My name is Maria Connour and I am a fourth year Studio Arts major at Ohio Northern. I believe it is important to shine a light on the many talented artists we have on campus, and a good way to do that is to feature their art in the Northern Review. I sat down with Jay Meyers, a senior art student, to learn about his artistic process and to do a spotlight on his work.
Jay Meyers is a senior Graphic Design Major with a minor in Marketing and he is from Toledo, Ohio. Jay says that a big reason he chose to go to Ohio Northern is because of the smaller class sizes, which, in his view, significantly increases his participation and engagement in the course material. One of his favorite things about ONU is how easy it is to get to know people around campus. He is often able to encounter many people he knows while walking around campus. In addition to his classes, Jay works with Residence Life as well. He plans to further his career in art by working for a graphic design agency after graduation.
Photo// Maria Connour
Along with his Graphic Design endeavors, Jay enjoys using pen and ink on paper to create art. Pictured below is a piece Jay drew as practice to hammer down point perspective. Point perspective is a tool that shows how things get smaller the further away they are. This piece is heavily inspired by science fiction, which is a theme across his various works.
Photo// Jay Meyers
This next piece of work served as practice for contour lining with added shading in pink. Contour is a practice a lot of artists use to emphasize the outline of specific shapes, in this instance, the angles on a person’s face. Jay is also inspired by J. C. Leyendecker, who is known for his fashion portraits with great use of contouring. Leyendecker is an artist from Germany who moved to Chicago in 1882 and pursued printing and art. He is widely regarded for his illustrations on magazine covers and advertisements, and his style is often considered as Art Deco, which is an art style from the 1920’s that focuses on symmetry and simplicity. It is clear Jay uses similar shading, shadow work. He also emphasizes angles as Leyendecker does in some of his most famous pieces.
Photo// Jay Meyers
The final piece featured below was inspired by Jay’s previously mentioned interest in Science Fiction. Growing up, Jay enjoyed media like “Star Wars” and “Transformers.” Now, he enjoys more adult-oriented animated media like “Akira.” Jay says that drawing proportions typically comes easier to him when he sketches robots instead of people. The addition of the bold text was made because of his interest in typography. It’s also a personal preference.
Photo// Jay Meyers
To see more of Jay’s work you can follow his Instagram page: @_jaymeyink_.
To get more involved with the art program at Ohio Northern, consider joining the art club or visiting the Wilson Art building on campus to see various pieces displayed.