Artist Series - Day 334: Vivienne To

Another artist I found via Spectrum this year.  I love her sense of lighting!

Artist Series - Day 333: Richard Anderson (Flaptrap)

Today's artist does AMAZING things with abstract shapes in photoshop.  I love his work in Spectrum this year, and I know he's hugely influential for many of my friends (and people I look up to as well!)

Artist Series - Day 322: Justin Hernandez

Found today's artist while perusing Spectrum 21.  Cool stuff!

Artist Series - Day 331: Daniel Dociu

As I'm in Seattle today, it seems appropriate to pick today's artist, as he has done some amazing things in this city at ArenaNet.  Besides making amazing artwork, he has fostered the talents of some incredible concept artists... I'd certainly like to work for and learn from him.

Artist Series - Day 330: Sam Michlap

I had to triple check to make sure I hadn't posted today's artist already, because he has been so influential in my thinking about how to approach my career.  I saw him talk at CTN Expo last weekend, and I swear, it was like I was listening to my future self telling me about his experiences.  On top of all that, he's a FANTASTIC artist.

Artist Series - Day 329: Justin Oaksford

I met today's artist down at CTN Expo last week - Super good guy, down to earth, and with great suggestions for improving my stuff.  He works down in Seattle at 343, so now I just need to get him to come up to do a Daisho workshop....

Artist Series - Day 328: Walt Simonson

Today's artist is another that has been influencing me since I was young.  As a "serious" Dungeons and Dragons player, I looked at Simonson's Thor comics for inspiration for worlds, for stories and for characters.  His run on that comic remains my favorite to this day.

Artist Series - Day 327: Darren Quach

Today's artist is another amazing entertainment designer.  I just picked up his book "inkworks" at CTN, and it has some FANTASTIC rough sketches and ideation in it - the kind of concept art you rarely see outside of studios.

Artist Series - Day 326: Terryl Whitlatch

Today's artist is here at CTN Expo right now, which may be what helped bring her to the front of my mind.  She is a creature designer and illustrator extraordinaire, from everything from Star Wars to Bears for Disney.  She's also an incredibly kind and nice person, who drew me a sketch card of a mouse once upon a time :)

Artist Series - Day 325: Taiyo Matsumoto

Today's artist created the manga "Tekkon Kinkreet", which I love for its bold deviation fr

om the standard, played out visual language of most manga.  The anime based on the comic is equally visually interesting.  He continues to experiment with new styles and different methods, and it's pretty exciting to see what he comes up with!

Artist Series - Day 324: Frank Thomas

You can't post Ollie Johnston without following up with today's artist, his partner in crime at Disney.  Damn...so good.

As an aside, I'm going to be at CTN Expo this weekend, and I'll be hanging out a lot at Chris Oatley's table.  If you follow this blog and enjoy it, please stop by and say 'hey'!

Artist Series - Day 323: Ollie Johnston

From painting back to pencils, today's artist was another of Disney's "Nine Old Men."  The saying I see accredited to him the most is "Draw clear, not clean."  So much emotion in his characters, his lines and his poses.

Artist Series - Day 322: J.C. Leyendecker

Today's artist was one of the most famous of the Golden Age illustrators, and has shaped everything from Norman Rockwell to Team Fortress 2.  I love how he paints hair.

Artist Series - Day 321: Daniel Chavez

Ok, back on schedule!  Today's artist has done concepts for Blizzard, Bungie, Microsoft.... I watched him give a 4 hour character design workshop a week ago, and it was excellent.  Lots of cool stuff to look at :)

Artist Series - Day 320: Jean Gerome

Ok, I'm human, I missed a day yesterday - so two today!  First, today's artist, a classic French academic painter.  I learned of him in school from his work in Egypt.

Artist Series - Day 319: Ron Cobb

Today's artist is probably best known for his work on Alien and Conan, but he actually got his start drawing for Disney.  This guy's pencil drawings are amazing!

Artist Series - Day 318: Larry Elmore

Ok, being honest, today's artist had a profound impact on my life.  Larry did the cover for the first D&D set I ever bought, and his Dragonlance covers were stared at like I could enter the book if I tried hard enough.  We won't even talk about Snarfquest...