Tag: Illustrator

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Joris Hoefnagel

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Joris Hoefnagel or Georg Hoefnagel (1542 – 1601) was a Flemish painter, printmaker, miniaturist, draftsman and merchant.He is noted for his illustrations of natural history subjects, topographical views, illuminations and mythological works.Hoefnagel was one of the last manuscript illuminators and made a major contribution to the development of topographical drawing.His manuscript illuminations and ornamental designs played an important role in the emergence of floral still-life painting as an independent genre in northern Europe at the end of the 16th century.Working before the invention of the microscope and long before etymology was an established field of study, Hoefnagel produced images that are much more than the sum of his empirical observations.He created his manuscripts not for a wide scientific public but instead for himself and his small circle of friends.The almost scientific naturalism of his botanical and animal drawings served as a model for a later generation of Netherlandish artists.Through these nature studies Hoefnagel also contributed to the development of natural history and he was thus a founder of proto-scientific inquiry.More of Joris Hoefnagel’s work can be found at https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2569.html.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Jon Juarez

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Jon Juarez is an artist, author, and illustrator from San Sebastián, Spain.He is known for creating beautiful sketches and drawings with bright colors and a surrealist touch.Juarez describes himself as a soul of the wilderness, dragged by his pens towards civilization. Many of the artist’s works are based on real places, but they always have a surreal twist that takes them out of the realm of possibility.Through years of practice and honing his craft, he has learned to express his creative visions, and they now take the form of elaborate compositions that boast meticulous details.Each piece is beautiful in its delicate lines and use of color, and they are made alluring thanks to additional elements such as  polygons and waves.More of Jon Juarez‘s colorful works can be found at https://harriorrihar.myportfolio.com/ and https://designyoutrust.com/2022/12/the-superb-hand-drawn-illustrations-by-jon-juarez/. 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Vanessa Lubach

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Vanessa Lubach is a linocut illustrator and artist who grew up in Oxfordshire and trained as an illustrator in Brighton, England, graduating in 1990.Drawing from observation has always been at the core of Lubach’s work, whether it is illustrating, painting or printmaking.Each piece begins with a sketch and a general idea of the palette.After drawing and carving the main image, or key block, she prints and transfers the composition to additional blocks designed for each individual color.Her linocuts are intricately carved and multi-layered,  and some pieces take almost a year to complete.Lubach likens her printmaking practice to the intricacies of oil painting, and draws on her color experiences to inform her vibrant compositions.“I linocut like a painter and paint like a linocutter, and the two disciplines work together to inform and enhance each other,,” Lubach shares.More of Vanessa Lubach‘s lovely prints can be found at http://www.vanessalubach.co.uk/ and https://www.instagram.com/vanessalubach/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Alex Pardee

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Alex Pardee is an Illustrator, freelance artist, apparel designer, and comics creator / writer based in Los Angeles.

Pardee is probably best known for his work on a number of stunning album covers, although he has also designed and created comic books, and  launched a web store.

Early in his life, Pardee suffered from depression and anxiety. After being hospitalized, Pardee tried different activities to feel better.

That’s when he picked up a pencil and started to draw. The rest is history.

Pardee’s happy nightmares, or Brightmares, bring attention to the complex interaction between the opposing forces in our lives — the good and the bad, the heartwarming and the horrific — by delivering scary subject matter in bright and playful, even cute, packages.

His creations often consist of gnarling monsters or creepy creatures that are injected with a dose of delight, usually containing a strong sense of humor and irony; vibrant, pleasant colors; and large, anime eyes.

“Jumping on social networking sites as they appeared, and disciplining myself to actually UTILIZE them was, for me, the most important thing I did in establishing the art career that I have now,” Pardee shared.

More of Alex Pardee’s amazing drawings can be found at http://www.alexpardee.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/alexpardee/.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Walter Crane

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Walter Crane (1845-1915) was an English illustrator, painter, and designer primarily known for his imaginative illustrations of children’s books.

The son of the portrait painter and miniaturist Thomas Crane (1808–59), Crane is considered to be among the most influential and  most prolific children’s book creators of his generation.Crane’s work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children’s stories for decades to come. The artist was one of the strongest contributors to the child’s nursery motif that English children’s illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the later 19th century.His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed images that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children’s stories for decades to come.Crane was a strong believer in the ‘unity of design’ in book illustration, and often printed the words of the texts or poems himself.

Crane’s view was that the union of the calligrapher’s and the decorator’s art was one secret of the beauty of the old illuminated books. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children’s books, ceramic tiles, wallpapers and other decorative arts.He devoted much time and energy to the work of the Art Workers Guild, of which he was master in 1888 and 1889 and to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, which he helped to found in 1888.

More of Walter Crane‘s illustrations can be found at https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/walter-crane and https://www.wikiart.org/en/walter-crane.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Maxim Shkret

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Moscow-based illustrator Maxim Shkret conjures the flowing hair of people and the tangled fur of beasts in this lovely ongoing series of digital illustrations.Mixing a unique method of 3d modeling with carefully applied shadows, each piece evokes the form of a paper-like sculpture.One of his key flairs is lavish swoops and sweeps that detail his 3D designed images, giving that captivating look of something expertly sculpted with such conviction.Shkret believes that advancing technology is a powerful tool that can be utilized to bring the most dreamy and clever ideas to full realization.And this ideology certainly shows in his endeavors through the stunningly eccentric concepts that unravel before viewers’ eyes.“Being a strong advocate of experiments on the intersection of digital and physical, I firmly believe that imagination is free from any constraints and boundaries,” Shkret says. “It is a powerful engine that fuels the creative process allowing to propel the aesthetics of the visual art to new heights.”

More of Maxim Shkret’s amazing graphics can be found at www.shkret.com.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery (midweek) — Brian Froud

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Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator. 

Froud graduated with Honors from Maidstone College of Art in 1971 with a degree in Graphic Design.

Soon afterwards, he began working in London on various projects ranging from book jackets, magazine covers to advertising as well as illustrating several children books.

Froud soon realized that fairy tales and legends were something which would never get old.In collaboration with his friend and fellow artist Alan Lee, Froud created the 1978 book Faeries, an illustrated compendium of faerie folklore.Upon discovering Froud’s lavish and mysterious drawings in his books, and recognizing his complex and singular artistic vision of the faerie world,  Jim Henson chose him to help him create a unique otherworld feature-film which became known as The Dark Crystal. Soon Froud developed his own magical distinctive style and experimented with three dimensional designs complete with gnomes, goblins, warlocks and dragons.Through Froud’s unique style utilizing acrylics, colored pencil, pastels and ink, he has created some of the most well known fantasy images of the Twenty-first Century.More of Brian Froud‘s amazing workmanship can be found at https://www.ferniebrae.com/brian-froud.

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Cindy Kang

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Born and raised in Seoul, along with a couple of other stints living in New Zealand, Australia and the US growing up, Cindy Kang eventually moved to the big apple with hopes and dreams of becoming an illustrator.

She studied illustration at New York’s School of Visual Arts, pursuing an interest in storytelling through heartwarming atmospheric drawings.With a number of commissions under her belt, Cindy’s American dream is gradually being realized; one painterly illustration at a time.“I was always interested in storytelling,” explains Cindy, “whether it’s in the form of written language or visual language.”

“However, being from the other side of the world and living as a ‘foreigner’ for more than half of my life meant that it was inevitable for me to face some language and cultural barriers.”

Taking up drawing as a way to loosen anxiety during those “new girl experiences”, illustration became a release for Cindy, as well as a way to let go from the pressures of communicating perfectly in English.

Her art seems to be a more personal reflection of inner female thoughts and dreams of the feminine world. 

By paying close attention to the emotion of her illustrated figures, Cindy continues to depict a breathing space for her drawn characters while revealing her wild imagination at the same time.

More of Cindy Kang‘s work can be found at http://www.cindysykang.com

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — Maria Sibylla Merian

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Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator living in the Netherlands, was an extremely enterprising and independent woman who managed a successful career as an artist, botanist, naturalist and entomologist.

At a time when natural history was a valuable tool for discovery, Merian discovered facts about plants and insects that were not previously known, such as insects did not spontaneously emerge from mud.

Merian was the first to bring together insects and their habitats, including food they ate, into a single ecological composition.

Merian published her first book of natural illustrations, titled Neues Blumenbuch, in 1675.

In 1699, following eight years of painting and studying, and on the encouragement of the governor of the Dutch colony of Surinam, the city of Amsterdam awarded Merian a grant to travel to South America with her daughter Dorothea. Her trip, designed as a scientific expedition makes Merian perhaps the first person to plan a journey rooted solely in science.

She then proceeded to publish her major work, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (de), in 1705, for which she became famous. 

Merian is considered to be among the most significant contributors to the field of entomology — an amazing journey for an 18th Century woman.

More of Maria Sibylla Merian‘s amazing story and images can be found at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Sibylla-Merian and https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-woman-who-made-science-beautiful/424620/.