Blog8:
Alan Lathwell-Illustrator
Full
interview with Alan Lathwell: http://www.itsartmag.com/features/alanlathwell/
Art
is subjective, open to interpretation and forever changing. I don't claim to be
able to offer anything like a
definition and I don't refer to my own creations as art. For me it's just something I love doing and if
my images stand the test of time and are still being
viewed and enjoyed by other people, then I will be satisfied with my achievements.
-Alan
Lathwell
As I continued my research I remembered that I had previously owned a
character drawing book to help me with learning how to draw humans in action
poses. Drawing people in action poses is actually a very difficult thing to do
because this is the time when an artist has to know anatomy. Musculature of
males and females appears to be very different because you don't want to make
your male characters too feminine of vise versa. Alan Lathwell does a fantastic
job of explaining the step by step process of creating an intricate character.
He not only explains how to do these drawing step by step, but he has also done
these sketches and paintings on the computer which also had me interested from
the start. Alan is currently a freelance illustrator working in London, his
artwork has also reached the United States (since I got a hold of his book
"Warriors & Heroes"). I conducted some further research on him
and found that he always enjoyed drawing fantasy art as a child but never
dreamed of creating art as a living, so he started his life off in the work
force as a life engineer. This also seems to be a reoccurring event with
artists, where they start as something other than an artist or work for a
company they have no interest in and eventually end up with a great art career.
As soon as he landed a career with making children's book illustrations, he
stated that his life only went in the upward direction. He not only has worked as
an illustrator for children's books, but has illustrated comic books, fantasy
novels, magazines, and even RPG's. Alan's passion has always belonged in the
realm of dark fantasy such as Celtic and Norse mythology. Judging from many of
the characters in his book, he specifically enjoys drawing heroic characters in
armor. These striking images demonstrate his artistic style and knowledge of
human anatomy. During his interview he had also stated that he enjoyed drawing
skulls as a child till even today. His use of color is very limited because he
doesn't wish to overcomplicate the piece. Instead, Alan uses a minimal color
pallet with opposite colors to create contrast. He explains the process that it
takes in order to create his successful works of art. He first begins with a
rough outline of the figure, then blocks in the color with a one tone color,
eventually leading to adding the small details that make the art appear to be
more realistic. During his interview he even mentions the Italian painter
Caravaggio, who was a master in the use of light. Alan also demonstrates
knowledge in the use of light within his paintings, especially with metal
objects such as his characters' armor. Alan is a great inspiration because he
not only enjoys his job, teaches other to draw/paint well, and most importantly
he just enjoys making art for his personal enjoyment. A true artist indeed.
