Artist Thirty: Mike Mahle

Why this Artist?
    I recently met this artist when I decided to become a complete geek and attended Indy's PopCon in Indianapolis, Indiana (Which was absolutely one of the best days of my life.. incase you were wondering).  Mahle's work jumped out to me rather quickly because it was in one style that I have considered for my senior seminar project.  I loved his very clear poster style and the fact that his female subjects looked really tough subconsciously summoned me to his booth.  I know this artist will be a good reference and inspiration for my own work this coming semester so I thought I would place him here as artist number thirty. 

Here are some of Mahle's awesome posters:

Lollipop Brigade by Mike Mahle

Sky Sirens by Make Mahle

Wonder Woman by Mike Mahle (I mean come on, we all knew this one was coming)

Who is this Artist? 
    Mike Mahle may not be one of the more popular (so far) artists that I have posted, however he is a professional designer and illustrator that shows his work at a lot of different Cons all over the United States.  He resides in Illinois but just a few of the places he has showed his work are Indy Pop Con, Three different Wizard Worlds, C2E2 and some others.  Mahle also has a Book Journal for sale that is filled with a lot of his illustrations.

What does he do?
    This artist creates both vector based and traditional pen and ink illustrations.  Most of his works are based on superheroes, classical movies and some of his own personal creations.  Mahle has a very posterized style in his works, he likes to use simple shapes and solid colors, which is something I want to try and do for my senior seminar works and gives him a unique style.

Why he inspires me?
    Mahle inspires me, not only because he enjoys illustrating the same types of things that I do, but because I really enjoy the style of his works and want to practice using similar methods.  I also admire this artist because his female characters look totally fierce and strong and that is something I am also planning on doing.  Mahle caught my eye the second I saw his booth at Indy PopCon because of his fantastic posters, I just hope I can use his work to help me with my own. 

More of Mahle's works can be found at his website: http://mikemahle.com/

Alice in Wonderland by Mike Mahle

Black Canary by Mike Mahle

Sherlock Holmes by Mike Mahle