To Heal My Heart

Today has been a tough day.

Today, my mum died. She has fought valiantly against cancer, staying strong and positive but infection wore her down and she was  released from her battle this afternoon just as the sun broke through the rain clouds that have dominated the week's weather. A group of butterflies took flight from the ground outside her window, and she was free.  

She was an artist, a dancer, a pure kind spirit and constant inspiration to all who knew her, including myself. I know she'll live in my heart every day, just as I lived in hers and I will feel her willpower and love with me always. 

I wanted to share this with you as I've been away from here, caring for her and loving her for some time now. She loved to read this blog while she was able and I wrote most posts with her in mind. I wanted her to know how much I value everything she taught me, and the gifts that I inherited from her. She was my guide through the darkness and my companion in the light and although I feel incomplete without her by my side, I take strength from knowing that all that she was is still with me now and always, in her words and deeds and in her beautiful art. 

She has danced into a glorious colourful meadow of summer flowers, accompanied by the sound of lark song and the love I sent with her. 

Love you mum. Dance and be happy. xxxxxx

Inspirational Artists - Yoshitaka Amano

Hello, you scrumptious lovelies!!

Have you had a good week? I do hope so - time to breathe....time to play...time to ART! Mine's been MASSIVELY hectic - in fact, I think my poor li'l computer forgot what I look like... But today I have time to sit and read through your wonderful comments, which have made a LONG few days of grot disappear in MOMENTS, to be replaced by happy faces and renewed optimism, so thank you SQUILLIONS for that! You know I loves ya xxxxxxx

I've not had any real time for art since my last post, although I have some new jewellery ready for Etsy - here's a sneak peek -

Seriously....I can't resist beads... It's a genuine weakness! I've just about been able to exercise severe restraint over paper buying, but beads? Nah.... they're too pretty...! I don't know if it's the variety of shapes, the feel of them, or the GORGEOUS colours - maybe a bit of everything! YUM!

In my last post I asked for suggestions on what I should post next, and Carmen (visit her fabulous blog HERE) reminded me that I've not written an 'inspirational artsists' post in quite a while! She's so very right - and I have a LIST of them too! So I've sifted through my notes and images and stuff, and decided on an artist to spotlight here for you. I'm sure many of you will know of his awesome talent and stunning art, but I have so much love for his work that he's an easy pick right here, right now.

Inspirational Artists - YOSHITAKA AMANO

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese artist, born in 1952 who STARTED his career as a teenager, working as a character designer for animated series such as 'Speed Racer', 'Gatchaman (The Battle Of The Planets)' and 'Robot Hunter'.

He stated once [to paraphrase] that if life's too stable, creativity dies so he left a comfortable career and at the age of 30 started to work as a freelance artist. He has designed characters for MANY massively popular computer games, most notably, Final Fantasy. He has exhibited worldwide, and produced [now] iconic pieces illustrating a variety of books and comics including 'Vampire Hunter D', 'Elric Saga', 'Elektra And Wolverine: The Redeemer', and also, spectacularly, 'The Sandman: The Dream Hunters' (with Neil Gaiman). He's also had several collections of his own works published, each of which is a genuine delight and inspiration. Here are some of the books that I proudly own -

Now, you know I love you guys, but I'm not risking spine cracks to scan stuff from these lovelies, so you can thank Pinterest for the assistance with most of the images from hereon in... I knows you understands!

Ok. Sooooo.... I first became aware of Amano's work in the late '90s and haven't been able to get enough of it ever since. I find his books incalculably invaluable, especially when I'm suffering an artstic 'brain freeze'. He is fearless. His work OWNS the page and the canvas and achieves a genuine presence and life of its own.

Amano's work shows heavy influence of tradition Japanese artwork combined with more recognised manga styles and techniques...

...and he also shows aspects of influence by western artists and art movements...

It's always interesting trying to divine where other artists find their own influence... In Amano's work I can see the influence of the art nouveau movement, a hint of some of the long-standing fantasy artists such as Michael Kaluta or Charles Vess, as well as echoes of the work of Aubrey Beardsley, maybe even Arthur Rackham -and many others.

This is Beardsley's illustration for Oscar Wilde's 'Salome' ...his fantastic extention of costume and headdress and exquisitely delicate, posed limbs seem - to me - to be reflected in Amano's characters.

Amano doesn't seem to be intimidated by bold colour - not only combining them passionately to produce evocative and romantic images...

...but also using them selectively to create powerful, high impact works with only one, single colour -

...as unafraid of an ABSENCE of colour as he is by bold, definitive strokes. He manipulates colour and makes it work for him -

With simple black ink he produces sketches that are are so dynamic that they almost seem to move on the page -

  - and allows the viewer to add their own imagined detail ...

His work ranges from the beautifully impressionistic...

...to the detailed and precise-

Although he may be best known for his fantasy art, he has produced some fabulous pop and graphic  art -

When you look at these, then look at this :

- you'd not think it would be the same hand that created them.  In my opinion, he's one of the most versatile and gifted artists working today. I can't get enough... really. I could fill this post with words, rambling on and on about his style, his skill, his technique... But I honestly think that I'd rather encourage you to go hunting for his work - on Pinterest, on Google...or your search engine of choice. Check out your local library, comic shop or book emporium and treat yourself to something you'll treasure. Looking at this online is nothing compared to enjoying it in print. And if you are EVER lucky enough to visit one of his exhibitions, then drink in all that awesome and then smuggle one out for me, will ya? A biggun.

I'm going to leave you with another few images - you've no idea how tough it' been here to CHOOSE!  I really hope you enjoyed this post and that you go find out more about Yoshitaka Amano. I hope you're filled with inspiration and make some beautiful art to share with us in the blogosphere.  Thank you for visiting! I'll be back as soon as I can with more STUFF - and another one of these inspirational artists posts, now that I've been reminded of how big my list is... Yep.

Sending out love and hugs to all of you - Shroo :) xxx

Full credit to the awesomeness that is Yoshitaka Amano - long may you be EPIC!

Bernie Wrightson - Master of the Macabre!

Hi !

Welcome to another of my "influential artists" blog posts. This time I'm highlighting the incredible work of Bernie Wrightson, with special focus on his now world famous illustrations for Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".

Bernie Wrightson is an American artsist who works predominently in pen/brush and ink. Perhaps his first widely recognised success came when he co-created the character "Swamp Thing" for DC [comics] on the early 1970s.

DC's "Swamp Thing #9" comic cover, featuring Wrightson's character design in full awesome glory!

A pen and ink character sketch, below - a full colour illustration of "Swamp Thing".

Wrightson's style and love of classic horror illustration gave him a unique ability to transform a concept into a grimly fascinating and highly detailed reality making him an instant success with fans of the genre.

Wrightson's art credits over the years include countless illustrations for books and magazines, as well as more comic work on titles/characters including The Punisher and Spider-Man and Batman, amongst others:

His style has proved to be the perfect complimentary element for several Stephen King novels, illustrating 'Cycle of the Werewolf'. 'From a Buick 8', 'The Stand', 'The Dark Tower volume V: The Wolves of Calla' along with 'Creepshow'.

Although I pretty much love ALL his work and one day DREAM of owning an original piece to hug and love and gaze at adoringly *sigh*.... this post is about the influence his work had on me and my own art. For that, we have to look at his INCREDIBLE work illustrating "Frankenstein". Oh yeah... I know....awesome.....

Living in a little town in the years before everyone had t'interweb, the only way to find gems of new artwork was in books. Yeah - remember them? Well - fortune granted me the privilege of having a Saturday job in the ONE bookshop available. Guess what happened to my wages every week.....Yuh-huh - I did buyded many lots of books of awesomeness I so very did! ONE of them shone a spotlight on the new elite of the fantasy illustration world - the very same tome where I discovered the awesomeness of Charles Vess (read my blog post HERE). Within its beautiful pages there was a chapter which pretty much blew my mind - the work of Bernie Wrightson.  There, in astounding detail, were illustrations from "Frankenstein". I've LOVED horror stories and movies since I was a tiny wee girl (much to my mother's distress!) and here in front of me were images that opened up the world of Dr Frankenstein and his monster on a whole new level. I bought the book and was lost in those pages for HOURS. This is why:

Yeah. Oh yeah. Look closer -

 

To say there's a lot of detail is the epitomy of understatement! This is EXQUISITE work... In these illustrations, Wrightson uniquely fuses a classic concept and technique with a whole new way of thinking creating a hybrid style of his own: intricate work of breathtaking beauty breathing life into the dark and ghoulish, violent world of the horror genre.

 Looking at his work in these pages, I almost overlooked the horror of some of the scenes...in studying the techniques and the effects of his work on the Monster himself I forgot, for a moment, so view him as a whole - to see the creature as an horrific creation, and in doing so I found a deeper understanding of the text of the book when I re-read it that week. It was an epiphany which not only inspired me to practise new techniques in my art, but also gave me a new appreciation of literature, a desire to look deeper into the layered sub-texts of the stories I read and it enhanced my enjoyment of these elements in my life more than I can effectively describe.

Look at the illustrations - forget the grisly subject matter for one moment and see it as a whole image. It's the gift of an illustrator to have a particularly exceptional eye for composition and these illustrations have an almost movie-like quality to them....a director's view, as it were. They're compelling from the outset.

Illustrators also seem to have an impeccable eye for minute detail - an almost anal retentiveness for the minutiae so work doesn't disappoint upon close inspection, rather tends to further delight. Wrightson's work - especially on THIS series of illustrations - is a perfect example of this.  This collection took Bernie Wrightson roughly seven years to complete and they have had worldwide acclaim, yet I read in interviews that when he looks at them now he can still pick out flaws and imperfections that he would correct if he could. Astounding.

Take a look at this picture above. Study how he uses a simple white void-space to indicate light to such effectively dramatic effect. There's no skimping on detail either...no time-saving scribbles to fill in space in that straw. In comparison to his other illustrations, the are far fewer outlines or edges, he achieves definition by using mainly cross-hatching or varied thickness of shading lines instead.

***It's worth noting that a (complete idiot) tutor I once had the misfortune to have to study under informed her class that "cross-hatching was a poor man's shading method, out-dated and ugly". Oddly we didn't really get along. Bernie Wrightson = genius .... tutor = fad-obsessed moron. Moral: Never assume that an art course or degree will automatically ENLIGHTEN you or define and validate you as an artist. "Self-taught" is not a sweary phrase! ***

Summing up, Bernie Wrightson is pretty damn awesome and that's a fact. I know that some of the imagery or ideas behind his work might not be to everyone's tastes, but his skill and tremendous versatility within his chosen field is beyond impressive and LONG may he continue drawing monsters and zombies and superheroes FIGHTING monsters and zombies! I will forever be in his debt and forever be an admirer of his work.

You can see more of his work on "Frankenstein - or The Modern Prometheus: Illustrated Edition" HERE, and find his illustrations for MANY titles on ebay, Amazon or - best of all- IN YOUR LOCAL BOOK SHOP! Don't forget to check out your local comic shop for comics and prints and art books as well. Also, it's WELL worth knowing that Bernie Wrightson and Steve Niles have collaborated on a sequel called "Frankenstein Alive, Alive!" published by IDW comics. You can find an interview about it HERE.

I hope you've found this interesting. Please feel free to comment or contact me - I'll get back to you as quickly as I can I promise! Don't forget to check out the "Color This Quote" September challenge/prompt on Artists in Blogland - click the pic below

I shall leave you with a cool zombie pic, because you know you want one! Hugs from Shroo :)