jason laudadio

Life Drawing

2011-12-27T07:45:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to a short selection of conte on newsprint life drawings, one of my favourite things to do...ever. I am compiling as many as I can these days for an upcoming artshow in the fall of the new year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30338815@N03/sets/72157608243264928/show/

Homemade Banjos

2011-12-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

Since I am a musician and in a few bands you can probably see the connection between the earlier work using a handmade approach to gourds and vessels and how it led me to start making my own instruments with the same material. Here are two of my latest pieces. The first one pictured here is one complete gourd and I have just cut away the side to stretch the skin. You tune this one by sliding the strings up and down the shaft. The larger one is still in progress and needs more shaping on the neck which is carved and shaped all by hand.

Compound Ceramic Forms

2011-12-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

These forms are like a pot in a pot in a pot. They are not assmebled after firing but actually the compound forms are all thrown at the same time. So for each piece I start pulling up the wall of the innermost form first until it is like a finished pot. Then I pull up the next wall and close it around the first one being really careful not to touch the first wall and rip the piece in two as it spins around on the wheel. Really fun to make and as you can see I usually prefer an unglazed finish to allow the feeling of the original clay to come through instead of a polished, glassy look.

Ceramics

2011-12-27T06:57:00.001-08:00

I work in ceramics and now use the throwing wheel for just about all of it. These forms were thrown with the closed ends at the top while being careful to maintain a consistent wall thickness. I then cut them off the wheel at the bottom and carved out the holes you see when the clay was half dried and easier to hold without collapsing the forms.

Vessels and a Comic

2011-12-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots of some drinking vessels and a basket that I made by hand as part of an art project where exploration of the now almost forgotten low tech world of living off the land was seducing me. These items were collected from the landscape and crafted into functional tools, even the cord on the gourd I wove out of corn husk.

Here is a short comic project I drew/inked/wrote in the small slivers of spare time that I could pull out of the finger of my life.....It ended up being published in an anthology. Click on them for a closer look if you want.

t-shirts

2011-12-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here are t-shirts I designed and illustrated for 2 bands. The first one is a great bluegrass band www.foggyhogtownboys.com and is the new band logo and the second shirt was an image pulled from the CD booklet for www.chriscoole.com . This CD booklet had an image to represent each song instead of a full description, I thought it was a cool idea when Chris pitched it to me and I had a great time working on it. I also included a few of the other booklet images here.

Comic layouts

2010-06-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a very loose pencil layout for a comic page.

just fooling around

2010-04-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes something just pops out. Here it is.

Another CD cover

2010-04-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here is another CD cover (front and back) I did for Chris Coole and Ivan Rosenberg, it is a portrait of the two artists and their instruments. It is a great album, check them out at www.chriscoole.com. Someone else is doing the hand lettering which will be on the final CD

Skulls with Skins

2010-03-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Lots coming up soon, working on a comic book, children's book, mini animation and concepts for on line games, whew! it is good to be busy!

Hey, Thought I would post these. I doodled them while watching a movie. Does anyone else do that? Sit and sketch while watching movies? sometimes the movie is more visually inspiring than the story and gives me ideas and off I go...skritch, skraich, shkritch.

Car-bot

2009-12-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a loose sketch of some retro car robots that I am working on. Just idea sketches at this point that will turn into a series of finished illustrations in the new year.

sketch

2009-10-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Just a sketch from inside of my head of an angle I thought might be interesting as I was warming up for the images for the CD. I still may do something with it though...never know.

Cd booklet

2009-10-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hey,

This past weekend was a CD launch for Chris Coole's CD 'Old Dog'. He asked me to do the artwork for the CD booklet and had a really different approach. He wanted an image that would stand in place of liner notes to communicate something more about the songs, pictures being worth a 1000 words and all that. So we listened to the tunes, talked a bit about them and came up with what I think turned out to be a great project. At the launch of the CD I hung prints and did a limited run of this image here which is a variation on one of the images in the actual CD. It seemed to me a great way to bring together music and image in a way that enriched both and a creative approach to producing a CD, which in the end is always about images and music and their interaction.

The print is 12 X 16 and the original was done with brush and ink.

Check out his site at www.chriscoole.com it is a great CD and all his stuff is top notch.

Lovely Cadaver

2009-07-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here is my take on a cool character designed by John McNally called The Lovley Cadaver and I did my version of it for the Drawing Board. I thought I would share it here too. His site is www.jonmcnally.net check it out he has some great stuff.

Pocket Watch

2009-02-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a whole pile of digital object drawings lately for work, here is one of them. I have always wanted a pocket watch but never find one I like enough to get so for now I am happy to own this one, even if it is only on the computer.

Edward Gorey

2009-01-22T02:56:00.001-08:00

I thought I would post a sample of my work in the style of the great Edward Gorey. Hope you like it.

Animation

2009-01-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

These are 2 stills from a short animation that I am making. I will post more as it gets done.

2009-01-07T15:28:00.001-08:00

That time of year

2008-12-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

I have been swamped lately with work and just now got time to post my Christmas card for this year, Merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate it and happy holidays to everyone else.

Memory sketching

2008-11-29T10:46:00.001-08:00

I have been doing doodles from memory and usually warm up with a drawing of myself since I should remember what I look like. So here are a few... the first one is of me and the others are just faces I made up, oooh and a cartoonesque car.

Another Car

2008-11-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Here is another car I have been working on. It was painted entirely in photoshop and man are these fun to do.

Trosley Car

2008-11-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

After doing lots of drawing on the computer the past few days I was longing for the old school black and white marker approach. So I did a drawing of one of George Trosley's cars that I loved as a kid, all with marker only and it was quite a blast. It is great to hold an original piece that I have worked on and not just a print out from the computer.

Speakeasy Comic Show

2008-11-08T07:36:00.001-08:00

Here in Toronto there are some amazing comic artists, some of the best in the industry. Last Thursday night I attended this local comic event called SPEAKEASY that has been running for 14 years and is meant as a way for artists to get out of the studio and see what other folks locked away in their studios have been up to. People really talk openly about their process, new things we have learned and really share knowledge between peers, which is why it is called 'speakeasy' and why it is such a great event. Each month has a different theme and I will be in the illustrator and comic events in the new year and I am looking forward to it.

Pencilbolt Logo

2008-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

This is one of several logo designs I did for a comic book collective that is made up of writers and artists that work together as a group. I chose a pencil because it represents a drawing tool and a writing tool and it is used in the idea stages of both disciplines. This group feels that ideas are what they are really about and combining it with the lightning bolt shows that their ideas are dynamic and charged full of energy. The comic style word balloon in the background establishes the field they are working in.

More Old time

2008-11-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a cover for an Old-time stringband CD that I did. I also did this portrait of a banjomaker for a series of upcoming T-shirts to promote his instruments and on-line store.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here is the art for an upcoming comic book cover and I thought it would be the perfect Halloween image for the blog. It is one of four panels that make up the whole cover, each panel has a different theme. I have left space at the top for the title and issue info which will be inserted when all the panels are complete.
Click on the image for a closer look....
.....if you are brave enough...oohhh...scary.

Life Drawing 2

2008-10-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

There are a couple more life drawings on my flickr site and here is a sample of one of them. Just good old conte and newsprint. The drawing is about 15" tall and took somewhere in the 5 to 10 minute range.

Eyes

2008-10-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Just hammering out some practice this weekend and thought I would post this one of men's eyes. I did these on the computer with my wacom tablet in photoshop and find myself working more this way lately as a result of the type of jobs that I am working on these days. You can click on this image (as with most of my blog pics) for a closer look if you'd like.

Doodles

2008-10-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here are smaller things I have been doing just for kicks lately. The first is a drawing of how I remember my good friend back in his contemplative days, the second is a quick sketch of the great Doc Watson fretting out some tunes, the third doodle is of my favourite autoharp player Kilby Snow and the last one was done while having lunch at a great local spot called Mocha Mocha

Life Drawing

2008-10-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

I like to keep up my drawing from observation when I can and life drawing is my favourite way to do it. It helps me stay focused and present when drawing and pushes me to constantly discover new ways of drawing and seeing. To watch a quick slide show of the life drawings I have posted so far click here then feel free to snoop around the rest of my flickr site

Metalhead

2008-10-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a pencil sketch of a character called 'Metalhead'. He has the body of a man with the head of a robot! How cooky crazy is that?

Pencil roughs

2008-10-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a rough for a comic book style illustration that I did today as part of a proposal package for a book. The job asked for 'a guy walking down a street with a puzzled, thoughtful look on his face' so I put the vanishing point right at his eye level to guide the viewer's eye to his expression and built the rest of the drawing from there.

Prometheus two

2008-10-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here is another page from the 'Prometheus Smiles' short story that I did the art for. It was written by Ty Templeton as part of the Bootcamp Comics Anthology.

Business Card

2008-10-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

It was time for a new business card so I put this together with a drawing of me on it so folks might remember what I look like and who I am when they go flipping through the stack of business cards we all seem to accumulate somehow. I also started using it for my profile thumbnails for consistency.

Fall Colours

2008-10-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

I went for a long walk through the Mt.Pleasant Cemetery on the weekend and took my camera with me to get some shots. The colours were amazing, nature knows how to do it right. Check out my flickr site for lots more photos if you'd like.

kitchen board

2008-10-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

My wife and I have this little blackboard in our kitchen by the stove. I always had a hard time remembering when I started baking things so we got this and put it up for me to write the times on. On this day I drew a little portrait of her to see if it would make her smile.

Handmade Baskets

2008-10-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a handout I drew for a course on outdoor craft skills that I taught with a good friend of mine and I made these two baskets as demonstration models for the students. I was careful in collecting all the materials in such a way that the trees would go on living. The birch basket is sewn together with roots and for the second basket I pulled all the bark off of branches that a neighbour had discarded on his curb. I love making things with my hands and here I also got to put my drawing skills to good use with the handout. I will post more 3D things I am making as time goes on. I studied sculpture in college and just can't shake the love of building stuff.

Prometheus First Page

2008-10-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the pages for the comic I am working on. I am sending it off to the letterer to put in the captions and dialogue. It is a 4 page story written by Ty Templeton about Prometheus and how he makes peace with his predicament.

Sponge Bike

2008-10-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a drawing I did last night for a friend that rides a motorcycle and is obsessed with Sponge Bob!

incentive program

2008-10-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here is something in a real cartoony style that I just did for SAP Canada for what they call their 'MONTH OF SERVICE'. It's an annual program for their staff across Canada to sign up and volunteer at food banks, community centers, etc. in their local communities. We created an incentive program leading up to the month and for this part I designed this dog using the company colours. They named him 'Valiant' and we came up with an 8"X4" card (on the left above) that each person was to put up in their office/cubicle with the dog in the doghouse. When employees signed up to volunteer they received the second piece (on the right above) which is a 4"X4"sticker to paste on top of the card showing Valiant out of the doghouse. This way people walking through the different departments could see who had signed up to help out the community and who hadn't. This was to foster a group spirit in each department and friendly competition between departments to get as many folks involved as possible. This is only one part of a much larger campaign I did for them but thought this one would make an interesting post.

Prometheus

2008-10-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Doing more work on the comic today, it's a short story written by the great Ty Templeton. It could be described as Prometheus with a twist. Here is a sketch for one of the panels with the nasty bird that eats his liver. These pages are almost done and I will post more when they are complete. Check out Ty's latest project with another hero of mine Rick Green. It is called HOVERBOY it's hilarious and well worth snooping around the site.

old time music

2008-10-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine named Chris Coole produced this poster for one of his upcoming concerts. I was happy to lend my illustration to him as I am a big fan of old time music and he taught me all I know on the banjo. Check out his site because if you live in Toronto you can't get better than this for great Bluegrass or Old-time music.

Nervous Trees

2008-09-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

At the Word on the Street it was great to see so many people out for an event about books but as you can see from above, with so many books stacked around, the trees couldn't help but look a bit nervous.

One of two highlights for me was hearing Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek talk about their book 'POHADKY' The art is awesome and the themes are inspiring I just fell in love with it when I picked it up. They are working on an animated film and the book you see here is a collection of images and symbols from the work they are doing on the film. Check them out at http://www.tincanforest.com/ and see images from the book at http://tincanforest.com/domovoi.html
The other highlight was getting a copy of 'Skim' Mariko and Jillian Tamaki's book which I have wanted to pick up for quite a while. The writing is compelling and the artwork is so natural and full of feeling that it makes it quite an experience to read. Mariko's blog is http://marikotamaki.com/blog/ and Jillian's art must be seen at http://www.jilliantamaki.com/

word on the street

2008-09-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

I am definitley going to the 'word on the street' event here in Toronto this weekend. It is a great collection of cool books, graphic novels, comics and magazines from all kinds of really creative people. Some of the lectures look great. I'll post some pics and notes when it is all done.