Artist to Watch | Josh McMahon and his Fan-Favored Artwork

This month we are kicking off our Artist to Watch from Australia. Josh McMahon has shared with us some insight to the amazing work he does that fans love all over the world!

First off, Thank you for chatting with The Game Fanatics. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What makes you tick and turn?

Thank you for the opportunity. I live in Sydney, Australia and work as a graphic designer where I specialise in photo editing and manipulation, print design and illustration.  When I’m not busy working you’ll find me at the cinema watching films, reading comics or art books, playing music, or watching sport.

Is it common in Australia for the youth to be interested in the creative field?
I don’t know exactly what the interest is like for the youth nowadays but given the job market has always been quite competitive I’d probably say yes.

So how did you get started creating art? Do you have any inspirations or role models?

I’ve always had a creative side whether it be art or music, I know I was encouraged from a young age to pursue art.  I believe I was around 8-9 when I was sent to a local weekend art teacher where I learned the basics, eventually that lead to me studying graphic design at a local design university in 2001.  In terms of role models I don’t really have any per se.  I will say my favourite artists tend to be Borris Vallejo and Julie Bell, I’ve always loved their fantasy work and have several of their art books.  I’m also a big Drew Struzan fan and have tried my hand several times at doing posters inspired by his style of drawing.

Awesome. I just looked up Julie Bell and her work is phenomenal. I really like her unique style. When did you discover your passion for art?

I don’t think I ever really had an ‘a-ha’ moment, I just always liked doing creative things when I was younger.  I knew long ago I wanted to do something in a creative field, so I guess if I was to put a date on it I would say mid-childhood.  If I was to pinpoint something that was the main draw it was MAD Magazine, it was huge influence on not just me pursuing art but was also responsible for my absurd sense of humour too.  I actually applied for work experience at the Australian version of MAD when I was about 12, sadly I got a message back from the company turning me down but as a thank you they sent me the latest issue of the magazine.

Tell us a bit about your creative process:

First thing I tend to do is research.  Whatever the subject matter given to me is I usually head on over to Google and start getting as much information as possible.  Once I have the info I open up Photoshop or Corel Painter and start sketching small grey-scale images until I find a concept that works.  From there I enlarge the sketch and do a more refined pencil drawing before finally beginning the painting process.  I’ve usually got multiple reference images open as I work to help with whatever the subject matter is.

Do you listen to music while you’re creating?

Sometimes.  I occasionally have Spotify open playing music, more often than not however I’m either listening to podcasts or audiobooks listening to the latest tech news or learning a piece of history.  I find if I play music I’m more inclined to start singing along and lose focus on what I’m doing.