to see the light of day.

I wrote a very vomit-inducing statement to accompany it, and no, you don’t get to see that. My hatred of sincere, existential, culturally nuanced, jargon-filled artist statements is perhaps what keeps me from achieving success.  YES. THAT MUST BE IT.

Heron

I made a Heron. Check it out. 

 

There may be more of these coming soon. Details to follow (I know, the suspense is just KILLING you).

 

Jerkface A-Hole: A Comic

No, no, not you!  Jerkface A-hole is the name of my webcomic. It’s been running for a little while now, but so have I (running my arse off) and I realize I haven’t mentioned it here.  The neglect ends now.

jerkfaceahole.com

Jerkface is a teenager and jerkfaceahole.com is her comic diary, written/drawn in-class and coloured entirely with highlighters and whatever else is in her backpack.  She lives with her aunt (The Aunt), a bouffant real estate agent with whom she has little in common. Here’s a little sample page:

The comic updates 3 times a week, Monday to Wednesday. You can like it on Facebook and get updates there, or on twitter @FirstClassAhole. (Can you believe that “@jerkfaceahole” was taken?! It’s as though the internet is getting used up or something. Incensed!)

Descant 164: Cartooning Degree Zero

It’s funny when the end date of a project that once seemed far away catches up with you.  The release of the cartoon/comics/graphic novel issue of Descant magazine is one of those things.  The issue contains a comic called Christie’s Smile that I worked on with Mariko Tamaki (whose comics SKIM and This One Summer with art hero Jillian Tamaki are magical and not to be missed). This is a panel from Christie’s Smile:

According to the back of the issue: “In “Christie’s Smile,” Mariko Tamaki and Gillian Goerz tap into teenaged impressions of beauty and the great lengths some will go to embody them.”

The issue is out now and it looks amazing, thanks to Trevor Abes and a host of other geniuses. The launch party was great (despite odd nature of reading comics aloud), and if you like high quality things in your life, I urge you to pick up a copy at your local retailer.

The Other Toronto Drake

I’ve been doing some decor work for the Drake Hotel  – Toronto’s landmark art hotel. Their Sky Yard is off the hook, yo.  Seriously, it is.

Decor in this case, means collaborating with Drake curator/genius/queen Mia Nielsen on the upcoming event and brain-storming ideas. Mia settles on the best one, adds her experience and brilliance, orders stuff (does all the work) and then I come in and install it with some other people. In some cases the ideas involve me also making drawings. This past winter (you know, the one that never ended), I did some Looney-Tune-esque stuff  to compliment Mia’s Mod Twin Peaks ski chalet vibe (as seen  above and below).

I made a cartoon panorama, and then we cut cute sections out of them and put windows and doors on them (as if you are inside looking out at the cartoon landscape), and those sections were printed and mounted.  Below are sections of the panorama, uncut… as it were.

 

 

I also made a repeating background tile – the kind that cycles behind any running cartoon character – that was printed in vinyl and run along the base of the space (you can see it in the very first picture):
Photos of the Sky Yard are compliments of the Drake Hotel Flickr.

 

Dress Code Cracker: The Podcast

The hilarious (seriously- so funny), smart and sparkling Sarah Innis has a thoughtful, funny and interesting PODCAST! Not only have I been interviewed for it (ahem) but I made her some print materials.

It’s about style and clothing – but in a SMART way, you guys: “far outside the confines of mainstream consumer fashion culture, we consider pop culture, politics, modern art, and feminism in discussing style as a means of personal expression.”

See photos of interviewees and pictures of their inspiration, as well as sound files HERE:  dresscodecracker.com

Here’s the square version that you’ll find on itunes (and libsyn), where you’ll no doubt subscribe and share with all of your fashionable friends:

 

 

Memoirs of Someone You’ve Never Met

This a book cover for a book I haven’t written yet. But they say you have to start with a good title (no one says that).

Believe in Spring

I’m trying.

I made this web banner to accompany Curbside Cycle’s latest window display. Thoughts of Spring might be aspirational at this point, but I have to believe it’s coming.  As soon as I finished hanging the window display, however, the snow flurries began.