Jon Blair and the Case of the Temporary Blog

jonblair.ca: A Thing Now

2010-11-19T06:59:00.003-05:00

Ahoy my sweet brothers and ladybrothers,

I'm taking another honest swing at being a guy on the internet now that I've got some things on the go worth describing and recounting (there was a good long time when I was mostly just going like "okay I am almost done processing all of these damn DOCUMENTS," but sometimes those things just gotta get themselves processed). The new site is beginning in earnest at www.jonblair.ca . If you've bookmarked the blogspot URL A) Thanks Mom and B) change that bookmark!

"Recounting?" That's right, right?
jb

This Just In: Oh boy!

2010-01-30T14:22:00.004-05:00

A video I did for Tal's Trailer Show called "SEE!" just won Funny or Die's facebook poll and is one of the days featured videos. This is a very broad leap for me in terms of people in the internet looking at something I did one time. Do have a look at it if you would like to have a look at it. It's this thing!

SEE! - watch more funny videos

(no homo)

2010-01-10T18:22:00.003-05:00

I was hanging out the other night, digging up old music I hadn't listened to in a while on youtube, and I landed on the video for Outkast's ATLiens. Good track, kind of a simpler time for the group, pretty basic video. What I did quickly notice, and you'll probably still be able to see this in the comments section, was this conversation:

SRT92 (6 days ago)

for some reason dis song gets me ina good mood when im feelin like shit lol

FEWDE24 (2 days ago)

@SRT92 i feel the same way about this son, no homo

SRT92 (2 days ago)
lol its all good man.....da more u feel dis song da better....(no homo)

Thats right: this week, on the internet, two guys agreed that they both liked a song, and then both of them immediately had to qualify that it didn't make them gay.

A Bar Code On Your Hand, An Expiry Date On Your Heart

2009-12-11T05:51:00.006-05:00

Couldn't get much sleep tonight, so I finished up another Nightlab character concept I'd been working on. Probably my favourite character in the series to draw, sometimes-antihero/sometimes-straight-up-villain Lincoln Crow:

I think the reason this character is more fun for me to draw is that he never necessarily has to look the same. He's a sort of a warped, ghoulish thing and the rules of anatomy and continuity are semi-lifted compared to the other characters. He should look a little unnatural and a little wrong. Also, the character has zero nuance. Drawing any other character usually brings forth the challenge of converying what they're feeling, but also sneaking it in under a few human filters, having them hide it a little. Lincoln is always representing exactly what he is feeling or doing, and even when he's being decietful in a way which is supposed to fool other characters, it doesnt' necessarily need to fool us.

Up until I started inking this, he was holding an axe, which I removed at the last minute. I thought the axe gave it even just an iota of context, which I didn't want here. I have to remember as well that I am going to have to do very normal, straightforward concept sketches of my characters soon enough, as Lincoln will usually be seen with a labcoat, and pants.

Two Hot Slices from the Poster Toaster

2009-12-09T07:37:00.007-05:00

Hey guys,

So it seems once again my magic picture-making machine has reached into the future and it's plucked out things for you to go and see this weekend and next. First up, here's some work I put in for Stand In Line's production of The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, which is opening up this Friday and running all weekend:

I did quite a few variations on this theme, from postacards to web banners and so on, and I won't bore you with every iteration. The company realized at the 11th hour that a full-sized poster was within their means, so the challenge was to take the very simplistic imagery of the postcard I'd already designed (which was simply those 8 faces in two rows), and smear it over a larger format. I was worried that the content was too watered down to sustain itself on it's own legs (mama mia I am a mixing some a tasty metaphors in a my kithcen), which is what led to the press blurbs and the red text, which was a bit of a cheap trick but something just wasn't popping otherwise. Anyway you can listen to me talk about what font colours I use or you can go to the Bread and Circus website and reserve a ticket for this very funny play; it is definitely not your mama's Christmas show. Not that the Christmas show your mother wrote wasn't terrific, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying this isn't it.

Next up is this guy that I whipped up for She Said What, who are hanging out at Comedy Bar on December 18th and 19th and doing things in a joking way:

This was a very brief gig that I had a lot of fun working on. Carly from SSW is friend and a fellow Sketcherson, and she just sort of let me run around on this with very little in the way of requirements or restrictions. The group prefers (or at least has just usually decided) to use a photo in their posters and they have some really fun/weird shots on reserve for that purpose. I whipped this up after seeing one where they were all caught mid-jump. I'm very happy with the aesthetic of this. I like to think that if there was ever an early punk album cover where an all-female sketch troupe was flying around over a city in the winter all Dickens, this would be it. Note this as an early example of my mounting obsession with old rock posters and their possible application in my work (and as one of 8 zillion examples of my apparent unending obsession with rooftops in everything).

It's worth noting that Carly is also to credit for the term "Poster Toaster." Unless this turns into a royalties thing, in which case no way man.

Step right up

2009-11-29T13:42:00.002-05:00

Here's the latest poster I finished, for UC Follies' upcoming production of Assassins, which my excellent bud Jocelyn Geddie is directing. Doing a poster for one of the Hart House musicals was a good gig because it was a departure from my usual work for comedy stuff and I had to approach it differently in terms of coming up with the concept and how I carried it out. I did know that the set design of the show was going to use this shooting gallery motif, so I ran with that. Also, just a heads up, I'm gonna be doing this drop-shadow layering thing ALL THE TIME now, so get ready to get sick of that.

The internet really surprised me while I was working on this. My assumption had always been that there were enough people out there just firing guns into plywood and posting photographs of the holes on the internet, that if you went on Google Image Search looking for a photo of plywood with a hole blown in it, you could find it in fairly short order. Well, apparently not! It was one of the toughest elements to track down. I'll say this though, when doing an image search for anything that has been shot by a gun, put your safesearch on or you're going to see a bunch of dead bodies.

The Local Hero

2009-11-18T16:20:00.007-05:00

Hey guys,

Just finished this mixed-media thing I've been working on for the last little bit. It's called "The Local Hero," and I took it out on the roof for a couple of photos.

I think I use text too much in my visual art, and I was briefly considering not using any in this one, since once I got finished with the business with attaching the gloves and letting all the housepaint run down (a lengthy process which was kinda murder on the arms), I found that to be a pretty strong visual on its own. But I ended up writing and adding the whiteout messages anyway, because there was a sentiment I was looking to install into this piece that I felt like only they would really accomplish. Hope you dig it!

Allie went to White Falls Space Camp at an irregularly young age.

2009-11-11T16:19:00.004-05:00

Been getting back to work recently on some new character concepts for Nightlab. Here's the first of a few, Allie. People who read the original book way back in the day may remember that she was very small and thin and boyish, and while there are aspects of that which I like for the character, this time around I didn't want to take it to extremes. The darker eyes are a new addition, as are the little emo armband guys she's got going on over there.

Also, as I'm now noticing, all of todays posts are brought to you by Textured Paper Layers: "The WRINKLY layers!" and by Coolvetica: "Keepin' it Cool with Coolvetica".

Catch23

2009-11-11T16:06:00.004-05:00

Another poster pending approval, this time around for Catch23 Improv. A long-running mainstay of the Toronto improv scene, Catch23 is a very fun competitive improv show where teams get a chance to do several scenes that must total 23 minutes. It can also brag that it was the only show ever to feature a performance by the infamous Skulls of Vengeance (Andy Hull, Fraz Weist and myself). We placed poorly.

Catch23 takes place every Friday night at 8 at Comedy Bar.

I've done two versions of this poster, and just need to get it to the show's organizers for approval, then one of these bad boys (or something similar) will be up around the town. Check out both versions and let me know if you like the evil face on the clock or not (my preference is not, but i just don't like evil faces. They frighten me!)

Poster work pt 1

2009-11-10T11:12:00.007-05:00

A few gig posters I did recently for some of my comedy buds around town. I'll have two more of these to post up by the end of the day, meantime here are these. If you need any poster or illustration work done, drop me a line. Or y'know, tell your friends to drop me a line. Or tell pretty much everybody but me (redundant and would make us both feel silly)

PROJECTproject's COMBUSTIONfestival. This design also made it onto a pretty bitchin' t-shirt (these guys have a smooth new website, as I noticed when I was linking to them. Pure go look at it)

I threw this lens-flare party at Microphone Sword's house. I don't have a link for them right now but I'm gonna youtube up a sketch that they did pretty shortly.

Logo for Touch_My_Stereotype. This got turned into a slick button. Once my friend jabbed herself on purpose with one of the buttons, and now that's all I can see.

"Give Up, Join MONDO, I did!" for my old stomping grounds MONDOmagazine. Apparently an early indicator of my "cityscape on fire" fixation/fallback.

A-BOO, A-HOO, A-BOO-HOO-HOO

2009-11-08T18:09:00.002-05:00

Placemats from Beyond

2009-11-07T17:56:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

Here's just a test post for this here blog, which is gonna serve as my place to get a bit of work out on the internet while I'm building my full-blown "look at this" website. Don't have time to do too much today; me and the Sketchersons are doing a show in about an hour. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow! Meantime, solve these puzzles here. Maybe print it out and you can take it on the subway with you!