Assigment 6

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Marko Djurdevic

Marko is an illustrator primarily known for his “no-reference” style painting and his incredible ability to render light, volume and color with photographic accuracy without using reference. He is Marvel’s flagship illustrator and a founding member of Massive Black.

Dynamic (not overworked) composition
Much of Djurdevic’s most famous work is for Marvel comic covers, which obviously have a very standard size format to work inside. In the case of many illustrators, this leads to are fairly basic composition of the available area (as the header space must be reserved for the comic title). This is most certainly not the case for Marko. In addition to his artwork, his compositions are dynamic and balanced, without being overworked. His techniques could easily be applied to not only illustration but also portfolio graphic layouts.

“No-reference” Rendering
Through years of practice, Djurdjevic has the human form and all types of applied lighting purely learned in his visual memory. This is the type of skill that I am working towards by practicing with human and form reference, but additionally working from none in order to someday never need lighting or photographic reference.

Ctrl-Z is the Enemy
Marko has stated as a part of his process in many tutorial DVDs and PDFs that when he makes mistakes and moves to correct them, he paints overtop of forms rather than utilizing the “undo” features that digital programs allow. He treats his digital canvas much like he would a traditional one also: utilizing only a few layers at a time and flattening very often. I think my work would also benefit from not utilizing undo and “safety” style functions whenever possible. In this fashion I would learn to better correct my mistakes rather than constantly be worried being able to back up in order to preserve my work.