Ti Moun 4

Another Ti Moun cartoon, if you live in Montreal Quebec you just know that Grégory Charles is just the most annoying artist around. White people love him and think we like him (we the black community) I''ve been told that I even look like him and the idea came from that. On the artistic direction level, the comic is way too polished for my taste so in the future I'm going to give it a more humanistic touch because cartoons are mostly about people and I don't think it should be that clean. The first idea is always the best one and I will take a different approach that will look more like the 1st one I know my editor is going to flip and it's all goood !

fashion illustration / CD cover

Another illustration for the newspaper I freelance for and I also used it as the artwork for one of my mixes as you may or may not know I have a music blog as well called thegoodvibez. In all honesty sometimes I get tired of doing somewhat the same type of illustrations so I always challenge myself to add some new elements and also to polish of my work. On this piece I worked hard on the hair because I wanted a more natural look for the highlights and I like the final result, I also kept away of the thick black contour to have a realistic look. You know my technique by now if you read any of my previous posts, I always start by drawing by hand then I scan, trace in illustrator and polish off in photoshop.

Kiano / Ad

I've been working with Kiano for a while now, I did a lot of work for them since they opened this was my last piece I believe.  I love the fancy waiter,  the mustache, the snobby facial expression kills me. Same technique as usual, sketched, then scanned, digitalized in illustrator then polished in photoshop to add depth, shadows and highlights.

Ti Moun 3

It's with this illustration that i started to feel that I was going somewhere with the strip. I love the granny  and you will know that every haitian family has at least one. Mine passed away and there's not one day that I don't think about her. The story came from my sister's friend who's a bus diver and an old lady told her that she almost got attack by gangbangers, she stopped to look only to see two pre-teens chilling at the bus stop and the idea came like that.

Ti Moun 2

What's wrong with this ? the character looks nothing like the first strip, I revamped the whole thing, redesigned the main character and got this cute old school b-boy. Love the glasses (they are actually in fashion now) I was simply doing an homage to Run DMC and now cool kids are wearing them and the Kangol hat is pure nostalgia as well, did I mention this was a work in progress ? The writing is me, because growing up in the suburbs (Laval) I always felt out of place with the withe kids and when we would go out on week ends (I'm talking about high school now) the same way I felt out of place with the withe kids I felt the same way when we we're going to party in St-Michel.

Ti Moun 1

The editor's been on my ass for about a year to do a comic strip, I was like cool but you need a good writer if you want it ti be good and after watching the 2 seasons of the boondocks (look it up people who don't know) I was under the impression I could do this. I scratched out some ideas made up of my observation, some of them are my experiences (not this one thought I was actually good in sports) and Ti Moun was born. Ti Moun means kid in creole. It's a work in progress, I can definitely say that I have done better illustrations. I wanted to go with a dirty look that's why I did not trace it in illustrator and originally it was in black and white. The editor wanted it in color so I slapped some colors in there. I quickly went back to tracing the artwork in illustrator it gives it a nicer finish check out the next one.

Style Girl

Style Girl is my favorite of this genre of illustration. I was assigned to illustrate a trendy girl on a shopping spree, she had to be black because the newspaper is mainly targeted toward black people even thought that doesn't mean much nowadays. I did my sketches, then pushed for one final then scanned the pencils, traced in illustrator then did the final montage in photoshop. The editor loved it and that really made my day to see the editor flip like that.

Mirror Girl

This is another piece I did for the newspaper I currently freelance for, this is as editorial illustration, the article was how teenage girls see themselves. It was supposed to be a skinny girl looking in the mirror seeing a voluptuos sexy body, well my body in the mirror was too sexy so I had to tone it down. I still like this illustration and I think the message gets across however my vision was better, Damn you editors !!!

Fashion Illustration / Shopping Girl

This was my first fashion illustration, I do it on a monthly basis now and I love it. This type of illustration is everywhere, magazine are saturated with them however it sells so I'll keep doing it to get paid. If you have a good eye you'll see that I totally messed up the hands but I'm satisfied with the illustration as a whole.

Ma Gang

Early as a graphic designer / Illustrator I did artwork for C.J.M. (Centres Jeunesse de Montreal), my first project was a comic strip about juvenile prostitution the project was a huge success I tried to do a follow up strip about street gangs, the project never picked up like I wanted to and with my busy schedule it's now on ice hopefully I will be able to conclude a deal to finish the project. I wanted this illustration to be dark without being too gloomy, I wanted it to be young dynamic and I love the way I used the colors to be dark without being too gloomy.

L.X.D. Logo

LXD (Livraisons Express Delivery). The project manager for this was the same guy for the Lush Monkey. On a good note we (the project manager and I) we're able to get some 50 000 copies printed in the whole downtown montreal area however within one year the company went bankrupt. The concept was already made for the company was using clip-art as a logo on top of a booklet that which I was mandated to do, I threw in the redesigned logo and logotype. The client loved it and after this contract I was proud to say that even through adversity I can still did s great job.

The Lush Monkey / Lush Media

The Lush Media / Lush monkey this was some of my early work, it took more time that I anticipated, the client was demanding but fair. Sometimes as a freelancer you need to develop this zen like patience to complete your work. I still love the piece and the client was satisfied and at the end of the day that's what's important.

Flyer

This is an Illustration I did that served as a flyer, the concept was a lady under water, you can see the Manga/cimic book  influences on this piece. I don't remember how long it took me but it's one of my favorite illustrations.