50
Collage Xoil Tattoo 4 Monty Python 5 Mark Weaver 6 Leif Podhajsky 7 Cultural Aboriginal Art Maori 9
Psychedelic Adam Jones 38 Skip + Die 39
CHAPTERS
8
Companies Red Tiki 22 Mediakings 23
Japan Hokusai 10 Ikko Tanaka 11 Music Miyavi 12 BjĂśrk 13 Split Enz 14 Storm Thorgerson
Personal Jos v/d Berg 24 Kim 25 People Rinous Souisa 26 Pippi Longstocking 27
15
Television SYTYCD 28 Hans Teeuwen 29
Graphic Designers Wild Plakken 16 Anthon Beeke 17 Illustrators Sharma Heylen-Silvia RaphaĂŤl Vicenzi 19 Webdesign Supreme Sound 20 Adam Hartwig 21
18
Movies Jack Sparrow 30 Quentin Tarantino 31 Animation Walt Disney 32 Pixar 33 Reading DBZ manga 34 Books 35 Photography Helmut Newton 36 Brooke Shaden 37
Street Art Ellen Stapleton 40 Various 41 Nature/animals Turtles 42 Danielle Frenken 43 Nature 44 Thomas Maurer 45 Painters Tamara de Lempicka 46 Henri Toulouse-Lautrec 47 Various artists Kandinsky 48 Tim Burton 49 Salvador Dali 50 M.C. Escher 51 Architecture Gaudi 52 Efteling 53 My own profiling Spread 54-55
INTRODUCTION This little book is about my heroes and sources of inspiration. Some are people I know, some are artists who I’ve found inspirational for a long time and some are interesting discoveries done searching for a total of 50. These heroes can be an inspiration in my own work, in a way of life, or just because I think their work is awesome and I wish to achieve something similar. I’ve tried to find heroes in several types of fields, not just graphic design but everything around me. It took quite a while to complete the list to satisfaction. But I think this is a pretty good overview of what I like, who I am and who I want to be. Enjoy!
I think tattoos are a beautiful way of making art. Not every type of tattoo, but most certainly the work of Xoil, a French tattoo artist. He uses lines, spaces, graphical shapes and mixes it as if it’s a photoshop collage. His work is truly unique, very literally “the body as a canvas”.
XOIL TATTOO
The best thing about Monty Python is their complete over-the-top absurd humor. They dislike controversy and cliche’s and have become pioneers by inventing their own unique way of performing. The absurdity has become their trademark and is visible in their sketches, movies, books, animations, artwork and even in the titles of all their media. What I like the most is their combination of illustration, photo collage and typography. It always has something “cheesy” about it, with an absurd humor. I love it!
MONTY PYTHON 5
Mark Weaver seems to have an obsession for round shapes, which you see in almost all of his work. He uses photography, graphics and illustration to make his work and often it’s just an idea and he wants to make something awesome (like his ongoing project “make something awesome every day”). I like the idea that you can just make something without a deeper meaning to it and how he’s able to make something common as a circle his trademark.
MARK WEAVER 6
The work of Leif is about connection, the relevance of nature and psychedelic experiences. I love his intense use of colors, the strange depths he creates and the authentic/vintage feeling. He often creates collages but sometimes with just one image. By repeating and different crops he creates interesting images.
LEIF PODHAJSKY 7
In 2013 I’ve been in Australia for 4,5 months. I became obsessed with the country. I want to know all about it. In particular about the Aboriginals and their art. It’s one of the most ancient people still living almost exactly as they’ve always done. Their art tells their stories with the use of symbols. Nowadays Aboriginals can still recall what the meaning of those symbols is, because it has never changed. It feels and looks so pure, so simple yet so complicated. There’s something about it which fascinates me.
ABORIGINAL ART 8
As long as I live I’ve had family in New Zealand. At age 11 I’ve been there myself and ever since I have a great interest in the Maori culture. Their connection with nature and admirable craftsmanship is very inspiring. I like the shapes they use in woodcarving, jewelry and tattoos. The shapes are strong and wild, yet perfectly symmetric and round, without any use of modern technology. Their expression is a lot more aggressive then Aboriginal Art, but also a lot more precise.
MAORI 9
Just like with the Maori’s and Aboriginals I have a thing with the culture and traditions of Japan. I can’t really point out what it is exactly, but something about it fascinates me. Maybe it’s the richness of their history, stories and their art. A few years ago I’ve seen an exhibition about Hokusai. The details in his work are insane, very secure and precise., especially when you see how it’s printed using woodblocks. I love how the main subject is not always the most important in his compositions. Such as Mt. Fuji in his series “36 views of Mt. Fuji”.
HOKUSAI 10
I love it when old traditions are being used as an inspiration for new things. Miyavi (next page) does that with his music using traditional instruments. For Ikko Tanaka it’s his trademark. Using traditional Japanese elements such as a geisha and make a modern expression of it. It’s a very graphical approach, using lines and shapes and contrasting colors, without any depth in it.
IKKO TANAKA 11
Miyavi is one of my favorite musicians. Besides the fact I have a thing with Japan and it’s culture and that I like the music Miyavi makes (I like the fact I don’t understand it, but still can feel the vibe of the music) I think he’s an inspiring person. Every album he releases is completely new. A new style of music, a new personality, a new type of artwork. Where a lot of artists stick to what they’re good at, Miyavi always re-invents himself and knows how to surprise his fans. I’d like to have that same attitude in my own work.
MIYAVI 12
Björk becomes a sculpture herself; mixing her music, her album artwork and her performance to a strange, creative unity. Her music is always about a connection with nature, which I find inspiring itself (but that’s in a different chapter). Her latest album Biophilla is the first album ever to appear as an app. In the app she mixes music, art and technology.
BJörk 13
Split Enz is about music, culture, fashion and art. They’re a New Zealand band, most successful in the 70’s and 80’s. They’re like an early, male and group version of Lady Gaga. Hair, make-up and clothing makes them to strange sculpture like performers. They’re exuberant, colorful and somewhat nuts; exactly what I like.
SPLIT ENZ 14
I love how Storm Thorgerson uses real elements, picks them out of their traditional contexts and often places them with a vast space around them, to highlight their beauty. It’s very surreal, he bends reality. The way he uses photoshop as an instrument to do this is very inspiring. Instead of making reality more beautiful with photoshop, he uses this medium to create his own reality.
STORM THORGERSON 15
Wild Plakken’s style is very recognizable because of the use of strong imagery, collage and the use of scraps. The political activist designs remind me somewhat of the hippy movement and protests in the sixties. Their use of bright colors makes the artwork happy, but the content and imagery makes it shocking and tells a clear message. I love that contrast and the way they had heart for what they were doing.
WILD PLAKKEN 16
I love the work of Anthon Beeke because there’s so much in it. Humor, provocation, craftsmanship, strong messages, personality etc. The way he uses elements who’re close to him, how he makes shocking posters and I love his use of typography. Colorful and as a response to the rules of typography being strict and placed on a grid.
ANTHON BEEKE 17
I got to know her work due to my internship at Red Tiki. I love her use of bright colors and her choice for materials. Watercolor paint is hard to control, so there’s always a risk and a surprising outcome. Other than that I like the positivity in her work, it’s always about something fun, happy and cheerful. Also, she designs her own typefaces (just like the one in the picture above). Basically she just does everything she likes. I really like that attitude.
SHARMA HEYLEN-SILVIA 18
I always had mixed feelings about fashion illustrations. I like the way they’re made, but they not really me, to classy or something. Until I ran into these. Raphaël Vicenzi uses street art, photography, collage art, paint, typography, simple pen lines and some scratching and fashion illustrations to create these colorful mixed media artworks. I like that he “just” does what he does. No deep messages but just making some cool work because you want to.
RAPHAël Vicenzi 19
The Supreme Sound Journey is the first web experience I ever saw. It’s part of a website of a headphone brand called Skullcandy. The experience scrolls through different pages about the pro duct, but the way of scrolling is incredible! You twist, rotate and flip over in every direction expect straight like a normal scrolling page. The content of the site is also rotated, something completely new and hardly used on the web. I was flabbergasted by the uniqueness and awesomeness of this journey.
SUPREME SOUND 20
Adam Hartwig is an inspiration because he’s almost exactly where and what I want to be. I’d like to profile myself as a webdesigner who makes colorful and playful websites. Unfortunately it takes a great deal of technical skills to realize that, I hope to be working on that aspect after graduating. Adam Hartwig makes colorful and playful websites which are technically close to perfect. With html 5 , css 3 and javascript he makes every page of his site different and an experience.
ADAM HARTWIG 21
During my stay in Australia I’ve done an internship at Red Tiki. I fell in love with their website and slogan saying “We make websites and drink cocktails”. They bring fun to any website they deliver. Illustrations, animations and humor makes the site come to live. The creative coconuts are selected by their great talent and together with a team of die-hard programmers they can make anything. I love their mentality and way of life. No worries is the motto I’m trying to pursue.
RED TIKI 22
In 2009 I’ve done an internship with Mediakings and they’re a big inspiration for me. Not highly educated and almost entirely self-taught they managed to create a very successful design agency. They made me want to do webdesign, want to understand it. They made me realize educating is not everything: self teaching and working hard can make you reach your goal despite the education. They’re my mentors, I can always ask for help and advice. Ever since that internship they’re my dreamjob. I really hope I can work there after graduating.
MEDIAKINGS 23
It’s probably a cliche to name your dad as a hero. But in my case he really is. Being a photographer and graphic designer, just like myself, he’s been a long life teacher and inspiration. Especially when it comes to photography. He has great concepts, knows how to find the right people for the job (model, stylist, locations), he’s great with photoshop bust most important: he aims for perfection. Lightning, details and the finishing touch. Because of him and the things he taught me I started to do photography myself.
JOS VAN DEN BERG 24
Here’s cliche number two: my best friend Kim. The art she makes is usually a cause of boredom, so she starts sketching. She managed to create a very own and very unique style which feels like a combination between Tim Burton, H.R. Giger and manga with a nice sauce of Kim on top. Black and white, just with a pen and often drawn in the train, her style is sketchy but with a great amount of detail and very recognizable. Without any education she knows how to claim her own style, I wish I could do the same thing!
KIM 25
Rinus Souisa must be one of the most inspiring people I ever met. He’s Samoan, he’s huge, he’s a tattoo artist, he competes in strongest man competitions, he loves folklore and competes in the traditional Zeeuwse sport: ringrijden, he’s battling to get finances for medical tattoos, he travels the world, helped kids who were victim of the tsunami and he’s a member of motorclub Satudarah. To me, Rinus is a man of contradicts and a person who loves life to the fullest. He does what he loves and knows how to find a way to make it important.
RINUS SOUISA 26
Pippi Longstocking was my idol when I was a kid. I wanted to be like her. I dressed like her (and still do, a little bit, by wearing different colored shoes and socks) and I tried to be as free minded like her. I still like the idea of always being young and having fun, but mostly do what feels good for you, and don’t mind what everybody else thinks of that.
PIPPI LONGSTOCKING 27
SYTYCD is a tvshow called “So You Think You Can Dance”. I can get a lot of inspiration from seeing such insanely talented people work together. Everything is right: the dance, the styling, the lightning, the music, the stage. And always with a big time pressure: just a week to make it perfect. The way these people push themselves to be the best is admirable. It’s pure passion.
SYTYCD 28
For me Hans Teeuwen is the king of pro vocation. During his shows he criticizes everything – no exceptions. Mentally disabled, people with a disease, animals, religions, children, elderly, foreigners and the queen (himself as wel). Thou lot’s of people think he goes to far, I like that doesn’t make any exception. It’s not just for fun; he knows what he’s doing and has an answer to every judgement people throw at him. He knows that he provokes, but he thinks it’s important to do so, because we live in a democracy.
HANS TEEUWEN 29
Can a fictional character be an inspiration? For me Jack Sparrow is. Despite I love his appearance and I made my own “Sparrow inspired jewelry”, for me Jack Sparrow is an embodiment of prejudices. He looks like a pirate, so surely he’s a dumb ass and an outcast. But he appears to be smart (to smart maybe?) and knows how to surprise people. I like the idea that you don’t match people’s expectations because of the way you look.
JACK SPARROW 30
The master of film. I like how he uses ordinary, daily elements such as a discussion about a foot massage or using the loo as an important element in his mo足vies. He takes a lot of time for something so silly, but it adds so much to the brilliance of his movies. I like how several plots come together towards the end of a movie. And I love how he makes important movies about big taboos as he did with Django Unchained.
QUENTIN TARANTINO 31
Disney was a pioneer and made the first evening-filling animation films. I love that his work is timeless. Thou films such as Snow White look very dated, they’re still fun to watch because of the important messages about friendship, loyalty and love. I think it’s inspiring how he worked with little budget, but being a perfectionist knew how to make the most of it. Also he’s an example of forming the perfect team for a job, realizing you can’t do everything yourself.
Walt DISNEY 32
Feeling compassion for a lamp. Having me and my family talk to plastic toys, cuddly bears, pillows and yes, even lamps is brilliant and I don’t think anyone else but Pixar could do it. It’s fascinating how they’re able to make “dead” things come alive and drag you along in their story. I love how they always push themselves to do it better and make it even more perfect when you thought it couldn’t get any more perfect then it already is.
PIXAR 33
As you’ve probably noticed somewhere earlier in this book, I have a thing with Japan. So of course I needed to read some mangas. Dragon Ball Z has always been my favorite. I loved the fact that you read these books the other way around. From the back to the front and on a page from right to left. Inspiring about mangas, or comics in general, is that you tell a story through images. You have to think about the composition of each field, and the total composition of the page. You have to keep things interesting at all time.
DRAGONBALL Z MANGA 34
I love books. Usually I read about one book a week. I like thrillers, true stories, drama’s, mysteries, fun books, pretty much everything. For me, books are a way to make my head clear and see things in a different perspective. I love how I can drown in a book and get sucked in. Whenever I feel bad, or have a lack of inspiration, reading can really help me re-find myself.
BOOKS 35
Inspiring about the work of Helmut Newton is searching and provoking the boundaries between fashion and erotic photography. I love how his work is shocking, just as the way it’s showcased in museums (immense high posters of naked woman, very right in your face).
HELMUT NEWTON 36
Brooke Shaden often makes self portraits to have full control over the image, but her work is not autobiographical. She wants to create a world she wishes we could live in. Where secrets float out in the open en the impossible becomes possible. Her photography looks like paintings, making it appear as a dream. I love the dreamlike art she makes, something bizarre and very dramatic going on, strengthening by the intense use of colors.
BROOKE SHADEN 37
Adam Jones is the lead guitarist and Art Director of the American band Tool. Most of the artwork is made by him or in collaboration with other artists. The bands artwork is mainly about the contrast of humans and the Devine. It shows different dimensions and aspects of life. Birth and death come together just as well as the dark versus the light.
ADAM JONES 38
Skip + Die is a Dutch band with lot’s of African influences. Young African musicians collaborate which makes the music authentic and real. It’s not a combination of the traditional African music, but is showing the modern side of the country. Cata. Pirata is the lead singer and responsible for the artwork and clips. Animation, collage, fashion and art are mixed to create psychedelic artwork which shows the vibe of the music.
SKIP + DIE 39
Ellen Stapletons work is inspired by street art, tattoos, nature and traveling to exotic places around the world. She uses her inspiration to create work portraying a vibrant Utopia full of creation and energy. I love how she mixes the beauty of nature with bright an happy colors and traditional ethnic elements.
ELLEN STAPLETON 40
The brilliance of street art is the speed they work with. Within 5 minutes they can create something astunnishing as this. The galaxy/fantasy inspired works are my favorite because they show sort of a reality but more perfect than it will ever be. The material and intensity of the colors allows for a great depth in the work, making you dream on and on and drown in the painting. I think it’s very inspiring that there are so many talented people out there showcasing their skills.
VARIOUS STREET ARTISTS 41
Animals by itself are an inspiration to me; the way they look and behave, so pure. Animals are still as they should be, with great instincts and independent. Out of all animals I love turtles/tortoises the most (might have something to do with the turtles we had at home). They’re so prehistoric, hardly changed since they came into existence. I love their shape and the patterns on their shields. They look so dumb but friendly, and the way they behave is just fascinating.
TURTLES 42
Danielle creates dreamlike worlds where time has stopped, nothing is dead or alive, it’s the world in between. Animals trapped in human industry. A battle between culture, nature and symbolism. I love her use of animals and their symbolism/stories and how she uses mixed media to express her ideas. Digital versus analog: collages, drawings and photography.
DANIELLE FRENKEN 43
The shapes, colors and materials of nature are a great inspiration for me. There’s so much beauty out there. It can be so peacefully and calm but rough and strong at the same time. Big contrasts appear next to each other as if they belong together. There’s always a perfect balance. Nature is the beginning of all, but in modern society seems to be getting less important every day. Economy always comes first but in the end we will realize you can’t eat money.
NATURE 44
I’ve seen the work of this artist on my first day in Australia. It’s an expression he invented himself. His own style and technique, all inspired by nature. Something flat can look 3D and something motionless can come alive by using the right material and the right shapes. With light he adds another dimension to this fabulous work. It’s made on aluminum with a circular saw. This dedication to creating something unique is very inspiring.
THOMAS MAURER 45
I love how Tamara De Lempicka is somewhere between styles; art deco and soft cubism. Her work looks clean, elegant and glamourous and she uses very intense colors with dramatic shadows. There seems to be e certain kind of feminism in her work. The ladies all look like classic and elegant beauties, but are fierce and strong at the same time making them independent.
TAMARA DE LEMPICKA 46
The work of Hneri De Toulouse-Lautrec is inspirational in several ways. He was the first to make lithography a way of art. He chooses subjects whom are close to him but were a taboo in his time. His abbility to create a caricature, the use of lines and shapes making his work look like a drawing instead of a painting.
HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC 47
I love the colors, I love the shapes, I love the lines, I love the composition. The work of Kandinsky is fascinating, you get sucked into the painting and you can keep discovering new elements. You can get lost in the painting and discover your own interpretation, thou you can easily feel the vibe of music.
KANDINSKY 48
I hate horror but I love the way Tim Burton has used it to create somewhat creepy but in the same time dreamlike stories. The characters he creates are always outcasts with some creepy horror-ish elements, but are also vulnerable, sweet and have human characteristics who’re recognizable to anyone. It’s very “things are not always as they look like” which is something that always interests me because people have to much prejudices and are affraid of what they don’t know.
TIM BURTON 49
I love it that Dali was able to create photoshop like pictures before there even was a photoshop. Experimenting, trying and forming a team to help you reach your goal. I love the surrealism in his work, there’s always something funny or absurd, something to investigate and wonder “how did he do that?”
Salvador DALI 50
I love it that I don’t understand it. The art of Escher looks so clear but still is hard to understand because of the use of infinity, geometrical patterns and impossible perspectives. The amount of detail is his work is incredible, I think it’s brilliant he was able to do so with litho’s, etches and woodcarving. It’s shows a great dedication and knowing your materials. Inspirational for me is that things don’t always have to be right or make sense, you just have to make others believe that they are.
M.C. ESCHER 51
Gaudi’s ways of working is very unique and inspirational. Experimenting and improvising while building. And making something look so extravagant as it does by using cheap and local materials. He knows how to make the most out of the less. What I also love about his work is that he knows how to bring organic shapes and bright colors into something static as architecture often is. It’s what I would like to do with webdesign: create things which are not common.
GAUDI 52
Dreams are an inspiration for me because everything is possible in a dream. For me the Efteling is the most unique theme park because it’s not so much about the action as well as it is about the dreamlike environments, tickling your fantasy and making you believe everything is possible. I think the architecture of the entrance and the attractions in the park are an important reason to achieve this dreamlike feeling. It’s everywhere around you.
EFTELING 53
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