Featured Artist Mitch Madsen

Artist Mitch Madsen uses his vivid imagination to create beautiful, otherworldly images that tell a story. Learn more about this artist and his work by visiting his Facebook page.

 

 

After twenty-five years as a graphic designer working for others, and hundreds of design and marketing projects for businesses and organizations, I now have the opportunity to explore my real passion for creating worlds through illustration.

 

 

My art career launched in the early 1980s with acrylic paints and canvas, brushes and airbrush. I’ve illustrated a variety of subjects from architectural renderings, nature, and landscape, to outer space and science fiction (which I have had a lifelong interest in.) But painting can be slow grunt work and a means to an end. Regardless of the subject matter, it’s the ideas that really excite me.

 

 

Everything changed in the 1990s with the advent of personal computers, art programs and the internet.

 

 

My art school education was pre-computer, so at first I resisted it all, thinking I had a choice. But if I wanted to continue being a graphic designer I was forced to learn it on the job. It wasn’t long before I realized a new world of ways to create. And the speed and options of digital illustration and “painting” suited me.

 

 

Explaining where my ideas come from is next to impossible. It’s just a way of thinking. But they literally come from everywhere—life experiences, what I’ve read, seen, or imagine.

 

 

Viewers of my art often interpret their own adventures and scenarios which can be surprising and intriguing.

 

 

I don’t consider myself a fantasy artist, or a science fiction artist per se. The science, design, and physics have to have a basis in reality. And lighting is number one most important. My biggest thrill is to create something that, hopefully, has never been seen or done before.

 

 

Over the years I’ve enjoyed a variety of creative endeavors, including painting, illustrations and graphic design for logos, t-shirts, book covers, advertising and other publications.

 

 

The goal is simply to have fun with what I do with the hopes that people looking at my art do the same. My favorite piece is always the one I am currently working on.

 

 

I spend most days (and evenings) in my office overlooking the Minnesota River with my wife and two cats.

 

Artist Mitch Madsen invites you to follow him on his other Facebook page–MadsenInk.

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Subscribe to our twice-monthly Updates, and get a free e-book on Where to Sell Art Online right now!