Artist 102: Jack Gilliland

Proud of showcasing new talent on the rally, we have a great new artist to bring you today. Jack Gilliland has got himself a great bold style backed up with some serious skill based chops, always a fan of hard graft and painstaking working practice I'm more than happy to introduce Jack and his characterful illustrations. Jack is one of those artists who can visually summarise a person, but crucially he also has the skill to pull of drawing them in a compassionate and expressive way. Familiar people in familiar scenes, he can evoke the self conscious, painfully deliberate carelessness of a student's pose, so full of personality you can almost smell the cigarette smoke. Jack grabs personality and plates it in a soft palette with intense lines. He has a very developed eye for figure which is one of the best traits to take forward in an expanding working practice, he eats form and gives you composition, at his strongest working from life, he excels at showing us those he knows and he should stick to his guns, as he is onto a good thing. So wishing him the best of luck and with great pleasure, It's Jack Gilliland.

Who are you:

I am Jack Gilliland and i like to draw.

What do you do:

I am currently studying Graphic Design at university and just about go into my third year. My work is all mainly illustration based as i really enjoy drawing. I am hoping to soon open up an etsy shop and start making prints and designing tshirts to sell, as i really enjoy making things aswell as drawing.

How did you start:

 I have always really liked drawing ever since i was little. By the end of school/sixth form it was the only thing i was really interested in doing, so i did a foundation degree at College and then when onto University

A Personal statement about you or your work:
I tend to work by hand using pens and pencils to do initial line drawings and then i bring my illustrations onto a computer to edit and colour. I usually draw things i find amusing or a bit different, i like keeping it fun most of the time and hopefully that comes across in my work.

Links:
portfolio
blog
flickr

Tweet

Artist 27: Octavi Navarro

A big warm welcome to the fantastic Octavi Navarro! Children's illustrator, artist, animator and technical scientific draughtsman! That's right, the truly multi-talented Navarro has the talent and diligence, which is clear from his highly polished style, it captures a gentle serenity and presents the viewer with calculated delight. It is whimsical yet refined, and this runs deep within his work, with initially simple imagery delicate and detailed in its execution. There is lots of joy and a peaceful conscientiousness which gives the room to see and to imagine. From beautiful Barcelona to your computer screen read about him here!

Who are you:

Hi! I'm Octavi Navarro, an illustrator from Barcelona, Spain. I love art, music and my cats, even though they often scratch and play with my drawings!

What do you do:

I absolutely love everything related to art. Right now I'm trying to stay afloat in the highly saturated market of spanish children's illustration, but I also enjoy creating little personal animations, making technical drawings for scientific publishers, and improving my painting skills in art schools.

How did you start:

Since I was born I had two dreams: become an astronaut and become an artist. The first one was impossible to fulfill as it required good maths skills, and the second one... well... I forgot to mention that my dream was to be a rich artist. So I decided to forget all that and start what has become a fairly long career as a graphic designer, but at some point my old dreams appeared again and I had to go after them. I'll never travel to the Moon and I'm far from being rich, but now I can proudly say that I'm feeding the little "artist" inside me.

A Personal statement about you or your work:

I work my illustrations as little scenarios where I put static characters. I like them to look like dolls or sculptures in a quiet environment. I also make big use of traditional and digital tools to find the desired textures, shadows and light. What I love the most of this profession is that you never stop improving, you learn more and more everyday and that's priceless!

Tweet

Artist 23: Cool Surface

Sharp, clean and desirable, the work of Cool Surface does exactly what it says on the tin! Its intelligent and slick, well composed but keeps the naturalistic flair of accomplished artists. With skills like this, its no wonder that this twosome are well on their way to becoming industry giants. A mix of humour and chic give their work that classic comic edge, and you know whether its a giant robot or a femme fatale you won't get a better atmosphere than Cool Surface! Check them out here!

Who are you:

David and Sarah Cousens aka Cool Surface

What do you do:

We draw a slightly insane, often cheeky and always colourful world of illustration where our heroic robots, surreal monsters, sexy women and adorable animals excite and entertain in advertising, editorials, exhibitions, professional education, publishing and television work. We also drink a lot of tea and insult each other which are the cornerstones of a great marriage!

How did you start:

I got my first proper start after submitting my work to Advanced Photoshop’s “Peer Pressure” section 4 years ago. The Editor awarded me “Best in show” and offered me a tutorial for the very next issue. Shortly afterwards my art was printed in Digital Arts where a senior editor at Kingfisher/Macmillan publishing saw it an offered me a 4 book deal. This was enough work for Sarah and I to both illustrate so we took my established brand name Cool Surface and turned it into an illustration company.

A Personal statement about you or your work:
We make art that we enjoy ourselves and hope that others do too. We try to always have fun in our artwork and wherever we can we’ll throw in little Easter-eggs or jokes in the artwork so that people can really enjoy looking at the details.

Tweet