Illustrator Research 11: Peter Chung

Peter Kunshik Chung was born in 1961, Seoul, Korea, but now lives in LA. He studied experimental animation at Calarts from 1979-81. Chung is renowned as the creator of Aeon Flux which aired on Liquid Telivision during the ealry 90s. Since then he has worked on several other animation projects including Rugrats, Matriculated, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, the Phantom 2040, and Tomb Raider. His signature character design is heavily inspired by the works of Austrian artist Egon Schiele. Howver the really striking aspect of Chung's animations tend to be the narratives. Especially Aeon Flux, which featured non sequitur and non linear storytelling, plot ambiguity and many unorthodox narrative styles rarely seen in animation. He has an interesting discourse featured here.

Illustrator Research 10: John Buscema

John Buscema is an American comic book artist born in New York in 1927. His work featured mostly during Marvel comics silver age of illustration in the 60s and 70s drawing major series such as Silver Surfer and The Avengers, Thor and the Fantastic Four among many. He also had a long 200 issue run on Conan the Barbarian. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002. His brother Sal Buscema was also a successful comic book artist for Marvel.I first came in contact with his work with the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. I borrowed it from a friend when I was a kid and never returned it (to my glee and shame) because I loved comics and the book taught you to draw the way I was interested in drawing at the time. When my dad (who is an art teacher), found out the drawings were done by his favorite comic book artist John Buscema he encouraged me to stick with the book and also told me about fun times he had reading about Thor and the Submariner in the Fantastic Four when comics still cost practically nothing. I studied the book over and over, because I loved it and sadly in Lagos at the time you simply couldnt find how to draw books. Back then I garnered most of the tricks of drawing human anatomy and perspective, but always skimmed over the inking parts, which is probably why I struggle with it today. I still have the book, and once in a while I enjoy flipping through it. Anyway John Buscema's work is here.

Illustrator Research: P. Craig Russell

Phillip Craig Russel was born in Wellsville, Ohio in 1951. He is a well respected illustrator that achieved his first taste of success in 1972 with a comic book series called Amazing Adventures and later on the graphic novel Killraven. He has received multiple Harvey and Eisner awards. Recently worked with Neil Gaiman on the illustrated book of Coraline and notably the highly regarded Sandman issue called Ramadan. His work is quite impressive because of several reasons. He references a lot of art history, paricularly Art Nouveau, which his aesthetic, for instance, line quality seems very decorative and is obviously reminiscient of the movement. Russell always uses odd color schemes that make his worlds unique and memorable. Russell's work is compiled in a gorgeous artbook called The Art of P. Craig Russell which unfortunately costs an arm and a leg. His website's here.

Illustrator Research: Jason Shawn Alexander

Alexander is an painter/illustrator born in Portland, Tennessee in 1975. He lives and works in California , LA now with a degree in Fine arts. I came into contact with his work reading Abe Sapien's The Drowning, a graphic novel written by Mike Mignola and illustrated by Alexander. Alexander's style seemed tailor made for the dark often humorous world of Hellboy, but it was the consistency of mood, atmosphere and strong visual communication that impressed me most in his work. Alexander's ink technique is also what drew me to his work. His drawings are done entirely in ink so they retain an immediacy and spontenaity that would otherwise be lost say with pencil sketches. He has also worked on books like Empty Zone and done covers for Dark Horse's Conan. Of course being a painter he has has several solo and group exhibitions around the country. His website is here.

Illustrator Research: Isabelle Arsenault

Arsenault is an illustrator from Montreal, Canada. She works mostly on children's books such as My Letter to the World in 2008 and Mr Gauguin's Heart in 2007. Her visual vocabulary is rich with fun, unique shapes and unusual but succesful blend of muted chromatic grey color pallettes that one would think would be incongruous to a children's illustration, but is actually well suited to the format. Her website is here.

Illustrator Research: Andy Hixon

Hixon is an illustrator/animator/and sculptor. His work is reminiscent of Dave Mckean a little with less collaging however. He uses photographed sculptures, which are made from polymer and clay set against painted canvases, then finished with Photoshop and Painter to complete his unique illustrations. Some of his clients are Orbe (music Cd cover) and Evergreen Terrace (Band Poster). His website is here.

Illustrator Research: Frank Stockton

I could not find much biographical information on Frank Stockton, but his blog has tons of information about his process and the clients he engages with. Some of his clients are Esquire Russia, Fantagraphics, More Magazine, Penthouse, The New Yorker, etc. He uses a very clean line with exaggerated perspectives, offering dramatic solutions to the narratives he illustrates. His use of color is also quite interesting. Since I took the color studies class last year I have been paying close attention to artists that use color in a manner out of the ordinary, especially artists that use it to aid storytellng.

Illustrator Research: Eyvind Earle

Eyvind Earle was and illustrator/ author born in New York in 1916. His most noted work and the manner I first came in touch with his paintings were through Disney movies like Sleeping Beauty. He created background paintings that were unlike anything seen in animation at the time altering perspective and bending nature into shapes that created interesting rhythmic and geometric arrangements. His watercolor paintings are in permanent musuem collections across America such as the Musuem of Modern Art, NY. His website is here.

Illustrator Research: Craig Thompson

Craig Thompson, born in Michigan, America in 1975 is an award winning graphic novelist and illustrator. He has won two Eisner awards and two Ignatz awards, and is probably most famous for his work on the graphic novel Blankets, which I have only partially read. However I have read his illustrated travel diary Carnet de Voyage, which was quite impressive. The sheer amount of visual information he was able to capture in the book was outstanding, plus it had a good sense of humor and an honesty that I felt familiar with (being a traveller in a strange land myself). Technically though his brush work, specifically his use of br scumbling ush is what really caught my attention with his work, oh and he is also quite meticulous. His blog is here.

Illustrator Research: Adrian Tomine

Tomine is an American cartoonist and illustrator born in on May 4, 1974, best known for his comic Optic Nerve and several New Yorker covers. He is often compared to Daniel Clowes who he is good friends with. They both employ similar 'clean line' sytles of illustration. Tomine's work looks interesting to me because he is able to take mundane looking characters and imbue interest in them through the use of economic but expressive line work as well as unexpected color choices. Tomine's site is here.

Illustrator Research: Gary Panter

Gary Panter is an American illustrator, designer and part time musician born in Oklahoma in 1950. Panter's work looks brazen in both aesthetics and general content. He uses a lot of colors that people don't consider 'beautiful,' and his drawing method has been described as 'ratty,' and always evoking the raw emotion of the subject being portrayed. Panter is supposedly best friends with Matt Groening. He has worked for Raw magazine, Time, doing set designs for the Emmy award winning Pee-Wee's playhouse, and comics such as Jimbo and Cola Madness. From 2005- 07 Panter was among the traveling exhibit "Masters of American Comics" along with Chris Ware, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Kirby and Robert Crumb. Gary Panter's site is here.