Our featured site this week showcases the work of Illustrator and Designer, Ryan Fawcett.
Dirty Mike, Ryan Fawcett
Ryan recently graduated, having specialised in video game concept art and character illustration, which features heavily throughout his website. Ryan's focus tends to be on fantasy designs, and narrative driven concepts that include both environment design and character implementation.
While accomplished in computer driven design packages like Photoshop and InDesign, Ryan also relies on traditional methods of illustration; working with inks and Copic Markers and paints to bring his landscapes and models to life.
Ryan's illustrations and concept work will be a big hit for gamers and appreciators of deisgn and illustration alike. With influences ranging from the sculpture and drawings of Alberto Giacometti, through to the Japanese art of Yoji Shinkawa, there is a strong graphic appeal to Ryan's work, and a good attention to texture and the layering of colour and form.
To enjoy what Ryan has been working on, visit his website, where you can also contact him if you are interested in any of his work.
World famous illustrator, Quentin Blake, who is perhaps best known for his illustrations in books written by Roald Dahl, is leading the rally to raise money for a new centre that will be dedicated to the art of illustration.
Blake has been encouraging fellow artists and illustrators to submit their original works of art for an auction which is to be held at Sotheby's in London, this December. Amongst the illustrators set to participate in the auction are Raymond Briggs (The Snowman), Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), Ronald Searle (creator of St Trinians) and Gerald Scarfe (cartoonist for The Sunday Times and The New Yorker).
A particular work of note from those going on sale is an original illustration of the butterfly from his famous book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Pre-sale estimates suggest that the work could sell for around £3,000 - £5,000.
Blakes work doesn't just stop at getting artists and illustrators to join in with the auction; the 77-year old has been integral to the House of Illustration project as a whole, which will be housed in the King's Cross area of London.
Blake himself has donated a watercolour of the BFG character for the auction, which is perhaps one of the better known characters from the stories of Roald Dahl.
All of the illustrations that have been donated will be on view at Sotheby's from the 12th December.
Posted on November 24th 2010 on 06:03pm
0 Comments
I recently came across some great illustrations by Stanley Chow while browsing on the From up North design inspiration and news blog. "From up North" appears to have started out as a personal endeavour, and no doubt a marketing tool, for Swedish designer Daniel Nelson. Moving from his personal blog space to its own website, "From up North" is a fantastic amalgamation of 3D design, advertising, painting, logos, photography, print, typography and web design, all under one roof.
The article that grabbed my attention was, as I say, abut Stanley Chow. Illustrator, designer and cartoon extraordinaire, Stanley Chow, was born, raised and now works in Manchester in the UK. Typically associated with fashion illustration and storyboarding, Chow has made quite a name for himself by working flexibly across a wide range of platforms from advertising right through to packaging and game animation.
The "From up North" article pointed out that Chows work has recently been focused on cartoons and caricatures, of which there are plenty of great examples to see. Anybody who is a fan of the series Mad Men and enjoys a bit of 1950's fashion and design will probably enjoy the series of prints that Chow has created, including caricatures of Donald Draper, Joan Holloway and Peggy Olson.
If you head on over to Chows own personal website you will see lots of other great examples of his work which include caricatures of super heros like Superman, Wolverine and Wonder Woman, along with movie characters like Morgot Tenenbaum in her tell-tale LaCoste t-shirt. All of the art prints are for sale on the website.
I think "From up North" were spot on to do a focused article on this creative illustrator and to highlight some of the great work that he has done over the past few years.
The time and effort that goes into the creation of book covers is often overlooked, but some of the original artwork for the cover of childrens book Charlotte's Web, created in 1952, has just sold in New York for $155,000 (£97,000). Sold at auction by Heritage Auctions, the artwork for EB White's books was drawn by Garth Williams and brought in more than five times what was expected at the auction, making this a record for the artists work.
Charlotte's Web is a book about a friendship between a spider and a pig, and the particular artwork was one of 42 original drawings for the book which were put up for auction by the late artist's family. All together the 42 illustrations brought in a total of $780,245 (£487,927).
The cover illustration is said to have been bought by a New York collector whose name has not been released, but shows that there is a firm collector base for these sorts of drawings and a fondness for the illustrations of classic tales in particular.
Last Sunday in the U.S., The Simpsons TV show aired an episode which had a particularly special opening-credit sequence featuring a "couch gag" story-boarded by Banksy. For those who didn't see it, here is what you missed:
The sequence depicts an evil sweatshop churning out Bart Simpson dolls using the fur from crushed up cute animals, rows and rows of regimented workers churning out the animation itself and the bones of dead workers lying about the caves where other workers still pack up boxes of Simpsons goods using a decapitated dolphin head with its tongue hanging out to seal the boxes. Then at the very end there's the tortured unicorn, whose horn is used to pierce the holes in The Simpsons DVDs.
As a giant mockery of the shows producers, Fox, it seemed particularly edgy and a little bit dangerous for the makers of the show to make such an opening for the long running show, so much so that members of The Simpsons team have stepped forward to talk about what was going on.
The New York Times spoke to Al Jean and published the conversation in the Art Beats blog yesterday, which gave an insight into how Banksy got involved with The Simpsons and how everyone has managed to keep their jobs despite the visual commentary Banksy provided.
The overall tone of the interview seems to be that Fox has been very gracioius about allowing The Simpsons creators to use their name and company in this way, and Jean is quick to point out that of course the comedy accusations made in the opening credits are not true. Everything was ok'd by Fox and given approval in terms of broadcast standards. Jean makes the poignant comment that "I think that we should always be able to say the holes in our DVDs are poked by unhappy unicorns." If that doesn't' set the tone of this whole event, I don't know what does.
Banksy is well known for his scathing critique of the system and the story boards that he designed for The Simpsons are a perfect extension to his usual working style; it's a little bit far fetched, and plays with amusing imagery, but ultimately conveys a point of view that's worth considering.
The young ones, no not to the tv show, but the real deal, are here to show Gallereo how it's done!
The latest addition to Gallereo is A-Level student Rhys Taylor, who brings us Retro Graphic art. Creating stunningly cool black and white prints, using retro icons, Rhys already shows a lot of talent and creativity as he makes his way towards an Art Foundation course at Newcastle College.
His TV series is making waves here at Gallereo HQ, but there's some nice stuff to choose from on his site, so take a gander.
This is just the start for Retro Graphic Art, so show your support and make sure you check back to see how Rhys is getting on and what his latest offerings are!