Chris Leavens: Vector Artist

Chris Leavens is an extremely talented vector artist from Pennsylvania. He spent his entire life making doodles of crazy creatures and make believe worlds. It was always a hobby for him; nothing he took very seriously. He went to Penn State and majored in film. He went on to become a filmmaker, but became tired of the job and gave a shot at becoming an illustrator. Little did he know, he would turn out to be an incredibly talented and successful vector artist!

I was drawn to Leavens' artwork because it is so vivid and exciting. It's very creative and invigorating to see all of these fantasy worlds that he creates. He draws a lot of inspiration from the outdoors. This is another reason I was drawn to his work. I am a big outdoors fan and the way he takes a landscape and warps it into this unknown realm is amazing. All of his illustrations have a central theme of humor and absurdity. He tries to tell stories about places through his illustrations. Eventually he wants to create a line of children's books. After that he hopes to turn those books into animation. Most of his work is created for a young audience. He never incorporates violence into his images. He uses many bright colors and imaginary creatures with a positive ambience. This is the perfect art for children because children have so much imagination and positivity about life. Some of his artworks include Manzanita, an illustration of a very slow growing tree that eventually becomes huge and beautiful. The image has some cute little creatures dangling throughout it as well. This is one of the images at the top of this post. Another interesting project of Leavens' is called Glitch. Glitch is a video game that Leavens collaborated on with several other vector artists. Each artist created different areas within a fantasy world. One of the illustrations Leavens created for this game is also at the top of this post. His art is all fun and full of life!

In my opinion each of his illustrations has their own meaning. For example, I believe Manzanita is about how something that may seem small and insignificant at first can really become something beautiful and amazing. It has a very positive message. Overall, I think all of his artwork exudes positivity and humor through vivid images of creative creatives and fantasy landscapes. It is very imaginative and obviously geared towards the child audience.

I think Chris Leavens artwork is extremely successful. It serves the purpose that I believe he wants it to: to get the creative juices flowing, inspire positivity, and make the viewer smile. His work is his own and is very unique to his style. The images he creates are so imaginative and elaborate that they could only be created by his brain. I really don't see any way he could improve. Each illustration is different and each has extreme detail, humor, and absurdity. I love his artwork!