Week 1 Favorite Artist Jermaine Lee

While I cant say he was a great influence on my work, not physically at least, Artist and Illustrator Ralph Steadman is definitely someone I admire. Not because his work is so extravagant that it needs to grace the walls of museums; but because of the sheer fact that it was his style. And as any artist can probably tell you creating your owe style is not without great struggle and many failures.

Week 1 Favorite artist Tavis Duncan

Mr. Cartoon is a tattoo artist from Los Angeles California.

His signature, urban styled tattoos has set him apart from many of his competitors. They include a collage-like arrangement of highly detailed images, many of such are clowns, skeletons, and elaborate typefaces. Cartoon's work influenced me with his signature style (original typefaces, caricatures, and composition). All done without the use of color. I can easily identfy his work apart from others.

Art Nouveau and Alphonse Mucha

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Within the last year, much of my personal work has taken great influence from the art nouveau period of design. I am attracted to the flowing, organic lines and the subtle, earth toned, color palettes. The movement evolved from the ideologies of the Arts and Crafts movement. In the late 1800's, a man named William Morris desired to create handmade goods such as bound books similar to those of the Incubabula. This was in direct response to the industrial revolution and cheap, mass produced goods. He created textiles, wallpapers, furniture, jewelry, etc... All the work was based around organic design, using floral patterns, vines, and earth-tones.

Art nouveau, however, took a different direction. The goal was to integrate this natural beauty into everyday objects. All aspects of visual design were affected: architecture, graphic design, illustration, typography, industrial design... you get the picture. My favorite artist of the period is easily Alphonse Mucha and his advertisement posters. He designs within a set of parameters and it works beautifully (pictured above). Notice the floral decoration and the hand drawn typefaces. This man was a true master of his craft. Notice the style in which he illustrates the womens' hair and portrays their soft facial features. There is a book's worth of these prints. His detail thrives, examine the patterns on the dress in the middle image; to me it is stunning.

Week 1 Favorite Illustrator- Maggie Chapman

My favorite Illustrator of all time is easily Dr. Seuss. Early on he taught me to read through his silly, fantastically imagined stories. I was drawn to his books because of his characteristic use of vibrant colors, inventive characters and genius use of rhymes that taught me more than just the ABCs. I never out grew his style, imagination, or brilliance. I am constantly inspired by his work to produce work of my own.

Week 1- Todd Lockwood

This was really hard for me but I have to say Todd Lockwood was one of the first illustrators who influenced me into my style of drawing. I remember in my early childhood years, I would see game cards of several dragons,elf's, and other creatures of different sorts, and I would admire them because I thought the cards were really cool and I always wondered who the artist was. Soon, I was introduced to the creator and illustrator of these cards by one of my teachers and since then I have always admired this artists style. Todd Lockwood is the creator  and illustrator of "Dungeons and Dragons"card game.

week 1 gary larson

As I tried to think about my favorite illustration, I realized that there was one artist in particular whose drawings influenced me in my early childhood. Gary Larson really captivated me with his creative narratives and hilarious drawings. To me, he was a genius at creating a story in just one panel. I can remember staying up late into the night past my bedtime looking at his book: The Far Side. I say looking because at the time I didn’t know how to read yet. So of course I didn’t fully understand all of Larson’s cartoons, but this didn’t matter to me. I would go from page to page scanning each comic, looking for the ones without any text. To this day, I feel like some of these wordless cartoons are Larson’s best. He creates an image that is strong enough to stand-alone without a caption. I strive to be this creative. You don’t need to speak English to get the comedy. No matter one’s age or language, anybody with a good sense of humor can appreciate these cartoons.

First Post - Spring 2012

Hey everyone! This is the start of the new posts.

Remember, the assignment is to post and write about an illustration that has made an impact on your life or has impacted you/your art.

Joe