Awesome Artists We’ve Found Around The Net: Courtney Autumn Martin

March 5th 2022, 10:06am

For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected]. This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…

Courtney Autumn Martin

Courtney Autumn Martin is a US-based freelance artist. She studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and has worked as an in-house graphic designer, a fine art painter, and a children’s illustrator. She currently works as an illustrator for The Poster Posse, a collective of artists creating movie posters for clients including Disney, Marvel Studios, Hulu, and Sony Pictures.

JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
COURTNEY: I’ve been drawing since I was four years old, but I did not show any special talent for it as a kid. My older sister was into drawing and painting and I figured I could do it, too. Starting around age 11, I developed the interest and the drive to draw and it became my main hobby. I particularly loved drawing from photographs and trying to draw as realistically as I could.

From age 11-17, I drew non-stop with physical materials—pencils, colored pencils, pastels, markers, paints, charcoal, ink, scratch board. I drew a lot of celebrity portraits and movie fan art. I constantly tried new materials and essentially taught myself through playing.

As a teenager, I toyed around with Photoshop and taught myself the basics. Once I got to art school, I did a lot of drawing and painting from live models. After I graduated, I began painting digitally for the first time. I started on a small tablet and was not particularly good at it. But the skills I had built by drawing with real materials had given me a solid foundation from which to learn. Fast forward to today— I now work exclusively in Photoshop on a large Wacom Cintiq screen and I love the process.

Reflecting on my identity as an artist, I am not someone with inherent talent, but I did have an inclination to draw and was fortunate enough to have access to creative materials. I practiced at drawing long enough that I got better at it.

After I studied illustration at art school, I worked for over a decade as a children’s illustrator and graphic designer. In 2017, I found myself gravitating more and more to an interest in illustrated movie posters. My love of drawing people is a big component to the work I make today and my background as a designer influences the way I think about composition.

I spent the last few years building my movie poster portfolio and in 2020 I joined The Poster Posse where I create official pieces to promote upcoming films, typically used in the film’s social media marketing campaigns. I’m essentially a professional fan artist, which is a dream job for me.

Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
I was a big fan of illustrated movie posters by Drew Struzan, John Alvin, and Richard Amsel. Admittedly it wasn’t until I was older that I came to learn the names of these artists who had made some of the most iconic posters of all time.

Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
I am a huge fan of the work of Ise Ananphada, Tom Whalen, Kilian Eng, Mark Englert, Rory Kurtz, Victo Ngai, Tula Lotay, Anne Benjamin, Greg Ruth, and Krzysztof and Grzegorz Domaradzki. I also love to support my Poster Posse colleagues who are constantly putting out stellar new work across social media and are wonderful in supporting each other’s work. I make an effort to follow as many fellow women artists in the poster scene as I can; Sg Posters, Bella Grace, Freya Betts, Liza Shumskaya, Dorothea Taylor, and Nicky Barkla are some that come to mind.

What advice would you have for budding artists today?
My advice is simple: make stuff. Make a lot of art just for yourself. Practice drawing, experiment with styles and tools, explore different materials, and indulge in your passions and personal interests. Practice at trusting and listening to the inner voice that says “I want to create this” and then…make it. There are endless online tools and resources that will help you learn and grow as an artist but the best investment you can make is giving yourself time to play and practice. Trust that if you create to please yourself first, you will eventually connect with the people who appreciate what you do.

What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I hope to have a few more official pieces this year for The Poster Posse. In between gigs, I will be working on posters for myself and slowly chipping away at my to-do list. I’m hoping to return to the series of sci-fi movie posters that I began and add a few more that have been in the works for a while, namely Gravity and The Martian. The Poster Posse also does periodic group passion projects where we are invited to create a new piece in anticipation of an upcoming film. I enjoy participating in those whenever I can. It’s great to have prompts and to create pieces I might not normally make for myself. It’s fantastic practice and keeps me sharp for whenever my next freelance job comes along.

Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
My favorite movies are Practical Magic, Amelie, Contact, Little Women (2019), Babe, Titanic and Wall-E. Big franchises like The Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and the MCU are also top favorites. And I love most sci-fi/space movies.

My favorite TV shows are Wonderfalls, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cosmos, From The Earth to The Moon, For All Mankind, and just about everything from PBS Masterpiece in the last few years; shows like All Creatures Great and Small, Poldark, and Downton Abbey. I also watch a lot of space/science/nature documentaries from the BBC and Nova.

Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Courtney as we continue to follow her journey across her Website and social media hubs: Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Behance / Linkedin / Store / Doodle Paintings

Apollo 13