Joel Trussell

Joel Trussell was introduced to me in class while watching the video for Jason Forrest's War Photographer. The video features a flash animation of vikings dueling to the death with heavy metal guitar solos and crazy trumpet breaks that shoot out rainbow colors. The simple and authoritarian line of Trussel's figures immediately caught my eye and left me hungry for more.
The Tennessee native majored in drawing before moving to Seattle where he took classes from Jim Coffin and landed a job as an animation director at SmashingIdeas to work in the corporate sector for a few years before moving back home with his family. The artwork of Joel Trussell has a fabricated retro feel to it. There is a certain mocking tone in his illustrative voice that lends itself to conjuring the advertising of the early fifties and then parodying the cold war culture that branched from it. He has done work for numerous outfits such as The History Channel and the famous children's show Yo Gabba Gabba. At its very essence the work of Joel Trussell brings the artistic potential of programs like Adobe's Flash to the forefront of our minds. It makes secondary the idea that these programs are simple web development tools with business applications. The cast of characters used in his portfolio have humor at their heart. Whether it is a fearsome but bumbling viking or something more like the strutting centaur in the picture posted above. It is interesting to note that Trussell lists Looney Tunes as one of his earliest influences ( interview) and also sites the shows ability to make someone else ( his father) laugh as a major influence as well. The brilliant solutions to the mundane are the driving force behind his offbeat and brilliant artwork.