Renee's Influences Summary

Even Amundsen, Mike Mignola, Alex Ries, Jesper Ejsing, Simon Stålenhag

 

My Work (detail)

    I have a lot of influences that play a part in how I create my artwork; I am currently working on my B.F.A project that has a Sci-Fi Fantasy theme. Therefore the illustrators presented here contributed to the overall creation of my visual development portfolio: 
    Even Amundsen is an illustrator and concept artist who worked for many companies. His work mainly focuses on character design, and his designs have a level of ornamentation I can only dream of achieving. Most of his work is digitally rendered and presented in art books. His project, TEGN, features character creations ranging from sketches to fully rendered pieces. He also published a book called Decade which also features his artwork. I aspire to have his level of design in my work as I create my own characters. Amundsen also did the detailed artwork for the Tales of Alethrion, an animated fantasy youtube series that ultimately inspired me to pursue the fantasy genre.
    Mike Mignola is a comic book artist famous for creating Hellboy. Everyone knows my main inspiration is Mike Mignola; I enjoy his character dynamics and gritty comedic storytelling. Hellboy influenced my character creation, where I took inspiration from the main hero being rejected by society and his group of friends who are equally outcasted. In addition to Mike Mignola, Guillermo Del Torro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army also influenced my fantasy style.
    Alex Ries is a digital illustrator and concept artist that worked on many videogame and film concepts. He creates speculative alien art and is best known in the Sci-fi community as the creator of the Birrin Project. He is a world builder that created a whole race of aliens, the planet, the economy, and the overall molecular biology of the Birrin world. His level of detail is inspiring, and he inspired me to create my speculative alien featured in my B.F.A show. He is currently working on a printed art book for the Birrin Project.
    Jesper Ejsing was one of my first inspirations, and he works with acrylic paint to create fantasy art for Wizards of The Coast. His artwork is action-packed and ranges from full compositions to character design. I used his art as a base for my own style that I developed over the last two years. Finally, my last influence is Simon Stalenhag, a digital illustrator who created books such as Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and the Electric State. He creates ambient horror with his robotic machinations in each book. I used his works as inspirations for my own robotic creations and the use of ambient landscapes. 
    Overall my goal as an illustrator is to hone my skills to be a part of the illustration community. I want my work to be featured in art books and publish art books myself that contain my world-building. I use these influences to enhance my art and visual storytelling as I near the end of my B.F.A. 

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