Blog Assignment #4: My Inspiration (rant)

Inspiration #1:  Jae Lee (Comic Artist)

In middle school I used to REALLY be into comic books.  My love for them was just as much for the art as it was for the stories.  I drew the images from my favorite comics over and over again because at the time I sought to be a comic artist myself.  One artist in particular, Jae Lee, stood out to me the most.  He often drew darker images and the stylization of his line work was particularly interesting to me... he gives great attention to detail on his human figures and I've always adored his style and attention to creating an emotional depiction from a static image of a human being.  This dude's pretty sick...  Todd McFarlane was pretty dope as well...

Inspiration #2: Swiss design

The images below are a few works of Armin Hoffman, but my inspiration is not just from him, but from Swiss and even German design as a whole.  I particularly have an affinity for the typography.  The way type is handled in Swiss design is something I sometimes seek to mimic in my own work.  I find much of Swiss design to have order and purpose which is something I strive for when laying out type.

Inspiration #3:  M.C. Escher

I've never been a huge fan of "fine art" and I don't even think you can consider Escher a fine artist.  However, Escher inspires me because of concept.  His illustration could no just be created from just doodling in a sketchbook with no idea in mind.  To me, it seems that he though, constructed, and even built is work is steps... in maybe some kind of order... almost like following an architetual blueprint.. I could be completely wrong here.. but overall, I seek to have a strong concept before I even attempt to create a piece of art... You'll never find me clueless when trying to explain the concept for something I've created...

Inspiration #4: Me

Some have credited me as a good illustrator, but in all honesty I'm a shadow of my former self... I used to be able to draw human figures in almost any position someone naturalistically (without looking at something), but because of my lack of drawing nowadays, I've seemed to have lost that talent... the scans below are of pictures I drew in the 8th or 9th grade... with pratice, hopefully I can get back some of my skills...

In closing... most of my inpiration doesn't come from some group on famed graphic designers.. I don't even look at too much design because of my own stubborness to define my own style instead of unintentional mimicry... but we'll see how that works... with that said.. always know I approach every project conceptually at first... and hopefully before I graduate I can define a style that unique to me.