Johanna ÖstJohanna Öst

The blog of Swedish artist Johanna Öst.

Art suggestions wanted!

Aug 18, 2009 in Other people's art

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Nøkken by Theodor Kittelsen.

I really want to find more artists that I like. I’m super picky about art and very seldom find anything that I really love.

In a way I’m one of my own favourite artists since I paint themes I love in a style I love, but it’s not all that exiting to sit and look at stuff I came up with myself, at least not for very long!

Some artists I like a lot are Theodor Kittelsen (probably my favourite), Yoshitaka Amano and James Jean, especially his Fables covers. I tend to prefer a more “illustrationy” style. Some themes I love are mystery and adventure, mythology, folklore and fairy tales, heroic yet glamorous girls and circus and sideshow stuff. I also really like underwater stuff, and I have a thing for swamps and all things murky and slimy.

I love pulp magazine covers and retro science-fiction pictures, I like the mystery and mythology of a lot of the prerafaelite paintings and I like a lot of traditional Japanese art with supernatural themes. I’m also very fond of the illustrations for La vie parisienne.

I really want this book, The Brinkley Girls, because her illustrations seem like my kind of pictures. But it’s the first thing I’ve really liked in a long time.

Do you have any tips for me? I would especially like tips on art books I might like.

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I don’t remember where I found this but I love the motif!

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A painting by Böcklin. I love it so much. The merman under the water is perfect!

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By John Singleton Copley.

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