Artist Inspiration Collages

A couple of years ago for an art class I had to create a collage made up of artists that inspired me. The first one I did for school was filled with some really cool art, but lots of different genres of artists. I then had the opportunity to teach an art class yesterday and thought I would do that activity with my student again, but this time I really tried to focus on the artists that inspired me as an illustrator.

I thought it might be really fun to share both of my collages with you and maybe some thoughts on why I like the artists I chose.

This first one is the most recent one I made:

1- Tomie DePaola- I loved his fun shapes for people and big noses. I also really love his color harmony.

2- Maurice Sendak- Everyone knows where the wild things are. He has incredible fun little details on every page. His monsters are delightfully fun and his colors are really well controlled as well.

3- Scottie Young- This artist was introduced to me in High School and was on the cutting edge of drawing superheroes at the time. The picture I have here for him is of Wolverine. He has recently done a wizard of oz book with a delightful lion. I love his curvy lines and fun twists on things that I have see before.

4- James Christensen*- This man is a master of paint. His paintings are so smooth well designed. He has an amazing ability to put straights with curves and fun colors that work with each other to create a story of some sort of thing from another world!

5- J. Kirk Richards*- Kirk has let me be his art assistant for over a year now and I just couldn't leave him out. He has definitely influenced me. I have loved learning about how he thinks and getting to even do some of his under paintings for him. I would have a huge list of things if I listed all the things I have learned from him: the importance of hard edges and soft edges, having detail and when not to have it, warms and cools and much much more.

6- Dr. Suess- What amazingly fun imaginative creations from pen and ink! I have always been mesmerized by his fun shapes and characters. His colors have always been really nice and although bright they are controlled and limited.

7- Quentin Blake- This is a favorite artist of mine that illustrated books like Matilda and the BFG. his style is loose, but with a sense of great anatomy. He knows how to make some quick lines look like a person and then with some water colors he brings them to life. 

8- Shel Silverstein- Amazing Man. Don't look at the pictures of him though. He looks kind of scary. (: I love how fun Shel was with his poetry. His loose pictures that look like they were just scribbled out on a napkin, maybe even the napkin he used to write the poem on the back of, are so fun to see and take in!

9- Jake Parker*- Jake is a more recent addition to my lists of inspirations. He has a comic book style of doing art and has inspired me with his amazing caricature design as well as use of pen and ink. 

*For fun I put the stars in to show the ones I have actually met in person.

Below is the first one I did for my class:

Matt Wisniewski- I think I may have found this artist on Pinterest. I really love his stuff though. He is a photographer that takes pictures of people and then of mountains and other things and mashes them together. I love the details you can get in a photograph as well as this carefully and brilliantly placement of to pictures together to make one.

Gustav Klimt- "The Kiss". Klimt was an amazing painter that used really cool shapes, patterns, and color together.

Andy Warhol- This guy was kind of crazy, but kind or really awesome. I love the processes he used. Screen printing and other things. He was an artists really interested in getting people to think. I really like that about him.

Andrew Beck- Andrew was actually a friend of mine from High School and has gone on to be a graphic designer in Amsterdam. I really admire his fun style. He has great use of curves mixed with straights. He was wonderful textures and colors. I also really love how his images tell a story.

James Christensen! He made it on both lists. When I made this second collage I was looking at some of his more realistic work, but I still love him because he knows how to really paint!

James Nachtwey- James is a photographer that travels to distant lands and takes pictures that really move you. A lot of his work is done where there has been a war and sometimes right there in the gun fire. I really admire him for his work, but I could never do it because I value being with my wife and living more.

Zander Olsen- I think I may have found this guy on Pinterest too. He is an artist that makes installations out in nature. Doing this takes time, patience, planning and a really good eye for artistic things. He does it really well.

Bottocelli- This artist is an oldie but a goodie. He has some really fun repeating patterns in his paintings and was really good at controlling his colors and lines. I really admired his art when I learned about him in art history.

Ansel Adams- What a photographer! Great black and white images that are simply put, epic!

Andy Goldsworthy- Antoher Nature installation creator. This guy is based out of England I think and just puts tons of time, thought and planning into his images. I really like his stuff.

Jonathan Harris- Is a photographer I learned about while in collage. He travels to far away lands and takes some really cool pictures that tell some awesome stories.

Levi Jackson- Another High School friend. He is doing the installation projects with nature and it is really cool to see someone I know doing that sort of thing.

JC Leyendecker- I love this guys straight strokes! An incredible illustrator that I also learned about while in school. He painted at the same time as Norman Rockwell and even inspired Norman to become who he was. JC always painted from life and did an amazing job.


If you have read all of this I am super proud of you! I hope you enjoyed this post! I am sorry I have been missing this blog. I have been working on my final show for BYU and had some other projects come up as well. I will be posting my Senior project as well as hopefully getting back to posting twice a week. I am thinking that posts will go up every Tuesday and Thursday. So if it is Tuesday you should check the blog for something new and if it is Thursday there will be something new as well.
If you check on Saturday there might not be anything new... Unless you haven't checked since Thursday.

Thanks for Reading.

Howdy Lehi!

Sometimes in life you think you have it figured out and then, you don't. My wife and I had recently moved back to Provo and then my wife got a job that was a 45 minute drive north every single day of the week. Luckily for us she followed some inspiration in calling a relative that lives in Utah and we were able to move into a cheaper apartment that was closer to where we both work. It is really nice.

I do have to say that I never thought I would live in Lehi, but I am here now. This is a sketch I drew on the back of our contract that we got to keep so I thought it was only fitting to put it up on the blog all colored and stuff.

In art you may think you have your style figured out or you may think you have found your market. But life changes on you unexpectedly. Learn to roll with the punches. Change your medium and keep learning. That is one of the benefits artists have in life. We get to be students for the rest of our lives.

I have a couple more blog posts planned out and started, but they aren't quite ready to share yet so I hope this post can satisfy your desire to hear from me.

One project that I have been working on that I can show you is a t-shirt design I made for the scouts in the Provo ward we attended for two weeks. They are troop 200 North! Check it out! I am hoping to get more pictures of the shirts and scouts as they make them this weekend.

The scouts are planning on making bleach printed shirts with this design. It should turn out pretty darn sweet!

Thanks for reading!

PODCASTS

Thanks for reading another post! (Or if this is your first post, thanks for checking out my blog!)

In this post I want to talk to you about some of my favorite podcasts.
Before I dive in I want to tell you why podcasts are so amazing. When you listen to podcasts it is almost like you get to talk with some of your heroes that are doing things that you (Or maybe I) would love to do! I listen to podcasts that are put out by creative people because I feel like they have cut out a pathway of their own and they can share super valuable information about how they did it.

So, the following podcasts are a list of ones I listen to or have listened to. Check some of them out and even feel free to email me and tell me about other podcasts that I could listen to if you know of a good one.

The first Podcast that I must tell everyone about is the Sean Wes Podcast!

I have to recommend this podcast because I have listened to every single episode and have even had the pleasure of emailing Sean a couple of times with questions. Sean McCabe is a hand lettering artist and does his podcast with a co-host named Ben Toalson. They are podcasting out of Texas and they always share super sound advice about starting up a creative career. What I love about their podcast is the honesty and straight forwardness they have. Sometimes they say "Harsh Sean" is going to be talking when they are about to say something that is kind of hard to swallow, but something you need to hear. Ben Toalson is a family man that keeps things interesting and fun with his awesome stories and talking about his boys. I think he has 5...
When I post this blog post these guys will have pumped out 76 podcasts so you can look through their titles and find one that you like.

Also a side note. Sean is very musically talented and use to be in a band with Ben. The intro music was written by Sean. Pretty Cool!

I really liked one where they talked about "Fears" It will be in the link.
To try it out click HERE!

Image by Sean McCabe

Another one I would recommend is called "Your Dreams My Nightmares"
This podcast is put on by Sam Weber an amazing Illustrator.

Warning: This podcast has a tendency of including some language. Usually Sam and the person he is interviewing for his podcasts drink a little bit before they start recording so they can be interesting.
Also he plays some music before and after the podcast. Sometimes it is really strange Music.

But the things I love about the podcasts are that this interview style podcasts talk about illustration in the Heart of New York! They usually talk about the history of some of the coolest artists that are doing their thing right now! He interviews some legit people. It also has some really good advice and some fun stories. I have learned a ton from the artists that are practicing right now as I have listened to this Podcast.

If you are interested in checking out some of the interviews check it out HERE!

Image By Sam Weber

Another fun one to check out is Pencil VS Pixel!
The Host is Cesar Contreras. He always starts his podcast out by asking the person he is interviewing Pencil or Pixel? If he were to ask me I might have to say Pen! Ha Ha. I really like getting my sketches done with out going back and making lots of changes. I feel like when I use a pencil I always want to use the eraser. But I definitely like using them more than a computer. 
But this is about Cesar's Podcast! Sorry. 
Cesar does interviews with all sorts of creative people. Some that are doing illustration, some that are doing web page development, and all sorts of entrepreneurs that are self employed.
These podcasts are a little shorter, but Cesar is a great host. I have enjoyed listening to them as well.

If this sounds like a podcast you might want to check out Click HERE!

These are a few of my personal favorites to listen to. I listen to podcasts while I am working or painting. I really love to get information and I feel like it engages another part of my brain while I am trying to solve other problems. 

Other times I need music and I go to Pandora.com for that. I am currently loving my Ingrid Michaelson Station as well as Tyrone Wells. I sometimes listen to Imagine Dragons, Mumford and Sons, Cake, and Carli Bruni (A French Singer!). 

If you have other Music Recommendations for me I love trying out new sounds. Let me know!

To close out this blog post I want to announce a couple of new things. 

1) My Final show as a student is coming up on July 1st! I haven't figured out when we will actually have the reception for that so stay tuned.

2) My Website is getting revamped so get excited to see some awesome new work and a new look for my website soon!

3) I have promised some pictures of what I am working on so I will give you something!

Here it is:

I have been working at a frame building show where we craft frames out of wood and finish them up for artists. All the Gold Leafing and painting and everything is done in house. It is pretty darn awesome.
With some scraps I have started making a really tiny frame for fun and to practice. So this little sketch is a painting I am making of my boss to go in it.

Thanks again for reading!
If you like what you are finding here tell a friend about my Blog. :)

The Key to Inspiration

In the early hours this morning I found myself awake. It was really nice to lay in bed for a minute and listen to the birds chirping, but then I thought I must write a blog post! I want to write today about finding inspiration. So, here it goes...

Inspiration-

In life sometimes Inspiration comes in the early mornings when you have to make the choice to listen to it or ignore it. Sometimes it comes when you least expect it. A lot of times we talk about inspiration as something that isn't actually coming from us but some other source.
While in school studying illustration someone once shared this Ted Talk with me by Elizabeth Gilbert who is the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" She talks about Inspiration in an incredible way. See the video Here.

My favorite part of that video is maybe the part where she describes a poet who sometimes franticly runs to the house to try to catch an idea that is barreling through her like a train and sometimes she catches it by the tail end writes the poem backwards as she pulls the train back to her by the caboose!

Here is a picture of a train by Greg Newbold 

I had the opportunity to take a class from him while I was at BYU.

Some people have found surfing the internet as helpful for gaining inspiration. I will admit I have used websites like Pinterest. You can look at my page here.

I feel like there is some danger in only using the internet as your source of inspiration though. If you only copy the styles of other artists you may never fully develop your own style. Now don't get me wrong copying another artists piece to learn how they solved problems and planned composition, color and line is incredibly important in your development. I think I will just leave that thought there.

I once took a sketch book class where I had the opportunity to drive around Provo/Orem area with some other students and we would just sketch for a couple of hours. This was incredibly nice and brought me tons of inspiration. Use a sketchbook. I know some people out there that are reading this might think I am just talking to artists, but I think everyone in this world should keep a sketchbook. Whether their are drawings in it or it becomes more like a journal to you, you should have somewhere to capture inspiration as it comes to you.

Here is a sketch I ended up drawing on a Sacrament Meeting program maybe because I forgot my sketchbook or maybe because I just like drawing on the Sunday Church Programs.

It is my interpretation of the first Angry birds or Cavemen throwing Chickens...

Always keep a pen and some paper handy. You just never know what little nuggets of inspiration will come to you!

Also go out and be in nature. Go for hikes. I know that I love music and Podcasts and getting information. But I also love camping and watching the sunrise. As a world we should take some time out of our busy schedules to look around us at the beauty that has been created by God. Don't get stuck at your computer or if you are reading this from your phone. Pause and look around you at the world. That is where inspiration can come from. Talk to people. People have some crazy stories and the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!

Painting by James Christensen

I once had the opportunity to visit with James Christensen. He is a former BYU Professor and incredible artist. In talking to him I asked him how he gets such fun, crazy ideas? He told me he gets ideas out of his sketchbook and if ever his inspiration runs dry he does yard work. He explained to me that he hates pulling weeds so after just a few minutes his brain is sure to come up with something to paint instead of pulling weeds.

I guess to end this blogpost today I am going to throw out some challenges!

1. Go out in nature and just enjoy the sounds, sights and smells for at least five minutes today. I am sure you have five minutes!

2. Start carrying a pen and paper with you and record ideas, thoughts and Inspiration as it comes to you! Maybe you are a secret song writer and you just don't know it yet.

3. If you are still reading this and you like it let me know! :)

Preparing for an ART SHOW!!!

THIS ART SHOW:

The ART OpenHaus

(Poster Normandie Luscher) 

This art show show happened last year with a couple of friends of mine that studied illustration with me. We got together in a house (My Mother's House) and put on an art show. We tried to not nail too many nails into the wall, but had a fun time showing off our awesome art and selling it!

Next thing you have to do is you have to come up with an some awesome art that is related to the time. Doing Mother's day gifts the week after Mother's day isn't necessarily the best thing you can do since everyone has moved on and is starting to think about Father's Day. So You want to make something for Father's Day. 

Below are some 3 x 5 cards that I have drawn Father's Day style portraits on. I had this really funny idea of making cards that had church ties on them that weren't necessarily for church, but that you might give to your dad for Father's Day. Everyone likes to give dad a tie, right? Then on the back of the card you could write something silly like: Hey dad I thought about getting you this ridiculous tie for Father's Day, but instead I thought I would spare you the embarrassment of then havingto wear the tie so I got you this card instead to tell you how much I appreciate you. Or something like that. I think some of these ideas are pretty clever. You should check them out!

Art should always be presentable. So in the first place you have to make cool art (See last step) and then you have to package it so that it can sell. Frames are usually good at this point or if you have prints of things you can package the prints in plastic so that your customers get a really nice experience of buying your art. Below is some AstroChicken Lithograph prints I recently made in some shiny plastic all ready to be purchased! They are pretty cool if you ask me.

Then after you have everything ready you go to the venue and you put your stuff on the wall and invite all your friends over to see the cool things you have made and hopefully make some money. 

Food is also a plus. We will have some of that at the Art OpenHaus.

Mostly this blog post is to say make really cool art. Package it nicely. Then support your artist friends and go to their art shows and buy their art or at least eat the food they provide for you. 

Thanks!

Back Online

We got internet this morning and I don't have much time, but a post is do. Here is what is coming up though:

This week is the Art Open Haus! Check out the hashtag this week on instagram #artopenhaus. Come support local artists like myself!

And look forward to another post tomorrow and Thursday. I hope to be consistent and start getting a post up twice a week. Help me stay accountable by emailing me happy emails and questions you would like me to address about living the life of an artist.

Also there will be tons of pictures coming tomorrow and Thursday.

Stay tuned. Be creative. Be happy!

Thanks

blog post from my cell phone

Hey everyone, this is going to be a really short post. With graduation, moving, and starting a job making frames I have found myself with out time or internet. google fiber should be installed in the next week or two. My tip of the week is, "Be consistent". That is why I am posting a post from my cell phone. Be consistent in everything you do and success will follow. Draw daily if you like to draw, write daily if you are a writer, be religious daily if you want to be religious, etc. You just have to do it and do it again. There is power in consistency. Thanks for reading!