-by Petar Meseldzija
Two weeks ago I posted an entry about my beginnings as a commercial artist and about the posters that I did almost 20 years ago for Verkerke Reproducties.
Here are some more posters painted between 1993 and 1997. This is a selection from the various poster genres that I was doing at that time.
When I was young I believed that a proper commercial artist has to be able to cover different subjects and types of illustration, and I did my best to develop the necessary skills in order to achieve this aim.
Nowadays, after I have tried all of that, I must say that I am happy that I have found my own “voice”, which is, I believe, the ultimate purpose of this journey.
Brother, you are the artists artist. Just phenomenal work. Thank you.
Wow, it's great to see some of the work you were creating before you found your voice. What a journey.
Petar, I remember seeing some of these as a child, I believe it was a friend of my parents who had a collection of posters with crying children, clowns in weird situations and some of the above (the panther comes to mind, and the wizard conjuring a dragon)… I never saw a name of the artist though… Glad to finally have found out. Thank you for sharing these!
wonderful illustrations!
Damn. Now that's a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Great paintings.
Those are stunning. Intimidating, too.
Thank you for sharing them.
Chopper riding Fabio angel. Life doesn't get any better than that. If you can paint that you can paint anything, ahd you can. Hope to see you soon Petar.
Sir your art is stupendous! 9, 14, 15, and 16th down are my favorites. If you don't mind me saying so, I notice a lot of influence from the Brothers Hildebrandt in some of the fantasy pieces you have displayed here. Were they a big influence on your career, or was it the other way around:)?
Thank you for posting these wonderful works, they really show how versatile one should be when making art.
-Will
Also, are you by any chance planning to attend IlluXCon 2012 in Altoona Pa?
I actually had a poster of that wizard summoning the dragon out of the book hanging in my room during my teen years – how very strange seeing it pop up here! However, it's great to finally be able to put a name to the artist. 🙂
What a training ground! But more importantly is the flexibility of your mind to be able to range from the motorcycle angel to the dinosaurs to the bunnies (I can hear the super cute squealing). THAT more than anything I wish I had had when I was younger! Thank you for showing this – it is inspiring to see what a person can do with projects like these. Hats off to you sir!
Yes, the chopper riding angel was a wonderfully stupid idea. I can't remember where this idea came from. Perhaps one of the Verkerke art directors came up with such an ingenious combination of elements. There were many more “ingenious” posters of a similar kind in their collection at that time :0)
See you soon, Bill!
Will – I discovered the art of Hilderbrandt Brothers later on. I always admired their work, but I don't think that I was much influenced by their paintings…Perhaps a little.
Yes, I will be there!
Julia – yes, I agree with you, the flexibility of mind is the key thing.
Thank you Julia!
Thank you all, for your kind remarks!
That is great news! I am going to try my best to make it!
Verkerke? You worked for a Dutch company? How did they find you?
Ow wait, I just read your profile. Feel like joining us for lifedrawing in Rotterdam someday soon? Check out our blog: http://digi-sketch.blogspot.com
I'm glad to know that the journey before you came to the art that you now make and love may not have been what you really wanted to do, but stretched you so you could become the artist you are today. Very encouraging. Really amazing work. Love the conch shell and the dragon battle at the bottom. Love it.
Wow, Petar you have such amazing range! Very inspiring.