Artist - David Foldvari

David Foldvari about illustration students:

if you study graphics or illustration, my most serious piece of advice to you would be to stop looking at my stuff for inspiration as soon as possible. if you want to be genuinely inspired or influenced by what i do, then look outside the tiny and insignificant bubble that is contemporary illustration. watch films, read books, look at other forms of art and design, learn about what's going on around you - anything that takes you outside illustration. despite of what your tutors may tell you, as an illustration student, referencing and studying other contemporary illustrators' work is not only going to damage your own work, but it will only help to homogenise and water down illustration as a whole. there is a big problem with illustration students at the moment - they are spending too much time referencing and copying other illustrators' work, and this will end their career before it has a chance to start. i'm only stating the obvious here, but as a student, you should do everything to make sure your work looks nothing like anybody else's out there, otherwise it will never be noticed, and you might as well get a job in mcdonalds.
i and most other working illustrators i know generally go and see a lot of degree shows, and anyone referencing other contemporary illustrators tends to be seen as ignorant and a bit second rate and crap - nobody wants to see the same old, but we all love seeing things we've never seen before, it's what moves this industry forward. as a new graduate, it's your job to move things forward, and by referencing other illustrators, you are doing the opposite.


There is a lot of truth in that....

David's Blog

Inspirations

Yeah, it's time for this kind of post... So I've recently been drawing a lot, filling at least three sketchbook pages a day for the last month. My drawings are always very (if not 'too') expressive and I am influenced by the slightest event happening to me, from frustrations to inside jokes throughout the day. Due to my personal lack of artistic background I've never learned another way of drawing (I am however currently taking life drawing classes which will hopefully allow me to accumulate a minimum amount of technique). Anyways, besides my everyday life I have stumbled upon artists who express their emotions in a similar illustration style.

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac 
by Jhonen Vasquez

So yes, his inner demons are apparently more bloody than mine. the expression remains the same however. By exponentially exaggerating a specific emotion I tend to arrive to the same sort of illustrated outcome. The comic is itself really interesting to read through, but definitely not for the weak-hearted.

Tim Burton

For me, this is where it's at. Already booked tickets to New York in order to see his retrospective at the MoMa. I hadn't been in contact with his earlier work before I took a copy of The Melancholy Death of the Oyster Boy into my hands. His illustrations are simple, beautiful and expressive, everything I want mine to be. I am also currently in a 'stitches, masks and pins and needles' phase, which his work seems to satisfy perfectly.

Nobuo Uematsu

I'm not only influenced by visuals. I have recently started listening to those beautiful piano tunes I had once heard while playing through my Final Fantasy collection. I've had those melodies in my head for the past few days and I guess their melancholy affects me.. But yeah, absolutely amazing piano pieces by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu... I would recommend to find the pieces individually in their full length, but here is a short collection of the most beautiful ones:

Artist - Gabriel Moreno

Beautiful work by Illustrator and Designer Gabriel Moreno. Even though he has worked a variety of big clients his work keeps its identity, which isn't an easy thing to do when working around a brand of the likes of Coca Cola.

Gabriel's Website

Music Video - True Romance

This video is absolutely amazing!

Artist - Leigh Marling

Amusing and inspirational video using Lego..

Work In Progress - Emotionals (Drawings)

So I've been drawing again recently. Drawing with me is usually associated with being particularly moody and loads of things happening around me (not in a bad way, really). So I picked up a small moleskin sketchbook and managed to fill it up completely in little more than two weeks. I think it's important I'd follow my tutor's advice of drawing every day, I could see my pencil moving more swiftly about the page the more I drew... Anyways, here is the gallery.

The drawings are mostly inspired by imagination and emotions, they all kind of have their own personal story... Feel free to let me know what you guys think : )