The following is the first in a series of 8 stories I’ve written about 8 hockey goalies who used their skills and smarts outside of hockey to help their team succeed. This is the first one that has been illustrated. Click on the first thumbnail to begin the story and mouse over the illustration to click to the next page. Six in total.

The Blacksmith Limited Edition Prints

All eight stories along with Limited Edition Prints can be viewed here.

When Rob from Three In A Box called to say he had a job for me creating a series of watercolours of the Northwest Territories I was thrilled. When he told me that various elements of the illustrations needed to be painted separately and then scanned and merged digitally for animation, I gulped “no problem”. A few watercolor sketches and tests scanning and layering in Photoshop proved to work fairly well. After color sketches were approved, the line art for each illustration was drawn up in pencil on tissue. The entire drawing was transferred to one piece of watercolor paper and inked. Additional elements of the scene were then transferred to separate pieces of watercolor paper. For example the orange of the sky was lightly transferred to one paper, the blue shadows of the snow to a different paper, and so on. The watercolor washes were then painted on the different papers. After all were completed, they were scanned and layered in Photoshop and ready for animation! Each illustration had around 12 layers or separate paintings. You can view the animations of the illustrations being built on the the award winning website here.

It was great to hear that these illustrations are part of a Merit Award at the The Advertising & Design Club of Canada.
Category Interactive Design>>>>Education and Information

Congratulations to the Interactive Agency Sonic Boom Creative Media
and to the Advertising Agency Tait Communications for their awards and the great work on the project, and for allowing me the creative freedom to dive into the art and have fun!

And a big thanks to Rob at Three In A Box for landing me such a challenging and fun job!