Signature Illustration Blog

HYPNOTIST Stare into the eyes of a Loretta Lux portrait long enough, and you’re bound to feel both completely mesmerized and completely spooked. Lux’s starkly pale, prepubescent subjects haunt the viewer from inside the image as if they were hiding some terrible secret. Remarkably captivating yet exceedingly eerie–the formula has turned the German photographer into an art-world phenom, earned her the coveted Infinity Award for Art from the International Center of Photography and made her a millionaire.

A former painter, Lux, 38, brings her images to life with the attention to form, shape and color that she learned at the easel. The artistry begins at the photo shoot, but her signature style–the brushstrokes of her new medium–comes later, at the computer. First she strips out the background and replaces it with a quiet setting–a grassy field, an abandoned building–from her personal stash of paintings and pictures. Then she erases any object that crowds the picture, like a tree or toy, so the child appears to be part of a dream. “I don’t care about traditional photography,” Lux says. “I want more control.”

Lux started taking children’s portraits nearly eight years ago, when she shot a couple of rolls of film of her nephew. It took her only one day with that little boy to realize what comes across so vividly in her work: children are the perfect subjects to photograph. “They have no reservations,” she says. “They are the most honest models.”

But exactly what her portraits are supposed to mean remains a mystery, and Lux doesn’t offer many clues, saying only that the images, which can take up to a year to complete, are less about the subjects than they are a metaphor for the idea of childhood. “I want people to decide what to see,” she says. Whatever they do decide, they’re not likely to forget it.

by Carolyn Sayre, Time Magazine

Born in a sub-provincial city in China and now living in a treehouse in Brooklyn, Jing Wei makes prints – beautiful prints – delightful prints – prints that tell stories of cute little animal characters – stories that make me smile… Jing Wei hopes to keep making art for people who like the art that she makes…we here at Signature Illustration love her work…

Every now and then there is an illustrator that blows you away and for me Sam Weber is one of those. We have posted Sam Weber before a long time ago – middle of last year. His new work is fantastic. I find them deeply physiological which make his illustrations absolutely captivating. Definatly worth adding to our Illustration Blog.

He has done a wide range of editorial as well as book illustrations. He was born in Alaska but has since moved to New York and lives there with his wife.

I hope you enjoy this selection:

Working from Finland Anna Emilia Laitinen’s paintings are truly delicate. I love the complexity and intricacy within the simple compositions.

Working from Florida Dan May creates timeless worlds of silence occupied by haunting yet whimsical creatures. Although deeply sad and  eerie, May’s creatures draw the viewer towards them with their friendly disposition.

This last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Norway – it was a short but sweet trip. We spent our time in the small town of Tofte in a comfortable wooden cabin. Our cabin was neatly placed right next to the Oslo Fijord with an awesome view over the water. Just on sunday I was running through a quite forest which was followed by a lengthily swim in the sea. I could have easily spent couple months there just relaxing and taking my time about my daily sustenance!

I had the time to look through some illustrations and stumbled upon Theodor Ketlesen (April 27, 1857 – January 21, 1914) who is one of the most famous artist in Norway. He was famous for his nature paintings but also for his illustrations of fairy tales, legends and trolls.

Below are some of Theodor Ketlesen illustrations:

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All I can say is:
true attention to detail + brilliant observation + experienced drawing skills + Korean blood + the love for teaching + odd little characters bubbling to tell a story + an impressive cliental + an imaginative mind + beautiful use of soft colours + a love for fishing = Bill Carmen. Genuinely beautiful work.

These illustrated prints excite me. Love the colours, love the texture, love the layering, love the depth and love the strange stories these prints tell. Icinori is a project by Mayumi Otero and Raphael Urwiller, students from Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg. Every singe aspect of these prints is hand made: hand printed, hand bound and hand cut- I love that – real beautifully crafted work.