Today I thought I would share with you a few artists that I admire.
These artists are people whos art contains elements that I would like to emulate in my own work. Some of them I have loved since childhood, and others I have discovered only recently. If you like them, visit their links and tell them as much. I'm sure they will appreciate it. At any rate, here they are.
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Justin Gerard
Justin Gerard is the founder of Portland Studios, Inc., an illustration, design, and animation firm in Greenville, South Carolina. He uses watercolor, and a lot of Photoshop. And he has been occaisionally known to paint with tea. Yes, tea. He has recently published a children's adaptation of Beowulf, which he illustrated.
I greatly appreciate his use of color, and his soft, expressive lighting, which give his compositions depth and emotion. I have had the privelege of emailing him in the past, and he responded with some very encouraging thoughts on getting a start in the illustration field. See some of his art at portlandstudios.com, and click on "work" or www.quickhidehere.blogspot.com.
Cory Godbey
Cory Godbey is also an illustrator at Portland. His art is whimsical, amusing and delightful. But it can also have darker, more solemn themes. His recent wordless picture book, Ticket, is filled with spattering watercolors, flying windmills, walking clock towers, Grecian palaces, exotic birds, and a little girl with a magic tophat.
His painting, hasty pencil sketches, and whimsical figures are what I like best about his work. He also has a great sense of humor, and it shines through in a lot of pieces. But I think most of all I can relate to his style. He drew comic strips when he was a kid, and so did I. His sketches are kind of like mine, in some ways. Visit his blog at www.lightnightrains.blogspot.com or portlandstudios.com.
James Gurney
James Gurney is the author/illustrator of the Dinotopia book series. I first read Dinotopia: The World Beneath when I was, I don't know, seven, maybe. His work is still a big inspiration to me now. He paints with oils, and the level of realism that he is able to attain has always stunned me. He has written four Dinotopia books. They're about a scientist and his son who are washed ashore an island inhabited by dinosaurs and humans, and their lost civilization.
Since it's set in the 1850's, and involves a fantastic lost civilization, I guess it's always sort of had a pull on my imagination, even though I don't always appreciate his style of fantasy work (it's sort of like at times the dinosaur concept, and the rest of the concept don't mix). But I would say that his work has been a great source of inspiration to me, and if I could get 1/4 as good as he is at painting and writing, I would be doing okay. Go to Dinotopia.com for more.
Hergé
Hergé was a Belgian artist who got started in the 1930's, I believe. His claim to fame are the wonderful Tintin books. In his lifetime, he completed 24 Tintin albums. Tintin is a newspaper reporter who rarely reports anything, but instead, fights crime, solves mysteries, and has adventures. Hergé's clean, technical and precice line drawings are amazing. And it's interesting to see his how hisearlier books contain simpler, less complex scenes, but when you get to his later books, the scenes become more complex, with huge splash panels, shading, and multi-layered landscapes (especially Destination Moon).
My first Tintin book I owned when I was little was King Ottokar's Sceptre. I read and reread it, and tried to write my own book based on Tintin. I wrote it on notebook paper with a ball point pen, and got about one page drawn. I think the biggest influence for me in Hergé's work is his tight stories, and his bold graphic-novel/comic book style artwork. http://tintin.francetv.fr/uk/
Ryan Church
Ryan Church is an artist I only recently discovered, but has gained my respect as a phenomonally talented artist. He is a concept artist who has done work on movies such as Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, and Transformers. He uses a lot of digital mediums, such as Painter X and Photoshop, but his art is full of beautiful light and shadow, stunning composition, and image movement. I believe he studied for a degree in industrial design, which probably accounts for how he can draw a perfect Jedi Starfighter. He also has this knack for coming up with cultural distinguishments in his fantasy work. In other words, he can design a building or spaceship with design characteristics that set it apart from any other sci-fi/fantasy world.
I like his digital graphics, and ability to create concepts that are visually compelling, and compositionally grand. And he can draw robots like nobody's business. That's got to be a plus! He has a really helpful Q&A on his website for people (like me) who want to learn a little more about what it takes to get started in the digital/concept art field. Go to ryanchurch.com.
P. J. Lynch
P. J. Lynch is a watercolorist who lives in Dublin, Ireland. He has illustrated The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and When Jessie Came Across the Sea, a book about an immigrant girl. This one is my favorite, although Jonathan Toomey is excellent as well. His watercolors look more like photographs, and are luminous. I would love to be able to paint like this guy. His blog is at http://pjlynchgallery.blogspot.com/.
Hope you are inspired. I am.
---misterbingley
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