Joseph McDermott — Pop Art Illustrator, Philadelphia

The simple, impactful style of 1960s comic art is Philadelphia artist Joseph McDermott’s specialty, and using his experience and imagination he always finds ways of making the aesthetic relevant to his client’s brief. Little touches like the ink dot patterns and distressed paper textures add to the authenticity of his creations.

Not surprisingly, Joe has always been obsessed with comics growing up and constantly drew panels and recreated scenes featuring his favourite characters. Now his passion is his career, making Lichtenstein-esque imagery based almost entirely on Silver Age comics. More recent influences include Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Charles Burns. Joe has a BA in Art History from Messiah College in Pennsylvania and has trained in drawing, painting, sculpture, screen-printing, typography and photography.

Approach

In one sense, Joe works traditionally. He sketches and fine-tunes everything first, before colouring and finishing the image. However, all of this is done digitally using the SketchBook Pro application, along with Illustrator and Photoshop.

Style

Joe’s vintage comic book style will certainly remind you of Roy Lichtenstein’s approach to Pop Art, right down to the replication of ink dot screens that reflect 20th century printing techniques. In fact, many of the brushes and halftone patterns Joe uses in his work are of his own design.

Client list

Joseph’s clients include Heineken, Toyota, Google, Be Magazine, Perrier, American Express, Papyrus and Mr Porter.