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This Illustrator Evokes Mid-Century Style in His Artwork

Owen Davey turns the natural world into nostalgic works of art.
A yeti tears up the powder in an illustration by Owen Davey. Images courtesy Owen Davey

Illustrator Owen Davey has the type of career many artists dream about. He’s always loved drawing, went to school for illustration, and quickly built a client list after graduation. To hear him talk about it, making a living out of his passion seems like the simplest thing in the world. But his sharp eye, limited palette, keen sense of mid-century nostalgia, and work ethic paint him as an immensely talented and impressive illustrator. Davey, currently on a work sabbatical, takes a to share some insight on illustrating animals, working on the artwork for the app Two Dots, and finding inspiration.

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An chapter header for the book Beer for All Seasons

Davey says it's no surprise he ended up working as an illustrator: “I've always been the kid who draws stuff,” he explains. “And I surrounded myself with friends of a similar mind. I used to draw pictures in the sand instead of making sand castles. I would often give up lunchtimes to go draw in the library. I just love it.” Davey says his work is in a constant state of evolution. “Look back a few months and it all seems very familiar with maybe a slight shift or two. Go back a few years and it starts to look a bit different.”

Davey’s first big breakthrough came from a total paradigm shift. “I decided to stop just drawing stuff, and start designing instead.” Davey says he really began to think about, “the simplification of stylization,” and that he tried to be more economic with colors, shapes, and lines.

“You can probably see some inspiration from lots of mid-century artwork in my style. And the works of Charley Harper were a big eye-opener. It's the limitations to the amount of curves you use or angles or lines or the colors in your palette—that's where it all starts to get interesting for me.”

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Illustration from Owen Davey’s book Smart About Sharks

Aside from illustrations for clients like GQ, Facebook, Sony, and Google, Davey also has a series of books about animals and the natural world.

So how and why did Davey take this unique style and apply it to animals? “I've always been obsessed with animals. I mean, they're awesome, right? I don't think I'll ever get bored of drawing animals. Most of my books are based around them.” Those books, like Smart About Sharks and Mad About Monkeys, blend Davey’s charming illustrations with interesting facts and tidbits about the animals he draws.

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Illustration for the game Two Dots

One of Davey’s largest, most-involved gigs to date is his work illustrating the vastly popular iOS game Two Dots. “I think it's helped boost my online profile,” says Davey. But he warns, “It's a hard thing to quantify. There are so many promotional outlets and so many jobs coming out at the same time, that you don't know what is causing what. I do know that it has helped me with saying ‘no’ to jobs. That's still the thing I find hardest. I want to do everything and draw everything. But I don't have the time. And Two Dots takes up a pretty hefty chunk of my time so I really need to think about what jobs I can't say no to.” Davey says that in this way Two Dots helps him distill his workload. “It means that I'm enjoying illustrating more than I ever have before because I'm doing the stuff I love.”

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To see more of Owen Davey’s work, check out his website, here.

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