Ape on the Moon: Contemporary Illustration » Character Illustration

Scratched Illustrations of Christopher Nielsen

moonape — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:25:18 +0000

Sydney-based illustrator Christopher Nielsen’s work is brimming with bold images in a fun, vintage style. I asked him some questions about his studio, his work process and his sources of inspiration.

Where are you based?

In a great warehouse studio in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. I think it was used to produce uniforms during WWII. I share the space with 4 other awesome illustrators (Nigel Buchanan, Jim Tsinganos, Stuart McLachlan and Lew Keilar) as well as 4 other creatives.

It’s a space where we can get instant inspiration, advice (and criticism), share contacts and hand on jobs to each other.

What’s your work process and the tools you use, especially how do you achieve your grungy/scratchy effects?

I’m the worst drawer in the world so the initial process is the hardest. With editorial work I start out with lots of really bad thumbnails on recycled paper just trying to work with shapes and come up with about 3-5 ideas.

Once they start taking shape I move on to refine the drawings on tracing paper which I can also use to transfer the art to the illustration board once I get a go-ahead on a concept.

I then paint with acrylics on to illustration board, building up lots of layers that I can dig into and scratch away at with just about anything on hand. I want to make the surface look like it has a history and a story to tell. It’s then scanned and I can tweak color and tidy up any marks that I don’t like in Photoshop on my Cintiq Wacom screen.

What inspired you most recently?

I’ve just put together a dummy for a kid’s book that was inspired by my 2 year old son and I’ve been looking at lots of vintage children’s book ephemera. I saw some hand lettering by a guy called ESPO done at Coney Island recently that was really cool.

I saw a talk online by designer Marian Bantjes which inspires me to keep doing what I love doing as opposed to following a trail of money.

As well as all the usual suspects like old medical/health charts, day of the dead imagery, vintage ad characters, battered and beaten hand signage.

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished up an illustration of Moses handing down “5 things to ask your plan adviser” for PlanSponsor, a female Bigfoot with online customized shoes for Nett Mag, a rum drinking polar bear for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend and 2 Mexican Wrestling cards for an article on credit v debit cards for Money Mag.

Creating Jack Teagle’s Nobrow Comic Book

moonape — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:21:32 +0000

I’d spotted illustrator Jack Teagle’s comic book whilst graphic novel-shopping in London recently.

I was struck by the beauty and appeal of such a well designed, drawn and printed book so I thought it would be nice to find out more about the process behind creating such a work, which he had published through a cool printing and publishing company called Nobrow.

Jack gives details of his book: ‘Jeff Job Hunter‘ and the process behind its creation, below.

Introducing the Book:

Jeff Job Hunter is about an unemployed man who simply can’t find work. Jeff is on his 13th week of the dole, and has his payments stopped. He has to go on a work placement to receive further benefits. His work placement is to go into the dungeon underneath the job centre to kill a monster to start his payments again.

Jeff Job Hunter is a story based around the trouble I had with signing on, when I was unemployed. I wanted to create a comic which reflected the situation I was in, but add in my sense of humour.

Nobrow approached me after they had spotted my work at the D&AD design awards. They create artists books, comics, narratives, limited prints and showcase the talents of a variety of artists and illustrators.

I had worked with them on their Nobrow: Jungle book, they were pleased with my work, and knew that I drew comics for fun.

They want to give a platform for British comic artists and writers because there isn’t really a platform for comics in the UK like there is in Europe or America. They asked me if I was interested in creating a comic book for them, gave me the specifications and asked me to start writing up a story.

Planning the Story:

When I had to sign on, everything seemed pointless. I would search for jobs days on ends, attend interviews well out of my way, where I would have trouble getting to work everyday. The people at the job centre just didn’t seem to care, they always treated me like I was a waste of time and space.

I wanted to try and get some of that into my comic, a poor man going to impossible lengths to get work or to receive payments while receiving indifference from the job centre employees. I had no shortage of ideas for the project because of my experiences, so I started to plan.

I started off with a blank page for each comic page,and started to try and flesh out the idea by drawing a small rough comic. At this point, I didn’t know the style, or really what was going to happen.

I showed Nobrow the comic, they made suggestions and changes and then I started to write up a much more solid story based on the feedback and rough comic. Now I had a script for each page, so I made another plan which was much more developed.

The style was taking shape, and I managed to fit more into the comic. After a few chops and changes, Nobrow were happy with the comic, and I started to work on the final.

Planning the Visuals:

Visually I tried to keep to my usual style when I work in pen, I thought this would relax me and get the best work out of me. I wanted to keep it simple, but also be able to build up areas of detail when needed.

When I created the characters I wanted to create a protagonist you could sympathise with.

I designed my characters hunched over, so they looked tired and like they couldn’t be bothered with things.

I usually draw my characters with large eyes, but I thought that I could get more expressive faces by simplifying them to black dots.

With panel layout I kept things quite traditional. I didn’t want to cram too many panels in, so I think at the most I have five or six panels per page.

I use more panels if I need to get crucial timing across, and less panels for easier to read material.

Rendering the Finished Piece:

When inking the finals, I planned out the pages and doubled the size to get more detail into them, put in bleeds and panels, and then inked into them. Nobrow have a very unique way of colouring their work, which I had to follow.

I was given three colours to work with, and had to use Photoshop to merge and blend these three layers of colour to get a variety of other tones and colours. Mixing all three gets the dark line I used for outlines.

The process was quite complicated, but the outcome was well worth it.

Text wasn’t too much of an issue, I’m a big fan of hand drawn types, so I hand wrote everything in the book, including the publishing information in the back.

I didn’t need to worry too much about printing, as I sent my files to Nobrow, and they checked everything was in order before the print run.

Getting Published:

I’ve worked backwards for this process, instead of approaching a publisher with an idea, they saw that I drew and self published comics, and wanted to give me a chance to create a published work. It was going to be in book form from day one.

I think from my experience, the best advice I can give is, keep drawing comics, just draw for you own amusement, self publish, post online, get them seen!

The more comics you draw, the better you will get at pacing, timing, telling a story and drawing. People will be able to see you create comics and approach you.

Buy the book here!

Delectable Delicacy of Laura Pérez

moonape — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:42:22 +0000

Barcelona-based illustrator Laura Pérez caught my eye recently with a collection of illustrations that possess a highly pleasing feel that is both dynamic and light.

Despite only very recently completing an illustration course, her work has achieved a very high level of consistency and accomplished style. I asked her a few questions about her background and work.

What training have you had in illustration?

When I started my study of Arts in my city I didn’t have an illustration department, so I started learning illustration by myself. Three years later I went to an illustration College in Canada. This year I finished my degree in Barcelona.

How long has it taken you to develop your style?

I’ve been always drawing people and animals but I started to be more comfortable with this style while traveling and moving form city to city. At first I used to work with wattercolors but now I always prefer digital.

What materials do you use and what is your work process?

I start working on my sketchbook with a pencil or pen. Then I use Photoshop to finish it.

For personal work I like going to public places and take some roughs from people around me. For assignments sometimes I need go to specific places for referents. If I need to create some animal illustrations I could go to a park, pet shop or the zoo. I love looking for real references rather than photos.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I´m working on a cover book for Penguin Books.

Aaron Miller Character Illustrations

moonape — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:37:30 +0000

You’ve probably caught sight of UK illustrator Aaron Miller’s fun characters in several publications, especially frequent inclusions in Computer Arts magazine. I like the humour in his work, and the recognizable consistency within it. Here’s a peek at his characters!

Suspended Motion: The Illustrations of Leif Parsons

moonape — Wed, 26 May 2010 10:55:15 +0000

I came across some highly cool artwork by New York based Leif Parsons. One of the re-occurring elements of his work is the capture of movement and action within his compositions, which enlivens the work he does. I sent over a few questions about his stuff to learn more.

How did you get into illustration?

I came to New York as a older student to study illustration, but I disliked it so I switched to part time and studied design.

While there I would also audit / sit-in on other classes that seemed interesting. Near the end I took a independent study with Bleckman and Nieman that re-ignited my interest in illustration, and upon graduation I just hustled and hustled!

What is the work process and tools of the work you do?

My illustration process is idea driven -I usually lie in bed and make notes trying to think of an idea that makes me happy.

I then get reference and sketch it up hoping I have cool editors / art directors that don’t want to make it more literal. For illustration I am essentially just drawing with a pencil though in my art practice I am using paint, collage, and assorted other materials.

What are you working on right now?

I just finished doing a op-ed collaboration with my friend Josh Cochran which was a first and fun. I am also working on the monthly editorial illustration I do for LA Magazine.

What is your one self-promotion tip?

Make something nice enough (and interesting enough) that you would want to keep it, then perhaps an art director will want to do the same…

Will Bryant suggested by Andrew Le

andrewle — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:34:08 +0000

Ape on the Moon is now officially open to suggestions! We now give readers the chance to recommend an illustrator of their choice, as long as it is not themselves. The post features a selection of the chosen illustrations, a link and a link to your own stuff, if you want it included. See the new Suggest page for more information.

Andrew Le, a graphic designer from Mississippi, USA is the first person to suggest another illustrator at Ape on the Moon. That person is Will Bryant, and this is what Andrew has to say about him:

Will Bryant is an artist I became friends with during undergraduate school, and he remains to this day one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He is currently a member of Austin, Texas based collaborative, Public School.

His style is consistent, yet he his not confined to a specific medium. You can see Will’s work on t-shirts, signage, magazines, packaging, and various products just to name a few of his endeavors. Will says, “I make stuff because I get sad if I don’t.”

Win an A3 print and Toy from The Tree House Press

moonape — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:52:13 +0000

*Winners Announced!*

A huge congratulations to Katie Hanratty from Manchester, UK who has won the large print, toys and spoke cards!

Well done to runners up Craig Podd from Shropshire, UK and Laura Alvarez from Spain who won the toys and cards.

You will all be contacted soon.

Thank you to everyone who got involved!

–

Ok, it’s competition time at Ape on the Moon!

UK illustration studio ‘The Tree House Press‘ has some excellent limited toys and prints to give away.

The studio, run by illustrator Marc Aspinall, and who has worked with Computer Arts, Thunder Chunky and Digital Arts magazine, has produced a dashing 3-colour hand printed 210 gsm A3 print called ‘EastXWest‘, an A5 paper toy cat called ‘Nyan Nyan‘, and some fun bicycle spoke cards (available in the TTHP store).

The winner receives the A3 print, toy and cards, carefully packaged with sticker. Two runners up receive the limited toy and spoke cards.

The competition ends on Friday 14th May 2010. Winners will be announced here.

To be in for a chance of winning, simply write a comment below this post saying why you’d like the prize, or ‘tweet’ the following line on Twitter:

Win an A3 hand print and paper toys from The Tree House Press and @moonape http://su.pr/1fnKgt RT to enter giveaway!

Good Luck and may the force be strong with you!

Drawings and Digital Work of Stephane Tartelin

moonape — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:07:43 +0000

I first noticed Paris-based Stephane Tartelin’s ‘Lyrics and Type’ (below) work in an online print shop, and really liked his loose style. Stephane uses graphite pencils in combination with Illustrator and Photoshop to create some exciting work, with a unique, strong style.

Retro Illustrations of Manuel Gomez Burns

moonape — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:55:24 +0000

I was contacted by Peruvian artist Manuel yesterday asking for some promotion advice for his surreal illustrations often created in a fun old fashioned style. I liked his work, and decided to help kick start his campaign of promotion with a post here on Ape on the Moon.

What stood out for me the most, apart from his frequent use of intense, distorted facial expressions, is his application of retro effects to his work, which he explains below.

Most of my “aging” effects are done in Photoshop. I mainly work with ink and brush on textured card stock, so my artwork is basically lineal. All the cracks and stains are real cracks and stains scanned from real, yellowish paper, old card or newsprint. The halftones are created entirely in Photoshop.

There are many ways to create these effects. The first time I created those “fake comic book covers”, I did it intuitively, experimenting with colors and shapes. It took me a while to figure out how to created the best look.

Illustrations of Robin Boyden

moonape — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:43:41 +0000

I’m liking the firm strokes, colours and characters coming out of the studio of Cheltenham, UK based illustrator Robin Boyden. A lot of his illustration style is reminiscent of many 20th Century woodcut illustrations. Here is a selection of his recent work. Lovely stuff!

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