Rotterdam-based digital artist Mark Verhaagen defines his style as a “smooth digital gradient extravaganza”. I interviewed him for Computer Arts Projects magazine to find out exactly what that means…
Ask Dutch illustrator Mark Verhaagen about what inspires him and he’ll throw a bucket load of influences at you. Retro design, toys, pop culture, Sci-Fi and fantasy, childhood memories, nature, comics and old cartoons by Disney and Fleischer.
All of these have defined and shaped a distinctive look-and-feel that adds a hint of something alien to everything he creates – a bug-eyed monkey; flying robots; a group of white extraterrestrials praising Vodafone’s mighty Mobile Broadband and Email service.
Verhaagen describes his style as a “smooth digital gradient extravaganza with organic elements”. He regularly pulls in visual influences from retro science fiction and fantasy.
“I’ve always liked the work of Jim Henson,” he explains. “Unlike the hyper realistic special effects of today, Henson’s puppets were recognisable as puppets, but were so cool and human, and beautifully made, that you fully accepted them as characters telling a story…
“Director Michel Gondry [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind] often works in the same way. He makes his special effects almost in a clumsy and childlike way. Most of the things I find visually attractive, such as old toys and old animation, have that same feel of imperfection.”
The full text of this feature appears in the ‘Illustration issue’ (#123) of Computer Arts Projects.
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