Monday, January 31, 2011

Brandon Boyd

Brandon Boyd is an artist I recently found out about, from a friend who spoke very passionately about him. He brought this artist's work up after I had shown him examples of my own work. Usually, as an artist, trying to be independent and original, I can get a little defensive when my work is compared to another existing artist. But once shown some pieces, I was really inspired and impressed not only by Brandon's artwork, but also his methods and theories (a.k.a, his self-proclaimed ramblings).

Arguably known most for his part in the band Incubus, Brandon Boyd has published two collections of his illustrations, memories, snapshots, and life-thoughts in his sketchbook-style books "White Fluffy Clouds" and "From the Murks of the Sultry Abyss". I was loaned the later, and found that while the illustrations were placed beside a written passage, they almost never had any correlation to them. The layout of the books was to share all these different art forms: photography, illustration, poetry, prose.






















I was really interested in this artist's work because of the stylized human figures, the bright colorful market work, and the variation in the pen work. Being very fond of pen and ink illustrations in my own work, I loved seeing the changes from thick to thin in certain areas, and the detail work of small, thin lines that created depth and texture. I also especially loved the sectioned look of the illustrations. The hair of the figures is separated into thickly outlined sections, then boldly filled with vibrant colors or textured pen fillings. Lips, eyes, noses, ears, are all fully outlined, adding to the stylization of the piece that I love. And of course, the many layers of details (flowers, swirls, symbols, patterns, designs) all make a visually interesting piece that I can enjoy looking at for a long tie, and enjoy going back to time and time again while always discovering something new I missed before. However, not only is his work itself inspiring, but Boyd as an artist is as well. He does not restrain himself to one label, but explores illustration, written work, music, photography, and more with equal passion.

http://www.brandonboydbooks.com/books.html

5 comments:

  1. I LOVE Brandon Boyd's artwork. Me and a friend who is also an artist used to be obsessed with Incubus, and because of that we discovered his artwork. I have a few works of his saved on my computer because I really enjoy how he just lets his mind wander as he draws (as shown in a lot of his "doodles"), yet the outcome is still something really cohesive.

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  3. thats pretty awesome when i saw the images i didnt know what to think and then i read that he was in incubus and i totally understand his style now hahaha his illustrations collaborate with his music hahah good stuff.

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  4. I feel like the Incubus music videos had a lot of artwork in them which makes a lot of sense now. I went to go see Patti Smith when she was here last semester and she was discussing her art work and the interesting thing about her is that although she is really famous for her music, she works on a ton of other creative projects. It seems like people who have creative tendencies express them in many different facets of art.

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  5. The variated line work and use of complimentary color really drew my eye to this piece. The thick line used in the face and hair(head dress?) gives this illustration a wondrous depth. The selective use of the saturated orange really makes it pop. The more subtle use of the muted blue then flows your eye through the image. Overall, a very stunning illustration.

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