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 theodorebond@joblo.com.This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Chelsea Lowe
Chelsea Lowe is an illustrator from East Tennessee. Like many artists, she has been drawing since she was a child and knew early on that she wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts. In 2010, Chelsea began attending East Tennessee State University where she majored in Digital Media and minored in Art. Throughout her education, she experimented with several art forms such as fine art, print design, and even web design. By the time she graduated in 2014, she realized that her ultimate love was illustration.
In 2015, she started dabbling with freelance illustration by illustrating a children’s book and book covers for indie authors. During this time, Chelsea continued to explore various digital painting techniques and really began developing her bold and colorful art style. From there, she began growing an audience through social media, conventions, published artbooks, and exhibiting in pop culture-themed group art shows in the US and UK.
In late 2018, Chelsea joined the Poster Posse and it was through them that she began creating official posters for studios such as Disney. Some of these posters include The Mandalorian, Toy Story 4, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and Ad Astra.
Chelsea’s work is heavily inspired by her love for pop culture, as well as nostalgia. Through her photorealistic art style, she aims to create work that harkens back to the classic hand-illustrated posters from back in the day.
JoBlo: What got you started as an artist?
Lowe: Like a lot of artists, I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil, so I've always been interested in it. When I got to high school, I decided to start drawing pencil portraits of my favorite celebrities and that's when I started to show real improvement in my work. In college, I majored in Digital Media and that's when I first started experimenting with digital painting on the iPad and Wacom tablets.
Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
As a teenager, I absolutely loved Tim Burton's art – and I still do. Drew Struzan and Richard Amsel were always my favorite poster artists. I also loved some of the classic "fine artists" – especially Salvador Dalí and Leonardo da Vinci.
Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
I always hesitate to answer this question because I'm so afraid of leaving anyone out – especially since so many of them are also my friends. So I would recommend going to my "Following" list to see everyone I follow!
What advice would you have for budding artists today?
I know this is going to be a cliche answer, but practice is everything. Just keep at it, and your art will improve. The internet can be your best friend. There are a countless number of tutorials from so many artists that you can look up on YouTube. Even watching speedpaint videos from favorite artists helped me. Also, use social media to your advantage. Post your art online, use hashtags, and it'll really help with building an audience and getting your work out there. And draw what you love! For personal projects, my strongest work stems from subject matter that I am the most passionate about. Finally, make friends with other artists. The art community is so supportive and I've been fortunate enough to build friendships with so many amazing people over the years. It's also always good to have fellow artists you can get feedback from and bounce ideas off of.
What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I recently finished a piece for an upcoming Gallery 1988 group art show, so keep an eye on that. I've also got a couple more group art shows already lined up. Like many, 2020 was awful for me and it really impacted my workflow. For 2021, I'm hoping to be in a much better headspace and focus on all those personal projects I neglected in 2020. One of these is a massive tribute poster to The Office that has been in the works for a while now. I'm also going to be focusing on my Patreon and trying to build up an audience over there.
Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
My all-time favorite movie is The Silence of the Lambs. I also love the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Sleepy Hollow (as well as just about anything starring Johnny Depp). The Lion King is my favorite animated movie, by far. Other favorite movies of mine include Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Escape From New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, The Fly, Jurassic Park, Halloween, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I love a lot of the "classics."
For TV, I am completely obsessed with Mindhunter, and of course Hannibal. I'm also a big fan of The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Ash vs Evil Dead, Person of Interest, Cheers, and The Office.
Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Chelsea as we continue to follow her journey across her Website and social media hubs: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Tumblr / DeviantArt/ TikTok/ Pateron/ TeePublic/ Store
Ad Astra
Aliens
An American Werewolf In London
Breaking Bad
Escape From New York
Indiana Jones
IT
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Maleficent
The Mandalorian
Mindhunter
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Princess Bride
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Toy Story 4
Twin Peaks
The X-Files