This is the last of my planned favourite artist posts until I find/remember someone else to feature. It’s a double whammy with 2 artists I discovered while in Melbourne at the Disney Exhibition. Both worked on some of the studio’s most classic films including Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and The Lady and the Tramp. So let’s get into looking at some of the fantastic work by these 2 artists.
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Most people will recognise the above picture as one of Vermeer’s most famous works: Girl with the Pearl Earring. To be honest, my love of his paintings started when I saw the movie based off this work (Who wants to see Scarlett Johansson with no eyebrows?). I found myself captivated by the idea of the story behind the picture and as I looked more into Vermeer’s work I discovered that each one has a tale to tell.
For those wanting a bit of history, Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who lived in Delft between 1632 and 1675. He had a mostly well off life with his wife and 11 children who he supported by selling paintings and art dealing.
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Half the year is gone and it’s time for another roundup of last month’s inspiration collection! I was a bit slack in the past few weeks because I’d been busy making things, going out to events and implementing new routines for myself. It could also be that nothing has really caught my fancy or maybe I’m just becoming too picky ^^;;. So lets look what what we have here…
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It seemed fitting to post about Amano’s work since he did the concept art for Final Fantasy X, which I only just finished! I know that game came out years ago, however it’s been in my pile of shame of ages anf I thought I should finish it (the ending was so sad, I got teary eyed :() – but back to the artist! This week I’m featuring Yoshitaka Amano, a well known Japanese artist who has created numerous character and logo designs as well as concept illustrations for Square Enix.
His work is always so full of detail and beautiful wispy lines that seem to just flow through the artwork. I like how he uses colour as well; it’s not exactly bursting out of the canvas like Sylvia Ji’s paintings, but he knows how to balance it with the surrounding space and work with tones. His illustrations are often of fantasy/sci-fi subject matter and have a lovely asian styling to them, despite being influenced by Western comic books. They remind me a lot of traditional Japanese paintings actually, in the way he uses colour, the thin pencil lines and the intricate details.
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This weeks favourite artist is Jasper Goodall, someone whom I only discovered recently even though he’s apparently been quite well known in the industry since the late nineties. He was one of the last speakers at the 2010 Brisbane Semi-Permanent Conference and I was completely taken by his illustrations and skill.
From what I’ve read, Goodall is known for his images seen in The Face magazine as well as his Poster Girl Series and cover artwork for *shudder* Muse. His images have combined illustration and photography and often have a fantasy element to them. I admire the way he plays with colour and meshes different mediums together. His recent projects like the New Goulston Street art and this Rene Grau inspired cutout really show off his talent of working with negative space and minimalist style.
I’ve been a bit behind in my posts this week since I’ve had other things going on. Because I’ve been posting about my favourite artists and sketches, I also haven’t had the time to write about May’s collection till now. So lets get into it!
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My next favourite artist is Tim Biskup with his wonderful characters, colours and conceptual pieces. I discovered him around same time I was searching for artists who create that ‘1950s storybook illustration‘ style, though I now can’t recall how I came across his work specifically. I do believe it was for researching my graduate project though back in 2009.
I’ve been debating on whether or not to write about him because his work has evolved since I first started following him. His latest works have become more surreal/cubist/structured in nature, while I prefer his older whimsical pieces. His website seems to have also changed and he doesn’t have a lot of work featured. Luckily I have some saved work on my computer and there’s always Google :P.
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Time for another favourite artist of mine! Today I’m featuring the wonderful LA talent Kevin Art, whom I believe I discovered via the Grain Edit.
I love his work because it’s that classic 60s illustration style. His Yuki 7 images are especially awesome to me because they have that whole female spy thing going on and as a fan of James Bond, it’s right up my alley. I also really love the background paintings he’s done – they remind me of the lovely scenes you see in series like Samurai Jack or Pixer/Disney concepts (he’s actually worked for Disney!).
Over the weekend I decided that I should showcase artists/designers that act as the inspiration for my own personal artwork (I need to start drawing more again!). I have a few in mind I’d like to feature over the next couple of weeks and then whenever I find one after that.
Sylvia Ji is an LA artist that I discovered last year while perusing the Semi-Permanent speakers of the 2010 Melbourne Conference. I was instantly awestruck by her work and soon found myself trawling through all of the galleries on her website. Her style is very distinctive and different to what I’ve seen before which I believe is why it sticks with me and why she was the first artist that came to mind for this post.
From her bio, her artwork is described as “a passionate appreciation of simple aesthetic pleasure fused with intimately complex subject matter”. My favourite paintings are those with the Day of the Dead make-up as well as those with old 1700s European fashion influences. There’s such wonderfully fine details and bold colours to sit and stare at, even in her earlier works, and the subjects all have this exotic beauty with their cultural clothing and face paint/markings. I love how she gives life to these girl’s hair even though they’re painted quite flat on the canvas. It makes me wonder if the effect would be lost had she decided to detail it as much as she does the rest of the body. It’s interesting to note that when I look at these pictures, I find the subject’s have both a strong and intimidating presence along with appearing somewhat vulnerable. I would love to see these works in some animated feature in the same style.
Another month has gone by which means it’s time for a round-up of my inspiring images. It feels like I posted some of these on my Tumblr blog ages ago even though April seemed to fly right past me.
So lets have a look at what themes/trends I can find 🙂
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