Today marks a bitter-sweet end of an era. This will be my last blog post as the Illustrator Blogger for Where Creativity Works. That said, I am an Illustration major at Marywood University. Furthermore, I am studying within the Marywood University Art Department.

With the Fall 2025 semester wrapping up, I, along with my fellow peers, are on the grind. We are concluding with our final projects, exams, essays, etc. In regards to this post, I will be discussing my final project for my Art History Class.

I am currently enrolled in History of Visual Communications. For our final assignment we were given the task to research. The topic of interest was any of the artist we studied throughout the duration of the course. After we researched an artist our next step was to illustrate a piece. The guidelines were to formulate our piece inspired by the art style of our chosen artist.

Maxfield Parrish

I chose Maxfield Parrish as my artist of inspiration. I found Maxfield Parrish’s work very intriguing. I was fascinated by his use of dramatic color contrast. For instance, the character in the foreground would be illustrated with warm reds and oranges. On the contrary, the background was illuminated with cool blues and purples. This contrast creates a visually stunning and dynamic piece of art. Furthermore, I enjoyed his style of classicism. Art from the renaissance is something that I grew a huge appreciation for. Especially after my family trip to Italy in the Summer of 2023. That said, Maxfield’s renaissance inspired art was something that I wanted to study and attempt for myself. 

I was inspired by Maxfield’s color choices. I utilized cooler colors for my background and warmer colors to contrast the subject in the foreground. I illustrated the fallen angel in a classicism style. Moreover, I recognized Maxfield’s usage of dramatic poses and drapery. Hence something I wanted to incorporate into my own work. As for the background, Maxfield often emphasized the beauty of nature with trees, mountains, etc. To harmonize the theme of my piece, I illustrated a dead, decaying tree in my background.

Example of Maxfield’s Work:

My Art work of Inspiration:

WRAP UP:

Overall, Being the Illustrator Blogger for Where Creativity Works was a thrilling experience. It was my absolute pleasure being apart of creative team. I sincerely thank all of you who have supported me and the blog in its entirety.

I will now be passing the baton to my peer, Fabiana Gonzales! She is also an Illustration major at Marywood University. She is a very talented artist and a pleasure to study with! I look forward to her posts in the near future.

One last time…

• Stay Spooky, Santo 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃