Under the Influences

Last week I talked a little bit about the process of coming into the drawing style I have now. This got me thinking about my artistic inspirations and influences, so I thought I’d share them with you.

The first and most important influence on my art, ever and always, is the ultimate Artist and Creator. Whatever ability I have is from God and I owe everything I am to Him. And how can any artist not be inspired by the beauty He has surrounded us with? As an artist who mostly works with the figure, I am especially inspired by the work of His hands that is the people all around me.

The artist Jemma Salume is another artistic influence (Specifically in her treatment of the figure and the nose). Until I aquainted myself with Ms. Salume’s work, I had been drawing noses in what I call “the Disney Princess style.” Basically, I used a few tiny lines to indicate shadow and shape for a delicate nose. However, Jemma Salume doesn’t get shy about noses; she outlines their shape and gives them a slightly different color than the rest of the face. As someone who is incredibly intrigued by noses, (I’m weird, I know) I was inspired to follow Ms. Salume’s example and distinguish the nose instead of pushing it back into the rest of the facial features. I was also inspired by Salume’s graceful, elongated, dancer-like figures, which bring a Fine Art touch to her illustrations.

 

Paul Pope got me to do something in my drawings that no number of drapery-drawing sketchbook assignments ever could… adding folds, seams, and stitches to the clothes of the figures I draw. If you’re a fan of comic books/graphic novels, and Batman too, then you should definitely read Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope. Pope has a gritty, expressionist style with an almost Suess-esque whimsy to the architecture and figures in his drawings. Pope’s characters have a real world quality, their clothing is worn, Batman’s costume doesn’t meet his gloves so his wrists are bare, and the people don’t just have lips and teeth, their gums are drawn too. Pope wrote about showing Batman’s wrists as a sign of vulnerability and humanity. I wanted a similar down-to-earthiness with my figures, so I started adding in details that tether them to the plane of reality.

Aubrey Beardsley is one of those artists that you really wonder about (or maybe you don’t, but I do). His personal life is quite sad and lonely and a number of his illustrations reflect a preoccupied mind. However, his style of extravagantly detailed illustrations with richly balanced black and white compositions. Beardsley illustrated the figure in such a way that the viewer is aware of its story. I was especially influenced by Beardsley in creating the pieces for my senior gallery exhibit at Olivet. I try to bring the same sense of story to my portraits with a detailed illustration style.

The Toilet, 1896 by Aubrey Beardsley

Semiramis, 2012 From my show, "Slight Exaggerations"

 

Another influence is Mo Willems, the author and illustrator of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and the many more amazing stories. If you don’t believe that simple lines and shapes can create readable expressions, please pick up one of Willems’ books and then tell me that pigeon is not one of the most emotionally expressive 2-D characters you’ve ever seen. In other words, emotion and personality don’t need to be complicated. It’s about capturing feelings and attitudes in spite of how simple or detailed a character’s face is. When I was in high school I thought it was the worst thing to make cute art. I thought everything had to be edgy and raw to have meaning or value in the art world. I tried to be that artist for a while, but that’s just not who I am. I think I’ve been able to come to peace with drawing cute things. Illustrators like Mo Willems remind me that creating art that makes people smile and keep looking is a wonderful thing.

In other news, I’m starting work on getting my Etsy shop up and running and I’ve begun thumbnails for my illustration project on Winchester the dog. Woot!

Thanks for reading!

A Dose of Truthanasia

Hello,

It’s been more than a week since my last post, I know. I missed it by a day.

I’ve been trying to come up with something art related to write about all week, but I just couldn’t seem to find a topic. I even took pictures of the process of making home-made “Larabars” just so I could have something to show you as a last resort.

  

This morning, however, my dad suggested a topic and that’s what I mostly want to talk about. So here goes…

Earlier this weekend a budding young artist was showing me her sketchbook and proclaimed, “These are all failures.” Later on my dad asked me what I thought about her work. He thought she was being too hard on herself and that becoming an artist is a process and it takes time to develop. I totally agree with him, but I also have a few thoughts of my own.

Honestly, the drawings in her sketchbook reminded me of the stuff I was doing at her age. The noses, the faces, and the kind of figures she was drawing. The consistency in her drawings at such a young age tells me she has a God-given gift and that she is willing to put in the hard work it takes to keep improving.

And let’s be honest, haven’t we all looked back on things we’ve done and said “these are all failures”? I don’t think you have to be artistically inclined to feel that way about your work (although it does seem to come easily to artsy types). I know I look back on the drawings that got me into my high school’s art program and I wonder what my teacher saw in them. I throw away much of my old work or get embarrassed about my old sketches and drawings. I feel like I’ve moved on from there, I’ve gotten better at proportions and hands, why would I want to look at that terrible stuff again? I forget that those “failures” are what got me where I am today. They were all a part of the process, and I certainly haven’t stopped developing as an artist. After my first year as an art major I thought I’d pretty much gotten as far as I could get, but now I look back and see how much I’ve grown since then. And I’m sure in a few years I’ll look at what I’m doing now and wonder at the style I’ve been working on.

I know I’m not going to convince anyone to start thinking their developing works are masterpieces, but I hope I can at least inspire some positive thoughts about them.  Being able to critique your work is a good quality to have. Viewing your work objectively is a splendid thing. But being objective doesn’t have to mean thinking everything you’ve done in the past is awful. Every “failure” is another step on the road to improvement and development as an artist.

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Speaking of improving and developing as an artist… I have an illustration project to work on! I am officially signed on to illustrate a children’s book for a friend of mine. I have a contract and everything!!! :D So I had to do some supply shopping, watercolor paints and a block of paper, and...

THIS!!!

 

This actually had nothing to do with the illustration project; it was just so I could get free shipping at Dick Blick. But look at that beautiful invention of organization. MAGNIFICENT! And I also got a few markers in new colors for outlining. One of my new favorite things with markers is to outline my drawings in a darker shade of the color filling the shape. I added yellow gold, burgundy, and olive green to my collection. Yay!

The full spectrum of my outline colors :)

Anyway, I hope this truthanasia about growing in art was truly helpful.

Thanks for reading!

The Beginning

Hi! I’m Emily and this is my new blog. I want to start off by letting you know just what I’m planning on writing about in this blog and also why I’m writing it in the first place.

                To begin with, I’m not a very good blogger. I’ve had some experience with this sort of thing before, but the only reason I really did it was because it was for a grade. I’m not super great at journaling or writing consistently, so this will be a challenge for me. My plan is to post a sketch at least once a week, and some explanations, ideas, and wonderings too.

I’m one of those fresh out of college kids who feels called one way and finds themselves doing something completely different. In other words, I really want to be a children’s book illustrator one day and right now I’m working an office job to get there. My aunt and uncle gave me the 2013 edition of Children’s Writers & Illustrator’s Market, edited by Chuck Sambuchino, for a graduation gift. I’ve been reading through it and it has some really great info for future illustrators. According to the book (and every single one of my professors) one of the most important things an artist can do is talk about their work and themselves and put themselves out there for interested parties to find. So, here I am, writing a blog.

In this blog I want to share my work as an artist: in progress stuff, sketches, idea throw-downs, projects, wedding/life things, the process of getting my Etsy shop up and running, etc. My purpose in all of this is to say to myself, “Hey Emily! If you want to get paid to do what you love so much, then why don’t you do something about it?”

So here goes doing something about it!

Because I like pictures, I just couldn’t make a post without some :) These are some sketches I’ve been doing lately. I used to draw superfolks all the time, but I’ve gotten out of that habit since I stopped reading comics. Obviously, none of these characters are my creations, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a ton of fun to draw!

From DC there’s Superman, the one man/alien “Fortress of Solitude.”

Also from Detective Comics, is the duo of Robin and Starfire. I never really liked them as a couple in the Teen Titans comics, but my fiancé is at home in Oregon and I’m a sap, so I drew a cute couple.

 

Again from DC is Wonder Woman. What I’d really like to know is how the New 52 redesign with her in pants got scrapped. I mean what is it about the Amazon warrior princess that makes it such an issue for wearing real pants? As you can see, I like to draw ladies in pants. It’s the right thing to do.

Finally, from Marvel Comics is Scarlet Witch. I like the X-Men and I like pink and red together. Enough said.

 

Hopefully no one was scared away by the inherent nerdiness of this post, but I guess if you were then it’s probably a good thing because there will be more nerdy posts about comics. But if you weren’t frightened off, don’t worry. There will be plenty of other topics I will write and draw about.

Thanks for reading!