I came across an image of a collaged galaxy on Pinterest while researching ideas for my new tattoo and subsequently pinned it. Sometimes you see an image/artwork and you feel =a sense of familiarity… like you’ve seen something like it before. Anyway that bugged me and I couldn’t really find the artist who made it. Pinterest doesn’t really give proper credits for images. Later on, I collected some more images for my illustration references and I found out at last who made that fantastic galaxy collage. The illustrator is John Craig, who was the designer for one of my favourite albums Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins. It’s a gorgeous album, a two-CD set with the themes night and day, so throughout the album art design, there are lots of planetary/astronomy references. I would say John Craig’s style is quite similar to Eduardo Recife: think vintage, ephemera collages. Craig’s stuff is slightly more surreal and kitschy.

I’m including him as a reference for my illustration. In terms of composition, I might go with a montage. John Craig’s collages look like they are composed using kitschy, dollar stickers and I quite like that look. My illustration style is quite feminine and pretty, and while it’s not necessarily a bad thing, I feel it might be rather predictable and safe. Boring even. Also, keeping in line with my main ideas of remixing and deconstructing, I’m also thinking about how I can bring that to my illustrations.