Mark Bischel is another of those illustrators whose work I’ve encountered, but about whom I know little. His web presence is minimalist to a fault, consisting of a series of (unfortunately horizontally) scrolling thumbnails and the larger images they link to; which can also be navigated (fortunately) by forward and back arrows.
His images range from dark and thickly textured monochrome charcoal drawings to brusquely textured oil paintings to graphic and somewhat monochromatic silkscreen, and what appear to be ink and watercolor paintings.
As fascinating as the slikscreens are, it’s the ink and watercolor pieces I find most appealing. They have a a loose, fresh feeling, and carry the best qualities of an on-location sketch, with free line work and lightly applied areas of color.
A brief search for Bischel produced little additional information other than the fact that he is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts. He has also been in the Communication Arts Illustration Annuals, which is where I encountered his work.
Perhaps Bischel will update his site at some point with additional images and maybe even a little information.
Really Intresting!!
I really like this work, particularly the ink and watercolour sketches. I do this myself and find it is a nice way of getting lively images.
awesome work!!!! cheers and thanks for the links!
I like the open feel he gets by juxtaposing the tilted, crooked wires with the curving tracks. I almost want to yell at them to watch out for trains :)
About a year and a half ago, I attended a week-long life drawing studio that Mark taught in Scranton, PA.
He’s a great guy and as energetic as you would guess from looking at his drawings. He placed a lot of emphasis on gesture drawings. I think he lives in NYC, not sure on that though.
Mark is currently my teacher at SVA, and I must say his work is fabulous. His energy as an artist and a teacher are quite inspiring.
Thanks, RAN. I didn’t even realize he was teaching there.
Mark is currently my teacher at SVA. One of the best teachers I’ve ever had. He lives and breathes what he’s doing and is passionate about it. I only have good things to say about him. Also, his most famous quote, “Just knock it back!”
Thanks, Mark. It’s always nice to have the perspective of personal accounts.
I love, love, Love your website. I check it every morning to see if there are new updates and also revisit the old entries when i have time. Thank you so much!
Thanks, eva. Glad you’re enjoying it!