Ben Thompson

Illustrator

Artists

Discovered Artist: David Kassan

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Art and music have always had close ties. One reason could be because their creators are both considered artists in their own right (after all we refer to the former as a “Visual Artist” just as the latter are given the title “Musical Artist”), another might be because of the strong likelihood of finding your favorite visual artists at work surrounded by the melodies, beats and rhythms of their more musically inclined counterparts.

While both of the above are possible explanations, a more personal one is that we as artists (both musical and visual) often react to the discovery of another artists work in much the same way: with an unbridled joy and elation reserved for that first glimpse of something new and unique that possesses a quality, excitement and a power that we wish and strive for in our own work.
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Unboxing the Creature

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My but how the time has slipped by. I had intended to take a week or two off from the blog to allow for a seamless transition as we moved from our apartment into our own home, but as we close in on almost a month of silence on the blog I realize I was likely a bit over confident in our ability to hit the ground running.

Well, with the internet up and running again and a spare moment to slip back into something resembling the “swing of things”, I wanted to make some waves for a good friend of mine and his artistic endeavors!
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I'm Ready For My Close-Up…Part 2

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Life is crazier than usual these days with an impending move coming my way, overlapping freelance assignments, and the daily goings-on at the studio. What with all the activity it can be easy to let this blog slide, but as it turns out Heritage Auctions has thankfully come to my rescue in the form of yet another Illustration Art Auction.

This round features their usual wide selection of artists from a variety of time periods and genres, but most importantly it continues to do so in glorious high-res!
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Spectrum Fantastic Art Live

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One week has passed since Spectrum Fantastic Art Live in Kansas City. This was the first convention I had attended in over three years, and as it turned out I couldn't have chosen a better opportunity to poke my head out of the darkened studio and be social for a couple of days. I was not to be found behind a table displaying my own art as is usually the case with these shows, but rather as an overly excited attendee prepared to be bowled over by what I hoped would be an obscene amount of amazing artwork and artists.

I was not disappointed in either case.
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Artist Spotlight: Alphonse Mucha

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No artist is without their influences. Every one of us can point to at least a handful of artists that have in some way shaped our own work, or otherwise inspired us to strive for excellence in our chosen field. For most of us, that handful is more like a truckload. Some of these artists provide brief flashes of inspiration that excite us with possibilities, while others will incite a lifelong love so broad is their influence upon our own work and imagination

I also have my influences, and every attempt to break my favorites into manageable groups to try and narrow the field is an exercise in futility as I long ago recognized that there is quite literally no end to the artists that I have admired, studied, or who have otherwise shaped the aesthetics in my own work. It is in this spirit I will begin an ongoing series of posts that highlight some of these artists and celebrate some of what, for me at least, have been their most evocative works.
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Do Not Adjust Your Aperture

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Welcome back patient reader! While it has been a quiet and uneventful two weeks here on the blog, the studio itself has been anything but.

Indeed, the last two weekends and many of the evenings between have been spent putting the final touches on the website. Now before you go flipping through the tabs to see what it is you might have missed, let me provide you with an important detail: the website in question is not the one belonging to the artist whose blog you are currently reading.
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Voices In the Wilderness

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As mentioned in my first post almost two months ago, I am aware of my late arrival to very heavily attended pool party called “Blogging”. I was also quick to point out that I by no means think that there aren’t others out there who have said it first or better.

With these two facts in mind I wanted to take a breather this week and introduce you to some individuals/groups that are taking to the internet with varying frequency to share their knowledge and passion with you and I.
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We Are Further Diminished

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A week has gone by and we are faced with the loss of yet another giant in the illustration world. Jean “Moebius” Giraud passed away in Paris this morning at the age of 73.

His work spanned a variety of media and fans of all genres. His artwork would grace comic book page and movie screen alike, the uniqueness of his visions so complete that his style would be mimicked time and again. For American audiences this style would go on to define the look and feel of what we would come to recognize as a distinctly “French” feel to the line-work.
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A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

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A Legend left us yesterday. The Internet greeted me last night with the sad news that Ralph McQuarrie had passed away at the age of 82.

Few movies made their mark on my generation in quite the same way that the original Star Wars trilogy did. And while the simple timelessness of the story itself bears much of the responsibility for this, I believe it was largely the visuals that held the greatest sway over those of us who's childhood was largely defined by the collective imaginations of a few.
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I'm Ready For My Close-Up…

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Every illustrator I know has an unquenchable need to acquire and surround themselves with those things that serve as a source of inspiration. For most of us this means never having enough bookshelf space to house the seemingly endless influx of books we simply "need" to have. For others it is the amassing of objects that would serve beautifully as props in the right painting, (provided we could just get around to painting it). However all of us tend to build reference files on artists whose ability/style they admire, or aspire to.

While each of these collections provide for weighty topics on their own, lets take a brief look at some of the resources out there where we can find high quality reproductions of some pretty amazing art.
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