INFLUENCES PART 8

One of the things I've learned as an artist is that not only do I learn from the illustrators that are around me, but I learn different things from different people. When I talked about Mike Edsey a few weeks ago, I mentioned the hands-on training he gave me. Rick Lundeen is a different story.

Rick Lundeen posing for the cover of 15 Minutes to Midnight

Rick Lundeen is one of the illustrators at Steve Edsey & Sons but his talents don't end with advertising art.  Back in 1999 Rick organized 6 of the illustrators in the studio, including myself, into creating an anthology of short comic stories. Together we self published Epoch #1. 

Under the Epoch label, Rick self published no less than 8 graphic novels afterward, each more interesting than the last:

He even went on to do a co-created book for Markosia:

Rick's artwork was featured at a gallery in Lake Villa, Illinois:

The most important thing that I picked up from Rick has absolutely nothing to do with the technical aspects of artwork. Rick taught me, through observing the way he works, how important it is to be a professional. I learned it's more important to get the work done early as opposed to just on time or late. Rick is one of the fastest illustrators I've ever seen. In trying to copy that aspect I discovered that I was no Rick Lundeen. Whereas he is able to put things down on paper quickly, things don't work out well for me when I do that. The importance, for myself, in slowing down and focusing on details.

Rick's advertising art can be found HERE, and his comic book art  HERE