Influences
I was thinking about influences to my artwork, and I thought about the illustrated novels we have around our house. They're mostly classics, like A Christmas Carol. And I remembered a particular edition of Peter Pan, and how big of an influence those illustrations had on me.
This is one of the most important illustrations of my childhood; it sticks out in my memory, and it's the kind of thing I still strive for. I still can't get the cones and rods in my eyes--one deals with light, the other with color--to negotiate with my brain to dosomething like this!
Also, when I really was really young, I had a huge crush on this particular Peter. Not the Disney one, or any other illustrations. This one. And y'know, I had pretty good taste as a five-year-old. (Naturally, he's a little young for me now.)
Naturally, there were other illustrators; I think of N.C. Wyeth, and particularly an illustration from Treasure Island of the pirates trudging across the beach. And then there's Mucha, who is a much more recent influence (the last five or six years), and Gennedy Spirin, whom I discovered three years ago with the version of The Firebird that he wrote and illustrated.
But I think Peter Pan, illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, is the greatest, just in terms of color and subject-matter.
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This is one of the most important illustrations of my childhood; it sticks out in my memory, and it's the kind of thing I still strive for. I still can't get the cones and rods in my eyes--one deals with light, the other with color--to negotiate with my brain to dosomething like this!
Also, when I really was really young, I had a huge crush on this particular Peter. Not the Disney one, or any other illustrations. This one. And y'know, I had pretty good taste as a five-year-old. (Naturally, he's a little young for me now.)
Naturally, there were other illustrators; I think of N.C. Wyeth, and particularly an illustration from Treasure Island of the pirates trudging across the beach. And then there's Mucha, who is a much more recent influence (the last five or six years), and Gennedy Spirin, whom I discovered three years ago with the version of The Firebird that he wrote and illustrated.
But I think Peter Pan, illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, is the greatest, just in terms of color and subject-matter.
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