James Provost - Technical Illustrator

Neurally-Controlled Prosthesis

James Provost — Sun, 13 May 2012 18:25:56 +0000

In the near future, brainwave-controlled motorized prosthetic arms will replace antiquated hooks and restore people’s natural mobility. For Wired magazine. Leo Jung, art director.

Waterproof Fabric

James Provost — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:17:43 +0000

Cutaway showing how the layers in waterproof fabrics block out cold, wind and rain, but breathe to allow moisture to escape. For Outside magazine. John McCauley, art director.

Quarterly Update

James Provost — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:47:40 +0000

With all the microblogging formats I’m on, like Twitter, Dribbble, Flickr and Tumblr, this blog has become more of a quarterly update. But what a quarter it’s been!

Early in the year I moved to a larger home-studio space in Toronto. I have lots of room now to spread things out, pin things up and make a mess.

I participated in the first Graphic Artists Guild iPortfolio for iPad (free in iTunes). I’ve had work in a few magazine’s iPad editions (including this month’s Wired and PopSci), but seeing five full pages of my work on that beautiful little screen is giving me a few ideas…

I’ve also worked with some great clients including Wired, Popular Science, Men’s Health, Bloomberg, Outside, AAA, IEEE and a few others I can’t talk about yet.

I’ll be adding more work to the portfolios in the near future, but stay tuned to my Dribbble and Flickr streams for the latest!

Happy Holidays from Me & InternBot

James Provost — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:15:48 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDZ2uQJs52Y

My whiteboard-drawing robot intern, InternBot, and I would like to take a moment to say thanks. Thank you for all the amazing projects, inspiration, creativity and collaboration in 2011.

I feel truly fortunate to be doing what I love to do, and if InternBot had feelings, I’m sure he’d feel the same.

All the best to you & yours in the new year.

Smart Phone Instructions

James Provost — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:34:25 +0000

Instructions for using new wireless products and services, like smart phones and tablets.
For Orange Explore, AD Claire Hayter.

Done Manifesto Prints

James Provost — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:42:55 +0000

Thank you, everyone, for your interest in my illustrated poster for Bre Pettis & Kio Stark’s Done Manifesto, which appeared on FastCoDesign and Lifehacker recently. For similar work, I invite you to check out my editorial illustration portfolio, Textbook Example.

High quality giclée prints of the Done Manifesto poster are available via ImageKind (or ArtFlakes in Europe).

Focus on the Details

James Provost — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:29:20 +0000

Focus on
the details.

Technical illustration puts
what’s important in the spotlight.

See more in the Technical Illustration portfolio.

Focus-Later Camera

James Provost — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:10:43 +0000

Cutaway illustration of Lytro’s “focus-later” light field camera, which allows the photographer to change the focal point after a photo is taken. This is achieved with a light field sensor that measures the color, intensity and vector direction of light rays.

Augmented Reality

James Provost — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:42:43 +0000

I’ve been fascinated with augmented reality (AR) since learning about projects like Layar and WordLens. These apps combine the camera, GPS, gyros, processing power and constant connectedness of smart phones to add layers of meta-information on top of the world around us.

My interest in this application of technology and information should come as no surprise—technical illustration practically is augmented reality. It makes hidden or obfuscated information visible and intelligible. What might have been buried in a database or engineering drawing is made plain for anyone to see.

What’s especially exciting is seeing all the hardware and software that will make this a reality already out there, just waiting for a novel package. Siri on the new iPhone 4S is just a peek; speech-to-text is nothing new and Wolfram Alpha has been around for a couple of years.

Imagine the combination of the Microsoft Kinect-style 3D camera, stereoscopic 3D video visor, and wireless video streaming to the smartphone in your pocket for processing via AirPlay. All of a sudden, the future seems a lot closer. Your jetpack? It’s right here.

As for goggles-less AR, don’t worry, it’s coming.

A Show of Hands

James Provost — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:41:18 +0000

I’ve been bound hand and foot over the past couple of months, but now I can tip my hand and share some of what has been keeping my hands busy. Work seems to get handed to me in themes, and if my terrible idioms didn’t hand it to you, lately it’s been hands and feet.

Here are some instructional illustrations I’ve been working on with various clients. Click through for larger images and more information.

Now I just hope I can wash my hands of all these handy expressions…