I’d like to share with everyone the brilliant artist I know from my OCAD days Patrick Gray. A kind and humble soul, that radiates with Talent and wit. I was able to secure some of Pat’s time for this in-depth interview about his beginnings, inspirations, journey and work.

I: First of all, thanks for taking the time to have a chat!, How about you give us a quick run down of yourself, your background and education.

P: Demographically speaking, I’m a 26 year old self-employed “creative” living in downtown Toronto. I dabble in graphic design and photography but I studied illustration at OCAD and that’s the work I like to be doing. By day, I work as Tavis Coburn’s studio assistant. That’s been my main gig for something like 4 years now.  I was born and raised in Hamilton and still live with my two best friends from back home.  I’m passionate about basketball, cars, and movies and I hope that at no point in this interview you ask me where I see myself in 5 years.

I: Alright, I won’t! , How would you describe your creative evolution throughout the years? starting from your first “creative” related memory, to your transition from highschool to OCAD to where you are right now?

P: Neither of my parents had any particular interest in the arts but I grew up in a neighbourhood with very few kids my age.  My closest friend growing up, Ralph, was a few years older than me and liked to draw, so we’d often get together and try to copy panels from comics, invent our own characters for our favourite video games, that sort of thing.  The earliest clear memory I have was, at probably around 6 or 7 (like early gradeschool-ish), having a fucking total meltdown when he learned how to draw hands and I realized I was completely incapable of keeping up with him.  That’s sort of how I operate, I guess: maintain a circle of talented peers who I’m BITTERLY JEALOUS OF to motivate me! That’s the secret weapon! Anyways, drawing with Ralph gave me a bit more practice than most of my peers would’ve had going through school, I guess. I got called on to decorate a lot of posters and chalkboards.

In high school, again, my closest friend was Mike (Dudek, he also went to OCAD) and Mike and I aspired to get into Sheridan College’s classical animation program. The same dream about 9000 other kids have every year.  To that end, we switched schools and started going to this school in the hood that had a lot of extra art programs, like animation classes and photography and so on.  I took as many creative classes as possible. I was taking like sculpture, anything I could. Partly because I thought it would help and partly because I sure didn’t want to be in a math class if I didn’t need to be. Despite some really wonderful teachers who tried their hardest to help me rise above mediocrity, I did not get into Sheridan.  Out of spite and with a super bruised ego, I decided not to accept their offer to study Art Fundamentals there, which is what they offer everyone who doesn’t get into their animation program. I decided I’d do one last year at high school (Ontario had this weird optional 13th year of secondary school for kids who were preparing for university) and apply to get a degree somewhere.  I didn’t really care where. I applied to a few programs at OCAD and a few traditional universities figuring I’d go wherever they accepted me.  I’m flat broke but I had great grades in high school and got a pretty good 4 year scholarship through the government so I wasn’t sweating the cost too much no matter where I went, thankfully.

I got a letter stating that I was accepted into OCAD’s Drawing & Painting program. I called them up and said “Oh, what about my application to the Illustration program?”  They seemed hesitant on the phone and said I was only supposed to have applied to one program and that I was stuck but they’d look into it for me and call back in a few days. I figured I was screwed for first year and that I’d have to switch in later. Five minutes after I hung up, the phone rings here: “Wait, did you say Illustration? Ohhhh, yeah no problem. Consider it done.” I cracked up laughing, like, oh, what, Illustration’s that empty? You need the bodies? I’m doing you a favour?! Anyways, I had a good laugh at that but then the first semester rolls around. And first year’s a big waste of time.  We’re doing projects that are a few popsicle sticks away from being summer camp crafts to weed out the worst of the flakes. And second year rolls around. I have no understanding of the basic fundamentals of picture making.  I’m panicking because I don’t “get it” and I need to keep my marks up to keep my scholarship. I just start falling back on digital illustration because I knew Photoshop better than my peers. And it’s the SAME AS MIDDLE SCHOOL. I’m getting by in Graphic Design class by putting a slick little wacom drawing in there. Same with 3D class, just coasting by with the tiny bit of drawing ability I had. It still seemed to impress people. So I was coasting by on that to keep my grades up. The thing is, I still drew like a highschooler at that point and I was halfway between realizing it and thinking I was in good shape. My peers wouldn’t ever give me negative feedback. The teachers were the same. I’m like, “Damn, I’m not getting any better…but I’m getting good marks so I must be okay! Right? Oh shit, are the standards just that low? Oh, God! WHO AM I?! WHAT AM I DOING HERE!??! Do people seriously like my work or are they slagging it as soon as I turn around?” And that messed with my head. I didn’t know what I was doing going into third year and I was panicking HUGE.  I’d go drinking with my buddies and just fall to pieces when I got drunk, just like, “what the hell am I doing with my life?”  I still don’t believe people when they say they like my work, to this day.  The sad thing is, I had some great instructors and great classes that I was just nowhere near able to take advantage of.

So I seriously considered dropping OCAD and going into medicine or law or…Jesus, ANYTHING else. Somewhere I knew I could make a good living despite the fact that I’d hate a solid 8 hours of my day for the rest of my working life. I had the grades, I’m a pretty bright kid, I’m just not even close to certain that I can handle illustration as a career emotionally.  At this point, though, I realized I was not as well off financially as I thought I was. The well was drying up a bit. So I thought, shit, you have to stick it out Patrick. Do the best you can and when you have a degree, see what doors are open to you then.

Third year of OCAD saved me, I think. I had a materials class with Paul Dallas that I felt really free to experiment in. I didn’t have to come up with a brilliant concept AND figure out the HOW from scratch at the same time. It was just, play with different ways of making a picture.  Different media on different surfaces. Ink resists. Scratch board. That sort of thing.  I never knew about that stuff! I thought every illustration had to start as a blank piece of paper that you drew lines on and coloured it in! Then I took the class that I can say, without hesitation,  changed my life.  Tavis Coburn was just starting at OCAD as an instructor and he was basically giving out assignments he had received at Art Center in Pasadena. And he did material demos too. “Here’s how to do a 7 layer sand down, here’s how to do something cool with photocopies.” And all this was mind blowing to me. I had been trying to do this really slick, perfect work and it wasn’t me. It was just what me trying to do my version of the work I saw successful people doing.  But Tavis opened up the possibility of doing grimy work. All fucked up and rock and roll, you know? And, I was so frustrated that taking a box knife to the piece I just did and cutting it in half seemed like a great idea! I had a hard time diving into it, but it let me cut loose.  And then he taught us to paint.

Fuck me, are you kidding? No. No. I had never been shown, in almost 3 full years at OCAD, how to approach a painting. I didn’t know about tinting the ground and starting with a midtone. I didn’t know there was a rough formula I could follow to start out with. So I was like, this is a bloody revelation!!! I will be a painter! Except, I sucked at it. Bad. Man, I was so impatient and I couldn’t figure out why my painting of a man looked like a piece of chewed gum. So, in the interest of keeping my marks up, I started doing what I was doing before: drawing, but now I was doing it with paint. And I was beating it up a bit.  It worked. It was a thing. It let me get my ideas out and not have to worry about whether I was going to use paint or pen or go digital or do a fucking paper cut out or what have you.  I was getting better with the software, too, so I could do my work and have nice digital output. Looked good on screen. I knew how to get a good print done, too.  And, seeing that I was competent with the computer, Tavis asked if I was available to give him a hand with a job of his.

Uh, hell yeah I’d like to help out!  So I started helping Tavis when he had big ad campaigns. His process is extremely labour intensive so I’d come over and do clipping paths while he did the work.  That taught me the value of the pen tool and the whole world of vectors. Eventually I started to use Illustrator for him (I was reluctant for a long time) to build cars and buildings and things like that, using overprints and all that. I liked that. It was something they glossed over in school. “Uh, yeah, the pen tool? It’s important. Learn it on your own because we have to move on to our next topic: lens flares.” The whole last year of OCAD I worked for Tavis here and there, just trying to get better and learn from a guy who has my dream job.

My last year at OCAD was the first year they had the thesis program there. Illustration thesis. That’s nuts. That’s kind of hard to do.  I give Paul Dallas and Gary Taxali all the credit in the world, they did a great job implementing that program, but it’s a crazy thing to have to do. Intellectualizing illustration doesn’t necessarily always work. Adding academic relevance to the work of someone who wants to do video game concept art can be really weird and unnatural. I wanted to do exactly what Tavis and Gary did, mostly editorial and advertising.  I came up with a grandiose idea that I thought fit the framework of the Thesis program and tried to do my best but I still don’t think I really got it.  I hadn’t quite realized how much work I needed to be putting into a piece. I was afraid to rely on reference.  I didn’t fully accept that I was going to be competing with Gary and Tavis for work in a few months.  But I got by. I think I did okay. Whatever, I graduated and people were still giving me props, despite the fact that I didn’t believe a word anyone was saying.

After graduating, I really felt free to experiment with painting. I had so much time and it didn’t matter if I failed over and over. I started figuring things out a bit, I guess. I’m still trying to figure things out but now I have a really great sort of “day job” at Tavis’ and I can do freelance work whenever the opportunity comes up.  At this point, my work all comes from connections and knowing people. No one’s really checking for my work. But that’s because I’m still fairly certain I’m terrible and I have a crippling fear of self-promotion. I’m starting to get a little voice of my own with my work, I think, though. I think I know how to finish a piece now. So I’ll probably start getting a book put together and start pushing it eventually.  And, after four years of working with Tavis (who is quietly a brilliant graphic designer) and almost a decade of living with my friend James Cam, I have a pretty good working knowledge of graphic design. So I get in here and there with that.  And photography, shit, I just do it for fun at this point. I love figuring out the gear. Messing with lighting. I’m sure that’s going to evolve into movie making eventually because I’m a total narcissist and would love nothing more than to make a 2 hour feature film just 100% dedicated to me.  Just a two hour ode to Patrick. Naw, that’s not true. But I think that’s something I’d really get into, movie making.

I: What a short answer!, Now, can you please share with us three of your favourite pieces?

3) Walter
A friend of a friend commissioned me to do a series of paintings of their favourite flawed fictional heros.  This is Walter Sobchak, John Goodman’s character in The Big Lebowski.  The other two were Bill Murray’s character from Rushmore and Omar from The Wire.  This is something I whipped up before I finished the painting just to show it around, but I feel like I lucked into the likeness being pretty perfect and it doesn’t feel overworked.  The figure was painted in full colour, acrylic on masonite, and then scanned in.  Texture and the bowling pin stripes were added in digitally.

I: As usual, it’s always inspiring to see your work, how about websites? what are a few you visit on a daily basis?

P: I don’t really do a lot of design blog type surfing. Im on flickr and I check booooooom.com and notcot.org pretty regularly. I like grain edit and beautiful decay too. I read more sports news than design news though because I tend to get overwhelmed by all the awesome stuff out there. I wind up convinced that I need to design a chair and release a vinyl toy every time.

I: Thanks for your time Pat, always a pleasure talking to you.

P: Cheers heema, thanks for the opportunity to do this. I hope I didn’t over do it.

To view more of Pat’s work, you can visit his website Gray illustration here
and his personal flickr page here.

It’s been a while since I pumped out some new work. I’ve been working on these four posters for the past two months and I’ve finally been able to silence the Obsessive compulsive designer voice in my head and settle on Final renditions for each film. The Three films I chose to do are Scarface, The Big Lebowski & Inception. Speaking of Inception, if you haven’t seen it yet, go now. It is simply one of the best films I have seen in a long time, intricate intelligent plot, great acting, fast pace, superb action and suspense right up until the last second of the film.

Christopher Nolan surely has done a great job with this one, I’m sure it will be a classic right away, it reminds me of the Matrix when that first came out, nothing was like it, a truly original concept (before the Wachowski brothers messed it up). For those wondering about the rest of the Wes Anderson film series, I’ve put that on hold for a while, but eventually it will be completed, sign up to the newsletter to stay updated. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the new film posters, they are also available in limited edition prints in various sizes, you can get yours at my shop here.

Designed by Marc Thomasset, Buy it here

Via SwissMiss

I have known Ahmed Hafez (aka Fizo) for almost 10 years to the date, I first met this extremely talented individual when I was attending The College of Fine Arts in Zamalek. He is one of the founding fathers of infamous Egyptian design troupe Fileclub, he has been one of the few individuals that have inspired me constantly over the years. I was fortunate enough to snag some of his time for a Quick Q&A session.

Can you give us a brief introduction of yourself?

My name is Ahmed Hafez Younis, you can call me fizo, i’ve been around for a little more than three decades, currently i work as an associate creative director in promoseven egypt and i guess that makes me a sith or a Darth rather than a Jedi.

Bonus Starwars reference, nice .. What do you consider to be your earliest creative memory?

My mother still keeps some scribbles i’ve done at the age of 4, they’re a series of illustrations for different animals in the zoo. The thing is i was old enough to know that the lion is king, so instead of 4 legs i decided he should have more, a little more than 10 legs actually.

Before you sit down to work, staring at that blank digital canvas, what triggers your motivation to start giving it?

Well, I don’t know about a trigger, its not like i wait for my muse or anything. Being pro for that long i guess makes you more capable of summoning your talent and tools at will. Ibelieve this whole thing for me became more like a process of translation, its like my mind speaks an alien language even to myself and the white digital canvas is where i get to understand and explain to the world.

Excellent I like where this is going, can you tell us a bit about the process of how you transitioned from someone who studied Arts to becoming a professional Graphic practitioner? Who were your biggest influences at the time, what inspired you become a Graphical creative problem solver?

Before we get to that i need to make something clear, I work in advertising now, in my position im not really an art director anymore. The borderline between copy and art is almost non-existing in modern advertising. I dont get to work with my hands in terms of everyday practice and I really think that is what’s triggering the flow of personal work, graphic design is more of an escape to me now, i.e. i create the problem then solve it.

But the graphic designer in me was the natural evolution of the art student, although graphic design was never my major, but i was always drawn towards design in general. There was always something interesting in the difference between a designer and a painter or a sculpture ” and then there was digital” a new world to explore, new tools, new ideas, new perspectives, new names suddenly emerged other than dali or picasso, names like Dave mckean and David Carson, it was the late 90s and change was in the air, i just surfed along with friends who shared the same passion, you know the names.

Looking at your body of work, it’s obvious you enjoy experimenting with Arabic Typography/Calligraphy, Sometimes pushing boundaries of what is custom or the the norm. What do you consider to be the pro’s and con’s of designing with that language in mind? And where do you see it heading in the future?

What I do with Arabic Calligraphy or Typography could be considered as crimes, for academic people me and “my kind” butcher the language by not abiding to its rules and roots, i simply believe in evolution,and by evolution i dont mean “Turkey killing the alphabet all together” kind of evolution, when we where children we just had to break some toys to know what’s really going on in there, think of it this way, if i can break it maybe i can pick it all up again in a different way. Thats not a crime, is it??

I believe the problem with arabic typography in design, is a conception rather than a designer problem or language problem, arabic typography has been blamed and still is being blamed for all mediocre and shitty designs all across the arab world , lots of people think that it just doesn’t look as “cool” as latin “3o2det khawaga. (editors’ translation: The foreigner complex)

The future is where we come, we have to change this conception, and i think we’re doing just fine.

Do you think Graphic design is currently being used to it’s utmost capacity in modern day Middle Eastern / Egyptian culture?

Of course not, i believe graphic designers didn’t fully digest the middle eastern / egyptian culture just yet. its a heavy meal, the inspiration, the details , everything, i believe there’s a lot to be done yet.

Can you share some of your favourite pieces?

What are some of the websites that you frequent on a regular basis?

ffffound
ilikecool
but does it float

Thanks for your time, keep on keepin on!

Thank you

To view more of Fizo’s work you can head over to his Dripbook page here.

Ah, the beauty of being able to find out what the time is, simply by the means of letters. Pure Bliss. Designed by biegertfunk, this investment in time will cost you only €885.00.

Available for purchase at the biegertfunk store.

Take your macbook back in time with this cool Decal. Get it here.

Via The Daily What

I’m a huge fan of big letters simply lying around the house. Three Potato Four is an online shop with plenty of Type based treasures and vintage signage to keep your Letter taste buds satisfied.

Via Stephen Taubman

As part of his graduating thesis at SCAD, Tyson Hesse creator of the famous Boxer Hockey came up with this pretty neat animated short called “Switch”

Via The Daily What!

Get up and go from Stefan Werc on Vimeo.

Can you figure out which hairstyle is from what Nic Cage flick?

Via The Daily What!

Feel Good video of the day, in Denmark a public transport operator company “Arriva” arranged a surprise birthday party “flashmob” for one of their bus drivers. When was the last time your employer arranged a surprise birthday celebration for you?

Via The Daily What

New Campaign for Panda Cheese by Elephant Cairo, The premises of the ads occur in a variety of social situations like, the workplace, supermarket, birthdays ..etc, a person is asked if he wants a piece of panda cheese or a cheese sandwich, when they decline, hilarity ensues. Awesome work.

A good super talented friend of mine Amr Wagih “wigo” recently got shortlisted in the Cannes Young Lions competition. Check out his ad by clicking on the picture and if you dig it, vote “like” please !!

So between the move to my new place, having no internet connection and catching a nasty cold, I’m back. So much things have already piled up in my ever-growing To-do list.

Via Yanko Design

Adnan is a really talented illustrator based in Cairo, Egypt who got intouch with me recently and shared some of his work. I was really impressed with the quality and unique style it had that I decided to share it with everyone. You can check out more of his work at his blog

I’ve got a new place! I’ve finally moved into a pretty neat neighbourhood here in Toronto, further West on Queen st. West, an area known as Trinity Bellwoods. I got a nice two bedroom Appartment with plenty of room to spare and as OCAD drilled in me over the course of my Bachelors of Design there, “Idea’s need space.”

I’m extremely excited to start enjoying mornings in the park (one of the biggest in Toronto) which is 2 min walking distance from my place. The area is also home to two of my favorite Toronto establishments, a unique local bookstore called “Type” & an exquisite french patissiere called “Nadege”, which I may do a reportage on very soon.

Images via compendium daily / Torontoist / Wikipedia / galerie-lausberg.com

Jessica Hische is an extremely talented Typographer/Designer/Illustrator based in NYC. I came across her work a couple  months ago and have been hooked ever since. You can check out her work here.

Via InformationIsBeautiful

Via SBNTWRK

I came across this really talented fellow designer Muiz Anwar, from Manchester, UK on my daily Flickr browse lately, his work is striking and bold, definitely commanding my attention. From  reinterpretations of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, to in your face splashes of colour perfectly and carefully utilized over top some unique designs. Brilliant overall work, I got in-touch with him recently and bounced a few questions off of him, here’s what he had to say:

Ib: Hey there, Can you tell us a bit of your upbringing ..

M: I’m Manchester born and raised, which is in the North-West of England. Manchester is famous not only for its’ rain, but also for its’ iconic musical exports and design culture: The Hacienda, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Oasis, Peter Saville, Malcom Garrett…

Ib: What’s the earliest Creative related memory you can recall?

M: My earliest creative memory is hard to pin point – but one of the earliest would be drawing animals and dinosaurs on the back of stapled bunches of outdated timesheets my mum would bring home from work. I think I still have one or two of these, but the colour has faded a little.

Ib: Was there a certain point in your life when you decided to explore your arabic roots creatively as seen in some of your work? or has this always been something that just happened naturally for you?

M: Well racially my roots lie more immediately in Asia – but one thing has always fascinated me from a scientific, philosophical and theological perspective – is what I call, “the Origin of Order” – or how things came to be – including the various races of human.

M: It can be anything. I really am inspired by the world around me. Many designers choose to look to their own discipline and peers for inspiriation in their work – but my work and aesthetic has always been informed by a variety of things. It could the latest concept car by Audi or BMW, or a dress from a couture catwalk, a new scientific theorem, a piece of graffiti, a story in the news…. Whatever it is it has to be genuinely innovative – something that triggers excitement, imagination or challenges my preconceptions. These are things that make the cogs in my mind begin to turn and whur into motion – and trigger images and words which manifest themselves into typography, photography, illustration, product design, graphic design, fashion ideas which I will sketch of create immediately.

Creativity and inspiration can never and should never be overly defined – to do so illustrates a lack of objectivity to your environment and how that environment can inform you.

Ib: Can you pick three of your favourite pieces of work and talk about them, within the realms of the four W’s (What, why, when, where)?

M: 1.

What: ILM Magazine

Why: It proved that editorial design can be both cutting edge & have substance.

It also provided me with my first project where I did my own photography, styling, typography, article writing, art direction, fashion and publication design – so despite the issues I see in it now, it’ll always hold a very special place in my heart.

When: 2008 / 2009

Where: Designed in Manchester, England.

For more pictures click here

2.

What: “Morse Code” Arabic

Why: It pushed Arabic to its’ legible & aesthetic limits. I used to think the beauty and complexity of Arabic was evident in its’ curves. I proved myself wrong.

When: 2009

Where: Designed in Manchester, England.

3.

What: “Untitled”

Why: My first foray back to my first love after 5 years of intensive graphic work, I returned to my illustrative roots. Using my signature ballpoints, I began creating characters for a project that would explore how culture and tradition permeate through the generations, especially when those generations grow up in different environments. It’s the most successful form of characterisation through figurative illustration I have done in recent years.

When: 2008

Where: Created in Manchester, England.

For more images in the series click here

Ib: What are some of the sites that you just have to check on a daily basis?

M: Sites I have to check on the daily (too many to mention, I literally cruise upto 50/60 blog front pages from a meticulously organised bookmark library) I’ve included a small selection below:

Flickr / Twitter / Behance / Typography Served / FFFFOUND / FormFiftyFive / Creative Review Blog / Eye Blog / Wired Magazine / Vanity Fair Magazine / Coute Que Coute Blog / Icon_ology / Boston Big Picture / The Die Line / The Lovely Package

Ib: In fin, Just before you die, as you are about to expire from this world, what would you would’ve liked to achieve with your life?

“Manchester-based mixed media artist James Roper spent three years folding approx. 10,000 origami flowers (10 a day, every day) for an installation called “Devotion.”

Via The Daily What

“Shepard Fairey, the street artist featured in the new Banksy film Exit Through The Gift Shop, explains the film, if it’s real, what it says about the art world, and why he continues to play along.”

Via WNYC