Lloyd Harvey – Emerging Artist

Written by Donya Mound // January 27, 2012 // Emerging Artists // No comments

The Social Leviathan - Lloyd Harvey

About the Artist:

Growing up, I’ve always drawn and been creative. I was always encouraged by my parents to try new things and practice as often as I could but pursuing creativity as a career hadn’t occurred to me in those early years and it wasn’t really something I took seriously. Then, after college when I met my girlfriend Claire, I really got into painting and graphic design. This was about 7 and a half years ago (at the time of writing). I don’t think I would have taken the path I did had I not met her.

I’m not formally educated in design or illustration. I did an A level in graphic design at college but, with respect to my tutors, I feel I have learned more since leaving structured education. I taught myself how to use Photoshop and as the years have gone by, I have tried to push my illustration skills and learn new programs.

Now a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and 2D Artist for a social gaming company, I tend to work to a number of different styles, often tailored for their end purpose. Professionally, 90% of the work I do is carried out in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator but, for personal work, I like to play with acrylic paints and tend to paint monsters, creatures and fantasy worlds. I do use Photoshop in my personal work too as there is a convenience to creating a digital painting in that it takes up no space in my small flat.

The Laughing Caterpillar - Lloyd Harvey

About the Work:

Generally speaking, my personal paintings get a mixed response from people. On the one hand, people really like what I do and find the beasts that I paint cute, curious and interesting. On the other side of things, people are greatly repulsed by what I put to paper and tend to focus on the gruesome aspects of the character and what it represents. This greatly fascinates me but isn’t why I do what I do.

I paint monsters because I love them and I paint them mainly for my own amusement. Having grown up on Sci-fi B Movies and monster flicks, loving comics, computer games and all things fantasy has had a lasting impression on me and it is very hard to ignore the urge to ink out something that would belong in a horror film or might live under the stairs. I know that monsters like the ones I paint, aren’t real. The real monsters in this world are human & terrify me more than any drawing could.

People’s responses are guided by any number of things. Those who like my work, tend to have a similar up bringing to me and like the same sort of things as I do. For those who don’t like my art, I can’t speak on their behalf but, I guess to some, it may come from a primordial place. As a race, we evolved certain mechanisms in our behaviour that were born out of the need to survive and not get eaten. To recognize the snarl of a wolf or rows of teeth in the open mouth of a shark as an immediate danger, comes from our ancestors and I guess this may play a part.

What ever the case is, I look at my creatures in the same way as the monster in Frankenstein. They are a misunderstood bunch of beings.