Last week, we featured some superb artists: John Gurtin and Katie Wilson of Dude & Chick, Kelly Abeln and Andres Gusman. We kick off week two with the person who inspires Andres, in his words.

ALICE PATTULLO
“Style, character and humor pour effortlessly out of Alice Pattullo’s existence. She is the kind of person that can say two words, one syllable each, and have you gasping for air on your dirty carpet. Everything she creates is the truth! She makes exactly what she means to and nothing less. Her taste is on point and unmatchable. You can tell that her eyes pick up the forgotten corners of culture that she then takes and immortalizes. Before she returned to her home country [U.K.] once, she gave me a refillable brush that she didn’t like. She showed me how she liked to use the brush, which completely changed the way I drew from there on. I liked this new brush so much that I bought like 10 of them afterward. She was definitely instrumental in my artistic expansion.”

Alphabet of Superstitions
“Right away you can see the amount of work this woman puts in. She does not mess around. This alphabet is perfectly imperfect, from the wobbly lines to the scratchy solid fills. Children should have this type of art on their classroom walls. Alice makes me feel like poo and mega-inspired all at once.”

“I chose the detail of the F because I have a thing for dismembered fingers.”

The Climb to the Crown
I chose this spread from her ’zine, The Climb to the Crown, because it’s only right to show the strange beings that Alice sees in her head. Her world is consistently populated by these pasty, blissfully benevolent zombies that appear to have just finished eating a spinach oreo salad.

Alice Pattullo is inspired by …

ROSIE GAINSBOROUGH
“Rosie Gainsborough’s work is so different from my own, leaving me feeling both inspired and in awe of her sensitive and considered images and animations. I personally tend to create over-cluttered and overt images, and it is really refreshing to see Rosie’s work and see how she can tell a story through a more modest method of image-making. She is definitely a sympathetic observer and an acute draughtsman and can make something out of nothing — her works that is most inspiring are those that champion the mundanities and ‘boringness’ of everyday life; she will almost always discover something beautiful in the things the rest of us overlook.”

Greenhouse
“This is my all time favorite image Rosie has produced. It shows both her relentless patience — which I constantly envy, as I have a severe lack of it — and attention to detail when it comes to her drawing skills. It is a quiet image that speaks much louder than words; For me it evokes a feeling of both solitude and loneliness, a recurring theme within her work, through its serene depiction of a fruitful greenhouse placed in nothingness. It leaves you asking questions — something I think all illustrations should do.”

Home animation
“This animation explores the idea of ‘home’ — a poignant and intimate representation of the more mundane aspects of home and the relationships within it. I remember Rosie religiously dedicating a whole summer to producing this animation, painstakingly monoprinting every frame — this in itself deserves applause. It is Rosie’s determination, perseverance and sensitivity toward a project that really makes her work so strong. I hope to see more of her animations in the near future!”

Rosie Gainsborough is inspired by ….

SOPHIA MARTINECK
“Sophia Martineck inspires me because her drawings are both aesthetically and conceptually interesting. She makes images that confidently communicate a message —whether it is the message of a newspaper article or of an imagined story — and that draw you into her world. Her storytelling is fantastic.”

The Exquisite Book
I really like the strange atmosphere of this image; there is something foreboding about it. The colors and shapes are beautiful, too. I am a big admirer of Sophia’s storytelling, and this image feels like part of a bigger narrative. It leaves me wanting to know what happened before … and after.

Mission Shoppers
It seems to me that Sophia Martineck could draw anything that is thrown at her, which is perhaps part of why her editorial illustrations are so successful. This image would really bring an article to life, giving the text character and energy.

Next Wednesday, Sophia Martineck’s selected artist will be featured, along with two additional links in the chain.

A big thank you to designer Fred Schaub for creating visualizations of each person in the chain.