Artist spotlight: Keaton Henson

I was just introduced to this artist's work through a fellow student's blog. Which means I know that you, the people reading this blog, have probably already seen all this. Well tough, this is what you get for making us do this.

I think something that always attracts me to an artist I'd their line-work. I've noticed that it's something many artists lack, especially my contemporaries. Sometimes I'll watch someone draw and feel an inner wince as they have little control over the lines, they'll be all scratchy, ragged and quite frankly, ugly.

Henson's line work is beautiful; there's the perfect balance between simple line and shading. There will be colour when it's needed, some times it's a tiny amount, like on the tips of fingers. It works magnificently.










Henson has some very particular motifs that he draws often and make his work all the more memorable and stylistic: triangles, all seeing eyes (as seen on the American dollar) hands, big heads with small faces in the middle.

Artist Spotlight: Olly Moss

I just came across this faaaantastic video on Mike Mitchell's blog. Olly Murs is a name I've heard of, but never really bothered to find out who he is. Watching this video, I think I can tell I'm gonna be a fan of his

http://vimeo.com/23621548

Having gone on his blog:
http://moss.fm, I realised I had come across some of his work before, and to sum it up in the simplest of terms: it's good work.


Olly Moss was born in '87. That means he IS ONE YEAR OLDER THAN ME. And he is making illustrations for Empire magazine and Marvel (meaning he got to visit the Thor set!) In fact, here's his current client list:

CLIENTS: Lucasfilm / Star Wars, Star Trek, ABC / LOST, Levis. The Alamo Drafthouse, Urban Outfitters, Nike, Puma, Penguin, Wired, GQ, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times Magazine, Threadless

Say it with me folks: oh, my, god. OH MY GOD. It's kinda really encouraging but really freakin' scary too.

I'm gonna say this flat out; I don't know what I'm gonna do when I leave uni. And considering that's less than 2 months away, that's a pretty freaking scary thought. I'm always waiting for some ...magic event to happen that will land me with an awesome career as an awesome artist.

As an ultimate goal, for some time in the future, but not too far, is to run a gallery. An illustration gallery.

For years I've been aware of various galleries in America that I would love to one day, have my work in.

Nucleus Gallery

Gallery 1988

Bird and Bear Gallery.

These galleries are all sorts of awesome; they cater to Illustration and graphic design, they're run by young people and display young artists. To sum it up, it's all very cool. And I want one. I don't know if it's just my own naiivity, but I feel illustration isn't very accessible outside of places like London (and possibly some other big cities)

Artist spotlight: Eleanor Davis.

Eleanor Davis is an artist I happened across through another artist's blog (unfortunately I can't remember who at this time) and I fell in love with her work right away.




Something about her work is very, arg the word escapes me...., raw. (for lack of a better word)In particular, women are depicted quite... Animalisticly, once again, for lack of a better word. More often than not naked, breasts hang down and are moved by gravity in a way not seen in Hollywood or fashion.











By a happy chance, I was recently able to happen across the entirety of Mome publication in a charity shop. It was a Canadian comic graphic novel with a mix of different artists each edition. I noticed them as the first one I saw had an eleanor Davis illustration on the front. I got them all for about £20, bloody brilliant.

I've always admired artists, especially female artists, who are unafraid to depict nudity and especially sexual themes (or even just sex) Davis is one of these artists, she honestly draws women and men as they exist, not as they're warped in society.

Artist spotlight: Tom Gauld

I first came across Tom Gauld's work during my national diploma, so about 4 or 5 years ago. I was flicking through the Guardian As it was a good source to find good illustration (and sometimes just good photos)

I started collecting his weekly comics whenever I could find them (I wasn't quite prepared to buy the guardian then, I wasn't as in to newspapers as I am now)

In the second year of my national diploma, the visual communication group (illustration and graphic design) went on a trip to London and especially Magma bookshop. There they had some of Gauld's mini comics and I DIDN'T BUY THEM. AND NOW THEY'RE SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE AND YOU SIMPLY CAN'T BUY THEM NOW.
Artistically, it's been a pretty big regret for me, but it made me decide if there was ever an art book I wanted, I should buy it. Oh life lessons, you are so cruel.