Computer Arts Gallery: December 2010

Roshni Merchant
Location Bangalore, India
Job Graphic designer
Contact cargocollective.com/roshni

"To me, creative design is about telling a story that begins from one thought and transcends to something that has the ability to spark a new thought," says Merchant. "As a designer, nothing excites me more than seeing an idea take shape, transforming into something that can align with people's understanding - not to forget clients, who are the 'people' for me at the moment." Born and brought up in Bangalore, she has recently been working at ReZonant Design in graphics, identity, packaging, advertising and illustration, while also producing her own work. Much of that process involves simply sitting, staring and thinking, as she explains: "Here, in the midst of all the hullaballoo, the one thing I find most innate to creativity is observation."

Afro This was initially intended to be a collectable tabletop paperweight, with the big hair providing the weight. "It then turned into this illustration, highlighting warm hues and abstract geometry. My influence here would probably be African textile patterns, psychedelic colours and shapes for the treatment and overall visual language."

Eakkarlak Sangtongchai
Location Bangkok, Thailand
Job Illustrator
Contact www.behance.net/stu_p

"I've loved drawing since I was young because it always relaxes me," says this 26-year-old illustrator. Indeed, after graduating with a major in computer graphics, he worked as a graphic designer for a year, "and found that the thing I liked best was drawing. So I decided to quit and become an illustrator instead. Some people have said that I took too long to decide exactly what I wanted to do. I agree with them, but the advantage is that you can increase your ability to experiment with many different techniques."

In his free-time personal pieces, Sangtongchai particularly enjoys trying out new illustration styles by combining various techniques and ideas - reinforcing his idea that range is good. "However, the process must depend on the message I want to communicate," he adds.

Instinct Animals One of Sangtongchai's own T-shirt designs. The idea came from his belief that everyone has an internal "instinct animal," which will show itself when the time is right. "Ever since my youth, I've loved to design various monsters instead of superheroes - so this project made me feel very happy because there are tons of monsters to draw. I decided to create it in a lovely and friendly style. I drew all the elements on A3 paper, scanned it in and coloured it in Photoshop."

Eakkarlak Sangtongchai
Location Bangkok, Thailand
Job Illustrator
Contact www.behance.net/stu_p

"I've loved drawing since I was young because it always relaxes me," says this 26-year-old illustrator. Indeed, after graduating with a major in computer graphics, he worked as a graphic designer for a year, "and found that the thing I liked best was drawing. So I decided to quit and become an illustrator instead. Some people have said that I took too long to decide exactly what I wanted to do. I agree with them, but the advantage is that you can increase your ability to experiment with many different techniques."

In his free-time personal pieces, Sangtongchai particularly enjoys trying out new illustration styles by combining various techniques and ideas - reinforcing his idea that range is good. "However, the process must depend on the message I want to communicate," he adds.

Revolution Root Another T-shirt design, and something of a tribute to Che Guevara and his political ideology, "which still remains nowadays even though he's been dead for more than 40 years," says Sangtongchai. "I chose the tree and the universe to represent the permanence of his ideas, then combined them with the famous portrait of Che. Raw feeling was important here, so I took several hours to draw his tree-muscle face, scanned it, and added the other elements in Photoshop."

Robin Crosby
Location Brighton, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.robincrosby.com

"When I was at college, I specialised in printmaking - everything from screenprinting to etching - and my background has influenced the way I approach computer-based work," says this graduate of Sequential Design. "In screenprinting, as in Photoshop and Illustrator, you think in terms of layers - and I think this discipline comes out in the directness of my images.

"Printmaking also encourages an awareness of tactile qualities, so I always try to picture how an image will look as a poster or CD cover, or what paper stock would best suit the illustration," says Crosby. "It's still a real buzz to see my work reproduced in other media - my next project is designing T-shirts, so I can't wait to get the first samples back." Crosby's ultimate aim is to set up his own design and printmaking studio, but in the meantime he's interested in producing more book covers and band artwork.

Hot Girls in Love This was originally designed as a promo flyer for a band that Crosby was in at the time. "We didn't last long as a group, sadly, but being responsible for the band identity was a great way of generating images and ideas," he says. "The music was retro/electro, so I wanted to reflect this by using angular, 80s-inspired lettering."

Robin Crosby
Location Brighton, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.robincrosby.com

"When I was at college, I specialised in printmaking - everything from screenprinting to etching - and my background has influenced the way I approach computer-based work," says this graduate of Sequential Design. "In screenprinting, as in Photoshop and Illustrator, you think in terms of layers - and I think this discipline comes out in the directness of my images.

"Printmaking also encourages an awareness of tactile qualities, so I always try to picture how an image will look as a poster or CD cover, or what paper stock would best suit the illustration," says Crosby. "It's still a real buzz to see my work reproduced in other media - my next project is designing T-shirts, so I can't wait to get the first samples back." Crosby's ultimate aim is to set up his own design and printmaking studio, but in the meantime he's interested in producing more book covers and band artwork.

Colours Move A self-initiated piece inspired by a song of the same name by electronic group Fuck Buttons. As he has been playing around with transparency and layering in Photoshop, Crosby thought the title epitomised what he was trying to achieve. "I concentrated on nailing the typography first, and then began experimenting with various backgrounds and colour palettes," he says.

Lindsey Spinks
Location London, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.lindseyspinks.com

Spinks graduated with a BA Honours in illustration earlier this year and is now freelancing. "My work is a combination of observational drawings and elements from my imagination," she says. "I love attention to detail and fine lines - my medium of choice is my beloved mechanical pencil." Her work has already been jury-selected for publication in Images 34, The Best of British Illustration, and was also selected for the annual Images exhibition in London. She's particularly interested in illustration for advertising, and would love the chance to work on a project "where I could bring my characters to life and communicate to a wider audience," as well as projects where illustrations are used beyond the printed page - such as on a window display or mural.

Dreams Beneath Your Feet This is the introduction page to Spinks' portfolio and was inspired by the W.B. Yeats quote "I have spread my dreams beneath your feet; tread softly because you tread on my dreams." "The idea is that my drawings are my dreams, they are personal to me," she says. "The illustration was created using a combination of acrylic paint, graphite and biro."

Purdi Petunia
Location Manchester, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.behance.net/purdi

Purdi Petunia is originally from Australia. "I spent 27 years there growing up in a little town called Emerald, where there isn't anywhere to go out," she says. "The main attraction is a steam train, and most girls don't shave their legs."

Petunia feels this lack of excitement contributed to her active imagination. Having graduated from Monash University with a BA in illustration and after working as a designer for a while, "like all other Aussies I felt the gravitational pull to the UK." She moved to London before settling in Manchester, where she now works as a freelance designer for various agencies. "My illustrations are mostly created using textural surfaces and combining paint and collage," she adds. "I'm also not afraid to keep things simple by using beautiful, clean linework."

A Walk in the Park This was designed for an ad campaign in Australia, promoting vitamins to alleviate hayfever. "It was made entirely from magazine clippings and finished in a day - I just got to work with the scissors and didn't sketch it out," says Petunia. "As with most of my characters, I tend to create them like the old-fashioned paper dolls I used to get when I was little."

Alexey Malina
Location Moscow, Russia
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.makearea.com

Hailing from Moscow, Malina has been part of the creative industry for seven years, working in print and digital media with his main focus on identity, illustration and concept art. He says that he particularly enjoys mixing techniques to produce surprises in his work: a typical piece might include hand-drawing, photo-manipulation, vector graphics and post-production.

"Every project I do is like a DJ mix," he explains. "It starts with the general idea and includes experimentation with different motifs, themes, shapes and colours, and sometimes brings unexpected results."

Non Cadenza The title refers to a band whose music Malina describes as "pure Russian soul music, with touching jazz harmonies and clear female vocals." To launch their first album, Sweet Content, the band invited artists to create images based on that sound. The likes of Jared Nickerson, João Oliveira and many others responded - as did Malina, with this poster and cover art.

Alexey Malina
Location Moscow, Russia
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.makearea.com

Hailing from Moscow, Malina has been part of the creative industry for seven years, working in print and digital media with his main focus on identity, illustration and concept art. He says that he particularly enjoys mixing techniques to produce surprises in his work: a typical piece might include hand-drawing, photo-manipulation, vector graphics and post-production.

"Every project I do is like a DJ mix," he explains. "It starts with the general idea and includes experimentation with different motifs, themes, shapes and colours, and sometimes brings unexpected results."

Five Girls "Five posters, five characters, five destinies," says Malina. This series of posters, he explains, was an experiment with shape and colour, and was created for the forthcoming film Ruchiki. "It's an ambitious short, examining the relationship of a young girl to her dreams, and the realities that lurk beyond her fantasies," he says.

Liam Smith
Location Dorset, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.society6.com/studio/mrbrightside

"I studied ICT in college for three years and have no background education or qualifications in graphic design," says Smith. It was the deviantART website that awakened his dormant interest in illustration, although he began rather more simply with photo-manipulation and typography. "I hadn't drawn in years, and didn't have any interest in art back in school," he adds, "so the whole thing was a bit of a learning curve."

Smith admits that he's still no great shakes at traditional drawing, so much of his work is completed in Illustrator once the initial sketch has been worked up far enough. "I'm still experimenting with styles but I'm getting more confident with one in particular," he says, "which involves using simple shapes to decorate and add character to a face or object."

Cuckoo Clock Another personal piece, and an attempt to move away from humans and animals - themes that had tended to dominate his earlier attempts. "I wanted to see if I could make the 'decoration' technique work without any of the characteristics I'd use on a face," he says. "I think this was the first time I used a very limited colour palette, and that's something I plan to do more of in the future, as it can be simple but effective."