Artists
MODOFLY is an artist and designer collaborative piloted by a couple of jack-of-all trade artists/designers. Their goal is to inspire artists and users alike with the hope that they themselves will be continually fueled by the feedback loop that happens when people work together. We hope you join us as we grow and evolve to bigger and better things, holding to the belief that with community great things can happen.
At the controls are:
Jordan Pollard
Working hard to have dabbled in as much as possible in this short life, Jordan has attempted to master always taking on new experiences. With a sincere interest in learning, and a mind that tangents exponentially, Jordan has managed to study and practice architecture and design, work with wood and metal, start several businesses, and has talked to more people than names he can remember. He is deeply interested in free culture, open source anything, collaboration of all types, idea generators, and just about any kind of computer numerically controlled device. He longs to own many.
Some of his handiwork with lasers and other tools can be seen at:
www.model-army.net
We have a wide range of artists, and their fantastic work to produce on our fine notebooks and sketchbooks. We encourage you to check out their websites, and learn a little below about the artists themselves. Please watch the blog as well for updates about shows and other products or info about the artists. If you would like to have your work produced by us, please contact us at submissions@modofly.net.
Artists currently working with us:
Aaron McKinney
Aaron McKinney was born in Great Yarmouth, England in 1977. He was fortunate enough to spend his childhood scattered across the world from Scotland to Indonesia to Egypt. The constant upheaval caused him to turn inward and he began expressing his thoughts through art at a very young age. He attended Ringling College of Art and Design where he received a BFA in Illustration. Aaron’s artwork combines a childlike fixation on funny creatures and odd hybrids with a peculiar, nightmarish monumentalism. Bold colors and watercolored, colorblock backgrounds frame the pieces, while fairytale-ish spotlights illuminate key players. But the key is the absolute believability of his completely fantastical, fabricated reality.
Whatever the assignment, his work is always highly original and strikingly recognizable. His artwork has appeared in numerous publications and galleries throughout the United States and abroad. Aaron lives and works in Atlanta with his beautiful and inspiring wife Jen and their little boy, Jude.
Alberto Cerriteno
Alberto Cerriteño is a Mexican illustrator & designer who has lived in America; Portland for nearly four years now. Strongly inspired by urban vinyl toys, alternative cartoons, and the pop surrealism movement, Alberto Cerriteño has developed his own very personal technique and style, having always present a delicate hints of traditional Mexican artistic influences in his management of rich textures and decorative patterns. These contrast strikingly with the blending of desaturated colors and ink, sometimes featuring a vintage coffee finish. Alberto Cerriteño illustrations have been recognized by progressive art institutions such as Juxtapoz, Create, Drawn!, The Little Chimp Society, Computer Arts, Communication Arts and IDN among others. He has also been invited to participate in collaborative art projects all around the world and diverse solo and groupal gallery shows.
With more than ten years of experience as Art Director in several agencies doing advertising, print, interactive, installations and educational work, he is now working as independent artist to collaborate with talented people with kwirky and creative ideas focusing in anything where he can apply his illustrative creations.
Ana Maria Seaton
The elusive Renmeleon, more commonly known as Ana MaRIA Seaton, is a very eclectic creature. Illustration, writing, and design has been her lifeblood for over 20 years but stumbling into paper arts changed her life forever. Ria enjoys morning walks on the beach, homeschooling her daughter, and charity work. She is known for her unique hand-rendered style and fluid font-like handwriting. Ria is currently working on her first novel based on Odonatia, a children’s book, a coloring book full of monsters, and invites you to wander through her world at:
Angel and Andy
The Coffee Artists™, Angel Sarkela-Saur and Andrew Saur, have been painting with coffee for many years. Together, they developed a process and technique of painting with coffee. People have been using coffee as washes for sketches and other shading for some time, but this is one of the first times where a process is used to gain very dark hues. The Coffee Artists™ take pride in their creations. They concentrate on creating fine art and the communication of their works using this new medium.
Their Coffee Art® has received global attention and has attracted a strong following. The Coffee Artists™ have been featured in multiple news stories, documentaries and have been profiled on the Food Network’s “Unwrapped.” In addition to their media exposure, the Coffee Artists™ have exhibited work across the United States, Europe and the United States Embassy in Malawi, Africa.
The Coffee Artists™ invite you to their online gallery for a more complete understanding of their works and to learn more about them. Their site is located at:
Anita Mejia
Anita Mejía was born in the small town of Ensenada in northern Mexico and later studied Graphic Design degree.
Her work appears in several exhibitions, magazines and websites. Anita’s creepy cute characters and fantasy lands are inspired by her chilhood experiences, music, books, dreams, nature and by her everyday life.
Andrea Joseph
Andrea Joseph is originally from Wales. She now lives, and draws, in the Peak District, England. She is a self taught illustrator who used to get hung up about having no formal training, but now she kind of likes it that way. Her style is highly detailed, bordering on the obsessive. Her subjects are the everyday objects that she surrounds herself with. Her tools are whatever is to hand. She especially likes ballpoint. Her very most favourite thing is to potter around the house in her pyjamas. All day long. She worries about everything and is, right now, worrying about how rubbish this bio sounds. Andrea draws each and everyday. When she is not drawing she is thinking about, and itching to start, her next drawing. She has had a crush on Paul Weller for 30 years. He still doesn’t know she exists.
http://andreajoseph24.blogspot.com/
Andrew Bargeron
Gimetzco! is Andrew Bargeron. Gimetzco! likes to draw and likes puppies and kittens. Which one he likes more, no one can really know (but we can assume puppies because drawings can’t lick you in the face…or maybe kittens as they are too cuddly to withstand, who knows?!). The Gimetzco! style is an amalgam of his favorite illustrators (Alex Toth, Dan Decarlo, Jamie Hewlett) and his own DNA. You can see evidence of this in his drawings of outrageous monsters and whistlin’ knockout female forms. He is the creator of Yeti-C the Yeticorn and his pals the Cryptid Crew and has done work for numerous bands and brands you may or may not have heard of, like Threadless or Weezer. You can find examples of his work, online:
Angelika Trojnarski
Angelika J. Trojnarski’s oil paintings depict desolate personal and cultural landscapes and the barbedwire evidence of the human footprint. She channels a keen awareness of identity, but without an overwhelmingly political bent. Her stark subject matter challenges viewers without making them complicit, as the artist deftly avoids a soapbox among so much wrongdoing. (Jana from Kinsey/DesForges, Los Angeles)
Born 1979 / Poland
Since 2005 Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, Germany, classes of Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lüpertz and Andreas Schulze
Starting 2008 with solo shows in Germany and twice at Kinsey/DesForges Gallery in Los Angeles.
Several of her works were on view at the Saatchi booth at Scope Basel.
Angelique Houtkamp
Angelique is a native of Amsterdam,the Netherlands, home of bicycles and window prostitution. She started drawing and painting when she was thirty, which is actually not as late as it seems, considering the fact that she had to take special classes to make her handwriting readable to even herself. Her work is deceptively simple, instantly recognisable and often humurous. She loves food, cats and gallons of Fanta light and used to travel the world extensively until the airlines decided to cramp her 1.80m body into smaller and smaller seat spaces. Enjoys watching Project Catwalk whilst eating borrelnootjes.
Amy Hunting
Amy was born in a small place in Norway on Christmas Day. Her older sister instantly hated her for ruining Christmas and having to wait another day to open all the presents. 23 years later, the older sister has just about forgiven her. Amy is in her final year of furniture design school in Denmark. She makes furniture that looks like her drawings (or drawings that look like her furniture) and tries to do as much freelance illustration work as she can. She has done illustrations for Doodah Skateboards, Don’t Panic Magazine, SNITT Illustration Magazine and more.
Anthony Hurd
Anthony Hurd is an award winning and accomplished graphic designer, commercial director and illustrator who has ventured into the fine arts world as well. His work is derived from graffiti, skateboarding and indie music cultures, inspired by modern color pallets of fashion and design. Though he works in a fairly structured process, the work produced has a great sense of movement, texture, depth and a very organic flare abstracted in a world of detail.
Ben Stirling
Ben Stirling was educated at the Ryerson School of Interior Design, meandered for a bit, made a webcomic, then somehow ended up as a video game artist. In his 15 minutes of spare time, he sculpts creepy artifacts, plays with vinyl toys, draws comics, designs posters for things that don’t exist, and generally makes a mess on whatever surface he uses. Ben lives in Toronto.His posters can be found at:
http://AttemptedArtistry.etsy.com
Bob Dob
Bob Dob was born and raised in the once lazy beach town of Hermosa Beach California. After his child hood dream of becoming a pro baseball player was taken from him due to a battle with cancer he gravitated towards music and art. Playing in a punk band for 10 years named Lunacy. He draws inspiration from
painter Edward Hopper, Classic Disney, Film Noir and James Ellroy.
Brian Taylor A.K.A Candykiller
Brian Taylor’s ongoing art project / brand “Candykiller” is a playground for his surreal characters and creations. Much of the Candykiller work is inspired by the pop culture of his childhood, and his love of the styles of bygone eras. Specific inspirations include trading cards, cheap novelties, Japanese pop culture, vintage cartoons, plastic toys, underground comix and sideshow art. His characters are often a mishmash of several retro periods with a contemporary (and sometimes slightly sinister) twist. Candykiller products include books, toys, and art prints, as well as original paintings.
Brian Despain
A self proclaimed “Modern day Baba Yaga” Brian inhabits the space between time and nightly proselytizes his hopes and dreams and the odd potato salad recipe to the unwashed masses via their blenders. Sometimes he paints robots. Brian’s preternaturally patient friends find him mostly harmless and are waiting for the right moment to tell him Baba Yaga is a woman. See more of Brian’s art and read more of his idiot ramblings at:
Brigid Ashwood
Brigid Ashwood is an artist with a penchant for drawing fairy automata with clockwork wings and dubiously engineered flying machines.
Her work can be seen in book and magazines and on licensed products worldwide. She lives in the Washington D.C. area suburbs.
Bruce Whistlecraft A.K.A Doktor A
Raised by the military and monitored by men in white coats until he was 16. Doktor A has always scribbled monsters. “You will never make a living drawing little men” said a teacher once. They were nearly right.
He has to draw, design and build little men to make a living. These dubious skills have seen him work in theatre, TV, advertising,magazines, toy design, merchandising and the music industry. He is also now, very much to his surprise, a gallery fine artist. He lives under a hill in the north of England. From there he monitors the world’s off-kilter-culture and produces his dark twisted dreams. Character driven clashes of urban pop culture, classic children’s stories and neo-Victorian industrial neverlands.
Bryan Collins
With acrylic paints, Prismacolor pencils, scratchboards, and watercolors, Bryan Collins explores monsters, robots, and surreal humans in a whimsical and playful manner. His topics deal with death, isolation, acceptance issues, spiritual battles, and other debilitating calamities. While tackling such grim subjects, Collins still gracefully maintains his storybook-like qualities and colorful nature. His work has been seen multiple times at Juxtapoz.com, Flash Magazine, newspapers around America, and blogs around the world. His collector base spans the globe and continues to grow as he relentlessly exhibits work on a consistent basis.
Camilla d’Errico
Camilla’s first love is comics. When Camilla went to the San Diego Comic Con for the first time in 2000 she instantly knew her destiny. Her dove into comics and hasn’t looked back since. Camilla is also a successful painter. Her work is colourful, fresh, young and simultaneously meaningful, deep and touching. She is part of what may be the first art movement in Western history where women are not second-class citizens, but may even have an edge in the mind of the public, especially when it comes to capturing the essence that is woman.
Dan May
Dan May was born and raised in the suburbs of Rochester, NY. He attended Syracuse University, where he received a BFA in illustration. Dan spends his days (and nights) painting dreamlike environments that transcend space and time. These delightful yet haunting images are often based in personal observations of both human’s and nature’s relationships with each other, blended with a healthy dose of whimsy, fantasy and cautious relevance. His artwork has graced the pages of numerous publications, and has been shown in galleries throughout the US and abroad. He has received honors from Communication Arts and American Illustration. Dan lives and works in Atlanta, GA with his beautiful and inspiring wife Kendal and their feisty bird Jax.
Dan Hillier
With a nod to Max Ernst and 19th century medical and anatomy books, Dan’s collages of found Victoriana and his own ink drawings throw up a darkly humorous collection of unsettling beings from a distant time into the modern world. Dan lives and works in Hackney in East London where he also sells his work as limited edition prints. He has exhibited in various venues in London including the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Deborah Gwinn
Seattle-based artist Deborah Gwinn is a clean freak. It was only natural that in her quest to rid the kitchen of germs she discovered her current medium of choice: regular household bleach. After years of experimentation, Deborah has discovered select papers that will give the results you see in her often ethereal, nature-inspired pieces. There are no fixing mistakes with this medium. One accidental drop in the wrong place and it’s all over. Her achievements with bleach range from delicate winged creatures to moody landscapes. Deborah has captured fans worldwide with her squeaky-clean style.
Dwayne Vance
Dwayne Vance’s passion for design started at age 3 when he started drawing pictures on his closet door.
Dwayne Vance has a Bachelor’s Degree in Automotive Design from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
He began his design career with Troy Lee Designs in Corona, California, as a designer of high-end motocross protective gear. Dwayne then became a senior designer for Mattel,Hot Wheels division. At Hot Wheels, he became a prolific designer, developing everything from Hot Wheels cars to entire lines of new toys. Following his success at Hot Wheels, Dwayne returned to his roots at Troy Lee Designs. There, he continued to design cutting-edge motocross gear including the recent SE2 helmet line and other protective equipment. He now has his own company “Future Elements” – High energy art and design- and is in demand for companies such as Mattel’s Hot Wheels and Batman properties, Hasbro’s Transformers, Texaco, Oakley, Warner Bros, Mazda, Chumba racing, Upper Deck, RC2 Full Throttle, Blackstar Paintball, Troy Lee Designs, EA Games, Bizarre Creations and a few others.
His art work has been featured at the Peterson Automobile Museum in Los Angeles, California, in the Museum’s Hot Wheels collection.As well as other Hot Rod publications, Old school Rods, Rod and Custom,Krusin, Restoration Hot Rods, 2d Artist, Corel Painter Magazine and several others. He recently self published a book called The Hot Rod Art Book: Masters of Chicken Scratch with his and 12 other Hot Rod artist featured in the book.
www.futureelements.net
www.hotrodartbook.com
Dylan Sisson
Dylan Sisson began his professional career writing and illustrating comic books, and from there it was a short step into animation. Dylan finds inspiration for his personal art while doodling on receipts, napkins and bar coasters. He often depicts wall-eyed curiosities with big teeth. The subjects he choses are things that are at once compelling and repugnant, things that blend the unfamiliar with the familiar. Dylan’s artwork has been shown in numerous galleries, and he is the creator of several award-winning independent animated shorts, one of which received a rather cold screening at the South Pole, Antarctica.
Eliza Leahy
Eliza Leahy is an Australian artist who specializes in the rare and beautiful art of scratchboard. Her work is influenced by the animals with whom she shares her life–even when they are naughty. Eliza has no formal art training, having agoraphobia which made it impossible for her to go to college. However, being isolated within a single environment does tend to focus her attentions! Recently Eliza has received an Assistance dog to help her get out more - and Gem (the Papillon) now features in many of her art works. Eliza shows with the Schizophrenia Fellowship Art Show every year, and has artworks in the Royal Brisbane Hospital as well as in private collections in Australia, America and Canada.
Eric Poulton
Eric Poulton is a temporary pocket of low entropy known as a Canadian. Eric Poulton is told he is 25 years old by others, and he has to take their word for it because he doesn’t remember being born. Eric Poulton dreams of making video games for a living, which is handy because that’s already his job. Eric Poulton likes candy and Youtube and outer space. Eric Poulton is .00098 nautical miles tall, approximately 37 degrees celsius and contains 5 litres of A+ type blood. Eric Poulton enjoys pillowfights IN THEORY. Eric Poulton is not a valid command, Cancel/Retry?
Evan Jensen
Evan likes dogs and strong cheeses. Liking the latter has resulted in his forcible ejection from social situations, which is ok, because he likes the outdoors and amusing situations as well. His website is at fathomlessbox.com and contains no marmosets. Yet.
Fabio Iaschi
Fabio Iaschi (aka Torakiki) was born in Parma, Italy where he now lives and works as freelance Art Director, mostly for the web industry. Fabio is passionate about art in any form. Ever since he was kid he loved to draw. Growing up he cultivated other passions such as photography, sculpture, creative writing and poetry. One of his ongoing personal projects is:
Fabiola Garza Villalobos
Fabiola Garza is originally from Mexico but has lived in Turkey, Colombia and currently resides in the Unites States. Since she has been denied a royal title and a grand estate, she has opted to pursue an illustration degree at Rhode Island School of Design in order to satisfy her fascination with fairytales. She would like to learn to waltz and tango, shoot a bow and arrow with unparalleled precision and own a pair of ruby slippers. Recently, though, she has been rethinking her aims, and may decide to become a country maid somewhere in Europe.
France Belleville
As her name might suggest, France grew up in…well…France, though has since moved to the U.S. and become a high school teacher. She has never stopped drawing, and has developed a healthy obsession with Swedish cars, pencil portraits, and never-ending cross-hatching. Check out her site below as well as the youtube links on her product pages to see her sketch in person.
Freise Brothers
Nathan and Adam Freise grew up in Union, Missouri and currently reside in New York City. They both received their B.Arch (Bachelor’s of Architecture) and Minor in Art History at the University of Kansas, Lawrence in 2004. Nathan earned his M.F.A. in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2009. Adam earned his M.ARCH 2 in at Columbia University in 2008.
The Freise brothers work in the medium of digital narratives, combining high definition video and computer graphics / animation. Their short films are highly influenced by their background in architecture and design and interest in experimental environments. Stylistically, their pieces range from a flat two-dimensional graphic quality to a more photo-realistic / cinematic aesthetic and explore themes of technology and design through moving images.
Their latest film, The Machine Stops, was recently screened at the LA International Short Film Festival and is currently in the festival circuit. Their design and graphic work has been featured in several design magazines such as Archivolta and Architect magazine. In 2007 they were awarded as two of Chicago’s “Visionary Young Architects”. They both trained as interns under international architect, Jean Nouvel, in Paris France. They have also worked in a handful of architecture offices in Chicago as designers and digital illustrators. The Freise Brothers are continuing to explore the relationship of digital design, narrative and cinema in their current and future works.
Giselle Gonzales
Giselle Gonzalez has always been enamored with mid-century illustrations, old Hollywood movies, glamorous fashion, and other sparkly nostalgia. She was born and raised in Los Angeles where she is now a freelance illustrator, designer and 3d modeler.
www.marchingapple.blogspot.com
Greg Spalenka
Greg Spalenka has been creating award winning art for major publications in the magazine, newspaper and book publishing
world for 26 years. In 2004 his focus shifted to film and he began working as a concept artist. Film projects include: The Ant Bully, The Golden Compass, Escape from Planet Earth, Prince Caspian: Voyage of the
Dawn Treader. He teaches, lectures, and is involved in a myriad ofpersonal book and music projects.
Helena Garcia
Raised in South Florida, Helena enjoys illustrating whimsical characters consisting of girls with funny hair to animals being mischievous. With a BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design she now freelances full time. when she has some free time she likes to bake cupcakes, take naps with her chihuahua, Kiko and play Nintendo.
Isabella Klein
Isabella is a Dutch artist who specializes in the wonderful and amazing. She spends most of her life in imaginary worlds. Everything she encountered on her many trips to these worlds she has put down on paper, using nothing more then her pencil and a bottle of ink. Her work is inspired by fairytales, folklore, mythology, literature and the shadow-theater of old. Isabella now runs her own business selling her drawings, hand-cut shadow puppets and other handmade goods. Doing work as a freelance illustrator and by custom order, her little world and work can be found at:
Jason Chalker
Jason is a native Texan, currently residing in Chicago, IL. Chalker’s style is reminiscent of the pulp and pin-up art of the 40’s and 50’s. His work is imaginative and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s the kind of art that makes you want to pick up a bad science fiction book or trashy novel and waste a perfectly good summer afternoon living in another, more bizarre world. Jason graduated with a Masters degree in Fine Art from Savannah College of Art and Design in 1994 to embark on a strange and wonderful freelance career in art, design and animation. Recently, Jason was an animator on Richard Linklater’s feature film, A Scanner Darkly, released in the summer of 2006.
Jason Limon
Jason Limon was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas in 1973. He first showed his artistic expression at a fairly young age doodling characters and scenes inspired by his bustling neighborhood and surroundings. He studied fine arts and graphic design at the Visual Arts & Technology Center at San Antonio College and entered the field of commercial graphic design in 1995 acquiring comprehensive knowledge of type, color and composition. Following twelve years of commitment to producing award winning commercial graphic designs he then turned his focus and concentration to where his heart truly began: developing artwork by hand and brush, no longer by the clicks of a mouse. He is currently creating gallery work and illustrations, some of which can be seen in Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, American Illustration, Print Regional Design and Graphics.
Jason Freeny
Born 1970, Silver Spring Maryland. The son of hippies and youngest of
three siblings.
Armed with a youthful, overactive imagination, Jason creates smart,
intricate illustrations that tickle the deviant intellect through a
mix of hard graphics, pop iconography and wit.
During the day, Jason works in Manhattan as a mild mannered designer.
At night, when not watching cartoons, he can be found hunched over his
computer developing works of candy colored madness.
Jason aspires to one day drop the daytime gig…
Jen Lobo
Jen Lobo has an inordinate fondness for animals. Her work is a testament to that love, while combining human themes of loss, love, tragedy, and triumph. She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband, their three children, and a myriad of animal companions.
Jenn Porreca
Jenn Porreca is not afraid to take risks in experimenting with traditionally held rules of artistry. In bridging the distinctive worlds of fine, modern, street, and folk art, Jenn breathes vital life into her unique paintings by infusing her unique outlook on life into each and every piece she composes.
Citing influences from European silhouette and folklore artists of the early 1900s, San Francisco street art, Japanese Manga, her favorite literature, the collective consciousness, turn of the century typography and European architecture, and the mixed Latin/Asian culture of the Philippines, Jenn’s aesthetic is as emotionally and socially meaningful as it is visually stunning.
True to her restless nature, Jenn is always working on new projects. You’ll be sure to see more of this innovator’s progress and work as she further delves into the bottomless pool of artistic beauty and clarity.
Jeremiah Ketner
Jeremiah Ketner paints a world to which fairytales long to belong. With candy-floss landscapes and vivid imaginary images, his work enraptures and transports one into the world ethereal and the life celestial. He has the inimitable ability to transform the natural into the sublime, terra firma into terra ephemera, the defined figure into the delicate, exquisite figurative. Renowned throughout the US and internationally, Ketner attributes his influence to Art Nouveau, Japanese Aesthetics and Magna. He resides and creates from his home and studio in Chicago, IL, USA.
Jo-Anne Rioux
Jo Rioux was born in Ottawa, Canada, and raised on a steady diet
of French comic books and Japanese animation. Working from this
foundation and the influence of many golden age illustrators,
she strives to produce the same type of charming, colorful
illustrations she loved as a child. Animals, nature, and old
folk tales are her favorite subject matter.
She has worked on young adult novels for HarperCollins and
children’s graphic novels for Kids Can Press.
John Golden
John Golden is a digital artist working and living in Wilmington, North Carolina. He recently chucked his career as a broadcast designer to be a full-time working artist, and so far, his children have not gone hungry. He creates works that replicate traditional methods by almost entirely digital means (he scans a texture or two). His broadcast work for networks such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon gave him an opportunity to develop an artistic sense that makes his art appeal to grown-ups and kids of all ages.
John Clark
John has obessively drawn with sharpies since he can remember. His artistic influences are pulp novel covers, film noir, and comic books. Beautiful, dangerous women are almost exclusively the subject of his art. Other than doodling, he spends too much time obsessing over comics, movies, videogames and his girlfriend. He’s currently rocking out in Ann Arbor and will be a proud Michigander until he dies.
John Coulthart
JOHN COULTHART’s first illustration work was for the Hawkwind album Church of Hawkwind in 1982. Since then his designs and illustrations have appeared on record sleeves, CD and DVD packages for Cradle of Filth, Alan Moore & Tim Perkins, Steven Severin, Fourth World music pioneer Jon Hassell and many others. John is a contributor to Arthur Magazine.
As a comic artist John produced the Lord Horror series ‘Reverbstorm’ with David Britton for Savoy Books, and received the dubious accolade of having an earlier Savoy title, ‘Hard Core Horror’ 5, declared obscene in a British court of law. A new graphic work, ‘The Soul’, is being planned with Alan Moore (From Hell, V for Vendetta). His collection of HP Lovecraft adaptations and illustrations, The Haunter of the Dark and Other Grotesque Visions, was republished in 2006 by Creation Oneiros.
As a book designer and illustrator John continues to work for Savoy Books, and in 2003 designed the acclaimed Thackery T Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts.
John’s work has been showcased in Rapid Eye, Critical Vision, Clive Barker’s A-Z of Horror, EsoTerra, Penny Blood, CNN.com and the Channel 4 television series Banned in the UK. He lives and works in Manchester, England.
John U. Abrahamson
John U. Abrahamson was born in Chicago, IL in 1962 and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. Having shown in galleries and museums internationally, he is part of the personal collection of Steven Pieczenik, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, and James Baker. His artistic inspirations range from his highly religious upbringing, the physical disability of his first wife, and the urban decay of Chicago’s neighborhoods. He currently resides in San Francisco with his wife and son.
Josef Beery
Josef Beery is a graphic artist in Charlottesville, Virginia. While his head and hands work on digital communications for institutional clients both print and web, his feet and heart are firmly founded in the idea of ‘the book’ and its origins, social function, and its craft tradition. He is a cofounder of the Virginia Arts of the Book Center. He is a journaliser with an extensive body of personal artists books as well as digital blogs. Additionally, Josef is a great advocate of relief printmaking. The oldest form of printmaking and the most accessible to the non-artist, relief printmaking has deep roots in social commentary, and is responsible for the spread of visual art into the lives of the common man.
Joe Chiang
JoE was born in Singapore in the 70’s. He grew up watching Japanese cartoons and playing Atari video games throughout the 80’s. JoE has been drawing since he was four years old, re-creating characters from his favorite Japanese shows such as Ultraman, Astro Boy and Godzilla. Years later, JoE has refined his drawing skills, but continues to draw many of the same characters and images inspired by his childhood. JoE’s originals, limited edition prints, zines and toys are collected worldwide and can be found online in his Etsy shop. To see more of JoE’s work, visit…
Karen Preston
Karen has always felt that art is magic.; that there is such an excitement that comes with creating something from nothing. One moment there is a blank space, and the next, she’s created a new world to fill it. When Karen finishes a piece that she likes, it’s such a high that she can’t sleep that night. It takes her between a week and forever to complete a piece. Like many artists, she feels that the pieces that come easily are sent to her from somewhere else. Wherever that is, she is grateful for the glimpse inside.
Kate McInnes
Kate McInnes (aka – LoungeKat) is an Illustrator and Designer from Melbourne, Australia. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally in shows such as Yen magazine’s Curvy, Gimme Shelter, Dex, Plastic Pimps, FreQee, Cut Outs and Toy2R’s DIY Bart tour.
Most commonly known for her seductive drawings of women LoungeKat has recently ventured into pattern design and collaborative work with fellow vector illustrator Sean Kelly (Bucket‘o’Thought) You can see her work on custom toys, skateboards, badges, t-shirts, cd covers, greeting cards and limited edition prints.
Kate is co-director of the Suit Up project. www.suitupshow.com
Keith Thompson
Keith Thompson currently lives in Canada’s capital and works internationally as a freelance artist. His work is used in books, magazines, tv, films and videogames.
Kellie Schneider
Kellie is a self-taught visual artist living in Michigan. She has been drawing since she could first hold a pencil. By age 5, Kellie knew that she would be an artist. She first began painting with old cans of house paint, and made full length books with stacks of paper plates. At 11, experimenting as a minimalist, Kellie painted the entire kitchen eggshell white including the sink, microwave, and counter tops as a birthday “surprise” for her father. Needless to say, through the years Kellie has taken her art in several directions; currently, she is submerged in the world of illustration. She recently began her first illustrated book entitled Cadis & Adelaide, a wordless novel, tracing the lives of two tongue-tied and bewildering individuals. A catalog of her recent work can be found at:
www.kelliedrawspictures.etsy.com.
Kevin Evans
Kevin Evans chosen mediums are painting, printmaking, sculpture and digital media. Professional associations include: Lucasfilm, Sega, Take 2, Activision, Sony, San Francisco Chronicle, Mondo 2000, The Nose, East Bay Express, S.F. Bay Guardian, Sacramento News & Review, and Project H.E.A.R. Publications: A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by HP Lovecraft & Reader’s Guide to the Cthulhu Mythos. In 1990 Kevin, along with John Law, were key in the relocation of The Burning Man Project from San Francisco to Nevada. The effigy was a centerpiece of a Cacophony Society event Law and Evans sponsored, “Zone Trip #4, Bad day at Black Rock”.
Kiriko Moth
Kiriko Moth is a native northern Californian who grew up in Nashville and now lives in San Francisco with an oddly-toed cat named Zack. She arrived with a BFA in graphic design, only to become bored and ditch that plan to work towards a career in freelance illustration. Her art is a modern version of art nouveau, combining traditional ink with digital color, with sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk themes. Kiriko’s work has been shown at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and in Realms of Fantasy magazine.
In her spare time she knits and figure skates, and even designs logos and sets type every now and then.
Lola
Lola was born in 1975, in Riverside, CA.
She attended Riverside Community College, yet found leaving home and
painting from the heart was her destined path. On her return to the Inland
Empire, she found an open door for an apprenticeship and position as a
tattoo artist. As it would turn out, the tattoo career was short-lived, as
she became a mother at age 25 and a single mother of 2 girls by age 30.
Painting offered a sympathetic hand through those tenuous years, and by
the year 2000 had become a daily ritual. She began showing her work in Los
Angeles shortly thereafter, and her engaging works garnered notice. Enough
so, that Lola now lives, paints, and supports her two most precious
sources for inspiration in the vibrant City of Angels.
Intrinsically, Lola’s works derive from therapeutic undertones which she
carefully interprets through narrative. Both as an artist and as an
individual, she is continuously striving to convey a positive message.
Through self discovery as well as employing the processes of healing, the
works begin to complete a circuit in which the viewer is an imperative
element. Lola continues to evolve with a brave and elegant grace,
exploring interests in self awareness, nurturing, humanity, science and
nature, music, literature, and other outer-worldly curiosities.
Madoka Ito
Madoka Ito (b.1973) grew up in Kyoto, Japan. Raised by non-traditional, artistic parents, she continues the custom of non-tradition. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 1996 and enjoys creating poetic and whimsical oil & sumi ink painting on wood. From 2006, she started collaborating with her husband, sculptor Johnny Mac, to produce mechanical, moving painting/sculpture called ‘Cyclectic Art.’ She has shown her work in Portland, Boston, Kyoto & Tokyo.
Marc Gabbana
Marc Gabbana is an illustrator and concept artist who works in the advertising, publishing and motion picture industries
His movie credits include Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, Star Wars Ep. 1 + 2 and War of the Worlds. He is currently busy writing and illustrating a book about a World populated with a myriad of never before seen creatures and monsters.
Marcus Parcus
Q: Who is MP?
A: Marcus Parcus, Image-Maker & ‘Pataphysician*
Q: What is MP?
A: A Peculiar School Bus, With Eyes
Q: When is MP?
A: Nonce Upon A Time
Q: Where is MP?
H: http://themonkeymind.livejournal.com
Q: Why is MP?
X: Yes and No.
Q: How is MP?
H: Hungry as a Dog in Winter
*EADEM MUTATA RESURGO
Mark Pilon
Mark Atomos Pilon was born under the Northern Lights, in Canada’s mysterious north. Perhaps it’s a childhood dwarfed by the aurora borealis that made him seek out his alias. After graduating from art school, Mark was researching an art project when he stumbled across a Walt Disney book called “Our Friend the ATOM”. The Greek name Atomos leapt out at him. “It means indivisible, or the smallest possible object,” Mark explains. “Mystery and science are a good working combination.”
Now based on the West Coast, he sent his imagination into a future that may never arrive. Every aspect of his art is carefully computer drawn and then meticulously painted in acrylic layers, to give them a sharp, print-like synthetic quality.
Mark has worked in magazine design for over 15 years as a designer and illustrator. Today he is one of three creative directors for Vancouver’s Georgia Straight Magazine His commercial clients include IKEA, Walgreens, the Sierra Club, and Virgin. He continues to illustrate for magazines worldwide and paints for galleries across North America. His paintings are a natural transition from his editorial illustrations, which are still computer constructed.
Those paintings grew out of Mark’s love of underground comics, space-age record jackets, scooter culture, and Moog music. “I’ve always been interested in the graphic arts of the 50s and 60s. They always used the best colours and lines. I love the work of Gene Deitch, Mary Blair, BC Binning, and Jim Flora.”
His most recent pieces reflect a post-pop conviction with an dab of surrealism that casts aside logic to reveal slices of modern life projected from dark holes into a dreamy multicolored world. It’s a style that can be recognized in an instant, but will stay with you for a lifetime. However, it’s not for everyone - if you’re looking for institutional, naturalistic art, keep on walking. “I have a lot of people tell me their kids can paint better than me,” Pilon says with a laugh. “I’m okay with that.”
In 2006, Mark received the Best Illustration Feature award for “Running on Empty” at the Western Magazine Awards.
Mark’s work is fast and clean, delivered on time. He can also give you the real thing: hand-painted in acrylic and delivered to your door. Private commissions are accepted. If you have an idea for a painting, send him a note.
Matt Adrian
Matt Adrian lives and works in the mountains north of L.A. He began painting birds in early 2007 and is finding it difficult to stop. He is overly excited about having bought his first house and finally having a real art studio for his art and design business “The Mincing Mockingbird.” He vehemently denies that he paints birds to make up for killing a starling with a pellet gun when he was eleven.
Mattias Adolfsson
Mattias Adolfsson lives with his wife and two children in Sigtuna outside of Stockholm, Sweden. Mattias has a Masters of Fine Arts in graphic design. During the course of his artistic career, he has made animations for music videos & film and has been involved in making computer games. Mattias started a sketch blog in 2006, which has since been one of the most visited sketch blogs in the world. It has given him freelance work from all over the globe. He is currently working on a children’s book and a comic book due out in 2009.
Matt Cipov
Matt Cipov is a self employed artist and designer who lives Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA with his wife and son. His art can range from creepy, to whimsical, to somber…because he is quite passionate about capturing all three of these moods. Matt spends his time doing commissioned works, graphic design for bands, gallery showings, books, art for movies and all sorts of collaborations. He is a nice boy who loves drawing.
Michael DiPetrillo
After graduating the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in illustration, Mikeatron became an interplanetary illustration mercenary with the intent to laugh, be laughed at, or laugh with. He is inspired by clouds, stars, stripy things, everyday occurrence of non-sequitur, coffee and cats. Mikeatron can be counted on to make excellent laser noises and gives first-class hugs. Mikeatron also knows that he is not fooling anyone by writing his own biography in third person.
Michelle Brusegaard
Michelle Brusegaard is a renaissance artist living in in Minneapolis, MN, originally from North Dakota. She received her BFA from the University of North Dakota in 2005 with concentrations in oil painting and photography, also studying a lot of surface design (mostly batik). Since her graduation, she has taken on screen-printing and graphic design. Pattern and modern color palettes creep their way into every painting, photo and design she creates. Her work ranges from expressionistic oil paintings commenting on banality to screen-printed dishtowels. Check out her website where you will find links to her Etsy shop and blog.
Myke Amend
Mke’s goal is to create calm, beautiful, and sometimes depressing scenes, atop an undercurrent of confusion, rage, terror, fascination, love, wonder, and even jest - all based upon a random combination of obvious themes, and obscured meanings - for others to interpret, or project, as they will.
No matter the concept, or the underlying meaning, Myke presents a great amount of activity, drama, and even chaos, in the most tranquil and serene settings and poses - he aims for each piece to present something new to each viewer with each and every day.
N8 Main
N8 honed his drawing chops at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and at Watts Atelier in San Diego, where he also developed a healthy obsession with drawing, sculpting and painting the human figure. In N8’s visual stories, he sometimes uses humor in the subtle details to get his point across. His skill is such that he can easily transition from a very graphic, illustrative style to figurative fine art without a hitch. Currently, he is into painting with oils on wood, sculpting and making digital paintings, but still enjoys a good old sketchpad and a ballpoint pen every now and then. N8 draws inspiration from artists such as Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell, Richard Schmidt and Peter De Seve, to name but a few.
Nathan Ota
As a young aspiring artist, Nathan Ota has always found himself drawing and copying anything he could get his hands on from cartoons, photographs, comics to old Punk-rock flyers. His early influences gravitated him towards popular culture and at that time, it was Graffiti art. This influence still permeates his personal work today. Ota currently freelances in the commercial arts, and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design, CA and Santa Monica College, CA. His personal work has been displayed in numerous shows throughout Los Angeles. Ota was born, and resides in Los Angeles, he earned his Bachelors degree in Illustration at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. in 1993.
Nicholas Kole
Nicholas Kole is a freelance Illustrator with a passion for: (in chronological order from first love to most recent) God, comics, lobsters, and Steampunk! A compulsive doodler since his thumb and forefinger could grip a crayon, heís just grateful that people seem to want to pay him. Born in America, heís been traveling abroad for the last 12 years of his life, settling (for the time being) in the city of Providence where he is finishing off his Junior year at the Rhode Island School of Design. Just don’t ask him where Home is; you’re likely to get into a very long conversation. Various scribblings and scratchings can be viewed at:
Noah Scalin
Noah is a lifelong activist and founder of the award-winning, socially conscious design & consulting firm Another Limited Rebellion. Noah’s work at ALR has gained international exposure in over two-dozen books and is frequently featured in design publications. Noah’s fine art has been exhibited internationally and his first book, SKULLS, based on his Webby award-winning online art project Skull-A-Day(www.skulladay.com), has been featured in a segment on the Martha Stewart Show and was honored by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a “Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers”. Noah is also an adjunct faculty member in the graphic design department at Virginia Commonwealth University where he teaches Design Rebels, a course on socially conscious graphic design. Noah is currently plotting to take over the universe with his multi-platform science-fiction project League of Space Pirates.
Ochie Caraan
Ochie is a Filipina, eldest among the four girl siblings who grew up looking up to her parents expectations. She used to believe that she could deal with things in her life precisely. But as she precedes life, reality approaches leaving her a confusion of what she wants in life. She took up Bachelor of Fine Arts in college at The University of Santo Tomas aspiring to amend her skills. She worked as graphic designer in several printing and design companies and recently into business. Now she’s in the freelance industry enhancing and sharing her aptitude for arts.
Rob Pitt
Rob Pitt is an independent and talented artist who lives and works in Portland, Maine. At the age of two his mother enticed him with crayons, paints, markers, and scissors. “No coloring books!” she would say, so as not to stifle his creativity. That was the beginning of his journey towards a labor of love in illustration and graphic design. To see more work by Rob you can visit his portfolio site:
Robert Horvitz
Robert Horvitz has taught at some of the world’s top schools (Yale, MIT, RISD, etc.), but since 1991 has lived in Prague helping to develop electronic media (broadcasting and Internet) in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. Committed to all parts of the electromagnetic continuum, his drawings have been shown in many countries. Most of his time now goes to the Open Spectrum Foundation which promotes license-free access to the radio spectrum.
Ryan Berkley
Ryan Berkley is a self-taught artist born and raised in California and now living in Portland, Oregon.
His major artistic influences are comic book and nature (the sea in particular). His mediums of choice are design markers, colored pencils, and pen and ink.
Ryan got his break in the illustration world by illustrating the how-to-craft book, “Super Crafty” and designing for the t-shirt company, Monsieur T.
He currently participates in art shows across the country while continuously churning out his trademark “Sophisticated Animals” series for his Etsy shop.
www.berkleyillustration.etsy.com
Ryan Caraan
Rai is a freelance Illustrator and drawing has been his passion since childhood. He graduated Bachelor of Fine Arts Advertising Major in The University of Santo Tomas and worked as a graphic artist for six years. He resigned from his work to pursue another path in his field, which is illustrating. A hobby which turned into a profession, Rai gets inspiration to his work from
comic books, animations, movies, video games and anything that brings out the fun in his job. He currently lives and works in the Philippines and is continually building up his portfolio to
showcase his talent.
www.castortroy3497.deviantart.com/gallery/
Scott Saw
Scott Saw creates vibrant, energetic paintings where dreams and current surroundings cross-pollinate with childhood memories and subconscious interpretations of the afterlife. His work entangles birth, life and death and explores the relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds. Saw’s paintings have been regarded as romanticized gothic landscapes of nature, misfits and oddities.
“I’m inspired by space, nature, the universe, love, sadness, euphoria, beauty, vitality, physics, death, the idea that there is more to our existence than this short life on Earth. My art truly It is a reflection of what is going on inside me. It’s a way for me to express deep feelings and ideas… a way to keep a secret and spill my guts at the same time. It’s therapy.”
Sean Kelly
Sean Kelly has been producing work as a freelance artist since the late 90’s. Over time, his work has evolved from traditional media illustrations and storyboards to digital illustration, graphic design, and 2D animation. Sean likes witty banter, commuter cycling, moving mediation and a good story. For the latest Sean stuff and online shop check out:
Stephane Demolombe
aka Stefdem is a french artist from Paris of 35 years. Inspired by comics, 70’s designs, posters with strong message and few colors, he is a self-made illustrator who let the pictures invade him before landing on the paper or on the screen.
From sketchbooks to computer monitor, Stéphane explores many ways to express what he have in mind. He can do cartoon characters and realistic design in the same time for differents demands.
A part of his work can be found here : www.stefdem.com
Stephen Rothwell
Trained in the dark arts of painting, drawing and sticking stuff together with glue, Stephen Rothwell spends his life burrowing through piles of ephemera wielding his scissors, paintbrushes, cameras and scanners and recreating the worlds that haunt his dreams. On one of his legendary rambles through the outlying regions of Old London Town Stephen stumbled upon the Darkhouse Quarter,a place so very strange he has dedicated the rest of his life to documenting the surreal lives of it’s denizens. Darkhouse Quarter is not a fantasy world,it’s a real place,you just have to know where to find it.
Steve Light
Steve Light grew up in an enchanted place known as New Jersey. He went on to study illustration at Pratt Institute & studied under Dave Passalacqua. After graduating, Steve created illustrations for corporations until he was given an opportunity to teach art to small children. It was in this classroom where he discovered greatest joy–to share stories with children and introduce them to new worlds that they can only visit with their imaginations. Steve has since published six children’s books. His book, the Shoemaker Extraordinaire was in the children’s book show at the Society of Illustrators. Sharing stories with children has also inspired Steve to create storyboxes consisting of hand-carved wooden figures used to dramatize stories. He enjoys the effect these props have in stirring young imaginations.
Susan Rudat
Susan has been obsessed with art since she was just a wee sprout. When she was five, she entered an art contest to “draw something green” sponsored by a lawn care company. She took this very seriously, entering ten pieces of art. When a First Place certificate arrived in the mail, she was hooked. She knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. Many years of her artistic work involved film animation, dealing with positive and negative mattes used for multiple exposures on one frame of film. As an artist and illustrator, this technique has stayed with her to this day. Susan has worked in Texas as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator for more than twenty years now. In keeping with her “green” roots, she enjoys landscaping as a part-time day job when design business is slow.
Tilly Bloom
Tilly Bloom was born and raised in Scotland and lived in the shadow of an ancient castle before moving to the United States 7 years ago. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York which she finds nearly as bonnie as her home city, and certainly much more delicious.Tilly is fond of all things unique, unusual and bizarre. She would rather buy an antique with its own history and personality than something shiny and new; or something handmade with care rather than mass-produced. Tilly gets ideas from all kinds of things–from spaceships to Scottish slang or Victorian costume, inanimate objects like teapots, umbrellas (especially umbrellas! perhaps because of all that Scottish drizzle…?) antique telephones, Bowler hats and of course her two favorite things, film and literature.
Travis Louie
From the tiny little drawings and many writings in his journals, Travis Louie has created his own imaginary world. Somewhat grounded in Victorian and Edwardian times, it is inhabited by human oddities, mythical beings, and otherworldly characters who appear to have had their formal portraits taken to mark their existence and place in society. The underlining thread that connects all these characters is the unusual circumstances that shape who they were and how they lived. Some of their origins are a complete mystery while others are hinted at. A man is cursed by a goat, a strange furry being is discovered sleeping in a hedge, an engine driver can’t seem to stop vibrating in his sleep, a man overcomes his phobia of spiders, etc. Using inventive techniques of painting with acrylic washes and simple textures on smooth boards, he’s created portraits from an alternate universe that seemingly may or may not have existed.