Illustrators I'm Inspired By

Illustrative Approach - As I started to work into my other projects such as the Penguin and Papyrus briefs it was clear how I was now wanting to start to think about how I could start developing my illustrations and begin trying to adapt a more vectorised yet considered style - one which follows rich but limited colour schemes.
Similar to the works I was being inspired by, by artists I was interacting with on instagram. 
I love the almost French-styled, retro but somewhat futuristic and sophisticated design direction. 

Jeremy Booth is an illustrator/designer from Kentucky. He is self-taught and was introduced to digital illustration his mid 20s, which is when he started to find he really connected with it. He went on to turn that exploration into a profession and through being an admirer of photography Jeremy spends a lot of his time studying light and harsh shadows, which plays a key noticeable role in his work; often referred to as the “Vector Noir.”

I feel greatly drawn to Booth's whole minimal but sharp aesthetic and feel it could really be adapted onto a portrait book cover - accompanied by equally strong, well placed typography. The strict elegance of the style would be attention grabbing on a shelf of books, but not too overwhelming. 

Everyone of his pieces makes use of a slightly varied, rich but still very restrictive colour scheme. I will take swabs of these and begin building my own colour palettes that could be developed into my responses.

Some more work of illustrators that I am inspired by..

Sebastien Plassard is an example of a modern illustrator who applies tasteful textures to his prints which add to this overall mysterious and beautiful style. Textures and more considered brush strokes are techniques of illustration I would like to be able to build up to and experiment with once I get to grips with it.

Again the focus is very much so on a central object, which everything draws into. This would be perfectly adaptable to a cover with type featuring around it.
I love this use of a single light hanging down and creating this masked section of detail within the illustration.

A very clean but sharp style again which could create that intriguing nature a book cover needs to have, enticing the viewer to pick it up off the shelf. 

















Chris Reath - 

- More developed vectorised responses. 
- Note how shadows and light are used for realism and depth