Research Artist #10: Deamond89

Yet another artist I follow on deviantart.com. Often referred to by the nickname Dea, this young woman lives in Germany and is studying to be a dentist. Lately, she's been creating a lot of characters for role-playing groups and activities, but I was drawn to her because of her comic, Essence of Time. It's characters and story are very interesting, but she hasn't created a new page in quite a while. I love her rich colors and the amount of detail she puts into everything is insane. She creates her own backgrounds, some of which look like something out of a High Renaissance painting. She has a few tutorials on using digital programs for drawing and coloring, some of which I have used and found helpful. Unfortunately, Dea doesn't allow downloading of her images, so I can only provide the link to her page: http://deamond89.deviantart.com/.

Research Artist #9: Hayao Miyazaki

Often referred to as "the Walt Disney of Japan", Hayao Miyazaki is a brilliant movie writer and director. In 1985, he cofounded Studio Ghibli with Isao Takahata. Miyazaki has created many films that are a visual delight and very thought-invoking. His films often have themes of man's relationship with nature, pacifism, feminism, and flight. I really like how almost all his films feature a strong female protagonist, and they manage to avoid being cliche or stereotypical. I find Miyazaki's films to be incredibly inspiring. My favorite Miyazaki film is Princess Mononoke. I know it's not a credible font of knowledge, but wikipedia has a very thorough article on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki.

Research Artist #8: Daisuke Moriyama

My favorite manga series is Chrono Crusade, written and illustrated by Daisuke Moriyama. I love the story, the characters, and Moriyama's art style. I love how he draws hair, eyes, and hands. The details in backgrounds are great, and I love his character designs, too. The dramatic poses he draws people in at times are wonderful, too. And when Chrono Crusade hits a very emotional, pivotal scene, he knows how to use fine detail and negative space to create a bigger impact. The story and the artwork go hand-in-hand, and this manga made me cry more times than I can count, because Moriyama captures the intensity of a single moment very well. Again, comic pages read right to left.

Research Artist #7: Yuichi Kumakura

I read a fair amount of manga. One of my favorite parts is seeing how an artist's style changes throughout the story. King of Bandits: Jing, written and illustrated by Yuichi Kumakura, has the most dramatic change of styles in all the series that I've read. In the first volume of the first Jing series, the style is very goofy and cartoonish. It makes you very much aware that you are reading about a young boy and his wacky adventures. However, by the time the second series, Twilight Tales, rolls around, the style is incredibly realistic, detailed, and filled with dramatic contrasts. Each series is 7 volumes long, for a total of 14 manga books. It's a lot of fun just leafing through them and seeing how much Kumakura changed his art style.Sometimes it's hard to believe it was all done by one person! By the way, the comic pages read right to left.

BEFORE:

AFTER:



Research Artist #6: Norman Rockwell

Yeah, I like him. Who doesn't? I went to an exhibition of his work in D.C. when I was little. I was drawn in by his attention to detail, his sense of humor, his colors, his compostion, basically everything in his pictures. Before heading home, my mom bought a little book with hundreds of his images. I would spend hours leafing through it, and I still do, sometimes. I think it was when I was at that exhibition that I truly knew that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Research Artist #5: doubleleaf

This is another artist I follow on deviantart.com. doubleleaf is very private and I know next to nothing about her (I'm pretty certain doubleleaf is a woman). She has superb understanding of anatomy and perspective, and her sense of humor is pretty fun, too. She seems to really like action movies and videogames, and she does a lot of fanart relating to them, as well as fanart for Marvel and DC comic characters. doubleleaf draws a fair amount of sensual pictures, though some of them can be a bit risque (but hardly ever goes past PG-13). You can check her out here: http://doubleleaf.deviantart.com/. Oh, and here's something I just noticed. On her profile page is an FAQ, and she says she never went to art school and is mostly self-taught. My mind just exploded.

Research Artist #4: Team Drowtales

I read many webcomics, and the one with the best artwork is Drowtales: Moonless Age. The website hosts several comics, but Moonless Age is the main story. The story is written by Yan "Kern" Gagne, who also does the lineart and leads the team. I really admire his blending of anime and realistic styles. Mary "Kite" Garren is the main colorist, and the coloring for Moonless Age is amazing, too. Everyone on the team is a huge contribution to giving fans a fantastic reading experience. The information on the team is here: http://wiki.drowtales.com/index.php/Staff_of_Studio_Drowtales. The main site is here: http://drowtales.com/. There aren't a lot of single images I can download, so here is the cover for the current chapter.