Artist Research Task

FONS SHEIDON -

 

I looked at this artist in my last project - I really liked the work in particular the otter and horse shown. I find his work quite inspirational as I prefer to draw animals myself and his style is semi-realistic.

 

The black horse project interested me greatly as it has taken the many forms of 3D animation, drawing and sculpture all for one character that was designed well. It has great appeal and is a clever mix of realism and cartoon.

 

The style used for the otter works very well as it captures the fluidity of an otter swimming and the sweeping lines that make up their bodies.  It would work for any other member of the weasel family and other marine mammals such as seals.

 

He works with both 3D and traditional methods and is primarily an illustrator residing in New York. He has appealing characters that his style utilizes well.

 

The lighting is ‘soft’ and plays a big part in the body’s definition and texture. The lighting also lends itself to the overall mood of the animation with the use of silhouette and red lighting. The story is clear and easy to follow even in the music video which I looked at in more detail.

 

 

 

 

 

TOKYO PLASTIC –

 

 

His work is mainly a ‘chibi’ style that works well with animals such as the dog. It is also semi-realistic which gives it depth despite the cartoonish look. The demonic Chihuahua is one of my personal favourites design wise.

 

It appears he uses a digital painting program such as Photoshop/illustrator for his character design work which is similar to my own way of working.

 

The Chihuahua was designed as a ‘virtual pet’ app. Again his lighting use is soft and realistic to give texture and muscle definition where needed. The mood is fairly neutral changing with the expressions and actions of the character.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAVID OREILY –

 

‘Galaxy Boy’ has been created in many forms and has been rendered to look lifelike. His design style is very minimalistic and his eyes remind me of the Cybermen from Doctor Who.

 

He has no texture on his body which gives him the appearance of solidity and seamlessness. The complex part of him is his galaxy helmet which draws the user away from his plain features, and complements it nicely without clashing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIAMAN CHOW –

 

His style is fairly consistent with bold colours and lines. His work is also fairly realistic even with the cartoon cat proportions.

 

Like Tokyo Plastic he uses a digital art program such as adobe illustrator. His use of lighting in the fish illustration is soft and used as highlights well. The concept of the piece is a strange one but visually appealing to me despite the muted tones.

 

I’m not as fond of the bright colours in the helmet as I feel it’s too crowded. The colours clash too much and it’s hard to make out the detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEPPER MELON –

 

For me personally I loved his Nike snail advert as I thought it was a clever concept using a universally recognised ‘slow’ animal to connect with a wider audience. A snail is also a bit different to the more commonly used tortoise so it sticks in your head more. The use of hyper-realism also works better than a cartoon snail would as it looks better and they can incorporate photography as well.

 

His character designs are appealing and I like how realistically textured they are and the cloud background on the blue creature helps tie the image together. The warm lighting highlights the subtle detail well giving it more realism compared to cell shading.

 

The same applies to the Coca Cola designs, the lighting gives them ‘life’ and depth. The use of a plain grey background combined with the light gives the impression they’re in a photography studio or something of that degree which adds to their personalities.