Art Direction

Not long ago I have given a presentation in my Critical Studies module about an artist that really inspires me with his work - Mattias Adolfsson. In this post I will talk about him and explain what it is about him that inspires me.

Here I have put all the images that I have used in my presentation and beneath you can find a small summary of each point.

Composition:

His work is very unique as he puts a lot of details into his drawings and he avoids leaving any negative space while at the same time, manages to make his drawings seem unique.

Shape/Form:

He is a 2D artist which has a way of making his drawings look 3D when he finds it appropriate. The main themes in his work are modes of transport/architecture as also all kinds of animals.

Colour:

When it comes to using color, he is really careful and his colour usage can vary from fully covered drawing to just simple line work. Sometimes he uses one colour just to visually separate objects.

Lighting:

To be honest it was a quite difficult to find a good example of him using lighting as he does not use colour as much, but when he does he keeps it subtle and with previously mentioned use of colours he uses, it only adds to the 2D/3D effect.

Atmosphere:

The atmosphere in his drawings tends to be, in my opinion very innocent, child-like and very friendly while having this old school, 1960's feel to it. The bizarre nature and the oddity of his pictures make them seem interesting as well as welcoming.

Why is it awesome?

The reason why I like his work is because, you can really see that there are no limits to his imagination. The connection between vivid imagination and childhood makes you feel like there is no hostility in his drawings.

Story:

Also I like to think that each of his drawings tells a story for example; I can't help but to think that the crew on the ship has its own history and the pictures are just capturing one of the many moments.

Machinarium:

In response as to how his style could be used in a game, I want you to consider that games nowadays are all about hyper-realistic graphic and visuals but there is very little creativity and I think Machinarium its a good example to show that this type of style can be very interesting in a game concept.

In my spare time I work on expanding my visual library. I do this by collecting all sorts of different images that I find interesting for example bizarre fashion or paintings in all sorts of media, I also like to take my own photographs of different object or places that I find beautiful. Also apart from this I take a lot of inspiration from magazines about Photoshop and digital painting.