Charley Harper

It was pointed out to me recently, that I naturally have quite a symmetrical way of working. I like cutting magazines up and sticking them together to create characters. I like the quality of the magazines glossy paper and although I'm aware I should be creating a resource of pattern etc. it would be a waste to print them out onto normal A4 paper.

I was directed to Charley Harper, whose work I like, but don't 'adore'. He is much more switched on and has tuned into this symmetrical thing. When I look at his work I get the impression it has been produced on Illustrator, it turns out he is just a perfection freak! I think with a little more fine tuning and concentration my focus could shift to this way of working. The next item on my shopping list then is graph paper!

Here are some examples of Charley's work:

I think that the graph paper will be a useful tool as I can work along one line and flip it in Photoshop to create the full image. It will be less time consuming too as I will only have to create half an image! I like his use of line, how they vary in weight and density. Likewise, Harper appears to concentrate on animals and characters the way I do (dare I admit I'm scared of creating people?)

This fear is probably because we have an ideal of how people are supposed to look whereas animals and characters can take on a different persona. I'll tackle it... one day