Work in Progress - What Am I?

Time to write a little bit about my thoughts on the project up to now I guess... Since I started doing research for this project I've quite literally been on a journey. I explored and researched various media, artists, visited places I hadn't been to, talked to people I never spoke to and much more. The only conclusion I can make at the moment about what I am, what Illustration is for me, is the following:

Illustration is a vague subject. No one really knows what it is, no one can perfectly define it (I guess there is no right or wrong in this project, I'm just sharing my personal thoughts). While some use it as a mean of entertainment (children books, playground art, ...), advertising, information or any combination of all the possible reasons, illustration basically tells a story. Now, a story can be told in a lot of different ways and I think that is where each illustrator finds his own calling. For me the calling is simple: it's all about people. People are stories. Countless times I've just wandered around looking at everyone around me wondering, "What is their life like? How does their head work? What is their story?". If I was to tell stories, it'd be the stories people tell, people lived......

More on this to come.

Comic - Batman R.I.P.

Another comic I picked up at the store the other day. The comic features a fresh look on Batman's story, quite interesting really. To say anything about this comic would be a major spoiler so I'll keep it to this: a must read comic! The title should be enough to make you want to read it...

Comic - Magneto: Testament

I went to the comic book store the other day and found this one. Being very interested in World War II history I just had to buy it. The comic follows Max Eisenhardt's (Magneto's real name) youth as he grows up through the Holocaust. The comic was very interesting for different reasons. Firstly, you understand Magneto's character development through the series a lot better, his hatred and lack of trust towards mankind. Secondly, the story really proves how interesting a comic can be. I thought I already knew quite a lot about the Holocaust, having studied it for years, but there were still quite a few things I learned from reading this.

On a more personal basis, there is an additional comic in the book I found very interesting: Dina Babbitt's story. Born Dina Gottliebova in Poland (I couldn't help feeling some kind of relationship), she was eventually taken to Auschwitz and found herself painting portraits for no one less than the Angel of Death, Dr. Mengele. When the Germans saw the end coming and forced the Jews to follow them on the 'death march' she fled with her mother and survived. It's only years later that she found out that her portraits, of Nazi's and of Gypsy families, were being kept in a museum in Poland. No matter how hard she tried, the museum refuses to give her her own paintings back. Hearing from this, a huge group of comic book artists, writers and actors started various petitions and actions to try and do something about, to this day still to no avail... The comic featuring in this book is one of them...

Work in Progress - People (3)

My newest drawing in the 'People' category.

Anime - Ergo Proxy

Probably my favorite anime of all times, Ergo Proxy is a cyber punk anime with a very heavy story-line and interesting character development. Also, I can't seem to get over how amazing this intro is....

Artist - Yoshitaka Amano

I couldn't post something about the Final Fantasy series without posting something about their Illustration Director, japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano. Since I've been playing the Final Fantasy games I've been a really big fan of his work. It has a Klimt feel to it, even though it's more oriental.

Amano's World

Game - Final Fantasy IX

I've been feeling pretty nostalgic lately regarding video games. Besides wiring up my old Megadrive or Super Nintendo, I've been playing some old RPG classics on my PS One.. and I've just beat one of my favorite games (story-line and character development wise) of all times, Final Fantasy IX. Necron, the final boss of the game, has one of the coolest villain design ever.

Artist - John Picacio

It was while I was looking up Dave McKean that I came across John Picacio. Picacio has a peculiar style in all his work I really like. It has been brought to light to me by the artist himself that the information I had previously written was wrong (I need to double check when information comes from a suspicious source), so first of all I really do apologize. Contrary to what I had previously written, the artist has been active lately and his current activities can be followed on his blog (link at the bottom of the entry).

John Picacio

Artist - Dave McKean

I've been reading books and comics by Neil Gaiman for a while now (you should definitely check out Signal to Noise and some of his books like Neverwhere and Smoke and Mirrors) and most of his book covers or even the artwork inside have been made by a certain Dave McKean. Because the art quite appealed to me I looked him up and, being in a period where I especially like collages, I was really impressed. He has an impressive portfolio using a wide range of media to create covers and more. Worth navigating through his site to get a good look.

The Art of Dave McKean

Exhibition - Magritte

It'd obviously be a massive hole in my culture if, during my stay in Belgium, I didn't go to Brussels to check out the new Magritte exhibition. I felt that I was required to learn more about the surrealist belgian artist. The exhibition was really good. Even though it didn't feature the most famous pieces like Ceci n'est pas une pipe, you got a really nice idea of the concept of Magritte as an artist. With works ranging from his impressionist period to posters he used to design when right out of college, the exhibition has some impressive relics from the artist (even a few interesting sketchbook pages). The exhibition is definitely worth checking out.

Artist - Niklas Lundberg

Pretty amazing digital collage work by artist Niklas Lundberg. On a sidenote, I think his website is extremely stylish, fits the genre well...

http://diftype.com/

Artist - Desktopopgraphy

Amazing website I came across on Design is Kinky.

You should definitely check it out and pimp your desktop.

Work in Progress - People (2)

I had my second lesson in drawing/sketching today and continued doing what I like, drawing people. Today I wanted to concentrate on expressions and poses.

Exhibition - BP Portraits Award 2009

I went to see this (free!) exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. At first I didn't even know it was just paintings so I was really amazed by what I saw there. For those who don't have the chance to go see the exhibition, here are the winners:

BP Young Artist Award

'Benfica Blue'- Mark Jameson

Third Prize

'Manuel' - Annalisa Avancini

Second Prize

'Tom' - Michael Gaskell

First Prize

'Changeling 2'* - Peter Monkman

*I really liked the story around the painting. The piece is part of a series of paintings Peter Monkman did about his daughter. He painted her at different parts of her life, monitoring how she grew and changed through her life.

Music Video - Viva La Vida (Cover)

My brother told me about this song. I was positively surprised, I really liked it.