Swizzle Studio kept busy through 2020, despite it being an unusual year. Here are some of my favourite projects, both commercial and personal.

Murals

Alley Cats, Gerrard St E and Rhodes Ave
Chickadee-Dee-Dee! Keele St and Dundas St. W.

I got the opportunity to paint my critters BIG this year. I did the giant cats with my friend Andrew Horne, and the bird on the side of Williams Design’s often tagged storefront.

Duck Story

otter and duck page
A page from the children’s book

My friend Andreas and I worked on a book over the winter, with him sending me pages of a children’s story he had written, one page at a time. These installments arrived hand-written on creamy notecards; I would add an illustration to the bottom. We are about six pages from the ending. Something to finish in 2021!

Pizza School NYC goes online

Pizza school vimeo
Screenshot of Pizza School NYC’s Vimeo page

My longtime clients Pizza School NYC had to pivot quickly when the pandemic shuttered their cooking school. I worked on the technical and visual side of their new online school. In addition to getting the Vimeo page looking great, I designed labels for pizza mailing kits, and designed a zine to go with those kits. Pizza School is doing great these days, and it was rewarding to be part of this big effort.

Pizza School NYC’s pizza kit with zine.
Pizza Ghost, detail from Halloween Maze

Logos

I always enjoy type and logo work. Here are a few I did this year.

Tailfeather Shaker for a series of Zoom dance parties
Vintage sellers Williams Design came across this eponymous logo stamped on an 80 year old case of shotgun shells. I cleaned up the artwork for them. Great design never gets old!
Logo design for UXG website.

Stickers

I discovered Sticker Mule, an online printing company with some really great products. After signing up to their mailing list, I have been having fun with their promotional specials.

Colouring Pages

Birds Are On The Wing colouring page, Spring 2020

During the spring lockdown, several artists made activity pages that went out the Flying Pony Cafe’s weekly home deliveries. They were much enjoyed by the children of the households who received them. I did several colouring pages.

My Pandemic Diary

My Pandemic Diary! cover. Well into Volume 2 now.

I have been keeping a sketchbook diary since the Pandemic began. It’s a pretty heady mix of humour, news, and observations.
Volume 1: http://swizzlestudio.com/my-pandemic-diary/
Volume 2: http://swizzlestudio.com/my-pandemic-diary-part-2/

Detail of My Pandemic Diary

Pickle Diary

It wasn’t all COVID-19. I also did a lot of cooking this year.

Bird Paintings

Pear, 12″x12″, acrylic on canvas
Wandering and Wondering, 18″x24″, acrylic on canvas
My Friend Flicker, 10″x12″, acrylic on canvas

There wasn’t a lot of time for painting this year, but I did get the easel out for these three commissions and gifts.

That’s the highlights for 2020. We’re already galloping into the new year with two book design projects and some fun personal stuff too!

Cheers!
Rob