Oliver Emery @7files - Tumblr Blog

Conclusion.

Reviewing and enjoying the art of others has always been one of the key factors I adore in the world of artwork. Along with producing my own, of course.

Across years of gathering my favourite artists whom I follow daily through social media, I have discovered a vast array of characters as well as art producers who’s work I truly marvel and aspire to match in terms of their popularity and success. These include Mike Mitchell, Skottie Young, Jacob Ovgren and Glen Brogan to name but a few.

Becoming involved in the world of art was the best step I ever took and it truly opened my eyes to just how vast it really is. Almost every square mile of our urban society features something that has undergone a particular artistic design process that required imagination and individuality. That’s my favourite part. The individuality. You can tell a great deal about somebody and how they're feeling by what they draw and envision within their pieces.

The majority of artists I have both researched and included within this project are prime examples of what I long to be like in my future, and to follow them to fame in the artistic community. To me, they are all visually similar in some ways, but contrast entirely in others.

The main body of artists I have chosen operate within the digital design industry, creating their pieces within programmes such as Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator. They are what introduced me to this new form of creating art. Around four years ago now, I began to watch the entirety of a YouTube artist’s videos called Draw With Jazza. He used his drawing tablet, a device used to create digital artwork with precision and fluency, in a way which stood out to be more than others. After being obsessed with his tutorials and helpful videos, I decided to purchase my first drawing tablet. A Wacom Intuos. This along with Adobe Illustrator opened a completely new door for me.

After a couple of years of producing rather simple pieces with my tablet, which was initially very frustrating to use due to needing to look at the screen while drawing, I became used to the platform, and favoured it over others. I started to combine both Adobe Illustrator and PhotoShop to create one piece, taking advantage of their unique tools and editing.

I now own an iPad Pro and Apple pencil, enabling me for the first time to create digital artwork wherever I might be and to actually look at what my hands are drawing as it happens. Using the ProCreate app, I have created a great deal of my university artwork.

I believed near the start and I still do now, digital art truly is the future of the industry. It is becoming more and more vast by the day, especially with programmes abilities to produce textures and brushes which mirror the ability of manual and original art tools. In time I think that digital artists will become the standard as oppose to artists using original methods, however art is a very individual topic enjoyed by each person in different ways. Meaning the traditional methods will always still be in use.

My chosen artists mostly tend to use a great deal of vibrant colours and exaggerated emotions in their created characters, making them pop from the screen/page and really tug on the emotional strings of the viewer. This is something I wish to be reflected within my created artwork, and for the characters I produce to have such distinct and individual personalities that they will be cherished far and wide. They have also taught me a variety of techniques, including the shapes and styles of certain facial features and how to set a certain tone through the drawing style and use of colour.

In the future, I wish to have developed my current skills to a new level and gathered a good following along the way. My dream is and always has been to create my own animated TV show, filling it with my love, humour and passion and for others to enjoy watching it as much as I enjoy making it. Aside from that, I’ve also been interested in the game character design field, as well as toy design. Two things I enjoy experiencing in my own life. With hope in my placement year, I may be able to find work within a company that offers me such opportunities and would require my imagination and artistic abilities.

#art #illustration

Alex Riegert-Waters

Alex is a senior designer and illustrator living in California, Los Angeles, most commonly known for his work with brand giant Disney. Newly discovered by myself, I was immediately enticed by his use of vibrant colours and his clean character style.

Creating pieces of some of my favourite characters such as the Adventure Time cast and Super Mario, there was nothing not to love about this artists work.

In creating my very own characters, I hope to inject this level of vibrance and help them to really stand out from the crowd. I want my characters to be memorable and favourited across all ages.

#alexriegertwaters #alex riegert-waters #art #illustration

Mike Mitchell

Many years ago now, I was scrolling through the Explore page on my Instagram app and discovered @sirmitchell. As I was a fair bit younger and hadn't followed many artists on Instagram, his work did and always has stood out to me. The love beamed from his characters and their likability was truly something incredible. How he could take a piece of fruit and give it an entirely new persona.

However, Mike doesn't just produce plush characters charged with cuteness, he has and still continues to produce some phenomenally detailed digital pieces of some of the worlds favourite popular culture characters. The Star Wars cast and many Marvel superheroes to name a few.

I wish to fuel my created characters with as much love and passion as I can tell he does, and for that to be apparent when viewed by an audience.

#mikemitchell #mike mitchell #art #illustration

Skottie Young

Skottie Young is an award-winnning writer, illustrator and cartoonist whose work has topped the New York Times Best Sellers list and gathered attention across the world with his wonderfully unique and loveable art style. He has illustrated as well as written the incredibly popular characters such as Spider-Man, Avengers, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, Magneto, the X-Men and much more for Marvel Entertainment. Living in Illinois, Chicago with his wife, 2 sons and 2 dogs, Skottie is never short of fun filled ideas and twists for some of our favourite heroes. Being surrounded by his kids must fuel his creativity as he is able to re-experience his love for comic books by influencing his children to enjoy them as well. I stumbled across Young’s work one afternoon in Nostalgia Comics, Birmingham. They were handing out free gloss prints of one of his most recent comic book variants. The style really made me smile as it made some of my most treasured comic book stars appear as nothing more than children in costumes. The lovability of them is incredible. Skottie clearly enjoys using a rather vibrant colour palette to catch the eye of his audience and possibly appeal to the younger generations. I too enjoy his choice of colour and also his variation of size within his line-work.

#skottieyoung #skottie young #illustration #art

Chrigel Farner

This is an artist I know perhaps the least about due to just discovering him, but his work sure stood out. Discovered when flicking through the ‘Illustration Now!’ issue 5, I came across Chrigel. I was sat beside a friend at the time and he told me that his work looked disgusting but beautiful at the same time. I agreed completely. At a glance, the characters and setting appear strange and slimy. It is only when you look deeper that you realise the amount of depth and detail in Farner’s sublime work. The settings are fantastically immersive and his character creations are disgusting. In the best way possible.

#chrigelfarner #Chrigel Farner #art #illustration

Glen Brogan

Glen Brogan’s work really pops from the page. Discovered within the Geek-Art anthology, I researched this artist even through my A levels. I have been a fan ever since. Glen is another artist that puts his own loveable spin onto some of todays most well renowned fictional characters and it really does pay off. I love how action packed some of his pieces are and the gentle colour palette he uses really creates a comfort to visualise. His incorporation of huge name characters such as Mario, Megaman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many more is something I would love to work with.

#glenbrogan #glen brogan #art #illustration

Jacob Ovgren

Jacob Ovgren’s artwork captures the Swedish spirit and adds humour and tongue-in-cheek messages in the form of cartoon influenced illustrations that all tell a wonderful story. His works for Polar Skateboards are perhaps his most famous. My school friend Matt introduced me to Ovgren as Matt himself is and has long been incredibly enthusiastic about skateboarding and some of the brands that support it. Something I marvelled about Jacob Ovgren is that he touches on some of the perhaps darkest areas of humour as they could be interpreted in a completely different manor by a differently natured individual. Never the less, his use of thick ink and bold colour is wonderful and the relatively simplistic style of his characters is unique and instantly recognisable.

#jacob ovgren #jacobovgren #art #illustration

James Jarvis

James Jarvis (born London, 1970) is a British illustrator and toy designer. Before establishing his own company, Amos Toys, Jarvis was known well for his collaborative works with skate brand giants such as Nike SB, Stussy, and also his published book titled Spherical Dialogues. Spherical Dialogues features a range of page-long, roughly drawn comic strips of some rather round yet quirky individuals. Each strip tends to contain a short amount of dialogue which intends to reflect humour on some rather deep quotations about real life (bottom left picture). It’s fantastic. I came across this artist when reading an online article on a popular photographer’s most treasured possessions. One of which was a vinyl figure from a series of figurines named ‘King Ken’ (top right picture), the designer being James Jarvis. It was at that point I dived into his seemingly endless work load and fell in love with the style and personality injected into his characters. The colour palettes used in some pieces are also a favourite of mine. The simplicity to his character designs just works and entices me completely.

#jamesjarvis #james jarvis #art #illustration