Influences and Developing a Style!

Every budding artist worries about having a definitive style to his or her work ... it's too bad we waste our time on such things, but that's the learning process necessary for the human brain. On reflection I found that good drawing is the cornerstone to any successful illustration. Or, as on of my college instructors explained it "look at creation like points on a line...our longest journey is from point A to point B where we're working on drawing solid form and mass, trying to capture the attitude of our subject matter....point B to point C is the shortest distance...that's the style you're using to finish the illustration!"

And he was right! Flashy technique will never take the place of solid drawing and the understanding of how to make characters interact with each other...in most cases a glossy technique only magnifies your lack of initial planning!

I travelled along the same rocky road as every other artistic novice out there...that's the only way you really learn! I had my influences, mostly from comic book artists while growing up...Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colan (still a demi-god to me..and now HE likes MY work! WOW!), John Buscema, Murphy Anderson, Joe Kubert...these gentleman propelled superheroes before my greedy eyes month after month and I ate them up like a starving dog! I tried to draw their characters, mimmicking their line techniques and placement of shadows...but sometimes things just didn't look quite right! In college I learned how you must "draw through" everything to fully flesh out your figures and forms before you apply the shadows and fun line techniques! Duhhhhh!

Shortly after graduating college, I picked up a book by an artist name Paul Calle`...and I was hit with a bolt of lightning! His technique more closely followed the pen and ink renderings of artists from the turn of the 20th century...James Montgomery Flagg (famous for his Uncle Sam rendering), Charles Dana Gibson (creator of "the Gibson Girl"), and even overtones of JC Leyendecker (famous for his renderings of the Arrow Shirt Collar man!) emerged through his precise pencil renderings! Finally this style spoke volumes to me! At first I copied his technique closely, trying to figure out why these lines followed the form this way, while other lines brought new depth to the image that way...and please understand  I would never ever, under any circumstances, compare my rendering style to the brilliant work of Mr. Calle`, but he's been a major influence in my work and the way I approach a project. I've been fortunate to receive compliments for "draftsmanship" which many people wouldn't understand, but it gives me a smile to be compared (in some small way), to the magnificent line illustrators of a century gone by! What I wouldn't give to have apprenticed under one of those gentlemen!

The main thing I learned from following the work of Mr. Calle` was that by allowing your linework to follow around the forms you're drawing with a certain precision, a pattern would emerge that has flow, depth, even movement sometimes! Over the years my style has changed and become a bit looser than before, but I still do my utmost to concentrate on solid drawing as the basis for all my work! Hopefully, you'll agree! Grazie!