Vintage Skull

Nesting Doll X-Ray

Skull 2 

Home Taping Is Dead

Live Fast Die Young

Punk

Mariachi

Originality is the true making of an artist. The ability to put two completely contrasting things together, and make it work, is the talent of only a true creative mind. One of the recurring features in Ali’s work is the skull, and the skeleton. An object normally associated with death and horror, their inclusion in an illustration depicting flowers, Russian dolls, and a Mohican-wearing Punk seems somewhat ambiguous, the mark of an illustrator trying to send a message perhaps. Floral girlishness meets deathly skull is perhaps a concoction used to address the stereotypes and associations we put together with certain objects, an ironic illustration to make us think about the ways we perceive things. Perhaps, the juxtaposition of an object such as a skull, and a punk, is in fact not as oppositional as first thought. After all, it could be argued that “punk”, in the true anarchic and rebellious sense of the word, is dead. Not only is it a historically-specific subculture, precise to the 1970s notions of anti-establishment and anti-authoritarianism going on at the time; but it is also a movement that cannot be rekindled for fear of it becoming mainstream, contradictive, a copy of something long past. 
 
Ali’s use of the skull in images of flowers, vintage, punk and tapes, serves a multiple purpose. It challenges stereotypes and associations, whilst also communicating the notion that death can be connected to anything. Paradoxically, death might be thought of as a living organism from which none can escape, machine, human, or otherwise. On another, lighter note, the juxtaposition of death and, say, a mariachi, is just plain funny in its absurd combination.
 
Website: Aligulec.carbonmade.com  

Name: Jacques Marcotte
Age: 26
Occupation: Graphic designer/illustrator
Inspiration: Alex Gross, Jeff Soto, Mark Ryden
 
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like the illustrations of French Canadian, Jacques Marcotte. They are both cute and disturbing in equal measure. Take ‘Eightball Demon’ - a slumped Donnie-Darko style bunny, dragon wings, and an Eightball as a face – it takes all those notions of “cute bunny”, and turns them completely upside down. They are transformative pieces in that what we might take in at a glance is not the same thing as when we take a closer look. ‘I like the way they can look cute one moment, funny in another but in the end they are also very scary. I think life in general is a bit like this, beautiful on the outside but very frightening on the inside. We live in an era where everything has to look beautiful, solid and perfect even if it ugly, fragile and imperfect. We don't want the truth’.
 
Jacques goes on to explain ‘Just look at our car industry or the shopping mall, great on the outside, very useful, but, in actuality, it is killing the planet. I try to represent emptiness, temptation, and selflessness in my creation. That’s why I like the shape of a skull. It creates a really powerful emptiness halo around the character, like no soul could live there. [It’s the] same thing for the characters with tentacles and a melting/organic form. I think it a beautiful way to represent the disinterest of humanity in change - nothing is solid - everything is in a kind of laziness, rooted in this
never-changing life style’.
 
It is evident that Jacques’ illustrations are layered with meaning, an artistic response to the commerciality and pseudo-reality represented by today’s media. Inspired by ‘the way we, humans act in life’, Jacques illustrations hark back to a time of artistic rebellion, a time when art represented more than the aesthetic presented on the page. He describes himself as ‘passionate, [a] dreamer, spontaneous’, and in this is created illustrative originality and depth of meaning.
 
Asked on his way of working, Jacques gave somewhat of an interesting reply: ‘I talk to a mighty unicorn for about a minute or two, then drink a good cup of tea and let the inspiration flow by itself. I don't start with exactly the idea or subject I want to create. I prefer the spontaneity to the moment. I think the subconscious is very rich and it a way for me to let what it inside out. All of my illustration or digital work is begun by putting on some music then opening my Painter software. I just let the pen go, draw a variety of circular lines and try to focus on what I see, what are the shapes that are appearing, what I want to express, the color I feel. Then slowly the art or illustration is shaped up on the screen’.
 
By the year 2022, Jacques would like to create a short animation – ‘I think it could be a very different way of creating, expressing and feeling than a static illustration. I would love to do this, maybe in the years to come.’
 
Website: Jacquesmarcotte.com
You can buy Jacques’ work from: Society6.com 

Gig posters were one of my first loves within the art world, which is why Drew Millward’s work appeals to me so much. He has such a distinctive style that is fashionable right now, but still manages to stand out, an almost impossible feat within illustration these days. He is a British born illustrator who hopes that his love of drawing comes across with every one of his pieces, and it really does. He manages to get lots of objects and details into his work with a cartoon style applied to all of it. His illustrations are full and interesting; the audience can spend ages looking at his pieces and keep seeing extra little details that he has added into it. Take the illustration of the ice-cream, just at a quick glance,. You can spot three Nike shoes, cherries with faces as well as a hand waving and that is just the start of what is contained within.

The thing that amazes me the most is that Drew likes to draw the ‘old fashioned way’, using pens, pencils and just a love of the craft of illustration, to achieve his style of illustration with traditional methods is astonishing.

Website: Drewmillward.com

When finding artists to feature on my weekly blog I look for work that I find thought provoking in
addition to being visually appealing. Usually the questions presented in an illustration are concerned with what it means and what emotions are being communicated, but, just as is clear in regards to Sarah Julia Clark’s artwork, often these mysteries are a little easier to solve. Rather than wondering, for example, why the artist chooses to work primarily with a certain colour, the first question I asked myself upon seeing Clark’s work was, “Who is Bell Hooks?”
 
It turns out she’s a pretty inspiring woman but that’s not the point I’m trying to make right now: Sarah Julia Clark’s print of Bell Hooks made me want to find out about her. This isn’t a reaction limited to just one print either; most of Clark’s illustrations explore and present feminist concepts in ways that make people want to educate themselves about them whilst, importantly, steering clear of misandry.
 
However, this isn’t to say that the Brighton-based illustration student focuses entirely on feminism, nor that she does not have talent in abundance. Clark was recently featured in Oh Comely magazine, an opportunity which allowed her to display the warmth and depth she is able to achieve with her illustrations, particularly through her use of colour. Her Mysticism zine beautifully presents superstitions from different cultures in black and white screenprints. Each image is a brilliantly striking depiction of the magic and ancient belief in the concepts, in addition to being entertaining.
 
More of her work can be found at: Cargocollective.com 

I recently came upon Castro’s work on the website, Threadless. For those who don’t know, Threadless invites artists to upload their work, where it gets voted on by the public to become a printed t-shirt. The reason why I wasn’t aware of him before was due to the wide variety of his illustrative work. Castro is a well-rounded artist that can adapt and improvise his work to fit in with the current piece.

All three pieces that I chose from his portfolio reflect the subject within the illustration. The first is a water colour piece. It uses a small amount of details and has a slightly misaligned look to it, which really fits in with the opposites involved in the piece. The second is a more in-style illustration, completed using vectors and has a clever humour to it, by taking in fashion items of the time and combining them with the text of ‘use your brain’ which is a juxtaposition of content. The last one is again completely different to the others. It’s a pin-up girl in a vintage print style with the addition of multiple colours applied to the illustration to complete the piece.

All three are carefully crafted and finished to an amazing standard, the fact that one artist can create each of these is just amazing.

Website: Mathiole.com

Name: Karen Watson
Age: 38
Occupation: Artist/Illustrator
Inspiration: Arthur Rackham, Lisbeth Zweger, Alan Lee, Jessie Willcox Smith
 
Karen’s illustrations portray the mythic, the fairytale. Stemming from such works as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Hans Christian Anderson’s Thumbelina, and German fairytale, Hansel and Gretel, Karen’s illustrative style is indeed preoccupied with those weird and wonderful
stories we all remember from our childhoods. Asked on her interest in this kind of subject matter, Karen said ‘I absolutely love a good story, and when reading a compelling tale my imagination can’t help but create the imagery being described. Fairy tales are especially fun because they are filled with whimsy and magic. When looking at an illustration created for famous classic stories such as “The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland”, a glimpse of the scene from the Mad Tea Party can bring you right into the story and create feelings of sweet nostalgia. Illustrating those images, paying attention to every detail described in the book, brings me a feeling of great accomplishment when the painting turns out and pulls you in to the story’.
 
Stories are an inevitable and universal source of inspiration. So pivotal to our way of life, our ancestry, our socialisation, stories hold the key to much of today’s civilisation. It is no surprise then to find the story is Karen’s inspiration: ‘A talented author with great imagination and creative descriptions can certainly conjure up the inspiration required to create a beautiful, whimsical illustration.’
 
It appears that, like stories, art and illustration were two things ingrained in Karen’s mind from an early age. ‘Since childhood, art has always been a great interest of mine, but illustration became a passion while I was living and working as a VFX artist in Munich, Germany. I loved visiting the art department, where they drew the story boards, developed the character designs, and then sculpted them. I met an artist there, who is still a wonderful friend, and it was she who inspired me to illustrate. We would ride our bikes around Munich, from art stores to the English Garden, and on the
weekends we would always do something creative. Being away from home, I started creating original Christmas, birthday, and greeting cards for friends and family. I had so much fun illustrating them that my passion grew from there.’
 
Asked on her artistic process, Karen replied ‘When I start on a new book or commissioned illustration I begin with simple thumbnail sketches. I draw as quickly as I can; they just look like a bunch of squiggles to anyone else, but I’m working out the composition, the angles, flow, and light direction of the illustration. I do lots of these little thumbnails until I find a composition that is really working well. By doing quick sketches, I can quickly try lots of different angles so that I don’t get stuck in one direction. I then start working on character design, writing down the characteristics that I feel are important to portray individual personalities, paying close attention to any details regarding the characters’ appearance, as they are described in the story. I draw the characters from all angles in order to create a consistency throughout the pages of the book. Once I have layouts and characters that I’m happy with, I move forward to creating larger versions of the sketches on trace paper. This allows me to change little details of the illustration until I get a final sketch that I then transfer to watercolour paper and begin the final process of painting, and perhaps inking, depending on the look I’m after. In some of the illustrations I created for the art show, “Drawn from Words”, I added a 3D element of cut paper to add depth and texture.
This was a new process for me, but I’m sure I’ll use it again in future as it was met with great response and adds a unique quality, especially to the original. Each illustration is then scanned to create a digital copy, where I will occasionally add or fix small details. My years of working as a VFX artist has given me a great advantage when it comes to digital imagery, and although I create the majority of my work in a classical medium, I still have full control to change, add, or enhance anything in the digital copy’.
 
Karen hopes that by 2022, she will be ‘regarded with respect in the industry as an illustrator with distinctive yet original designs, and known for my whimsical, classic style. It is my plan to delve into creating interactive e-books for children as I feel that would be the perfect combination of my fine art and technical skill. Several published children’s books would certainly be a nice feather in my cap.’
 
Website: Karenwatson.com 
 
Buy Karen’s illustrations from: Society6.com 

Bear

Impossible

Kodiak Arrest

The 3 Hs of Bear Life

'Tis But A Scratch

Zach Terrell’s illustration is invested with a mystical power to reinvigorate the dying metaphor. With beautiful and disarming simplicity, he brings back to life the motifs of our quotidian experience, resurrecting them memorably in forms we might never have imagined. Take ‘Impossible’, which tells us to believe in just that. This illustration allows its viewer an insight into exactly how such an imperative might be realised: by glimpses into the vast, starry patterns of space, or through attempts to reconcile ourselves with logic of the triangle that marks its centre. The whole image possesses a transcendental quality that challenges our own ideas about the limits of possibility.
 
Terrell’s illustrations are far more than a supplement to the word; in fact, they’re able to elevate the written form to another plane entirely. But at the same time, he is unafraid to engage with bathetic comedy. His piece ‘Tis But A Scratch’ inscribes this famous line, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, as the bleeding, dismembered figure of the Black Knight. Turning deceptively simple motifs into humorous depictions, these images delight often in the interplay between words and illustrations. We might cite ‘Weather War’, which presents a sun and a dark cloud boxing, as another example.
 
The range of subject matter that Terrell’s work expresses, of responses it evokes, is impressively broad, but I particularly enjoy his set of illustrations of bears. From the wonderfully simple ‘Bear’ to
the witty and playful ‘Kodiak Arrest’ to the humorous ‘The 3 H’s of Bear Life’, these pieces entertain and amuse unfailingly. Able at once to engage with the comically ridiculous and to sublimate the cliché into a new realm of meaning, Zach Terrell’s illustrations exercise an evocative, original talent for aesthetic expression.

Blog: Coyotealert.tumblr.com

You can buy Zach's work from: Society6.com

Rudy-Jan Faber is a Leeuwarden (Netherlands) based illustrator, and has found a passion for drawing figures in a cartoony style. These four illustrations from his portfolio show the range of talents that Rudy-Jan possesses. They all have the same core distinctions: off-centre layout, cartoony style and the addition of tattoos. However they are all completed using varied illustrative methods.

The first is very much a digital piece. The colouring and shading used Rudy-Jan uses have a digital feel that really reflects the content. The second of his illustrations is of a modern day pin-up with a twist. He has completed this with a sketched style with block colour shading and given her tattoos to drag her right up to the 21^st century. The last two are slightly different but show the talents that Rudy has. The first is of a tattoo flash, incorporating everything that is current with tattoo flash design (skulls, scrolls, swallows, etc.) He has made a really simple line drawing that reflects current trends. His last illustration depicts San Francisco Bridge with a pirate ship approaching. This combination of past and present really brings the illustration to life.

Rudy-Jan Faber’s portfolio is reflective of his talents and eye on current trends. One of the biggest parts of his work is the ability to bring subjects that have been done in the past and bring them right up to the 21^st century.

Website: Rudyfaber.com

Reservoir Dogs

Shipwrecked

Old Man Hatten

The Idea Man

Attraction

Bass Knuckles

If I could describe Jonah Block’s illustrative style in one word, that word would be: literal. Jonah’s illustrations work best with their titles, named underneath each image. The most obvious example of this is Bass Knuckles, a pun on the hand-weapon, brass knuckles. Of course, we can enjoy Jonah’s works as stand-alone images, enjoying the quirk of a bass fish with holes in it, or six dogs with suits on. However, from the aesthetic exclusively, we do not get the humour, the parody so cleverly embedded in the title and illustration’s interrelationship. Six dogs with suits on becomes a funny and literal interpretation of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film, Reservoir Dogs, their names: Mr Pink, Mr White, Mr Orange, Mr Blonde, Mr Blue and Mr Brown represented by the corresponding colours of the dogs’ heads. Even more humour is induced when types of dog are linked with characters: the poodle head of Mr Orange, and the Chihuahua head of Mr Blue.
 
Other illustrations work on a more image-based level, the corresponding title not a necessary component to understand all that is divulged by the work. Shipwrecked for example portrays all the humour and meaning it needs to in its visual aesthetic. It combines all of those things we most associate with a shipwreck, and turns them into a parody of the clichés they represent. Similarly, The Idea Man takes the clichéd ‘light bulb moment’ and personifies it into a cartoonish, 1920s businessman, his head so full of bright ideas and ‘light-bulb moments’ that it actually turned into a light-bulb!
 
Jonah’s funny illustrations have reminded me of the importance of title, its ability to share extra information and help you engage with an image on more than just its aesthetic value.
 
Blog: Ameturishatbest.blogspot.co.uk 
Buy Jonah’s work from: Society6.com 

Bristol-based artist Fritha Strickland had the kind of start in life that can only be described as eclectic. Her family moved frequently when she was growing up, and with a name like Fritha Moonbeatle Tigerlilly it was clear that she was to become a highly imaginative adult.

Strickland describes herself as a ‘general maker of cute things’ and the animals that frequently feature in her work do not appear to argue this fact. The owls, the cats, the badgers and their friends are all undeniably, and wonderfully, cute. Yet this is not to say that Fritha Strickland is no more than a “doodler” or an artist without substance: there is a huge amount of character and personality in her work. She often uses text to accompany her images in order to inject a refreshing dose of humour (usually in the form of a pun), and to reflect the emotion of the piece. These phrases also offer a key to interpreting seemingly unconnected and enigmatic illustrations with this emotion, as can be seen in the image of the tessellations surrounding the phrase ‘deep down I know it will be ok.’ These sporadically coloured triangles are not solely there to make the text look pretty; they are just as important to understanding the image as a whole as the explanatory text.

Fritha Strickland creates warm and bold images in a contrastingly pastel pallet. Even the foxes she draws have a sly, shifty look in their eyes. Yes, they are cute, but it is the subtle wit and character of each figure and in each illustration that makes them truly distinctive.
 
Website: Tigerlillyquinn.blogspot.co.uk 
 
Images: Etsy.com