Drawing the darkness
Aesthetic choice Tanya Combrinck meets four artists whose mysterious characters are often perceived as sinister or malevolent
Whether it’s just a hint of doom in an otherwise uplifting image, or a portrait of an arrestingly hostile character, working with dark themes is a rewarding area of exploration for any artist.
Concept artist and illustrator
Jeff Simpson creates work that evokes a sinister ambience, but he doesn’t identify himself as a dark artist. “Like any creative person I try to find elements of reality, nature or people that I find interesting or mysterious and worth exploring,” he says. “When we put a magnifying glass up to any subject, it tends to amplify its complexity and our idealisations and expectations tend to be challenged. If this process makes things feel ‘dark’ to most people then so be it, I suppose!”
CHARACTER PERCEPTION
Jeff’s mother was an art teacher and he grew up looking through her art history books. “I would try to copy the usual masters from across the eras. I was drawn to the drama and the significance the paintings held in their day. Maybe I’ve always wanted to convey that sense of wonder, fear and fascination with my own work.”
For Jeff, creating a portrait with a substantial presence begins with imbuing the character with a sense of respect or honesty. “Even if it is an animal or creature, it needs to have a sense of being, and not be just a cartoon or symbol. It should feel as if its life was lived in a way we can relate to somehow.”
He considers what the motivations of his characters might be, and looks at the villains of history and how they presented themselves. “A character can always present themselves as
Even if it is an animal or creature, it needs to have a sense of being
sinister or scary but that is a guise, a role. No one sees themselves as the bad guy, so why would someone pretend to do so? Why is the person trying to look menacing? What are their goals? What do they fear? How do they want society to see them, and what do they want their role in society to be? Can an animal even be sinister if it has no comprehension of the idea? I don’t need to answer all these questions, but asking them always helps me to keep the character a bit more grounded.”
When assessing the overall tone of his image, Jeff is looking for the ‘eye of the duck’, an idea that David Lynch came up with. “As he puts it, ‘The eye of a duck is in the perfect place: if put around the feet it would get lost, in the body it would be too central. It’s a little jewel that the eye goes to instantly and all else just fits into place.’ This analogy breaks down if given too much thought, but the idea of somehow finding a bizarre logic to a work makes sense to me. There needs to be a hierarchy of elements.”
For artists who feel called to the darker path, Jeff has this advice: “Don’t worry about labels. Allow yourself to discover and imitate a variety of artists from across the spectrum. Consciously or not, you will mix them together and regurgitate it as something of your own. Just try to do what you think looks interesting in terms of patterns, shapes, colours and forms. Don’t worry about narrative; people will always be more than willing to apply their own.”
CHALLENGING EXPECTATIONS
Like Jeff, graphic designer and illustrator Nicole Altenhoff was influenced by the art her parents exposed her to as a child, and she can remember being drawn to fantasy and dark themes at primary school age. “The hallway of my parents’ flat was decorated with posters of heavy
I always look more towards the underdogs of stories than to the heroes and their heroic actions