Ken Samonte is an illustrator whose craft is expressed with abundant emotion carefully framed by a visual precision. The effect is other worldly.
He has come a long way since the childhood scrawls of Fido Dido and smiley faces yet is demonstrably measured about his competence which he gauges one picture at a time. His ultimate commission would be David Lynch’s next Pixar film and when given the chance would strongly urge David to use his Folk band ‘Single Baked Bean’ to do the sound track.
Ken holds up Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author and manga artist, Hayao Miyazaki, as his main inspiration with Romeo + Juliet, Lost in Translation and yes – the Wizard of Oz, as his three favourite films. The expression don’t judge a book by its cover takes on real meaning with Ken Samonte.
