Archive for August, 2009
Aug
Resources Round-Up
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Although I haven’t been blogging that frequently over the past month due to the arrival of my beautiful baby daughter, I have been bookmarking, collecting and hording tons of really useful illustration resources to share with you.
Lets dive straight in…
Sidebar Nation Podcasts:
This last month has been a great one for fans of illustration at the sidebarnation blog with the guys interviewing two of the masters - George Pratt (Part 1 & Part 2) and Greg Manchess
Watch out for their next interview with (probably my favourite) comics artist Michael Lark - I met Michael a few years ago and he’s such a nice guy - super generous with his advice and time to help fellow artists so it should be a great interview.
Quentin Blake Process Video
I can’t remember how I came to find this video of Quentin Blake explaining his illustration and writing process from start to finish, but I’m so glad I did.
Art Order Blog
There have also been some great posts recently over at the blog of Jon Schindehette (Senior Art Director Dungeons & Dragons® Wizards of the Coast)
The first post to I’d like to highlight is an answer to the mailbag question: What should an artists skill set include? , the second is Jon’s response to another mailbag question What should you do when the relationship between you and your Art Director turns sour? and the third post from Jon is a short interview with three leading Art Directors (lots of great info in this one).
Frank Stockton Advice
Amazing illustrator Frank Stockton posted the first in a series of posts called ‘Teaching Yourself to Draw from Your Imagination‘. Based on this first post, the series is going to be an invaluable resource for fellow aspiring illustrators.
Scott McDaniel - Art Analysis #2
I stumbled onto this great post thanks to a James Jean’s tweet where Scott breaks down James Jean’s cover illustration to Fables - The Last Castle, delving into an in depth analysis of the composition, concept and methods James Jean uses to deliver yet another killer Fables cover.
The post from Scott also lead me to another useful post by Lee Moyer on the ‘Elements Of A Successful Illustration‘.
Nate Williams -Concept Generation Advice
If you struggle coming up with creative concepts for your illustration assignments, then this post from experienced illustrator Nate Williams is for you.
In the post Nate shares his techniques for concept generation (lots of visual examples here too).
Guide To The Illustrators Contract
As an illustrator starting out, contracts can be pretty daunting - well, thanks to this really useful post from the Dark Motion blog things are about to get easier. Be sure to check out the link at the bottom of the post to the original ‘Contract Killer Article‘.
The Art Of Business blog
Finally, here are two really super useful posts from The Art Of Business blog - one on ‘The Importance of Networking For Artists‘ and the other on ‘Saving For Retirement As An Illustrator‘.
Be sure to check out the rest of the ‘Art Of Business‘ blog too for tons more useful info.
Illustrators To Check Out:
Kekai Kotaki
I discovered Kekai’s amazing art when he was featured in issue 41 of ImagineFX magazine and I’ve been a huge fan of his powerful art ever since. He is currently the Concept Art Lead at ArenaNet working on Guild Wars 2 and does freelance illustration on the side.
Kekai’s work is so strong in both composition and drama - check out his website and blog for more brilliant artwork.
Taeeun Yoo
It was so long ago since I first discovered Taeeun’s beautiful artwork that I can’t even remember what lead me to her blog, but I’m so glad I found her gorgeous work. She is a New York based illustrator working mainly in the publishing field and has illustrated some stunning children’s books.
Check out her blog and website to see more of her beautiful colour palettes and exquisite work.
Jonathan Burton
Jonathan Burton is another illustrator that I discovered a few years ago and have been following ever since.
His compositions are always eye catching and his stylized drawing style is so refreshing and unique. As with Taeeun’s and Kekai’s work, Jonathan’s well thought out (and often restrained) use of colour makes him really stand out for me.
Check out his website and blog here.
Jonathan also put together a couple of great process posts for the illustrations he recently completed for a PD James novel that are well worth checking out. You can read them here and here.
I will be contacting Kekai, Taeeun and Jonathan soon to see if they would be up for an interview about their work for the blog - will keep you all updated!
Well, that’s it…I hope you have found these resources useful and that I’ve lead you to discover a few more super talented illustrators to inspire you and your work.
Aug
Month In Review & The Week Ahead 10th-16th August
Wow, can’t believe it’s been 5 weeks since my daughter was born and I last posted on the blog - it’s been a hectic time taking care of a newborn and being swamped with design work.
Enough about that though, it’s time to get back into the saddle and crack on with my illustration journey.
Month In Review
This month has pretty much been filled with the shock and awe of becoming a new dad, changing nappies, soothing all the crying (well, trying to!), rocking my little girl to sleep and enjoying lots of lovely cuddles.
I had started a new collage illustration the week Mali was born and so far I have completed the background - a night time scene this time which was really fun to do, trying to come up with interesting ways to represent the moon and stars.
Here is a pic of the composition sketch and how the finished background looks so far…
The Week Ahead
- Finish the barn owl collage
- Start work on the next collage in my ‘12 British Birds’ series - ‘The Swan’
- Put together a new post based on all of the resources I’ve been storing up over the past month
- Hopefully hear back from the illustrator who will be the feature of the next interview - he’s been away on holiday and is due to be getting back to me with answers to the interview questions next week. As soon as I hear back from him, I will reveal who he is!!!
