Another shade of artist.

Wherever your passion lies, it's most likely you'll have some kind of role model to study and gain inspiration from. For those of you who appreciates art, I'd like to share with you the artists whom have inspired me the most during my own exploration and growth in the vast subject that is art (and for those of you that normally doesn't, well you just might gain something anyway). These are in no specific order, and they all appeal to me in very different yet equally striking ways.

Shaun Tan
Shaun Tan is a master when it comes to expressive storytelling. He often treats subjects of social and political matters yet through an imaginative and surreal form. His paintings are always filled with deep emotion that the viewer can relate to, even when taken far from reality. Shaun Tan is also the person who, I find, has described the profession of being an artist, in the most beautiful and appropriate words; "You become aware of silence and separation from things when you sit down to draw a picture, and then try to reconnect back with the world through the artwork."

Riikka Auvinen

The imaginary of Riikka Auvinen is among the most personal and original ones I have ever encountered. Her pictorial language is playful and imaginative, and though painted in the same style, the motives are often versatile. They appear to me as a kind of mixture between painting and pattern design which makes them all the more interesting. I'm also very impressed by Riikka's knowledgeable and effective use of watercolour.

Mark Zug

Mark Zug has a talent for bringing interest and movement even to "stale" motifs, both through his rendering of medium and in how he arranges the scene. He is also exceptional at bringing expressive life into graphite drawings, which can have a tendency to appear flat and impersonal.

Charlene Wienhold

Charlene Wienhold is a great role model when it comes to depicting existing motifs. There's always a profound passion and technical knowledge behind her works, and her use of colour helps to emphasize the atmosphere in the pictures.

Tony DiTerlizzi

Extremely imaginative in creature rendering, and his works in gouache are impressive (gouache is a painting medium similar to watercolour although more opaque). I also find his modern interpretations of old folklore interesting. 

James Gurney

I deem James Gurney one of the most talented visual artists of our time. He's an expert on both colour and light and knows almost every technique in the book. He is versatile, devoted and has a never ending apatite for knowledge. What I admire most about James Gurney however, is his passion, not only for the act of painting in itself, but for the whole world of art. He has a blog on which he posts every day on events, art schools, other artists, workshops and day to day work updates, in order to inspire and teach what he knows. He has also written a couple of books on the subject of art, which are both enlightening, clear and incredibly inspiring, 'Imaginative Realism' and 'Color and light'.

For further information on the artists and their art, visit their websites:
Shaun Tan: http://www.shauntan.net/
Riikka Auvinen: http://tir-ri.deviantart.com/
http://tir-risart.blogspot.se/?zx=c787115edf2b7539
Mark Zug: http://markzug.com/
Charlene Wienhold: http://auroraink.deviantart.com/
Tony DiTerlizzi: http://diterlizzi.com/home/
James Gurney: http://jamesgurney.com/site/
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.se/