The next best thing to watching old cartoons, is admiring the original print work. I draw a lot of inspiration from vintage cartoon poster art from the 1930′s, 40′s and 50′s.
I think my favorite thing is the playful and unique typography. In a lot of cases, it’s hand-drawn; so it has a loose and unconstricted feel that I admire. There’s so much movement.
Some of the older posters are so visually striking, yet overtly simple.
Often when I design, I start off with a broad colour palette, but as the artwork progresses, I strip away colour after colour. There are some beautiful examples from the 1930′s.
But let’s be honest, these posters give such a warm sense of nostalgia because of the characters themselves. Vintage cartoons are the best; they don’t make them like they used to.
One of these days I will have a full size original hanging on my wall.
Donald Duck and the Gorilla • Walt Disney • 1944
African Diary • Walt Disney • 1945
Popeye ‘Sock-A-Aye-Baby’ • Paramount Pictures • 1934
Betty Boop ‘I Heard’ • Paramount Pictures • 1933
‘Krazy Spooks’ • Columbia Pictures • 1933
Crazy Over Daisy • Walt Disney • 1950
Freeway Phobia • Walt Disney • 1965
Go back to 1: Intro, Overall Theme, Invitations & Logo Go back to 2: Venue, (e)Motion Sickness Bags, Food & Decorations
Ceremony
Our officiant, Daniel Brereton, was remarkable. He willingly played along with our vision right from the start. He came dressed head to toe in a full pilot uniform, which we rented from Malibar Ltd.
He also customized his opening speech:
Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome aboard. I am your Captain, Daniel Brereton and on behalf of Shaun, Michael and the rest of the crew here at Love at First Flight airlines, I want to welcome you aboard flight 09/03/13 service from St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto to Who Knows Where! We are currently flying at about 249 ft above sea level, however our ultimate cruising altitude will depend on you….and how much you enjoy yourselves this evening.
Our flight time will be about 15 minutes, but remember, this is only one leg of a journey that will last a lifetime.
Please ensure that any baggage you may have brought with you is safely stored. (Looking at Shaun and Michael) Let me repeat….please ensure that any baggage you have brought with you is safely stored!
Acknowledging that most people have no idea what the hell spirulina is, Shaun wrote a mini three panel brochure explaining the benefits of this foreign dietary supplement. We held it together using airplane shaped paper clips.
Attire
The two of us were styled by Hudson’s Bay style guru, Vaughn Stafford Gray. We wanted to match, but not wear the exact same thing. Vaughn helped us choose the perfect colours, textures and fit. #bespoke
Shaun:
Jacket: Biella Collection from Theodore 1922 Vest: TopMan
Pants: Surface To Air
Tie: Eton
Shirt: Brooks Brothers
Shoes: Ted Baker
Passport Station
We set up a station where guests could take their own professional-style ‘passport’ portraits.
Our cat, Abby, came dressed to the nines. We had to find someway of including our little beast in the evening!
I bought her a dress; had a photoshoot; then printed a life-size cardboard cutout.
She hung around the photo station for most of the night.
Entertainment
I’ve always been a firm believer that if a drag queen shows up at your door, you know it’s a damn good party. Which is why we surprised guests with Toronto’s own, Katinka Kature.
At the stroke of midnight, she burst onto the dance floor dressed all in black as a sexy flight attendant, lip-synching to Toxic by Britney Spears.
There was laughter. There were tears. By the end of the evening, every last (e)motion sickness bag was consumed. Honestly, the night was a huge success.
A week after the wedding, I received a handwritten letter from my Aunt, Debbie, thanking us for the wedding. Aren’t we the ones who are supposed to send out thank you cards!? I’d like to share part of it:
March 9, 2013 – A day I will never forget. What a magical, beautiful and wonderful event. I have never been to a more moving wedding in my life. You couldn’t have done anything different; the venue, decor, music and food; everything was so unique. A true reflection of Mikey and Shaun. You have a bunch of wonderful friends who love and care for you both so much. Thank you for letting me share your special day with you. I will never forget it.
So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into our special day. We truly are blessed with the most loving family and friends anyone could hope for. I consider us both lucky for not only the endless support from those around us, but to live in a country that recognizes marriage equality. All you need is LOVE, people.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to hear about more fun designy projects in the making!
Go back to 1: Intro, Overall Theme, Invitations & Logo Skip ahead to 3: Ceremony, Wedding Favours, Attire, Passport Station & Entertainment
Venue
We chose the Market Kitchen located inside the St Lawrence Market; one of Toronto’s best kept secrets. Shaun and I shop at the market nearly every weekend and had no idea it existed.
It’s a gorgeous venue with a lot character; equipped with high ceilings, exposed brick, wine barrels and giant arched windows that overlook downtown Toronto. It was the perfect space to accommodate our theme.
(e)Motion Sickness Bags
Right before the start of the ceremony, I thought it would be fun to hand out airsickness bags filled with facial tissue. You know, in case of any (e)motion sickness. Har har.
Food
Shaun is a nutritionist, so he was very particular about what we served. Most of the food was gluten and dairy free.
Originally, we envisioned simple grazing stations; however, as the theme evolved, we asked the catering company, Daniel et Daniel, if it was possible to serve ‘in-flight meals’ packaged in kraft paper boxes.
We sealed each box with an MVD>SSR sticker. These were handed out to all the guests by the caterers at the beginning of the evening.
My sister, Jaime, decorated our cupcakes with little handcrafted airplanes.
Decorations
For a relatively inexpensive alternative to wedding flowers (that shit ain’t cheap!), we opted for simple greenery. We bought various types of plants and cacti from IKEA, and repotted them in mason jars.
We stacked vintage suitcases and crates throughout the venue, which we rented from various antique stores, and dressed them up with vintage cameras, globes and books.
My mom handcrafted paper flowers made out of old street maps, which we scattered throughout the decorations.
I designed a number of posters with old photographs, facts and personality insights of Shaun, myself and our wedding party, that were mounted on foamcore and displayed throughout the venue.
For a relatively easy and inexpensive way of branding everything in sight, I had a couple custom stamps made.
Next up: Ceremony, Wedding Favours, Attire, Passport Station, Entertainment & End Result.
March 9th, 2013. The day I married Shaun was the best day of my life. Honestly, I can’t put into words how perfect everything turned out. It was incredible.
Although, I can’t say the planning happened overnight; there was a lot of work involved. But come on, what designer wouldn’t love branding their own event!? I thought I would share our overall vision, including all the fun designy projects we made to create a unique, memorable and affordable event.
We had just a little over two months to bring everything together; invitations, decor, venue, attire, entertainment, food; the list goes on and on. Neither one of us planned such a big event before, so we were more than intimidated of how and where to get started. From the get-go, about all we knew was that we wanted to keep it small and intimate.
I have to give serious props to our close friends, Muqu, Preeti, Ryan and Tyler. We were lucky to have a wedding party that all helped tremendously in different ways. As well as dozens of other friends & family members we tapped in to for help along the way. They all made it possible to make all my dumb ideas come to life.
Ok, enough chit chat. Let’s get to the goods!
Overall Theme
True story: five years ago, Shaun and I met at Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) on Christmas Eve. This is an excerpt from our invitations:
Unlike most love at first sight tales, ours began at an airport one Xmas eve. We each were traveling alone, set to see our families. We shared a few glances. An introduction. Then somewhere between poor weather conditions, fate and a cancelled flight, we found ourselves seated side-by-side as the plane took off. And that’s how we plan to stay.
The perfect theme: Love at First Flight.
Invitations
Unfortunately, because time wasn’t on our side, there was no save the date. We actually just sent an email to our guests that said, well, just that. It was fast and it was cheap. Why do it any other way!? Instead, I designed the invitations into two pieces and sent them out together; a postcard and an airline ticket.
Both the postcard and ticket were packaged together in an A4 kraft paper envelope.
On the front of the postcard, I drew Shaun and I when we met at the airport. On the back, was an introduction to our story (excerpted above).
As an ode to my collectible poster designs, the silkscreened postcards acted as mini limited edition art pieces; both hand numbered and signed.
We wanted the evening to come across as laid back, natural and unrehearsed. The copy on the ticket reflected just that; from the suggested start time, “7:30-8:00 pm ‘ISH’”, to the cheeky footnotes reminding guests not to bring randos. A true reflection of our quirky relationship.
I finally made time to go through the monstrosity that took over my closet (that was once for my clothes). Each box contained unopened artist proofs from various shows/galleries from 2012. I need to make room if I want to create new art, so here are the last remaining copies that I have been selfishly hoarding.
Please note, the prices reflect the extremely limited quantities I have in my possession. This is it folks! The rest are sold out and selling for much more on ebay (if you can find them).
The March/April issue of Applied Arts magazine is finally hitting magazine stands! I am thrilled to be featured as the winner of the 2012 Illustration Applied Arts AACE Award.
You can read the full interview below (click on images to view larger).
I just received my artist proofs for ”Hair-Raising Hare” from Mondo. I’ll be sending all pre-orders out early next week (week of January 1st). For those of you who have already purchased one, thanks for your patience!
