Awesome Artist We've Found Around The Net: Dave O'Flanagan

For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected] month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…

Dave O’Flanagan

Dave O’Flanagan is a London-based Irish illustrator. His focus and passion is on the quiet moments in pop culture, the scenes between the scenes. He has produced work for the likes of Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Marvel, Legendary and Amblin to name a few.

JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
DAVE: I always loved to draw but the school system in 80’s Ireland was quite academic-centric (at least in my school) so I didn’t get to do art as a subject. I qualified as a lawyer in 2010, but had continued to sketch and scribble on Post-Its and notepads through schooling, college and then work. Around 2015, I discovered digital painting and was astounded by the notion of being able to draw on tablets (this makes me sound ancient). After a brief foray making painfully inept art through Adobe Illustrator, I got an iPad and an app called Paper, watched a half a million YouTube videos on painting, colour theory and digital painting and just started creating.

Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
Obvious and somewhat cliché but Drew Struzan painted all of my favourite movie posters in the 80’s so I’ve always adored his work and his sensibilities as an artist. He also just seems like a lovely man. Add to that the likes of OG’s like Bob Peak, Roger Kastell, John Alvin and Tom Jung, who all had several posters that were absolute bangers that have since become totems of my youth. I was also very heavily inspired by a local artist from Cork, Ireland called James Barry. His work was very prominent in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork and was largely responsible for my enduring love of oil painting.

Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
There are so many artists who have inspired and buoyed my belief, the likes of Matt Taylor, Ken Taylor, Gabz, Rory Kurtz, James Jean, Greg Ruth and Tony Stella are unbelievable artists and continue to be the high watermark for me. I could go on and on but also love the work of Nicholas Moegly, Dan Danger, Marc Aspinal, Matt Ferguson, Ben Turner, Sophie Bland and Mark Englert. The poster community is so strong that I find myself being inspired by so many artists every day.

What advice would you have for budding artists today?
I don’t think I have any particularly useful insight or advice on this because I still see myself as a budding artist, but I would say you’ve got to keep plugging yourself and your art, don’t be bashful. Keep knocking on doors and try not to sweat the rejection along the way. Try to surround yourself with things that inspire you, steep yourself in them, but remember to allow yourself to wallow a bit too, enjoy downtime, things will eventually click regardless.

Also, try to surround yourself with support, with greatness, with good people, whatever works. I’ve had lots of help from people I love along the way, my wife Kaitlin (a more naturally talented artist than me) has always been an excellent sounding board and critic for me. She’s always the one to say ‘when will this be finished for you?’ when I’ve gone over the 150 hour mark on a painting/poster and between you and me, she’s the one person I want to love each final piece. I’ve also had unbelievable support from good friends of mine, Cameron Lowe (an excellent motion graphics and animation guru) and Kevin Wilson (aka Ape Meets Girl) who have shaped and guided me through the earliest paintings to more recent work.

What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I’ve got a few things going at the moment that I’m really excited about. I’ve got an awesome ‘bucket list’ opportunity that I can’t talk about yet; a new Dune Part One poster releasing through Bottleneck Gallery soon; and a Big Lebowski poster releasing through Vice Press gallery later in the year. I’m also working with Moor-Art Gallery in the UK on something special for Thought Bubble in November.

Being a fansite, we have to ask you…What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
I could go on forever on my favourite movies but Jaws is always at the top and the rest oscillate around the place. If I had to pin my colours to the mast I would say Jaws, Alien, Fargo, ET, Blade Runner, The Princess Bride, There Will Be Blood and more recently Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy is a fellow Corkman and I’ve never been so proud of Cork as I was watching that movie and his Oscar acceptance that followed. Favourite TV show of all time is Breaking Bad followed a close second by Mad Men. I’ve watched the whole of Breaking Bad over four times and Mad Men three, a bit obsessive, but I think they represent the pinnacle of modern TV.

Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Dave as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / X / Poster Spy / Shop

2001: A Space Odyssey