I was looking through some of the illustration magazines in the studio and came across this one by Nobrow. After reading the foreword by co-founder Sam Arthur, I realised it was in celebration of 10 years of Nobrow, with 70 artists responding to the theme 'studio dreams'. I've never been as interested in magazines like Juxtapoz as they're more photography heavy than illustrative so I loved that this one was primarily double-page illustrations. While there isn't much text to reflect on, I love how the book showcases so many artistic styles and representations, with artists from around the world. I took photos of some of the pages that interested me most, looking at how they used colour and abstract shapes to create landscapes.
Nobrow 10: Studio Dreams
Two illustrations that interested me most were by Eleni Kalorkoti and Joe Todd-Stanton. Their use of colour palettes to reflect contrast in shadows and night were so beautiful. Todd-Stanton cleverly uses light sources in much of his work, with lighthouses, tents and fireflies framing scenes of his picture books. This juxtaposition between light and dark helps give the image depth while informing the viewer of the time of day and adding context. Inspired by such artists, I try to use light in my illustrations. This is usually easier to replicate digitally as you can work in layers and with effects like the multiply tool in Photoshop, but I aim to get better at creating light with negative space traditionally.
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| Eleni Kalorkoti |
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| Joe Todd-Stanton |
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| Katie Harnett |
Ouroboros, Ben Newman
Ben Newman is an illustrator and author who has published many children's books with Flying Eye, the children's imprint for Nobrow. I found this smaller, comic style magazine called Ouroboros. Although there weren't any words, the illustrations tell the story through abstracted characters and expressive poses. On Nobrow's website, Newman's style is described as 'Bauhaus fuzzy felt' (Nobrow Press - Ben Newman, 2022) which is a phrase I love and feel perfectly represents his style- where illustration meets geometric graphic design. The imagery is unlike the generic comic book style as it isn't monochromatic and isn't outlined, making it feel modern and contemporary, almost like a play on the traditional comics.
Newman shows that effective design doesn't have to be overly detailed or complicated to have a strong narrative, instead by creating distinctive colours and characters it can appeal to a larger audience. Publications like this are great to collect to see different styles and find inspiration through trying new materials/techniques.
Nobrow Press. 2022. Nobrow Press - Nobrow 10: Studio Dreams. [online] Available at: <https://nobrow.net/shop/nobrow-10-studio-dreams/> [Accessed 13 May 2022].
Nobrow Press. 2022. Nobrow Press - Ben Newman. [online] Available at: <https://nobrow.net/creator/ben-newman/> [Accessed 13 April 2022].
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