Picture THIS.

FACT: People remember more from images than from text. Do you ever wish you could express an idea by drawing it?

Visual thinking is the key to creating concepts that play out in pictures.

And I've noticed that quite a few people could benefit from it so I developed a workshop to inspire people to see "stories" as "pictures".

I'll also be sharing a few of the little tricks I use to convey my stories and concepts using some of the most straightforward and easily accessible digital tools.

Maybe you have a story, article or PowerPoint presentation that you want to illustrate; or you'd like to promote or teach something with images or video. Whether you draw it yourself or hire someone else to do it, having a clear idea of what you want is invaluable.

My workshop will give you skills to distill your concepts to their most basic forms: lines and dots.

I'm keeping it uncomplicated - there's no hi-tech blathering.

Also it will be funny.

And sweet.

If you're interested in bringing The Art of Visual Storytelling to your event, contact me. I am nice.

If you're in Montreal, you're in luck. The Art Of Visual Storytelling is being hosted by ELAN English Language Arts Network, Tuesday, MARCH 12. It's right downtown in a great space - the Visual Voice Gallery, BELGO building, 7-9PM. Fee for ELAN members is $10 ($15 for non ELAN members or $5 for full-time students). Perfectly do-able prices, amiright? 

This workshop is filling up quickly, so you should totally register now!

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Green scream.

Hopefully you're seen some greening out in social media profiles today. I add my voice to those in solidarity with the visual FX artists who labor on most of the films you see and love. Films like the Oscar-winning Life of Pi. Without VFX those films would look like this:

This is the hidden cost of make believe.


And it's not just VFX; it holds true for most of the animation industry. Though I hafta say, visual FX and compositing takes place at the end of the production pipeline. Everything impacts there in terms of budget and schedule. Those artists typically fund productions with their blood, sweat, tears and love.

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Best Pickleture.

"The Award for Best Pickleture goes to..."

With trembling hands the A-lister opened her envelope and face-palmed before joyfully announcing,

"...PICKLEWEASEL!!!"

The stunned hybrid cucumber / mustela rose from his seat in the audience. PickleWeasel somehow actually made it onto the stage without tripping, was kissed on the forehead by a human celebrity and tearfully thanked his creator (me), as the award was placed in his paws.

Then he farted and blushed, relishing the moment.

The audience cheered and even Mr. Spielberg blinked admiringly.

Congratulations on your Golden Pickle Award PW. Your fans love you! *sniff* ....so proud.

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Audience Participation.

I'm sooooooo late in cutting this video together. Sorry. It was the "audience participation" segment of my Opening Keynote at the Aiming Low NonCon in October 2012. I wanted to empower the crowd while paying tribute to Anissa Mayhew, who leads Aiming Low.



Anissa Mayhew and everyone from Aiming Low are pretty special in their outlook. The incredible irony is that as I post this video, Anissa is recovering from breaking the wrist on her stroke-affected arm. And in her inimitable style, she jests that she "wasn't really using it anyway".

Here's the simultaneous "I can. #noncon" tweet stream generated.

Dare to dream; the world needs more of it.

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Party FOOD.

The 15 year old girl will soon be 16.

In case you were wondering what kind of party food would be appropriate to serve at a Sweet 16 party, one of my daughter's friends made some suggestions on FaceBook.

I hafta say, the celery kinda surprised me.  Celery is a ninja.

On Friday night this place will be crawling with starving teenagers. Any advice?

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Harlem Shake (PickleWeasel Edition).

This meme is perfect for limited animation. Creds to my firstborn daughter for walking me through its nuances. So much fun, I animated it in one crazy day.

Also... PickleWeasel.

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6 Moments of life.

This is Shelagh. Sometimes she talks me off the ledge.

My brother came to town. He was just sitting on the sofa unwinding and catching me up on his life in Toronto.

The 12 year old boy got his hair cut.

Our 15 year old daughter has copper locks. I was happy to find her without mascara.

I went to see The Huz playing bass in Carolyn Fe's Blues Collective at the House of Jazz. Carolyn always brings a fan onstage.

My friend Kayo at her going-away-dinner. She's leaving Montreal, returning to Japan. We didn't spend enough time together while she was here and it makes me sad.

These are moments of life.

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