Peter Arkle

Peter Arkle is an American illustrator based in New York. His popularity has increased drastically over the past few years and has been commissioned by a variety of different industries including newspapers, magazines, advertisements and any other job that comes his way. I chose to look at this artist in relation to my work because of the unique and simple look it has. I often focus on making my work very accurate and I want to experiment with more expressive styles.

Arkle’s work has a strong focus on the use of simple lines, that end up creating an interesting illustration that is both simple and highly detailed at the same time. Colour is used in some of Arkle’s illustrations but this is kept very flat and simple so as to not distract from the lines and details. For the most part, the lines are fairly uniform in weight, without much variation. Arkle’s work looks like it was made either using fineliners or ink, and flat washes of either watercolour or gouache or digitally using a program like Photoshop or Illustrator. As for the composition of this piece, the Rule of Thirds has been used by positioning the closest section of the stream at the bottom of the line of the first third. The horizon line also interacts with the line of the topmost third. Due to the flatter colours, the individual trees look quite flat, but as a whole, with the use of perspective, the image has a lot of depth, which I feel would be overpowered if the colouring was more complex. Despite all of the simplicity in the lines, this piece looks very intricate and highly detailed and shows that creating a highly detailed image doesn’t have to include precise or complicated marks.

This image, on the other hand, uses the same kinds of line techniques but is much more focused. Because this image is focused on one object as opposed to a whole landscape, the lines seem to better create an illusion of form, especially in the petals of the flower. Like the first piece I looked at, the colours here are kept very flat which works well even with less detail. I think that Arkel’s work would lose it’s signature aesthetic if the colouring was more in-depth.

After looking at Peter Arkel’s work, I have a better idea of how to create detailed images that look much more simple and expressive than the work I have previously produced. I will experiment with incorporating this simple style, and both digital and traditional media, into my own pieces based on my subject and theme.

unknown. (2018). Peter Arkle. Available: https://www.theispot.com/artist/parkle. Last accessed 16th Jan 2018.

all visuals from peterarkle.com