Artist Dossier:
Special Guest: Markus Vesper.
Bio, artworks and interview.
"Rise of the great old ones", 2013, acrylics on canvas board, 80cm x 60cm
Markus Vesper Website: http://www.markusvesper.de
In this special dossier we are proud to present Markus Vesper, a german artist that has made himself a name in the industry with many kind of artworks, mainly focused in the music industry, but also book covers, flyers, commisions...
Take a look at his bio and enjoy the pictures of some of his awesome artworks. At the end of this blog entry, you can also find the interview that Markus has kindly answered for us.
"Death / Entropy", 2008, acrylics on watercolour cardboard, ca. 28cm x 44cm
Markus Vesper was born and grew up in a small town in the north of Germany and already as a child he discovered his fondness for fantastic painted images that he found on covers of fantasy books and old records from his father's collection (YES, for example).
From the beginning of his youth he was also amazed by painted covers of Heavy Metal albums (as well as by the music).
Even though then the foundations of his passion - painting - were laid, it would be several years when he tenaciously and keenly followed that route.
After finishing college for graphic design in Bremen (1995 - 1997) and going through an exclusively black and white phase of drawing, he began self-teaching painting with acrylics. During his training as a media designer in tehe prepress of a printhouse in Bremen he carried the hobby of painting and also did some first commissioned work for album covers for local bands.
Since 2006 he is a fully professional self-employed artist and illustrator and has published many international cd, vinyl and book covers.
Aside from his commissions, he still concentrates on his acrylic painting and realisation of his own ideas.
"Focus of Thoughts" acrylics on stretched canvas, 80 cm x 100 cm
All of his works have one thing in common: Markus always tries to push himself forward and increase his skills. Since 2006 he focuses on more realistic lighting in his images and often places more than one source of light in his paintings.
Thanks to still having many unrealised ideas for further paintings, art will still play a very important role in his live.
Since 2014 he lives in a small village 40 km east from Hamburg, where the surrouniding nature inspires his work.
This is the interview of Markus Vesper for this web:
In the very beginning - long before becoming a professional - it was Roger Dean and Rodney Matthews, which I knew from my father‘s fantasy book collection and 70‘s Rock record covers, as well as posters. I also remember finding a dark sci-fi comic book by Moebius in the local library. I took that one home and it had a great impact on me.
Later I was amazed by Heavy Metal album covers like the ones of Iron Maiden etc. and also by the art of Salvador Dalí and M.C. Escher. They all influenced my own first steps in drawing and painting.
This is the interview of Markus Vesper for this web:
- The Blueberry Encyclopaedia (TBE): What has your biggest artistic influence in the beginning of your artistic life?
- TBE: And now, which artists do you respect the most?
Nowadays I can‘t count how many artists‘ work I admire - be it cover artists like Dan Seagrave, Rodney Matthews, Ed Repka or Eric Larnoy, or artists of the Phantastic Realism and new Surrealism like Siegfried Zademack, Michel Barthelemy, Bruno Altmayer.
"Scout", 2007, acrylics on canvas, 69cm x 45cm
- TBE: With whom would you like to work?
I‘m not sure if I could do that at all, I‘ve allways worked alone. But maybe it would be an interesting experience....
And talking about working with artists of other trades, like musicians, I‘d very much like to paint a coverart for Iron Maiden for example.
And talking about working with artists of other trades, like musicians, I‘d very much like to paint a coverart for Iron Maiden for example.
"Maiden Heaven" by Markus Vesper
- TBE: What do you think of digital comic books...is the comic industry in danger / crisis with the menace of pirate downloads?
I don‘t know. I guess it‘s the same with the music market - there are those who still want to buy a physical product with a nice cover etc. and there are more and more people who just want to consume everything for free. Selling/buying a digital album or book is nothing bad, of course, but I, personally, prefer a real book over a digital one (like I prefer vinyl and cd‘s over download albums).
- TBE: How can this affect the work of artists?
I‘m not sure if this affects the work of artists at all in terms of their style, effort etc. (although it can bring new developments like a mixture of animated images and still images) but the digital availabillity certainly affects their income - and, on the other hand, maybe also their popularity. Today you can be quite popular around the world but still poor or earning an under average salary, which wasn‘t the case before the internet and the availability of almost everything. I have to say, that as an artist, it‘s much easier today to reach potential customers - but there‘s also lots of competition, more than ever. So I guess it has good and bad sides. Every new technology and development has its flaws and advances.
- TBE: How can this affect the work of artists?
I‘m not sure if this affects the work of artists at all in terms of their style, effort etc. (although it can bring new developments like a mixture of animated images and still images) but the digital availabillity certainly affects their income - and, on the other hand, maybe also their popularity. Today you can be quite popular around the world but still poor or earning an under average salary, which wasn‘t the case before the internet and the availability of almost everything. I have to say, that as an artist, it‘s much easier today to reach potential customers - but there‘s also lots of competition, more than ever. So I guess it has good and bad sides. Every new technology and development has its flaws and advances.
- TBE: What is your favourite artistic technique and why?
Well, for commissions I recently prefer to work digital, mostly on a wacom tablet with a special pen, because it‘s the most efficient way to work for me (customers always want digital images and no originals) - but when it comes to personal projects, I still prefer painting with brushes and acrylics because the process feels more „real“ and there‘s always a small but nice amount of random or unplanned results because of the characteristics of the paint which you can‘t control completely. And you can still work quite quickly (the colours dry in a short time) compared to oil paint.
I‘m working on a layout for a cd of a Metal band for which I‘ve also painted the album cover and my next project will be album cover for the Metal band Septagon. I‘m also planning to do an acrylic painting soon to apply for an exhibition in the south of Germany.
Untitled, 2013, acrylics on stretched canvas, 60cm x 80cm
- TBE: What are you working on and what are your upcoming projects?
Markus, it has been a real pleasure to have you as a guest in this web and letting us explore your work. We will look forward to discover your next works, no doubt they will be magnificent. Thank you very much.
