Every day, people walk past interesting and beautiful things without ever noticing them. In these several photos I tried capturing various objects which would be normally unnoticed, and walked past. For me , these photos have a certain melancholic feeling, or at least that is the way i composed these pictures. Even though there might be multiple elements in the composition, there is a lingering feeling of loneliness in the air. The fascinating thing for me is, that in a month, year or a bit longer these places are going to disappear as they are going to be repaired, painted over, cleaned or demolished but here is that rough underbelly of our day-to-day lives that I find so exciting, captured and preserved for years in a photo.
Recently I took an interview from an illustrator and animator Dmitri Zimin. Dmitri started his artistic journey of self discovery reasonably long time ago, but the reason why I decided to take an interview now, is that at this point he began his breakthrough into the professional world of art.
Recently he has started working for a company that commissioned him a series of animations, which are between one and three minutes long. When I was discussing this project with him, he mentioned that he gets around six days to animate an episode, and as a person who just starts in animation, I found this astonishing.He works alongside an illustrator, who provides backgrounds as well as he gets help with the sound-effects, but even so, in my opinion it is a stressful commission with a tight deadline.
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I must admit, that I did not take an interview about his experience on this animation project, as I am more interested in his personal aspects of creativity and private projects.
R.S.: Which painters or illustrators you are especially interested in?
D.Z.:My main source of inspiration lays in music. Without a doubt people like Yasushi Ishii, Akira Yamaoka, collectives like Muse and many others inspire me. I am impressed by Surrealist classics like Dali, but my respect is not related only to the quality of his work, which is obviously impressive, but the way he approached it. What I mean is that before he began creating Surrealist paintings and generated “his style”, he established himself within the traditional painting techniques.
R.S.: Which animation films do you find more interesting and which their qualities would you like to see within your present and future projects?
D.Z.:I doubt that I will be able to mention any examples from the more recent animation films. Many of them are created by the narrow-minded approach of contemporary dramaturgy and the industry of show business. Sequels and blockbusters, this is the boring part of the contemporary animation. The more out of the ordinary things, could be seen during the festivals of short animation films. Though from the bigger projects, I would like to bring up the Belleville Randevous. From my point of view, works like this are for gourmets.
Majority of stories tell us about love or the lack of it, and my work is not an exception.My subject of choice is feelings. Love. But every time I would like to blow it up like a balloon, and fill it of it up with the dark, magical smoke and in that kind of way show it to the viewer. A little bit of insanity newer stood in the way of real feelings.
R.S.: Do you use music for the stimulation of the imagination?
D.Z.: Of course! Music is not separate from the animation. Great composer heard their symphonies in their minds, before they were put on paper. They heard every note, every instrument and in the same way animators should not separate music and sound effects from the scenes when they are creating them in their heads.
Everything depends on the mood, theme and tempo. I listen to everything that can help me create.
R.S.: would you please tell us about one of your personal projects, the one that takes the most of your personal time at the moment.
D.Z.:It seems to me that this project is going to be with me through all of my life. I can talk about it for ages, and that is why, I better not even begin.If in short, then it is a story about a Mime, “demon” if you like, a being that is woven out of our thoughts and fears, who materialise in a shape of a street artist who tries to understand the surrounding world ,in the same way to you and me.
R.S.: What is the reason that motivated you to create art in the first place and is it any different from what it is now?
D.Z.: If someone can clearly answer this question, I would definitely like to her the answer.I was often drawing during my childhood, but later my interests changed and I became interested in the literature and started writing. My other interest was music, and I managed to receive certain level of education in this form of art. I was a singer and a song writer, but soon I understood that I can’t devote enough attention to all of these subjects, and I decided to go into animation. So here I am: 1/3 of a writer, painter and a musician. Who would have thought that that out of this combination would come out an animator?
Before one will stand on the stage in front of the public, he or she should be completely sure whether they have anything to cay. Something important, something beyond personal fears and worries, because there isn’t anything worse than seeing only author himself, in his work.
Character development - Position experimentation.
Character development : The Doctor
Character Development: The Gunslinger
This character was inspired by music and by music alone. The image was developed while under the impression from Max Raabe, just have a listen and you will understand.
Usually the first thing that attracts me in animation is the visual effects, which is not surprising and this animation has a them of a high level.This animation is very dynamic in nature with a storyline completely unravelling in just over sixty seconds. Though don’t think that because of it, the plot is of lesser meaning, as the creators bring up important ecological issues and do manage to get the point across.
The animation is about our solar system, human race and our planet, and how we negatively influence the living space we have been provided. The character design significantly enhanced this idea as well, as humans were designed as black, short ugly things that destroy and pollute everything that is in their way. The creatures inhabiting the planet were designed as defenceless and easily killed by the humans through the animation, accompanied by splashes of blood and decapitations. The imagery being that graphic helped driving points home for sure.
This animation is a beautiful combination of 2D and 3D technologies as each one has its own specific qualities, of which the advantage was taken when joint.
In my opinion this is a beautiful and gentle animation, that is slow paced but that is directly related to the plot.(Which is an important thing for me to learn) This animation is about a pensioner, and his journey to win his granddaughters heart by giving her a gift, similar to what his father gave him.
Through the film, there isn’t a single word spoke, but it seems that there is no necessity for it, as all of the animation is laid out in an easy to take in way. The drawings themselves have wonderful illustrative qualities, it is like reading an old story out of a book. The authors have represented the character of a retired gentleman perfectly, with his inability to move quickly and a disregard for small and insignificant things that happen around him.
This animation has taught me that accurate observation of the subject is essential to creating a successful animation as then the viewer is able to associate more with the work .
This is a fantastic short animation about chickens and the farmer. Drawings themselves are not that detailed, but that is the selling point of the animation as these representational drawings create the visual diversity that many of us look for.
I found many things interesting about this animation. The character design to begin with is simple and yet effectively entertaining. The animators manage to keep the viewer consistently interested through all of the animation, but of course it is not to do with only character design.
One of the things that particularly stick in to my mind, was on just on the second minute. It is in the way the sad journey was expressed. By overlapping two separate points of view (That appeared like a landscape view and a close-up ) on different opacity settings, the animators made an impression of the journey lasting hours, when in fact the character made just few steps.
The animators managed to combine successfully two opposites in the animation: the sorrow of rejection and happiness of acceptance. I believe that the more successful animations manage to combine the opposite qualities, as the viewer transcends from one to another, making either feel a lot more intense. Ofcourse there should be a balance, but that depends on the director, and the mood he wants to give to the animation.
The soundtrack contributed greatly towards the strength of what was happening on the screen greatly. It enhances the moments the happiness and joy as well as make the moments of sadness seem more intense.
There are several elements that I like about this animation:
Firstly comes the character design as through the years, it is this particular style, that I found amusing just by itself. There is an appeal in its simplicity. Personally I would like to master it for the creation of illustrations on various subjects.
Secondly the way action happens within the screen. There is no real movement, except for the lips and individual limbs that is used to emphasise the mood, word spoken and make characters appear more realistic. This approach would not work for a lengthy production but as this is in a category of a small sketch, it works perfectly.
Le Spectateuris an interesting animation in many ways. Personally for me, one of the more interesting elements was the animation of various walk-cycles in the beginning of the animation. As a beginner in animation, it is important for me to take note a small elements like that, as in the future I should be able to replicate elements like that if need be. Also i found interesting the simplified character design, as visually it worked well with the general direction of the animation as the main character of this animation is a small child.
It is definitely worth having a look, at works by Emiel, (Unfortunately I was unable to obtain any more information about this character as he did not provide any information about his name) as they have some wonderful qualities to them, from which many could learn.
First animation that I would like to mention is “Fish out of the water”. The animation is about an ever changing environment and the way in which animals try to adapt to it.The animation itself appears as very simple but simultaneously effective at imitating various animal types. Just with several lines, and minimal amount of tone, the animator made it possible for the viewer to make associations with the real world. Timing in this animation is also a precisely calculated element as the images are in constant flow, interchanging with each other. I would say that this latter factor mentioned, influences greatly the impression one receives from this work, as constant metamorphosis of the elements keeps it exciting and unexpected.
Don Kenigsber is a character designer and an animator based in Israel. On his website, he has a number of short animations that display his style and capabilities.
His characters are predominantly cute and executed in the style that would appear as mainstream.
One of the dominant aspects of a successful animation is timing, and essentially that is exactly what he is trying to display when he puts out a wide selection of clips on various subjects. I would like to admit that even though I don’t completely favour his style, they are successful in the way that Kenigsber successfully manages to design characters that convey effectively the range of the emotions that he is after.
Mark Ryden is a shocking and significantly disturbing artist with work that possesses certain Surrealist qualities as well as incorporates modern day cultural and religious elements.He uses familiar and everyday objects but places them in the environments that challenge cultural experience of the observer. Elements like woman with distant looks in their eyes, cuddly toys, slabs of meet, and various symbols which range from religion to alchemy. In his work culture, religion and time periods are often intertwined.
His paintings have high aesthetic values, and that is what initially draws in the viewer, but seconds later the viewer becomes aware of the modern day issues of intercommunication, religion, cultural flaws and our views on each other.
It is hard to establish what his exact aim is: presumably to shock. Occasionally Ryden combines the look of innocence with the images of animals savagely cut in half as well as naked young girls covered in blood. I can’t recall a single time, when a genuine smile would be depicted in the painting, as every single one represents a psychotic state of mind.
I believe that he is an important painter of his time, as Ryden distinctly represents in his work the questions that we all asked ourselves or situations that by now are common but nevertheless disturbing. Painters like him are extremely significant, as he makes strong, disturbing visual images that would hopefully make people aware of things that need to change.
Gris Grimly prefers to be thought of as a storyteller more than an illustrator. His work is dark, yet comical, and lately he has been receiving more recognition, as his art is being used in various publications.And that is the best way to describe his work, as it is full of tormented souls and grinning monsters, with already passed away and the ones that are just about heading in that direction. That is exactly what attracts me to this artist, as I for a long possessed an interest for the life beyond the grave. The imagination of one’s mind is a fascinating thing, and there is something alluring about looking in a mind like this. As for exploring what lurks in his, you can meet one of your own monsters.
Tara Macpherson’s art main subjects of choice are people and their life experiences.She takes inspiration from her past, creating images that make one look within themselves.Her images are mysterious, ambiguous and seductive; presumably that is why her work generates so much interest.
Majority of her paintings have a depiction of a female figure of an eye-catching nature with an aura of fatality about her. As mentioned earlier, her work is a projection of her past, and in a number of paintings the subject has a heart shaped hole in their chest, which it would seem stands for the emotions of love and torment that is part of us during our lives.
Inspiration is partly drawn from gothic art, which results in a moving and in some cases partially sinister imagery.
Personally I find several things interesting about her work: What strikes me the most is the quality of her drawings, if to be precise, then the quality of her line. Her line-work is smooth and uncluttered and her compositions are arranged in the way that elements do not fight for supremacy but benefit each other, make each other stronger . Next thing is her imagination, as often she takes advantage of basic, but nevertheless hidden fears of normal human beings.http://www.taramcpherson.com/art/Drawings/Drawings/Detail/BAD8F1/Fractal+Valley+Drawing
For example the “Fractal Valley Drawing”: When you areswimming in the sea or a lake, momentarily you become aware of the fact that you are defenceless from what lays beneath you. As well as the stories of the mermaids that were present for centuries, may be unconsciously reinforcing these fears. This particular drawing has a dark ambience about it, as the sky is riddled with lightning and the mountains in the background seem a little bit ticked off. But these are not the most frightening elements of the composition, as in the centre bobs a half exposed female head with just her eyes on display (That at once makes me think of a victim of drowning), surrounded by a lot of hands sticking out of the water. I think this subject was executed with exceptional effectives, making the observer instantly aware and reminiscent of that ball of emotions.
The colouring technique is also of a very high standard, as her work is vivid and vibrant, as often she makes use of hot and cold colours within the composition to draw in the attention of the viewer or to highlight certain aspects of the character, like femininity or emotional baggage. But the most important of all is that within the colour scheme nothing fights for supremacy.
McLean Kendree is an illustrator and a concept artist of a great inspiration and strife for new ideas.
Personally that kind of art is not my direction of choice, but newer the less I do find it interesting. I do admire the level of details and levels of dynamism within the compositions, as predominantly the subject is composition or pre-conflict tension. Images are composed skilfully to emphasise the subject, with the colour pallet that would highlight the areas of importance.
What I find especially interesting, is the level of drama and tension within his images. He manages to capture the viewer’s attention and make the latter search the picture plane for clues about the nature and the outcome of the occurrence.
Brent Koby is definitely one of the artists, who could inspire me to create majestic art. Majority of the images on the website have that charming fairytale quality. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to find out a lot about this artist and the way in which he works, because for me personally, a little insight into his technique would be exceptionally fruitful.
What particularly stand out about his work are the textured backgrounds, which makes the whole work looked aged and yet modern (due to content) it makes the whole work into a riddle for me. Some of his works, have that mystical feel of Japanese Woodblock prints, and in general seem to be a part of the Japanese art culture.
Some of Brent’s work is particularly exciting as it is composed out of a number of different materials, layered on top of each other to create reasonably complex compositions: real flowers and leaves, cardboard and newspaper as well as his cut-out character design are placed over a painted background to create a feeling of space and dimension.
The themes of the work are varied, but the unifying factor is that there is an integrated message. Majority of meanings are soft and gentle but you will definitely find some that will get you thinking.
Dennis Jones is an extremely interesting freelance illustrator, whom I would definitely like to mention.
Dennis is from a small town in southern Missouri, who starts his creative journey from drawing from various comic magazines, and according to him, this part of his life influenced his present work the greatest.
Dennis is a devoted draftsman, who utilizes every opportunity to capture an image. Dennis predominantly uses gouache for the beginning stages of the drawing, and later modifies it in Photoshop.
His work is light and humorous, and distinctly resembles a caricature, only taken a step further. Exaggeration of the body features, funny expressions and body features, in a combination with a delightful colouring scheme make up fantastic and complex images. In majority of cases, backgrounds are limited, as the attention is concentrated on the characters themselves.
Femkes Hiemstras art has distinct qualities of an old fairytale, sort of an original version of pre Brothers Grimm and Disney. It is dark and a little bit scary but nevertheless magical, beautiful and unusual. Her paintings, is a place where various inanimate objects come alive and gain personalities.
The atmosphere that she gives to her paintings, works particularly well on the surfaces that she uses. On her website, there is a number of old book covers that she enhances, as well as other found objects like metal boxes and various wood panels.
Many of her paintings have typography integrated within the composition; presumably this approach is used to enhance the compositional values as well as the narrative. Typeface is very important as well, as it tends to pull the composition together.
On her website, when she talks about her work, she tells us that: “I’d like to tell stories in paint. The narrative involves characters, and flora and fauna and is part real, part fictional. I am also very attracted to contrasts; I’m cheerful of character so humour is part of my stories, but I am also drawn to darker themes that involve strong emotions like battles, a hunt, a lost or tragic love or the romantic death. ”
I was fortunate to stumble upon this intriguing artist during my creative wonders.An award winning, Columbus College of Art and Design graduate is a highly valued and praised Illustrator and fine artist, who predominantly works with traditional media of paints (Acrylics and Watercolours)
His work, as far as I managed to realise, is highly poetic and deeply affecting; they posse certain element of realism but predominantly surreal in nature. For example painting “Life’s Objective” (http://www.ericfortune.com/plugins/p2003_image_gallery/popup.php?categoryid=6&p2003_sectionid=1&p2003_imageid=17 ) the female that appears in the painting generates a mixture of emotions within me, as the image is simultaneously sensuous and repulsive simultaneously.
The focal point of the painting is the top left corner where the girl is positioned. Her face expression implies deep thought, as far as I can tell, she is entirely consumed by them. She is dressed in white, summery dress, which in essence makes her look delicate and vulnerable and her hand gesture suggests the same notion.The part of the work that currently I fail to understand completely, is an image of a little toy, which mimics the pose of the girl.(It is positioned directly above her head) The only thing that comes to my mind, is further reinforcement of the qualities I listed earlier , plus the addition of emotions related to ones childhood innocence.
As my eyes travelled further down, a whole different spectrum of emotions occurred when I notice that girls’ legs have been sliced apart in multiple areas. Artist himself speaks of this notion that appears in some of his work: “I get a lot of questions about the slicing in some of my work. I see it as another metaphor, sometimes different depending on the context, I think mostly it stands for hurt or pain, physical or emotional.”And it appears as exactly that, as this work has certain nightmarish qualities, only the victim seems completely indifferent to what has happened.
Another character present in the painting is a metallic being that appears to completely hollow inside, and yet alive. Its empty, white eyes and sharp claws do not make an appearance of a delightful character.Even though positioned in the bottom right side of the painting, this being posses some strong intimidating qualities, that it appears as looming over the girl.
This image if dull of subtle emotions and sad beauty and as it appears it is the trademark of the artist.
Bret Bean is an established illustrator and concept artist. Recently I visited his website and found it interesting to say the least.
The first page of http://www.2dbean.com/has an appearance of a sketchbook cover placed on a pitch black background. What I like about the introduction page of this website, is the rustic effect that the artist went for.The exterior of an old sketchbook in an electronic format, from my point of view, is unusual and interesting.
At the top of the page there are a number of settings options that one could find useful while browsing his website. They are self explanatory and not complicated to get your head around. At the bottom of the page there are a number of buttons that allow for inter-page navigation.
When the viewer pushes the button to turn the page, it gives a distinct page turning sound as well as visually it mimics the action. As well, the observer of the website can do it manually by pressing on the page and dragging it over.
I would like to point out, that the interior of the sketchbook does not directly link to the exterior as inside it is full of futuristic, sci-fi type of imagery.
The only true unfortunate factor of the layout is that one can’t zoom in on to individual images and to me that seems as a disappointment as I do prefer to look closer and admire the details as it helps to understand the subject matter a great deal.
The presentation of the images is consistently good, I like the way the finished images are laid out with sketches traced in the background as well as in some cases the background consists of a surface that seems like it was worked with a paint roller. It does give it that contemporary feel.
The subject matter is reasonably varied, though the space theme is in dominance. Some drawings are erotic, as the artist explores the female form, and it seems that there is a certain level of Japanese Manga influence in his work.The clues is the over exaggerated eyes which makes the subject to appear more feminine and vulnerable.
The level of imagination in his work is exhilarating, as the details of some drawings, composition; micro and macro expressions make an extremely tight and beautiful image.Personally I have a lot to learn from artists like Brett Bean as the style and approach, at this stage of my artistic development, seems mind-blowing.
Recently I came across an incredible illustrator from France, her name is Veronique Meignaud. She normally works freelance for the gaming industry as a character and environment designer.
According to an interview in a journal: “Marmote has a systematically random approach to the creation of her vibrantly individual art.”For personal illustrations I don’t have any precise thinking of what I am to create before I start. The process if automatic- I paint abstract shapes and choose some saturated colours. I also look for harmony, a balance with empty and full spaces. The final atmosphere depends on the general mood of the day.”” (ImagineFX August 2009).
I personally am an admirer of fantasy art as every image holds a story, and what I love about it is that it leaves me wondering about the subject depicted.
I would definitely recommend visiting www.v-meignaud.com as the variety and quality of images is certainly impressive. The artist possesses an unusual approach to composition, style and colouring technique. On the website, a substantial number of images is present, with several distinct style directions, each beautiful in its own individual way.
Veronique Meiginaud ‘s images are normally subtly erotic, with almost ever present notion of female form integrated in her work. Though at the same moment, I would like to point out, that majority of her subjects are faintly deformed.
The artist has obviously experimented with colouring techniques, as she skilfully combines colours from all around the spectrum to great compositional and emotional benefit.
What I find especially captivating, is the difference in style that she is able to communicate within her work.One image could be full of fascinating details and simultaneously expressing a variety of emotions (The Village 2008), but another could be purely composed of the subject planted in the centre of the composition, with a limited variation in tonal variation, but newer the less provokingquestions.
