Hey John, how's it going? Per your recent painted work, it's easy to tell you've been super into textures and the like. Were you inspired by any particular person/group of people, or has your work sort-of naturally evolved in this direction? Either way, as another question, could you name-drop some illustrators that you're really big on right now? I always like checking out work I haven't seen.

Hi Lee,

The process is a variation of something I did to unwind after finishing some work one day. The ones I’ve been doing recently are less about starting with a paint scrap though; I stole my friend Becca’s process for a bit (she has lots of textures and patterns that she uses, but has a few workhorse ones that she relies on) and nowadays I just start on a basic scanned piece of cardboard.

I see it as a natural progression of how I think about illustration currently. A little more conceptual, shape-based, heavy emphasis on value structure, with elements of looseness & control. Basically, I’m trying to practice what I preach in class, haha. But also, this is a lot more fun for me for some reason; maybe it’s because I can get ideas out really quickly. We’ll see.

Of course, I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and have a complete 180 degree take on it. 

Looking at a lot of people (but not looking too hard!) I made a pinterest board (KILLUSTRATION) for this very question!