Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween! Enter at your own risk...

It's Halloween night (well, it's after midnight, so I guess it's November 1st, really). I decided to find some super-creepy/disturbing illustrations for Halloween. These are seriously disturbing! It's really interesting to see what kinds of images people create from their minds/imagination. Some people would rather not see this type of image. I do find it disturbing to see, for sure, but somehow it is just another part of the human experience, if that makes sense. We all have dark thoughts of one kind or another, and it's pretty amazing for an artist to be able to express these thoughts through painting or drawing or digital art. These really are some pretty amazing pieces of art, regardless (or even sometimes because) of the subject matter. 

Nighty night! Sleep tight!


"Poison" by Y Haeki, 2014 (watercolor painting)
http://red-lipstick.tumblr.com/post/97413481315/y-haeki-poison-2014-paintings





"The End" by Shmegl (Japan), 2012 (drawing)
http://red-lipstick.tumblr.com/post/37361907056/shmegl-japan-the-end-2012





by Celine E.





"In Your Eyes" by Solarixx






"Lemonheadd 02" by skullbeast (digital art)
http://clouded-and-shadowed.deviantart.com/art/Lemonheadd-02-91221916





Gerard Dubois

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Rachel Aparicio—Another Amazing Illustrator!

I came across an illustration on Pinterest that caught my attention, so I looked up the illustrator's website and found I really like her work a lot! Her name is Rachel Aparicio (from Spain) and you can visit her website here: Rachel Aparicio Portfolio Website.

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Here is the illustration that first caught my eye (I was searching for illustrations of musicians and/or bands). I love how, in this portrait, Rachel seems to capture the character of each person, how she conveys movement, the muted colors, and her use of line and shape. She also creates depth...just enough for something like this. And, check out the cat in the kick drum!

THIS LOOKS LIKE SUCH A FUN BAND!

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So here is some more of her work that I like. She does a lot of editorial work in magazines, illustrates for books, advertising, and more. She has some illustrations that are just charming and beautiful and some that are a bit disturbing. She is versatile in her subject matter, but stylistically she definitely has a niche. Her resume is actually quite impressive. See ABOUT for more information!

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These three images are from the book 'La pequeña codorniz' published in Spain by Gadir Editorial.
"It's a touching story written by Turguenev, I enjoyed reading every line of the manuscript." (R. Aparicio)




I LOVE THE COLORS AND PATTERNS/TEXTURES IN THE TREES!
AND, I LOVE HOW SHE DEPICTS THE ANIMALS.

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Editorial illustration done for Iberia's inflight magazine, Ronda. "Literary illustration for a witty and funny text. Watch out if you are into classical literature!" (R. Aparicio)

A BIT TWISTED :) AND DARKLY FUN.

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Ilustration done for Iberia's inflight magazine, Ronda, to illustrate a dark story about a crime in a theater, "Theater Crimes." "This was really fun to do." (R. Aparicio)


DEFINITELY DARK AND DISTURBING.

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An illustration from Raquel's first illustrated book, a compilation of Russian folk tales.

I LOVE HOW THE RABBIT IS PART OF THE DEER'S ANTLERS. I WONDER WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT!


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One of several illustrations created to cover some buildings in Malaysia to promote the ecological line of paint Dulux 'Colors of Heritage'.  "It was amazing to work along Kevin Lungson and his Malaysian team." (R. Aparicio)

WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL TO HAVE YOUR ILLUSTRATION ON A BUILDING???

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Another illustration from a book, Las Flores de Irina, a sweet story about a mermaid, printed in two inks. Story by Mónica Rodríguez, published in Spain by SM.



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Portrait of Lilly Allen, done for Rolling Stone (Spain).



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This is a personal illustration for a specific project. I have no idea what this is for or what it means!

YIKES!

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This is an illustration to illustrate a short story by Andres Barba.



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Editorial illustration (collaboration) for El Mundo newspaper article about sex addicts.



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The next three images are book covers (don't know the titles).



 HOW INTERESTING!

THIS IS GORGEOUS.


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Illustration for Iberia´s in-flight magazine, Ronda.
This image was created for a short story about the grief of a husband who lost his wife.

EVOKES SUCH SADNESS.



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These three are under the heading, "Viajar," which I think means "journey." They are pretty strange and/or disturbing! The third one is particularly disturbing and sad.








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"Naked Yoga." Rachel works monthly with the Spanish magazine Ushuäia for articles related to the benefits of practicing yoga.




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Illustration from the book El Paraiso de los Gatos.
"A cat and his adventures with the best background to illustrate ever, Paris of the 19th century." (R. Aparicio)


YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS IMAGE TO SEE WHAT IT IS. I LOVE IT.


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I'm having a great time finding such talented and diverse illustrators! I have always loved illustration. I wish I had been practicing my own drawing/illustration skills all these years...but you can only do so many things in life. Music has always been my go-to creative outlet, along with various visual art such as painting; but music has been at the top for me for more than 20 years. I'm a mediocre illustrator, and that's okay; you can be a graphic designer without being an illustrator! Still...



Sunday, October 19, 2014

COOL CATS by Carlos c. Laínez

Paintings of Cats by Illustrator Carlos c. Laínez


I came across this artist's work on Pinterest. While he paints other subjects, I'm drawn to his paintings of cats. These paintings come from the book, "Tales of Cats." His paintings are acrylic on canvas. Laínez has an etsy shop where he sells prints of his paintings:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/thesmokingcat.


I love the stylized cat forms as well as his use of color and depth. The most interesting aspect is how he blends backgrounds and other images into the cats themselves!


Meeting of Cats Link


Great colors! And I love the cat that has images and words drawn or tattooed on him near the lower bottom of the page. I also like the cat at the top whose ears look more like wings. There are so many little details you pick up if you really look at this for a few minutes!

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Chameleon Cat link




I love the concept and the execution of the idea! It's what all cats wish they could be! It's really amazing how he so effectively conveys water in a fishbowl. The magnification and distortion of the objects behind or under it is great, as is the slight lightening of the top of the water and the right and left edges of the bowl. The fish are so vivid! They are so tiny, but your eye is drawn right to them. And, it's funny that the fish aren't fooled by the cat's chameleon talents!

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Window Cat link



Usually when you hear the phrase "window cat," you think of a cat that likes to sit in a window and watch what's going on outside. In this case, the cat IS the window! Another really creative concept. The colors are vibrant (the red chair is great), the cat himself is beautiful, and the organic lines and shapes are really appealing to me. I love it!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Amazing CD Cover!

CD wraparound cover for Paul Mark's Mirage Cartography album.
24 x 11, oil on panel.

Featured in 2011 Illustration Annual of Communication Arts

This CD cover illustration is so interesting and dream-like—it caught my attention right away. I love the way Chris Buzelli (illustrator) was able to effectively depict water! It looks warm, refreshing, still but with some waves and ripples caused by the whale's movement and the movements of other smaller things in the image. The reflections of the clouds in the water as well as the visibility of the whale underneath the water had to be so hard to achieve.

The concept itself is pretty amazing. A city on an island that turns out to be a whale's head is a pretty fantastical and imaginary world! As I continued looking at it, I kept discovering more and more details, such as the gulls flying around the city and the small school of fish near the bottom on the right side of the image. And what about the guy in a fishing boat on the right that contrasts with the mermaid playing guitar on the left! The dimension, composition, combination of realism and fantasy, and colors are much of what makes this such a successful, surreal, fun, "makes you want to see more" kind of illustration. I love it! Now I'm curious about the music. :)

Source:
Communication Arts Illustration Annual 52, May/June 2011, Page 84.

Credits: 
Chris Buzelli, illustrator
Paul Mark, art director
Radiation Records, client

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Different Faces of Fiona

I thought it would be interesting to choose a subject/person, and find illustrations/paintings/drawings/caricatures of that person done by different artists.

Fiona Apple, probably my all-time favorite female singer/songwriter is who I chose. I was really happy with how many different and varied pieces I found!


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http://davidcowlesillustrations.tumblr.com/post/31457037476/happy-birthday-fiona-apple

I love this collage/caricature of her. It's unusual, using a photograph of real hair cut into the shape of her hair. The huge blue eyes and large pouty lips are the features that say "Fiona Apple." (And super-skinny body.)



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The face is most certainly recognizable (to me, anyway). Love the swirling hair. The paleness of her eyes is wonderfully accurate.



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By Natalie Farrell

This caricature definitely shows her as ghoulish. Interesting textures and color scheme. Not my favorite of these, but it's really fun to see what different artists decide to convey.




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artist unknown (don't remember where I found this)

This one is pretty awesome. The accentuated large lips and large blue eyes with dark circles under them remind me of Fiona in her early days of fame when she was only 20 years old. She has a look of wonder and innocence on her face.




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Ah, a depiction of today's Fiona Apple. Her most recent CD which came out a couple of years ago has a song (I believe it's "Every Single Night") that has a video in which she has various sea creatures on her head... The dog in the background has to be her dog to whom she was totally devoted; she cancelled part of a tour to stay home with her dog when she was dying. I so admire her for that. This artist's style is that sort of realistic cartoon style, I guess I would say. I like it.





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Cut paper illustration of Fiona Apple by Scott Young


I don't think I would recognize this as Fiona, but I LOVE it. The colors, the body language, the pattern on her shirt, the expression on her face, the fiery red hair, the exposed belly ring... Beautiful! This is a cut paper illustration, but it doesn't look like that to me somehow. It looks like a painting or graphic work on Illustrator.



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Illustration by Kareena Zerefos


GORGEOUS. I LOVE this one.




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Til death do friends part

Illustration by Casey Kleeb


About the loss of her beloved dog. Heartbreaking. 



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This piece was done with pencil/graphite. The detail is amazing. There's a messiness to it that somehow really works well. Beautiful.




What a fun little study! :)