Amanda Hinson
David Filer is an artist who was born in 1986, in Zimbabwe. Filer always loved animals and began drawing them at only eight years old. He took art in high school and focused on his passion for wildlife. Filer started photographing animals to allow him to observe their every detail up close. He also began falconry, again this helped Filer get closer to the animals and observe them. He continued his education and went on to receive a Information Design honours degree, from the University of Pretoria.
David Filer is currently continuing his career in what he loves, being a wildlife artist (he focuses on African wildlife). He draws in a style considered super-realistic. Filer presently chooses to use graphite in his artwork. He feels that basic black and white and the shades that fall in between can make a piece strong and intense. The intense feel is good fit when depicting wild animals. Filer cares for his work and wants to make sure that it shows even the smallest details. For this reason he uses high quality Fabriano paper.
Filer considers his work to be original. He continues using his skills in photography to help in his work. He takes photographs and then draws from them; however, Filer makes slight alterations so that his drawings are one of a kind. When looking at Filer’s art collection it is easy to see his work is solely his own. He has a unique way of depicting animals that makes a person feel a connection with the animal.
One of David Filer’s great accomplishments was receiving the David Shepherd – Wildlife Artist of the Year award, in 2008. He was the youngest artist to compete and still won against 5000 others. In 2010, he received a “Highly Commended” for “Pangolins Prayer” (image below), in the same competition he had previously won Wildlife Artist of the Year. Another considerable accomplishment is when Filer went on to hold his first exhibit, within hours all of his work sold.
Again in 2011, Filer won the award for David Shepherd – Wildlife Artist of the Year. This award was based on his artwork “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The image is below. When commenting about receiving the award Filer said, “Winning this award is a real validation of my work. It means so much to me to be recognised and to win this title, especially against such fantastic competition. It is very special.” When looking at the artwork it is not hard to see that Filer’s award was well deserved.
It is most likely the love and care that Filer has for animals, that allows him to portray so much of their beauty in his work. Filer says that an animal’s eyes are what draws him to the animal. He believes this is because you can see an animal’s soul through their eyes. In fact, when it comes to trying to portray an animal he has said, “The most difficult part of the drawing are the eyes, when you get those right, the rest of the piece falls into place.” The eyes of the animal in Filer’s artwork seem to be what connects the viewer to the animal. Filer’s time and effort put into depicting an animal’s eyes does not go wasted; they draw the viewer in and give them an emotional connection with the work.
Since the awards Filer has won, he can now choose what to work on and mainly does specific orders for individuals and commissioned works. He has artwork in Zimbabwe at several embassies, as well as all over the world. Filer is a well known wildlife artist and he has reached the goal most artists strive for, to make their audience have a connection with their work. As Filer continues to focus on the animals in Zimbabwe, the art community can assume they will see more great pieces come from him in the future.
http://www.ecoinfo.tv/asp/template.asp?p=WildlifeArtists&Blog=Yes
http://www.davidfilerart.com/index.php
http://www.johnstevenssafaris.com/community_art.php
