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I know it’s almost 9pm here in Austin, Texas, BUT it’s still Wednesday! So here you go – today’s comics include, well, just about everything. Enjoy! Got a Webcomic you want to share? Comment here or tag us on twitter with the hashtag #WebcomicWednesday.

Bucko

• Bucko, Erika Moen and Jeff Parker
• “Poor Rich “Bucko” Richardson just wants to finally get a job and maybe have another opportunity to talk to that one cute girl he met at that party. A chance case of alcohol-fueled diarrhea at his job interview leaves him desperately running for the bathroom where he discovers a brutally murdered body. Now it’s up to Bucko to solve this case! And just maybe get that threesome after all…”

Battlepug

• Battlepug, Mike Norton
• “Battlepug: The Web Comic was born out of desperate scramble to appease iFanboy. They contacted Mike to create a signature t-shirt for a new line of merch. However, Mike had been working exclusively with DC Comics for 4 years and had no original properties that he could reveal to the world yet. He drew the image you see above and had Allen color it. And lo, a BATTLEPUG was born!”

Octopus Pie

• Octopus Pie, Meredith Gran
• “Eve Ning is a grumpy post-college New Yorker who works at an organic grocery store. She can’t imagine the people in her life being any more annoying. Turns out they can and always are.”

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Italian illustrator and reknowned paleoartist, Fabio Pastori, has one of THE coolest jobs in the world: he brings dinosaurs back to life. Not in the exact same sense as they did in Jurassic Park – there’s no magic DNA machine – but nonetheless just as amazingly rendered and painstakingly envisioned. In fact, many of the creatures that Pastori is called upon to “re-discover” are often nothing more than bones and fossils, which the artist must then take and recreate with one foot in the world of scientific fact and the other in his imagination. It’s the kind of work that some illustrators dream about as children.

Thanks to a common friend (John Carlson, author of Rex Riders), I was able to catch up with Fabio from his studio in Italy. As one of the advocates of the old guard of illustration (everything hand drawn) and advertising the interview proved to be as insightful as it was educational.

Thanks for joining us here at FUEL today, Fabio! How you got started in illustration?

You are welcome Rondal, thanks to you and to the author John Carlson who got us in touch with each other. I always loved to draw from when I was child and I started the High School of Arts with the clear goal to become an illustrator in the advertising field. Thus, when I was eighteen, I had already completed my studies in two schools, one by day and the other by night, and I was ready to start working with many ad agencies and to start teaching in the Superior School of Art of the Castello Sforzesco of Milan under request of the director himself.

That’s a pretty impressive way to kickstart your career! Since much of your experience is in advertising, how has that world changed since you first started as a freelancer in the 80s?

The advertising world is totally changed from 80s. Hyper-realistic illustration by airbrush was the trend at that time; the most popular art directors distinguished themselves using strategies and philosophies that right now are the “story” of the great Italian style. Imagine a world without computer graphics… everything was made by the hands of freelance artists like me; not only for the illustrations, but also for enormous backdrops on photographic and movie sets. Special blue/green screen sets were still sci-fi at that point!

So how did you get into “paleoart?” Were you fascinated by dinosaurs as a kid?

I always been fascinated by dinosaurs and my passion was increased when I started studying them during the end of the 90s. I understood that to love these superb creatures means to love our planet – admire its biology – and realize how small man is in the story of the Earth. We are just a microscopic part of the big puzzle of the Evolution. In fact, this is my real first passion, fed by many readings, starting from my “hero” Darwin to my beloved Dawkins. I started seriously work as paleoartist in 2002, after a terrible car-crash which had “nailed” me to the bed for an entire year.

Is your work based on actual historical references or do they emerge solely from your imagination?

Of course the imagination has an important role, above all if the subject is about a fantasy story as I did for the cover of Rex Riders. But remember, paleoart is a revealing art form which requires lots of responsibility in teaching “how our ancestors were meant to look like,” so is very important to study and follow what the paleontologists are teaching to us. To be a good paleoartist means to find a right balance between scientific knowledge, personal imagination and artistic personality.

Speaking of scientific knowledge, you’ve even been asked to put your skills to use in reconstructing actual paleotological findings before, correct?

Yes, it has happened many times. Just to tell some… Paleontologist Jorge Calvo (Argentina) gave me the honor of reconstructing a giant, beautiful sauropod named Futalongkosaurus; Octavio Mateus (Portugal) gave me the opportunity to do life restorations of his new findings in Angola (Angolachelys and Angolatitan adamastor); Cristiano Dal Sasso (Italy) commissioned me a life restoration of the precious fossil Scipionyx samniticus aka “Ciro.”

What sort of process do you go through when trying to reimagine something that no one has ever seen before?

First of all, I start reading the scientific article regarding the species in question. After that, the internet is the best way to find references to see what other artists have already done regarding the argument. I like to take a look to my books to observe animals living today which have a similar attitude, ethology and ecology. The last bit of inspiration, a glass of a good rhum (rum), can help me find the right idea for a good composition.

And you do all of this work freehand, no computer graphics or clever remodeling programs?

Yep. Absolutely freehand. I study anatomy and comparative anatomy heavily, and of course I use my skill in drawings and techniques. Let others buy on-line models already done with computer programs; fortunately I am still able to use just my ability without any help. I’m really proud about this. I can count on one hand the names of the artists who are able to use programs obtaining as great results as when they were doing everything freehand.

It definitely sounds like a lost art. What’s one of the biggest paleontological projects you’ve worked on thus far?

I’d like to mention my last one that I did under the scientific supervision of Matthew Mossbrucker, curator of the Morrison Natural History Museum in Colorado. I have conceptualized 17 sketches in pencil regarding the species of Quarry 5 in Colorado, and a particular painting depicting babies of Apatosaurus ajax (aka Brontosaurus) which are running on the hind-limbs based on the scene off the biomechanic study done on the prints. It was a greatly satisfying to conceptualize something so different and working with Matt was a great experience!

Many of your pieces seem to capture a specific moment in the life of these creatures. Is there an intenional narrative that you aim to create with each one?

I’m happy you have noticed this, that is [actually] my intention. I like to depict the creature in dynamic postures in order to describe its (or his/her) personality as a real character.

The Ankylosaurus has always been a personal favorite of mine. Something about the armored plates and club tail always thrilled me as a kid. I gotta ask… what’s your favorite dinosaur?

Well, its not so easy to choose just one favorite, but for sure I can tell that I’m in love with Theropods (the bipedal carnivorous), above all the Dromaeosaurids, that include the popular Velociraptor. They are called “non-avian dinosaurs” because they are “brothers” of the avian ones living today (birds). I’m very happy to know that dinosaurs are not really extinct and they are still flying around me every day.

You aim to “make a drawing credible, convincing and nice by using great realism.” How does this hyper-realism differ from photography? What can an illustrator reveal in a picture that a photo cannot?

First off, a photo cannot shoot to a subject like a dinosaur! *laughs* All jokes aside, using hyper-realism I can depict how many details I want in focus and play with the out of focus as I see fit. I can also make a lot of judgement calls that a photo requires using mechanical alterations to pull off. Hyper-realism is more than realism… I can put in whatever details need to be there that don’t exist.

What’s a more recent project that you’ve worked on (paleoart, book, concept art, etc)?

I’m working on concept design for a sci-fi movie; I’ve conceptualized creatures and space-dresses, but I can tell you more right now. I’m so sorry.

That’s quite alright, Fabio. I’m sure we’ll be hearing about when the time comes. To wrap things up, in one word, what “fuels” your illustration?

Ok, in a word: PASSION.

www.fabiopastori.it
paleopastori.deviantart.com

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Way back in 2007 (long before the awesome animated reboot G.I. Joe Renegades) Hasbro’s G.I. Joe toy line celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a commemorative line of newly-sculpted figures. Of course, new figures meant new box art which, being the illustrative nerd I am, has really always been my favorite part of the packaging.

Jarreau Wimberly, one of the artist’s hired by Hasbro for that same 25th Anniversary release has had some of his work floating around recently and I just had to share. Wimberly, a freelance illustrator, has also done much work in the sci-fi/fantasy field for properties such as World of Warcraft, A Game of Thrones, and Magic: The Gathering. Although these illustrations lack the iconic “explosion background” that many of the classic box art cards has they still pack that old school, Real American Hero punch.

From Wimberly on DeviantArt:

Scarlett was the first Joe that I painted and the first one that I saw in stores… it was kind of surreal to see one of my paintings on a G.I. Joe Package. I grew up loving G.I. Joe so for me this was really one of the most rewarding jobs I ever worked on.

Fun Fact

Did you know that back in the late 80s there was a tie-in figure planned for Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky character? It’s true! Although negotiations fell through, the figure was eventually redone and released as Big Boa. “Now you know…”

(via YOJOE.com)

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Do you ever find yourself wanting to ride a “White Pony?” Perhaps you feel like you’re “3 Feet High and Rising” or that you’re trapped on “The Dark Side of the Moon.” If so, then today’s Artist Spotlight is playing your song(s).

Created by British artist Aaron Savage, brick the LP is a limited edition art book in which Savage has re-imagined classic album covers illustrated entirely in Legos. Can you guess which albums they’re all from?

“I had seen people recreate other things out of Lego and I wanted to do something similar. Album covers was an easy choice for me because it combined my two interests. A lot of the covers are iconic but a few are from newer or less known genres.”

For even more Lego covers, be sure to visit Savage on Flickr.

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Winnie the Pooh (or, shall we say, Winnie ther Pooh) was a constant in my childhood and in many of my friends’ as well. Everyone knows the stories, everyone knows the song (you’re singing it in your head right now, I just know it), and everyone knows all about the little bear all stuffed with fluff and his friends of the Hundred Acre Wood. Thanks to my parents and the wonderful geekery that they embraced, Star Wars was also a thing of my childhood. Remember the old Star Wars posters you could get from Pizza Hut way back when? I still have those – they were hung on my walls when I was seven. And I’m pretty sure I was the only girl to partake in lightsaber battles with the neighbor boys (I refused to be Leia). Yes, I had a pretty awesome childhood.

That’s why I am absolutely in love with this book and artwork by artist James Hance: Wookie the Chew: The House at Chew Corner. The thought and detail put into these illustrations is apparent at first glance, as is the wonderful attempts at staying true to A.A. Milne’s feel and E.H. Sheppard’s artistic style. I love these. And what’s even better is that if you buy the special print run of “Off to Save the Princess” all the proceeds will be going to help the artist’s seven year old daughter Maddy (and I know we all love helping our fellow artists).

Here are just a few samples of what you can find at the House at Chew Corner.

Check out more from James Hance here:

• Official Website
• Wookie the Chew
• Tumblr Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter

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The infamous bassist of the punk rock group, Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious was once quoted as saying towards the end of his career, “I was the only guy with any bit of anarchy left.” It’s that snide spirit of rebellion that, for a time, encouraged an entire generation to explore entirely new forms of expression including “fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film.” That said, a little anarchy in the art world can be a good thing; a catalyst for radical change that strays from the norm and seeks to defy expectations… it’s sort of the entire premise of art school.

This week’s guest, Joanna Mulder, has taken this to heart, creating her own art movement called JOANNARCHY; a colorful pastiche of zombies, monsters, sexy girls. That’s only half of Mulder’s talent, though. She’s also worked with major brands like Aeropostale, Burton Snowboards, Disney, and Sears/Kmart. To learn more about the artist I recently went behind the scenes of Joannarchy and managed to discover quite a bit about Mulder… or should I say “Bonnie Voy’age.”

Thanks for being our first guest of the new year, Joanna! Tell us a bit about you became interested in illustration.

Thank you for having me! Well, like most, I’ve always loved drawing and painting, or making things since I was a little kid. I was pretty content to sit quietly and draw most of the time, and I think right around high school I decided I would like to do that for a living. (It was actually a toss up between becoming an artist or an actor, but based on being both a member of the cast and a member of the set crew, I decided I liked painting big sets and using table saws much better.)

I went to college at the University of Arizona and majored in Visual Communications with an emphasis in Illustration. However, I took as many other disciplines in the Fine Arts department as I could get my hands on. It was in college that I really started geeking out about the field of Illustration, as I was surrounded by incredibly talented peers that were as serious about drawing as I was. With returning alumni also coming to speak to us about their successes in the “real world”, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do, too.

Your background is primarily in fashion. How did your experience in screenprinting prepare you for working with companies like Aéropostale, Old Navy and Burton?

Oh, that’s a great question! My first job out of school I looked in the employment section of the newspaper and, through the slim pickin’s of anything even remotely related to art, I saw an open position for a graphic designer/illustrator for a small screenprinting shop. I remember it was in a really shady part of town and there were bullet holes in the front window. Awesome. I also remember that the owner actually made me take a spelling test before I was hired. Ha! More places should do that. Anyway, there I learned an immense amount about the screenprinting process. I also learned quite a bit about embroidery machines, too. I worked at a few screenprinting houses in Phoenix until the fateful day when a good college friend called me and said that Old Navy was looking to hire a new artist in New York, and that I would be perfect for it. My heart skipped a beat when I envisioned myself getting out of the desert and moving to the big city!

I flew out, and met with the art director, who said that he thought I was talented, but I also had the unique experience of actually working in screenprinting and knowing all the processes behind it. That was what ultimately got me hired, and from there I’ve gotten around a bit within the industry. And on a side note, I don’t think that it is considered too often amongst budding artists, but working in the fashion industry is incredibly lucrative for illustrators, especially when t-shirt design is such a hot item nowadays. You get paid to draw every day… with benefits! Not only that, but you pump up your typography skills as well, which I think is crucially important.

Your work often employs a lot of bright, neon colors that lend a “pop” aesthetic. How would you best describe your style of illustration?

Well, my personal work does (and my wardrobe, more often than not, but that’s not important right now). I love color. Not only that, but I love the science of color. I like the idea of placing colors side by side so that they not only vibrate, they almost hurt to look at. I do a lot of cartoony stuff, both for my professional career and my own endeavors, and bright, vibrant colors are an obsession. I don’t know how many times I’ve said to people, “Don’t be afraid of color!” I would say my style in general, is on the cartoony side. My personal work has been described by others as being a bit twisted, if not downright “just wrong” [and] I’m cool with that.

Do you have a specific method or technique when completing a piece of work?

I do. I feel the thing that works for me the best is simply to sketch… a ton. I work it out so much on paper that by the time I come to the actual piece it’s tightly mapped out and I can just sit back, relax and have fun. Once the ground work is laid, then it’s time to embellish, and add details. Believe it or not, I get my best thinking and plotting done on the subway. It’s a good chunk of time to mentally plan your next project, despite being smashed up against your fellow daily commuters, sardine-style.

What is Joannarchy and how did it get started?

Joannarchy is actually a nickname I had in college. I guess I was going through my “disgruntled youth” phase. The name stuck, and I thought it would be a great identity for my personal work, where anything goes, and a departure from my more commercial stuff. I can do whatever I want there, whether it be selling prints and t-shirts, or announcing upcoming gallery shows, etc. It started to really evolve as a “company” when I started exhibiting at San Diego International Comic Con, and sold t-shirts emblazoned with sexually-satirical graphics portraying certain popular sci-fi characters…ahem. I’ve been doing it for quite a few years now and have had so much success with it I had no choice but to set up shop online. Hence, Joannarchy was born.

Any plans to expand the Joannarchy line in 2012?

I think I’m always trying to expand. I’m the kind of person that’s a jack-of-all-art-trades, master of… some? Maybe? I literally always have about ten projects going at once and they run the gambit from animation shorts to sewing, sculpture to prints and [even] painting. I’ve been plowing through developing a whole new series of prints and will hopefully have them up and for sale on the site soon. I’ve also been involved in showing work at a few galleries and that is something that I will be striving for more of this year. Currently, I’ve been wearing my sculptor hat and I am working on some multimedia pieces that I think when completed will be… um… interesting.

I believe that you’re a fan of cartoonist Jon K., is that right? What is it about his work that appeals to you?

Oh, Jon K. is the best! How could you NOT love Jon K.? The man is brilliant… his style is so fun and sick and hysterical. It’s the entire aesthetic really and just some of the best thinking outside the box ever. I love the fact that you can take two widely recognizable cartoon characters, namely Ren & Stimpy, and draw them literally hundreds of ways, distort them beyond belief, and never lose character integrity. Good examples being Ren’s Brain, where he is basically reduced to just a brain walking around with a fedora, sunglasses, and a tie, and one of my favorites I Was a Teenage Stimpy, where Stimpy hits puberty and goes through all sorts of awkward physical mutations… hilarious!

I also think his blog is fantastic, as he shares his techniques and just fun ways of drawing; definitely a great resource for any illustrator, no matter what your style is like.

Are there any other artists that have had a notable impact on you or your work?

Ha! Rather than listing all the amazing artists that inspire me, I will just say that I consume visual media with a voracious appetite. I pour over art books, websites, blogs, gallery shows, social networks, etc., mainly because I simply just love looking at art. I think that an artist’s creativity and passion is what really impacts me on a personal level, rather than the work alone. I always strive to define my own style and looking to my contemporaries is more of a motivating kick in the butt than anything else.

One suggestion that I would like to make is do yourself a favor and join Twitter. I know, I know… I was reluctant, too. But setting up an account to follow your favorite artists is great! They are constantly posting new work, sketches and works in progress, and art shows they are involved in. And if they follow you, it’s also a key way to get your work out there, and forge relationships.

Burlesque is another particular interest of yours. What drew you into that scene?

Oooh, here’s where the interview gets juicy… I can’t really answer this question without revealing my secret identity!

Secret identity…?

Until you asked, I have never before publicly confessed that in addition to being an art junkie, I am also a “mostly-retired” NYC burlesque performer under the stage name of “Bonnie Voy’age.” I was heavily involved in the scene for about five years, performing a few times a week if not more. I also had some regular gigs with various troupes and gained a fantastic burlesque family in the process. I’ve gone on tours, met legends, and caroused with magicians, clowns, sword swallowers, belly dancers, and more freaks of nature than you can shake your tailfeathers at. I’ve even been featured in the UK’s Bizarre magazine, clad in a barely-there Klingon costume!

You’ve also done some illustrative work in that field as well, right?

And as a wonderful side effect, I carved out a nice little niche doing gig posters and logos for my fellow performers. Some of my posters can be seen in the book Burlesque Poster Design, the Art of Tease, published by Korero Books. It’s a lot of work when you’re not only doing all the promotional materials, but performing in the show, too! But like I said, I had the whole stage performance facination from the beginning, so I guess it finally got to me, ha ha. Ultimately, due to massive time constraints, I was forced to focus on one thing, making art or performing on stage, I couldn’t do both. Art won, again.

What’s the most popular public misconception about burlesque and how do you address it in your art?

Well, with it’s gained popularity over the years, I’m hoping that people realize that burlesque performers are truly artists, and not… well… just strippers. It’s something that is talked about a million times over and usually stems from people that have never actually attended a burlesque show. Just trying to get my friends to come to shows was like pulling teeth, because they thought it was going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah live onstage. In reality, it is a gigantic celebration of glamor, comedy, theatrics, magic, music, costuming and absolute brilliance.

My personal performance style was always humorous. There’s nothing better than making a crowd laugh with goofy antics, and seriously, if you can get up on a stage in front of a hundred or more people and take your clothes off, then you can do pretty much anything. So I take that basic feeling, the feeling of creating yourself, creating entire worlds, where anything goes and everything is possible, the ability to make fun of life and be fearless, and apply it to making art. The sky’s the limit, you guys!

In one word, what “fuels” your illustration?

Oh boy. Well, I fervently feel that while I’ve got my turn on Earth, I want to do it all. Or, at least try it. So, in one word?
Time. And it’s always runnin’ out…

www.joannamulder.com
www.joannarchy.com

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Hello gang! It’s another fantastic, fabulous, funfetti Five Flickr Friday! Before we dive into highlights of our Fuel Your Illustration Flickr Group, I have a quick announcement to make! I’ve discovered that our old hashtag of #FFF is being overrun by the color white, football statistics, and the interesting-yet-slightly-horrifying #FootFetishFriday and so we are now introducing a new Five Flickr Friday hashtag: #FlickrFuel. If you want us to check out the illustrations you’re submitting to the FYIllo Fuel group, tweet us on Twitter and use #FlickrFuel. You might be included in the next showcase!

Now onto the art!

Daniel Mackie

Deborah Ballinger

Fred Nolan

Paul Bommer

Michael Austin

Enjoy!

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The internet can be such a wonderful place sometimes (as long as Congress doesn’t get its hands on it). It holds all sorts of treasures for nostalgia-driven fanatics like myself who see a search bar as nothing more than a fancy version of One-Eyed Willie’s treasure map from The Goonies. A recent “expedition” into cyberspace yielded an especially good find: rare, previously never-before-seen concept artwork for the original Thundercats cartoon by illustrator and voice actor Jim Meskimen. If someone had told 10-year-old me that seeing something like this would be possible I probably would have guffawed and continued eating my Mr. T cereal… but it’s true!

Revealed (presumably) for the first time last July in the Thundercats.ws forums, keen-eyed fans of the series can spot several lesser-known (but equally and fondly remembered) supporting characters in addition to a few that never actually made it on the show. Check out a select few below and for the entire gallery, be sure to visit the Thudnercats.ws forums.

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Yeah, yeah, don’t say anything. It’s been way too long since there was a Webcomic Wednesday gracing these pages. Well here you are – with three of my latest faves (and honestly, I don’t know how they haven’t made it on this site before). Love! Got a Webcomic you want to share? Comment here or tag us on twitter with the hashtag #WebcomicWednesday.

On with the comics!

Cat Versus Human

• Cat Versus Human, Yasmine Surovec
• “Yasmine Surovec began sketching her clever and sarcastic Cat Versus Human cartoons as a way to relax and unwind. Soon, her popular blog at catversushuman.blogspot.com began receiving as many as 12,000 hits per day, with a number of posts going viral and appearing on popular Web sites such as The Huffington Post and I Can Has Cheezburger. Now, a selection of 100 Cat Versus Human strips–many never previously published–can be found inside this inaugural collection of Cat Versus Human.”

The Meek

• The Meek, D. Helmer
• “The Meek is a graphic novel about Angora, an inexperienced young girl who has been sent on a quest to save the world. War looms on the horizon, and at its helm is the Emperor of the North and his hellish adviser. The two countries are overwhelmed with as much terror, crime, disease and revolution as they are with those who wish to create peace. Armed with only her instincts and an unexplainable power, she must experience and judge the world—and decide once and for all if it is truly worth saving.”

Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name

• Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name, Tessa Stone
• “it’s basically about a guy who is terrible at his job but tries very very hard. It’s about a guy who tries to figure out (or force his way into) where he belongs. It’s about a guy trying to find himself because at some point he lost sight of where he was, and I think we all do that sometimes.”

Enjoy!

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They can if Bristol-based illustrator Jessica Bradley has anything to say about it. In fact, she’s made a career of drawing some of literature’s most fearsome beasts in all of their soft and squishy glory including an assortment of werewolves, fish men, zombies and – yes – even the Elder God himself, Cthulhu.

I had the opportunity to meet Jess, as she likes to be called, recently to discuss how someone who excels at “cute, colourful and quirky” could also publish something like Brains Etc: Zombie Survival for Kids! and stay relevant with her audience. As it turns out, it’s easier than you might think!

Thanks for joining us, Jess. Can you give us a brief introduction on who you are and where you’re from?

Hello there! I’m an illustrator and character designer from Bristol, England and I love drawing (obviously). I work on a lot of kid’s books but also do all kinds of other cool things like designing t-shirts, self-publishing my own books, drawing amusing fan art and attending a lot of UK comic book conventions. I also somehow manage to play a lot of video games and watch a lot of films too. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I left the house…

I heard that you’re also a big tea drinker… do you have a favorite kind?

I’m rather partial to Mr Earl Grey (being a Brit, what what, pip pip,) but I’m into a lot of the Asian smokey teas too. Lapsang and Oolong are amazing. They smell like bonfires!

So, how did you first become interested in illustration and charater design?

I’ve always been into drawing since I was a kid; my parents recently moved houses and I inherited a ton of old artwork and cobbled together comics I used to make. These will remain in a locked vault and never see the light of day because of how embarrassing they are but they are a nice reminder that I’ve always scribbled my way through life. I discovered illustration (or what it really entails) at art college in 1999 and fell in love. It was just a natural progression from there to University and onward to freelance illustration jobs while working part-time. I also worked in a comic shop for three and a bit years so that had a huge influence on the direction my work went in. I just did what I enjoyed doing and people started to notice so things kind of fell into place from there!

You graduated from UWE Bristol in 2003, what was the most important lesson you received there?

Be yourself and stay true to your own personal style. Which is ironic as half the time, our tutors wanted us to be more mainstream and keep up with current illustration trends. They despised comic books at the time too and tried to get us away from them, which goes to show how under-the-radar a lot of graphic novels still were at that time. I got a lot of great advice there though and I guess being myself paid off because I came away with a First (First-Class Honours).

Did you go solo after graduating or did you join a studio?

I went solo. A lot of my friends are all illustrators too but we all remain quite seperated when it comes to our artwork. I like the idea of working in a studio but I still get nervous if people watch me draw; I think I’d get too distracted working in a studio! My partner is a comic book colourist for IDW Comics though so it’s nice to have someone close by to panic over deadlines with! I’m a member of a collective at the moment called Jurassic Dorks which is a lot of fun. We do a lot of geeky, pop-culture stuff and [even] had our first gallery exhibition this past December which had a great turn out.

What challenges did you experience while trying to find your first clients?

The initial approach was very scary; I wasn’t sure if I was sending the right work, saying the right things, etc. but I had interest pretty much as soon as I left Uni so I must have been doing something right! I collected a great stack of rejection letters too which at the time was disheartening, but necessary for me to take stock of my own work. I found self-promotion harder back then too; now though, all my modesty has gone out of the window! *smiles* You really have to let people know you exist to get anyway as an illustrator. That’s why I’m all over the internet like a bad smell.

Speaking of bad smells… you recently released your first ebook, Brains Etc. (Zombie Survival for Kids!), for the Kindle. How would you describe the book?

It’s a fun and silly activity book/comic about the living dead. It’s all-ages and gets a lot of chuckles at comic cons! Last year, I had the Draw Yourself As A Zombie page photocopied and got people at comic cons to draw themselves and get their photos taken with their drawings. I’ve got hundreds of them! It’s a nice way to break the ice and people seem to like drawing themselves with maggots coming out of their ears and their skin hanging off.

Is there anything, in particular, about zombies that made you decide to put this book together?

I hadn’t drawn or produced a self-published comic for years so I wanted to get back into it. I thought something fun and humourous would be a good start and zombies have been a favourite ghoul of mine for a while. Hopefully I found a few new twists on a very used formula for my comic! The back of the book also has a list of my favourite zombie films, much to my partner’s chagrin (he hates zombie films!)

Actually, you seem to have a knack for doodling all sorts of pop culture icons, from Lovecraft to Legend of Zelda. What appeals to you about these types of characters?

As a kid, I was always very devoted to my cartoon heroes; I used to draw Bert Raccon from The Raccoons all the time along with characters from Dungeons & Dragons and Ulysses 31. It’s the same now but as an illustrator, you can add something new to a character everyone knows. I’m a total geek too so I can’t help but indulge myself in drawing my favourite characters from games and films; it’s great to see the reaction you get from people too when they see your version of a character.

I believe you’re also working on a Brains Etc. coloring app, is that right?

The lovely publishers of the ebook, Zeta Comics, are looking into this as we speak! I think it’s a great idea and has made me start to think about producing some interactive comics. I’m totally unsavvy with this kind of thing though so we’ll see how it goes! I’ve got some ideas that would hopefully work really well so I’m willing to put in the time to learn.

So are there any more books planned for 2012?

I’m doing some more kid’s books for various publishers (starting one as we speak) and I’ve got two more books lined up with Zeta Comics and about three self-published ones of my own; one based on H.P Lovecraft’s stories and characters, one about tea and one I’m keeping secret just incase the idea doesn’t work out! Hopefully I’ll also be working with some other awesome artists on various project too. A busy year ahead!

Busy indeed! If you had to consolidate it all into one word, what “fuels” your illustration?

Imagination!

www.jessbradley.com
www.squid-bits.blogspot.com

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Have you checked out our Fuel Your Illustration flickr group? Come join us, we’ve got lots of awesome artists sharing their work. Want to be included in the next Five Flickr Friday? Tweet us on twitter with the #FFF hashtag!

Enjoy!

Annemarie Rysz

Sharon Farrow

Chris Thornley

Felix Benito

ImaginaryPeople

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I you were to ask digital artist and illustrator Charis Tsevis it might look a lot like this. The Greece native has been honing his skills since the late 80s, earning multiple degrees in visual design, which goes a long way to explain his combined love of computer graphics and illustrations – two disciplines that the artist has been able to merge beautifully in one of his latest projects.

Be sure to click each image for a better view and visit Tsevis over on Behance for a full description of each piece.

Tsevis explains the series of mosaic portraits quite simply:

I have been asked to create 6 mosaic portraits of 6 IT giants: Grace Hopper, Cynthia Breazeal, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Sir Clive Sinclair and Tomohiro Nishikado. For each of them I tried to create a mosaic portrait made up of elements their creations or their ideas.

It’s no secret that I’m a devoted fan of computer history and cyberculture. I have this passion for more than 20 years now. Been studying, collecting old machines, retro gadgets, especially old Apples but also Sinclairs, Amstrads, Bulls, Commodores… I am considering this computer archeology passion one of the more romantic activities I ever had.

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I would like to introduce you all to my absolute new favorite blog: Creature Spot. It’s basically a blog for a bunch of different concept artists to come together and share their sketches and creations and I am in LOVE with it. Amazing work and extremely inspiring to someone who once dreamed of joining Weta Workshop as a concept artist (I have no given up on that dream – someday it will happen!).

A Few Favorites:

Emily Fiegenschuh

LD Austin

Christopher Burdett

Ryan Firchau

Go check them out and much more over at Creature Spot!

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Ever wondered what the crazy-popular Cartoon Network show, Adventure Time, might look like if it had been envisioned by Sin City creator Frank Miller? Me neither… at least until I saw this awesome series of fanart portraits by John Suarez.

The Brooklyn-based Suarez, who specializes in ink illustrations, was pretty modest in how the idea came to him:

It was late one night and I just had an urge to draw Adventure Time, sometimes these things just happen and there nothing you can do about it.

Marceline’s Dad has to be my favorite so far, I really went all out making him crazy scary. There’s not really many characters in the Adventure Time universe I can go all out on without changing their actual base design.

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Minimalism is a hard thing to accomplish for most artist. Sure, we all strive to get that perfect balance between “just enough” and “visual bliss,” but few can help themselves from that “one last tweak” (which quickly turns into one more and then another, and another…). Today’s featured artist, Dale Peart, seems to have worked out a way to nail it. In fact, he’s become so good at it that Turner Classic Movies (TCM) recently commissioned the artist to create a series of posters for any three films of the artist’s choice. His picks? Arguably three of the most eclectic film groupings I’ve seen in recent years… Alien, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and No Country for Old Men.

I decided that each of my films must each link visually, each must link with their idea, but they also must sum up the main message of the film, or what the film is about. Without these, the posters wouldn’t succeed as a representation of the film or as a set.

I spent some time deliberating how to link all these posters together, I did so not only with the idea, but also visually. After analysing all three films, noting down important and iconic moments within each and what was the underlying message behind them all. It became apparent the main theme subject of each, was about something or someone hiding, or chasing.