[faB]

Who are your favorite artists ? And what do you like most about their art ?

For me I would say the thing that strikes me most in paintings is the simplification and when edges are lost and shapes of similar value and color are merged together. It seems to bring out the essence of something. I think Loomis called that 'subordination'. Maybe it is a really basic technique in illustration, but honestly that's about the only thing that really moves me, when the shapes are made apparent, alongside with gorgeous use of colours.

Often, in a painting there will be these small areas of connecting shapes that will really strike me. I could zoom it up and just marvel at them. Yet, if you were to make separate paintings with those shapes, it wouldnt move me as much. Taken outside of the original subject, these shapes are no more 'simplification' or 'essence', they just become that, geometric, abstract shapes with nothing beyond it. I do like some abstract art... but generally it's more of a colour or composition thing.

I think what really strikes me is when a subject is rendered realistically, yet with a lot of selective simplification. It's not about bringing out certain elements in a scene, it's about a conscious selection by the artist, to bring out the essence of what he sees. The subject is not abstract at all, yet it is not 'photorealistic'. I don't think the patches of values /color are the end of it. I think it goes beyond that. I think it strikes me because it makes me aware of the subject without thought or meaning.

For me the actual subject, the meaning behind the painting are secondary.

I have a large book of 'visual history of art', and as much as I try I find very little in there that strikes me visually. Certainly seeing small representations instead of the orignal artwork is for something.. I like some of Velasquez and Vermeer but it seems to me a large part of 'ancient' art is more about meaning or subject than the representation of it. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe I havent looked well enough ?

These are some artists I really like :

Lucian Freud - incredible form (NUDITY)

William Whitaker - his recent stuff, the top 4 paintings on this gallery at ARC, along with 'The Next Day' on page 3, just blow me away. I have tried to find more of his, from 2001 and since, without success, if you have links, please post !

Simon Bisley - I love his use of color, and the energy in his compositions

Keith Parkinson - I like his compositions and figures

----------------

See, out of my mind I cant even bring 10 artists that really strike me. I'm desperate for some eye opening.

Please share your favorite artists, and if you can, explain what really moves you about their work ?
_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[ceenda]

Zdzislaw Beksinski - There is something immensely surreal, ghostly and dreamlike about his paintings. Some people make parallels with HR Giger, but I think such parallels don't do either of them justice. His pencil work is marvellous too. The paintings at Museum Morpheus are a little larger than the ones on his website. You can find them here.

Richard Schmid - Apart from the fact that his book Alla Prima is something of a favourite on the painting scene, his work has a wonderful vitality. Especially his paintings of flowers. You can tell that painting is just a labour of love for him. Expressive but not careless.



Roger Dean - Oops. How did that get in there?

[faB]

Thanks for sharing ceenda.

I also like Zdislaw Beksinski very much. I find this image of a tree with all the branches made of 'limbs' very striking.

Aaah that's great , I had a bunch of his images but not his pencils, superb stuff.

I liked Giger as well. He sure painted a lot of skulls as well But Giger goes more inside the flesh. Some of his stuff look like organs under the microscope.

You may know of Yacek Jerka? He's very interesting too I think. Here's a nice gallery. I like how he takes everyday things and put them together in surreal compositions, he also sometimes does funny stuff with textures, like turning a wall into water and such..

Roger Dean: oh, cool! I remember his stuff for Psygnosis games back in my Amiga days. I never knew his name though Simon Bisley also did some cool game covers back then for Bitmap Brother's 'GODS' & other titles.

While we're at it talking about pixels.. I totally loved the graphic style of the Bitmap Brothers, Chaos Engine, GODS, and Cadaver were just gorgeous. These guys knew how to use colour. They could paint awesome stuff with just 32 colours ! I liked how they used not-quite-grays, not-quite-greens and browns and mixed pixels to achieve more colours. Here's a nice tribute site.
_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[B0b]

Kevin Walker - can't find a website - i grew up reading 2000AD and Kevin's Rogue Trooper work as outstanding as was his ABC Warrior work.. he then moved to GW and i'm glad that he's moved onto the MTG Card Artwork, simply amazing stuff

Carl Critchlow - http://www.carlcritchlow.com/ - again when i was younger used to play WFB and WH40K, collected White Dwarf and enjoyed reading Thrud the Barbarian was glad to see his artwork appearing on the MTG Cards

John Avon - www.johnavon.co.uk - first saw his stuff on the MTG Cards, he started off with just doing the Land Cards, his Landscape/Nature stuff is just outstanding (hopefully going to visit him down in Brighton b4 xmas )

Stan Sakai - http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/ - just love reading Usagi Yojimbo

i'll add to my list as i think of ppl

[Gort]

I've always enjoyed the illustrative work of N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle.

I've always liked Francis Bacon for being ahead of his time in subject matter.

The transpersonal ramifications of shamanism in Kandinsky's work ("Black and Violet" especially) have always fascinated me; his other works are just as strong in technique.
_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[balistic]

JC Leyendecker

Amazing command of the brushstroke. Brilliant compositions.


Rudy Belarski

A master of shlocky pulp. Not the best painter ever, but there's a continuity to his work that I like.


Gil Elvgren

Best pin-up artist ever. Rawr.

And of course Syd Mead and Wayne Barlowe and the like.
_________________
brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[blehblehbleh]

www.borisvallejo.com/ because he ruluezzeze!!!!!

[helbhelbhelb]

!!!!!ezezzeulur eh esuaceb \moc.ojellavsirob.www

[Lunatique]

Taken from my website:

Richard Schmid - This man possesses impeccable mastery of alla prima painting, and his book on painting is absolutely the best I've ever seen.

John Singer Sargent - Amazing painter with one of the widest range. Most know him as a master of the portrait, but this man is far more than that. His landscapes, impressionistic experiments, watercolors, and figure sketches are all first rate.

John William Waterhouse - The best of the romantic painters. He is often categorized as a Pre-Raphaelite, but in reality, he was a neo-classicist in his begining, and became the best of the last romantics throughout the rest of his career.

Gil Elvgren - No one paints pin-ups with more imagination and fun. Elvgren was a big fan of Sargent, and he himself became a master painter in his own right. To this day, no other pin-up painter can hold a light to his talent. For all those that say Alberto Vargas was better, I say, "HUH?"

Haddon Sundblom, Harry Anderson, Tom Lovell, Andrew Loomis - Great classic illustrators with similar styles. Sundblom was Elvgren's mentor, and you can see his influence clearly in Elvgren's work. Sundblom's subject matters are much wider though, as he didn't concentrate on the pinup genre (he's actually famous for having designed/depicted the current vision of the Santa Claus that we know and love). Loomis is widely known as a fine teacher and his out-of-print art instruction books are legendary and much sought after.

Pino - Was mostly known for his romance novel covers, but later on pursued his fine art career. Amazing painter with a lot of spontaneity and a colorful palette.

Huihan Liu - Another painter with impressionistic style and a vivid palette.

Tom Browning - A great teacher and painter. His sense of color is absolutely amazing.

Jeremy Lipking - He started out like a younger Richard Schmid, but eventually found his own voice.

Scott Burdick/Susan Lyon- Husband and wife, and very similar styles (you can't always tell them apart). Beautiful colors and spontaneous brushwork.

Justin Sweet - He's got a very distinct style that's all his own. I like the restraint he displays when using colors, yet his paintings are never dull. There's a painterly quality to his work that you don't see often in fantasy/sci-fi illustrations.

Robh Ruppel - One of my favorite fantasy painters. Great classical technique with modern sensibilities.

Michael Whelan - His dedication and meticulous work ethic influenced me greatly as a teenager. He reads every book he illustrates, and gives 110% of himself in each piece, doing dozens of sketches, color studies..etc before the actual painting--and he effort he puts into those are sometimes more fascinating than the finished work. Whelan paints in a highly finished and detailed style that can sometimes kill the life of the piece, and I personally prefer a more painterly style, but he'll always be one of the most important inspirations early on in my life.

Craig Mullins - It is widely agreed that he's the first master of digital illustration. The man is not only extremely talented, but also very wise, friendly, nurturing, and classy. He's part of the http://forums.sijun.com community.

Jon J Muth - The best fine artsy comic book artist I've seen. His watercolors, oils, and other works are just breath-taking. I especially love the romanticism and mystery in his work.

Chen Shu-Fen & Common - I love the romance and the beauty of their work.

Adam Hughes - AH! Man, this guy makes us all look bad. Even worse, he makes us drool over his lovely cheesecake drawings and incomparable talent.

UmetsuYasuomi - I've been into his work since "Megazone 23 partII." Too bad he doesn't do much work outside of animation. In the early days, I was drawn to the more realistic character designs, and at that time(mid 80's to early 90's), Umetsu and Ohnda were the two guys that designed in that style. I paid more attention to their work than other character designers at the time.

Ohnda Naoyuki - His character designs for the "Ma ryu senki" series influenced me quite a bit. I loved his idealized realism style.

Ronnie Del Carmen - Love his cartoony style. He's got a strong grasp on the human figure and expressions, and the way he simplifies things is just pure eye-candy.

Ian McCaig - I was fascinated by Fighting Fantasy books while growing up, and Ian's illustrations were absolutely the best out of the entire series. Now, he's known as the guy that designed Darth Maul and Queen Amidila's Dress.

Favorite comicbook creators : I grew up on Japanese animation, manga and American/European comics. I love the works of these incredible artists/writers/creators.

Yamashita Ikuto- He started out doing a cyberpunk comicbook titled "Dark Whisper," and then became the mechanical designer of the hit anime series "Neo Genesis Evangelion." This guy's flair for design and style rivals that of the legendary Syd Mead. Dark Whisper had a really interesting sci-fi premise, and the ultra-modern designs of aquatic gears really gave it a slick and trendy feel.

Shirow Masamune- If it wasn't for his "Appleseed" series, which was a revelation to me at age fourteen in terms of storytelling dealing with social-political issues in a science-fiction setting, I probably wouldn't have gotten into the comicbook industry. Too bad he's turned into a parody of himself in the recent decade, and overdosing on raunchy/gratuitous depictions of nubile females in compromising positions.

Jaime Hernandez- One of the talented brothers that created the underground masterpiece "Love and Rockets." I learned a lot about simplicity and spoting black from this guy. The "slice-of-life" storytelling style of the Hernandez brothers were also quite an experience for me in my late teens.

Nishi Keiko- She is an incredible storyteller, and as an artist, her charming style is one of the most unique I've seen. Her writings are usually filled with irony, tragedy, and whimpsical fancies.

Kitagawa Sho- One of the few male manga creators that can pull off sensitive drama and complex psychological issues. On top of that, he kicks ass as an artist, especially his pen/ink work in "Complex."

Takada Akemi- Love her "Kimagure Orange Road" illustrations. Her soft watercolor/pastel works are quite delightful, and captures the characters and the vibe of the series very well. Madoka Ayukawa, in my opinion, is the perfect female, fictional or not.

Kamijo Atsushi- "She" is actually two girls. I really like their "Sex" series (although there are no sex in the series). I wish they would do more books. It's very hard to describe their style of storytelling and art. Although it feels strange using the term existentialism to describe a comic book, but that's the only description I can think of.

Bill Waterson- How can you NOT love this guy? A wonderful storyteller, artist, and a man of admirable integrity. Long live Calvin and Hobbes!!!

Hagiwara Kazushi- He's done some interesting stuff in the early part of his career as a manga creator, but like Shirow, he's turned into a parady of himself, also dwelling on sexual perversions instead of telling a real story.

[skullmonkeys]

Classic artists

Claude Monet
J,S Sargent
Auguste Rodin

Illustrators/concept artists

Yoji shinkawa [Metal gear solid and konami concept artist] [absolutely love what he does with just a $10 brush pen]
Craig mullins
Shoji Kawamori [Mecha designer for anime. best known for Macross concepts]

[pxy]

theatricpoet st-barbie heartofglitter snafus shane_lavalette shes-a-vamp r36e51c thopper23 willowii frecostar novestal nastypeoplz mrpumpernickel moogstruck mnoo rykthia misanthropia.net lunalupin tangledseaweed lou24860 lifelessexuberance liafaydjam laurion kristinchick koalaelf javelplus jammykins ivoryocean inthedusk zezillia hepgerl lobegrinder hamsteralliance thisxtragicxgirl gonesally fulcanelli fromamouth flaery filh fgfx ether-rag ephemerae damnengine drillpogodrill electronic-warfare dO-rine- drink-me-pretty defectivemeats deaddreamer david_penprase darkhalo damienbaylock bajema crushedovernight clumsyempress cateyeceleste bord-airline blueblack bloodyserenity beiby silverauraangel acidic-lust ardentapathy arachnophilia anemises agonybliss rainbowskye truant visceral ultraviolett troubled trinket trond tarya switchbladecry subzosa stoopidgerl somavenus skiesofchaos serenely saphireena salsifi sagen/troave.com rottingangel redragon raspil precurser digifox photog48013 pdtnc celticbeauty lotofire photoerdna marcyintellect chapterone shiver mikeloveseveyah dysph0ria gosia xxxxxx mike_savad dieaxt nietzchse einstein confucious hornbacher allyekhrah vac lunargirl

writing/character
colours

"the more i think, the more i feel that there is nothing more artistic than loving people" - van gogh

and then
fgfx designs fla's offficial site
lunargirl does bjork's official site
their fav artists...
i'm gonna do that some day....

[faB]

@pxy: sorry to be harsh but the only trhing I could make sense of is that fgfx = faustgfx, after a little google search. I'm not gonna check the 30 or so other ones ... if yo ucan just put a list possibly with links of your ~5 preferred artists and what you like about them that would be interesting, thanks.

Thanks for sharing people, and keep posting please!
_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[pxy]

mweeeeeeee

[pxy]

i'm writing a thing
of everyone met
and gonna make a thumby journal with 1 fav by everyone
will be better

graphical ones (aka "ooo pretty colours", for some i can't say more than that. what nietzche calls "self overcoming" would refer to them, no "i post (the same) crap to get more fame/praise". highly aestetic eye. )
* lady thopper http://seas.deviantart.com/journal/2384902/
* raspil http://seas.deviantart.com/journal/3177984/
* lunalupin http://seas.deviantart.com/journal/3317187/
* st-barbie http://seas.deviantart.com/journal/2521318/

oh, those featured in sidebar
* deaddreamer. everyone copies him. really talented people copy him. most influential person, before all this stupid huge everything in em art sites.
* flaery. really innovative in graphical stuff, eventhough most were just previews to her writing.

[olduttycruff]

Syd Mead
Ralph McQuarrie
Chris Foss
Leo Da Vinci

What I admire the most about these 4 are the fact that not only were they artists but they were individuals that had a conceptual design sense that was far ahead of their time.

[faB]

Thanks for the links, pxy.

I found deaddreamer interesting. I'm copy/pasting his own fav artists from the interview, just to keep this thread going:

[Heysoos]

JMW Turner- the artist I look to most when I need inspiration, he just captures that balance between raw energy and passion and elegant beauty.



Odd Nerdrum-the New Old master. takes off where rembrandt left off he is simply a extremely masterful painter with a dark and bizarre way of thinking...which I like www.nerdrum.com



Anselm Kiefer- I get compared to this guy I lot in some of my own work. very immense, intellegent, psychological and profound art while still retaining the "damn, thats just plain cool" factor
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/kiefer.html



and some others:
Casper David Friedrich
Zdislaw Beksinski
Dave Mckean
Nicolai Fechin
ralph steadman
_________________
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/wfkeil

[pxy]

> I found deaddreamer interesting

there was some older old old interview

where he said

porn

as inspiration

and that was cool.....

whores of babylon

STILE SUX
SO DO YOU

you have to check all over to see
all o his stuff
1 raster exlusive

he does frames
no one does frames
(how many go beyond stupid solid black/white?)

he never deletes his stuff
even has older site version up

no one does that

he tried music
c curve - anti nectar

he has this small words
[send recieve open close
sleep awake pulsate break]
on pics
no one does that
no one can do that
you need lots insight..
ya
bla
happened to do once
or that too

[pxy]

> brian erikson
aka
hexfix93
vac
disease factory

[The Big Harf]

I like Shirow Masamune because of his form and colour.
_________________
Blimey, I'm a Limey

[faB]

Here's an interesting artist I found while surfing :

Mary Beth Mc Kenzie (click on "Paintings")

I like how she renders form. Some of it is reminiscent of Lucian Freud, I think. Lots of paintings in the gallery, good resolution.
_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[watmough]

degas-no one could compose from drawings and memory like him...
monet-original, used his eyes and founded in the realist tradition
manet-mercurial guy who like to manipulate paint
john singer sargent -almost as talented as manet(could paint landscapes though)
pissarro-no one could paint a sunny day like him
hokusai-drawing genius-could group things amazingly naturally
yoshitoshi-master of the macabre and another master draughtsman
kyosai-best dragons and demons ever
vermeer-amazing interiors
boudin,jongkind-great veracity of tone and color
whistler-talent,talent,talent
andrew wyeth,2nd greatest american watercolourist
winslow homer-greatest american watercolourist
turner-atmosphere

[jr]

[Lunatique]

[watmough]

sargent had a more workman-like approach to art than manet.his average quality of work was better than manet,but manet's best work is better than sargents(my opinion of course).

[faB]

Oh, I just made up a rule for the thread : post your own favorite artists list + thoughts, before commenting someone else's

I suspect some may be shy about sharing their own favorites, you know.. kinda like music.. we have our guilty pleasures

This is bound to be somewhat subjective anyway, for the same artist, we probably like/see different things in their work, what YOU see in your fav artists work that's what is interesting.
_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff

[StylesDavis]

...*rightclick-save* *rightclick-save**rightclick-save**rightclick-save**rightclick-save**rightclick-save**rightclick-save*...


cool thread!

i think you forgot frazetta http://www.die-einherjar.de/index.htm

some of my favs:

gustav klimt (grahical style meets "realism", very cool)

ingres ( perhaps i like his portraits more than sargents)

k�the kollwitz ( one can feel that she mentally kneed deep in her drawings - does that sentence make sense in english? )

travis charest ( a bit stiff but strong figures with a feeling of physical impact)

and, of course,

craig mullins ( masterful impressionistic art meets postmodern, cool motives. i think he is the most versatile artist i know. )
_________________
known as "ChrisNix" elsewhere.

[Urbatect]

I would go with Simon Bisley and Jonas �kerlund. They represent some kind of art art in comics and commercials... maybe people in those fields are the ones that will be remembered as the artists of our age 100 years from now. As for classical artists I have to mention Anders Zorn because of his lightning and ability to make great stuff with only few brush strokes.

[faB]

Some fav' comic/graphic novel artists :

Glenn Fabry does some great covers

http://www.preachersdivinity.com/preacher/stain.htm

Unfortunately his website seems to be down or gone for good (used to be at http://www.glennfabry.co.uk/ ... )

Richard Corben who's work I am not very familiar with (god good links, anyone?), but he clearly was an influence for Simon Bisley, if only for the intense colouring.

CAZA is one of my favorite european graphic novel artist/ illustrator. He's one of the old timers like Moebius or Druillet that non-europeans may know better.

gallery 1-5.
gallery 6-10.
some of his black+white psychedelic stuff from the 70's

"Caza's drawing, which is fairly realist according to the criteria of graphic novels, is not according to those of 'classic' SF illustration. Evolving at the margin of both fields, he knows how to draw out the best of the both of them. The drawn line, always an obstacle to realism, becomes here another approach to achieving the reality effect ..." (source: recent 'artbook' Kronozone, 2 images below)




_________________
"I'm not a shrimp, I'm a KING PRAWN !" -- Pepe.
selfportraits & stuff