Christina Chen

Frank forte
Frank Forte is an American designer, storyboard artist and comic book artist. He graduated from the Central Connecticut State University in Graph Design.
He has worked in animation for films, TV shows and gaming. Some of the shows and films he has worked on include: Bobs Burgers, Despicable Me 2,
Marvel Heroes 4D. Although Forte does a lot of digital cartoons for films. He has also painted a lot of classic cartoon and comic book characters. Frank
says that these painting are an outlet for [his] aggression against what corporate Hollywood has done to old cartoons by censoring and banning them
from viewers.

I really like Fortes style of painting. Although the comics seem pretty cynical, I really like the designs and compositions. Although his designs are very
different from the way that we view cartoon characters, they are all so detailed with expression so that the characters display exactly what Forte wants to
convey to the audience. I really like the idea of the splotchy background; it really helps set the scene of the art work and makes it more interesting instead
of keeping it plain. All of Fortes work also have great unity. Although the objects and things he has drawn are pretty spread out, he always finds a way to
connect them all together. Either through the thought bubbles, or smoke, or the lines. Unity is especially important for his pieces as there are so many
different elements, and all of them have to contribute to the same story. Forte has also drawn all of his characters with part of their actual organs
exposed. Other than the pink flesh color of the organ, the rest of the drawing is just a dark, dusty grey color. This helps draw attention to the areas that
Forte wants to emphasize. The composition and style of these pieces made me feel very inspired, because I really like the idea of having disassembled
parts of objects come together into one object. Like the tail in the middle painting, and the broken arm on the painting on the left. I also think that if I want
to include many different elements, I can use his technique of using the thought bubbles and zigzag lines to connect different objects.

Christina Chen

ABRAHAM MORALES
Abraham Morales is an accomplished Mexico-City based illustrator. He works for many different publications such
as: Elle Mxico, Maxim Mxico, Cine Premiere and Esquire Latin America... His work is all strongly influenced by
comics, movies and urban landscapes. I really like his work, because it has a comic style to it, but it is not
completely comic. Which makes it a lot easier for someone like me, who does not read comics, to appreciate.
Morales has a very simplistic style, using very simple color palettes for his artwork. For most pieces, he sticks to
the color for the whole piece just using different tones. But for pieces where he has something to emphasize, he will
use brighter colors or another color on the opposite side of the color wheel. There is always a sense of pattern in
Morales work, for example, the bricks in the painting on top, and the fish in the painting on the bottom. And there
is always a connection between each and every object in his artworks. In the lion painting, there are two people
looking at the wall with the lion, they are facing the wall and their is a huge speech bubble above their heads. This
links the painting together, and shows that these two men are actually talking about the wall and possibly has some
connection to the lion. The piece on the bottom shows an old man who is probably dreaming about the scene that
is happening in the background. There are also a couple of fish swimming in front of him. Morales makes it really
clear that the fish are in front of him because of the shadows. The way the mans eyes are looking down to the
bottom also gives the viewer a sense of emptiness and dreaminess.
What I really like about Morales work, is how simple his lines and colors are, but how powerful the message comes
across through his artwork. I really like the way he plays with space in his paintings, where some has a lot more
context, and others are more empty (bottom) and gives the viewer a chance to imagine and create a plot for
themselves.

Christina Chen

RICK GEARY
Rick Geary is an American born cartoon artist and illustrator. He was initially introduced to comic readers with his works in the Heavy Metal and National
Lampoon magazines. Not only did he create comics, he also made postcards and logos. Geary has a very unique cartooning style which evolved from his
early imitations of Edward Gorey. His comics usually consist of stark clean black lines against a white background, with a total absence of half-tone or
shading.

Gearys comics have a very simplistic feel to them as well. He does not use much color in his actual comics, instead, he expresses everything using lines.
This style is very different from the two I have explored, as it is very flat and 2D on paper. The people are also very cartoon like. But what is very
impressive about his work is that the peoples exact expression and emotions are still captured in the simple drawing. Like the solemn expression of the
two men are very clearly shown through the way their eyebrows and eyes are drawn.
For my own piece, I really want to focus on emulating Abraham Morales style, because I really like his use of space and color. And how the people and
object do not look super cartoon in his work, but still have a comic style.
http://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/top-comic-book-artists-designer-guide/