What is nostalgia without a solution of the new to activate it?

Killian Eng's works are pop sci fi lost artifacts from the late 70s or early 80s. An artist who's work feels like it has existed for the last 30 years and is just now being discovered or re discovered and digitally remastered. It is a retro future, a yesterday's tomorrow of an era when cd's were making their debut. Its phsychadelic but so much more a sci fi trip than an acid one. He works primarily with lines and dots and whatever texture is suggested by a combination of the two. I love the flat colors, gradations and airbrush styles that are signatures of his work. Amongst a sharpened hyper age of HD everything I have become a sucker for the look of a VHS video.



His first book Object 5 and this new book Object 10 was adequately titled as the size and content have doubled since his first debut. What was once an indy pub soft cover 8.5 x 5.5 soft cover is now an 8.5 x 11 hardcover printed in better quality.



I am not sure how long the artist has worked in this style but Killian knows his medium well. There is a strong fashion and architectural sensibility present in the work. The perspective is often two or one point and often imperfect but it is what partly gives its charm.



One of my favorite activities is to try and guess at an artists' influences without any confirmation or evidence to back up my claims and upon close inspection of Killian's work...well,here goes: Nintendo game box art, Syd Mead, Moebius, Katushiro Otomo, dreams, German symbolist painters and kittens. Killian if you are reading this please confirm. The rest of you join in with your own guesses.





(Were a whole game or film were set in this world then sign me up. In the mean time I will stare at his alien utopias, and dream about past futures.)



(Not sure what this is but I it is an illustrated diagram of what it feels like to burp, sneeze and cry at the same time.)



(I had a dream like this once...I think you were in it. We made some sweet dark tunes. Weird....)

If you miss MTV's Liquid television, Laser discs, and the original DUNE you may want to pick this book up...with your power glove.

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The idealized female form has been the subject of many. The cartoon female is equally diverse in its various proportions and styles. It's a fine art in itself to make a female cartoon character appealing, much less anatomically elegant and convincing.



Some who have inspired in this field are: Glen Keane, Fred Moore, Earl Oliver Hurst, Mary Blair...the list goes on and on.



Elsa Chang is currently a freelance character designer and in her latest self published sketchbook, she has amassed another collection of drawings of the feminine and zoological variety. They are characters that fit within the scope of the standard Disney influenced western animation genre but she does it with a flair that feels fresh and uniquely her. These are not just studies of figures posing, these characer studies actually have character that can be a struggle to capture for many artists. 






The confidence of the ink work and fluidity is superb and effortless. She is often not so much drawing as she is creating work of calligraphy. I would even venture to guess that she has had english or chinese calligraphy as part of her past training.
The book its self is only thirty two pages, and seemingly with a lot of negative space, but with one to two figures poised per page it feels a bit like a fashion catalog and very much fitting of the staple bound medium she chose to publish this book.





(Fashionistas come in all sizes and shapes. Mint Corral 1 has even more examples of this.)






Each book is only $9.95, so it's no brainier to get Mint Corral 1 and 2 as a set.

You can also browse some of her original ink drawings, some of which are still available here:
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/artist/elsa_chang



(OMG! look at this horse drawing...I love the balance of black patterns and the way it leads your eye around the drawing. This is one of my favorites and for $60 you now know what to give to the horse / art lover.)

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