Style inspiration: Yuko Shimazu

I've seen a lot of Yuko Shimazu's work in the Society of Illustrators and also American Illustration. She has received many awards, and seems to be everywhere (though I don't remember seeing her work in daily life). Her art is dynamic and thought-provoking, detailed and has a lot of visual depth and rhythm. It's hard to know where to start, because her art seems to be so well known, but I've picked out a few that I think exemplify her art's characteristics. I also like that they have female 'protagonists,' because they are awesome.

Personal artwork, featuring Panda Girl, the first Asian-American superhero.

Ad for "NPR and me."

Ad for Target.

She is also known for some more sexually explicit work, which you can check out on your own, if you wish.

Style inspiration: Elizabeth Traynor

Elizabeth Traynor: wow... just WOW. What gorgeous work! I have always loved scratchboard/woodcut feel drawings, and she is a master. This image is the one that first caught my eye in the Society of Illustrators annual book (52):

If you know me, than you know I also love slugs--I studied them as a Biology undergrad. This is a very common, large slug known as Limax maximus (jokingly refered to as "lazimus maximus" in the title) or the Great grey slug or Leopard slug. It mates in mid-air! So, I love this illustration.

But, she has some other fantastic stuff, especially her animals, which look so dignified and natural-history-esque. In everyday life, you may have also seen her stuff for Arby's.

Illustration styles: Renata Liwska

Usually when I flip through the Society of Illustrators books for inspirational artists, I try to pick one piece of art or style that appeals to me the most that day. This time I found several that were intriguing, but I picked this piece by Renata Liwska. I like the subtle shading and texture and softness achieved from a lack of harsh outlines. She took her inspiration from an old class photo, keeping the expressions and body language of the figures while replacing them with animals. (She says, "in the original photo there were children's drawings of soldiers liberating Poland in WWII" on the back wall.)

I'm also glad to be showing a piece by a woman--a lot of the famous or recognized artists are men. My background is in science where it was just understood that there was inequality (it's a popular subject--how to increase involvement of under-represented minorities), but for some reason I thought the arts would be different? Perhaps it was going to a college that was 60% female, where there were so many female actors the art directors were inclined to do shows like Three Sisters or do modern adaptations with gender-bending so everyone could get a part.

Gender aside, Renata does a fantastic job at capturing the light-humored, fuzzy characteristics of critters that capture our hearts. As someone who also likes drawing "cute" stuff, I like how someone can find a niche in children's books and be acknowledged for fantastic work. (Illustrators seem to appreciate children's books in ways that a lot of people don't.) She has illustrated several books, including The Loud Book, The Quiet Book, and Little Panda. Speaking of pandas:

Illustration styles: Paul Hoppe

The illustration I found today that I liked was from the Society of Illustrators 51st Annual (2009), by Paul Hoppe. Whenever I travel, I am really drawn to the intricate textures I find in architecture and cityscapes, and this picture reminded me of it. This image also has a similar style to the piece I found last week by Josh Cochran--subtle shading, with an emphasis on line, and an overall calm tone.

Here is another illustration by Paul of the same cityscape style, that I like a lot. Little bit of playful humor in it, too.

While looking on his website, I also came across two illustrations that were featured on the cover of The Stranger! The Stranger is a free weekly newspaper made and printed in Seattle--well known for it's tongue-in-cheek humor and willingness to push the envelope on sometimes uncomfortable topics like race, gender, drugs, etc. (I felt like mostly The Stranger wanted to tell it's readers to just "get over yourself.") Anyway, I came to love The Stranger and especially it's very interesting covers, which I would cut out and line my walls with in college as a cheap way to make my apartments look interesting. So, it's always exciting to find illustrators that have been featured on The Stranger.

Here is one illustration by Paul that I had on my wall at some point:

Illustration style: Josh Cochran

The illustration below is by Josh Cochran, from the Society of Illustrators 51st Annual of American Illustration (2009).

What I like about the style is that it seems to be subtle and realistic--just a monk walking through the rain. This is exemplified by the limited palette and shading scheme; the familiar ochre-orange outfit and unusual but complimentary skin tone makes the figure the first thing we notice. But on second look we see the reflection and a surreal aspect suddenly enters the picture when we find a hidden city.

He's also done silkscreen (t-shirt) designs for Death Cab for Cutie, which you can see on his website. Here's another image by him, which I like a lot; the wobbly lines, sketchiness, color-outside-the-lines style adds to the spontaneous nature of the busy city scene: