Artists - inspiration

This post is all about artists that inspire me and who’s work I absolutely love.  I will not explain, in details, who they are but rather present my feelings about their work. 

Starting with the name: Andy Park, an artists, who was discovered by myself in my early years of primary school. I was (and still am) a great fan of Lara Croft. As a kid, I bought my first comic which was the Tomb Raider (released in 1999) and the penciler for the first issues was no one else but Andy Park. Later on, in his career, he was doing mainly concept art but to me, he has always been a master in drawing Lara Croft. Since a young age, I’ve been finding myself some “motivational stuff” that inspired me in my life. Andy Park’s comics were definitely one of those things. 

I was very young when I first saw his drawings and I definitely couldn’t draw like that myself. But it was that factor which I was going back to again, again and again, because there was always something that made me push myself forward. Park’s style of drawing stuck in my mind and as I was growing older and more experienced in sketching, I’ve always tried to imitate some of his style’s features. I believe, this artist had a huge impact on shaping my own style and tastes.

 Although, Andy Park wasn’t doing comics for a long time, I’m glad he decided to look back at his old work. I’m following some of his actions and a while ago, he decided to share his old Tomb Raider sketches, which I’ve never seen before (only in painted version). As I realized, there are many people who are just as much excited about them as I am. What an interesting thing, how devoted people can be and after all those years still feel the same fire for the particular art. 

Now we’re moving to my younger discoveries yet as much influencing. The next artist that inspires me is J. Scott Campbell. His style is easy to recognize, especially when looking at female characters. Their features are pretty cute and always have this, I would say, characteristic nose that let’s you know who the author is. Lately Campbell released a series of prints “Fairytale Fantasies” where he portraits popular tale characters in a style more suitable for adults. There is still the cuteness of a tale but poses and features of the characters add more sexiness to the drawing. I really like how glossy and shiny Campbell’s paintings are. I think his illustrations draw attention and that’s the point I want to learn for my illustrations as well. 

Another artist is Elias Chatzoudis. His work reminds me of the pin up style, which I’m interested in. What I really like in his designs is the great perception of female body. This is why women drawn by him are almost always ideal. I also admire his digital painting skills, his illustrations have really great quality and I wish I could get to that point some day. 

This time a female representative in a world of comics artists: Elizabeth Torque. Her style mixes features which I like and use in my drawings as well. She’s presenting characters in quite ideal form, which is typical for comics. I really like how she mixes strong outline for comics and great realistic painting. Each artist style is different and helps to learn a lot about different methods of painting. 

Last but least is Stanley Artgerm Lau. His work is absolutely amazing, I very often look at his work when I’m trying to learn something about digital painting. It’s not only about technique, the female characters he’s creating are simply beautiful and I can’t stop admiring the realism of their features.

 

  

All the artists I’ve mentioned are great and present different unique style. Observing their artwork is always a great way of learning new things and techniques. I think junior artists always look at professionals work to set the requirements bar for themselves. Senior artists on the other hand dictate the criteria for those who begin and want to break onto the professional level. Also, very important thing is to always have a role models that inspire and motivate us to work.