In the beginning, early influences

Finding My Voice Part 1

When i think of the artists that i admire, i know that i can see their work and recognize their hand in the work often without seeing attribution. The way they paint and the narrative expressed is clearly their own. It is their voice.

My arts education, at Utah State University, was in commercial art as an illustrator first and then an art director (advertising) as i finished my bachelor degree. I took the foundational art classes that all artist take (drawing, painting, sculpture and color theory), but the focus of my study was to get a job at an agency – which meant being able to create unique creative solutions for each client in order to differentiate that brand. So one could say i was trained to re-invent my artistic expression (or voice) to match each client i had.

So now, that i am trying to be more intentional about my own art, i am struggling a little to find a unique voice for my own creative output.

Early Influences

In school and for the first 10 years of my personal artwork i focused on more realistic and illustrative work. You can see the influences of the artists that i was drawn to: Andrew Wyeth, NC Wyeth, Howard Pyle, Norman Rockwell, JC Leyendecker, John Singer Sargent etc (see the current list of artists i admire here)

My artwork examples – compare to the artists above and you can start to see (awkward or obscure though it might be) how i was “copying” the style of the artists that i admired

I started by copying the work and style of artists that i admired. In retrospect i was also literally copying what i saw; i often use photo references and hadn’t really started practicing editing what i was seeing to improve the storytelling and composition.

Next: Maturing my eye

Some references:

• Erika Landcaster – Finding your voice
• Lisa Congdon – Sparking Creativity
• Artist Network – How to jump start your creativity
• Artist Network – Dealing with fear in you art