Even Mehl Amundsen

“It’s a great canvas,” says the Norwegian artist, “and a subject for learning that never stops giving. There is always a new aspect, be it something in the details or something in the whole to learn from.”

Even has made his name as a concept artist with an exceptional handling of human anatomy. Daily sketches posted on Facebook reveal his eye for deft detail, but the forms underneath the rendering are totally convincing, and always interesting.

And he has no doubt that the real fun is to be had at the sketch stage, “almost by definition. Because the moment you go from impression to deliberation, you’re no longer being spontaneous.”

However, there are ways around this problem. “When you lose the dynamic sense, you can so easily kill the drama of a piece. But in the pursuit of preserving that drama we have solutions ranging from Frazetta and his theatrical exaggerations, to the fluid, almost animated lines of [comic artist] Bastien Vivès.”

And what keeps Even enthused about his favourite subject matter? “An awe at successfully making a simplified illusion of the three dimensional in two dimensions,” he states. “The extraordinary understanding of one aspect of the form or another, be it anatomical or that of movement, or ideally some unique mixture of the two. That gives me great pleasure.”

There’s always something new, in the details or in the whole, to learn from