Since I last wrote about remarkable artwork of ex illustrator and former Disney background artist turned gallery artist Eyvind Earle back in 2009, the long promised EvyindEarle.com website has been published.

Though navigation is somewhat clunky, this is now a good resource on Earle, with a large selection of his work. Many of the serigraphs have links to larger images, though it seems the oils, watercolors and scratchboards unfortunately do not, and are reproduced too small to properly appreciate Earle’s approach.

There is still a better array of larger images on Gallery 21.

For more, see my previous posts on Eyvind Earle (and here), both of which contain background information on Earle and links to additional sites with images of his work.

Kieran Yanner is a concept artist and illustrator working for a variety of clients in publishing and the gaming industry.

Originally from Darwin, Australia, Yanner now lives and works in Seattle, Washington in the U.S.

His clients include Hasbro, NCSoft, THQ, DC Comics, Marvel, Upperdeck Entertainment, Decipher, Wizards of the Coast, Wizkids, White Wolf, Vivendi Universal Games, Disney and Sony Online Entertainment.

Yanner works digitally and has a nice flair for visual drama, from the sweeping motions of dragons or sea monsters to emotional characters to dazzling special effects. He also demonstrates a flair for humorous illustration, as in his character designs for Save Dr. Lucky (above, fourth down).

His portfolio is divided into sections by project and shows the range of visual approaches and rendering styles he brings to the different kinds of projects he undertakes.

There is an interview with Yanner on 3D Total.

Jose Emroca Flores is an illustrator and a senior concept designer at Activision/Blizzard Highmoon Studios in California who has done work for companies like EA, Vivendi Universal and Nike and whose work has been featured by Spectrum, Computer Arts and the Society of Illustrators, among others.

Since I last wrote about him back in 2007, his website has been revised and updated with new material, including sections for professional and personal work as well as a “process” section that features sketches and concepts.

His professional section showcases his game work, which is often kinetic and action packed, sometimes with a bright palette but often with controlled colors punctuated with brighter, more intense passages for emphasis and focus.

My favorite pieces on his site, however, are found in his gallery of personal work. These have a loopy eccentricity and are often imaginatively whimsical, as well as having a playful drawing and rendering style.

Ralph McQuarrie was one of the best, most important and most influential film concept designers and visual development artists in the industry.

He is best known for his groundbreaking work on the original three Star Wars films, but worked on numerous other projects.

McQuarrie died yesterday, March 3, 2012, at the age of 82.

The official Art of Ralph McQuarrie website, though informative in some respects, is unfortunately not forthcoming when it actually comes to art, the galleries consisting essentially of thumbnails without larger images. Despite my best hopes, it has been that way for some time, so I don’t know if there is even an intention to provide real images in the future.

Fortunately, for the moment at least, the StarWars.com site has a nice tribute to McQuarrie, with a slideshow of images large enough to do his wonderful ability justice.

There is a nice tribute here from illustrator Greg Newbold.

See also my previous post on Ralph McQuarrie.

[Addendum: another terrific and large set of images of McQuarrie's work on Concept Ships (Via Daring Fireball)]

[Via Tor.com]

Dermot Power is a concept designer and visual development artist with an impressive list of credits in feature films like Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, V for Vendetta and three of the Harry Potter films, as well as high-end gaming projects like Bioshock 2.

Since I initially wrote about him in 2006, Power has redesigned his website and added concept art from several new films, including Beowulf, A Christmas Carol and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

I’m constantly struck by Power’s masterful use of value in composing his images. This is most evident in his compositions that are monochromatic, or nearly so, which have a dynamic and atmospheric power that make them a visual treat in themselves.

Not that Power doesn’t also do wonderful work in color, he certainly does, but where other concept artists rely on color, often with high-chroma complementary colors laid side by side to exaggerate their intensity, Power creates palpable atmosphere and intense visual drama using value as his major instrument. Even in his full color work, you can tell that value is a primary concern in his handling of the subject.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt the Power is a terrific draftsman, with a snappy, economic style that makes his character designs a visual treat as well.

When viewing the galleries on his website, and flipping through the (unfortunately small) controls above the images, don’t miss the fact that some of the projects have more than one section, accessed on the bar to the right of the title. Also, look for Power’s interesting commentary at lower left of the images.

There is also a biography and interviews on the site, along with a FAQ, links and more. Unfortunately the “Tutorials” section is limited (at least for now) to a single time-lapse digital painting. Power also maintains a blog titled DMOXIA.

It’s easy when viewing concept art for familiar films to unconsciously think of them as after the fact, because they often look like the images you’ve seen on screen, but keep in mind that images like these are what the movie scenes are based on; they facilitate the communication of visual concepts between the director, cinematographer, production designer and other contributors who produce the final look of a feature film or game.

Power’s beautiful concept designs for Alice in Wonderland (images above, top two) and A Christmas Carol (second and third down) are so striking they make me wish the final movies were filmed in black and white and looked as close to his digital paintings as possible.

Kevin Nelson is a visual development artist for the animated film industry, in particular Disney Animation Studios. He has worked on films like The Emperor’s New Groove, Tangled, Bolt and Meet The Robinsons.

What little I know about him is not from any biographical material conspicuously absent from his blog, but simply because he has posted some images there from his work on those films.

In addition you will find work on personal projects and some life sketches.

Nelson has one of those delightful drawing styles that can be at once precise and energetic, with enough “snap” to his lines and angles to suggest motion and vibrancy.

He also has wonderful control over his color palette and uses atmospheric perspective to great effect.

[Via John Nevarez]

Justin Sweet is a concept artist, illustrator and gallery artist who works primarily in the fantasy genre.

He has worked on motion picture projects like Game of Thrones, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Green Lantern and illustration projects like Magic: The Gathering.

Though his gallery art is in oil and watercolor, Sweet works digitally for his concept art, valuing the flexibility and speed of handling inherent to that medium. There is a brief interview with him on the ImagineFX site.

On his own website, you can find concept art, drawings, illustrations and a newly added section of concept art from Narnia: Prince Caspian (images above, 4th & 5th down).

In the illustration section there is an unexpected treat in the form of wonderfully handled pen and ink/scratchboard style illustrations (images above, bottom two) that I’m assuming were drawn digitally, perhaps with the Scratchboard Tool in Corel Painter.

Sweet’s artwork is currently on view in a solo exhibition at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, that runs until November 28, 2011. You can see examples of work from the show on the Nucleus website (images above, first three). When the exhibition ends, you should still be able to find Sweet’s work on this page of the Gallery Nucleus website.

One of the most renowned and influential French comics artists, Régis Loisel is known in particular for his work in the fantasy genre. Along with Jean Giraud (“Moebius”) and several other pioneers, he helped set the stylistic standards that became the foundation of Franco-Belgian comics (“bandes desinees”) from the mid 20th century to today.

Most comics readers here in the US, despite the fascination with Japanese manga in some circles, aren’t aware of how vibrant (and different) the comics scene is in other parts of the world, like France, Belgium, the UK, Italy and South America.

Loisel is perhaps best known for his work on La Quete de l’Oiseau du Temps (“The Quest for the Time Bird”, published at one point in English as Roxanna and The Quest for the Time Bird), a multi-volume fantasy epic written by Serge Le Tendre.

Loisel worked on numerous short projects, as well as the multi-volume series Le Grand Mort and a striking adaptation of Peter Pan (images above, second from bottom). He also did visual development art for the Disney animated features Mulan (above, bottom) and Atlantis.

His comics pages manage to feel detailed and open at the same time, with passages of intense detail balanced by well spotted blacks and flat areas of color, all used to dramatic effect. He has a wonderful command of the environments in which he places his characters, both natural and architectural.

He uses visual texture to great advantage in creating atmosphere, mood and a sense of scale and distance, as well as controlling how long the reader’s eye lingers on a given panel,

Loisel’s website, though in French, is easy enough for non-French speakers to navigate. The major comics series, Peter Pan, La Quete de l’Oiseau du Temps and Le Grand Mort, each have a drop down menu to pages about each volume in the series. These are usually accompanied by a few sample pages that open in pop-ups.

Some of the volumes, in particular La Quete de l’Oiseau du Temps volumes 7 and 5 have more extensive previews. Volume 5 is supplemented with images of pages in their penciled or inked states in addition to finished art.

I find Loisel’s pencil drawings for comics pages particularly appealing; even though they are intended to be finished in ink and printed in color, they have a wonderful quality just as pencil drawings.

You can sometimes find Loisel’s comics albums on Amazon.com, both in English and in French, as well as through importers like Stuart Ng Books.

You can find larger images of some of Loisel’s pages from Peter Pan, along with samples of his visual development drawings for Mulan on Animation Treasures: One1More2time3′s Weblog, the superb blog of Hans Bacher.

Bacher is the production designer who, while working on Mulan, suggested to producer Pam Coats that he bring Loisel in on the project. Bacher has an excellent series of posts on Loisel and his work.

You can also find some larger images of pages from Le Grand Mort on Vincent Mallié’s site (also here, here, here and here)