Recently i have been looking at illustrators, for research purposes and also for inspiration. Through doing this i have discovered my preference for simple yet elegant drawings, and crude illustration. by this i don't mean they are vulgar to the eye. More they are not obviously humanistic and have a raw quality, that to me helps illuminate the character/emotion/style that the illustrator wishes to create, rather that be a spot on life drawing.
I work in a local high street shop, that sells books. and becomes with a W........cryptic.
when i noticed a kids/teen book that caught my eye.
Goth Girl by Chris Riddell.
The cover illustration made me pick up the book. Inside there are other illustrations. They are all in black and white, but the sheer enthusiasm of the drawing really bought the characters to life. When i got home i instantly researched his other work.
Turns out i have seen his work quite a lot before, and remember thinking each time that i really admired his style of drawing.
Riddell regularly does satirical and political illustrations in the Guardian newspaper.
I work in a local high street shop, that sells books. and becomes with a W........cryptic.
when i noticed a kids/teen book that caught my eye.
Goth Girl by Chris Riddell.
The cover illustration made me pick up the book. Inside there are other illustrations. They are all in black and white, but the sheer enthusiasm of the drawing really bought the characters to life. When i got home i instantly researched his other work.
Turns out i have seen his work quite a lot before, and remember thinking each time that i really admired his style of drawing.
Riddell regularly does satirical and political illustrations in the Guardian newspaper.
He also provided the illustrations to the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman. (below left)
Another illustrator i have been following for a while is Matthew Grey Gubler. he is better known for his acting roles, but i found his website by chance one day which had links to his blog and twitter feed. he does a lot of people watching and draws in his own style. some reviews of his work have said his drawings have a childlike quality to them. i think thats one of the things i like about them, they are unforgiving in the way that a child notices everything, mostly the impurities we as adults dont talk about ie, pimples, scars, bags under the eyes,out of place hair, bad make up etc. as adults we are programmed to not bring them up in case we hurt or insult one another. where as a child will just look at you and say 'you have a massive spot on your chin.' yeah.....thanks. and his drawings keep it real keep it all in and add to the depth of each personality. |