Timothy Horn

I have just stumbled on some excellent vehicle paintings from Timothy Horn (http://www.horndesign.com/) posted in a post William Wray's Blog.

http://williamwray.blogspot.com/2007/12/oil-can-show-news.html#links

I find this kind of work inspiring especially as I have to draw a vehicle in my comic for my portfolio, in which my main character drives in the comic. So seeing how vehicles get placed into urban setting, like this image above, really helps me understand how to integrate my vehicle, when it comes to lighting and shading.


I also find this picture fascinating because of Horn's ability to capture light on the metallic surface of this car.

Felix Lorioux

Felix Lorioux was a popular French illustrator during the early 20th Century. His work has been uploaded on the ASIFA- Hollywood Animation Archive http://www.animationarchive.org/ but some of my favourite pieces of work from him can be found on this post http://www.animationarchive.org/2007/12/illustration-felix-loriouxs-fables-de.html

What I foud about his work that I like about it is the simplicity of the shapes used for the composition. The above image mainly used curves and circles for its composition, but is also to add in a lot of detail as well around the basic shapes, for example the wishing line that hangs between the chimney and a pole is subtle enough detail to make the pumpkin house real homely.

The simple composition skills also applies to the design of the characters. That is why I found this illustration of a fox and a stork such an appealing picture to look at.

Overall, I find his work a real inspiration for my own illustrations, as they maybe simply composed on the page, but the use of subtle detail in them makes them appealing.

James Groman

James Groman is known as a sculptor, illustrator, toy and animation character designer. I'm probably interested in work with the Madballs, especially this painting of one of them, Bashbrain.

http://jgroman.blogspot.com/2006/09/new-madball-painting.html



I just find the detail in this just extraordinary, and how certainly sections are lit in an artistic fashion. Groman use acrylic paint to paint this, but this will be an ambitious goal for me when it comes to do paintings of my own characters.

William Wray

William Wray is an artist who has had a solid background in animation (he style on Ren and Stimpy is his most prolific work.) But Wray now does a lot of paintings, and his latest work is really interesting, in terms of lighting and colouring. The lighting is done in a stylistic manner rather than a realistic manner, but you still believe that that is the light from the lamp post hitting the trailer. The colours are inspirational, with a mixture of reds and yellows for the light makes a great contrast with that dark blue and black for the background.

http://williamwray.blogspot.com/2007/11/studebaker-road-long-beach.html

Samuel Michlap

Samuel Michlap is another animation artist I find interesting.

http://samuel-michlap.blogspot.com/

His most recent work he has posted on his blog was some colour keys he did for El Dorado. I find these colour schemes rich, and very fascinating to look at. The use of oranges, blues, and yellows makes some of the paintings appealing and inspiring to me.

http://samuel-michlap.blogspot.com/2007/10/el-dorado.html

Blackwing Sketchbook

I am always looking on other people's blogs for inspiration, especially animation artists, like Blackwing Sketchbook http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/


http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/2007/04/ruff.html#links

I find her brush work so simple, but so effective, in drawing human figues- even in a rough state.


http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/2007/07/blue.html#links

She also has a simplistic way of colouring and shading, like in this picture above.


http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/2007/06/and-more-paris-sketchbook.html#links

This technique even works for her life drawing, as shown above. I like how she depicts such complex detail, like a pony tail, very briskly.


http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/2007/06/scribbling-as-fast-as-you-can-when.html#links

I also find some of her mark making interesting, like in this quick drawing. I like how she has quickly drawn the shape of her leg, and her hand like that.


http://blackwingsketch.blogspot.com/2007/01/diphaneous.html#links

Again in this picture too, I find how she has done the hands an interesting approach. It just makes me want to use a brush pen to do some quick life drawing.

"Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself..."

Hello. I am Andrew 'Andy' Norton. I am currently doing a Masters in Creative Digital Media, which includes a Creative Portfolio Development module- hence why this blog has appeared.

I need to keep an on-line scrapbook, that shows off what images inspire me on a day to day basis, and hopefully will be helpful to those around me what me tick on a creative level.

I hope that anyone, who goes through this blog, will understand what influences me as an artist/animation graduate/creative person.
I hope you will look forward to my first post.