Prapim's Inspirations: Phobs

Haven't done one in a while.

Today's influence: Phobs

As far as I know Phobs is a 21-year-old (I know, right! 21! That's super-depressing) Russian female with a penchant for the WWII-era, men in uniform and women in nice hats and gloves. While I don't always agree with the subject matter she draws - she draws a lot of Nazi-garbed men, which makes me a little bit uncomfortable (although she draws so beautifully I could overlook it really!)...

Just looking at her work, you can probably see why I like it - beautiful and quirky characters, a brilliant combination of colours (she favours glowing washes of warm colours, giving her characters a perpetually rosy hue) and bold, confident line and brush-strokes, and a vein of wry humour running through all her work. Even her doodles are better-drawn than what I could hope to do!

The atmosphere of her work alternates between quirky, sarcastic humour and bittersweet nostalgia. Most of the time it's a mix between the two.

Her characters are all so interesting - just by looking at them, you can in most cases tell their personalities. You want to learn more about them - their lives, relationships, struggles, triumphs, and so on. I probably am gushing a bit too much here, but many of her drawings tell such complex stories - a lifetime of a character, the hardships as well as happiness they've experienced.

(It certainly helps that they've all got immensely beautifully defined, sharp noses and chins. And it doesn't hurt that most of them do cut very fine figures in uniform...now you see the main reason I like her stuff. Once again, I've revealed my shallowness...I really must learn to restrain myself...)

Prapim's Inspirations: J.C. Leyendecker

I only discovered J. C. Leyendecker recently, when I was browsing in a book-shop in Soho. I swear, though, it really seems like I have known his work forever; it just fits so perfectly into my folder of influences almost as if I have always been using his works as references. I suppose this is partially because his work is comparable to Norman Rockwell (another artist I love) although he was before Rockwell's time, but I do prefer Leyendecker for the fact his subject matters appeal more to me. That is, pretty people.

It's a bit of a shame that he isn't more well-known, since his illustrations during his time were very popular and he has influenced illustration tremendously. Los Angeles Times even says he "virtually invented the whole idea of modern magazine design".

What I do certainly love most about his work are his very hot men! Haha! So, I am shallow. But I hide this behind the facade of pretentious art snob. Hem hem.

Also, his works (although unnoticed at the time, those innocent people) had subtle layers of homoeroticism, Leyendecker being gay himself. Myself: sold!

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Prapim's Inspirations: Robert Fawcett

Apparently one of the things the tutors want me to do is to start to veer towards a consistent illustration style, so I'm planning to blog artists that influence me in the hopes this might help me somehow. Also, you can get to see what my influences are (since my work is all over the place this might prove interesting...or not. Haha.) and hopefully you might like them too!

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Robert Fawcett is an English-born artist I discovered recently whilst on the prowl for Sherlock Holmes illustrations (yes, I know...sad right). I didn't know true love at first sight could exist, but it does. Head over heels was I as I clicked through scans of his illustrations. I found myself swooning, holding imaginary handkerchiefs to dab at wet, awestruck eyes, feeling faint at their beauty.

Apparently he was partially colour-blind, which makes his full-colour illustrations even more impressive. But I remember reading about how this actually made it easier for him, since he could put emphasis on strong form and lineart as well as detail. It's easy to see that his sense of composition and lighting, coupled with a limited colour palette created extremely expressive, detailed illustrations.

Attention to Detail (AKA Prapim learns to use Illustrator)