Recently, Ive picked up a few things from following other illustrators. One of the newer things Ive learned is the how to use the polygon lasso tool to make clean and subtle shading. The polygon lasso tool easily lends a more finished clean look as well as eliminates the need for line work, which can often flatten your illustration. Here is an animated gif I did of a friend of mine. I used the polygon lasso tool on a layer mask and went over the sections lightly with the brush tool.
Author: fenderbox
Quick Edits
So recently, I’ve been playing around with quick and small editing to my pictures to turn them into something else. One of the things I’ve enjoyed is adding subtitle style text to an image to create a narrative and change the image into something beyond a still frame. Here are some of my quick edits: 
Exhibition 2016
I took it upon myself to capture the Canadian National Exhibition in analog film for the second year in a row. For your viewing pleasure: Some of The Memorable Things I Saw 2016
I made a gif!
I learned how to animate my illustrations (!!) I do need to retouch and clean up but here is a little test for now, I will post the second iteration promptly. Enjoy the bouncing cacti! – Mel
I learned Photoshop again
It has been 3 years since I’ve installed Adobe Photoshop on my laptop and after every long period of time of neglect, I always need to re-learn how to use it. My third attempt and here we have arrived :
Summer Sixteen
Summer sixteen meant a lack of summer for me ie. a lot of time working a series of jobs. It felt great doing something productive and active with my summer but also exhausting at times. On my days off I tried to go out and enjoy the no-school no-stress atmosphere that summer has to offer and tried to document it as well.
Character Design
Recently did some character design for limited edition prints that required a background and environment for the character. Here are some of my drafts of fictional characters
Big Hat Ahead
A little reoccurring hat that turned into a series.This hat makes everything more fashionable and dramatic but its actually very impractical on a windy day. Throughout the day we almost lost it a couple times because wind. On the same day we went to the Market and I got some photos of clams.
Amber The Human
This lil’ firecracker came over one night to do her homework so I made her shredded potato hashbrowns and pasta. We spent maybe an hour talking about past, present and future lovers. She let me take her picture in the midst of going through Tinder.
