Brian Miller
Brian Miller是一位来自美国科罗拉多的自由插画家，在从事了近十年的平面设计工作之后Miller最终走向了插画领域。他的作品看上去就像上世纪八十年的复古广告海报，动感的线条，明亮的配色，对光线的细致处理，完美的构图，以及生动和谐的场景，都让人印象深刻。更令人叫绝的是，Miller的作品无论是黑白底稿还是彩色渲染后的效果都同样出色。Brian Miller的插画也被广泛应用到杂志和广告当中。
Brian Miller最初的绘画功底并不十分出色，在从事艺术导演和平面设计师的工作几年后，他发现自己最为热爱的还是电脑绘画，而插画正好可以利用电子手绘的优势既能够满足自己的兴趣同时又可以得到不错的报酬，因此Miller便开始利用工作之余的时间大量练习。当Miller工作的游戏工作室关闭后，他便开始了自己的插画创业之路。如今他已经拥有了一家创意工作室，客户也来自各行各业。
让我们来看对Miller的一篇访谈
1) First of all I would like to thank you for doing this interview, it's an honor for us to present more about you to our readers. I would like to start asking you about when your interest for illustration and graphic design began?
Thank you, it is an honor to be interviewed and featured on your site!
I have been interested in drawing as long as I can remember. I can recall sitting on a wooden work bench my Grandfather made for me, drawing with a box of crayons which were slowly melting in the hot Colorado summer sun. I had a strong desire to create worlds in my imagination and the only way I thought to express those worlds was to draw them on paper.
As I got older, that urge never went away. I spent time chasing that idea through multiple creative professions, from interactive design, to art direction, to concept art, and finally to my own illustration business.
2) Which artists do you use as reference?
My taste can be very eclectic but the artists I admire and learn from regularly are commercial illustrators from the 1940-1950s (Arthur Sarnoff, Geo Ham, James Dwyer, James Alfred Meese, JC Leyendecker, Jon Whitcomb, Walter Martin Baumhofer, etc.), vintage Disney artists (Mary Blair, Evand Earle, Retta Scott Worcester, etc.), and a variety of pop culture artists like Bruce Timm, Doug Tennapel, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Paul Pope, Mike Mignola, Miyazaki, Ben Caldwell, Skottie Young, Lesean Thomas, Hethe Srodawa, etc. There are so many artists out there! You can really learn something from almost all of them.
3) Your style is quite influenced by poster art and old school illustration. How did you develop this style and how would you describe it?
As I’ve gotten older my appreciation for old school illustration and poster art has developed more and more. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to it other than it was a rich part of my childhood and its the style that comes out when I sit down to draw unencumbered by expectations. Its the style that satisfies me most because it shows enough detail to be captivating, but leaves enough out for the viewer to engage with their imagination.
4) Describe us a bit about your creative process while creating a piece.
My creative process is not very glamorous. I typically start with rough sketches where I try to capture the idea as quickly as I’m able. I do my best not to over-think things at this stage, but I often fail at that. Once the sketches are done, I move onto blocking in values using black and white as my palette. With the values in place, I try to identify the best color set for the mood and then apply those colors to the piece.
Once in a while I’ll deviate from this process by starting with colors or shapes or more refined pencils. Its really about doing whatever I need to do to keep things interesting and explore the mood I’m after.
5) What's would you consider the best moment on you career till now?
There are two moments I can think of: one personal, one professional.
My personal best moment was earlier this year I realized the gap between what I was imagining in my head vs what I was able to draw was getting smaller and smaller. The disparity between my imagination and my illustrations became less and less an issue and I was able to draw what I saw in my head. This blew me away because I never thought that was possible after years and years of things never looking just quite right. It doesn’t mean my work is perfect, but there’s a freedom in my creative process which allows me to express what I want to express with my work. That was an incredible realization.
The best professional moment was my first picture book deal which happened this year. I didn’t have the confidence that I was ready to take on such a big task but when it came my way, I grabbed it and didn’t let go.
6) Being a multimedia artist, please tell us what's your favorite media to work with? Why?
As much as I enjoy working with a plain pencil and paper, my medium of choice is working in Photoshop using my Wacom Cintiq. I’m very comfortable working there because I’ve been doing it so long. The technology rarely fights me and it helps free me up to explore. My favorite media to work with is the media that gets out of my way and lets me create!
8) Thanks again for your time, please leave a final message for the ones who are starting out on this kind of business
This can be a very difficult business because acquiring the illustration skills needed to compete in the marketplace is only half the battle. Its very easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed.
Keep pushing forward. Every illustrator who is making it out there did so by persevering and staying dedicated to their craft. Remember, dedication to your craft means you will have to learn things you don’t know and you’ll have to get comfortable with things you’re not comfortable with. Its possible to do - but it takes work! Keep at it, and remember why you got into this in the first place! Learning to be a hard worker is going to be your biggest asset because with hard work you stand the best chance of growing in all aspects of this industry.
请大家欣赏Brian Miller的作品