Ralph Steadman

I was recently introduced to the art of Ralph Steadman through a school project. The assignment was to pick an artist from the list and create a work of art in the style of the chosen artist. I saw the unique style of his work and immediately chose him to base my work off of. Conveniently in copywriting class we had a discussion about Hunter.S.Thompson. Hunter was a writer who had a unique style of writing and worked in journalism up until he took his own life in 2005. Hunter S.Thompson had a fascinating life and was quite the eccentric, possibly due to the vast amount of drugs and alchol he took on a daily basis.

Ralph Steadman was a good friend of Hunter and often created the illustrations that went along with his articles. Ralphs work uses ink and minimal colour. Almost caricature like illustrations. What peeked my interest even more on these people was the film Fear and Loathing in LasVegas. The movie was about Hunter.S.Thompson and his trip to lasVegas in search of "the amercian dream". Starring my favourite, Johnny Depp as Hunter. Another movie to watch and get a sense of the real life of Hunter is Gonzo:The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S.Thompson.

Heres a nice little video of Ralph Steadman that will give you an idea of what hes about.

As for my project, the concept behind it was my struggle of living with chronic bitchface. When people first meet me their first impression is that I'm stuck up. I am not stuck up. I just happen to have the type of face that looks naturally bitchy when in a relaxed, non smiling position. So here's my self portrait, Ralph Steadman style.