So, there have been some major additions to the blog site. I added a few illustrations, a bunch of designs and some links to some of my Flash animations. Take a look at the “Illustrations” tab and the “Designs” tab to see!
I do a lot of product design for infants at my day job. Its pretty rewarding given that I have a 11 month-old boy at home. He’s our first baby. Being a new parent gives me a personal insight on what kinds of products might be popular these days. I can’t talk much about the specifics of the I’m working on right now unfortunately. Once the product hits the market in a little less than a year from now, I’ll be able to share. While conceptualizing packaging for one of those concepts, this little illustration emerged. I knew it never be used so it found its way into my portfolio.
I’ve been doing illustrations in this new-found style, and I really enjoy it. Having a signature style to my art is something that has always sort of alluded me. I have pretty diverse drawing skills but nothing has ever been special to me. In art school numerous professors often said it was best for an illustrator to specialize in something. I’ve always been searching for that. Recently I’ve set out to discover exactly what kind of illustration I enjoy best disregarding all practical application. I think I’ve approached art in an utilitarian attitude all of my life. Now I’m interested in what I enjoy. Another factor contributing to this exploration of style is the need to be able to finish compositions in a short amount of time. It occurred to me recently that one cannot be prolific is one is too hung up on perfection. I often think about grandiose, fully rendered paintings but I simply do not have the time to execute them. The need for something fun, quick and simple comes to mind. Thus, this new style is born. I think it comes from a few sources of influence. First, I enjoy a lot of the newest styles in animation we’re seeing lately. Some examples might be the newest Spider Man cartoon, Transformers Animated, The Batman and Samurai Jack. In addition, I think it also has some influence from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and perhaps a little bit of Chuck Jones. Second, I think I mentioned before that I really like those very graphic illustrations of women shopping in fashion magazines and ads. I don’t know who’s responsible for them, but I think they’re really wonderful. Anyway, here are a few new pictures I enjoyed doing. I think drawing this way still needs some development, but I’m really enjoying it.
A while ago I created a few illustrations of some Marvel super hero characters for a submission to Marvel Licensing when I saw that they were hiring illustrators. I’m sure getting a job in the licensing department is almost as competitive as becoming an actual comic book artist, but I thought it was worth the shot. So I did these pictures and sent off a nice PDF and didn’t hear anything back. Not that I was surprised by the outcome, but you can’t blame a guy for trying. At the very least, I ended up with some fun images. Originally they didn’t have backgrounds, but upon looking at them again, I couldn’t help updating them a bit. I’m much happier with them now with backgrounds and few other new details. I still don’t believe they are my strongest work though…
I thought I’d share some of my rougher work with the world by making a “concepts” page. I’ve never really displayed works in progress before, but since I have so many, I thought it might be a good time. I know I enjoy seeing new up and coming work from my favorite artists. If nothing else, it gives my blog a little more content. Also in the works is a “sketches” page.
A fond fair well to misterowl.com. Welcome nickmalara_art on wordpress.com’s blog service!
