Joan by Anna Shipstone
Anna Shipstone hails from the small seaside town of Cromer, Norfolk, UK, where she lives with her pet dog and family. On her website you can find some of the truly gorgeous sample work of this pencil portraiture artist – in particular I enjoy her children portraits and the one pictured above. Joan seems to be almost three dimensional and pops out of the page. While you’re there, also check out her abstract color work – trippy!
The characters developed by veteran concept artist and character designer Mike May are anything but ordinary – each inhabits a unique world, suggested not so much by the environment they’re rendered in but by the dress, demeanor, and look of the characters themselves. Mike is a also a superb caricaturist. There’re a ton of drawings and illustrations on his portfolio site and additional, more recent, work on his blog, so if you need some inspiration, go check it out.
Although Illustrator Mathis Rekowski has some wonderfully trippy drawings like the one featured here, he’s got even more illustrations seem to me at once retro and cutting edge. Certainly someone to watch out for. You can purchase the image above at Mathis’ new store, or follow him on his blog
The world of Justin Cherry is alien, vivid, and wonderful to inhabit. Especially if you’re into character design, check this guy out or read his blog.
Self Portrait (No. 12 / B5 Series) by Matt W Moore
Although it would seem that Matt W. Moore is currently better known for his color work – he just had a feature article about him in Computer Arts Magazine in which he discusses his Vectorfunk style – I love this guy’s black and white art. He explores different shapes and uses clear and crisp lines. I am particularly impressed with his mandalas (drawing these myself) and how well they are executed for the fact that they are hand-drawn (as opposed to using Illustrator as his the case for many of his color works).
Matt just released B5 (from which these images are taken), a collection of black and white prints available for purchase, to complement Alphafont 3.0, a font type exploration done in color. This guy kicks ass so check out his website MWM Graphics, his blog, or follow him on Twitter.
3 more below the jump.
"Ms. February" Line Art by Brian Ewing
Man am I glad that I checked out Brian Ewing’s Flickr page. While there are plenty of sick drawings on his website and blog, the real action is on Flickr. Ewing is an illustrator who pumps out amazing illustrations for band T-Shirts, posters, magazines, skateboards, etc. For those of you who like the skull and, more broadly, tattoo aesthetic, you’ll get your fill here.
The real treasure trove, beyond the pictures themselves, are the tutorials and how-to’s that Ewing has put together on his Flickr account. Detailing every step of the way (minus colors) of how he’s arrived at some of his most memorable work, including, for example, the cover of I Want Your Skull #5, you get a really intimate look at the whole end-to-end creative process. There are lots of little tips that simple invaluable to the new artist – for example, don’t tape down your drawing but move it to preserve the motion of your hand and wrist. If you want to know how a professional does what he does, you simple must check these out.
Of course you’d also be doing Ewing a favor by buying some of his stuff. Really, you should.
3 more images below the jump.
Ah, the skull. Universal and visceral, fascinating and beautiful. Symbolic of those most basic themes: life and death. We find it in pop culture, occult ritual, on shoulders worldwide; most importantly, we find it in ourselves. No wonder we see it over and over in the world of art. It is mystical… perhaps we look for answers about the life after death in the bony visage of the skull.
Whatever the case, at the end of day, skulls are pretty cool! Which is exactly why I set out to put together of a haphazard list of drawings, photos, tutorials & how-tos, videos, and illustrations dealing with the human skull.
I hope it proves useful to you and inspires you as it has me. So without further ado, categorized by what seemed to make sense, skulls:
Enjoy!
Anatomical Studies of Skulls
Skull Left Lateral Index from Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body
Nurse Hypo by Phillip Jackson
Phillip Jackson, aka Jolly Jack, creator of the memorable “Sequential Art” and other online comic strips, has a great little sketchbook section to find a little inspiration. His drawings are fresh, sexy, and humerous – not a bad combination.
More below the jump.
Looking at the drawings Phillip Rauschkolb has posted on his sketch blog, it’s easy to see that he’s way into comics. Currently working at an ad agency in Portland, Oregon, his true calling is the comics industry. He’s working on his own comic book, and by the looks of it, I’d say he’s well on his way to becoming a great comic book artist.
More pictures below the jump.
I recently came across the fresh work of one Eric Constantino, a freelance artist currently enrolled in the San Francisco State University with a major in Design and Industry. Not only does his site – Design by 31216 – feature his not-too-shabby talents, what I really like about it is the fact that he let’s you enter into his creative process, from conceptual drawing to final piece (be it a poster or sneaker).
More below the jump.