Paul Shipper - Artist for Stephen Jared's 'Jack and the Jungle Lion'
Paul Shipper - Artist
From as early as I can remember I had a pencil permanently attached to my hand. I was drawn to visual things and would always try to recreate them with my pencils in my art pad. I was lucky to be blessed with an eye for that sort of thing and it has served me well over the years.
My passion for design and art started to gain momentum during high school and my love of illustration took me to Art College and University where I continued to stay focused on my goal. I was being taught by some really inspiring tutors and some not so … however, I always knew that I wanted to follow the path of the traditional illustrator. Inspired by the painted film posters that adorned my bedroom wall, it would become a career path that I could grow with and continue to love day upon day, year upon year without losing any amount of enthusiasm.
There were so many artists I looked up to during those years, whose illustrations were seemingly so unachievable. Drew Struzan, J C Leyendecker, Richard Amsel and Norman Rockwell among some of my contemporaries were all sources of inspiration for me, and I am honored to be classed-even remotely-in their league by some very kind people ...
With not much more than a few quid in my pocket, I finished my degree and walked into a 9-5 job that allowed me to pay the bills and begin to illustrate professionally in my spare time. I picked up some great clients during that time and eventually moved onto working for myself full time.
Looking back on my career, I have had so many highlights. One of my proudest illustration achievements was working on a Lucasfilm project for the Star Wars franchise-they needed a painting in the style of one of my illustration heroes. During the 30th Anniversary, I created a poster that would complement the Special Edition Key Art, introducing elements that related to this particular project. The final artwork, which was used for the cover of a game tin, was sold all over the world.
I continue to service my clients from New Zealand where I now reside and am fortunate to get offers of illustration projects from all over the world including book covers, film posters and editorial work as well as private commissions.
I post regular updates of current projects on my blog - blog.psstudiodpi.com as well as on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Click here to view the process of creating the cover for 'Jack and The Jungle Lion'.