Todd McClellan

Whoo child these artists are just a never ending barrage of...well, awesome.  My latest find (though I'm certainly not pioneering anything...) is a photographer by the name of Todd McClellan.  I came across him while going on my ritual hunt for the next creative monkey to catch my eye and steal my heart. 

Now...this isn't to say that I've fallen madly in love with Mister McClellan.  Rather I've become quite intrigued by his latest body of work, since it seems that he is more versed in using his photography skills for commercial related materials as well as automotives, places, etc.

This last one's my fave.

Now his most recent body of work, which tackles a much more conceptual based (at least, what I can tell from my perspective) topic seems to have come out of left field.  Or chances are he finally is in a place where he can appropriately express himself outside of mainstream venues that help to pay the bills.  Hell, he probably loves all of it and I'm just being silly.  We'll never know.

The latest in his new series is called "Disassembled," and it is a series of photographs that goes to meticulously take apart old pieces of technology that we've taken for granted and organize them in such a way that it is photo ready right down to the itty bitty washers and pins that hold everything together.  This is definitely a kind of focus and dedication I can understand, and in all seriousness I hope to someday be able to lose myself so completely in my work that what comes as a result are a bunch of tiny minutely detailed pieces of radical awesome.

His work has been examined by DesignBoom , Juxtapoz, Twisted Sifter and LostAtEMinor , sites that I try to visit religiously to seek out what's going on in the art world. ( The last two I just added to my repertoire, and I hope that I'll continue to be intrigued by what I can pull from there.)

What makes this work really stand out is, simply, its precision and attention to detail.  This is an artist who has taken the time to really examine the makeups of what we have used in our world and magnifies the definition by forcing the viewer to really look at everything that makes up what seems to be a very basic mechanized tool for every day use.  Push a button and it works, right?  But do we really think about the textures and details that make the whole for what it is?  Do we really see that?

It's times like these that it helps to just stop, take a minute, breathe and...be.  Just be.

Shaun Tan

Well friends it looks like I've found myself another artist to become twitterpated over.  Which is wonderful for me since I'm stuck at the PDX airport waiting on mine and my family's flight to San Diego to watch my brother graduate from the Marine Corp Boot Camp.  Alas!

But, *ahem* onward!

The artist who has recently captured my eye is the inimitable Shaun Tan.  He's originally from Perth, Australia, which is where a good chunk of his inspiration came from for consistently implementing the clear open Western Australian skies in his work.  He'd recently won an Oscar for working on the animated short "The Lost Thing," which was based on one of his already illustrated picture books.


Excerpt from "The Lost Thing"


He's a tireless worker, finding more pleasure derived from creating his next illustrations in the quiet of his home with wife, parrot and budgies.  I add this little tid bit in because honestly...how often do you find someone really living such a quintessential life?  I'm a fan, essentially.  I'd be doing something almost entirely mirror-like, except I'd have an artistic wife and a few moose sized dogs gallivanting around the home.


Excerpt from "The Red Tree"


His childhood to adult life is also a classic progression to fame.  Never his goal, but as a child he was known as the "good drawer," which was better than being known as "the short kid."  A quiet serious fellow, he attended Balcatta Senior High School in the arts program graduating in 1991 and attained his Bachelor of Arts at University of Western Australia graduating in 1995.  Since then he'd been working as a freelance illustrator and taking whatever gigs came his way to hone his craft and pay the bills.

Now, obviously, things have taken quite the drastic turn.  Over the past 16 years he has won numerous awards for his picture books and continues to wow people with his insane ability to narrate using hardly any words to accompany his visuals.  There isn't really a specific age group that he aims for, he just wants to tell a good story.

And boy I can't wait until I get my grubby little paws on his stuff.  This is more than just exciting for me.  This is the kind of work I'd like to someday aspire to.  I've no idea what my style is yet, other than it being light-hearted whimsy based material.  Which doesn't always stay on paper.  But at least I have an idea of where my style lays!
 


The Rabbits


The Arrival


Tales From Outer Suburbia

Ah, finally! An ART blog.

*note: the links are apparently the same color as the rest of the font in this blog, but the names I've dropped all have links to them*

I'm always on new missions, it seems.  New goals, new everything.  Something to rebuild what was, because clearly the direction I've been going has been useless.  At least that's the rumor.  But really.  I've just been letting my brain go to mush because I've spent so much time pushing to do the things that I have to do.  And that's no fun.  Where is the pleasure to be taken from doing the things that I want to do?  Where have those days, gone, eh?

So, without further ado, I introduce y'all to Dustin Nguyen:

And Ashley Wood:

Ben Templesmith:

These are some of many illustrators that have inspired me.  Their styles are bold, punchy, and while there are other illustrators like Darick Robertson, Matt Wagner (my all time FAVORITE for creating the brilliance of Grendel), these guys stick out pretty solidly.  

Also notice how they're all guys?  Eh?  ;P

I need to do more research into female illustrators.  From the few that I've seen I haven't been too impressed, and maybe I just haven't given enough due credit.  But perhaps someday I'll be swingin' with the rest of the guys and proving that I'm worth my salt.

First I gotta sit my butt down and actually draw something first. ;)