Introduction
Illustration. A visualization made by an artist, such as a drawing, sketch, painting, photograph, or other kind of image of things seen, remembered or imagined, using a graphical representation.
I have chose to do my specialism in illustration. For as long as I can remember art has been in my veins, been apart of my child hood and I have and hope to follow it for the rest of my life. But illustration has not been my only goal. Growing up I knew I wanted to keep art and the culture in my life, but I was never sure though what medium I would accomplish this in, I have moved from wanting to become a animator to a graphic designer, to a painter, and now to a illustrator. I have found my muse. Everything about illustration excites me, pushes me to become a better artist, and to make a footprint, no matter how big or small in the field. I have chosen my medium and I am eager to see where it can take me. So to purse this as a career, though out my current course I have been building a portfolio together for University were I hope to study illustration, and further my skills.
I have researched thoroughly into different artist in my field. I chose them carefully to give a full range of different artists, from a digital illustrator to a painter to someone who uses scribbling to make amazing pieces of art. One of my artists I have researched into is Vince Low. He is a dyslexic illustrator from Malaysia. He is a outstanding example of a illustrator with his unique style, and the creativity to inspire millions. I have been following Vince Low for a long time, since he did his project called "Faces" to raise awareness for dyslexia. For this project he aimed to create 3 portraits of famous faces who also suffer from being dyslexic. After completing his goal there was a huge media coverage, he then went on and did another 6 more. The portraits range from Will smith to Albert Einstein. Next is Sarah Beetson who is a Australian illustrator currently working in the US. One of the reason why I chose Sarah is because she worked in London for 4 years as a fashion designer. I have no interest in fashion, but the fact she has taken two of her passion's in her career, and is now combining them together really inspires me. Sarah In alot of her work uses very vivid and vibrant colours to make her work stand out, she has a huge colour palette and that is why she has got to were she is today, because she is not scared of bowing down to the stereotype in the industry of a illustrator. But instead creates her own persona as a creative, crazy illustrator/Fashion Designer. Then I wanted to look at a older artist, not one so modern. As I believe that being culturally diverse and not closing your mind to a certain time period or artistic movement, you can really lose a huge portion of art history that you could benefit from. So the last artist I wanted to choose, was Gustave Courbet a French painter from the 19th Century. I chose Gustave because, even though I have never been a huge fan of painters from the past, I have really enjoyed looking at his work, and now have a new found respect and interest in the genre and also time period. Then Nathan Aardvark, he has such imagination, and no one else I have found uses light to the standard and effect of Nathan. He uses in such subtle but yet so effective ways, it just brings his artwork out to a huge audience, and makes him one amazing illustrator and something to look up too. Lastly, I looked at Ron Borresen, I chose Ron because he is a really good example of a digital artist. He has a really intresting mind and imagination, he takes simple sketches and turns them into amazing pieces of work.
I have chosen to research these 5 artist, for many reasons. The reasons are because, As I am just a Amateur illustrator, I haven't found my style and medium yet, so I am keeping my mind open to new ideas and concepts. I have been focusing my efforts and time on becoming a digital illustrator. But after that I am still unsure for what I want to achieve and what mediums to specialise in. That is why I am going to university to study illustration, because I hope that after my course at university I will have a better understanding with what I want to do. However as a illustrator you have the ability, unlike most jobs to move around, doing different styles and genres. So I looked at Vince Low for his penman ship, and looking at the process and skills required to make it as a traditional illustrator. Then I looked at Sarah because of her skills, and the fact she uses different skills that she has gathered thought out her career and that can forward here career as a illustrator opens my mind to different mediums and routes I could take. T
Nathan Aardvark is a unique professional illustrator and concept artist with a variety of styles ranging from dark and murky painting to fresh and energetic drawing. He has working for huge companies like Range Rover, Nike and Audi. Link to his page on Illustration web can be found at the bottom of the post. I chose Nathan because I found his work to be exciting, inspirational and really interesting. He is not stuck to one form of illustration, so he doesn't label him self as a digital artist, but a well rounded over all illustrator with skills ranging from painting to drawing to digital artwork. That is one of the reasons I chose him. He doesn't mainly focus on one medium of work, instead work in all mediums to a very high professional standard. I found all his work from his finished pieces to his sketchbook work to be very interesting, with no certain style sticking out. Nathan doesn't have a set in style. But looking at his work, they mostly all contain some form of anatomy, so a figure or character. Alot of his work as well is very sinister, with a dark setting, with some sort of creature of monster. He uses lighting very well, in some pieces he will use lighting to show different features, or just a certain character. Also because he is a concept artist as well as a illustrator, his work often includes a landscape or backdrop of some kind. When looking though he work, you can see many different inspirations and artists, and has been incorporated into his work.Nathan uses many different techniques when working. His range of skills as a artist ranges from painter all the way though to a digital illustrator. So his used a range of techniques. for some of his work after researching I found that he uses his sketchbook alot. He will do small sketches when going about his daily life, then if he comes up with a idea or concept for a piece of work, he will then use that idea, and develop it into something greater. In this certain piece, it is apart of his freelance portfolio. He has used character design really well. He has the, well I am guessing the "normal" character on the right, then the "monster" or the disfigured character on the left. He has used the light of the moon to such a epic effect. The light in this scene is the ending, the dramatic ending to some sort of horror film. With the hero on the right is confronted with the villain and then the light of the moon shows the face, and both the viewer and the character are shocked. This is why I love Nathan's work, he uses so many different techniques and effects to make the viewer create a story for them self in there head. Thus creating a whole story, with just one image.
Vince: I always wanted to be an illustrator after I graduated with a diploma in Illustration from The One Academy. But I couldn't get one until five years ago when my current company, Grey Kuala Lumpur, wanted to set up an Illustration Department. In the beginning, our department was only doing key visual and story board. I find it boring and I started to draw many other interesting illustrations and stick them on my wall until one day, one of the many art directors saw my work and collaborated with me to do a campaign and it won some awards in some international advertising award shows. Since then, my work keeps getting more interesting as I explore more in other illustrations for advertising.
I find this quote sort of relate able to what I am doing now. He never wanted to be a illustrator intill he finished his university course. Now that is not the exact same with me, but before I started my current course, I didn't want to be a illustrator, now I can see nothing else for me that I want as much. And the fact he said " My work keep getting more interesting as I explore more in other illustration for advertising" . Even the illustrators who have made it per say, got a job in illustration and make a living out of it never stop learning, never stop improving, never stop changing there style, and that is why Vince Low inspires me and that is why I chose him. No matter how amazing your art is, it can always been improved.
Illustration. A visualization made by an artist, such as a drawing, sketch, painting, photograph, or other kind of image of things seen, remembered or imagined, using a graphical representation.
I have chose to do my specialism in illustration. For as long as I can remember art has been in my veins, been apart of my child hood and I have and hope to follow it for the rest of my life. But illustration has not been my only goal. Growing up I knew I wanted to keep art and the culture in my life, but I was never sure though what medium I would accomplish this in, I have moved from wanting to become a animator to a graphic designer, to a painter, and now to a illustrator. I have found my muse. Everything about illustration excites me, pushes me to become a better artist, and to make a footprint, no matter how big or small in the field. I have chosen my medium and I am eager to see where it can take me. So to purse this as a career, though out my current course I have been building a portfolio together for University were I hope to study illustration, and further my skills.
I have researched thoroughly into different artist in my field. I chose them carefully to give a full range of different artists, from a digital illustrator to a painter to someone who uses scribbling to make amazing pieces of art. One of my artists I have researched into is Vince Low. He is a dyslexic illustrator from Malaysia. He is a outstanding example of a illustrator with his unique style, and the creativity to inspire millions. I have been following Vince Low for a long time, since he did his project called "Faces" to raise awareness for dyslexia. For this project he aimed to create 3 portraits of famous faces who also suffer from being dyslexic. After completing his goal there was a huge media coverage, he then went on and did another 6 more. The portraits range from Will smith to Albert Einstein. Next is Sarah Beetson who is a Australian illustrator currently working in the US. One of the reason why I chose Sarah is because she worked in London for 4 years as a fashion designer. I have no interest in fashion, but the fact she has taken two of her passion's in her career, and is now combining them together really inspires me. Sarah In alot of her work uses very vivid and vibrant colours to make her work stand out, she has a huge colour palette and that is why she has got to were she is today, because she is not scared of bowing down to the stereotype in the industry of a illustrator. But instead creates her own persona as a creative, crazy illustrator/Fashion Designer. Then I wanted to look at a older artist, not one so modern. As I believe that being culturally diverse and not closing your mind to a certain time period or artistic movement, you can really lose a huge portion of art history that you could benefit from. So the last artist I wanted to choose, was Gustave Courbet a French painter from the 19th Century. I chose Gustave because, even though I have never been a huge fan of painters from the past, I have really enjoyed looking at his work, and now have a new found respect and interest in the genre and also time period. Then Nathan Aardvark, he has such imagination, and no one else I have found uses light to the standard and effect of Nathan. He uses in such subtle but yet so effective ways, it just brings his artwork out to a huge audience, and makes him one amazing illustrator and something to look up too. Lastly, I looked at Ron Borresen, I chose Ron because he is a really good example of a digital artist. He has a really intresting mind and imagination, he takes simple sketches and turns them into amazing pieces of work.
I have chosen to research these 5 artist, for many reasons. The reasons are because, As I am just a Amateur illustrator, I haven't found my style and medium yet, so I am keeping my mind open to new ideas and concepts. I have been focusing my efforts and time on becoming a digital illustrator. But after that I am still unsure for what I want to achieve and what mediums to specialise in. That is why I am going to university to study illustration, because I hope that after my course at university I will have a better understanding with what I want to do. However as a illustrator you have the ability, unlike most jobs to move around, doing different styles and genres. So I looked at Vince Low for his penman ship, and looking at the process and skills required to make it as a traditional illustrator. Then I looked at Sarah because of her skills, and the fact she uses different skills that she has gathered thought out her career and that can forward here career as a illustrator opens my mind to different mediums and routes I could take. T
Nathan Aardvark is a unique professional illustrator and concept artist with a variety of styles ranging from dark and murky painting to fresh and energetic drawing. He has working for huge companies like Range Rover, Nike and Audi. Link to his page on Illustration web can be found at the bottom of the post. I chose Nathan because I found his work to be exciting, inspirational and really interesting. He is not stuck to one form of illustration, so he doesn't label him self as a digital artist, but a well rounded over all illustrator with skills ranging from painting to drawing to digital artwork. That is one of the reasons I chose him. He doesn't mainly focus on one medium of work, instead work in all mediums to a very high professional standard. I found all his work from his finished pieces to his sketchbook work to be very interesting, with no certain style sticking out. Nathan doesn't have a set in style. But looking at his work, they mostly all contain some form of anatomy, so a figure or character. Alot of his work as well is very sinister, with a dark setting, with some sort of creature of monster. He uses lighting very well, in some pieces he will use lighting to show different features, or just a certain character. Also because he is a concept artist as well as a illustrator, his work often includes a landscape or backdrop of some kind. When looking though he work, you can see many different inspirations and artists, and has been incorporated into his work.Nathan uses many different techniques when working. His range of skills as a artist ranges from painter all the way though to a digital illustrator. So his used a range of techniques. for some of his work after researching I found that he uses his sketchbook alot. He will do small sketches when going about his daily life, then if he comes up with a idea or concept for a piece of work, he will then use that idea, and develop it into something greater. In this certain piece, it is apart of his freelance portfolio. He has used character design really well. He has the, well I am guessing the "normal" character on the right, then the "monster" or the disfigured character on the left. He has used the light of the moon to such a epic effect. The light in this scene is the ending, the dramatic ending to some sort of horror film. With the hero on the right is confronted with the villain and then the light of the moon shows the face, and both the viewer and the character are shocked. This is why I love Nathan's work, he uses so many different techniques and effects to make the viewer create a story for them self in there head. Thus creating a whole story, with just one image.
I didn't just chose a painter but I chose a painter from the realism art movement. I did this to get the closest correlation with the other artists and there style and realism. Now I chose a Artist called Gustave Courbet who was a French Artist around the 19th century. Below is his self portrait that he did from 1843-1845. Because of the nature of the this painting, and the time frame that is was painted in, the artist uses natural lighting. Because of the fact it is a self portrait and the fact the first camera was invented in 1916 he would of taken a picture of himself, then used that a reference to paint with. the lighting would of been from the sun or a natural light source, looking at the colour and the amount of light I can rule the idea that it could be a lamp, a lamp would produce more light and would be a different shade because they would of had to use a candle or a fire. At first glance I would of thought the light source would be coming from the left side, because of the light hitting his face and arm. But then after looking the right arm is lit up, and if the light source was on the light that wouldn't be hit. So it is either above him, to the top left of him. But because of the style of painting, realism the lighting is done very good. The colour in this painting is used very well. Because the painting was done in the 19th century, the colour palette was limited and the price of paint was expensive. But the colour is both vivid and dull. Because it is a life drawing, and self portrait so he could use crazy with colour like the other pictures, he has to stay with the original colour. The colour palette is wide though, because to get a realistic skin texture/ tone requires you have to use a wide colour palette. The art movement was realism so the contract between the other artists is huge. The techniques that he would of used would of been the same or similar to the other artist at first, he would of got a reference image, most likely a photograph, from there he would of sketched the outline, the main features like the face, the arms and the head. From here he would of started to paint. He would of most likely started with the face, and added a base tone, then shading, then he would of added the lighting and etc. from there he would of moved on with the rest of the painting. This was the typical process of a historical painter, as they didn't have access to things like Photoshop, and graphic tablets, so the only process they would of used is a pencil, canvas, and a paint brush. Just because the process is out dated, does not mean to say that is not widely used all around the world to this day, with hundred of thousands of artist still using the same techniques and process that Gustave would of used 200 years ago. I chose this picture for many reasons. The detail, the shading and the lighting is amazing. With the process he would of had to do back then, if he did something he didn't like. That was it. So the tone and texture of the skin , the body hair is amazing, plus the small dashes of colour, like on the cheeks. I just found this work to be interesting and I felt like I could learn alot from choosing it, and I did. I have also been interested with the style of historical painters and I wanted to choose one and look into the process and research into the artist. I chose Gustave because, even though I have never been a huge fan of painters from the past, I have really enjoyed looking at his work, and now have a new found respect and interest in the genre and also time period.
Vince low is a artist from Malaysia. He is actually dyslexic, and he uses pen and paper to create amazing pieces. I have been following Vince Low for a long time. I just find how he creates, and the artwork he creates is so amazing and his penmen ship is outstanding. I find Vince low's work to be so creative, but I believe he is not given the recondition he needs, nay deserves. I chose Vince low because he really show that there is not boundary with traditional illustration, with that someone can do some much, with just a pen and paper. Below is a piece from his project " faces" . It is a portrait of Morgan Freeman. Now I chose this image to show of Vince Lows work, because everything about it is amazing. The way that he has used both black and white ink and has created a almost realistic image, something that could be a photograph. He has for the face, for shadowing he would of when drawing with the pen, made the lines closer together, and gone over them more to create a darker line, therefore creating shadow. Now he created this work as I said before for his project faces were he drew famous faces to raise awareness for dyslexia. He often does pieces of work on current cultural and media interest in the time. As he has done a world cup piece of work, because the world cup is around the corner. He does this, because he knows because of the media hype, and the coverage, bringing out a piece of artwork to do with that with raize awareness for his work. I found a quote from here which I could really relate too, it was taken from a interview I found online.
I find this quote sort of relate able to what I am doing now. He never wanted to be a illustrator intill he finished his university course. Now that is not the exact same with me, but before I started my current course, I didn't want to be a illustrator, now I can see nothing else for me that I want as much. And the fact he said " My work keep getting more interesting as I explore more in other illustration for advertising" . Even the illustrators who have made it per say, got a job in illustration and make a living out of it never stop learning, never stop improving, never stop changing there style, and that is why Vince Low inspires me and that is why I chose him. No matter how amazing your art is, it can always been improved.
Ron Borresen has been drawing since he was able to pick up a crayon. But ever since winning the Most Artistic award in Mrs McCalisters third grade class he knew he wanted to be a artist Since then, Ron went on to study illustration at Ringling College of Art & Design. And after graduating, he became a professional illustrator with his art being seen on the covers of numerous magazines and newspapers as well as illustrating his first children's book, Monsters at the Bat. He currently lives on the gulf coast of Florida with his wife Jennifer and two kids Erik and Emily.I chose Ron because I really like his work. It is both really creative, colourful and imaginative. I chose his work as well, as due to the nature of it. It being digital I can relate to it strongly. Because of the nature of the image, there is not alot of lighting chance in this image. But the light in this image, is coming from the moon. But because of the image being digital and the cartoon feel the use of light sort of go's out the window.
The use of colour in this image is used very well. The character it self is very bold colours, bright in contrast to The background of the bathroom. The colours from the fur to the skin to even the book. They are all very vivid and bright which gives this piece of art. Looking at This piece of art, I can see Ron drawing out the character first, in a sketch book or something, on a piece of paper. Then from there, he would import into either adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, and from there he would start the process of creating the image, changing the image as it goes. The process is simple, but the actual artwork is very good, creative and impressive. I reason I chose this piece of work, is not just because I found the image is be impressive, but also the style it is in, the fact it is creative but also digital is something that appeal to me greatly. The character creation of the image is really good.The character design is this image is used really well, I idea that instead of it being a young child writing in her diary. It is instead a little bunny boy wearing a cape. The use of the cape and the little details in this image is used really. The fact you can tell this is a young rabbit makes the idea even better. The huge grin on its face shows what ever he is writing he is enjoying.
Sarah Beetson who is a Australian illustrator currently working in the US. One of the reason why I chose Sarah is because she worked in London for 4 years as a fashion designer. I have no interest in fashion, but the fact she has taken two of her passion's in her career, and is now combining them together really inspires me. Sarah In alot of her work uses very vivid and vibrant colours to make her work stand out, she has a huge colour palette and that is why she has got to were she is today, because she is not scared of bowing down to the stereotype in the industry of a illustrator. But instead creates her own persona as a creative, crazy illustrator/Fashion Designer.
Now I am going to compare and Contrast the artists I have chosen. I wanted to choose a wide range of different artists from different era's, genres and styles. The artist I have chosen are all different in these own ways, Vince uses pen and ink to create his work, when Nathan uses the paint, and the digital media to create his work. But they are all similar in the techniques. The difference between Gustave Courbet and Ron Borreson are huge. Gustave is a historical artist from the 19th century who's medium is painting, and Ron is a contempory artist using the modern day mediums of Photoshop and a graphic Tablet. But that doesn't mean Ron doesn't use the same process that Gustave did 200 years ago. Ron still uses the process of drawing or using a refence image then producing the final image from that, the same of Gustave. And all the artist are similar in inspiration, even though Gustave was producing his art 150 years ago all the work in the realism art movement that he contributed too has influenced in some way all the modern day artist I have chosen. All the artist I have chosen focus on the human form, anatomy. Looking at the different forms of the human body, from portiats, to self portraits, to the anatomy of different animals. Sarah and Nathan are very simular, they focus only on Anatomy. Sarah using her skills in fashion design and Nathan using his skills in digital illustration and using lighting to make the most out of his artwork.
In conclusion all of the artists that I have chosen have helped me in one way or another. After researching into my artist, I have seen that no matter what era, what process you are using, what technoligy you have at your disposal, if you are using a pen and paper or a graphics tablet and Photoshop you can still create amazing pieces of illustration. It has also made me realise that no matter what field of illustration I go into to. I need to improve my skills in both anatomy and using all my skills, not just my drawing skills, but all my skills I have gathered through out my life to create a final piece. But I think the biggest thing I have found when researching into different artists, is something I need to take away and really think off, is that I need to find my own style. And then work in that style and try and perfect it. Each artist have there own style, which makes them unique and different from all the other illustrators, that this is really important. Also not to stick to just use the style of other illustrators, find your style and if you enjoy your own style, you enjoy creating work in this style that is all you should worry about. From the words of Vince low " A illustrators biggest enemy is him or herself". And those words will follow me though out my career as a illustrator. Looking at the artist have also helped my understnad my own specialism. I have realised that to stand out, and to make a foot print in the field. You need to be unique, too many people fall into the category of a digital or traditional illustrator and are lost in the thousand with the same style and to make a life out it is alot harder when there is 1000's of different people with your same style. So to make it, be unique. Pick up a pen and scribble on a piece of paper and see what happens, experiment with your own skills and style and you will make it in the hard and competitive industry of illustration.
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