Other Illustrators

I thought I would post some work by other Illustrators I've been looking at.

Illustration by Terry Miura

Illustration by John Ritter

Illustration by John Pirman

Illustration by Greg Tesdahl

Star Tribune Turkey

I recently meet the illustrator of the Star Tribune Turkey for the coloring contest. I can't say that I love his work, but it was neat to meet the man who drew the turkey I used to color every Thanksgiving Day. I also learned an interesting fact, apparently the illustrator draws a new turkey every year, I always thought it was the same turkey.

My recent work

Recent Work

I thought I would post some of my recent work, because I been taking it in a new direction an I really feel that this blog has helped to inspire this new direction.

My recent work

My recent work

My recent work

Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite

Graham Routhwaite

This has to be by far my favorite Illustrator. It's amazing how he captures the energy of popular street style. He also has a wonderful way of using silhouette and transparency. The only critique I have of his work is that he uses some cliche Photoshop filters like the lens flares.

Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite

Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite

Illustration by Graham Rounthwaite

Illustration by PJ Loughran

PJ Loughran

PJ Loughran started out his career while attending Parsons School of Design in New York. His first job was creating illustrations for the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times. Since that first job he has illustrated for over 300 publications, including Time, Newsweek, GQ, Nike, and Sports Illustrated.
I love his use of color and texture. It's amazing how he works digitally but in a lot of ways it hard to tell. But over all his playfulness is my favorite part of his illustrations.

Illustration by PJ Loughran

Illustration By PJ Loughran

Illustration By PJ Loughran

Illustration by Pascal Milelli

The Work of Pascal Milelli

I stumbled across this illustrator while doing some research on the web one day, and I was really impressed with his work. Pascal Milelli hails from Madrid, Spain, but at a young age he moved to Canada. He attended the University of Calgary, but ended up graduating from The Alberta College of Art in 1988. He started out as an illustrator for the Vancouver Sun newspaper, and he has gone on to bigger and better things. His illustrations have appeared on tea boxes in Holland, video game covers in England, annual reports, a variety of book jackets, and numerous advertising campaigns. He has illustrated an award winning children's book, Rainbow Bay (written by Stephen Eaton Hume), and he has been recognized by Communication Arts, the Society of Illustrators, and the Applied Arts.

Pascal Milelli works with oil on canvas, in a stylized realism. Using his own photos or sketches as a reference, he renders the figures and objects. The elements of real life, weather that is the way the shadows fall on the face or the details in the way the fabric falls, helps to add to the recognizably of his work. I find that the most impressive element of his work, is his use of planner structure. It is reminiscent of Uglow or Freud. Since this is the way I draw, he is a good source of inspiration. He has a wonderful sense of color and there is a great variety of it in his work. Ranging from almost monotone or two color, to the spectrum of the rainbow. His work inspires me to work on some independent projects, if only I had time....

Illustration by Pascal Milelli

Illustration by Pascal Milelli

Illustration by Mary Grand Pre

Mary Grand Pre's Show

I recently when to a lecture and show opening of Mary Grand Pre's work. I knew of her work from the Harry Potter books but I was not familiar with the rest of her work, and the areas it spans. She has not only worked on illustrations for the Harry Potter books, but many other children's books, editorial, and to my surprise character development for animated films, such as "Ice Age" and "Antz". Her work is primarily done in pastel and I must say she is quite proficient and amazing with the medium. I loved the cover she did for "plum" a book of poems. The color had amazing depth and saturation, which can be difficult to get with pastels because the pigments mix so easily, and the color can become muddy. One of the great things about her show was that they included her process work(thumbnails, sketches. As an Illustrator it was wonderful to see how such a respected illustrator works. I was also impressed by the large size of her sketches, they were typically the same size as the finished piece. I usually work much smaller when planning an illustration, but I could see how working larger could help with the details and composition. I was disappointed that the show did not include any of her finished work from Harry Potter, but I understand that there are legal reasons for that.

Even though I thought her work was amazing, I was disappointed by her attitude towards illustration. I got an inkling of it during her lecture, when she was talking about her legal troubles with Warner Brothers and Harry Potter. But it became apparent the next day when she came to speak to my Professional Practice: Illustration class. She mainly told our class to keep our options open, and not limit ourselves to illustration. This could have been good advise , but then she went on to talk about how she wishes she never went into illustration. Instead she wants to be a Graphic Designer, or sculptor, or anything else besides an Illustrator. Now I understand that after 20 years in the same career you might get sick of it, especially if you've had so many problems with Warner Brothers (like she has), and have to constantly compromise your work for a client. But when you are speaking to a class of young Illustrators who are hopeful for the future and hungry for your advise and wisdom, it's inappropriate to talk about how much you dislike the field. It would of been better to warn us about problems we may encounter, but not basically tell us to switch majors. It was very uninspiring and bordering on rude.

After this class I went to look at her show again. I noticed that her resent work, especially her 2004 oil paintings, reflect her current feelings. These pieces do not have the same care for concepts and medium as her earlier work.

Illustration by Mary Grand Pre 

Just a Sample

I've decided to include some of my own work, so you can see where I'm coming from...

This is a watercolor portrait of Elvis. 

This is from a series of watercolors I did about the homeless in England.

Welcome

Hello, I am an illustration student who is interested in exploring the world of modern illustration. I would like to further my knowledge of how other illustrators are working. This includes medium, style, and concepts. I will do this through different kinds of research and by posting what I have learned and seen, and my critique of the work.