Kim Smith

The woes of adopted pets.

2011-12-19T18:13:00.000-08:00

Here's an illustration I did for an upcoming issue of Modern Dog Magazine for an article about adopted pets and their behavioral/health problems.

I had to sneak my parent's Jack Russel Terrier in there...

If I don't post again until after Christmas, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday! Be safe and eat a ton!

Love Meets the Law

2011-12-04T13:25:00.001-08:00

I recently did an Illustration for a 2012 issue of Baltimore Bride for an article that addresses the dos and don'ts about the legal issues when getting married.

Here's a few for the first ideas I had before completing the initial illustration. Glad they decided to go with the tunnel of love idea! It was my favorite one of the bunch.

Character Designs!

2011-11-26T09:35:00.001-08:00

Some things I'm working on for a personal project....

A Ketubah

2011-11-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Just recently I was lucky enough to be commissioned to illustrate a Ketubah for a the wedding of Erin and Adam. An early congratulations to them!

Fox Sketches

2011-10-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Did a little painting the other night. Who doesn't love foxes?

Love After Life

2011-09-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

I did a piece to put in a friend's show! The theme was Ghosts.

Lady Sketch

2011-09-13T11:14:00.001-07:00

Bats!

2011-09-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently done a cover for Know: The Science Magazine for Curious Kids. They wanted to do an adorable fruit bat theme for their most recent cover, and I was happy to contribute.

Artsopoly!

2011-09-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

I did a few illustrations last week for Swerve's fall arts guide (a cover and some spots)! Swerve has been a delight to work with! Check it out the results from our collaboration:

Sketchfest!

2011-08-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Rhino sketches...!

Crazy Flip

2011-08-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

A illustration based off the Crazy Flip ride! I love it.

If you love amusement parks and carnivals as much as I do you should also listen to this week's episode of This American Life.

Baby's got bite

2011-08-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Some sketches of some sharks because it's shark week! I'm trying to work a bit on character variety.

Fish sticks

2011-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Dads & Paper Cutting

2011-06-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some illustrations I did for Swerve Magazine for the article "The Stay-at-home Dad Reports for Duty" by Jeremy Klaszus. If you want to read the full article you can find it here.

Also I did the quick piece for an art wall at work. It's all paint and cut paper. I didn't get great photos of it so I've also included the quick colour rough I did before starting on it!

The Watermelon Cavalry

2011-05-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm off on Vacation for a couple of weeks. Going to see the sights of Las Vegas and then over to Disneyland. Sketches when I get back!

Cotton Candy 2!

2011-05-03T11:31:00.001-07:00

Cotton candy deserves a fight!

Cotton Candy

2011-04-29T16:57:00.001-07:00

A while ago I drew a bunch of sketches with kids and cotton candy, now I'm just coloring them up as little vignettes!

Strolling

2011-04-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

Just a fun piece for myself. I've been looking at a lot of 1920s fashion prints, which inspired me to draw dresses and peacocks. Sketch and final...

Saloon Salon

2011-04-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Just working on pieces to put on mailers! I've also finally joined Twitter in case any of you are interested. I don't know why I put it off for so long. There's such a great community of artists on there.

Exciting news for the Anthology Project 1: It's been nominated for an Eisner! That's pretty exciting. A special congratulations to Nick and Joy for bring such wonderful people together and putting together the book! A congratulations to all the talented to people who contributed to the book. I'm so proud to be part of such a great book, as well as the next one, Volume 2! Volume 2 is available for preorder so I would recommend doing that asap! I can't wait for my copies to arrive!

Swirly Straw

2011-04-04T21:34:00.001-07:00

A Great Escape

2011-04-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Holi

2011-03-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

I love the Holi, the festival of colours, celebrated in India. If you look up photographs of it, you can see all the rich beautiful colours they toss around to celebrate unity and love. It looks like a ton of fun!

Elephant!

2011-03-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

Dog!

2011-03-22T20:24:00.001-07:00

Bus Stop

2011-03-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Book finished!

2011-03-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

I've been working the last couple of months on illustrating a book called Kaujagjuk that will be published by Inhabit Media. Here's a few images from that project. You will be able to find it on Amazon.

Also... I have a new website up! So go check that out!

Periodic Table

2011-03-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

I did some illustrations for KNOW! Magazine's may issue that were quite a bit of fun to do. They reminded me of my love for chemistry class.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-13T09:51:00.001-08:00

For you Parks and Rec fans out there.

Paintings: Power In Numbers

2011-02-11T12:43:00.001-08:00

Here's a couple of things I was working on for Gallery Nucleus' Power In Numbers.
The piece I ended up submitting is the one with the kids poking at the goop on the beach.
The piece goes up for sale on February 13th on their website, and a portion of the proceeds go towards the World Wild Life Foundation so be sure to check it out.

Supersonic Duck attacks the Aqua Dinosaur Kingdom

2011-02-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Bathtub shenanigans!

Harry - An Anthology Comic

2010-10-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of in progress pages from my Anthology comic titled Harry.

Monty, Websites & Stores.

2010-10-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

I've updated my website with a new redesign as well as opened up an Etsy Shop which I hope to be adding more stuff too in the next couple of days. There's some stuff already up there now but I will be adding more prints for you to chose from!

The Anthology Project 2

2010-10-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

The Anthology Project 2 is set to release next year and it needs a little help getting off the ground, and our lovely editors Nick, Joy and Sam have set up a Kickstarter account to help cover the initial costs. If you haven't checked out the Anthology Project please do. It is an absolutely beautiful book. If you donate $30 to the Kickstarter account not only do you get a copy of the Anthology Project 2 when it's released, you also get some snazzy buttons. It's just like pre-ordering your book. You can donate whatever you can, of course. In this book there's about 24 exceptional artists telling their stories, guaranteeing that this book will be amazing as well.

Please check out the website to see more about the project, including previews and a list of everyone participating, and give what you can to support the creation of another beautiful book.

Stepping Outside

2010-09-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Lately what's been keeping me the most busy a Schoolism class I'm taking: The Art of Caricature taught by Jason Seiler. I thought it would be useful to step outside of my comfort zone and try something completely different. It's probably the most chanllenging thing I've done in a long time, but it's been a lot of fun and Jason is a fantastic teacher.

Here's some of the work I've been doing. It's not great, but you can definitely see that it's a change of pace. It should be interesting to see how it informs my own work!

Updates

2010-09-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I haven't updated in ages. I've been busy with projects such as the upcoming Anthology Project book number 2 as well as a few things I can't mention at the moment. Here's a sneak peak at my character for my Anthology story.

Count the Canadian Things

2010-06-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is for a Canada Day show in Toronto. I had done sketches of beavers for a project in grade 10 to show the different levels of government. I thought they were hilarious, so I decided to revive them and bring a whole pile of Canadian stereotypes with them. Cool, eh?

Speaking of that grade ten project...

Vegetimals... now in 3D!

2010-06-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

I just recently converted these guys (vegetimals) into what you see here. I take them around to the comic shows and hopefully I'll be getting them on an Etsy store in the next month or so. I'll also be making prints available to order!

Made possible by Rocket Punch Studios

Newspaper

2010-06-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

The Fates

2010-05-08T11:29:00.001-07:00

Thinking about crows and Greek mythology.

Belly of a Whale

2010-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Something I was working on for a show in Calgary. I ended up doing cut paper layers of prints, like paper tole.

The show is Sans Comic Sans at the Untitled Art Society, running Apr 22-24th.

In other news don't forget to check out the Calgary Comic Expo. Not only is the Anthology Project going to have a fantastic booth there but also be sure check out the talented Mike Perry and Nick Bellemore at their booth, I believe it's called RocketPunch. They will be selling some awesome zombie figurines, small army of Vegetimals I created last week (I'll post photos later this evening), and some other fantastic one of a kind items.

Depending on what a certain volcano is up to this weekend I may or may not be at the Comic Expo. Otherwise it's off to Paris!

Captain Pugs

2010-04-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Anthology Project - ready for pre-order!

2010-03-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to make the announcement that the Anthology Project is complete is now available for pre-order on the website! The books are absolutely gorgeous so be sure to order your book asap!

It was fantastic to be part of such a great project! For more info on it you can check out the website here as well as the Facebook group here.

The book will be released April 3rd!

The End of the Dinosaurs

2010-02-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

Just playing around with painting in photoshop with some characters I'm developing.

The Coupon Guy

2010-01-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

2010-01-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't actually finished an illustration in while, I wanted to just do something fun for me. This is inspired by a photo I saw of a man in a hot spring during the winter and also by a show that did a segment on snow monkeys. They have an interesting social structure, look it up if you're interested!

Also a piece just to celebrate the new year! (He doesn't mean to be sour, he just hates his hat.)

Cormorant

2009-12-31T13:23:00.000-08:00

A quick drawing for a friend of a double crested cormorant ready to chow down! Snow monkeys coming soon!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Happy New Year!

Christmas

2009-11-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

I did a few illustrations for Orchard Mall in Kewlona, BC. Go there to get you Christmas goodies, folks.

Sketches

2009-11-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately two weeks ago my uncle passed away. He was one of the people who inspired me to pursue a career as an illustrator. He and my aunt bought me my very first can of fixative as well as many great art tools such as prisma colours and Chinese calligraphy brushes. They have been been very supportive of my career at an artist. Even though Tom is not around anymore I would like to thank him for being an influence on who I am today.

-

Well. I have been very busy as of late. I'm trying to sit down and expand my horizons, or at least get more sketching done. Here's a taste of what I've been up to:

Comic

2009-10-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well I've been busy work on the Anthology Project comic for a very long time. It's pretty much wrapped up, so stay in touch on the website for more news about that! I'll be getting back into the swing of things and hopefully will start making more regular blog posts! Here are a few preview pages from my comic:

Where I've been.

2009-08-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy as of late! I'll be back soon with more work. For now here are doodles.

The Tounge

2009-06-15T20:07:00.001-07:00

A wine taster character I'm playing around with and another doodle:

And Villains make me think of....

2009-06-01T21:36:00.001-07:00

Villain

2009-06-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with characters who possess a large nose and it lead me to think about an old stereotype of a villain.

Gone Fishing.

2009-05-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of year again boys and girls. I'll be gone for two weeks to California.

On another note, I've received and accepted an invitation to participate in the Anthology Project. You can find more out about it here: http://www.theanthologyproject.com/ It looks like it's going to be a beautiful book though, there's an incredible amount of talented artists that I'm honored to collaborate on a project with. If you haven't already you should check them out now!

And here's several of a comic I'm finishing work on:

Calgary Comic Expo!

2009-04-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to give a huge thanks for those who came out to the Calgary Comic Expo and came to the booth to check out my work. I met a lot of great and amazing people and I enjoyed chatting with all of you! With any luck, I'll be back next year! Keep in touch with the blog and I'll be posting some images soon.

Attack of the Veggies

2009-04-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

Four prints I was working on as teasers for a comic I was working on but failed to finish for the Calgary Comic Expo. They'll be sold as prints there so come and check out the booth I'm splitting with the talented Laura Bifano. It runs April 25-26 at the stampede grounds!

I've also kind of dropped off y blog for a little bit. I've relocated myself, which took a lot more effort than I thought it was going to. Now I'm pretty much back into the swing of things, but I'll be gone again to California in May. I'll hopefully have some more posts before I leave.

They enjoyed it more than I did.

2009-03-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

A little illustration submitted to a show about tree houses . This was based from my own feelings towards a tree house I had growing up. There were lots of bees in it and I spent little time playing in it because of them.

February was a busy month and I hope to update more often now that's it's all done. I'll be at the Calgary Comic expo with a buddy of mine, Laura Bifano the last weekend in April so be sure to keep that in mind and come and check it out.

Genie

2009-01-19T21:10:00.001-08:00

I like glasses.

Cottonwood

2009-01-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a story about a man who turns into a stuffed bear. I was just doodling some roughs to get the idea for the bear's shape, but I'll have to design the man's character in human form before I can nail down a look. More to come later!

Oh and if you're in Calgary tomorrow there's a Bravo screening showcasing some animated shorts that I helped contribute to.

Year End Experiments

2009-01-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of little sketchy things. I hadn't painted in a very long time and I keep wanting to take it up again. I think I'm going to try some oils as well over the next little bit. I'm a bit of a confused artist right now and I'm playing with a little bit of everything just to keep things rolling.

The Seamstress

2008-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this image for a little while and I wanted to finish it before posting anything new to the blog. Sorry it's been a little while.

Overall I'm happy with the image. It was just a fun little piece for myself.

Monty Likes Apples

2008-11-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

A character design based off of the adorable Red Panda at the Calgary Zoo who came down out of his house to eat an apple core. He doesn't like apple sauce.

Little Leg Stew

2008-10-28T21:02:00.001-07:00

Here's something I was working on to get me into the Halloween spirit. I don't know if it'll be done by Halloween but here's a peek for the occasion (just in case it's not). Plus a sketch from work staring Mr. Wrinkles the cat.

Beats and Beets.

2008-10-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yup.

Mr. Snail

2008-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

The last and probably the better of the three sculptures. It was a fun project!

Hopefully I do some more sculptures before Christmas. I have some neat ideas for some fat and rosy cheeked Christmas elves. I might attempt to had make some of the outfits as well. We'll see how it goes though!

Nightmares

2008-10-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

An illustration based on the theme nightmares. I guess my biggest reoccurring nightmare isn't a nightmare at all, it's sleep paralysis. While researching ideas for this project I had sleep paralysis four time in a row one night trying to get to sleep. I was almost to afraid to go back to sleep. If you have episodes like this more than once a night always remember to turn over on your side. It prevents it from happening!

Check out the show at the UPPERCASE Gallery in Art Central later this week.

The Worm and the Caterpillar

2008-10-07T17:57:00.003-07:00

Here are couple of projects that have been keeping me busy. A little bit of a segway from what I usually do, but it's great fun just to switch things up a little.

I apologize for the crappy photos!!!

In the middle of the night

2008-10-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to come up with good ideas for an up coming Uppercase Show.

This is a cute sketch I wanted to get out of my head.

Unexpect the Expected

2008-09-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

I've been extremely busy this month. I've been hired on as a concept designer for Studio Y Creations and have been also doing freelance work on top of that just to keep my own thing rolling.

Here's a little taste of the freelance stuff I've been up to:

Back from the coast!

2008-08-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from my little trip to Nova Scotia, obviously since there's been updates on the blog, and as great as it was I'm eager to get back to work.

Sometime before September the website will get a revamp and a little polishing on the blog.

If you're in Calgary in September be sure to check out the "Old School" show at the Uppercase! It opens August 23rd. If you aren't in Calgary the gallery owner and show curator, Janine Vangool designed a delightful book which includes the work from the show. You can pick up here: [link] She put together what I'm sure will be a lovely show, so check it out!

Also I weaseled my way into the September addition of Applied Arts (a Canadian magazine: [link]) and Calgary's Avenue Magazine. There are some more great artists showcased in both magazines including some of my fellow graduates so check them out as well.

So you're going to get hit by lightning....

2008-08-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

2008-08-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at backgrounds from animated films lately and I love the backgrounds with a strong line drawing and offset colour. This was an experiment derived from that.

Don't Forget Your Umbrella

2008-08-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from vacation. Here are a couple of images I was playing with on the plane ride home. The woman in the tea cup boat is my favourite and I'll probably end up finishing it.

In the next couple of weeks I plan on revamping my website for September! I'm giving it a fall cleaning.

Don't forget the monkeys:

2008-07-19T13:30:00.001-07:00

Or something like that.

I'm heading off within the week to Nova Scotia for a bit. I won't be checking my e-mails while I'm down there. I'll be back in August!

Balloon Man

2008-07-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Every once in a blue moon I sculpt something just for fun. This was an idea for an illustration but instead I wanted to try and sculpt it. There are of course some issues with the figure but I kind of like him even if he is a bit lopsided!

So here's my attempt at sculpture! Here are some details:

Birthday Cake and Robots

2008-07-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

I've been working with some pretty interesting writers lately here's another pretty fun project with one of them. It's an illustration for his children's story. I love projects that give me a chance to illustrate cake because really, what's better than cake?

Games: Chinese Whispers and What Time is it, Mr. World?

2008-07-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

Just a couple more games!

Games: London Bridge and Musical Chairs

2008-06-26T22:24:00.001-07:00

Games: Spin the Bottle

2008-06-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

A redo of spin the bottle for the poster!

Games: Ghost and Potato

2008-06-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sardines!

2008-06-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

More games!

Nicky Nicky Nine Door

2008-06-14T13:26:00.001-07:00

A near finished image for the Children's games project. One down thirteen to go!

Cardinals

2008-06-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

Chirp Chirp!

Childrens Games

2008-06-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

A test image. I might try and do a finer line and detail with technical pens outside the computer. Maybe some brush strokes and different hand made textures. We will see. I like the colour scheme.

Spin the Bottle

2008-06-05T23:20:00.001-07:00

I've been working on a large collaborative project for the Uppercase Gallery's Old School show coming up in August. We're doing the theme of children's games and Spin the Bottle was one of the ones on the list to be illustrated. I dolled one of my sketches up a bit because these two characters used to illustrate the game are inspired my mom and dad. They had a wedding anniversary today so I thought it was fitting.

(It's not the finished product obviously... where's the bottle?)

Catching Up

2008-05-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to announce that I'm not dead and there will be updates on this blog very soon. With my recent graduation I've been taking some time off just to refresh a bit before starting new work! I have some exciting projects happing or happening soon so hopefully within the next two weeks I'll have some new work to show!

Flying Cars

2008-04-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

I tried to take a futuristic mode of transportation and give it an older interpretation.

Sweet

2008-04-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

School's winding down for this year. For April there's a lot going on! I have a couple of pieces in the Little Critters show put on by Janine of the UPPERCASE Gallery, which I thought was pretty exciting. My year's portfolio show is on the seventeenth and I'll then be done school for good! Since every thing's so busy I was looking to destress a little this past weekend so I doodled some cakes.

Broccoli Comic

2008-03-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

The final look I've decided on for a 15 page comic about the rise of the killer broccoli. These are my two main characters Maude and Mr. Doyle in Doyle's monster hunting headquaters! Hopefully I'll be able to complete the other pages just as nice as this.

Kids Book Covers

2008-03-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent a lot of time finishing up these kids book covers. They need some fixing up before they make it to the web site. I'm also working on making the cover spread an illustration because I mean, who doesn't love chickens and chicken bums!

I think I'll have to do more little sketches of chickens.

Self Portrait

2008-03-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Sometime in the neat future I'll be snazzing up the blog a bit. I'll be adding links to some of the illusrtator bloggers I love the most, but for now here's me by me.

Sketches

2008-03-08T11:45:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to give you an idea of what my character design process is kind of like. So here's a bunch of the better sketches when developing characters for the illustrations from the Giant and Me and the Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox

2008-03-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

A business card design I was thinking about using, but then I didn't! So here's the illustration.

On another kind of neat note a really nifty blog called Illustrophile featured me in one of their recent posts! It's really quite a neat thing, so much thanks to them. Go check it out kids, it's a fantastic illustration blog.

the Garden

2008-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

One more for tonight!!! A Japanese type garden.

Hefty Dragon

2008-02-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

It's reading week. Ahhh, being on holidays makes me a giant slacker. This is one of the things I did over reading week! I kind of like it.

Lillian Gish

2008-02-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

We're doing a blog in a class at school I figured I'd post some of the things I've been doing over here as well.

Character Studies

2008-02-04T13:43:00.000-08:00

The little girl for a story book character design.

2008-02-03T20:41:00.001-08:00

A new kind of style I've been playing around with. I like line work.

Bull

2008-01-25T18:29:00.000-08:00

I like to paint things that are dimensional. Here's an attempt at designing a wooden ball.

WWI

2008-01-13T16:44:00.001-08:00