tom tierney

i keep thinking about the things in my childhood that influenced me. one of the biggest influences was an illustrator named tom tierney. at the time, i had no idea who he was, but i adored his work.

like most girls my age, i was really into jem and the holograms. golden books put out a couple different titles around 1986 and the series was illustrated by tom tierney. i remember getting these and noticing right away that the drawings were different from the cartoon, and different from the pictures on the boxes that the toys came in (i just found out that illustrator's name is sharon knettell, gonna have to look her up). i had no idea who tom tierney was, all i knew was that i liked the jem from the book best.
the pictures in these books really stuck with me and helped shape my personal aesthetic. i remember that i used to stare at these and study them for hours. check out piazza's (green hair) hands and nails. so glamourous, so fierce, so... bitchy.

this headphone illustration had by far the most influence on me. i've totally ripped those headphones off at least once for a drawing.

i just recently discovered that mr. tierney also illustrated another one of my favorite books when i was a kid, barbie and the rockers: the fan.

i actually was not a fan of barbie and the rockers; loyal to jem and the holograms all the way. but someone got this book for me, unaware of the huge differences between barbie and jem.

and once again, i couldn't resist mr. tierney's style.

according to his bio, mr. tierney has been doing fashion illustration since he was in high school in the 1940's. which makes so much sense looking at these pictures, they are so catalog and are full of weird poses you wouldn't find people striking in real life. this is probably why i love looking and working from catalog pictures.

currently mr. tierney is living in texas and has become famous for his paper dolls.

had to post this picture since i just noticed that stormer's color scheme is identical to the drawing i posted on 9/28. but i haven't seen this image in years!