Minkee has to be one of the brightest Illustrators you will ever come across, not just for her colorful creations, but also for her cheery outlook on life, her career and living with a “furry and expanding family”. Learn more about Minkee and her Illustrations after the jump.

Like most illustrators, I’ve always loved drawing, but my path to illustration started when I decided to go do Graphic Design at college. After that I went on to do Graphic Design with Illustration for a degree. It turned out that I was one of the only people there that really had any interest in illustration, so it was something I really had to push on my own. That wasn’t too hard, however, as my brain naturally tends to think in pictures, so my work output tends to be illustrative no matter the brief!

In the last year of my course I had a brief from a local design company to design characters for a strange children’s book / TV / jackanory / cooking hybrid show. It only got as far as a pilot (somewhat unsurprisingly!) but the company liked what I did, and hired me to work part time while I finished up my course, and then full time for five years after that. We did all kinds of things, a lot of children’s puzzle books, activity packs, paper engineering, branding, brochures and websites. Over time websites became the core focus of the company, and so last year I took the plunge and officially became a Freelance Illustrator. It was pretty scary to start with, and it’s a lot of hard work to keep all the balls in the air, but it’s very exciting and very rewarding.

Life drawing is brilliant, and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s so much fun and you learn so much about how to draw people; I think that probably comes just with experience anyway, but life drawing lets you know it for sure, and measure your development. I’m constantly amazed at what bodies actually look like, it can be so different to what you think they should look like! I think observational drawing is really essential for illustration. I love stylized images, but I think it’s important to understand how something really looks and then bend that knowledge into your stylized form. I think it gives the image a sense of authenticity, of heart.

Likewise I think an understanding of art techniques, of light, of color, of dynamic scenes and so on is very important. These fundamentals are what help me make better illustrations. Whether you work with sculpture, oil painting, Photoshop or Illustrator, they’re all just mediums there to be mastered. Knowledge of one will inform another, but it’s the fundamentals that will always apply.

The birthday cake has only 26 candles thank-you-very-much! Which will need to be updated with one more before too long. Also in need of updating is the little location map, I have hopped around the country a fair amount in those 26 years and am now in Scarborough, loving being by the sea, and I have a couple more cats and a puppy now too. A small, furry and expanding family. That page is an example of how my brain works, I sat for days on and off trying to put all these facts into a neat page of flowing words, but drawing them instead just makes so much more sense to me!

I saw a feature on a blog about what Gocco printers are, and what people make with them, and I was sold. They’re brilliant! Sadly discontinued, they’re like miniature screenprinters. They remind me of the toy sewing machine I used to have when I was little, perfectly functional but small and cute to boot! The process involves making printout of the image you want to use, using Gocco magic (mini flash bulbs) to burn the image into a Gocco magic (light sensitive) screen, and then using the Gocco, the screen, and a bunch of your favorite ink to press out your pictures. It’s very simple but it makes me feel like a wizard every time.

Tuts+ Marketplace – Make a Two-Screen Gocco Print Using Illustrator by Minkee

To combat creative block I started my daily illustration blog, where I would draw something to post every day, without fail. This meant that I had to create something new every day. If it was lame, then it was all the more reason to try harder to make something great the next day, and it really worked. My current blog is a continuation of that one – four years later, and updated less frequently, but still going.

What also helps is that I work best when working to a brief. If I have a clear purpose then my mind can attack it and, with the help of lots of thumbnailing, hopefully come up with something awesome. So it helped me a lot to be able say to my friends ‘What shall I draw?’ and have them say ‘A mouse with a saxophone!’. Once I have purpose, it’s a hell of a lot easier. Now I have clients to give me purpose, a wealth of inspiration around me, and experience to draw from. I don’t find it to be a problem any more.

One of my friends bought a whole heap of my prints, and I felt that I ought to add something special in for them, so Vicky (aka Vixen) got a special print made for her. This was one of those times that once I have a purpose, the rest just flows naturally. I think that all the influences around me, things that I see and think ‘Ooh, I like that,’ get stored away in the back of my mind, and something like ‘Okay I’m going to make a fox print now!’ triggers them and I suddenly know exactly what to do. A few thumbnail sketches later and I know that it’s going to work. From there I just have to do it.

I come up with a color scheme after I’ve laid all the groundwork out in illustrator. I’ll draw a box and pick a color I’ll draw another box and pick another color I’ll draw a few more and switch them around until I have a palette that I like and think will print nicely. It’s all by eye, and again, I think it’s one of those inspiration things that have been festering at the back of my mind. All the information is back there I just need to get it out onto the screen. Then it’s simply a case of filling in all the foxy shapes almost at random from that palette until it looks just right.

It took about 3 hours from conception to completion, but as any good artist will tell you, it also took my entire lifetime.

I think there are two contrasting sides to this style of illustration, and the two combined just make for a fun mental workout when drawing it. On one hand, the self imposed rule of using only straight lines is very restrictive. However restriction breeds creativity which gives us the second side: abstraction. You can really go to town and give that fox two little tails and one great big pink and orange one because why the hell not? And ‘Why not?’ is a really fun brief to work to!

I think my absolute best tip for using Illustrator is this: Use the help file! If you want to do something specific, 99% of the time it’s possible, and the other 1% there’s a work-around. You just need to find out how, and it’ll be in that help file somewhere. Plus, if others are anything like me, it’s always really nice to be able to share your knowledge and help people out, so try asking!

Hmm lets see. In no particular order:

1. My peers. Illustrators are amazing! Most fields tend to be highly competitive, but illustration is so personal and varied that it means everyone can — and is — very supportive and positive. There’s a real nice vibe to the community, and it’s something I’m proud to be a part of.

2. It means that I can work from my sofa, with my feet up, a sea view, and a puppy asleep on my arm. And I can also work from the other end of the country, or another country altogether so long as I have internet, pencil, scanner and tablet, and no one would be any the wiser.

3. As well as where I want, I can also work when I want. 9 to 5 always drove me mad. If I get the urge to go out to a museum and draw stuffed birds, or to walk up the road and get a cake from the deli then I can. And if inspiration hits me as I wake up at 6am, then I can get up and work right there and then. It doesn’t happen often but I like that the option is there!

4. I get to color in all day.

4b. No really, how cool is that? That’s my job – coloring in all day!

5. People like what I create. That’s got to be the best thing. People look at the things I draw and say ‘That’s great!’ They like it so much that they even want to pay me for the privilege of owning it. That’s just about the nicest thing anyone could do for me.

Twitter is absolutely chock-full of people who love illustration. If you find some of your favorite illustrators on there it soon snowballs, we love telling everyone else on there about who we love and what they’re doing. I also use flickr to keep up to date with people’s work, leave comments and appreciation, and receive some too. It’s always nice to hear that people like what I do.

I’m not sure! I have written it, but it’s all just laid out in my head. I think it’s hilarious too, but we’ll see whether anyone else agrees! It’s totally inspired by the latest addition to my family – my naughty little puppy, and her waggily tail. I plan to start putting illustrations together for it sometime next month so watch out on my blog and flickr for developments!

My advice would be this: Prepare yourself! Learn about accounting, marketing, sales, about pricing and possibilities and who you can work for, about who you want to work for, about how to get in touch with all these people. About how to find leads, follow them up, chase up payment and a million other things besides! A lot less of this job is about drawing pretty pictures than I’d like, but if you can find your feet and do it well, then it’s the most enjoyable job in the world.

Minkee on Web

• Folio
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Behance

Vectortuts+

Bruno Borges has an extremely unique look to all of his illustrations; his portfolio is a barrage of color, retro imagery and a multitude of cool collages. This style comes from Bruno’s simplistic approach to design that we discuss in our interview, Bruno also gives some advice and insight into his art so please take a moment to review some of Bruno’s excellent work and insights.

Hi, my name is Bruno, graphic designer and illustrator based in São Paulo, Brazil. I started doing Graphic Design in 2003.

Tod Mythos

My collage work is really soaked by that retro imagery. It’s only because I like the way it can be revisited, reviewed and then matched to some current elements. I try and tell a whole new history. This kind of approach may stand out from the other stuff you’ll see in my work, but I don’t really stick to a specific style.

Taneia Carnivalis

It’s an amazing tool. Most designers use it at some point in their workflow but it shouldn’t be the only tool that you use.

Cosmia

Typography has the power of delivering a complete message: verbal and visual. I love this possibility, when a message can hit you right in your face before you can react, or just pick you up from the ground, throw you into outer space and let you think about it. So, this kind of effectiveness affects the way you choose what is going to be said. I think that’s the difference.

Agora

The intention with that one was to make a mystical composition, but using familiar elements, South American ones. So it somehow looks like those hippie wind chimes that we hang on our verandas, but made out of feathers, a parrot’s eye in the center, a Brazilian landscape, quartz crystals, leaves, branches. And a native above everything acting as the sentry of it all. I know, sounds too stoned but I love that one.

Mensagerio Do Vento

Try to have fun even when the job is annoying.

Vingt Et Deux

Just keep on learning everyday.

Altar

Thank you : )

SE

Where to find Bruno on the Web

• Bruno’s Portfolio

Collages

Psdtuts+

Trained in design, and a self-proclaimed “web geek,” Liz Andrade has been working in the design field for several years. With experience working as the principal web designer at a Seattle boutique-style firm, she took a knowledge and passion for web to her own one-woman design studio, located in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.

Today, we’ll interview Liz to find out more about her studio, CMD+Shift Design. She’ll even walk us through a few of her projects to show us a little bit more about how she approaches different design challenges. Let’s dig in!

The Interview

No matter how much you love your job, no matter how cool your boss is — you’re still executing the vision of someone else. The way you interact with clients, the way work is presented, the philosophy and attitude of a small business comes from the owner. I had my own ideas of how I wanted to do things, present things, the philosophies and attitudes… so I had to start my own thing.

I see these are all different mediums under the larger umbrella of design. Some projects call for a marriage of illustration with web design… and some some projects are more focused on one medium — it’s all about using the right solution for each specific project/client.

Most of my clients come to me by referral — and then there is a group that randomly find me through my website. My greatest marketing effort is just to deliver good service to my clients — when they’re happy they tend to want to talk about the experience with others.

I get inspired a lot by my clients. My favorite person to work with is someone who is really passionate about their business and what they do. When you’re around someone like that you just can’t help but get excited about it yourself!

Observation and listening. I feel like the best work I do is when I am able to take a step back in the early stages and focus on listening to the goals of the project and really studying the needs of the clients community. Jumping too quick into a solution when you don’t fully understand the problem is probably one of the #1 mistakes designer make.

My first experience with WordPress was from using it on my own blog (cmdshiftdesign.com/blog.) Originally I used a pre-made theme and then modified it to fit the design I had in mind. I really learned WordPress by just jumping into it feet first! I’d change things and see what happened, I’d break things and figure out what I did wrong, I’d pick apart other themes and figure out what was good practice and bad practice.

When I started to see how versatile the software really was, I started selling my clients on it. It’s not JUST for blogs — and while it isn’t the right solution for all projects, it can do a lot of cool things! I love that is is so easy for my clients to use, it’s great to give them the power to control their brands message. It’s great that they can do that and feel totally comfortable.

Some sort of web-user mind reading maybe? To be able to look at a website and hear the thought process of the people using it. This could be a great time saver for the design process (no need to schedule any usability testing!) and possibly just entertaining!

The Case Studies

My Green Lake

I worked with the owner and editor of MyGreenLake.com to do a redesign on this blog that features daily news for the Seattle neighborhood of Green Lake. Amy was using a prepackaged theme that was cluttered and she had a laundry list of features her users where in need of that she wanted to integrate into the site without just adding to the clutter.

How did you approach the start of the project?

We took into consideration the needs of her users and advertisers — restructured the information on the site and gave the whole look a polish that has made it easier for her readers to interact with.

Were there any interesting challenges (either with the project or with client management)?

It was important to me with this project to not only stream line the design for the end-user, but also simplify the backend for Amy — so that maintaining her website could be stress free. She was updating all of her advertisements by editing page templates and having to fuss with updating files via FTP which she was not comfortable with. By allowing her to now manage all of her ads within WordPress she feels like she has better control over her website (which is better for her, her readers and advertisers!)

Undead Labs

Undead Labs came to me as a start-up game development studio. They had a set date for when they would be announcing the company and it’s mission to create a console based MMORPG of a Zombie apocalypse. They had a branding system and needed a blog, it was a really rushed turnaround — but ended up being a ton of fun and I’m really excited to be involved in such a cool project.

How did you approach the start of the project?

I totally landed this job by being a nerd. The client called me up after seeing my website and told me about his start up studio. He said “We’re going to be creating a console based MMORPG, which — do you know anything about what that is?”

Me: A Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.

Him: Oh.. you do. Awesome… what do you know about Zombies?

Me: Oh My God! Are you Making a Zombie Apocalypse MMORPG!?!? THAT’S SO COOL!

It was apparent — we were going to work just perfect together.

It was a fast-paced gig (i chronicled the process of doing a rushed project in a video diary – http://cmdshiftdesign.com/blog/tag/rush-project-video-diary) design done within 2 or 3 days and then development of the WordPress site in bout 3 more. It was a lot of long days and communication with Undead Labs. When you’re working on a rushed schedule, there is no room to go off on the wrong path!

Were there any interesting challenges (either with the project or with client management)?

It was a roller coaster, we did an initial round of design on the first day and then I started day 2 finding out that the branding had been changed — so we almost had to start all over again — but it was worth it, the end result ended up being 100% better!

Pioneer Squares

A couple months after finishing the Undead Labs project, the studios owner called me up to tell me about the Christmas gift he wanted to give to his wife… A new blog. Annie had a blog set up on Blogger where she wrote about her kids, family trips and the neighborhood that they live in and love so much — Seattle’s Pioneer Square. I agreed to the project and Jeff set up a meeting with me and his wife to get started on her present.

How did you approach the start of the project? Were there any interesting challenges (either with the project or with client management)?

Annie’s blog is purely personal — she is not growing a business or marketing to any market. So this project was a little different from many of my others, it was all about tapping into her style and translating that into this 2 dimensional space. At first, I was a little lost on how to do this — then, in the archives of her posts I found photographs of the condo Annie shares with her family in Pioneer square. It’s an absolutely beautiful space! Sparsely filled with simple modern furnishings. The walls adorned with russian propaganda poster art. ….I suddenly felt like I understood her, and understood that to her — her blog was an extension of her home… a way to invite her extended friend and family network into her families life — so I set about designing something that felt like you were going to visit Annie, Jeff and the kids in Pioneer Square.

Jodan Duvall

Jordan Duvall is a fashion photographer in LA and I worked with her on creating her logo and identity system. We then applied that to various print and digital marketing pieces for her — including her online portfolio, which was set up with Dripbook.

How did you approach the start of the project?

Many commercial photographers use template portfolio services, Livebooks is probably the most widely known — but there is a lot of them out there — Dripbook, ShowIt, A-Photofolio. The challenge of working with these is trying to work within the limited customizing options and still getting something that presents the clients work and is branded. I find it’s best to keep in mind that – it’s the photographic work that should be the focal point here — not the design.

Conclusion

Thanks to Liz for making herself available for this interview!

I think it’s interesting to hear other designers talk about their projects, their lifestyle, and their workflow. We’ll be doing a couple of these interviews with other web designers, developers and projects managers every month, so if you have any additional questions that you want to see become part of the standard set, let me know in the comments!

Webdesigntuts+

Design Rob Shields has found much success in his style of artwork, his dark inspired illustrations have landed him many features in some of the top Photoshop magazines. In our interview, Rob gives us some insight into how to get your work published; we also discuss his specific style of design and what he is looking to do with it in the future. So check out this interview with another amazing artist.

Hello, I am a self-taught freelance illustrator working for the past few years in Philadelphia, USA. I’ve been making digital art since 2006 and began to freelance full time at the end of 2008. I tend to create emotionally driven artwork that is delicate and dark. To see my latest work and find out where my images will be on display please visit my website.

For a Coming Extinction

I’ve actually begun to re-imagine my process lately. In order to give my imagination more freedom I’ve begun to create basic sketches in Photoshop using a blank canvas and my Wacom. Whenever an idea comes to me I will sketch it quickly without worrying about how it might be finished or what it currently looks like. Using this sort of cafe napkin approach to brainstorming I’ve changed my emphasis from technique driven pieces to more concept driven work.

In Search of Lost Time

Well its no secret that I have a fondness for portraiture. I like the human image and the process of building a complex personality for the subjects that I create. Recently however I’ve begun to move away from this style and concentrate on different things. For instance, I’ve been slowly building my digital painting skills in order to create more fully realized narratives as opposed to single character studies. I’ve also rekindled my interest in typography and abstract art. My goal is to concentrate less on style and devote more energy to the feeling I want in each piece.

I Know You Can Hear Us DACS

Odd Blood is actually my last personal dark portrait. By this I mean it’s the last dark portrait that I set out to make without anyone else asking me to do so. I had the image of the girl that I really loved and I wanted to create something with it that would be both colorful and dark. I decided to keep the composition simple in terms of experimentation so that I could spend more time playing with the colors of the piece. The title comes from the Yeasayer Album which at the time had just been released and was on a few of my play lists.

Odd Blood

Well first of all research the magazines. Find out what kind of images are being published, how your work stacks up and where it will fit in best. When you feel you are ready contact the magazine. You can email but if you have a little extra money sending a promotional package is the best way to introduce yourself and your work. The most important rule is don’t be annoying. Sometimes it will take people several weeks to respond if they respond at all so don’t take it personally when you don‘t get a response right away. Keep the emails to a minimum, always be polite and be sure to show only your best work.

Keep Me in The Dark

There is something very romantic about the dark. It’s perfect and endless. I have a great nostalgia for the dark; it’s the oldest story I know. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I do not associate sadness or evil with the dark. I find comfort there. Its very calm and very open to everything, the perfect place to create something that isn’t there.

Victory All My Life

In the future I would like to create a progressively more organic art form. I am very much attracted to digital painting and hope to leave photo manipulation behind within the next couple of years. In the more immediate future I plan to unveil a new secondary design identity which will be a collaborative effort focusing on many aspects of design that are outside what I‘m currently doing.

Once We Thought Only Of The World

Thanks so much for the opportunity to be interviewed. My final thought is just a small piece of advice to all aspiring designers (and myself). Don’t copy other designers, become better than them.

Illuminated

Where to find Rob on the Web

• Rob’s Portfolio
• Rob’s DeviantArt

SlashTHREE

Psdtuts+

Magomed Dovjenko is a fresh breed of designer, his core beliefs propel him to become imaginative and unique. Magomed strives to experiment with his art and bring something completely new to the table each time he makes an illustration. In our interview Magomed discusses his future plans as well as some of his current artwork. So lets get into another great interview with a fresh and talented artist.

Hi! My name is Magomed Dovjenko. I’m originally from Chechnya, now living and working in Cologne as a freelance Illustrator and Graphic designer. I started out drawing and doodling, it was just a hobby and I did it out of boredom. One day I discovered Photoshop and fell in love with it, I practiced for hours and hours. After a lot of practice, I started to freelance and it went well.

Nalden Wallpaper

My Illustrations are mainly Illustrator, mixed with Photoshop. I start out in Illustrator, Illustrating the idea I have in mind. When I’m cool with what I got and am ready to move on, I bring the illustration into Photoshop to add some more details that are impossible to do with Illustrator only, like mixing it with photo textures and everything.

P – Pleasure

I think that the proper way to market yourself is to get your work everywhere, make sure you get featured and posted on blogs, it’s important to have as much public exposure as possible. The most important thing though, is to network. Networking plays a huge role in landing design jobs.

Twenty Ten

I would say the pros are definitely that you can choose when and for how long you work every day, as well as the cool projects. There are many cooler projects you get being a freelancer than working in an agency. In my opinion, the cons are that there’s no team around you that can help you solve problems if needed, but it’s not like you’re always struggling because you don’t have a team around you, it’s all good most of the time

Kanye West

Ha, on the Bastos piece I began by sketching in Illustrator. After a while it began to look kind of cool so I started to put in a lot of details, spending hours and hours on it. After a while, when I was satisfied with how it looked, I began moving it into Photoshop to continue there. I spent some hours doing the Coloring, then I started to add the whole shading, little details on his jersey and everything, it took like 15 hours I think. It was supposed to be black/white, I’m glad I changed my mind!

Michel Bastos

I plan to go to New York as soon as I’m 18. I feel like it’s a great place for me and the vibe is just… awesome. Can’t imagine how much creativity is floating in the air! I hope to continue to work there as a freelancer, but who knows, maybe I’ll join a Studio or something. We’ll see. I’m currently working on some cool projects for Monta (Edgar David’s Brand) and some other stuff that I can’t talk about yet, but I am going to update my site soon so you’ll see a lot of the new stuff.

Kanye West

The most important lesson I learned is that you have to be UNIQUE, don’t go with the masses and become mainstream, be experimental, show things people haven’t seen before, that’s what counts in my opinion. I’m also trying out some new experiments, watch out for them.

Wolf

Don’t follow people, let people follow you, try to stand out and don’t go mainstream. Thank you!

Swag Surfin’

Where to find Magomed on the Web

• Magomed’s DeviantArt
• Magomed’s Behance
• Magomed’s Portfolio

Nike Footlocker T-shirt

Psdtuts+

The proverb is, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” and with their love of toys, movies and Japanese animation, Aya and Shingo Miyazaki of design team Hyaku show that you can have the best of both worlds and be successful.

Lucky Charm

Hyaku means luck in Japanese. Actually it translates to “one hundred” which itself is considered a lucky number in Japan. Illustrator Aya Miyazaki and Art Director Shingo Miyazaki chose Hyaku as the name of their design business back in 2002 and over the last nine years it has proven to be a wise choice. Not all of their commercial success is because of sheer luck, however. Talent obviously plays a large part and if Hyaku is anything, it’s talented.

Growing up in the late 1970s, both Shingo and Aya benefited from artistic households as Shingo’s mother is a designer and Aya’s father practices illustration as a hobby. As children they surrounded themselves in Japanese animation, MANGA and video games which not only fostered their love of drawing, but of toys and figurines as well. Though their parents encouraged such play, they weren’t entirely supportive of illustration as a career option at first. “We think our parents are worried that we won’t be able to make a living as an illustrator. But please don’t worry!” They didn’t always want to be artists, though. Shingo wanted to be a drummer, which continues to be his favorite hobby, and Aya had an early passion for fashion and wanted to be a hair/makeup artist or a seamstress for Karl Lagerfeld. Nevertheless, illustration was the path that they both chose.

They attended a Tokyo art school where they met in an illustration class, yet didn’t get into vector illustrations until leaving school. After graduating in 1999 they both went on to work for graphic design companies before coming back together and starting Hyaku in 2002. They grew tired of being asked to imitate the art of others and decided that the only way they would be happy in their careers was to do what they wanted to do. In fact, that is one of Shingo’s biggest pieces of advice for up-and-coming illustrators: have fun at work.

Playing Around

Fun is definitely in the air at their company. Their office as well as their apartment in Toyko is decorated with the figurines that started their love of art and they will soon be able to add another toy to their collection. This is quite possibly the most important one yet since they created it themselves, having won the RAJE Toys Project Blueprint contest. Their design, along with the 15 other contest winners, was unveiled at the 2010 New York Comic Con event and is expected to be available in early 2011.

Toys aren’t the only artistic creations that take up space in their home and office. Shingo and Aya are huge movie buffs and movie posters cover their walls. Some of their favorite films are “The Godfather,” “Star Wars,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Apocalypse Now.” It’s only natural that some of their favorite directors are the minds behind these films.

One thing that these films have in common is very memorable, well-developed characters. Hyaku follows suit when they are creating their character illustrations.

Our characters all have different personalities. [They all] have settings such as names, personalities, hobbies [and] there are times when the settings don’t appear in the illustrations. By coming up with these settings, [it] gives the characters individuality and brings them to life.”

Their favorite part of creating each unique character is when they are brainstorming all of the details that make that character who it is, such as clothing and setting. Once they have those ideas in mind they get to work using their Macs, Wacom tablets and most importantly, they add, spirit(!!).

Like many designers, they find themselves working on extremely tight deadlines, which is their biggest complaint.

“There are times when we think if there was more time, we could have done a better design. Still, we think that meeting the deadline is very important as a professional.”

Individuality

Short deadlines don’t always go along with one of their biggest project requirements: the ability to express their individuality. “We are very happy if we meet a client or agent who is requiring our originality. We receive jobs by phone or via e-mail, and head to the client’s company for further arrangements. We then show a rough sketch, and then deliver the finished work. We try to understand exactly what the client is requesting and propose the best we can do.” This consistent process, their professionalism and unique designs have resulted in a client list that includes the Japanese snack company, Tohato, Inc., mobile phone companies NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and KDDI CORPORATION and various Japanese magazines.

Right now Shingo and Aya balance a heavy workload that has them working seven days a week on projects that include snack package design and personal work consisting of costume design and illustration. The latter fits perfectly with one of Aya’s favorite pastimes, musicals (“We love CATS!!”) and fashion design ( “[The]Galliano show is amazing!”). In fact, in addition to movies and MANGA, fashion is one of their biggest inspirations.

Hyaku eventually wants to expand their design business to include clients outside of their native Japan. Seeing that they had one of their beloved toy designs featured at New York’s Comic Con this year, that shouldn’t be a problem. After all, they have luck on their side.

Vectortuts+

Neil Hanvey shows us that practice and hard work can achieve a whole lot if you are persistent. Neil is a successful designer with a unique style that blends Photoshop with Illustrator and creates whimsical and quirky characters. In our interview, Neil gives some solid advice about not falling for the trends in design and being your own artist. On top of that we talk about some of Neil’s illustrations and more. So lets get into another great interview.

Hi everybody! My name’s Neil Hanvey and I’m an illustrator / web designer from Manchester, now living in rural Hereford, UK (famous for bulls, apples and the SAS). I was originally a chef studying multimedia technology at university in Manchester. I dropped out of university, disillusioned with my course and went back to the kitchen for a couple of years. A year later I’d bagged myself a job as a web developer and the rest is history.

Wood Good School Bad

I think a lot of my inspiration comes from fun things. I collect toys, watch cartoons; basically I don’t think I’ve grown up yet. A lot of my inspiration also comes from doodling. I like to start with just a title and doodle around it until I have something that makes me smile. I think that’s important to me, a simple title that says everything and a whimsical image to accompany it. I also do all of the usual stuff like listen to music, go to galleries, collect art and watch films.

Journey To The Center of Hell

Recently I’ve been adopting a 3-stage approach to my workflow. Starting with pen and paper, scanning it into Photoshop, bringing it over to illustrator for the line art and basic coloring and then finally back into Photoshop for shading/texturing and general tidy up. I’ve been using Photoshop for over a decade so I’m pretty comfortable with doing most things in it but I still prefer Illustrator for its vector capabilities.

Sleeping With Fishes

Definitely, it’s a cliché but a change does you good. Apart from doodling in illustrator and Photoshop, in the last year I’ve filled about 10 sketchpads with ink and graphite drawings, learnt how to sew plushie toys, worked on a couple of DIY vinyl toys, bought a DSLR to work on my photography, created a few fonts and learnt how to use After Effects. I still haven’t learnt how to use any 3D applications so maybe I’ll try that once I get a computer with a 3D card that has more than 128mb of ram!

I think that exploring new things stops you from getting comfortable. You see too many artists go through the motions doing the same thing over and over again and before you know it the industry has moved on and you’re still sat there combining triangles, c4d renders and stocks of random women.

Alectra

It all started with the rollercoaster track at the bottom of the piece. From there I just started filling 2 sheets of paper with doodles. Once I had filled both sheets I scanned them into Photoshop and pieced them together. Once they were stitched together I began coloring them in. The blue color you see in the slashThree version is actually the original colored version with a blue layer on top with the layers blend mode set to hue. That’s one of the things I love about Photoshop, the ability to change the entire feel of something in a non-destructive way.

Atomic Circus

Learn the basics of drawing. I can’t stress that enough really. Practice every day, even if it’s just doodling while you’re on the phone. Take time out to enjoy things and never ever use lens flare, beveling or rainbow gradients.

Carry a sketchpad with you at all times. It’s a trendy cliché and probably sounds like an advert but I can’t go anywhere without my moleskine. That way all the random ideas that pop into my head won’t get lost on random scraps of paper on my desk.

Lastly it would be don’t copy trends. It’s fair enough to be inspired by what your peers are doing but if you just straight out copy them then what you make isn’t you.

Brain Vomit

That’s really hard! I don’t really have any consistent characters that are identifiable as mine but I do like drawing people in animal suits. If I had to pick one it’d probably be Wood Good School Bad. I was on the train going to Birmingham with my wife to buy some vinyl toys at a place called The Custard Factory. Anyway they have this sculpture there called Green Man, which I’ve always wanted to see, and this is my version of it. It was doodled on the train in my mini sketchpad and finished in Illustrator when I got home. If anyone wants to see the original sculpture just Google “Green Man Custard Factory”.

Daddy Was A Fisherman

Don’t be disheartened if you can’t draw the first time you pick up a pencil. I got a C in graphic design at school and didn’t take art but I stuck with it and practiced until my pencil bled. Now I can draw all sorts of things like zombies, robots and cats. Now stop reading me chatting biscuits and go doodle!

Owlblood

Where to find Neil on the Web

• Neil’s DeviantArt
• Neil’s Portfolio

An Explosion Of Color

Psdtuts+

Claire Latchem — aka Superfex — is an Illustrator and designer from South West of England. Claire says, character design, animation, model making, vector and tattoo design influence her work greatly. She also enjoys exploring vivid color palettes and different line weights. Her style of illustration is cute, energetic and playful. Read more about Superfex at the jump.

Hello. Well I’m 22 years old and situated in the southwest England. I was born in Frome where I lived for 19 years before moving to Plymouth for 3 years whilst I studied Illustration at the University there. Before I took the Illustration course I primarily studied as a Photographer through school. Firstly at GCSE and A-Level and then progressed to carry out a National Certificate in the subject before being accepted onto the Photography course at Plymouth University.

Though I studied Photography for many years I always found myself drawing and familiarizing myself with the Adobe Creative Suite. My fascination with Illustration soon took over and any spare time I had was devoted to Superfex. I set up Superfex when I was 16 and have been working under the name ever since. After a lengthy conversation with the head of Illustration I then switched from the Design: Photography degree course to the Design: Illustration one where I thought my skills would be more suitable. I now reside in Bournemouth where I continue to freelance as Superfex.

I have recently just finished an editorial commission for the Magazine, Computer Arts Projects who were a delight to work with. It was my first editorial commission and I was asked to create four characters that represented the different stages of self-publishing a magazine for the editorial issue. I have designed 4 playing cards to be part of a promotional card pack for ‘Versus Project’. 13 illustrators were contacted and I chose to do the eights so I settled on the theme ‘Pieces of Eight’ and designed a different character for each card with the corresponding suite in mind. There will be an exhibition in Bristol alongside big names in the industry such as Ben Steers and Aaron Miller to march the launch of the project, which, hopefully, will be held at the end of October. Details are yet to be confirmed. I am also currently in the middle of setting up an art collective with a few friends, which, I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now. But you’ll have to wait to find out more.

I have always been a creative and imaginative person even at an early age where I took part in a club called ‘The Young Illustrators’. I find this amusing considering my line of work these days. I remember drawing a comic strip about a crocodile and watching a lot of Funny Bones. I guess that’s where my fascination for animation came from alongside Disney and my adoration for the character Buzz Lightyear of course. I found myself drawing any chance I get whether it was whilst some geography teacher was rambling on about waypoints or whilst I was on the phone to a friend for an hours as she moans about her boyfriend or even in the car park to Toys R Us whilst my friend James has an interview (where I’m also filling out these questions).

I do still love Photography and take huge pleasure in organizing shoots and manipulating images. I still continue to do so for various projects but it has taken a back seat to my Illustration work. When I realized my passion for Illustration was growing rapidly and has exceeded that of Photography I decided to set about changing my career path. I know for sure that it was, and still is, the right move for me.

Hmm 5 words, well people always say my work is ‘cute’ even when I lace it with Macabre. I also think my style reflects my personality in a lot of ways so: Cute, Energetic, Vibrant, Edible, Playful.

I don’t think my style has changed dramatically but just developed and matured over time. I remember drawing my ‘Ice cream Monster’ piece, which, was a breakthrough for me. It was just a doodle that I colored in Photoshop but I felt like it was something new and different so I just started creating characters and working on the drawings on the computer. I then started to use Illustrator a lot more and it was after my first submission to Lafraise that I really got stuck into character design.

I love that you can draw something that has no boundaries. If I want to make up a creature that looks like a bear but has horns, wings and an appetite for soap then that’s ok. There are no rules, just underlying guides that need to be taken into consideration such as expression, body language and character in itself. People can always relate to character design, as they will most often then not, be based on actual human characteristics. They are imperfect, flawed even and people can identify with that on many levels even though they are fictitious.

Like any illustrator it all starts in my head. I will scribble my thoughts, usually with a biro, on any scrap of paper that’s lying around. I then pick the best ideas of the bunch and sketch them out a bit further with format and composition in mind. A lot of my work is portrait format, there’s just something about it that works well with the flow of my lines.

Once I have my heart set on one particular idea I will then sketch it out to the right size, usually in pencil and once happy with it, ‘ink’ the lines with my Staedtler Pigment Liners. I literally swear by these pens and never use anything different.

Then I will scan it in and either vector it using Illustrator or work on it in Photoshop. It really depends on what the work will be used for. It’s a lot quicker to work on it in Photoshop but the quality isn’t as great so it’s ok for small media. I tend to use Illustrator these days for most of my work as vector images can be resized to any dimension without loss of quality so that gives me peace of mind as an artist.

My workstation can only be described as ‘Creative Clutter’. To most people it probably looks a mess but I find having illustrative material scattered around and pasted all over the walls helps to inspire me and ensure I don’t get too complacent with my work. I am always striving to ‘better myself’ as an illustrator and whilst this can be frustrating at times it also helps keep me constantly moving forwards.

At first I used Deviantart a lot and found it very useful to talk to fellow creative’s, get constructive criticism from my peers and also collaborate with others. Sadly my respect for the site has diminished over the recent years with the amount of people who use their accounts to steal artwork or even verbally attack other people. The amount of times I’ve seen my work passed off as someone else’s on there just made me reluctant to even update the content I have on there. I have however stumbled across some serious talent on that site including the likes of Karl Kwasny, Cronobreaker and Damien Vignaux.  I do however, have my own dedicated website that I primarily use as an online portfolio and means of contacting me for work but I keep in contact with other illustrators and art directors via Twitter these days. One site I do love to peruse through on a daily basis is BloodSweatVector. Founded by illustrator extraordinaire, Jared Nickerson, the website plays host to a whole heap of vector delights.

My favorite piece I have created so far has to be the alien shirt design I did for the clothing label, Sourjelly. I got to exercise a really bold and psychedelic color palette which, I normally wouldn’t risk using but I think it turned out really best for the subject matter illustrated. I think it’s a well-rounded piece and functions perfectly for the intended medium. As mentioned before I have quite an obsession for anything Buzz Lightyear so I love to illustrate things related to a ‘Space’ theme. I wanted to illustrate an alien with various space paraphernalia around him. I used the rocket’s flight paths to pull the whole design together and give it that essential strong composition. I also generally love creating t-shirt designs as you get to express yourself through just wearing the design, much like tattoo design which, I also have great passion for. As for the future, I have many dreams and ambitions I hope to achieve. I want to explore a more traditional side to my style but not phase out the vector of course. I also want to start producing more self-initiated projects as well as the collective I mentioned earlier. Essentially I just want to progress as Superfex, produce more work and show my versatility across the design spectrum.

I’m 5ft 3, I barely sleep, I don’t eat a lot and I am always on the go yet everyday I am bursting with energy and motivation. I don’t know how it works but I do feel great satisfaction when I’ve had a productive day so I endeavor to achieve the feeling everyday. When I do have the time I like to watch movies or socialize with friends. But if I’m not drawing then I’m looking at other peoples work or updating websites and If I’m not doing that then I’m planning personal projects, going to exhibitions, sculpting things out of clay, working out costs for printed material or even baking cakes so I am always creating. My website designer even described me as having Creative ADHD. I have a lot of ambition and a lot of drive but this is sometimes a downfall and I want to excel in all areas of creative media be it illustration, film making or even stop motion animation. Being creative is my life and I take great pride and pleasure in it so it’s never a something I feel the need to escape from.

I’d say not to be too picky with the people you talk to in your daily lives. It’s often the ‘weird ones’ that provide you with the best ideas and character traits. Try to learn for yourself and not for other people. Sure it’s nice when other people also enjoy what you do but don’t let it be the reason for making it. Keep producing new work of the highest quality to strengthen existing skills and maybe pick up a few new ones whilst also keeping your portfolio ‘fresh’. Lastly I would say if you want to be successful then you’re the only person holding yourself back. You alone, have to get out there and make yourself known and remembered but try to keep some dignity in the process. Respect among others is key.

Artist Name on Web

• Portfolio
• Twitter
• deviantArt
• Flickr

Vectortuts+

A collection of great videos on interviews with designers
© 2010 Various Agencies

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Semantics of a website from PixelMEDIA on Vimeo.

Users from PixelMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Jan Van Toorn Q&A: Advice for a student designer from D&AD on Vimeo.

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Chris Rockwell: The mind of design from The PEP Talks on Vimeo.

Bizcamp 2009: Competitive Advantage & the Web from designbyfront on Vimeo.

Winning Bigger Web Projects – Paul May – Barcamp Belfast from designbyfront on Vimeo.

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Graphic Design: The Forgotten Web Standard – Slides in 3 Minutes from Carsonified on Vimeo.

Tony Speaks about his Web Design Company – Netgifted from Tony Silveira on Vimeo.

E Interview at The Next Web Conference 2008 from Renato Valdés Olmos on Vimeo.

Andy Clarke on Web Layout from Jeffrey Zeldman on Vimeo.

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Interview with Graphic Designer Graham Clifford from Brian Miller on Vimeo.

Interview with Graphic Designer, Charles Nix from Brian Miller on Vimeo.

Nathan Shelton is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer from Leicestershire, UK. He specializes in a unique colorful and cartoon style of vector based artwork. In this interview Nathan talks about how he started with a very humble beginning creating illustrations by hand using traditional tools like inks, pencils and watercolors, how he discovered vector art, what he likes about vectors, his love for character illustrations and more. He also kindly shares with us some great tips on design and illustration.

Q Hello Nathan, can you share with us a brief biography of yourself; tell us where you’re from, and about your formal education and how you got started in digital art field?

I’m originally from a little village in South Wales called Nelson, although I now live in Market Harborough in Leicestershire with my wife Eloise, my one year old twins Jacob and Daisy and a beagle named Humbug. I attended college in the mid 90′s and have an HND in Illustration and Graphic Design (incidentally no client has ever cared what qualifications I have).

Following formal education I traveled for a year around Australia and New Zealand. On my return I started my business Ant Creations in 2000 with help from The Princes Trust. I started the business in Wales creating and supplying Welsh greetings cards; I created all my illustrations by hand using watercolors, Pantone markers, inks and colored pencil. I would then scan the illustrations in to the Mac, print out the artwork and create all the cards by hand (cutting, sticking, packing, selling). Things were going well, but a mere six months later I moved to Leicestershire (to be nearer my future wife) and found there was no real market for Welsh based artwork of any kind! I quickly realized I needed to adapt to a different market entirely. I decided to move away from the handmade, craft type path and concentrate on the commercial side of illustrating. I needed to appeal to businesses and decided my style was too labour intensive when a client needed any amends etc (which they inevitably do). I wanted to be able to amend my illustrations quickly and easily at any stage of it’s development, and I found the answer to all my problems when I discovered vector artwork.

I love the clean lines and the real vibrancy that vectors offer. It’s an amazingly versatile way to create artwork and it also totally complements my natural style of drawing. I decided that I had to learn how to create vector artwork. I had never really used a computer to create work from scratch as I was far more used to creating the work by hand and scanning it in for a few tweaks in Photoshop. But, I had a copy of Illustrator and I slowly but surely taught myself how to create the style of vectors that I wanted and it’s true to say I have been in love with vectors ever since. It’s a fantastic form of digital art and I am amazed at the diverse works of real art that artists are able to achieve.

I have been running my business Ant Creations since 2000. However I feel like I’ve been designing and especially illustrating my whole life. I can’t resist drawing if I’m anywhere near a pen or pencil. It’s usually a subconscious thing when I pick up a pen and start drawing whatever pops into my head (which is almost always cartoons). I have loads of old sketchbooks that I filled as a child. Some of the ideas I came up with then can still inspire me now. There is a big difference however in drawing for fun and drawing for your livelihood. I believe you should constantly develop as an artist, therefore I know more today than I knew yesterday.

But if I had to choose one thing that I wished I knew when I started my career then it would be that to say no can be the best way forward. What I mean by this is that you should believe in your work and your worth as a professional artist to potentially turn down work if you don’t feel you are being treated or paid fairly and that as a professional your opinion is extremely important when it comes to your art. Confidence in your ability is of paramount importance!

And as for my first attempts at vector artwork…well let’s just say they were very basic, and it took me a long time until I mastered the pen tool and started creating work that I was happy with.

When I started my business I didn’t want to be tied down to any one particular field, so the word ‘creations’ covered almost any area of art or design. I needed a word to use before the ‘creations’ and at the time I used to sign my work as ‘Nat’. Ant is an anagram of Nat and fortunately begins with the letter A which also ensured I came out higher in any alphabetical lists of businesses etc. Ant’s are also resourceful little critters and work extremely hard. The name has also allowed me to create numerous ant characters for promotional use over the years. That’s the basic story.

Everything starts with a pencil and my sketchbook. I prefer to work in a sketchbook and keep them all in chronological order when they are full. They are a bit like a diary for me that I can look back on for inspiration when working on new projects. Once I’m happy with the sketches (and hopefully the client too) then I scan it into the computer and create a few layers in Illustrator and get straight onto the vectors. Sometimes the work comes out very similar to the original sketch, and sometimes the final results are quite different. When I’m working on my own illustrations I tend to deviate more and even start work from scratch in Illustrator, but a client usually expects the vector to look pretty similar to the sketch. Initially I stay pretty close to the original, but because vectors are so versatile I can always have more of a play at a later stage by changing the composition and colors etc. As far as research goes then a Google image search can give you everything you will ever need (and a few things you don’t!).

The cartoon strip has been appearing in the Harborough Mail which is a weekly newspaper for around seven years now.  I’ve always been drawn to simple cartoons. I suppose it’s something to do with my nature that I like funny cartoons to get to the point pretty quickly.  The dimensions of a newspaper cartoon strip has to be an exact size, and It’s quite difficult to squeeze a joke that usually has a beginning middle and end into a fixed space.  I create Mal and Lard by hand, which is pretty much the only art I create that’s not vector based (although I do finish it off in Illustrator by adding the text). It’s good to create things in a different way occasionally and creating work for a newspaper is a different deadline to many other projects I work on; the time scales are extremely rigid. Also, the stories that are around in any given week that I have to try to get a joke out of are not usually straightforward. I have to get my brain working in a different way than usual which keeps me on my toes!

I absolutely love vector artwork. It’s the closest I can get to perfection when I work. For me it’s so clean, vibrant and versatile. I can play with an illustration for hours, days, weeks or even months in search of the perfect composition and color scheme. Changing things with a click is such a great asset when it comes to creating work, especially when you have a client that changes their mind at every stage. Vectors also allow my to recycle my illustrations which is fantastic when it comes to selling images as stock.

I first stumbled across iStockphoto in about 2006. I was originally skeptical as I thought it would somehow devalue my work, and I also didn’t see how it was fair that the site took the majority of the revenue when you sell an image. However, I have since come to learn that sites such as iStock massively increase your potential to earn money whilst also increasing your exposure on an international level. So much work is done behind the scenes to make the site work as smoothly as it does and it’s fantastic to know I can earn money while I sleep. I have gained a great deal of exposure and many clients through my work being sold as stock. You are totally in control of your work and you are free to create as much or as little work as you please. Having no client dictating the type of work you create is very refreshing. I do love the interactivity with a client so would not want to create stock full time, but the potential is there if this is the path you choose.

Characters are a passion of mine. When I’m doodling I very rarely draw the same character twice so I’m always creating someone new. There are almost limitless possibilities when it comes to creating a new character. You could ask a thousand illustrators to create the same character and they would all come up with something different. However there are some rules to follow when it comes to making a character a certain temperament. We have all absorbed so much visual information (usually on a subconscious level) to instantly be able to recognize certain character traits. A little difference in a characters eyes or eye brows, or the shape of their nose, mouth or even head. Their general posture and any one of a number of other bodily gestures will dictate whether a character is good or evil, strong or weak, kind or mean and any number of other types of personality or behavior.

It is vitally important to really listen to a client and to fully understand the brief when it comes to creating a character for use by a company etc. You need to know what this character represents to enable you to create something that’s right for the client and that the character is conveying the correct message. I love the life of their own that the character takes on, and also the life that other people inject into a character using their own points of view. Creating a new character can be like creating a new life or a new life form. I appreciate characters are mainly in 2D form, but the actual love that some characters can instill in others is rarely matched in other forms of art.

I’m currently working on a variety of things. A few illustrations that are going to be used on web sites, a couple of illustrated label designs, a logo plus a few other graphic design projects such as leaflets, posters, stationery etc. I’m also working on a few personal projects at the moment. I’m keen to get into the merchandising game and it seems there is no better time when there are so many great sites that offer the opportunity to sell your work on a multitude of things.

As far as favorites go I’m afraid I’m quite fickle when it comes to my work. I usually love whatever I’m working on and it’s my favorite thing until I start work on the next thing which then becomes my favorite I do have a few past projects that I still look back at fondly. There have been several character designs that I have really enjoyed working on. I love seeing a character develop from a simple sketch to finally emerge as final artwork in different poses and situations. I also really enjoyed working on a project that involved creating lots of different Halloween faces. That was one of the projects that kind of developed as it went along. The sketches I created were really quick and sometimes quite basic and I designed most of the features of each face directly in Illustrator as I went along. It’s always great to have a bit of freedom when you work, that’s why creating personal work is so much fun!

I couldn’t reel off a big list of names that have been massively influential or that inspire me on a regular basis. That’s not to say that I’m not totally inspired every day when I see so much amazing work in many different places. What I’m saying is that I am regularly blown away by the talented artists and designers that I see all over the web. The internet has allowed everybody with a talent (and some without) to get their work in front of the world. I simply don’t remember the names of all the great artists that influence, inspire and excite me on a daily basis and remind me that I need to up my game and constantly develop as an artist simply to compete! The website that I visit most regularly is iStock, and you only have to spend a little time there to realize the wealth of talent that abound around the whole world.

It needs to be compelling, it needs to communicate and it helps if it’s created to a high technical standard. From a commercial viewpoint artwork usually needs to capture attention, convey a message and look pretty at the same time. Not all art needs to fulfill these criteria but through my professional experience a client wants the final artwork to be visually appealing and technically sound.

If you want to earn your livelihood from art then you must absolutely love what you do and be willing to do it for free. Only by having such a strong desire to create for a living will you get through the tough early days of business when money is something that you won’t have. Being thoroughly professional and business like in your approach to attracting and retaining clients is almost as important as the quality of work you produce. Get better at you what you do every day and never give up!

Nathan Shelton on Web

• Portfolio
• Blog
• Twitter
• Facebook
• iStockphoto

Vectortuts+

Ed Lopez is a veteran designer who has mastered several styles ranging from matte painting to photo manipulation and 3D integration. In our interview Ed lends some words of wisdom about his career as well as the programs he uses in tandem with Photoshop to create his astounding art. This is the perfect interview for a newcomer to Photoshop because the advice given can’t come from a better source.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome; well I am currently living in Mexico City I started in graphic design and matte painting about the time Windows 95 was the hot new thing and the computer had less power and graphics capabilities than current cell phones.

I was asked by the golf course manager where I worked to take photos of a golf course in construction and make some manipulations to make it look finished and working; so there I was hooked! From then on I started learning the intricacies of matte painting, manipulation, design, 3d modeling etc. everything that I needed to make an image look the way I wanted, and used my background in photography to work out composition depth and perspective.

Impending Doom

Let’s see “Matte Painting” now days in general has a small percentage to do with actual painting, you paint in details in one degree or another but its certainly heavily mixed with photo manipulation, 3d elements, and Photoshop magic; and in digital painting you just use brushes in PS to create your image, it is mostly because this process its much faster than painting the whole scene which I have done; so the studios and clients always prefer faster results.

So I really don’t categorize myself as a Matte Painter, I love Matte, and would be delighted to make my living out of it only, but the reality is nowadays you have to cover several areas to stay afloat. So I do graphic design, paint, use 3d apps and do matte painting at the same time.

STHREEHENGE

Thanks, I have learned Matte painting from all the lectures and tutorials I could get my hands on through the years, from Dylan Cole, and Yannick Dusseault, to my fellow countryman Jaime Jasso and Painting directly from Greg Martin Through the Experience the Planets Collaboration. So I guess I took a bit from every step in the learning process. And what I do to mix the 3d elements its carefully texturing and blending them in PS, I rarely import a textured 3d object onto a painting, I texture it shade it and blend it in Photoshop adjustment layers are God sent!

CIRCI

I usually work with either Vue or Terragen 2 to render my base plate if I don’t have the stock for it or the opportunity to go and take the images which its the ideal scenario. I have worked with TG2 from its pre-launch version and had years to get under the hood, certainly not user friendly and the learning curve it’s steep; although the results are breath taking.

The latest version of vue is much more easy to use and learn and the upgrades in atmospheric engine, and procedural terrains and textures capabilities have made it very usable; although very expensive and extremely hungry for CPU power and large amounts of ram.

COLOR Universe

Yup talking about Anasazi precisely all the aforementioned techniques are involved in it. The base plate was done in Vue 8 where you can appreciate the capabilities and qualities of the atmospheric engine and the procedural textures and terrains, from there all the ancient buildings and bridges where digitally painted in PS, and finally the face was rendered in Cinema 4d brought into PS where it was textured and blended and at the end the camps, people, fires and such where painted around it.

I always like to theorize and represent fictional events where civilizations didn’t go extinct and what would happen if the course of history was different as well as the always theorized Alien influence in such cultures.

Anasazi

My favorite scene has been a mix between alien landscapes or scifi landscapes with Space, so what has been called Terraspace its certainly what has been predominant in my work, although I enjoy as you say everything in between, whatever scene comes to my mind I use all the tools and knowledge at my disposal to see it come together. Lately I have been trying to do less scifi space scenes to balance out my work with very real possible scenes like Anasazi itself , Circi or Vulcano.

CRY HAVOC AND LET SLIP

Certainly if you want to get into matte or painting and many other illustration and art fields you need a tablet; no doubt about it, and for that go as high as you can in the price range, it is worth every cent if you are serious about it. I use a wacom intuos 3 6×12 tablet; the pressure sensitivity, precision and quality of this tablets do not have any comparison to the other brands are out there which are mostly toys.

Vulcano

Thanks to you for the interview it is greatly appreciated indeed. To the guys and girls who want to go for art in this or any field, be patient read, learn ask, and be patient a bit more, any image you admire its not created in 20 minutes, an hour or three hours, it takes days or even weeks or months to finalize an image. Cheers and thanks again to PsdTuts for the opportunity.

Cirque De La Douleur

Where to find Ed on the Web

• Ed’s DeviantArt
• Ed’s Portfolio

New Frontier

Psdtuts+

Diego L. Rodríguez is a multi talented designer and photographer who has recently made a name for himself in the design field by working with some prominent clients. Diego has an interesting philosophy on life that has not let him down, a go out and get it mentality is his view on how to get clients. His approach has gotten him a few jobs and he plans to keep at it. So lets get into another interesting interview with another great artist.

Thank you. Good morning people! My name is Diego L. Rodríguez; I’m an illustrator and photographer based in Spain. I’m currently working as freelance designer, photographer and retoucher in Mexico City.

My first contact with the new digital art possibilities was around 2005; I was studying “Cinema Production” and I wanted to customize some DVD covers and wallpapers. I discovered some forums dedicated to digital art as well as communities such as DeviantART. I then became passionate about this amazing world of art and graphics. In 2007 I had my first clients and considered seriously dedicating myself to the field.

The Cage

I was a creative kid; when I was 10 I drew characters from cartoons and invented my own series (I keep all those drawings in a rusty folder). My inspiration came from “G.I.-Joe” toys and some Japanese anime series, but my real passion came when I was 15 years old when I really wanted to dedicate my life to the audiovisual field, especially with music videos.

When I was 16 years old I started to work as a Camera Operator for a local TV station. That experience was essential for me. After finishing school I studied “Cinema Production”, and after that I started the Publicity & Public Relations career. Around 2005/2006, I discovered this amazing world of digital art, illustration and graphic design.

3 Cut Faces 3 Times

Most of the drawings I do are made digitally; I use Illustrator and the graphic tablet as main tools. Sometimes I start from sketches, basically when I work with typography; graphite pencils are my best friends.

I export the illustrations and make the rest of the post-work in Photoshop. I can say Photoshop is the definitive tool: retouching, coloring, detailing…seriously I love using Photoshop every day, there are infinite possibilities.

The consistency is clearly influenced by your patience and dedication to your artwork. Working on a big resolution, cutting very smooth, studying the light. There are a lot of factors, but your dedication and exigency to get the most detailed work is very important.

Needles

To be honest, I think I took a step forward with some recent clients, but I’m still developing my career. I fight everyday for clients, showing my portfolios, joining projects, etc. I don’t have a solid client agenda.

My philosophy is based in being active all the time, not waiting for the client. If some brand, company or musician interests me, I contact them. All my motivation came from a “don’t give up” thought. I follow my instincts; if you want to work in some very specific field, do your best there. Clients do not come by magic; I keep that philosophy and it’s worked out well for me recently.

Drake The Remix Album

Thanks for your words. I started playing with some architecture photography on the canvas. Later I inserted a human stock, playing with textures and my own 3D renders. The arm took a very interesting effect, like crossing a dimensional door threshold. That was the part when the whole piece appeared on my head.

I was watching “LOST” the TV show, and all the time-traveling stuff was very present on my mind, so I tried to create an instant, when someone is crossing a dimensional door (kind of a “Stargate” too).

By mixing my own stocks, 3D renders, fluids and digital painting I composed the whole scene, introducing some depth and the island as a tribute to the “LOST” TV show (the title itself is an homage to one chapter from the 5th season). I must say the starting process was really random and funny, playing with lot of stuff. That’s my real workflow when I start some kind of artistic manipulation or photo-illustration.

The Variable

First of all, Cinema. Especially when I discovered a genius like David Lynch. All the work he does is special, deep and complicated. On the other hand: Music and music videos. I always used to ask my best friend to record VHS tapes with hours of MTV music videos and commercials.

When I started to get into art and graphics, evidently the references and inspirations were growing up. Some of my favorite artists of all time are Edward Hopper, Salvador Dali, John Everett Millais or Gustave Moureau. Some of my actual references are Nicholas Di Genova, Non-Format, Jeff Soto or Grandpeople.

D.A.C.S Broken Life

On the design and illustration fields, I’m currently creating some cover artwork for Hip-Hop artists, as well as collaborating with some worldwide photographers doing photo-illustration and photo-manipulation art pieces. I’m involved too in several projects with my buddy Luis M. Torres for some companies and artistic stuff.

About my other main field, photography, I will update my website soon with some new fashion & editorial projects.

Finally, I recently collaborated recording a documentary film in the USA about the “Blues Route” and the “Crossroads” with a Mexican musician, and I created an illustration in collaboration with the DACS Project.

Cookin Soul History In The Making

Thanks to PSDTUTS+ and the readers for the time dedicated to my interview. Don’t give up, believe in yourself and don’t stop creating and experimenting.

Tears For Vanaheimr

Find Diego on the Web

• Diego’s DeviantArt
• Diego’s Portfolio
• Diego’s Photography Website

Do Not Disturb

Psdtuts+

“Everything needs time” — These words were said by Oleg Rogoznev, an outstanding Russian illustrator, working in the genre of photo realistic vectors. Read more about him in this interview.

Thank you! My name is Oleg Rogoznev. I was born and brought up in Moscow. I had been working as a house-painter decorator for a film studio “Mosfilm”. One day I saw an advertisement for a three year training course for animation painters at the cartoon film studio “Souzmultfilm”. After finishing the courses I worked as a painter-animator for 6 years, drawing gap frames of video series. I’ve taken part in the creation of lots of animated cartoon films. The most popular is “Well, wait!” (Nu, pogodi). Then times changed and I began to work as a freelance painter.

For many years I had been working in a style of varnished miniature. I fulfilled private orders in different art genres and techniques. I had been working in Italy for a certain period of time. Thus I have learned and gained skills of drawing and color usage. It was done many years ago and I started working on a computer only a few years ago. I was engaged in design and page-proofing. I have learned vector graphics. At the same time I worked for different independent animation studios.

Vector graphics is more a hobby for me than work, because photo realistic depictions can be considered fun but not a profession in comparison with schemes, maps and plans needed for my work. For me, everything began from the moment I saw the realistic pictures of Jukio Miyamoto. It was difficult to believe for a long time that those things could be created in a vector (I only just began to learn Illustrator) and my only desire was to learn to draw real photos with all their characteristics, in vector. The basic knowledge of Illustrator was shown to me by my friends but all the ins and outs of photo realism I learnt by myself.

The Mesh Tool is absolutely unique, and is unlike any other tool with incredible possibilities of form, color creation and editing. Even now when I learn more about it I cannot help but admire it. Some difficulties might appear in a case when you need to do something very quickly because Mesh needs attention, diligence and tolerance. The main thing is not to overload the mesh by using unnecessary points and lines. If you master simplicity with the gradient mesh, you will be delighted and impressed by the sudden beauty on your computer. Of course hand drawing skills might be very helpful. A computer is just a machine which cannot create composition of harmony and color without human interaction.

I don’t know about other countries but in Russia, good quality photo realistic vectors don’t have any commercial attractiveness. I think it is because of the time needed to create a single image. It is much simpler to take a good quality photo and work in Photoshop instead of spending tens of hours with one still (taking into account that the majority of vector pictures are worked up with photo-references). As for me I just simply have fun working with the Mesh Tool.

A sense of color can be developed with many years of drawing practice. Look attentively at the surrounding world, watch its beauty and fascination. There are no ugly color combinations in nature. Even if you use a photo as a reference. It’s very difficult to choose colors with the Eye Dropper tool, because of the displacement of some pixels. That’s why I often take color not from reference but from the created Mesh. I re-sample the color many times before getting a desired result. Quick drafts from real nature (in a few minutes) are very helpful especially when they are made by pen (so you can’t erase mistakes, it’s also helpful to develop the skill of accuracy).

The first and main condition for me is to have a strong desire to do it. When you have a wish nothing is more important. Hours or sometimes even a few days are needed to create one photo-realistic picture. It depends on the complexity. You don’t notice the run of time, the satisfaction from the finished result makes up for the tiredness. First I draw the basic image, I then draw the background separately, then the object itself, after that I work out the details. I try to divide the picture into as many objects as possible. I don’t use Photoshop’s effects or filters. I create everything with the tools in Illustrator. In addition any blurring can be created by vector tools and masks.

My favorite one is among the first of my works, I like the fact that the photo for it was also made by me. I also like the work for forum Demiart. I got the First Prize in an Open Contest of Four Year Forum Foundation. Now I am supposed to finish the poster devoted to an Ecological theme, but because of different reasons, I’ve had to delay the project. When I finish it I’ll show it in my Gallery.

I draw in different genres using different techniques, not just vector graphics. Canvas – oil, paper-Indian ink, pen, pencil, pastel. From miniature up to wall size. I admire science fiction (books and films), I have the 17-volumed composition written by Clifford Donald Simak. I consider him to be the best writer in the genre of Science fiction. I have been collecting music pieces by the great world jazz saxophone players. I like to visit different on-line galleries where painters of various styles and genres are presented. I am greatly interested in the innovations and development of digital technologies.

Indeed, I wrote a tutorial Realistic Vector Rose. I like to write tutorials, but lack of time and my imperfect English made me stop doing it, but not for too long. I hope to continue soon.

Thank you for the interesting questions. In conclusion, everybody should remember these very simple words, which I read many years ago but still remember to this day, “Everything needs time”.

Oleg Rogoznev on Web

• deviantart.com
• artlib.ru

Vectortuts+

Parisian Illustrator blindSALIDA, like his art, is full of life and motion. Here this busy designer talks about the importance of finding your personal style…even if that includes baby bottles and popsicles.

Groovy Man

Based on his art, which he says is inspired by “surrealism and psychedelic situations” you probably wouldn’t be surprised to know that he was a hyperactive child. He describes his illustrations as ‘explosive’ and that’s a huge understatement to say the least. His name is Sadi Yann and the world knows him as blindSALIDA.

At 28, Yann just wants to create more illustrations that impact the viewer. Oh and become rich. And not necessarily in that order. He has worked with agencies for most of his career and because of this, his work flow is neat and pretty much laid out ahead of time. When asked what tools he uses to create his illustrations he simply says “Illustrator.” In fact he said that three times. With lots of exclamation points.

Objects in Motion

Living in Paris it’s easy for Yann to surround himself with art. He forgoes the more traditional artists commonly found in that city for the works of designers like Leslie David and Brosmind Studio. He also says that “in the past” he’s enjoyed the work of Storm Thorgerson, the designer well known for his work with Pink Floyd. His talent for creating surrealistic illustrations no doubt comes from studying this brilliant artist.

“I am passionate about naturally fluctuating forms like explosions and liquids. In order to create illustrations full of life and objects in motion, I often insert these forms into my images. Those objects are arranged in an odd and incongruous way with, for example, baby bottles erupting from Earth, legs running in a desert…”

It may be comforting to know, though, that Yann cannot draw what he sees in his head and because of that, the final result never looks as good as it did in his mind’s eye. Interestingly enough he considers this to be his favorite part of the creative process. No matter what the end result, his attention to every small detail, for example the use of color, varies wildly and is always linked to an emotion.

The Glass is Half Full

Yann lives in a small, rented apartment in Paris. Unlike his art, his apartment is decorated sparsely with a few things like a reproduction of a Zao Wou-Ki creation, a silkscreen of Steven Harrington and two Starck chairs. A far cry from his wild art that contains images of baby bottles, popsicles and a random eyeball here and there.

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Unlike his designs he lives a fairly calm life that includes no coffee or junk food (!), lots of salads, the occasional Bloody Mary and frequent runs through Boulogne Forest. His lack of any vices is probably the reason why he’s got such a positive outlook on life and the work that he loves. “I’ve never [had] really difficult projects, just different projects,” he says,

all projects fascinate me, for different reasons, but I still work as if it were my last or most important job.

While he always knew he wanted to do something creative as a career, his first love was music which he admits he was never good at. Surprisingly he began his career working with Flash as an animation programmer. After that he was an Art Director at a Communications agency where he worked on campaigns for Estee Lauder and Les Galeries Lafayettes. Today finds him working in an agency with clients like Orange, Peugeot, Quick and Gillette.

Discover

Yann admits his schedule and workload fluctuates wildly but he takes it all in stride because he discovers something new in every piece of art he creates. He never looks upon anything he illustrates as being bad, but instead, a new way to discover his own style. One of the most important things for him is to, “try to keep naivety, youthfulness and innocence.”

The biggest piece of advice he gives to designers who are just starting out,

Forget [the] technical and find your personal style! Don’t be afraid to be wrong and don’t hesitate to do anything over

After all, what you see in your head may not be what ends up on the paper. It may be even better.

Vectortuts+

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Many of Perttu Murto’s designs are brilliant entanglements of photography and illustration. In this interview the Finnish designer talks about his continuous quest for self-improvement and his passion for all things art…and hockey.

When discussing goals with people, the typical responses have something to do with where they want their lives to be in five or ten years. I have a feeling if I didn’t phrase it as “professional goals” when speaking with Finnish designer and illustrator Perttu Murto, he would’ve gone into a monologue about ice hockey goals. That’s an exaggeration, of course. But the idea behind it is not: Murto loves ice hockey. So much, in fact, that the vast majority of personal questions I asked him came back to the subject. It’s only natural that a man who is so passionate about a sport is just as passionate about his art.

All in a Day’s Work

Murto is 24-years old and lives in northern Finland in a city-by-the-sea called Oulu. He shares his life and apartment with his fiancé and two (“crazy”) cats, one of which is his morning wake-up call. After giving in to the cat and going through his morning routine, Murto heads to his job at a local ad agency Työmaa, where he has been a Graphic Designer for three years. He loves the job and he loves working with “real professionals.” The fact that it’s a fun place to work is just icing on the cake.

Even though he’s got an “everyday” job, Murto still considers himself to be a freelancer…and a very in-demand one at that. Through his work at the agency he’s had the privilege of working with some big-name clients like Nokia, Lappset, Polar and Warner Music, and his freelance design and illustration business has padded his portfolio with works for clients like UU Theory, UNICEF and Dolce & Gabbana.

Lifelong Learning

Murto is finishing his final year at Oulu University of Applied Sciences Business and Information Management where he studies Digital Media. All that stands between him and his degree is his thesis which, along with his day job and nightly freelance work, will likely make his schedule even more hectic. Murto doesn’t mind, though. As he puts it, “The best part is that I can [make] my living by doing what I love!”

His first love, though, is hockey. Before he even started anything artistic, Murto had aspirations to become a professional hockey player. Now he plays on a recreational team but he doesn’t mind because “these days it’s not that serious.” Nevertheless, he loves a good game.

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Murto saves all of that seriousness for becoming a better artist, something that he aspires to do for the rest of his life. One of the things he wishes to learn is the art of drawing more photo-realistically. He loves photography and, as one can tell, his art relies heavily on photos. Additionally, much of his work contains animal themes because as he explains, “I think that it will make the works more interesting when there is some kind of organic figure mixed with crazy stuff. I really want to use photos; I think that they are an important part of my work.” This was the case with one of his favorite projects for which he was the art director: a tiger-themed CD cover for a band called Automatic eye.

Always being open to learning something new is one of the most important lessons that Murto has learned so far. He spent 11 years perfecting his ice hockey game and his design and illustrations will no doubt receive the same level of dedication.

The best part is that I can [make] my living by doing what I love!

Patience is a Virtue

Like many newbie freelancers, Murto found that he rushed many of his personal projects and they rarely turned out the way that he had hoped. “In my opinion patience is pretty much the keyword in this industry; you don’t learn stuff from one sitting. It comes to you when you have time and patience to experiment and work, work, work.”

That patience is evident in the fact that Murto’s work process has him starting from scratch each time, something that is common for many designers. “I take a pen and I print the brief. I start underline things and sketching. That’s about it. I get some kind of an idea going on in the paper and then I start doing [the] first mockup with [a] computer.” Saying that simplifies his process, though. In fact, the sketching step can last a while. “I sketch, sketch, sketch, twist, try, reform, duplicate and there is one point when I see that “ah, this is starting to look right!” It’s at that point that the creation moves onto the computer where it is further transformed using mostly Illustrator, PhotoShop and InDesign.

With life lessons comes a professional maturity that Murto has achieved in the few years that he’s been out in the design world. While he always enjoys some good competition on the ice, he recognizes his limitations and won’t hesitate to pass a project request off to an artist who is better suited for that job. He understands that trust and communication between himself and his clients are things that will go a long way to producing work that both client and artist are proud of. He isn’t exempt from frustrations, however. One of his biggest challenges is when there are too many people involved in a project and too many opinions that lead to the entire project being chaotic and generally “bad.” But, as always, Murto chalks that up to part of the game, so to speak. “But that’s life and part of this job,” he says.

Murto finds inspiration from a variety of places. “Everywhere” in fact. “[It] could be a cool movie (“Napoleon Dynamite -so funny”), awesome songs, a great piece of art, annoying people, funny people, nature…. Pretty much everything around me.” Communication is also a source of inspiration for Murto: “When the project goes well and everything works well together and the communication between our team (or me) and the client is working, the outcome usually is something great. That is also really inspiring.”

Support System

Despite his full workload, Murto finds time to relax with his loved ones. His “awesome” family consists of his very supportive parents and a sister with whom he is very close. They all have been extremely supportive in whatever endeavors Murto has taken on, whether it was of the creative sort (his mom is very creative) or of the athletic sort (his dad devoted a lot of time to his love of ice hockey.) They are very proud of everything that their talented son has achieved in such a short time. “They are happy that I got into design and art so [heavily] and found something [that] I am really passionate about.” They are no doubt pleased that he found ice hockey at an early age as well since Murto describes himself as “a bit shy with people I didn’t know really well. But really loud with the people I knew… I had [a lot of] energy going on, that’s for sure!” That energy that was once used to outsmart the other team and score goals on the ice is now put into achieving his goal of artistic success. And this time there is no defensive line stopping him.

More From Perttu Murto

On the Web

Visit Perttu Murto on the web.

Psdtuts+

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Like his creations, there are many layers to Garry Milne. While some of his images may have dark undertones, Milne is anything but. Here he talks about his inspirations, skateboarding and the importance of being nice to people.

Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man.” If such a statement is true then we’re in for a hell of a ride with UK-based Illustrator Garry Milne as he describes his usual outfit as being a skin tight zebra print jumpsuit. That was quickly followed by the obligatory, “I’m kidding,” of course but still…

So do I start with Garry Milne the person or Garry Milne the artist? Both are equally fascinating. Here are some quick facts about him: he enjoys a “super nice” White Russian, can flick his slipper into the air and catch it back on his foot, and chose the 1990s hip hop anthem “Jump” by Kriss Kross as the music to feature on his MySpace page, though on that same page he says his favorite kind of music is “anything with a pan-pipe solo long enough to make me question what I’ve done with my life.” If that alone doesn’t endear you to him then maybe I should mention the fact that his intricate, complicated illustrations have been featured in publications such as 4 Talent Magazine and The Skinny’s Student Guide.

The Secret’s Out

Milne currently resides in a flat in Hertfordshire with his girlfriend Nadine who is pursuing a PhD in Psychology. It makes you wonder if she can read into Milne’s complicated illustrations and discern anything about the inner workings of his mind. He assures me that he never puts any secret images or inside jokes into his client work but “that’s not a bad idea, though…maybe [I] should!” He says he leaves the “strange stuff” for his personal work.

As a child he said he was loud and outgoing, and credits that to having an older brother to look after him. In addition to his older brother Stuart, his family consists of his parents who have always been extremely supportive of his artistic endeavors, allowing him to “make a mess of their living room for many years.” Stuart, who has featured some of his photography work alongside his brother’s in an exhibit titled “Milne vs. Milne”, was a different story in Milne’s early days. According to him, his older sibling taught him his first lesson in perseverance, in a way that only an older sibling can:

“I drew a picture of the Bushwackers- a WWF wrestling tag team back in the day. I was so pleased with it and I was showing everyone. It was sooo bad but everyone was being nice. I showed my brother and he couldn’t keep the laughter in – he cracked up. I got in a strop and tore it up. The next day I did another one which was better than the first. I think that taught me a valuable lesson about not settling on your first attempts.”

Lessons Learned

Interesting enough, Milne passes that “big brother torch” to those starting out in design, “Don’t give up. No matter how unlikely it seems – remember why you started art/design – because you love it and things will happen. Also be nice to people. It’s a real cliché, but knowing the right people is a big part of the game.”

Right now Milne has a day job as a Graphic Designer at a local company where he does the typical promotional and corporate work. It’s at night and some weekends when he does his illustrating and creates pieces like Day Dreamer, Head or Heart and Piece Offering. I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I didn’t be a pain and ask him to explain that one, particularly because he describes it on his website as a “Personal comment on how I sometimes avoid explaining my work.” Milne played nice and answered the question for me, but I feel like I’d somehow be taking away some of the mystique if I revealed his answer.

To prepare for his career Milne went to school and then stayed on to 6th form before heading to college to do an art foundation degree. After that he went on to university to study graphic design and Illustration. While at university he chose to specialize in illustration, but also learned a lot about design. About that he says, “That has helped me develop my style and also helps when it comes to commissions – I’m not just providing illustrations.”

After university he started doing some freelance design work and then concentrated on illustration. As is common, it took a while for him to get work and be noticed. This is where his big brother’s earlier lesson in perseverance kicks in again. “Once I was given a few briefs – more seemed to follow. I think it’s just a case of proving you can deliver a job and being in mind when the right job comes up.”

Patience is a Virtue

So far Milne’s been lucky enough to have fairly long deadlines when it comes to his work so it lets him take on more than one project at a time. While he handles those deadlines like the consummate professional that he is, he admits that they can be hard sometimes. “If you get really into a brief sometimes you’d just like to continue working on it, maybe change some things – take it further.”

Luckily, though, Milne says he seems to get “fairly open briefs [and] usually the client tell me their loose idea or some aspects they want featured and I get to work.” He always starts with pencil drawings that are then scanned in and colored on the computer. Though he typically has a rough composition in mind when he starts, that often changes while he works using pencils, pens, paintbrushes, a scanner and a Mac. When in the need for some inspiration he turns to his large collection of art books as seeing the work of others makes him want to create something of his own.

Working on that Mac has sped things up when it comes to the amount of time he spends on each illustration and the longest he’s ever spend on a computer-generated one is two weeks. The longest he’s ever spent on one piece was a painting that took him two months. While painting is his favorite artistic activity, it’s something where he finds he lacks the patience he’s mastered with his illustrations. “I really enjoy painting. When you can see the effort that’s gone into a painting it’s hard not to appreciate it on some level. I’m a little impatient though – I want to see the end result now.”

One of Milne’s current projects is a series of skateboards for Motive which will be released soon. Skateboarding is another passion of Milne’s. He’s been very active in it since he was a child and even gave up playing football and basketball in school in order to pursue that more. There was a time when he thought about pursuing a professional career in it but that “didn’t really work out.” While participating in skateboarding may not have worked out career wise, it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t still played a big part in the career path he did choose. The Motive project won’t be his first foray into designing boards. He’s also done a series for Discipline, which he features on his website.

I really enjoy painting. When you can see the effort that’s gone into a painting it’s hard not to appreciate it on some level.

A Clean Slate

Other than skateboarding, Milne never really set out into the world with a clear idea of what he wanted to pursue. Maybe that’s why his favorite part of any project is the blank page. That page doesn’t stay blank for long, though at the moment his workload is heavy since he’s juggling a full-time job and his freelancing. Eventually, though, he’d like to be able to devote more time to his freelance illustrating, painting and exhibiting.

At 27, though, Milne has learned some hard lessons about the design world. “Don’t take things too literally. You can get promised a lot of things and sadly they rarely come through. That sounds a bit pessimistic but just don’t get too excited about things until they’re definitely happening.” It’s safe to say, though, that things are definitely happening with this brilliant illustrator.

More From Garry Milne

On the Web

Check out Garry Milne on the web.

Psdtuts+

From bad jokes to sultry devil girls, Cartoon Character Designer George Coghill knows how to inject some fun into life. He set aside some time to talk with us about everything from the importance of knowing how to run a business to what it’s like to see his characters come to life.

“A man is looking frantically under a lone lamp illuminating a dark street…”

This may sound like the beginning of a comic book or graphic novel, but it is, in fact, the beginning of one of the bad jokes freelance cartoonist & cartoon illustrator George Coghill claims he’s known for.

Hailing from Kent, Ohio, Coghill knew from an early age that he wanted to draw cartoons and other illustrations. His parents learned this as well after a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art found him surrounded by a group of kids drawing what his mom thought for sure was something inappropriate. Have no fear, though. Coghill was merely drawing a knight on a horse. The saucier illustrations come many years down the road.

“…A policeman stops by to ask what the problem is, and the man tells him he’s looking for his keys…”

Coghill attended Kent State University to obtain his Bachelor of Arts degree because he believes that

drawing skills are learned, not some innate talent.

Initially he studied in the illustration and design program, but soon found that the illustration program wasn’t as advanced as he originally thought. He then moved into the Fine Arts program, got his degree, bought his first Mac and hit the proverbial road.

Early in his career Coghill worked for a cartoon character development company where he developed The Kooties-both the characters and back story. These were intended to be used as original character groups for the licensing industry. These characters were eventually picked up by a plush doll manufacturer and test marketed for Keds.

This venture led to him teaming up with a film production company that was interested in doing a live-action film-based on the characters. Unfortunately though, the project was shelved due to a number of factors within the production company. That didn’t stop Coghill from pursuing his dream, though. “That experience awakened in me the possibilities of making money creating cartoon characters, and during that time I was able to not only polish up my existing Photoshop skills, but also learn Adobe Illustrator, which is my main creative tool today.”

“…The policeman then begins to help him look…”

One thing that Coghill did not learn from Kent State was anything about running your own business. In fact, that is one of the biggest pieces of advice that he gives to those starting out.

Take business classes, especially if you want to get into business for yourself. I wish I would have minored in business. It would have been a huge benefit to me as a self-employed artist today, and might have helped kick-start things sooner as far as being a self-employed artist.

As a child Coghill was shy and introverted. His goal growing up was to work for MAD Magazine or to create heavy metal album covers. He credits the former for his early inspiration to draw. He says he still is shy to a certain degree, but has learned to hide it better. In fact, it’d be difficult to find a hint of that shy kid in any of his illustrations, which he characterizes as being “fun.” Take his “Devil Girl” series, for example. As some of the most-viewed images on his Flickr page and best-selling images in his Zazzle store, Coghill set out to change things up a bit. “Much of the devil girl art I’ve seen throughout the years is very risqué, and when I created my devil girl character I wanted her to be sexy, but not in a trashy or NC-17 way. I try to draw the devil girl and pinup girls in a way that’s appealing to both men and women.” He then goes on to say that the key to drawing pinup girls is “exaggeration.” I didn’t ask him to elaborate on that, of course.

“…After an hour of searching, the cop asks the man if he’s sure he lost his keys here…”

Though his creations are playful and fun, Coghill is serious about running his business. In fact, one of the most important lessons he’s learned is in pricing your services, “Be realistic about who you are working with and your level of skill and notoriety, but most creative types don’t charge enough for what they do. People who shop on price will always think you’re ‘too much’ and those that shop on quality realize you get what you pay for. And those are always the best clients to work with.”

When it comes to clients, Coghill has the initial steps in the creative process down to a science. “I do have a detailed contact form on my website for new inquiries, and for my recent website redesign I went to great lengths to pre-answer the typical questions and concerns about the process.” This initial Q&A is important because “the sketch stage is best for getting concepts across and the initial answers go a long way in avoiding drawing useless concepts.” He adds that most of his clients come to him knowing basically what they want, anyway. That doesn’t mean that Coghill is immune to the occasional creative block, though, which he overcomes by browsing artist portfolios on the internet and connecting with fellow artists through Twitter. Readers can also keep informed on what he’s up to by reading his blog.

Coghill’s typical clients are small businesses looking for a cartoon character mascot or logo. Logos, interestingly enough, are something that Coghill wishes he could do better. “Whenever I see a very clever design-based logo, especially one that incorporates letters and negative space in an ingenious way, I get a twinge of jealousy.” Regardless of how he feels about his logo-creation ability, Coghill’s portfolio still contains some impressive clients including Saatchi &Saatchi, Cleveland Scene, Cleveland Free Times, Time Out NY, the Akron Art Museum and Hiram College.

Whoever the client, though, there are parts of the process that Coghill relishes in, “[My favorite part of] character design-it’s a toss-up between the sketch stage — specifically that point where it all “comes together” — and the shading stage of the vector art creation where the character really starts to come alive.”

Coghill does most of his sketching on laser paper with a fat 5.6mm lead holder which he then scans in and cleans up using Photoshop. At that point he finalizes it as hand-created vector art in Illustrator. “Since Creative Suite 4 I have gone pretty much digital for most of the process. I work on a Mac, and use a Wacom Intuos 4 Medium tablet. Dual monitors are a must!”

“… The man replies “No, I lost them down the street but the light is much better over here!”

These days find Coghill a number of projects, one of them being the development of cartoon character mascots for an amusement park in Georgia- a pirate and an alligator to be exact. He says that through his online networking, he’s discovered he’s got a knack for creative software as well as explaining it to other people. While he will never give up his cartoons, this is one direction that he’s considering expanding his business to include.

There’s only so much you can teach as far as drawing, most of it is practice and perseverance. Tools on the other hand can be the key to unlocking deeper levels of creativity as they’ve done for me, and I think I would enjoy sharing that with others who want to learn.

Vectortuts+

Shyama Golden has no cubicle-mates to bounce ideas off of and no supervisor to guide her if she gets stuck. But the 27-year-old self-employed designer, who works out of a loft in downtown Austin, has found a way to collaborate.

While working on a project, Golden posts photographs of each step of the process —original sketches, tracings made on Photoshop, color palettes — into her Flickr account then solicits feedback from friends and clients.

“Looking at the process is like living vicariously though someone else’s creative act,” she says, explaining why she posts her projects. “You get to share in their excitement, discovery, hard work, and the whole journey that makes final results more meaningful.”

Some might find it unnerving to share a work in progress but Golden finds it invigorating. “I get a lot of energy from people’s reactions,” she says. “I’ll mention it on Twitter once I’ve reached a milestone on a project, and get some wonderful feedback from people that way, even if it’s at 4 a.m. when my friends in Austin are fast asleep. That’s because it’s a global conversation that’s always engaged, and I’m grateful to have such a diverse group of people to share my work and experiences with.”

Ponies and Posters

Golden has been drawing ever since she could hold a crayon. During the early years, she pestered her father, a scientist, to draw ponies for her until she developed the hand-eye coordination to master that genre. Later, she moved on to fashion illustrations and portraits of friends. “People and animals are still my favorite subjects,” she says.

At age 12, she learned HTML from a book called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating an HTML Web Page” by Paul McFedries. ” “Perhaps I didn’t think I was smart enough for books from the Dummies series yet,” she jokes, adding: “I designed and built a pretty terrible website using Notepad and Corel PHOTO-PAINT. I used a rose as the main navigation and hacked together some Javascript for the rollovers.

During those formative years, she also took up oil painting, memorized defunct 1960s architecture books and took photos of neighborhood cats with her dad’s SLR camera.

Golden eventually earned a BFA in Design Communication from Texas Tech University where one of her teachers was Dirk Fowler, internationally known for his letterpress posters advertising live music shows.

Her education, she says, was a purist old school design approach. “We tried to learn from design that has stood the test of time, and the program was heavy on studio art,” she says, adding: “People who graduated from Texas Tech hold some of the top design positions in the country at Wired, Pentagram, and the like, so I believe our teachers were doing something right.”

On Her Own

After graduation, Golden landed a job designing watch packaging for Seiko Instruments. “Most of the products were for Disney and had strict style guides,’’ she says. “But I eventually worked my way up to more creative projects until I was doing some pretty neat original stuff.”

A year later, she moved on to Texas Monthly magazine. There she did everything from creating illustrations to redesigning the publication’s website. “It was the perfect extension of my learning from school, it definitely influenced me as well, and familiarized me with the work of some of the best illustrators in the world.”

After several years at Texas Monthly, Golden went solo and hasn’t looked back. Her clients — which range from Mattel Inc. to the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association — find her either through referrals or from stumbling across her website.

When it comes to interface design, Golden first uses Photoshop to create the look she wants, then hires one of two friends to do the heavy coding before she steps in to tweak the final code and design in the browser. When Golden was starting out she wrote all of the code herself, but many of the sites she works on require complex coding because they utilize custom built Content Management Systems. “So I hire a back end programming genius such as my friend Tim Chavez, who can build anything I dream up.”

She adds: “I used to develop everything myself years ago, but I found that having someone else create the foundation of the site frees up time for me to focus on design.”

I like the whole culture of publishing, I’m weird in that I don’t really want to read books on the Kindle or iPad just yet. I still love ink on paper, tactile pages, and if art or design is the subject, I will flip through them a hundred times obsessively.

A Penchant for Print

Though she’s completely comfortable in the digital world, Golden holds a special place in her heart for print work. To that end, she does a fair amount of magazine work, designing icons and larger illustrations for publications such as Texas Monthly, Cincinnati magazine and Los Angeles magazine.

“I like the whole culture of publishing,” she says. “I’m weird in that I don’t really want to read books on the Kindle or iPad just yet. I still love ink on paper, tactile pages, and if art or design is the subject, I will flip through them a hundred times obsessively.”

She adds: “There is something very satisfying about your work becoming a physical object in the world, and not just something virtual — though interactive things are fun in their own right.”

Her traditional tastes also include oil painting, through which she has created urban-hip compositions like Gotham Kitty, a moody, quirky painting of a cartoon cat wearing an eye-patch and cape atop a high-rise with a wrecking ball swinging toward it.

“Oil painting takes a lot of energy for me, emotionally and physically since I work best in marathon like stretches,” Golden says. “I don’t do it nearly enough because of all the client work I’ve taken on. ”

To remedy that, Golden plans to take a month off this summer to focus on painting. “It’s an experiment, ” she says. “I’ll blog about it and see where it takes me. A month is a short time, but I think it could be eye opening.”

City Muse

Inspiration for Golden’s work comes in a variety of ways. A dream gave her the idea for the poster “Home Sweet Brachiosaurus,” a tongue-in-cheek look at a 1950s family living obliviously inside the stomach of dinosaur. Golden sketched the image as she remembered it, then traced it in Photoshop, using a Wacom tablet, then digitally inked it at a high resolution so she could later screen print it.

“Each layer was a different solid color, and limited to eight colors to be manageable,” she says. “I took years of screen printing in school and I’m a big fan of the process.”

Living in Austin also stimulates Golden’s creativity. Her sketches of the city’s sleek loft apartments and ever-changing skyline have become part of ad campaigns such as one for the city’s Downtown Living tour. She has also done limited color sketches of raucous scenes from Austin’s famed South by Southwest conferences and festivals.

Though she grew up in Houston, along with New Zealand and Sri Lanka, Golden is happy to have found a home in Austin. “I wound up in Austin for my first job out of school, ” she says. “It’s a city with a quirky vibe that I really gain inspiration from. A future project in my queue is a series of portraits that capture some of that character.”

She especially loves living downtown. “I lucked out with my place, it’s both my studio and my home. The original building was built over 70 years ago and has some unusual architectural elements that I love. It is downtown and there’s an energy that comes from being here.”

Leisure Time

Outside of working, Golden likes to experiment with cooking. Her specialty is something she calls Sri Lankan “fusion” cooking, which combines her favorite things from the Sri Lankan cooking her mother taught her growing up, with other world cuisines.

She also likes to run on trails near Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. “It’s a great way to get away from the computer and just appreciate the beauty of this city,” she says, adding: “I’m not an athlete by any stretch, especially when it comes to team sports, but running on the trail allows me that delusion, which is nice.”

Finally, she enjoys Austin’s music scene, especially during South by Southwest: “That’s when the city is buzzing with energy,” she says, “and you can see shows in tiny venues that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to, because they are still up and coming or it’s a surprise guest.”

Overall, though, Golden says she is happiest when she’s doodling on a sketch pad or creating things on her laptop. A visit to her website makes that perfectly clear. From elegant pencil and paper sketches to technical interface design, it seems like she indeed has a golden touch.

More Works From Shyama Golden

Find Shyama on the Web

• Shyama’s Website

Psdtuts+

Ben Thomas is a busy guy. Between his successful photography and digital art business as well as his online store Kneedeepinsleep, he finds himself juggling many plates. He did, however, take time out of his busy schedule to talk about his life, work and love of getting his hands dirty in Photoshop.

There are some things in life that are meant to be kept under wraps. With Digital Artist and Photographer Ben Thomas, one of those things is a night of debauchery the ingredients of which were a giant fairground slide, a house party and an electric scooter. He didn’t elaborate (“long story”) and I didn’t bother to ask because he wasn’t going to tell me anyway.

As a “weird” kid growing up in a small town in the UK called Kettering, Thomas describes himself as “not really shy, [but] a big dreamer [whose] head was always in the clouds.” He left school at age 17 with an A-level in photography and good GCSE grades. He never did achieve an A-level in understanding women, though, which is apparently his only regret when it comes to his education.

All joking aside, Thomas has put that A-level in photography to good use over the years. With extensive client and project lists that include UK-based Warner Music for which he is working on both video and still projects as well as a number of tutorials for Computer Arts, Thomas finds himself “juggling many plates” at once. One of those plates is creating art for his online store Kneedeepinsleep, a collection of limited edition t-shirts, art prints as well as photographic prints.

Sweet Dreams

When speaking with Thomas I used the words ‘ethereal’ and ‘otherworldly’ to describe his art. He, in turn, added the word ‘dreamy’ to that description. It turns out that dreamy is a perfect fit as Thomas often finds himself waking during the night to take notes or make quick sketches. In fact, he finds that some of his best ideas have come to him at night, though he carries his camera, a sketchpad and notebook with him everywhere he goes. When it’s time for those ideas to come to life Thomas moves onto photographing elements of it or sorting renders in Cinema 4D. Finally he works it all together in Photoshop, all the while keeping that original sketch close. According to Thomas, his favorite part of the process of creation is “when I finally get to sink my teeth into the main composition – once I’m past the brainstorming and getting my hands dirty in Photoshop.”

Everything wasn’t always about Photoshop and Illustrator, though. While he constantly immersed himself in artistic endeavors growing up, he didn’t always work in the field. In fact, his first design job came at a time when he was working at a clothing store and behind the bar at Franky & Bennies. One of the most unfortunate aspects of all of that is the uniform, “The waistcoat and bow tie combo at F&B – not a good look.” A friend was working as a writer at a small independent label in his hometown and told Thomas when the boss would be available. He showed up, presented his (a4) portfolio and ended up staying there for four years. “I knew it would be a great launch pad and a place to glean some experience. For a young guy with zero experience and a big imagination it was a perfect starting block.”

Having little experience is no longer a problem for Thomas, though. His plate has been consistently full with projects in both the design and photography field. He recently had a brilliant shot with a new hip hop group from London called “Shallow & The Deep.” “The shoot was a lot of fun – but the post production on the images just looks so slick. The band members were shot separately and then comped together with tons of green smoke and skies. Great guys to work with!”

Wrapping that project doesn’t translate into downtime for Thomas, though. He’s now “knee deep” in designing the artwork for some single gear Luma bike frames for Bespoke, an exhibition taking place in east London at the end of October. Thomas finds himself on the list with some heavy names in the industry like John McFaul, Vault 49, Peter Lin, Benny Luk and Ria Dastidar. “Should be big!” he says. Given his talent, it will be.

An Eye for Design, an Ear for Music

When asked where they find inspiration, many designers say things like ‘the world around me’ or ‘surfing the internet.’ Not many list listening to music as numero uno on their list of inspirational activities. According to Thomas he was “insanely late joining the Spotify craze” in the UK and he loves finding what he calls “rare gems”- or lesser-known artists and producers. He doesn’t discriminate when it comes to the types of music he listens to, either. His musical palate is diverse and includes genres like drum and bass, funk, metal and composers like Max Richter and Ludovico Einaudi. He admits that many pieces “blow [me] away and [I] totally get lost in it when working with it in the studio.”

Not that Thomas has much time to get lost in anything, though. His schedule is jam packed with projects, both personal and for clients as his business can be filed under two headings, digital art and photography. One of the reasons why he loves his line of work is because he’s doing something different every day of the week.

Surprisingly enough, Thomas doesn’t use complicated scheduling or note-taking systems to keep everything straight…just iCal. When it comes to creating his art though, that’s an entirely different story. When he’s working he’s got an arsenal of tools that includes Photoshop, Cinema 4d and Illustrator. All of his photography and video is shot on the Canon 5D mark ii, a selection of Canon/Nikon glass and a ton of lighting gear. Nothing can take the place of having pure, raw talent, though. Oh and setting your history stat in Photoshop to 999 and always hit the save button regularly doesn’t hurt either.

“Music still remains one of my big passions and a driving force in my work.”

Life…On the Rocks

Thomas was born into a family full of creativity. His father works in the clothing industry as a pattern designer for a large British brand and his mother works in the marketing department for Weetabix, a popular cereal company. Fashion and music were a big part of his upbringing, so his parents recognized his creativity early on. He said that they always knew that he’d end up on one of those career paths and they were right. When he was a young boy, his father bought him his first computer –an Amiga 500- and he would spend hours learning software called Deluxe Paint with which he created what he now calls “bizarre pixel characters.” Even still, Thomas’ affinity for music was never far behind his love for art. As he puts it, “music still remains one of my big passions and a driving force in my work.”

His life isn’t all about work, though. According to Thomas, the “onset of old age looming” (he’s 27, by the way) means that a typical Saturday night would consist of relaxing which may or may not include a drink at the pub or going to see a band. Don’t make him out to be a wallflower yet though. While in one breath he seems to consider himself teetering on the line between youth and being a senior citizen, he still considers himself to be a “young man [who is] partial to a bit of the naughty water.” His favorite at the moment is a concoction he creates by peeling the zest of a lemon, adding it to vodka and chilling it in the freezer for a month. “Try it- it’s amazing on the rocks.” Maybe something good came from his stint behind the bar at Franky & Bennies after all.

Knee Deep in (Not Much) Sleep

Four years ago Thomas set out on a new venture he named Kneedeepinsleep, which you probably won’t be surprised to learn means to be very tired. It’s kind of a fitting name for a company what was somewhat difficult to get off the ground. “[It’s a] strange name, memorable and had some meaning to the struggle I had getting it off the ground at the time.”

The response to his new store though, was anything but sleepy. While the idea was to sell his art in the form of t-shirts and prints, Thomas didn’t want to sell anything that was “off-the-shelf.” That’s why every product he sells is a limited edition item, which arrives in a box so nice “that you don’t want to take it out if there.” One such piece is one of his more recent works, “Pretty Girls on Acid.” Right now his art prints are selling the best and one day Thomas hopes to make his entire living off of his art.

As he puts it, “That would literally be the dream.”

More Work From Ben Thomas

Visit Ben Thomas on the web.

Psdtuts+

You may already know about the blog, Behind the Websites. In today’s interview we’re going to meet Ricardo Gimenes, illustrator and founder of the site. Ricardo is a São Paulo based Brazilian designer and illustrator who has worked with variety of clients around the world. He says he has been drawing ever since he was a young boy and he loves to express his thoughts through illustration. intrinsically humorous, Ricardo shares with us how he got started in the field of illustration, about his work, his design style and more.

I’m good, thanks. I’m Brazilian, born in São Paulo. Every day is different from the last but a typical day usually starts with having coffee with my wife, emails, twitter, rss, no more than 1 hour and then I start working on creative things, usually illustrations, website design, logos, for no more than 2 hours and then back to circle coffee-email-twitter-rss again. I have a good work/life balance, usually the best ideas come from different places, like the cinema, supermarket, gym, etc.

Ever since I was young boy, I liked to draw. My dream was to draw the Coca-Cola truck. However, at the time my drawing skills weren’t great, so my mom enrolled me to take drawing lessons. I was thirteen at the time and I spent 6 months learning how to draw circles, animals, mouth, hands, light and shadows… but no Coca-Cola truck. I continued for the next 3 years, during which time I learned basic paste-up skills for commercial ads. It was 1991 and I didn’t have a computer yet. It was also around that time that I really got into copying cartoon characters like Turma da Mônica, a creation of Mauricio de Souza, one of the most famous Brazilian cartoonists.

I think my interest in drawing started with examples I had at home. My mom has always painted portraits, and my sister, she was like an art ninja, painted everything from nails to T-shirts and art crafts.

I’ve been studying since I was thirteen. I later graduated in Art and Communication from the Panamericana School of Art and Design in São Paulo. More recently I have taken courses in Digital Cinema and Art Direction. Besides that, I have learnt quite a lot of computer skills myself, like Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, etc.

“LSD” just kidding! I love psychedelic art, I’m trying to drive my style to this way, that’s why I use vibrant colors and style. I think illustration is how I can express my thoughts, I tried the music but definitely it is not my cup of tea. I use Illustrator for illustrations and InDesign for editorial jobs, I can’t live without both.

This project illustrates what people think about some websites. Every week (day) a new illustration comes up here. Be part of it and let me know what you think about ‘Behind the Websites‘.

Behind the websites was born when I was working on a very boring project (the project was cool but the client was terrible). After 5000 changes requested from “the art director client” I sent the final design. After I sent it I was imagining the client looking at his computer and saying: “It’s beautiful, perfect! but I want to change the color, and the font size a little, and swap the photo…” This was when I had an idea to illustrate the client behind the website and only complain. I didn’t illustrate the client but it was the beginning of behind the websites. Also it happened three days before my birthday, so it was a gift to myself. Before Behind The Websites I used to spent 60% of my time with motion graphics, 30% with art direction for magazines and web and about 10% with illustrations. Today I’m spending 80% of time with illustrations and the other 20% with art directions, motion, web, etc.

For characters I always start with the most significant characteristic of the person, it could be big eyes, square chin, sometimes hair, I don’t have a specific order to start a design. My favorite illustrator tip/technique is called “Xtream Path“, it’s a fantastic plugin, this is how illustrator should be.

I’m so happy with SmashingMag cartoons, I’m totally free to design everything related with design and development. The ideas come from twitter, design communities, feedbacks, emails (lots of people are sending me ideas for cartoons), Vitaly (SmashingMag editor) also sends me good ideas. Sure, I’ll be happy to work for various creative blogs, someone? Vectortuts+? Nice!

I’m illustrating a children’s book of a famous TV artist in Brazil which takes me a lot of time. My dream project is to direct a film, so I have started studying cinema direction.

Arthur de Pins, his illustrations are fantastic, amazing drawings, sexy and funny, he is a master of shading. I have some sites which inspires me, like Abduzeedo, Fuel your Creativity, Tuts+, Yay! Everyday, mymodernmet.com, sincerely I don’t have a favorite one I’m always looking for a different sites.

Take a look on the 1st of August, “Behind” will be back with Vectortuts+.

Don’t worry about finding your own style quickly. It will happen naturally by practicing. Expose yourself! Send your artwork to magazines, sites, blogs, etc. Make your own website or blog. Finally, even if a job seems to be boring, try to learn and see the positive side of it. As Eric Idle says, “Always look on the light side of life”, and if possible, go abroad and experience different cultures.

Ricardo Gimenes on Web

• Portfolio
• Behind the Website
• Twitter

Vectortuts+

Sanjay Patel is a animator and illustrator from Southern California who was born in the UK. Sanjay works as a supervising animator and storyboard artist at Pixar Animation Studios, where he has worked on numerous films, including Monsters, Inc, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and Toy Story 3. He has also written and illustrated books on Hindu mythology and he loves how images can tell a story. Read more about Sanjay and his brilliant work in this interview.

I’ve been drawing since I can remember. It was the only thing I was ever good at. Growing up I drew homework assignments for friends and then I drew from comics. I was especially interested in saber tooth tigers, and dinosaurs and such.

I think in the second grade a teacher told me that I would be a very special artist and gave me a wonderful collection of vintage Superman comics. From there my education really kicked in with my high school art teacher who opened up my eyes to the renaissance. From there I went to Cleveland Institute of the Arts, from there I went to California Institute of the Arts. Every bit of professional art training has been worth its weight in gold. In terms of tools I love paper, pens, scissors, and pencil. For the last five years I switched to using the computer a lot. I discovered Adobe Illustrator and fell in love with it. But I still start everything with pencil and paper. My work station is very, very neat. I hate a messy work space.

As an animator my job is to understand a given scene and the characters within it. Once I have a clear idea of the attitudes and emotional states of mind of the characters I block out basic physical choreography for the scene. From there I work closely with the director to iterate the movements of the body and props to covey a specific story point.

I’ve been at Pixar for fourteen years. Each film has been a great opportunity to learn and fail with amazing professional artist. On Monsters Inc and Bugs Life, I learned a lot about the subtly that you can capture in the eyes and the eye lids of a character. On the Toy Story movies I learned so much about story boarding working one–on–one with Joe Ranft. I also learned so much about understanding the subtext of dialogue and the circumstances of a scene. On the the Incredibles all that I thought I knew was relearned. I learned to approach storyboarding form a much more live action point of view especially in terms of camera angles. The mechanics of my animation were also scrutinized and made much stronger.

I arrive around 9am, head right over to dailies with the director and the animation team. We review one or two animators work for over an hour as a team. We typically tear it to shreds with the intention of making the scene more entertaining. The rest of the day we are left alone to work till the next days dailies.

I’m not interested in authoring books, I am really into images telling a story. From there I got interested in retelling ancient Hindu myths in a simple an relatable way. Yes, it was my first officially published book by Penguin Books. My parents are Hindu and I was raised with there faith all around me. Since my background was in animation, the flat colorful aesthetic was a natural fit. I also took a lot of inspiration form the cute designs of Sanrio.

There were a lot of different impulses that led to the decision to tackle the Ramayana. In many way The Little Book of Hindu Deities was a success and at the same time really didn’t capture the full scope of my talent. As I began to read the Ramayana it became very clear that the mythology was loaded with a visually rich world. It was also very clear that no one has tried interpreting the epic story in pictures and illustration with a modern graphic flair. Or at least in a visual language that was in line with my aesthetics and love of mid-century animation.

I’m almost embarrassed to say this but I spent close to four years on the project. It took me the better part of a year to read different translations of the story and write my own summarized version. After selling both my manuscript and a full black and white dummy I took a year sabbatical from PIXAR to work on the ridiculously detailed vector illustrations full time. After working day and night for over a year and not leaving my apartment for days at a time I eventually ended up burning out. Luckily I discovered yoga and therapy and was able to finish the project. Once a pencil sketch was done which took about two days I could jump into Adobe Illustrator and start building vector shapes, which took another three days depending on how complicated the illustration was. If I was lucky I would get things right, but in almost every case I re-did things dozens of times.

Once a pencil sketch was done which took about two days I could jump into Adobe Illustrator and start building vector shapes, which took another three days depending on how complicated the illustration was. If I was lucky I would get things right, but in almost every case I re-did things dozens of times.

The biggest obstacle was of course the scope of the project, The Ramayana has dozens of character and locations, mega war scenes and complicated crowd illustrations. But somehow I was able to get things running fairly quickly that is until till I decided to redo everything top to bottom a few times. I kept fighting to work in a design style that was cute and silly, when the Ramayana is anything but that. As a reaction of too much cute I ended up turning the illustration into something much more grown up and stiff. Eventually the design pendulum settled somewhere in between cute and boring. Somewhere that I hope captures the action and drama in a fun modern style that honors this great mythology. I wanted the book to be cute and silly like a Richard Scary version of the Ramayana. Instead I think I ended up with a weird Charley Harper, animation hybrid. Hopefully the combination works.

That’s really hard to say, I look back at it all and see how everything has built upon everything else I’ve done. nothing is done in isolation. So its hard to choose anyone without acknowledging the impact everything has had.

I love them both. Each discipline activates difference parts of my mind. Animation on feature films is fun and terrible because it takes an army of people to complete. Illustration is really satisfying in that I have a ton of control. But it also seems increasingly irrelevant and in many a very limiting way to communicate subtle ideas.

My office at Pixar is covered in Charley Harper pages. I actually bought two copies of the massive monograph that Ammo Books put out. I took one of the books and had it professionally cut and started using all the pages as wall paper for my office. So of course there is a ton of Harper in my everyday life and in my Ramayana. Like many other Cal Arts students I love mid century illustration. My favorites are Saul Steinberg, Provensons, & Sasek. Of course there are tons more artist that I love like Peter Arno, Tezuka, Steig, Boutavant, Lindberg, Wyeth,… And of course the great master Mr. Bill Watterson and his Calvin & Hobbes.

The best tip that I can give is dedication, focus, and hard work.

Sanjay Patel on Web

• Portfolio

Jonathan Foerster is another designer with a unique and imaginative style. His artwork reflects his deep emotional feelings at the time of creation. His goal is to put a face to the many feelings we perceive. In our interview we talk about everything from design inspiration to why Jonathan decided to choose this specific style. Let’s get started!

I’m Jonathan Foerster, currently 27 years old from Indianapolis, Indiana. My roots are in traditional artwork, pencil and ink illustration mainly. Around the age of 15 I stumbled onto creating artwork on the computer starting with early versions of Paintshop Pro and Photoshop, then finding out about Bryce 3d. As the years passed I kept working with these tools until finally working my way into using Studiomax around 2002, where I feel my digital artwork really blossomed.

I like to think of my work as a representation of feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas. Since there are no visual aspects to how these are perceived; I’m basically putting a face to them. Love, fear, anxiety, anger, passion, lust, death, life are all covered widely within my work and there is usually a combination of many. My work is a timeline of my life and what I’m going through or working out at the time, if I’m not trying to work something out, my personal artwork output slows down drastically.

I think it’s just a product of how I perceive things. I view my artwork more like paintings. I’d like people to look at my work and feel a message or relate to what I’m saying through my artwork, rather than just say oh that’s nice and walk away. I like to try and hit people’s inner core, emotions are deep and complex and intertwine with other emotions and thoughts, and I try to represent that. Hopefully people can relate.

To put a face to my thoughts. Try to explain the unexplainable or unseen through shape and form in combination with color. I output a lot of renders of single forms at different angles and perspectives and then composite and edit them in Photoshop to reflect what I want.

Just kind of what I was going through at the time and they fit the piece, if it were darker tones or muted colors I don’t think the visual aspect of it would have worked. For that moment in time I was pretty happy with everything going on, and wanted to create something a bit different. Near the end of working on Bellus I fell into a rut again and felt I was finished with it, my pieces that followed began to become darker, richer but less vibrant.

You can view a progression timeline of Bellus here. After viewing it I wish I would have left in some aspects that I took out or worked through.

Inside the field, anyone producing in the Depthcore Collective. I have been a part of Depthcore since 2002 and the talent involved continually amazes me. Big things coming from Depthcore down the pipeline. Outside, I take a lot of influence from traditional painters and artists such as H.R. Giger, Roger Dean, Wayne Barlowe and Robert Venosa, their visions continually inspire me and have really made their mark with me.

My personal work has slowed down as of lately, I am working on a new piece but it probably wont see the light of day till the end of the year. I’ve been busy with work as well, outside of my personal work, for 3 years I’ve been a multimedia designer for an agency here in Indianapolis working on projects for Pepsi, Gatorade and Tropicana. Also, I’ve been focusing on having my artwork displayed locally here in Indianapolis, trying to get my name and work out there.

Don’t be a follower; create from what comes from within. Experiment and don’t be afraid to push the bounds.

Where to find Jonathan on the Web

• Jonathan’s Portfolio

Psdtuts+

It’s a wrap. This session has covered a mix of interface design topics. We’ve looked at quite a bit of inspirational icon and graphic user interface design articles, after reviewing theory on topics like creating user friendly interfaces. We’ve reviewed both in depth detailed tutorials and case studies. This session posted across numerous Tuts+ sites: Nettuts+, Psdtuts+, and Mobiletuts+. We’ll continue to expand each session as we cover new topics and integrate your feedback. Let us know what you think of this session’s material.

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  Three Steps to Fostering a User-Centered Design Culture

  As responsible designers we must educate clients on the importance – both the validity as well as the viability – of the user-centered design process, one that gives due consideration to the needs of potential users. With the three steps that follow, we’ll go over techniques that you can use to get your team thinking about what’s really important with regards to the design of their websites you’ll help them create.

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  Roughly Speaking: Working within Mobile UI Design Limitations

  Today we chat with two mobile user interface designers about how they design successful mobile interfaces and intuitive navigation solutions. We’ll learn how Sacha Greif works with the limited space of the iPad by using space saving UI Elements. Eryk Pastwa discusses how to design for multiple mobile sizes, and how to properly test designs for maximum real world uses. Take a peek at their workflows, and the best practices they both put into place in their projects.

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  Showcase of Macintosh Dashboard Widget UI Designs

  This inspirational compilation post showcases a collection of 32 creative, unique and easy to use Apple Macintosh Dashboard Widgets, including a selection of default widgets that ship with your Apple Mac, and a good handful or two of third party widgets.

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  Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 1

  You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s get started with Part 1 of this two part series.

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  Designing Realistic Interfaces – Part 2

  You have to be great in many areas of Photoshop to be good at interface design. So along with the actual steps needed to create this particular interface, in this series I will also provide as many references to other tutorials, resources and concepts as possible. That way, you can have access to some of the tools that will allow you to create completely original interfaces utilizing the same methods I teach in collaboration with your own creativity. Let’s move on with Part 2 of this two part series.

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  Know Your Icons Part 1 – A Brief History of Computer Icons

  As with great works of art, you must look into the past to appreciate the future. With roots as far back as the 1970′s, the humble icon has come a long way. Following is a collection of icons though history. Although there have been many other operating systems in the time between 1981 – 2010, I’ve hand picked the ones of the most significance to modern icon design. These designs show just a small fraction of the icons in the many and varied User Interfaces throughout the years.

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  Know Your Icons Part 2 – Modern Icon Design

  In the last installment you learned about the history of icon design and how it has evolved from black and white representations of office items into full colored, glassy, hyper-rendered, isometric representations of… office items. In this installment I will be delving further into the world of icons and exploring what icons mean to us today.

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  Exploring Graphic User Interface Styles – from Minimal to Futuristic

  A user interface (UI) can come in many styles ranging graphically from very simple, all the way to extremely complex. In this article we are going to explore a range of styles demonstrating that there isn’t just one recipe for creating a good looking, and ultimately successful user interface. Of course, not every style is represented in this article; we will be exploring several high-quality examples, representing a wide range of graphical styles from simple to complex. Enjoy!

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  iPad Magazine Interface Design

  A great magazine is more than just a collection of articles around a theme or idea, it’s a curated editorial experience. Through layout design and copy it can take you to different places and teach you new things. The release of the iPad has kicked off the latest chapter in the history of magazine design. I’ve been working with a startup, Sideways.com, to create our own magazine publishing platform and here is what we’ve done.

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Your Thoughts on this Digital Illustration Session

We’d love to here your feedback and suggestions on how to improve Creative Sessions. We’re actively working to improve this project, by consistently adding more high quality material, and new intensive two week sessions releasing each month. We look forward to your comments.

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Russ Cook is a illustrator and caricature artist from Oxford, UK. He has a unique caricature style which can be seen on his portfolio site that has a number of celebrities and well known people’s caricatures. In this interview, he talks about how he got started with illustration, caricatures, his creative process, ideas and inspirations. He also shares some vector art tips and advice, read about this and more at the jump.

Well, I live in Oxford, UK where I grew up, although I was born an hour up the road in Reading. There’s no typical day for me; days can be busy or quiet; long or short; but I’m happy if I can get one bit of drawing done at some point. Not always easy when there is a pile of admin’ to sort out.

I’m not sure of an exact time of when I felt called to be an artist – I don’t think you ever are; it’s something you just do. It applies to anyone in any field who wants to explore what they do without any self imposed strictures, all the while striving for an unobtainable perfection! I didn’t study art officially although I did a foundation course in art & design at Oxford Poly when I left school. By the time I left I still didn’t know what I wanted to do so I got a regular job. At this stage art and illustration was something I did for fun and when I fancied it. I obtained more and more ‘artistic’ jobs as I went along and started taking the odd commission. I didn’t have any specific goal as I loved all aspects of art, therefore I didn’t apply myself to one particular discipline. Eventually I leaned towards caricature as it combined two disciplines (caricature and fine color application) and I thought there was a gap in the market. Anyone can get clip art illustrations but proper caricatures will always have to be created individually. I still take regular illustration work and also earn a living through sign making and fitting vehicle graphics.

I think you can be at a disadvantage if you don’t have a clear vision from an early age of what you want to do – but it’s not the end of the world. If you keep observing and keep sketching then you’re laying a solid bedrock when you come to realize what artistic avenue you wish to pursue.

I think it’s the same for most people; the style just develops as you go along. There has definitely been many many influences along the way . I’m old enough to remember buying the first issue of the British comic 2000AD which showcased styles of artwork that I cribbed from endlessly when I was a kid. I would say that my color work is influenced more by comic artists and illustrators rather than by caricature artists. Although I do have personal favorites, caricature artists don’t influence me that much.

With color work I usually start with a sketch. However,  I don’t get too involved with it. The morph is the most important aspect so when I’m happy with that then I go straight to final. I don’t worry about working out color values as all that is found in the reference image – and I nearly always use one – so there’s no point. But sometimes I don’t bother with a sketch and just go straight into a final: a very recent caricature of Jim Jarmusch was drawn straight with no prep drawing and I used pretty much my own color values – though maybe it shows! As for doodling I do a bit but not as much as I’d like to. It’s good for cartoon work but I don’t find any real advantage for caricature. I find caricature takes more concentrated study.

Tools and software are as follows: for painting I use acrylic on canvas board. The board is more durable than a paper, obviously, and the canvas finish is a great medium to work on. You can get it for a reasonable price (in the UK). Acrylic is the best medium for me as it’s so versatile. You can apply it in a thin wash like watercolor or build it up in glazes or impasto like oil. Acrylic is a bit tricky to get used to if you’ve never used it before as it dries fast, but once you get the knack you can dispense with flow improver and increase the speed.

Vector work is all done in Adobe Illustrator. Sometimes I take the image into Photoshop for some effects and filters, such as glows and drop shadows, but I try and keep everything vector, even textures! I’ve recently done some damage to the bank account and purchased a Wacom Cintiq which is great fun. I’ve been replicating sketching techniques with it and I think I’ve got a fairly authentic look. It has some great advantages but you’ll never beat a sharp nib and a piece of paper. All vector work is mouse and keyboard.

I haven’t done any real painting for a while and that’s a conscious decision, so most of my color work is vector-based at present. I’m currently still excited with the possibilities of vector and digital and still have ideas queuing up regarding how to interpret painting and printing techniques as well as ideas for special effects The main love of vector is down to the fact that it gives you great control when it comes to editing. As your previous interviewees have stated; it’s so easy to change colors to get lighting right or to manipulate shapes. Also being able to isolate layers so they can be edited has its obvious advantages. When used imaginatively I think vector can have a real knock-out effect; the colors can look very rich and vibrant. The only downside is that the artwork is, in finality, digital. I do miss having a tangible product. Can’t have it all, I guess!

My tips for vector art would be:

1. Get organized – especially if you like creating complex images. For a long time I worked on one layer and would get into tight corners trying to edit an image that was getting more and more complex as I tried to group and ungroup sections as well as unlock areas I wanted to stay locked, etc. So I’d say take advantage of the layer option (F7 – in AI) where you can lock them, change layer order, alter transparency, etc.
2. Explore. There are some great tool options which are cool in themselves but when you combine them they can make some great effects. Try the gradient tool and the transparency tool in combinations and layers. The possibilities will suddenly hit you if you’re not already aware of them.

For the caricature site I just fancied something that looked a bit opulent and 3D. Come the time I redesign it it will probably look totally different:  more modern, slick and minimalist perhaps. Although it’s a bit showy at present I’ve tried to keep it to the one main color scheme. If you’ve got a site showcasing artwork you don’t want it to have the same coloring as your images because the two just merge into each other. It’s hard to pick a favorite caricature but for vector it would probably be Jean-Paul Sartre. My favorite painting is Morrissey. At about 100cm it’s the biggest I’ve painted – so far!

My favorite online forum is probably deviantART. I believe it’s the world’s largest site for creative arts. According to Wikipedia it has over eleven million members and receives 100,000 uploads a day – which is insane. It’s free and totally egalitarian so you’ll find disney animators with profiles, well known comic book artists, sculptors, writers as well as kids uploading their first attempts at art. It’s very inspiring and I’ve spent far too much time that can be considered healthy poring over the staggering art that some people are producing. Oh – and I got a private commission in my first week of joining; so people do see your work. There are too many artists whose work has impressed on a deep level but some current favorites making my eyeballs pop are Sean Galloway, Bob Strang, Ashley Wood and Patricio Betteo – check them out!

Keep practicing as much as you can. If you want general advice then try emailing your favorite artists. Most are cool guys and girls who are happy to impart it. But don’t ask about their specific techniques – you’ve got to figure that out for yourselves -  ha,ha! If you have a tough skin then ask for critiques from people whose art you respect or from commissioning art directors. Take their advice on the chin – it’s rarely fun getting honest critiques but they’ll help make your art better. Don’t ask your parents or friends; they’ll just repeat how they can’t understand why you’re not rich and famous already.

Also start your own blog (if you haven’t already) and regularly check in on other peoples. Google have their own free blog service and they’ve recently expanded the templates so you can customize a fairly individual site. Also join the various free online art forums that exist – the web has come to save us all and there is never a better way to show your work to the world. So find the free art communities, create an online profile and upload your best work. Good luck!

Russ Cook on Web

Vectortuts+

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Ranko Blazina who is a very talented and award winning digital artist from Croatia. We talked about his work, career, his techniques and style. Amazing and inspiring words came from Ranko and I welcome you to read the interview.

Hi there ! My name is Ranko Blažina aka RaneZ, I come from Samobor, Croatia. I work full time at my graphic design studio – Snooze. In the rest of my free time I spend it developing new skills in retouching, digital art and abstract art. For the last eight years I was working and developing a broad range of illustrations, web sites and graphical products.

My studio deals with innovative solutions which enables clients to get a satisfactory product. Despite the fact that I use my skills for business, I see digital art as a way of living. My first contact with Photoshop was 10 years ago, maybe more, when the first Windows came out. I remember those hand scanners…they were fun!

So I started like many other digital artist, playing with abstract 3d pieces from 3D Studiomax or Cinema4d.. Good old 90′s. Then I realized that I wanted more from 3d…so I started doing some photo manipulations. Especially when the first digital cameras were released. As years passed by I was improving my skills. Today, anyone can do photo manipulations. But, there are just too many average guys out there. You really have to push yourself hard to be better these days.

Well, I must admit, it’s really hard to push a career here. We are just too small for any big plans.
But in some cases, that is an advantage. I must push even harder to be up-to-date.

As I recall, me and 2 other guys that I know, here from Croatia, are the only crew that makes such (digital) art. We have some plans for the future, to get people familiar with these digital techniques and programs that we use. I hope that next year I will have my first exhibition here in Zagreb, so I can start spreading my “digital art revolution” in Croatia

Hehe, that artwork was produced in a few winter nights, just like the title says. A few days before starting to draw this piece, I was starring through my window and watching snowflakes fall.

We have really SNOWY days here in Croatia. Did you notice that every time the snow is falling , there are no clouds?! Just an awesome site to whiteness covering the sky. So, it hit me! There must be someone who MAKES clouds! At least in my imaginary world. A few girls blowing the clouds from their mouths, but only when no one is watching. So I started sketching, planning, and finding some base plates. After few sleepless nights, the “winter cloud makers” piece was done!

As you can see, all of my artwork is usually inspired by oversized animals and little humans. That’s just the way I usually dream them up. Snail Guardian was a long time in my mind. A Jungle, little waterfalls, few spooky eyes watching the scene.

The point of this piece is a little girl that controls a giant snail, and together they guard the forest. He can’t exist without her, together they are the one. I especially love this piece because I used tons of brushing for lightning, toning, coloring and making perfect blends.

Sketch, sketch, sketch. I always use paper before starting. Paper, pen, coffee. I must admit that I am not so good with paper and pen, but I know what it is in my head that I want. So those sketches do not always look so good, but I don’t care. After some basic scene drawings, I decide which rule of thirds I will use. Not always, but often. Then I search the web for starting the image. Images, that will be plate.

Usually, after I finish my artwork, plate is unrecognizable so I delete it. Then I do some quick placing images in one file so I can visualize what is going where. At the end this process, when I am pleased with order, I start merging, painting, and coloring. Details are added afterwards.

To be honest, I am also new to matte painting. You can search web for this phrase, and you will probably end with some mattes for movie industries. But I am using this same techniques to create my own world. Photomontage is the best way to start using Photoshop. That’s why Photoshop exists ! The hardest things is probably lightning. Good light source and quality shadows and are the basics of digital artwork. I am a former photographer, so I got my “lighting” knowledge earlier. But the principle is the same. Light and shadows. You paint with light. Secondly, the thing to be good at photo manipulation is color balance. Merging black stripes of a zebra taken in local Zoo with flash and a low Mp camera into some winter night scene with lots of different light sources that will be printed on billboard is THE job. Practice. That’s all I can say. Read online tutorials. Browse online artistic groups. Practice.

Once more, practice. Experiment. You will be surprised what kind of stuff you are able to produce when mixing different styles, techniques. See what are you into. I experiment a lot with typography because I am using it in everyday designs. Not only digital artwork but in Posters, flyers, billboards, signs, letterheads, and booklets. Running my own creative studio (Snooze), I have learned that you must know different styles to satisfy clients.

Yep, I run a little creative studio called Snooze here in Croatia. Much less stress than working in an agency. The first and main reason I left the traditional ad agency work is they didn’t allow designers to produce something that YOU thought up, something with YOUR technique and YOUR style. I was so unhappy. So, running my own was like big explosion of ideas in my head. I was able to create client demands like I wanted, and most important thing is that THEY were really satisfied.

ADA for Earth poster was really a morale booster. I got a few emails from possible clients asking me to produce more stuff like this. So I have learned that online recognition is important to succeed. How can someone find you if you are a caveman in front of your iMac?

Packaging, advertising, digital art. Same old story, different clients. That is design. Every day I learn something new, that’s why I love design and art. We have designed a few websites, and I am looking forward to use more Snooze skills for online content.

I am looking forward to expand my studio a little more. Add a few more people, a few more Macs, a few more Wacoms. 5 to 10 years? That’s a hard question. Like you said, evolving too rapidly. But, I will try to stay in the flow!

Experiment with your art. Don’t copy. Be yourself. Learn from websites, tutorials, and friends.

Find Ranko on the Web

• Ranko Blažina Portfolio
• Studio Snooze
• Ranko on Deviant Art
• Ranko on Behance
• Twitter

Psdtuts+

Anthony Scime is an exceptional digital painter who creates very unique paintings. Anthony decided to start painting because he believed it was a medium to create anything a designer could think of. In our interview Anthony talks about his creation process, and also about one of his amazing paintings.

I’m Anthony Scime. I was born in Buffalo N.Y. but lived in south Florida for most of my life. I have always had in interest in the arts. Whether it be illustration and design, sculpting or photography. For as long as I can remember I have had the urge to constantly create. So getting started in the field was simple. In a sense I have always been in this field. But really I started to get involved professionally after graduating The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in 2008.

Quin District

I first started doing digital paintings after really understanding the impact it has in the art world. It’s the Medium of a new generation of great artists. It gave me the ability to create pieces that were never possible for me in my original medium which was colored pencil. But my first digital painting was a simple apple. And it made me realize just how much more advanced I can become in my skills with this medium. I learned how important it was to study everything around me for inspiration, light, shadow, shape and texture.

Halcyon

Well, I have a drafting table that was found on the edge of the road. I fixed it up and use it for sketching and layouts. And Tech wise, I have a desktop PC, A 19 inch screen which is really in need for a size upgrade and a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet.

Alonian Merchant

Most of the time I start with a sketch then scan it and begin from there in Photoshop. I always pull some reference photos for lighting, architecture, things like that. I normally have a good view of what I want the piece to turn out like, but as always, things are changed and tweaked along the way. I also have a set of few brushes that I use for most of everything, and a second set for textures.

TS.2850

I started with the idea of combining a kind of world feel image, something maybe seen in a times or national geographic magazine, with elements of sci-fi. It’s a concept of showing what the Sadhu, the holy men of India, may look like in the future. Things like his eye piece and glowing shirt are so common in the future that they span across every region of our planet. So having them is as natural as a pair of glasses. I started of with a good deal of research, building up a small reference library. Sketched it out, scanned it in and started painting in Photoshop.

Sadhu 2063

To be honest I just focus on the painting, It‘s hard for me to say that I focus on one thing the most I guess. The realism, colors, composition, lighting, textures, nothing is singled out unless it’s called for. I think it’s important to see the piece as a whole and not in separate parts.

Robotocon

Not trying to sound like a suck-up but when I was first starting and really trying to learn some techniques in Photoshop I went to Psdtuts, and still do to see what’s going on and new in the design world. Another site that I stay pretty active in is CGSociety. Some great books of contemporary Digital illustrations are the series developed by Ballistic Publishing. And for inspiration, well It’s all over the place, on the Web and not.

Mokion

I really should be the one thanking Psdtuts for this opportunity! It really means a lot. And for final thoughts, It’s a must to break away from the rest of the competition. It’s always important to research and discover what’s out there. Create what represents yourself and realize that what you learn in the beginning is only a guide, grow from it.

I-7, 0-B1, R6-4

Where to find Anthony on the Web

• Anthony’s Portfolio
• Anthony’s CGSociety Portfolio

Sound

Psdtuts+

“Believe me, there is plenty of time left over.” Those are words spoken by Alex Mathers the UK-based Illustrator and author of “10 Steps to Powerful Online Self Promotion for Creatives” and the man behind not only the modern illustration-focused site “Ape on the Moon” but also the “Red Lemon Club” website. Pursuing those, one can easily doubt that there’s any time leftover to enjoy life, but Mathers ensures us there is.

In fact, over the last few years he’s found time to cross a mountainside glacier with a 500 ft drop below in Slovakia (with no ropes), traveled the Sahara desert on the back of a camel and put toilet rolls on the cat’s tail so that it became a robot cat. Okay so that last one wasn’t exactly done in the last few years. But it did become the first event in what is proving to be a very creative, eventful life.

The Red Lemon Club

At the tender age of 25, Mathers has managed to accomplish as much as his peers who are a decade or two older. He was lucky enough to be born to parents who are “very supportive of [his] crazy ideas and the rather meandering path to get there.” There’s no doubt that a very supportive family consisting of his English father and Austrian mother, a combination that “adds an interesting dimension to things” as well as a younger sister they call Pippa, play a large part in encouraging and fostering his creative endeavors.

The Red Lemon Club was born because as a budding designer, Mathers found himself having to figure out how to market his talents. Not finding much of the detailed information he was looking for on the internet, Mathers read many books on the subject and eventually decided to share what he learned with other creatives who are looking to accomplish that same feat.It was also the Red Lemon Club that inspired his recently-released E-book. By the way for those of you wondering, the name “Red Lemon Club” was “formulated from the many cool words that were floating about in my head at the time.”

Geography

The contradictions don’t stop with the words red and lemon, either. You would probably expect to read about how Mathers was some sort of design major in school. Not so. In fact, it was his love of Geography that led him to focus his studies on that, thereby infusing his creations with that theme. This is one of the main reasons why the “very earthy” hues of blues and greens are featured heavily in his illustrations such as Snow Apes Portrait, Glacial Retreat, Syrup Smoochers and Estates Gazette, a series done for their website. He’s also worked with some big name clients such as Singapore Business Times newspaper, Kraft and Pepsi.

Ape on the Moon

When asked where their inspiration comes from, most creatives say things like “the world around me” or “people-watching.” Mathers finds his inspiration from the less “natural” sources of film and music. These sources tend to conjure up images of their creators laboring over every scene and note ensuring everything is perfect. Another contradiction to the man who loves geography and the abstract rawness of it all. He also gets inspiration from artists whose styles run the gamut, including Edward Hopper, James Jean, Ronald Searle and Quentin Blake.

Venturing away from the naturalness of the earth, Mathers created the site “Ape on the Moon.” You really can’t get any more “other-worldly” than the moon or the image of an ape on said moon, for that matter. This name originated because of his love of the “playfulness” of monkeys and apes and the fact that he sees our closest animal relatives as possessing “independence… [thereby] reflecting the working lives of the many freelancing illustrators out there.” The site focuses mainly on contemporary illustration because, as Mathers sees it, “[it] represents where illustration is heading and how styles are evolving.”

e-Book

You may be surprised to know that Mathers writes not only all of the content for his two sites, but also contributes to sites like the 99%, Six Revisions, Inspired Magazine, and Design Taxi. When asked if he had to choose between writing and illustration he answered simply “Illustration.” Not that it needs any further explanation given the recognition he’s received because of his e-book from the likes of Scott Belsky of Behance and Jerelle Kraus, the former New York Times Art Director. Belsky commented that “Alex Mathers has mastered the methods for effective self promotion in the creative world.” Heavy words, but ones that Mathers has no trouble living up to.

Catching the eye of some highly successful creatives has given Mathers a confidence that many artists of his age may lack. We asked him if there is any artistic thing the he can’t do but wishes he could, he answered, &quo I don’t think there is anything I “can’t do, but there are things I might not be able to do that well, such as painting and sculpting.” Shortly after that, though, he confessed he wishes he knew Photoshop on a more advanced level.

“I don’t think there is anything I “can’t do, but there are things I might not be able to do that well, such as painting and sculpting.”

Everyday Life

This doesn’t mean that his talents stop at illustrating and e-book writing, however. He’s also a “human beat box” and has risen to the ranks of being an advanced Hopscotch player. While we haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing these feats, we’re sure they are mind-blowing. Have no fear, though. Alex Mathers IS human and like all creatives, suffers from crippling occurrences like running out of tea (Earl Grey), designer’s block and blurry vision. Tea, because he gave up coffee a year ago and blurry vision because of the amounts of European beer, English ale and iced Magners Cider he ingests. Not to mention the fried chicken, home-cooked spaghetti Bolognese and Sushi he enjoys. We’re kidding, of course.

Mathers is the consummate professional and we’re sure the blurry vision comes from the hours he spends using the tools of his trade: SketchBook Pro, a Wacom tablet, pencils, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop. He reserves the alcohol for the occasional house party, music gig in town or climbing trees. Never in one night, though. It’s obvious that Mathers has the eclectic sense of humor to accompany his creativity. What he also possesses is the talent, drive, and business-savvy to take him far in this world…and maybe to an outer one. Kind of like an Ape on the Moon.

Vectortuts+

Meet Timba Smits, an artist, designer, illustrator, publisher, curator and wannabe Olympic ping-pong player, who has the heart in him to share with us all some fantastic advice for all of you budding and upcoming world-class illustrators. Timba worked himself up from being turned away from design agencies, to becoming an extremely successful, world-known and award-winning creative, a founder of a superb magazine publication and a founder of a great brand known as Lyrics & Type. Read on to find out how he has gotten so far in life.

My name is Timba Smits. I’m an artist, designer, illustrator, independent publisher, curator and wannabe olympic ping-pong playa! I’m currently living and doing my thing in London (UK) for a chomp but I was born and bred in Melbourne, Australia (my home ground). I grew up with a really tight knit family about an hour down the coast in a quiet place which we called ‘Mounty’. Without all the distractions of a big city or town, it was a great place to discover who you are, which for me came through at a very young age. However, after I finished high-school I just couldn’t wait to move the hour into the city to chase my dreams of becoming an artist. There just wasn’t the same opportunities back in ‘Mounty’.

After a few years of painting, experimenting, and lots of procrastination (mainly about why I wasn’t Andy Warhol already), I looked into a computer graphics course at a quaint little private college in Melbourne called Shillington College, thinking it could help speed things up a bit. Looking back, it was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. At the time it was pretty expensive but it only lasted three months and before I knew it I had the right qualifications to get work as a designer. Although a post-graduate from college I found it hard to get a job which mainly came down to the fact that I didn’t have the required 5 years experience, blah blah blah. What I did have though and still do have is a good amount of drive, passion and dedication towards what I do. So I quickly decided that if nobody was going to give me the chance I believed I deserved, I would go it on my own – so that’s exactly what I did.

I don’t think you really fall into anything. Yeah, there are stories of that happening, but I believe you either choose your path in life and your career, or it chooses you. For me it’s the later. From such a young age I knew exactly what I was meant to do. I had a very supportive mother who nurtured my creative side, much to the dismay of my scientist father at first, and through the help of two incredible arts teachers at school I was helped into believing I could be really good at art and design. As far as illustration and design goes, I felt, and still feel more broader than just that. I like to keep things as varied as possible so I run a magazine to fuel my love of books and zines, I opened an art gallery to feed my hunger for art, all whilst drawing and designing for lots of different people as this feels natural.

I’ve always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit too and this has lead to being involved in a huge amount of projects including starting my own independent publishing company and opening a really successful gallery in Melbourne called Gorker Gallery with some mates in early 2008. I guess I was born with some natural talent in the beginning but I’ve had to work extremely hard to get here, and have struggled almost to breaking point to get to where I’m at now. It’s funny because from time to time I bump into the same art directors who knocked me back for jobs out of college and I’m always thanking them for closing the door on me. Some have even confessed to kicking themselves, ha! Sometimes I imagine what life would have been like had they said yes. Would I be here? Deep!

So in a nutshell, I sort of just dived into the industry. Straight into the deep end, no floaties – and have been trying to swim to the shallow end ever since. No falling – diving!

You got me. I’m one of those people that has to do everything at least once and love everything in life. I’m not saying that I have a checklist or anything but there’s simply not enough hours in the day, days in the week and months in the year for doing all the things I’d like to do. So I go with the flow a lot – I follow my heart most of the time and whatever feels right I chase it with a passion so hot it can sometimes burn me out. If I’m not good at something at first I’ll beat myself up until I am. It’s painful for my friends to watch sometimes and they wonder why I do this to myself but I just simply love challenging myself, it makes me feel so alive and being creative is a gift that keeps on giving. It never wears me out.

There are so many things I’m interested in apart from art and design swell of course. I’m pretty active so I love skating during the summer and snowboarding when winter comes around. I’m pretty excited as I have just landed my first snowboard graphics job which combines my top two things in life. And did you know my magazine is named after an old slang word for a skateboard…? Wooden Toy. I’ve been pretty much into skate and snowboarding culture my whole life, from it’s fashion, the music, the trends and how parallel it seems to be with art & design. I’m also really into Film, I’ve always thought that if I got a whole new life I would start all over as a film director. Cue Wes Anderson as a favorite.

Then there’s music. Sheesh! Don’t get me started. I’d love to produce music, sing or be in a band but I cant. No, that’s wrong, I probably could, but it takes so much time to be good at something. So instead what I tend to do a lot of the time is connect into these loves by creating initiatives like my Lyrics and Type project which brings type, music and designers together as one. This seems to give me a little bit of fulfillment and helps to feed my desire of wanting to make music. L&T has also been built somewhat as a lead up over the past six months for the release of Wooden Toy’s music edition in August 2010.

Yeah, I kind of don’t like new things, glossy things and quite a lot of technology to be honest. As much as a computer is a vital ingredient to what I do, I actually have a love / hate relationship with them. I love what I can do with them but hate sitting in front of one. You see, I’m more of a paper and pencil person. A traditionalist in many ways and this, I think, is where my style comes from. Because I prefer to work offline as much as possible most of my design work has a real illustrative feel and nostalgic sense about it. So when I am playing around on the computer I try to make my work as naturally illustrative as possible. Almost as if it was hand-made. I tend to do this by adding subtle texture to a heap of my work. Converting scanned elements into bitmap and vector texture files and placing these atop of my artwork.

As a whole I’m mostly inspired from a time well before the iPad, wireless keyboards and the mighty mouse. I use some of these products but don’t seem to connect with them as a lot of people do. Vintage design approaches, advertising icons and products, notably stuff from the 40′s, 50′s and 60′s gets much of my attention. Meccano and chemistry sets over Xbox any day of the week, ha! And as far as influences goes, sure, I have my favorites. Lets see; pin-up artists George Petty and Gil Elvgren are some of my all time favorite illustrators along with Gary Taxali and CandyKiller as some of my new found loves. Mike Giant is up there, as is Tyler Stout.

First step… go for a walk! I seem to come up with my best ideas outside of my working space. Just a simple stroll with a notepad and pen down the canal is all it takes. It’s funny, when I’m at my desk and working I seem to just zone out. I don’t think, I don’t stop and I hardly blink at all. I almost go into this meditative state where everything is just quiet. So it’s really important for me to get out, take a break and walk around for idea trawling. This part of starting a project is always the same regardless who I’m working for or what it is I’m working on. Everything else is quite dependent to the projects brief really so this changes each time.

My workspace at the moment is in my house as a result of moving to London where rents are equal to that of my Melbourne house and studio combined. So this has been a bit hard to fall back to after having a proper studio for so long. It’s only temporary however and I’m lucky to have a big house and a huge bright sunny studio that overlooks some beautiful gardens with bumblebees that quite often drop in for a visit. It’s also a very clean workspace. I have a separate desk where I draw and one as a computer station with a 15″ MacBook Pro connected to a 24″ Cinema Display, a trusty scanner, printer and my cactus plant (the only plant that doesn’t die on me). Why mac? Well, before I started at college I could barely even use a computer. They had Macs, and so I became a Mac person. It could have easily been PC had they taught on those but I’m glad it was mac as there products are soooo puuuurdy!

Yeah, over the years I’ve been quite lucky to work with some great clients, and… some not so great clients. The surprising fact is, I’ve never proactively hunted for work before in terms of sending out pr/folio packages to people I wanted to work with or even asking people. Things have always just come my way when I needed them. The universe works in strange ways. Some would call this luck, however I don’t as I’ve worked damn hard in order to make these people notice me at some possible point. I realize that Wooden Toy has helped more than I think when I’m discussing this topic. In a way, Wooden Toy has almost (secretly) been a massively expensive business card, kind of promoting all that I’m capable of.

On top of this I’ve always been very much a head-down-bum-up type of designer who constantly works more hours and produces more work that even I can’t believe at times. I’ve also been clever in terms of filling my magazine with things that I’m really interested in so the work that comes my way as a result of Wooden Toy is always going to be stuff that I’m super excited about working on. A lot of design studios and advertising agencies subscribe to my magazine, as-well as a lot of brands looking for the latest artists and designers to work with. So a lot of the time I’m invited to work on projects this way but also a lot of the time I’m connecting clients with artists that I’ve featured in my publications for work. This is also a really nice side to what I do. I also have a number of websites. It’s a real pain in the ass to maintain them all but they’re quite a large backbone to getting more work. A lot of my offers come through from my websites, so some advice would be to have a kick-ass website with some great work up for show. Include a healthy blog too which you should keep updated all the time, just to keep people watching you constantly. I do this a lot and it works. If you can do this in print too like me then there’s no way they won’t notice you.

I kind of answered this a little in the question above which would relate to your ‘how to get spotted’ part. Answer: Simply working extremely hard and producing a lot of great inspiring work. I believe and practice this myself all the time, and if your latest work is consistently better than the last piece of work you did and you do enough of it, then people are eventually going to catch on to you. But you need to get it out in front of them. I’ve never been into the idea of setting out to win awards though. Some people do and that’s fine but that’s not what I’m searching for in my career or in life. I’m very proud of achieving them but I don’t really like a lot of fuss. It sure was a nice thing to receive at the time though. Mainly as it was in the very beginning days of my magazine and in a way I guess it gave me the confidence to keep pushing on. It also gave me closure on any doubts I had at the time towards thinking I wasn’t doing things the right way.

My first award happened to be a big one too – designer of the year! So naturally I was shocked and I flipped out a little, I mean a lot! Especially considering that if it wasn’t for a friend I would have never entered the awards. Then on top of this the other designers nominated were some of my heroes. I just couldn’t believe it. I still can’t in a surreal sort of way but it sure helped a lot as I won some cash which I put towards my next edition. This and some of the other awards I’ve won have done best in terms of exposing me to a wider audience outside of the people I was already communicating with. And yes, some great opportunities have come knocking at my door ever since. The most recent one in form of a scholarship that has brought me here to the UK, where things have really opened up for me and have helped show me where I’m to step to next. I feel so inspired and ready for bigger things.

In fact, they all work together. I wouldn’t say that my freelance is separate to my magazine or that my magazine is separate to Lyrics and Type. They all communicate on a level that is about a bigger picture. In the beginning I started Wooden Toy Magazine which eventually became my business to service three of my loves: magazines, art and supporting people. When I was looking for work out of college I sent a lot of my work to magazines I admired and nobody ever gave me the chance or even bothered to get back to me. And because I’m sort of a quiet achiever and just do things I started my own magazine. And in the very beginning I promised I would never be that magazine and that at the very least get back to people. I try my hardest on that and since I started Wooden Toy it has helped so many people in so many ways.

A good example would be an amazing artist named Bec Winnel. When I met Bec she was a timid work experience student that came to my studio during a freezing winter to help on Wooden Toy. I asked to see some of her drawings and I was simply blown off my chair. I thought geez, you have to do something with these and so I published her in my book in two separate editions. Since this moment Bec has become such a good friend and every now and again when we’re drunk together she pours her heart out to me about how much an influence Wooden Toy has been in shaping her career as one of Australia’s leading female illustrators. Career and money and everything else aside, moments like these feel like my greatest achievement. So personally I’ve never looked at any of these brands as door openers for myself, instead I’ve trusted they have become a way to help others achieve and promote the greater joy of being creative with one another. It may sound a bit hippy but it’s true, because I know what it feels like to become something myself, nothing gives me more satisfaction in life than seeing and helping other people achieve their goals. It’s beautiful. And if my magazine or Lyrics and Type can help in this then I’m a happy man.

Haha, portfolio stalking. Yes, lets see! So so many! And you’re right, sheesh, I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of designers and artists over the years. It’s funny, I never stop to think about that. I also still get really giddy when emailing a new artist whom I’ve never spoken with before. I love that initial introduction when you send a nice email letting someone know about you and how much you admire them and their work, then you receive a nice email back and a beautiful creative relationship opens up. Sure is a nice thing! In the beginning this feeling was really heightened. Because I was so new to it and nobody knew me or the magazine, just writing an email to anyone with my snazzy new Wooden Toy email was exciting.

For the first edition I probably stalked the Girl Art Dump: Andy Jenkins, Evan Hecox and Tony Larson the most. I stalked their work for quite some time, I still kind of do! They’re exactly what I mentioned earlier in terms of skateboarding vs art & design and how the both are so in tune with one another. I’m inviting them back in edition 8 swell which is going to be fun. It will be good to touch base after so long. Another magazine from Sydney called ‘Monster Children‘ was a pretty huge darn inspiration and influence to me when starting Wooden Toy in the beginning. I’d been collecting it for years and I thought it was the best magazine ever and thought that in order to be the best, this is what I have to aspire to become. And lately I’ve been stalking CandyKiller. I can’t seem to stare at his work for long enough. Love it! Oh, and a frequent stalk is always Gary Taxali. I have a few originals of his work and they’re among my favorites. I’m also an avid art collector you see!

No problems guys! It was a pleasure sharing some thoughts with you. Because I don’t really write that much and when given the opportunity I kind of can’t shut up so I hope I haven’t drooled on for too long and if you’ve got this far to read this then you were sucked in, haha!

Seriously though, If I could give some last pieces of advice to anyone it would be to put as much passion and determination into your career as humanly possible. Be prepared to sacrifice a lot (money, partners, going out, money… money) and do not be afraid to take HUGE risks! You will almost certainly face all these things when trying to become a well respected artist/designer/illustrator. I’m talking about immersing yourself within your career until it shows signs of working for you. This can take up to several years, in my case six years and counting, so don’t think it’s going to happen overnight or it’s ever going to be easy because it won’t. And that’s me being very honest. Not trying to scare anyone off here but it’s extremely hard trying to manage the challenge of a career as a designer and normal life. And life, as you know, will almost certainly change a lot.

To be honest even I, under huge pressure, nearly packed it on three different occasions but I’m glad I didn’t. It wasn’t because I didn’t like what I was doing anymore, heck, I love what I do and always have, it’s just that sometimes living on the financial edge and struggle street whilst watching all my friends living life and partying got a bit tough. But I survived and I’m more passionate than I ever was and so much closer to achieving every thing I set out to achieve in life. I think that I appreciate it a lot more now after having gone through so much to get here. I wouldn’t change anything for a second! Good luck and work hard. Peas out. Timba.

Timba Smits on the web:

• Timba’s Portfolio
• Wooden Toy Quarterly
• Lyrics & Type

Vectortuts+

Recently, I spoke with the talented Latvia-based designer, Tatyana Suhodolska. On Her blog ArtDesigner.lv she provides tons of fantastic free icon sets as well as tutorials on how to create them. In today’s interview, we talk a little about her design background and where she usually finds inspiration. Enjoy!

Hello! I am a Russian girl, born in Latvia. I have been an artist since childhood – drawing comics and characters. When I was 5 years old I decided I wanted to be an animator. When I purchased my first PC at the age of 14, the first app that I installed was Macromedia Flash. After that, I began teaching myself Flash. Not long after that I began drawing cartoons. Before long, I was discovered by a television studio that paid me a little to create some animations for them. I really valued this experience but eventually I began designing static graphics. Although I haven’t given up my dreams of becoming an animator.

To be honest, I am a self-taught designer through and through. I did receive traditional schooling but I do not have a formal education in the arts, as you really can’t take those types of classes in my native language.

I use Photoshop CS2 the most. For the most part, I create websites and icons, although I prefer creating icons more.

I try to trust my intuition. I don’t spend a whole lot of time preparing sketches or looking for inspiration. I design the first thing that comes to mind after landing a job and do my best to satisfy my clients.

This is a tough question for me to answer. I have had mixed experiences working for organizations. I don’t mind sitting in an office and being told what to do but to be honest, I prefer working as a freelancer. For the last 2 years I have worked for a French studio from my home in Latvia. I get to work on lots of successful projects but get to do it from the comfort of my own home.

More often, the process is spontaneous. I draw the first thing that pops into my head but sometimes I do find myself browsing the web. I don’t imitate anyone’s style anymore but early on, I did, when I didn’t have a whole lot of experience.

Thank you very much! I really appreciate that! I mainly write tutorials for my own icons, which are already available for download. I don’t really know where I came up with the idea to share my experience with the community. I just felt that I should do my best to give back as best I could.

Specifically, working as a designer, it’s very important to always project confidence in what you do.

I would really love to travel to America and work at Pixar. It’s my life’s dream. If life takes me in another direction however, I would like to open my own studio.

Practice, practice, practice! Draw every day and read as many tutorials as you can find.

Tatyana Suhodolska on Web

• My little pixelworld
• deviantart.com
• behance.net
  
• free-lance.ru

Psdtuts+