Computer Arts Gallery: December 2008

Richard Grainger
Location Brighton
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.foedesign.co.uk
Software Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Brighton-based Richard Grainger is also known as Foe - the name under which he runs his design studio. Street art is important to him and many of his designs reflect the vivid colour, vector forms and patterns that characterise the genre.

As well as Foe Design, Richard works with rehabdesign (also based in Brighton) and is focusing on exhibiting his work around the world. "Networking sites such as Flickr, Concrete Hermit Network and VEAUX have really helped me," he says. "So many people get to view my work. It's all about creating an internet profile for yourself."

Balance in a World of Chaos Richard created this print for the Nicely Done exhibition as part of the larger TCN Live event. "I wanted to create something with impact and as much detail as possible," he explains. "I started to draw in Illustrator and let the objects grow organically around the type."

Neil Parkinson
Location Leeds
Job Freelance illustrator, graffiti artist
Contact www.women158.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

"There's absolute beauty in everything - a spark of divinity - but at the same time it probably has a rotten side, festering away with its own motives and intent." Neil Parkinson's somewhat Lynchian take on life suggests a far bleaker outlook than his work actually demonstrates.

Although his educational career concentrated on visual communications and illustration, since graduating Neil has worked with "an eclectic mix of musicians, skate companies, fashion labels, charities and cosmetics companies - as well as tirelessly travelling to draw and paint at live events." He adds that, glamorous as that might sound, "I'm still the typical, broke little insomniac art boy…"

Gotta Get Out of Here "I feel really blessed every morning for the ability to create something from nothing," Neil enthuses. "I view it as an obligation to myself, my city, and the wider world to try and create something worthwhile that will either make people smile or speak to them in some way." And yet, sometimes there's only the desire to escape. This abstract piece, which has the alternative title of 'Astronaughts', encapsulates that mood. "It's about escapism, about my feelings of wanting to leave the country - and myself - once in a while," he explains. "The astronauts are leaving behind the safety of the female figure's bosom/heart."

Neil Parkinson
Location Leeds
Job Freelance illustrator, graffiti artist
Contact www.women158.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

"There's absolute beauty in everything - a spark of divinity - but at the same time it probably has a rotten side, festering away with its own motives and intent." Neil Parkinson's somewhat Lynchian take on life suggests a far bleaker outlook than his work actually demonstrates.

Although his educational career concentrated on visual communications and illustration, since graduating Neil has worked with "an eclectic mix of musicians, skate companies, fashion labels, charities and cosmetics companies - as well as tirelessly travelling to draw and paint at live events." He adds that, glamorous as that might sound, "I'm still the typical, broke little insomniac art boy…"

Mother Nature "Even though I live in the centre of a brutal cosmopolitan city, at heart I'm a total nature boy," says Neil. "Its influences go so deep into my heart," hence this semi-idyllic fantasy of rural life, which embodies many of his favourite motifs. "I like to draw girls in woodland settings with animals and tree spirits… this is an example of my tributes to nature and to females everywhere." This passion for the female form is also evident in Neil's graffiti artist name, women158, which he still uses for his website.

Jessica Singh
Location London/Perth, Australia
Job Freelance illustrator
Contact jesskajuice.deviantart.com
Software Photoshop

An Australian with an American mother and an Indian father, Jessica's background has always been culturally diverse. Still only 19 years old, she's continuing to feed her fascination with traditional media (including painting, sewing and origami) and digital techniques with the launch of Celestial Cocoon, her first solo exhibition.

"The creative process in which I work is somewhat unusual," Jessica believes. "Often an idea comes to mind and I must work quickly to get it into a tangible form." Celestial Cocoon is an attempt to slow this working process, with individually hand-cut vintage and imported origami papers. "These collages were scanned at high resolution and manipulated on the computer," she explains. "This constant interplay between hand-made and digital imaging creates an interesting sense of contrast, I feel."

Sussigkeit This image was published in Love Is My Velocity, which Jessica describes as a "60-page guide to Perth music and intermediate cooking," with recipes contributed by the bands. "'Sussigkeit' is German for 'candy'," she explains, "and because I'd been given the dessert section illustration, I wanted to make an image filled with whimsy. It was created with Photoshop, scans of doilies and lots of sugar."

Nuno Aguiar
Location Lisbon, Portugal
Job Art director
Contact www.nuno-aguiar.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator, 3ds Max

During the day, Nuno works with clients such as Nokia, McDonald's and Unilever as part of his job as art director for Fullsix Portugal. In his spare time, however, he's able to give free rein to his more fantastic creative impulses, combining illustration, photocomposition and character design, together with a smattering of 3D modelling and rendering.

"While taking my degree in graphic design at IADE in Lisbon, I worked at Animanostra, a traditional animation company," he explains. "There, I learned about the animation process and developed an even greater interest in character design." He adds that he hopes to eventually turn one of his characters into a vinyl toy.

Take My Skull One of a set of three images merging photography with 3D elements for the skulls, which were given expressions to make them less gloomy. "Lighting the skulls in 3D wasn't a problem once the light in the original photograph was homogenous. Perhaps the most difficult task was finding the right perspective for the skulls to fit the expressions I had in mind for the models' faces."

Alex Landoni
Location Pittsburgh, USA
Job Designer, illustrator, photographer
Contact www.alexlandoni.com
Software Illustrator, Photoshop

Alex was born in Milan and grew up in the US. He took a degree in psychology at university, but decided it wasn't the life for him and went back to school to develop his design and illustration skills. "My whole day is composed of either sketching, taking photos, fighting werewolves or working endless hours on vectors," he (almost) explains. "My creative process involves going to the pub with friends." Travelling also used to be a big passion of his, but that has tailed off as he's grown older: "There's something about being in a new and strange place that inspires me," he says.

Summer 08 This piece was sketched in a pub one night. "I was a little sour that I'd spent the whole summer not doing anything particularly fun." Alex says. This was his first trial using home made textures, after spending a week creating 42 of them for practice. "This wasn't a great use of them, but I think it was a good first try. It's definitely a good idea to put a lot of effort into personal work; it's the only time you get to seriously exercise your imagination."

Alex Landoni
Location Pittsburgh, USA
Job Designer, illustrator, photographer
Contact www.alexlandoni.com
Software Illustrator, Photoshop

Alex was born in Milan and grew up in the US. He took a degree in psychology at university, but decided it wasn't the life for him and went back to school to develop his design and illustration skills. "My whole day is composed of either sketching, taking photos, fighting werewolves or working endless hours on vectors," he (almost) explains. "My creative process involves going to the pub with friends." Travelling also used to be a big passion of his, but that has tailed off as he's grown older: "There's something about being in a new and strange place that inspires me," he says.

Paprika A piece inspired by Alex's reading about the Aztecs: "There was this story about a woman being punished for eating paprika, which really caught my attention. The thing that attracted me most to illustration was the ability to create unlimited random characters. Most of my work has always been influenced by those movies that mix reality and fantasy. This illustration is an example of that."

James Hughes
Location Sheffield
Job Illustrator
Contact www.james-hughes.co.uk
Software Photoshop

James is happy to admit that he's at the very beginning of his career, having studied creative imaging at the University of Huddersfield. "I specialised in illustration, but I had many crossover lectures with the graphic design course," he explains. After dabbling with freelance jobs for a year, he has now taken the plunge and gone full time with it. "I can appreciate now how long it takes to get established. All you're doing at the start is sending emails and letters and making phone calls. It's sometimes difficult to stay motivated when you're not doing creative work."

When that work does arrive, James says he favours a digital collage style, incorporating found colours and textures with the occasional drawing and photograph. "Nothing gets me in a creative mood more than looking through second-hand book shops. I get far too excited over the smell and feel of old paper - the more battered, the better."

Diablo This is a piece James created as part of a project on people with unusual or alternative jobs. "The guy in the picture is called Si and he's a nightclub performer - juggling and the like. He used to work in the juggling shop in Leeds's Corn Exchange." Other subjects for the project included a DJ, a dancer, a barman, a model and a musician. "The project got me talking to a lot of people from other creative careers, which is always good for inspiration," James explains.

Liz Lorini
Location San Francisco
Job Freelance illustrator
Contact www.misskika.com
Software Illustrator

Liz is a self-confessed addict of "girly art, filled with colour and glitter." It's a passion that's gripped her since she was very young and is given free rein in her Miss Kika range of illustrations (named, somewhat incongruously, after her dead cat). She began the series in 2007 and it's proved to be hugely successful.

Following her graduation from Florida's Ringling College of Art and Design in 2006, Liz's freelance career has blossomed and she's now concentrating on showing her work in galleries. "Drawing candy girls all day is a dream come true," she says. "Colours, fun objects and patterns drive my work and inspire me to create. I like to walk the line between something that's almost child-like in theme, but handled in a way that older people will be able to enjoy for its spirit."

Sweet Censorship This is a play on words and a typical Miss Kika piece. "I love making trippy backgrounds with cute elements that you might miss at first glance," says Liz. "My girls are very simple, so I try to let the flow of the patterns and hair do most of the talking in my art, instead of more obvious things such as strong facial expressions."

Liz Lorini
Location San Francisco
Job Freelance illustrator
Contact www.misskika.com
Software Illustrator

Liz is a self-confessed addict of "girly art, filled with colour and glitter." It's a passion that's gripped her since she was very young and is given free rein in her Miss Kika range of illustrations (named, somewhat incongruously, after her dead cat). She began the series in 2007 and it's proved to be hugely successful.

Following her graduation from Florida's Ringling College of Art and Design in 2006, Liz's freelance career has blossomed and she's now concentrating on showing her work in galleries. "Drawing candy girls all day is a dream come true," she says. "Colours, fun objects and patterns drive my work and inspire me to create. I like to walk the line between something that's almost child-like in theme, but handled in a way that older people will be able to enjoy for its spirit."

Bubblegum Geisha Another image from the Miss Kika range, this image is clearly influenced by Liz's years of studying at high school in Japan. "I was inspired by the graphic styles I saw every day on product packaging. The experience rekindled my passion for art and helped me to understand exactly what I wanted to study in college."