From Molecules to MIlk | Interface magazine cover

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on my portfolio over at Behance and realized that there were some projects that I never published on my blog before. So I intend to correct this situation by posting them now. It will be an ongoing process but it should be all here soon.

The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology publishes their own magazine where they highlight the latest results to come out of their research. Interviews and special articles on the people behind the innovations are also part of the magazine.

This issue, Interface 21, was a milestone since the magazine went through a complete redesign and I was lucky enough to be called upon to work on the cover. I had to hunt down an old milk bottle from a thrift shop so I could photograph it for both the cover and the article. Fortunately it was only a 10 minute walk down the street and even had the chance to choose which bottle I wanted. The idea was to have a vintage look and the combination of hand drawn fonts and a blackboard texture for the background was ideal for this purpose. The dark background also helped to make the milk bottle and the title to stand out.

Here's a bit of the process the magazine cover went through.

 

Snowaka | Custom snowboard skin design

This post is related to a previous entry I made back in 2010, however, I never really took the time to describe what was going on. So I think this is a good opportunity to talk about the snowboard project.

My friend Rachel Halfpenny is an avid snowboarder and is addicted to the powdered slopes. As soon as snow falls at Mt Ruapehu, you can see her gliding down with a plume of snow racing behind her. She will get up at the crack of dawn and drive the 4 hrs to the mountain, snowboard for as long as the light permits, get up early the next day, hop on her board and spend a few more hours making tracks and then drive four hours back home... that's dedication!

It was only natural that she would want to personalize her board, to capture her personality and reflect who she is. This board was the end result. Her fun and happy personality can be seen in the cartoon of her but also her pride for her English heritage, the emblem and the St George's Cross is a dead giveaway.

You may be asking yourself where the word Snowaka came from or what it means. It's a play from the word snow and waka (maori name for canoe). So essentially she rides her snow canoe, hahaha. However, phonetically it could also be "snow walker"... clever huh?

Ephemera

Wasn't sure which version was the best so decided to post both of them. Which one do you prefer? These illustrations have been developed from a sketch I previously published, Ephemera.

Always fluttering at the edge of my dreams, never being able to really grasp her.