Featured Blogger - P.Owsley

Patrick Owsley is available for all of your publishing, advertising and licensing cartoon art needs! He's also available for commissions. E-mail Patrick at powsley@flash.net.

Featured Blogger - Abduzeedo

Ive (Ïve) Bastrash, a Canadian illustrator was really inspired by some classic movies, like Aliens, Blade Runner and Raiders of the Lost Art, and he came up with fantastic illustrated posters for these movies. I must say that he should definitely come up with more of these! There are so many great movies out there for him to illustrate... he should definitely keep these going. For more of his work, please, visit his DeviantART portfolio! I'm sure he'll enjoy your visits. Cheers! ;)

Featured Blogger - The Black Wing Diaries

The Black Wing Diaries. Animation story artist. Calarts '90. Author of "The Art of Disney/Pixar's Brave", coming June 2012 from Chronicle Books.

Featured Blogger - The Art Cake

The art cake is an art blog where I share my favorite art/design finds. I'm Christi, a girl originally from the south, but now living in the wonderfully quirky and perpetually rain-drenched city of Portland, Oregon with my cat Gizmo. I love discovering new art and sharing it with other people.

Peter Strain - Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth Artist:Peter Strain 

The mood of this picture seems to be dark and mysterious due to the use of colour i.e. the blue’s, blacks, browns and greens. There is a fair amount of colour used however it is limited to those dull shades. The writing is eye catching because of the contrast of white letters on a dark background. Because the letters are going down in a triangular shape, your eye is then drawn to the picture at the top. This is creatively incorporated into the text to create part of the image. The use of swirls in the background makes the image look claustrophobic and possessive of the writing.

Shepard Fairey

This image is interesting because of the use of limited colours which are eye catching and intriguing. The use of a little girl could represent innocence within America, but the fact that the flower is covered by the grenade could symbolise that the innocence is being destroyed by the American system.‘E Pluribus Venom’ are artworks designed to question the symbols and methods of the American machine and American dream and also celebrate those who oppose blind nationalism and war. Shepard Fairey’s work contains politically-charged paint, screen print, stencil, and collage mixed media pieces which use metaphor, humour, and seductive decorative elements to deliver provocative but beautiful results.

The title ‘E PLURIBUS VENOM’ which translates “Out of many, poison” is derived from “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many, one) an early motto adopted by the U.S. Government which appears on U.S. coins and dollar bills. ‘E Pluribus Venom’ could be interpreted as saying both that there is poison in the American system, and that many individuals are motivated by venom and anger toward this system.

This print is a collaboration with NYC-Based Photographer and Filmmaker Kai Regan.  Shepard used a photograph of a model that Kai shot as the subject of this illustration and print. Fairey creates reimagined propaganda style posters, in which he communicates his anti-war stance and dedication to fighting for peace.

This image again uses limited colours which are effective. Most of his images have this style featured. I think it is interesting because you cannot see what is behind the mans face because of the pilot mask covering it. This makes you wonder who he is or what his significance is in the image. The flower shows a peace sign on one of the petals, but the fact that the man is holding the flower makes it look as if he is threatening the peace around him. I think that this means the story behind the image could be an interesting one, again including propaganda.