Artist Profile: Yoshitaka Amano

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Arleigh

Yoshitaka Amano, born 1952 in Shizuka, Japan, is one of Japan’s most-renowned artists and illustrators. He also began his career as a character designer for early anime shows like Speed Racer, Gatchaman and Tekkaman. He would continue to build on his portfolio of unique character designs for anime, video game franchises and Japanese pop culture art.

Amano-san has pointed out Western artists such as comic book artist Neal Adams as an inspiration in his own style which when combined with his knowledge and appreciation of the classic Japanese hard woodblock printing known as Ukiyo-e would lead to one of the most unique character styles in mainstream pop-culture.

Yet, Amano-san will forever be known for and continues to be popular for his work in helping design the characters for the the video game rpg franchise known the world over as Final Fantasy.

Artist Profile: Alex Schomburg (1905 — 1998)

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Alex Schomburg was born into a prosperous family in Puerto Rico in 1905. He moved to New York City in the early 1920s and worked as a freelance artist with his three brothers. Much of Schomburg’s early freelance work was for Timely Comics, which would later become known as Marvel Comics. While working for Timely, Schomburg illustrated covers featuring such iconic comic book heroes as Capt. America and the Human Torch. In the early 1950s, Schomburg left the comics industry and spent the rest of his career doing cover art for science fiction publications.

A small sampling of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Rudolph Zirm (1894 — 1952)

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

The son of German immigrants, Rudolph Zirm was born in New Jersey. Though he never had any formal artistic training, Zirm pursued a career as a freelance artist after the print shop he worked at closed in 1933. Though he only worked as an artist for 6 years and was never acclaimed during his lifetime, Zirm’s work is now highly praised and sought by collectors.

A sampling of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Debbie Hughes (1958– )

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Since 1989, Debbie Hughes’ work has appeared in over 150 publications. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across America and can also be purchased from her website. A small sampling of her work can be found below:

Artist Profile: Glen Orbik (1963– )

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Glen Orbik studied art and currently teaches at the California Art Institute. As an artist, he is best known for his fully painted, noir-influenced paperback and comic covers. A small sampling of his work can found below:

Artist Profile: Rowena Morrill (1944– )

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Rowena Morrill is considered to be one of the first female artists to have an impact on paperback cover illustration. After receiving a BA from the University of Delaware in 1971, Morrill studied at the Tyler School Of Art. After a period spent working for an ad agency in New York, she designed her first horror cover in 1977. Morrill’s paintings have appeared on hundreds of paperback covers and in magazines like Omni, Playboy, Art Scene International, and Print Magazine.

A small sampling of her work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Ed Valigursky (1926 — 2009)

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

The son of Czech immigrants, Ed Valigursky was born in Pennsylvania and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago on the G.I. Bill and started doing freelance pulp work while he was still a student. Until his retirement in 1990, Valigursky painted hundreds of science fiction-themed images. He also produced several paintings that celebrated the history of aviation.

A small sampling of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Saul Bass (1920 — 1996)

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Saul Bass was born in the Bronx, New York and studied part-time at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Though he was best known for designing title sequences like the one for Psycho, he also designed several film posters. His minimalistic style continues to influential today.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Poster Unveiled

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Arleigh

Like the show or not the one thing that The Walking Dead tv series has always had have been some good marketing people. From the marketing leading up to the premiere season and now leading up to it’s upcoming fourth season the show continues to honor it’s comic book legacy.

For the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con spectacle AMC TV and the people behind The Walking Dead tv series have unveiled the SDCC-exclusive poster for the upcoming season. Season 1 saw noted comic book cover artist and illustrator Drew Struzan come up with the exclusive poster. For Season 2 we had another famous comic book illustrator in Tim Bradstreet with the honor. Last year’s Season 3 at SDCC saw Greg Capullo come up with the poster.

For the Season 4 poster that will be given out at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con one of the best cover and comic book illustrators in the business will do the honors. I speak of Alex Ross who has cemented his place in comic book fandom with his work on such comic books as Marvels and Kingdom Come.

While Alex Ross has been known more for his superhero illustrations the fact that he’s doing a horror-themed illustration just shows that the show still continues to remain strong and people continue to want to be involved with it in one fashion or another (or AMC just paid Alex Ross a nice chunk of change).

Below are the past SDCC-Exclusive posters for The Walking Dead.

Source: AMC TV

Artist Profile: Walter Popp (1920–2002)

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

The son of German muralist Gustave Gutgemon, Walter Popp was born in New York and studied art at the New York Phoenix School of Design. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Popp launched his career as a freelance illustrator. Popp began as an illustrator for pulp magazines before moving on to painting paperback covers in the 1950s. He remained active, designing the covers for gothic romance novels, into the 1990s.