Expanded Studio

Steph C. is an illustrator and visual development artist whose worked with a wide rangee of clients including Warner bros, DC comics, and Disney. She makes vibrant stylized illustrations, and is notable for her painterly, geometric, and graphic style.

Flesh.Png "AURORA", (2020)

Audra Auclair is a Canadian fine artist and illustrator. She uses a number of mediums ranging from digital, to gouache paint, to watercolour. Her work is mainly centered around the female form and stylized fantasy art.

Audra is another artist whose work I have engaged with for a number of years. I connect with her pieces mainly because we cover similar themes in our work, and the way she renders women has been a style I've tried to emulate.

JC Leyendecker was an American illustrator who was a prominent artist during the golden age of illustration. The mentor to Norman Rockwell, Leyendecker is mostly renowned for his covers of the Saturday Evening Post, which he illustrated for more than 40 years. His impact on commercial illustration was monumental, having made hundreds of pieces in the field of book, poster, and advertising.

I have always had a huge love for Leyendeckers technical abilities and style. The graphic quality of his work and the way he puts so much character into his figures. His approach of semi-realism, where he combines his painterly style with sharp lines and dramatic shapes, has been a major influence on my process.

Growing up, most of my engagement with art was online, balanced somewhat with art classes I took throughout my education.

Step-by-step drawing tutorials were very specific and simplified but they were important to growing my initial confidence in drawing. These kinds of walk throughs helped me develop technical skill and be more comfortable drawing the figure, which is mainly what my practice revolves around at the moment.

@ThatstephC, twitter.com. 2022, Nov 09.

Alex Louise Hill, Tumblr.com. October, 2018.

Goodboyforces, instagram. June 15, 2022.

"Drawing out Illustration History in Canada" is an article that documents the reception to illustration as a genre of art in Canada, covering the early 20th century to the present day. The author, Jaleen Grove, writes about the issues surrounding the lack of preservation or academic study of Canadian illustrators compared to American or European contemporaries. It also covers various art movements, the nationalist lens that Canadian illustration has been subject to, and how institutionalized art spaces have reacted to illustration in comparison the fine art and graphic design.

This text was extremely educational, and has helped me better situate myself as a Canadian artist who is planning to be part of the illustration industry. I’ve gained a better understanding of the landscape and what kind of changes are being called for in regards to documentation and education about Canadian illustration.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43632236

Woods, Rex. Canadian home Journal, September 1936

Women Illustrators of the Golden Age of American Illustration is a 1987 journal article that recounts the lives of a select six women from the period and their impact their work had. Ranging from 1880-1914, the golden age of illustration led to huge artistic work opportunities for women and this article tells the success stories of a few. What held them back, what kind of resources they were able to use, and what kind of subject matter they were able to depict, while also giving fascinating insight to their processes

A lot of my work and the work I admire centers around women and their experiences, which is similar to what these women illustrators were drawing during their careers. I’m also really interested in the golden age of illustration, and how illustrators were able to achieve such quality and style in their work, which this article explains. The article also extensively discusses the different kinds of schooling these women had and how that affected them which interested me.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1358335

Jessie Willcox Smith, "Mother and Child," illustration for Aileen Cleveland Higgins, Dream Blocks (1908)

Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. 2008. Illustration: A Visual History. New York: Harry N Abrams.

A Lost World: The Missed History of Illustration Is a journal article discussing illustration as a practice that hasn’t been properly recorded or critically studied. It argues that as a field of media there is a lack of scholarly sources or serious academic approach to the genre, especially over time as it’s been distanced from fine art. The article attempts to define illustration and recommend approaches to potentially build a strong critical framework for the field as the author finds that it is being dangerously ignored.

While I’ve studied illustration as a genre I’ve found that i’ve had trouble finding texts that really get into the complexities of the field specifically or even care to analyze what is possible within illustration or just it’s utility in our lives. Ive always had problems with the “But I just want to be making things.” philosophy that’s mentioned in the article and found this piece to have an important message in regards to my practice.

Milkywaes. “‘Star’ Watercolor Speedpaint.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 Oct. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeOcuFFbVTE&feature=youtu.be.

Sinix Design. “Anatomy Quick Tips: Hair.” YouTube, YouTube, 3 Aug. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88khFjZwkl0&feature=youtu.be.

Youtube videos like these ones have given me a strong understanding of what kind of effects were possible with different mediums, as well as lessons about composition, lighting, and rendering different textures.
When I began to use digital applications to make illustrations, youtube videos were essential in teaching me how to work the programs I was using.

Today, most of my technical skills are developed through practice and looking at other artists in class/online. On websites like twitter professional artists are very helpful with providing tips and advice. Most of my growth is from studying other artists pieces and replicating techniques or visual motifs of theirs that inspire me.

Audra Auclair, “Rue,” (2018)

Audra Auclair, “Stranded,” (2022)

Audra Auclair, “Starcrossed,” (2022)

Flesh.Png "THIS IS WHY", 2022.

Flesh.Png "DUCKWRTH", (2020)

Flesh.Png "HUNTER SCHAFER", 2021.

Flesh.Png, also known as chan, is an illustrator and digital painter who mainly displays their art on instagram. They're known for their style that incorporates strong contrasts through texture, colour and line.

Personally, I've been following their account for more than 5 years, and I've heavily admired their work since I've been a teenager. The way they create portraits and capture/exaggerate the human figure is a quality I've brought to my own work. They are one of the artists who continually surprises me and always inspires me to improve in my own practice.

Expanded Studio Page

JC Leyendecker, “The Garden Walk” Success magazine cover. (1904)

Joseph Christian Leyendecker Honeymoon, The Saturday Evening Post cover, July 17, 1926

Joseph Christian Leyendecker Yule (Musical Jester), The Saturday Evening Post cover, December 26, 1931

Some of my personal work that's been inspired from these sources

Steph's work and career have been very inspirational to me. The way she paints the human figure and uses colour to make such striking portraits have been qualities I've brought into my own pieces. She also shares advice and tutorials online and the techniques she's introduced me to have been monumental in improving my work.