blog
- Workin' it...
- 17 July 2007
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My friend Gary Davidson is the art director of an excellent magazine called Explore, the focus of which is outdoor life in Canada. It's one of my favourite mags, and not just because Gary frequently hires me to do illustration work (the smoking rabbit piece in my portfolio section is one example). I even have a subscription! So when he called me up about a month ago and asked if my girlfriend Karen and I would help him out by appearing as models on the cover of an upcoming issue, I enthusiastically agreed. He followed this up by saying "There's one small catch. Seeing as the cover story is How to make love in a canoe, you both have to be in your underwear". Hell yeah! A few weeks later, sporting spray-on tans (seriously) and with a good dose of carpé diem under our belts (so to speak) Karen and I accompanied Gary to the shoot at the Scarborough Bluffs. We stripped down to our skivs, got slathered up in body oil and, via the photographic magic of a fellow ACAD grad, KC Armstrong, now appear scantily-clad on the cover of the July/August issue. By the way, did I mention that Karen, aside from being super hot, is also an extremely good sport? I salute her gusto!If that wasn't reason enough to rush out and buy a copy, this issue also features a collaborative feature illustration by myself and two of my best pals, Steve Wilson and Clayton Hanmer. We draw together on a regular basis, a three pitcher of beer-length event that has become known as "Pen Club", and decided to start a collective, ostentatiously titled Trio Magnus (ie. Latin for "The Great Three"). Seeing as Gary often joins us for Pen Club, he asked if we would consider doing a piece together for the upcoming issue. We agreed, of course, and the result (which I'll post in the portfolio section in the near future) is really cool. Props to Gary for his innovative vision, not to mention paying us to drink and draw...
So get out there, pick up a copy of Explore and add an eyeful of skin and beer-fueled illustrative mayhem to your required reading this summer!