Sexy Snowboarding Wallpaper
Posted by Troy | Filed under Collaborations, Shop
So I’m shamefully including the word “sexy” in the title of this post to increase search engine hits… is that a crime?
Today is collab friday again – and this is another reader suggestion! This time from my good buddy and fellow northwest-michigander Robbie Morford.
Tags: original illustration, print, reader suggestion, snowboarding, wallpaper
Creative Block
Posted by Troy | Filed under Self Project
Here on the northwest shores of Lake Michigan, we experience a natural phenomenon known as “lake effect.” We’re perfectly positioned in climate and landscape to enjoy hundreds of inches of snow every year. Most years the snow starts falling around Thanksgiving and continues each day until after Christmas. The newness of winter and the pure white blanket that covers everything is always an inspiring change. I don’t think I could ever live in a place that has no winter.
But as we turn the corner into February, each of the slowly falling flakes brings with it a tiny dose of depression.
When weeks and months pass without any sunshine, our bodies and minds enter a kind of hibernation that makes motivation hard to come by.
Tags: depression, original illustration, self
The Beatles
Posted by Troy | Filed under Music
Illustration by Troy DeShano
This year new music sharing will alternate with music-based illustration.
My 9-yr-old daughter has really been into The Beatles lately, and on the rare occasion that she takes a break from The Muppets soundtrack you’ll hear the Fab Four ringing from her iPod.
I thought it was pretty cool the other day when she had a friend sleepover and I could hear “Love Me Do” coming from her room and wondered how many sleepovers over the past 50 years have had that song in the background.
So in honor of her and her always classy tastes, here’s the first in what will hopefully be many Beatles-inspired illustrations from our house.
Tags: original illustration, the beatles
Bunny Eating Contest
Posted by Troy | Filed under Collaborations, Other
Illustration by Troy DeShano
It’s Collab Friday!!
This week’s illustration is a reader suggestion… and for some reason this week everyone was suggesting super-weird and specific things (like I’m that weird??)
Everything from three-headed-kitten-mermaids to stilted tortoises…
When two different people happened to mention pie I knew we were on to something though…
@sacredlotus suggested bunnies eating pie and Matt suggested Cake vs. Pie…
So I decided to draw Cake vs. Pie in a bunny-eating contest.
Still kind of weird for me, but that’s the fun of collaborating, right?
What should I draw next time?
Bunny Eating Contest Wallpaper
Get this delicious illustration on your desktop dudes:
2560×1440, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1280×1024, 1020×1080
Tags: original illustration, wallpaper
I’m Here
Posted by Troy | Filed under Self Project
I’m lucky enough to have never suffered from chronic depression.
But it does sneak up on me from time to time.
Every once in a while I’d just as soon stay in bed and am lucky that my office is a mere 3 feet away or I’d never make it.
Today is one of those days.
Tags: depression, Faith, original illustration, self
Chai Tea
Posted by Troy | Filed under Strong Odors
On the rare occasion that I pour a cup of tea without spilling a drop I feel like some sort of martial arts master.
I’m sure it’s possible that after a million years of pouring tea our society could have designed a pot less prone to dribbling, but to pour a perfect cup from some sort of fool-proof “modern” design just wouldn’t offer the same satisfaction.
In those one-in-a-million moments when I lift and tip with the perfect angle and trajectory that not a single molecule of red rose drools down the spout I sit up straighter and feel that much more confident… like I can take on this afternoon with the unmatched balance of voracity and patience of a Jedi master.
Tags: martial arts, original illustration, strong odors, tai chi, tea
Breathe Deeply Through the Nose
Posted by Troy | Filed under News
Illustration by Troy DeShano
Tags: holidays, original illustration
The End of Joy is Grief
Posted by Troy | Filed under Faith
Illustration by Troy DeShano
Proverbs 14:13 - even in laughter, the heart is sad. and the end of joy is grief
At your family table this week there is one member who will eventually see all the others dead.
Not something we really like to think about, but deep inside we all know it is true.
The end of all joy is grief.
I’ve heard that we’re an accident
and when we’re dead we’re gone
If that’s true then what’s the point of living at all?
Meaningless, it’s all meaningless
King Solomon said that
We hang on to life for dear life
Horcruxes and all
But if death just might be something more
Then I may not have to fear it
and life is something too
So I live like I’m dyin
instead of tryin to defeat it
That’s been done
Death ain’t my master
it’s the next great adventure
Dumbledore said that
*Majority of this post inspired by and/or plagiarized from Tim Keller’s sermon “The Wounded Spirit” — except the illustration is stolen from Norm Rockwell of course.
Tags: bible, death, original illustration
Jump
Posted by Troy | Filed under Humor
Illustration by Troy DeShano
Sometimes when I’m on the roof of my house cleaning out the gutters I’m tempted to jump down rather than take the ladder.
But then I have to remind myself “Dude. You’re in your mid-thirties now..”
Then I jump anyways.
Because 40 is right around the corner.
Tags: original illustration
New Print: EAT
Posted by Troy | Filed under Across the U.P., Travel, Work
Illustration by Troy DeShano
When I left Michigan for the first time I was naively surprised at how many people new nothing of what we call “the U.P.”
Come to find out explaining an “upper peninsula” is more complicated that you might think..
North of Lake Michigan and Wisconsin a magical stretch of forests reaches along Lake Superior’s southern border from Michigan to Minnesota. If you’ve ever wondered what “air” smells like I highly recommend a visit. I made quite a few trips along the U.P.’s southern route in college and more recently have enjoyed camping along the Lake Superior shoreline.
Besides the sheer lack of people, the other thing I love about the U.P. is that when you do happen across civilization, it’s like you’ve stepped into another country.
The pace slows down exponentially; hit “seek” on your radio and it just spins like a vortex; little towns pass by every couple hours that I like to imagine have their very own Laura Palmers and Big Eds and Log Ladies…
and I’ve said before that even though everyone speaks English, they name their businesses as if no one does.
Tags: across the up, original illustration, U.P.
