Michaela's Art Inspiration

Tracy J. Butler

Again, I stumbled across this comic artist via StumbleUpon. Tracy Butler is actually, by profession, a designer for the game Hero’s Journey. (And like many of my favorite artists, she did not go to art school…grrr.) However, I have fallen in love with her comic called “Lackadaisy” about cats in the late 1920’s. I feel almost silly featuring her “cartoons” after the other “fine” artists, but I believe her comics are just as much art as anything else. And as seen from her digital painting of “Ivy” and other works not included here, she has the ability to do much more than just cartoons.

Lackadaisy is very engaging in its dialogue and plot line alone, but the drawings are what really make the comic come to life. The cats quickly transcend animals and become very tangible characters just as relatable as humans. And my absolute biggest admiration of Tracy Butler is her ability to give such great facial expressions to them. She despises the generic “emoticon” look as seen from her “Notes on Expressions” page (see link at bottom) and so she creates such believable (but yes, exaggerated) faces of her own. Each character is so fully developed that their individual personalities are revealed through their faces in each panel. Each character has a history, a childhood, a past. Each character wears certain clothes, stands a certain way, will express emotion in a distinct way. Each character is as different and lovable as the next. I just think it is amazing that someone could give such character to cat cartoons, and I definitely have a new appreciation for comics. 

Not only are her comics hilarious, but I find Butler to be witty through her work descriptions and interviews. She explains what Lackadaisy is about with, “It’s about a gang of tenacious (if not shady) characters running a St. Louis speakeasy in the era of Prohibition. I suppose it falls somewhere in the realm of historical fiction, parody, dark comedy, and abject nonsense.”

And for those wondering about the technical aspect of her artwork… Butler sketches out her cartoons with a simple mechanical pencil and then transfers to a tablet and digitally renders, and in some cases, paints it. She adds the sepia tone last using the computer of course, and I love that old-timey aura it adds. 

Click any one of the links to see more of her stuff!

The Lackadaisy comic website: http://www.lackadaisycats.com/
“Notes on Expressions”: http://www.lackadaisycats.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=333
Her Deviantart website: http://tracyjb.deviantart.com/ 

“Sunflower Queen” (2010)

This is my favorite piece I’ve created this year in AFO. I hadn’t had very much professional training in art before coming to college and close to no experience in painting, so I would say this turned out pretty good considering. :) It’s a self-expressive self-portrait.

Liu Bolin

This 38-year-old Chinese artist is known as the “Invisible Man” because he paints himself to camouflage in with chosen settings and then photographs it. He is globally known for his wonderfully original art, so different from anything I’ve seen.

His work is mind-blowing because the camouflage is so ridiculously effective. Can you imagine painting AND photographing yourself? These are just 6 basic things you would need to even begin to pull off what he does for a living:

1. Extreme meticulosity, precision, and patience
2. A very educated idea of space and perspective
3. Incredible painting skills
4. Knowledge on how to manipulate and paint cloth
5. The ability to mix the EXACT right color
6. The ability to use yourself as your own canvass…

I cannot find his official website, but this is a good one to see more of his amazing camouflage feats: http://www.elikleinfineart.com/html/ArtistResults.asp?artist=82

Virtual Sistine Chapel

If you have not quite made it to Rome yet to see the Sistine Chapel, just visit this site and see it online! I think this is an extraordinary use of technology. You can virtually see every wall, every painting, every little niche in the Sistine Chapel by just scrolling and zooming around.

By doing so you will expose yourself to the genius of Michelangelo and acutely feel your own inferiority. :) 

John Dyer Baizley

My friend came across this illustrator about a year ago through Baizley’s album artwork for metal bands, and then introduced his art to me. Not only is his art interesting and beautiful (more on that in a bit), but as a person John Baizley is a surprising guy.

What I find particularly intriguing about Baizley is that behind his intimidating bearded face and screaming vocals is a sensitive, artistic, and very articulate family man. I have taken excerpts from an interview in 2008 that I think accurately portray this:

The person interviewing Baizley commented on one his works where the texture of the paper and the stain of the watercolor are evident.
Baizley replied with, “Yeah, and you also- if you look through enough of my work you can see that consistently there are technical errors. I tend to favor those errors over something that’s a little sleeker looking, so, you know, when a paper grain will show through or when a slight smudge or mistake will happen that’s just part of the piece for me. And I welcome- I embrace that sort of thing that can happen randomly. And I think it lends something different to my work than a lot of other people’s.”

Interviewer: “What other things influence you?”
Baizley: “…the written word is chock full of visual imagery- often times more so than I think something that is visual, you know, where the interpretation is open to the reader, something like that, and that type of stuff is critical to my process. Being able to immerse myself in a language of images or metaphors or icons- something like that- can only be to the betterment of my art.”

The journalist also asked about some of his works in particular, and asked Baizley to explain the inspiration behind The Red Album artwork.
Baizley: “The women on the cover of The Red Album are the same totemic muses from all of our releases, whose particular meaning and origin I tend to eschew in favor of individual interpretation. When I started this album, I asked all the members of Baroness to give me one symbol, or idea from themselves. It had to be something relevant in time or inspiration to the writing or recording process of the record. I also asked that it be a symbol that came with some personal difficulty, and that the reason for the symbol not be explained fully to me. 
  “This was to make the record both personal and inexplicable to the band itself, in hopes that something genuine and coherent would emerge. Thus, all elements in this picture are both detached and critically important to each other. The record itself was a combination of four personalities, and so is the artwork a mirror of that concept.”

Now onto why I like his artwork! I enjoy the contrast in his art, almost paralleling the contrast in his personality and his life. It is beautiful and deeply grotesque, from the clear gray eyes of the beautiful woman to her tearing, blistered skin. Outlining is almost always a no-no in the art world, but his use of clean black lines emphasizes his wonderful use of watercolor and as a whole enhances his artwork. It’s so creative, so captivating, so confusing… I sound so silly describing his artwork, but there are no perfect words to really illustrate why I love his art.

If you would like to see more of his work, you’ll have to Google him because he does not have an official website.

And if you’d like to read the rest of his interview, visit:  http://www.crustcake.com/2008/05/crustcake-interviews-john-baizley.html

I cannot help but re-blog of my favorite Student Owl memes. Even if you’re not in art school, some are too great not to laugh out loud to.

To read more of the F Yeah Art Student Owl memes, go to: http://fyeahartstudentowl.tumblr.com/

An amazing example of stop-animation in a way I’ve never seen before.

Esao Andrews

I came across this contemporary artist through my StumbleUpon account recently and was instantly enthralled by his oil paintings. It’s hard to describe his style, but if I had to pick three words I would say surreal, grotesque, and erotic. I think most people would agree he is a talented painter from a technical standpoint, but I was intrigued by his work for several other reasons…

First, his portraiture is spectacular. He utilizes subtle things such as a person’s gaze and stance to really reveal a personality. I love his delicate exaggeration of characteristics like lean and angular bodies and wide-set eyes, which are obviously human but distorted. And from personal experience I know that skin is extremely hard to paint realistically, so I was impressed by the way he builds up skin color to look believably fleshy.

I also enjoy the theatric humor to his works. Though twisted and rather dark (which are seen better in works not represented) there is a definite sense of sarcasm and playful horror. This is especially achieved through surrealism, and I am a big surrealist fan. 

And because I love color so much, I couldn’t help but notice his use of hues. His color palette could be summarized as rich and jewel-toned, but none of the pieces reflect a sense of brightness. In fact, even with the beautiful deep rubies and bright turquoises (seen in “Red Portrait” and “Ivan” respectively) the art works seem undeniably dark and morbid. And to me, that’s a little strike of color genius. 

If you like his work as much as me, you should definitely check out his website and browse his pieces to find your favorite! http://www.esao.net/index.php