Featured Artists

Featured Artist: Jason Walton

March 2, 2010 in Featured Artists.

My fifth featured artist is Jason Walton. Jason Walton is an illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. He draws things so you don’t have to.

The following is my interview with Jason.

What are five words you would use to describe your style?

“Versatile. Graphic. Humorous. Cartoon. Bold.”

What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?

“Vintage cartoons (advertising characters, Looney Tunes, Space Ghost), vintage posters (Olympic/Skiing/WPA), roller derby uniforms from the 70s, my five-year-old son, logo design, Portland creatives, New Yorker cartoons, the posters of Modern Dog Design, Egon Schiele, Joe Ciardello.”

What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?

“To me, it’s a beautiful thing. Since the dawn of websites, I have been dreaming of the possibility of keeping my work in digital form. Not that I don’t love printed or handmade things, which I do; it’s just that from an efficiency/ecology perspective, I love this new realm.”

Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?

“For these robots, I was inspired by the unself-conscious spontaneity of my 5 yo son’s drawings. Something that helps is the fact that I create with a mouse, without sketches, which gives some randomness to the lines that is not necessarily my default inclination. Historically my work has been very tight and controlled, but have recently undergone a creative rejuvenation — partly because of my son and partly from looking at the book Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art.”

If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?

“Being born and raised in South Dakota, I am a late comer to it, but I do love Sushi. Any sushi with shellfish is tops for me. I also love the pickled ginger that comes with it, which I now suddenly have a craving for.”

If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?

“Robot Army? My robot army would be good… good at robbing banks
and bringing me the money. ”

Jason is currently working on an illustration of a jet-pack pilot for The Faster Times that they will be using on promotional products for subscribers. He loves his job.

Featured Artist: Anton Peck

January 2, 2010 in Featured Artists.

My fourth featured artist is Anton Peck. Anton is an artist and web designer living in Illinois. He has a passion for both art and web and finds ways to combine the two.

I met Anton in person at South by South West in 2007. I saw Anton speak on a panel that focused on art and how it impacts web design. One of the best things I remember him saying was that he wanted to be the Bob Ross of the web. That’s an amazing goal to have, and I believe he’s already on his way. I asked him the same interview questions I asked my previous featured artists.

What are five words you would use to describe your style?

“My. Style. Is. Always. Evolving. (one, two, three.… yeah, that’s right).”

What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?

“What: Family. Music. Movies. Life. Death. Stuff. Everything. Nothing. In other words, I’m not sure, sometimes being influenced just happens. Who: Tony DiTerlizzi, Andy Park, Joshua Davis, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, & too many others to think of.”

What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?

“Totally stoked. Seriously. This is exactly the movement I’ve been pushing for for years. My short-term goal is to start strongly pushing my way into illustration for other web designers. Find a need, fill a need (a line from the movie ‘Robots’).”

Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?

“The doodle was a random seed of an idea, which (much like a plant) was nurtured until it grew into something more. The artwork itself is created with ink, gray markers, and various amounts of Photoshop editing.”

If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?

“I’ve not been thrilled with the sushi found here in the midwest so far, so the jury is still out. I just like to look at it. I consider myself more of a steak man.”

If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?

“Both. One cannot survive without the other. That, and the battles would be truly epic to watch. Seriously. You know what I mean, right? That, and they would all be two-inches tall. Imagine it… a miniature army of robots split into two factions all fighting together. It would be almost too much cuteness to handle!”

One of Anton’s latest endeavors, Project 52, is a personal challenge to write at least 1 new article every week for this year. He invited others to join the challenge, and it’s quickly grown to over 500 people. I will also be joining this challenge, so you’ll be seeing a post of some form on this site, be it an article, a poem, a short story snippet, etc. Thanks, Anton, for the challenge!

Featured Artist: Joe Lifrieri

November 2, 2009 in Featured Artists.

My third featured artist is Joe Lifrieri. Joe is a designer and visual artist from New Jersey. He has a unique style where he combines his art and design, which is rad.

Lifrieri2

I met Joe first through the Crush + Lovely campfire chats, from when he used to work with us. I immediately could tell that this guy was a hilarious guy to know. I met him in person in New York when I visited in August. He’s a fun person to know and work with, so I decided to have him do some art for me as well. I love what he came up with. I asked him the same interview questions I asked my previous featured artists.

Lifrieri3

What are five words you would use to describe your style?

“Goofy, fun, narrative, sketchy, handmade”

What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?

“The band logos 15 year olds draw on their Biology notebook covers.”

What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?

“I’m excited that PNG-24 is widely supported now so illustrations don’t have to live inside little boxes and can feel a lot more organic.”

Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?

“I was actually really worried at first. I didn’t want to be super obvious about it, so I decided to be really weird and make up a little story. It starts off with the setting of a cheesy Japanese giant monster movie, then turns into a really creepy love story that ends in drinking motor oil alone in a ranch house.”

If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?

“I like to stick with the classics. Spicy tuna or regular tuna.”

If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?

“I’d probably dress them all up as Megaman villains and fight scientists. So yeah, evil.”

Lifrieri1

Very soon, Joe will be selling t-shirts he designs and even a hardcover bound children’s story he’s writing and illustrating at hugsformonsters.com. Also, his video game blog, Bomb Guts is just getting good; he and his fellow bloggers there are all really excited for all the great games they get to make fun of coming out in late 2009!

Featured Artist: Jon Burgerman

October 1, 2009 in Featured Artists.

My second featured artist is Jon Burgerman. Jon is a British artist and illustrator whose work you will find in games, toys, galleries, and even IKEA stores.

Burgerman1

I had the opportunity to meet Jon at one of his art shows in Brooklyn. He was playing in a hilarious music duo called Anxieteam. I’m stoked to be able to have his art featured on my website! I decided to ask Jon the same questions I asked my featured artist last month, and here are his answers.

What are five words you would use to describe your style?

“Wibberly, wobblerly, loopy, swoopy, colourful”

What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?

“Spaghetti and peas and mustard out of a squeezy bottle.”

What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?

“In the end everything will merge into one giant rubber band ball of love.”

Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?

“I drew a picture and coloured it in on the computer.”

If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?

“I’m a vegetarian so I have to order things with cucumber, avocado etc in it. My favourite roll is currently tempura asparagus.”

If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?

“They would be good at being evil. It’s the only way.”

Burgerman2

Jon has a new website for his new brand burger, Burgerplex. He also has an exhibition in Beijing coming up in October and then one at Electric Sheep in Newcastle in November. Finally, check out Jon’s main website.

Featured Artist: Jim Mahfood

September 3, 2009 in Featured Artists.

My first featured artist is Jim Mahfood, AKA Food One. Jim is “a muralist, comic book artist, painter, live art show rocker and drunken freestyler extraordinaire”.

Jim Mahfood 1

I met Jim on September 11, 2001 (yes, that day) when he was a visiting artist lecturer at my school. He’s a very talented and generous guy (he’s sent me some cool stuff over the last few years, like comic books, a tank top, buttons, and other cool swag with his art on it), and I am very excited to have his artwork on my website. I decided to do a small interview with Jim. Enjoy!

Jim Mahfood 2

What are five words you would use to describe your style?

“Pure funk, pure rock, free jazz, death metal, Gonzo”

What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?

“Jack Kirby and James Brown, with a twist of Ziggy Stardust.”

What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?

“It’s all beautiful to me, man.”

Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?

“I tried to make it sleek and sexy, just like Jina.”

If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?

“Probably that sushi burrito that is now available at Los Tacos.”

If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?

“They would be disco robots. They would get down tonight and every other night after that.”

Jim Mahfood 3

Jim will be doing an art show called H.A.N.D.S. on September 10^th with his buddy Jeff Shagawat at the 72 and Sunny Gallery in Los Angeles, California. You can check out his blog, Food One/Jim Mahfood Art, for all his latest stuff. His main website is at 40oz Comics.