Introductions

Thought it was about time I create a blog solely intent on showcasing my own work. I've been slowly recoiling away from my deviantART account, which I will still update from time to time, but in recent years, I've really come to detest the site for various and fairly obvious reasons. But anyways...

For those wanting an introduction, my name is Neal Anderson, and I'm currently enrolled at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI in the department of illustration. I'm thrilled that I'm able to attend, and I am continuously impressed by the faculty.

I was born October 27th, 1992, and coming home from the hospital the following Halloween night probably has nothing to do with my lifelong fascination on science fiction, horror and all genres fantastical. I've been drawing from a very early age, easily influenced by countless hours of playing with knight and pirate toys, watching scooby-doo, and finding universal studios' monsters. But none of those inspirations come close to the influence of my parents. My parents first met at Wayne State University while in the art program, and met again while working at the art department of the yellow pages. Then they combined forces to form Andtwo, a home freelance business. My mother is a graphic designer working on projects all around the metro area, as well as other parts of the country. My father was a illustrator, working in too many genres and styles to count.

My father passed away in October 2010, but his influence and inspiration still lives strong in me, and I hope to continue his legacy for generations to come. The art, of course doesn't stop at my parents, as I have a twin brother also currently enrolled at CCS, and an older sister who, while not pursuing art as a career, is very artistic. Beside my family, I gather all sorts of inspiration from a vast plethora of other artists, many of whom were introduced by my Dad. From the good ol' US of A, Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben, Geoff Darrow, Bernie Wrightson, and Syd Mead. From Europe, comic greats like Jean "Moebius" Giraud, Gaetano Tanino Liberatore, and Sergio Toppi. Then you have British brilliance exhibited in Simon Bisley, Paul Bonner, Phil Hale, and Barry Windsor-Smith. Then, I can top it off with Asian auteurs along the likes of Katsuhiro Otomo, Katsuya Terada, and the team of Yasushi Nirasawa and Takayuki Takeya.

With healthy doses of video games like Street Fighter and Metroid, my inspiration has taken me many places. By biggest hobby however, would be film. Whenever I have downtime of any sort, you can usually find me plopped in front of the television set watching yet another movie. My favorite directors would have to be the Coen Brothers( The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men) for their near-flawless track record, Ridley Scott for his sci-fi masterpieces, Alien, Blade Runner and the very opinion-divided Prometheus, and lastly, one of the original true artistes of film, Stanley Kubrick(2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining).

As for my work, I really aspire to break into the comic industry, and by comics, I mean graphic novels, since weekly comics are soon to be dead, as far as I can tell. In addition, I'd love to work in concept artwork for movies, video games, television, or whoever needs some. I find myself designing characters, creatures, and settings all the time. I feel I'd be a good asset to any client, as I feel my sense of character/creature design carries a more unique approach than that of most films today. I'm currently working my butt off at CCS, whether it be projects in design, perspective, figure, or even the mostly useless liberal arts. I always have more than one personal project going on at any given time, the biggest being my graphic novel project, "Final Round", whose kickstarter campaign I plan to reboot once I get more material going.

Sorry for the long intro, I tend to rant. But anyways, I plan to update this blog fairly regularly on my happenings at CCS, my personal projects, or what have you.

So, 'til next time...

For those of you interested, I can put up links to all my other various websites/blogs.
My deviantArt.
My tumblr of various stuff.
My other blog of various stuff.
My Geoff Darrow Fan Tumblr.


Neal Anderson