JOHN BUSCEMA

An artist that I have long admired, the work of John Buscema, especially his pencil work and designs are something that I try to aspire to whenever I begin any illustration. His use of proportion, perspective light and dark are things that I find incredible in terms of technique. I own a book in which Buscema shows some of his drawing techniques and processes in creating his more famous comic book creations. I attempt not to emulate but consider Buscema as a measure of what pencil drawing can be achieve. Although little of Buscema’swork, if any, is animated, it is these endearing designs and styles that have made icons the world over that have been applied to animation and even live action films.

JOAN MIRO

A Surrealist painter, Joan Miro’s work uses a great deal of abstract shapes and use of solid black lines to create pieces of fine art. The colours and use of black in art is something that I find interesting and different to traditional art which uses tonal shading to give an object shape. In my work, I want to be able to achieve the sense of narrative and attention that Miro’s work has achieved. Although fine art in nature, I think that applying basic ideas of Miro’s paintings such as bright colours and surreal design, I can further my own illustrative practice.

JAMIE HEWLETT

The music and artwork of the Gorrilaz is a design creation of the artist Jamie Hewlett, also notably famous for his work on the comic of Tank Girl. Noted for his superb use of anatomy, simplified expression and crazy style, Hewlett’s work is an example to me of how truly different a character design can be depending who is behind the pencil. I especially love the anatomy of his characters; although wrong in terms of human shape, they work so well and are so brilliantly designed that it can be overlooked. The animation too, a brilliant mix of cinematic and hints of Japanese animation influence in a style that is 100% unique.

YOJI SHINKAWA

With an almost completely client based portfolio available online when entering his name, Yoji Shinkawa is an extremely successful game and concept artist, taking the designs he is given and working in paints and black ink to create striking pieces of work. I really like the style, given it’s heavy shading and blending main focus to the background whilst keeping the structure of the drawing, If I could use anything, it would be Shinkawa’s use of colour in work, combining rather boring colours with tones and contrast in small bursts.

ALBERTO SEVESO

I found this artist who works mostly in a photomontage effect whilst searching on the internet for illustrative inspiration. I really love the use of materials in his work, the textures and colours working together to build faces, bodies and objects. Using this technique in my work, I could create a number of different outcomes to a single piece by using different media and materials to piece together a finished article

RUSS MILLS

An artist I have been interested in since college, Russ mills works with ink and his backgrounds to make any piece of work invoke a particular mood. I am very interested in his sometimes minimal use of tonal shading or colouring on the main subject, instead drawing and leaving the background completely exposed through his line art, also his ‘splatter’ look is something I believe has become and is getting more popular over time as more people become familiar with his style.

MATTHEW WOODSON

Another illustrator I have come across recently, I find Woodson’s work very striking in the reliance on two tone shading and line, creating a very dramatic and almost cinematic look to his artwork. To me, it looks like Woodson is heavily influenced by Asian art and styles with the drama of his poses, abstract themes and colouration, all being similar to work seen in particular Japanese animation.

CHRIS EDE

With a very graphical and photomontage style, I really like Ede’s use of black with acid/neon colours on plain environments. Something I really like about the pictures above is his use of yellow, a colour I think is underused in art with black as a partner which I believe adds a level of dynamism to an illustration.

CORRINA ICE

A popular children’s book illustrator, I find Ice’s work really fun and easy to look at, as would be required with a children’s illustration. But I think that even though the shift in literature and media becomes much darker over the years, there is a special place for artists who can illustrate ‘cute’ works well. In this case, it is Ice’s simple and friendly expressions on her characters and use of pastel colours that make her work stand out to me.

INDEPENDENT PROJECT

This is an independent project I undertook for a client starting up his own Plumbing and Gas Engineering service. Reading a list of his requirements and what he wanted including, I used what graphical skills I had and created a logo of a water droplet with a face, giving the impression of friendly service and professionalism. The client was very pleased with this design and has since had it printed onto his work vehicle as well as business cards.