By Jason Murphy
Photos by Erin Dillingham
Every year I find myself stumbling fondly into the arm of a new artist I have never seen before. This habit of mine began in 2010 and continues to this day. I don’t plan on it, but it happens time and time again. Their art intrigues me and I find myself instinctively drawn to their style, their booth and their work. This year was no different as I happened upon the art of Noah Elias.
Noah’s art blends childlike whimsy with an ethereal airbrush like style. His style feels like that point between awake and dreaming given its misty airbrush look with minimal use of color. His artwork on display was light on pop culture, mostly incorporating Star Wars licensing, however a deeper dive into his career opened a treasure trove of children’s book-like material spread across many properties, especially Disney.
If you visit his site you’ll also be amazed to find the foundation he and his wife set up called “Acres of Love” which specializes in rescuing and helping children with special needs, orphaned in South Africa.
From Noah’s bio:
“Born and raised in Orange County, California, Noah grew up to be one of the most well known artist in the country and around the globe. He began his company on his bike at sixteen handing out business cards to create art, signs and illustrations for local businesses. Soon after graduation from High School, Noah received an airbrush from his family. It was at that point that he then embarked on a career of creating custom portraits on clothing and canvas. Noah would set up and paint live at local clubs and coffee shops quite often, which caught the attention of numerous corporate companies, television stations and even internationally recognized clientele, including notable actors, actresses and musicians.”
Noah’s work elevated globally when he was featured on The Learning Channel show “Rides” where he custom painted five award winning vehicles for Alpine Electronics. Universal Studios sought Noah’s expertise in designing the Suki vehicle in “2 Fast 2 Furious”…“An amazing day came when Noah partnered with The Walt Disney Company™ to create a line of Noah versions of the characters. Noah’s line has become a huge favorite among Disney collectors and fans worldwide. Noah’s talents cover a wide range of applications such as body art, in which he was nominated for makeup artist of the year by NAHA. His projects have included tattoos on recording artist “Pink” in one of her music videos, and various art direction and branding campaigns for Lexus, Toyota, MTV, Microsoft, Radio Disney Music Awards. Noah’s creations have grown to partnerships with Costco as well as Lucas Film Ltd..”
Noah set up shop in the Exhibitor section so may have been a bit more difficult to spot.
If you happened to spot his work and fall in love as I did, congratulations! I like you, and we should meet! (despite my introvert personality and innate ability to fear and avoid all contact with the human race).
If not, I hope this article brings a new artist into your view. One who has had a long and storied career that you may or may not have known about.
Visit Noah’s collections and follow him on Instagram.
Miss any of The Beat’s earlier SDCC ’22 Coverage? Find it all here!
