Press
12/02/10
Block Magazine. Fame issue.
http://www.theblock-mag.com/magazine/
(scroll down for article)
Tracing Fragments
Sam Green distorts reality for his surreal pencil portraits.
Words Carol Eid
If London-based illustrator Sam Green’s art were an animal, it would be a chameleon. Just when you think you’ve got his style figured out, Green changes colour.
“Most illustrators identify a style straight away and then they stick with it,” he says in a clipped English accent, then pauses to drag on his cigarette and adds, “but I’ve never been comfortable doing that. I’m just always restless when there are so many things I see in my work that I can imagine leading to other places.” Shuffling on his seat to put his three-quarter length tweed jacket back on, he asks me if I would prefer to be indoors – he has chosen an alfresco pub table on a sidewalk to talk of art, watch passers-by, and smoke.
The buzz about Green’s art has grown steadily since he graduated with his Masters from St. Martins College of Art and Design in 2005. But the illustrator, whose work breathes fresh air into traditional portraiture by combining highly detailed pencil sketches with digital embellishments, is modest about how he earned his current hot-young-talent status. “I owe a lot to the bloggers,” he says, referring to the attention he’s received from sites like Notcot, booooooom!, and Design You Trust. “It’s where most of my work comes from.”
The black and white piece that first caught the eye of online art connoisseurs, Treading Water, depicts a boy’s floating body dissolving into graphic squiggles. It is still his most popular piece today, with the highest number of hits on his website. It’s also the springboard for all his pencil work that revisits the theme of water. “I have always been interested in figurative art and portraiture and I just love the abstract quality of water,” he says. “With the fragmentation of the light, of the body, it’s just very dynamic and strong and I just love the abstract detail that it captures. It’s basically energy and it’s really fucking hard to draw.”
Green may love the challenge of translating water to pencil and paper, but his restless nature has led him to experiment liberally with style. It’s this flexibility that has landed him an array of commissions, from an animation for a giant-sized Zoetrope for a Sony Bravia ad with Ridley Scott’s advertising company RSA, to surreal, sharp pencil portraits for Esquire, Wallpaper, and Dazed & Confused magazines. Within the frame of a single work, conflicting elements are encouraged to coexist – a realistic drawing veiled by a surreal foreground competing with vibrant colours. Despite this multifarious approach, there’s an unexpected continuity to his art.
“Certain visual flourishes or aspects of my work always pop up,” he says of his signature stylized, pencil-drawn version of a brushstroke superimposed over an image. “It’s quite specific,” he adds, pointing to what he calls shard shapes, or abstract markings on a largely realistic portrait. “These are the kind of digital flourishes that people pick up on, otherwise it’s not that interesting if it’s just a drawing of a person or an object that’s being copied … I guess it’s the idea of distorting the reality and putting things on top that take it to another place or give the piece an atmosphere.”
Despite his current successes, Green’s plans for the future involve more chameleonic changes. “I’m not too comfortable with just being a portraiture illustrator,” he readily admits, alluding to ideas to merge his hand-made typography with images to make a graphic book. “I want to take my work into more exciting areas, and create worlds that still have that sense of surrealism.”
This much is clear: whatever world Green chooses to inhabit, he’s destined to stand out rather than blend in.
01/02/10
I have been featured in Title magazine No 06
http://www.titlemagazine.net/current.php
Title is a publication that explores innovative forms of art from artists working with various mediums in visual art, design, music and fashion. Based in Orange County, California.
Following article written by Garret Yim
When the common person is asked to define art tangibly, whether it be by a narrowing textbook definition, an example of a piece, or all around approach to creation, most would begin to describe it as having a sort of possession of clarity; a distinct line of sorts for which this art is able to flow across and present itself. While the work of Hackney, London based illustrator, Sam Green, may look like it can be characterized by a meticulous process of planning and thinking due to its high focus on details, especially to that of the realism ( and sometimes, deformity) of the human form, this is actually quite the opposite.
“I am too impatient to plan things, I work as fast as I can, people think I must be very patient to draw in such detail but I’m not at all, I’m very impulsive and just go with my instincts. I have never liked art that is too contrived or too skilled, which might seem like a contradiction when you see my work, I really appreciate more primitive forms of expression”
Not only instinctually, but without any influence does Sam Green try to press on with his own work.
“I think its good to block out external influences and try to evolve on your own and try to come up with original ideas, and then when it feels right sek out things that inspire you. I have always wanted creative independence and hopefullt I will gradually achieve this, but it takes a while... I am certainly influenced by people atritudes towards creativity more so than the actual work itself.”
Primitivism is perhaps a great wat to describe the work od Green. Although there is a great sense of craftsmanship in his illustrations, there lies a sort of raw quality in it as well; in one sense, his ability to contort and manipulate the human body. Equally emotive of both feelings of beauty, and even perhaps, suffering, his ‘Untitled’ works are perhaps the best in conveying the human form, as they go beyond the scope of familiarity that we associate with how human beings look, delving into something deeper, and more haunting. The human forms depict coloured shapes almost akin to that od organs and tissue matter, and the decay inside of us that we cannot see. Despite all this, some would take this statement with an ounce of contradiction, as they are perhaps the least ‘realistic’ in comparison to some of his other illustrations.
“It feels natural fro me to draw the human form, I think there is something direct and obviously familiar with the human body and face, and I find distortion and deconstruction of the human form very strange and powerful to look at”
Perhaps just as noteworthy are not only the human forms themselves, but also the specific people they’re portraying, as can be seen with his illustrations of the movie Wild Zero ( a Japanese cult zombie film featuring Guitar Wolf), Snoop Dogg and singer of the Fall, Mark E. Smith, Green is an avid fan of, and appreciator, of music.
"I really like anything that has an uncompromising sound and thats is different, I'm not sure what is happening at the moment, there seems to be so much talent out there but I still keep going back to musical movements of the 70's and early 80's, I love bands like Can, PIL, The Fall, Silver Apples, Stooges, Ramones....."
But even with the use of familiar faces, Green's illustrations are still highly innovative and appealing beyond one's own personal opinion of the musicians he's portrayed.
Vividly coloured or black and white, severely contorted or startlingly realistic, the images that Sam Green creates span the border, whether waling the line of the beautifully serene or the narrow pathway of the near avante-garde, they all retain an immense sense of individuality. Aspiring artists should take heed of what he has to say:
"Don't let the buggers get you down, keep on keeping on! relentless, force, talent, a dash of politeness and charm are all key."
26/11/09
Computer Arts 169 Inspiration Workshop
3 page article in the inspiration section of computer arts 169, where I discuss my working methods.
08/09
Computer Arts 164
'New Adventures in Colour'
Block Magazine. Fame issue.
http://www.theblock-mag.com/magazine/
(scroll down for article)
Tracing Fragments
Sam Green distorts reality for his surreal pencil portraits.
Words Carol Eid
If London-based illustrator Sam Green’s art were an animal, it would be a chameleon. Just when you think you’ve got his style figured out, Green changes colour.
“Most illustrators identify a style straight away and then they stick with it,” he says in a clipped English accent, then pauses to drag on his cigarette and adds, “but I’ve never been comfortable doing that. I’m just always restless when there are so many things I see in my work that I can imagine leading to other places.” Shuffling on his seat to put his three-quarter length tweed jacket back on, he asks me if I would prefer to be indoors – he has chosen an alfresco pub table on a sidewalk to talk of art, watch passers-by, and smoke.
The buzz about Green’s art has grown steadily since he graduated with his Masters from St. Martins College of Art and Design in 2005. But the illustrator, whose work breathes fresh air into traditional portraiture by combining highly detailed pencil sketches with digital embellishments, is modest about how he earned his current hot-young-talent status. “I owe a lot to the bloggers,” he says, referring to the attention he’s received from sites like Notcot, booooooom!, and Design You Trust. “It’s where most of my work comes from.”
The black and white piece that first caught the eye of online art connoisseurs, Treading Water, depicts a boy’s floating body dissolving into graphic squiggles. It is still his most popular piece today, with the highest number of hits on his website. It’s also the springboard for all his pencil work that revisits the theme of water. “I have always been interested in figurative art and portraiture and I just love the abstract quality of water,” he says. “With the fragmentation of the light, of the body, it’s just very dynamic and strong and I just love the abstract detail that it captures. It’s basically energy and it’s really fucking hard to draw.”
Green may love the challenge of translating water to pencil and paper, but his restless nature has led him to experiment liberally with style. It’s this flexibility that has landed him an array of commissions, from an animation for a giant-sized Zoetrope for a Sony Bravia ad with Ridley Scott’s advertising company RSA, to surreal, sharp pencil portraits for Esquire, Wallpaper, and Dazed & Confused magazines. Within the frame of a single work, conflicting elements are encouraged to coexist – a realistic drawing veiled by a surreal foreground competing with vibrant colours. Despite this multifarious approach, there’s an unexpected continuity to his art.
“Certain visual flourishes or aspects of my work always pop up,” he says of his signature stylized, pencil-drawn version of a brushstroke superimposed over an image. “It’s quite specific,” he adds, pointing to what he calls shard shapes, or abstract markings on a largely realistic portrait. “These are the kind of digital flourishes that people pick up on, otherwise it’s not that interesting if it’s just a drawing of a person or an object that’s being copied … I guess it’s the idea of distorting the reality and putting things on top that take it to another place or give the piece an atmosphere.”
Despite his current successes, Green’s plans for the future involve more chameleonic changes. “I’m not too comfortable with just being a portraiture illustrator,” he readily admits, alluding to ideas to merge his hand-made typography with images to make a graphic book. “I want to take my work into more exciting areas, and create worlds that still have that sense of surrealism.”
This much is clear: whatever world Green chooses to inhabit, he’s destined to stand out rather than blend in.
01/02/10
I have been featured in Title magazine No 06
http://www.titlemagazine.net/current.php
Title is a publication that explores innovative forms of art from artists working with various mediums in visual art, design, music and fashion. Based in Orange County, California.
Following article written by Garret Yim
When the common person is asked to define art tangibly, whether it be by a narrowing textbook definition, an example of a piece, or all around approach to creation, most would begin to describe it as having a sort of possession of clarity; a distinct line of sorts for which this art is able to flow across and present itself. While the work of Hackney, London based illustrator, Sam Green, may look like it can be characterized by a meticulous process of planning and thinking due to its high focus on details, especially to that of the realism ( and sometimes, deformity) of the human form, this is actually quite the opposite.
“I am too impatient to plan things, I work as fast as I can, people think I must be very patient to draw in such detail but I’m not at all, I’m very impulsive and just go with my instincts. I have never liked art that is too contrived or too skilled, which might seem like a contradiction when you see my work, I really appreciate more primitive forms of expression”
Not only instinctually, but without any influence does Sam Green try to press on with his own work.
“I think its good to block out external influences and try to evolve on your own and try to come up with original ideas, and then when it feels right sek out things that inspire you. I have always wanted creative independence and hopefullt I will gradually achieve this, but it takes a while... I am certainly influenced by people atritudes towards creativity more so than the actual work itself.”
Primitivism is perhaps a great wat to describe the work od Green. Although there is a great sense of craftsmanship in his illustrations, there lies a sort of raw quality in it as well; in one sense, his ability to contort and manipulate the human body. Equally emotive of both feelings of beauty, and even perhaps, suffering, his ‘Untitled’ works are perhaps the best in conveying the human form, as they go beyond the scope of familiarity that we associate with how human beings look, delving into something deeper, and more haunting. The human forms depict coloured shapes almost akin to that od organs and tissue matter, and the decay inside of us that we cannot see. Despite all this, some would take this statement with an ounce of contradiction, as they are perhaps the least ‘realistic’ in comparison to some of his other illustrations.
“It feels natural fro me to draw the human form, I think there is something direct and obviously familiar with the human body and face, and I find distortion and deconstruction of the human form very strange and powerful to look at”
Perhaps just as noteworthy are not only the human forms themselves, but also the specific people they’re portraying, as can be seen with his illustrations of the movie Wild Zero ( a Japanese cult zombie film featuring Guitar Wolf), Snoop Dogg and singer of the Fall, Mark E. Smith, Green is an avid fan of, and appreciator, of music.
"I really like anything that has an uncompromising sound and thats is different, I'm not sure what is happening at the moment, there seems to be so much talent out there but I still keep going back to musical movements of the 70's and early 80's, I love bands like Can, PIL, The Fall, Silver Apples, Stooges, Ramones....."
But even with the use of familiar faces, Green's illustrations are still highly innovative and appealing beyond one's own personal opinion of the musicians he's portrayed.
Vividly coloured or black and white, severely contorted or startlingly realistic, the images that Sam Green creates span the border, whether waling the line of the beautifully serene or the narrow pathway of the near avante-garde, they all retain an immense sense of individuality. Aspiring artists should take heed of what he has to say:
"Don't let the buggers get you down, keep on keeping on! relentless, force, talent, a dash of politeness and charm are all key."
26/11/09
Computer Arts 169 Inspiration Workshop
3 page article in the inspiration section of computer arts 169, where I discuss my working methods.
08/09
Computer Arts 164
'New Adventures in Colour'