This week’s artist spotlight post is about another big influence of mine– although this artist is from a long time ago. Alphonse Mucha the Czech illustrator, alive and active mostly during the 19th Century, is very influential and inspirational to me. I wrote a long research paper in college examining the ideas behind his work (and how it fit into the Art Nouveau movement)… one on which I made an “A,” I might add.

Zodiac – © Alphonse Mucha

I think that art history is a very important piece of education that every successful artist should have. Even if you did not go to college for art, in my opinion it is endlessly important to study and learn about what art is, where it was been, and who has been doing it. Everything in art influences everything else, and studying how it was evolved is not only critical, but fascinating. Because I took extra history classes in college, I had the pleasure of learning about Alphonse Mucha, the Art Nouveau movement, and how it has influenced artists and illustrators alike since.

Champagne Label – © Alphonse Mucha*

Mucha’s work ranged from simple decorative panels to posters (most notably being those for Sarah Bernhardt’s plays), from beautiful fine art paintings and drawings to the breath-taking Slav Epic. He also did sculptures and a variety of jewelry designs, all of which are inspirational, beautiful, and delicious to look at.

Apotheosis from the Slav Epic – © Alphonse Mucha

I’ve many an art book about him, and have studied about him at length– which is why you can easily see elements of his style pop up in my work from time to time. I am very into decorative art, and it shows. Go take a look at my Gallery and see if you can determine how each of my pieces was influenced by Alphonse Mucha. If you can’t, you should totally do some reading about Art Nouveau, and check out the official Mucha Foundation website to learn more about this fantastic artist. I would write more in depth here, but after writing a fifteen page paper about him, I feel like I’ve written all I can write. Perhaps I should post it here sometime for others to peruse. Interested? Comment and tell me!

*… for those of you very attentive readers who were inspired to visit James Jean’s blog last week may have noticed that Jean has just done some alcoholic beverage bottle designs of his own. I love seeing parallels like this!

This past Valentine’s weekend I was privileged to see the Atlanta Ballet’s special Valentine’s performance of Dracula. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a complete ballet nerd. I take ballet classes (have been for about three years now), and try to read about and see as much ballet as possible. It’s a fascinating art form, and I find that ballet-inspired things keep creeping back into my work often.

Lucy as Nosferatu – Graphite and watercolor in Moleskine

Seeing Dracula as a ballet was simply amazing. I had been wanting to see the AB’s Valentine Special for years now (first The Great Gatsby and then Romeo and Juliet) but circumstances frequently made it to where I couldn’t. I’m thankful I made it to this year’s show because it was in the AB’s new venue, the Cobb Energy Centre. It’s a beautiful theater with an expansive auditorium and wonderful sound and lighting. My technical director boyfriend was going ape over the high powered lighting in there, which was amusing and nerdy.

Lucy – Graphite and watercolor in Moleskine

They did a really good job of making this ballet creepy. The score and choreography were mesmerizing, and they really managed to capture that feeling of, well… death. Dracula himself, played by John Welker was fantastic– his movements were loaded with sexual tension and frightening power. Sensuous and fluid, he commanded the stage completely every time he came on.

Mina – Graphite and watercolor in Moleskine

My favorite ballerina, Anne Tyler Harshbarger, played as Lucy in this performance, and as usual I loved her. I saw her earlier this season in Swan Lake as one of the swans (and various other corps parts), as well as Ballerina Marya in The Nutcracker. As cliché as it may sound, I loved the part of Lucy after her death and rebirth as a Nosferatu. Maybe it’s just seeing a ballerina spattered in blood and looking mostly dead with disheveled hair that did it for me. I think that makes sense… a lot of my illustrations have been about the decay of femininity, and portraying pretty or innocent, child-like things with a touch of darkness and grotesque to them. Right up my alley.

Dracula and Lucy – Graphite and watercolor in Moleskine

Some of the other audience members really held my interest as well. A lot of gothic types came out to play, and I saw many a hoopskirt, petticoat, and strange Victorian-flavored attire. I also saw lots of purple and red hair, striped stockings, and lip piercings. My boyfriend and I made quite the game of spotting the most interesting characters wandering around during the intermissions.

Needless to say, the entire experience was amazing. I left with my head filled of images that I wanted to get out just as soon as I got home, and these sketches with watercolor overlaid were some of those. They were quick studies, maybe a handful of minutes each, and perhaps about an hour for the bigger Dracula and Lucy piece.

For this week’s inspirational post, I thought I’d post about one of the single biggest professional inspirations I’ve had thus far: James Jean. He is a famous illustrator, and he’s done the covers for Fables (and other comics) for years now as well as created lots of freelance work for all sorts of clients the world over. He has shown up in magazines, CD covers, on television, and even in Prada stores. He has now gone one step further, and started focusing on his art for himself, with his first big gallery show “Kindling” at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York.

Wolves – Fables Trade Paperback #8 – Acrylics on paper with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

I was inspired by Mr. Jean quite some years ago when my friend John Fuller handed me the first Trade Paperback of Fables. I’m pretty sure I had been complaining that I hadn’t read any comics recently (but I always complain about that), and he let me borrow it to read. Obviously I was instantly hooked on the comic itself, but I also found the cover artist to be extremely intriguing. I remember examining each piece with great intensity, frankly amazed at what I saw.

Sigur Ros for Future Music Magazine – Graphite and white chalk on Rives with Photoshop. © 2006 James Jean.

It was some time later before I found his website, and really got a good idea about what he did. Up until that point, my artist goals had been… well, rather mutable in nature. I had never even known about the concept of a freelance illustrator that could do everything from magazine illustrations to comic covers until I surveyed his work, and realized that THAT was what I wanted to do with my art. My goal was set, and so began my own journey to find that career.

Swan – Acrylic, oil, and pastel on linen. © 2008 James Jean.

His work itself is delicious. Flowing, graceful lines, fascinating and unexpected color palettes, ethereal and sometimes downright creepy subject matters and presentation make for one awesome package to swallow. A lot of his images tend to hit the eye with a quick– SPLASH!, and then once you’ve taken a moment, it really begins to steep and soak into your brain. The movement and compositions of each piece are phenomenal, and really make sure the eye travels around the entire visual plane. Watching an artist grow, change, and really push his work into new territories over the years is a fascinating and wonderful experience. I personally hope he continues to inspire not only me, but other artists and illustrators, for quite some time.

Please make sure to check out his website, JamesJean.com, and his blog, Process Recess to see his artwork. He has also published a number of art books that you should check out, my personal favorite being Fables: Covers (of course!).

I would really like to get into the habit of doing small spotlight blurbs on artists that I enjoy and find inspirational. Mondays are always the worst days when it comes to getting back into the swing of things at work– it’s just a simple fact of life. I thought looking at some inspirational art at the beginning of the week could benefit everyone, so Mondays it is!

It took me some time to really decide who I was going to spotlight in this first post. I decided on a colleague and former classmate of mine, Kelly McKernan. She just had a show open in Little Five Points at the Aurora Coffee Shop located on Moreland Avenue. Being that it’s fresh in my mind, and that not only is her hard work inspirational to others, but so is her art, I thought I’d begin with her.

The Sea Witch – Watercolor, Gouache, Ink on Silver Gelatin Print © 2008 Kelly McKernan

Kelly is an emerging illustrator whose work really delivers some fun eye candy… and she has certainly begun catching the attention of the Atlanta scene because of it. She has had a parade of shows and galleries she’s been featured in, has sold quite a number of her paintings (including the one above to me!) and prints, and even self-published her own book showcasing her monstrous “30 Paintings Project” that she completed last year.

Fidelity – Watercolor, Gouache, and Bleach with Silver Gelatin Print on Stretched and Stained Watercolor Paper © 2009 Kelly McKernan

I happen to particularly love her mixture of photography and painting together to create a bit of an otherworldly feel to her work. Watching her play with and discover new techniques and ways to approach her art has been fascinating; she has really come up with some innovative ideas. Having such a strong narrative quality to her work is another aspect that draws my attention, along with soothing colors, strongly characterized line qualities, and sets of components that are sometimes odd to see placed within the same visual field.

Fidelity – Gouache with Silver Gelatin Print on Stretched and Stained Watercolor Paper © 2009 Kelly McKernan

Kelly’s great art and hard work has been really inspirational to me, so I hope it is for you as well. Please be sure to check out her blog, Rocket Socks and Plastic Locks, and her website, KellyMcKernan.com to see all of her artwork and a listing of her upcoming shows.