Computer Arts Gallery: February 2011

Agata Dudek
Location Warsaw, Poland
Job Illustrator and graphic designer
Contact www.dudek.carbonmade.com

In her day job, Dudek deals with publishing graphics, particularly books and press illustrations. "But in my free time," she says, "I read cookbooks, bake muffins, glue stickers in public spaces and practice with my imagination."

Her favourite areas of artwork include handwritten typography, street art, contemporary illustrations and vintage photos - all of which feed her loose, hand-drawn style of illustration. "I would like to be as good in my job as Hannig Wagenbreth or Jeremyville," she says.

Puppy An illustration inspired by the song 'Puppy Toy' by Tricky. "It's a portrait of my friend," says Dudek. "I often draw her because she has an interesting shape to her eyebrows. I like to use photos, vintage engravings and other graphic elements."

Agata Dudek
Location Warsaw, Poland
Job Illustrator and graphic designer
Contact www.dudek.carbonmade.com

In her day job, Dudek deals with publishing graphics, particularly books and press illustrations. "But in my free time," she says, "I read cookbooks, bake muffins, glue stickers in public spaces and practice with my imagination."

Her favourite areas of artwork include handwritten typography, street art, contemporary illustrations and vintage photos - all of which feed her loose, hand-drawn style of illustration. "I would like to be as good in my job as Hannig Wagenbreth or Jeremyville," she says.

Ghostwriters An illustration for the Polish magazine Przekrój, accompanying an article about who ghostwriters are and what they do. "I wanted to show the creative process as a great and complicated mechanism," Dudek explains. "Collage is a fantastic technique because it enables great freedom. I also like to paste quotations in my work and use handwritten typography."

Peter Bowen
Location London, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.peterbowen.co.uk

"I've been drawing since I could first hold a pencil," says Bowen. After studying a degree in illustration, he embarked on a freelance illustration career - and, two years later, gratefully accepted a job offer from 55DSL, part of the Diesel group.

Undoubtedly, some of the attraction was that the post meant moving to North Italy. "I stayed there for four-and-a-half years, but I'm now back in the UK working freelance," he says.

"My work sometimes has a slightly dark edge, but it's rarely without a sense of humour. I'm influenced by anything from lowbrow art to Victorian engravings, but I particularly love the work of Rockin' Jelly Bean, Chris Ware, James Jean, Marlo Meekins, Erich Sokol and Katie Rice."

Debranded Girl T-shirt graphic design created with Painter for the sketching, Illustrator for the sunglasses and Photoshop for finishing and colouring. "I was interested in how the different elements could be combined into a convincing whole," he recalls.

Liz Kay
Location Yorkshire, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.lizkay.co.uk

Having studied illustration and then graphic design, Kay found herself more used to traditional media by the end of her education. Once out in the real world, however, she discovered the joys of digital art, to the extent that she now also produces animation and web design.

"My projects always start out with a pencil sketch," she says. "Then, depending on the requirements of the commission, I use a range of techniques including line drawing, printmaking, painting and scanned textures, all of which end up being brought together and tweaked using Photoshop or Illustrator." She continues: "I feel that the handmade elements give my work more of an eclectic feel." Kay aims to continue this diversification by working for as wide a range of clients and commissions as possible.

Review Copy "I found a review of a show I took part in," says Kay of this personal piece. "It was a collaborative exhibition across many disciplines. From our point of view, the exhibition was a success; however the person who wrote this mad, ranting review on a blog seemed to disagree. I decided to use her words as the basis for a piece of self-promotional work - an experiment using scanned woodblock letters and Illustrator."

Liz Kay
Location Yorkshire, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.lizkay.co.uk

Having studied illustration and then graphic design, Kay found herself more used to traditional media by the end of her education. Once out in the real world, however, she discovered the joys of digital art, to the extent that she now also produces animation and web design.

"My projects always start out with a pencil sketch," she says. "Then, depending on the requirements of the commission, I use a range of techniques including line drawing, printmaking, painting and scanned textures, all of which end up being brought together and tweaked using Photoshop or Illustrator." She continues: "I feel that the handmade elements give my work more of an eclectic feel." Kay aims to continue this diversification by working for as wide a range of clients and commissions as possible.

Sydney Map A commission from Sydney-based service The Illustration Room, Kay was briefed to highlight the city's shopping districts. "They decided to go with my style because they specifically asked for the map to have a vintage, eclectic feel. To create it, I used painted elements, vector illustration, woodblock letters and line drawing, all brought together in Photoshop," she says.

Louisa Gray
Location London, UK
Job Illustrator and graphic designer
Contact www.louisascarletgray.co.uk

"I think the world needs a sense of entertainment, and an escape from the reality of everyday life," says this recent graduate of London's Central Saint Martins, "so my work centres around appreciating the bizarre in an attempt to escape the banal."

To do this, Gray likes to cut and paste, mix vibrant colours and use imagery she's found. Contrasts, she adds, are particularly important, with inspiration from fairgrounds, Mexican and American pop culture and childhood imagery all blending in her images.

"Recently my artwork has taken a more surreal and whimsical direction, featuring mysterious creatures, abstract forms and nonsensical landscapes," Gray reflects. "This has resulted in quirky visuals and dream-like products of the subconscious, which display a sense of nostalgia and represent the naivety with which we approached things as children."

Through the Looking Glass One of a series of prints and digital images based on the idea of the diffraction of light, and inspired by kaleidoscopes. "I was interested in the overlay of shapes and colour in a defined space, so in this image I explored the same idea using textures."

Louisa Gray
Location London, UK
Job Illustrator and graphic designer
Contact www.louisascarletgray.co.uk

"I think the world needs a sense of entertainment, and an escape from the reality of everyday life," says this recent graduate of London's Central Saint Martins, "so my work centres around appreciating the bizarre in an attempt to escape the banal."

To do this, Gray likes to cut and paste, mix vibrant colours and use imagery she's found. Contrasts, she adds, are particularly important, with inspiration from fairgrounds, Mexican and American pop culture and childhood imagery all blending in her images.

"Recently my artwork has taken a more surreal and whimsical direction, featuring mysterious creatures, abstract forms and nonsensical landscapes," Gray reflects. "This has resulted in quirky visuals and dream-like products of the subconscious, which display a sense of nostalgia and represent the naivety with which we approached things as children."

Mr Right A personal piece looking at the idea of the 'perfect man', which Gray says was "crudely executed" using a mixture of collage, photos and Photoshop. "The figure in the image appears as a dandy and is shown wearing a superhero mask, with an exotic backdrop of palm trees to emphasise the idealism in the image," she adds.

Andrew Cruchinho
Location Durban, South Africa
Job Graphic designer, illustrator
Contact www.flickr.com/photos/warp_spasm

"I'm a bit of an ambiguous enigma, even to myself," says Cruchinho, only half-joking. Although he has a degree in graphic design and graduated from the Durban University of Technology, he felt the need for something beyond his love for minimalism - and found it in the form of illustration.

"It gives me an outlet for the more bizarre side of my personality," he says. "Anything that's strange, odd or out of the ordinary is a big influence on me. I strive to be different, unique and original, and I'm always trying to capture a bit of the enigmatic in my illustrations." These begin as hand-drawn images, which Cruchinho then plays around with in Photoshop, adding textures and other elements.

Kitsch Thump Thump "This was an experiment in letting go," explains Cruchinho. "Sometimes I become too involved in a piece, controlling every minute detail, so with this I just wanted to enjoy the sometimes bizarre beauty of kitsch art." He combined a variety of images in Photoshop and simply played around with them.

Jennifer Cirpici
Location Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.breakingcanvas.com

"I'm one of the youngest successful digital artists in the Netherlands, which is a plain country with lots of cows," Cirpici deadpans. "By the age of 19, I was a full-time junior designer at the Mediamonks agency." Now, at the ripe old age of 20, she works as a designer at Saatchi & Saatchi in Amsterdam, while also producing freelance work for her own website and clientele.

Rather than attempting to establish a particular personal style, Cirpici wants to avoid repeating herself at this stage in her career. "I want to try to learn as much as possible," she explains. "That's why my style is a mixture of everything, although I think you can recognise it by the bright colours and contrast, plus the conceptual and photo-manipulation combined with digital paintings and vector work."

She's also canny enough to know that you can't always rely on your own judgement: "I do like working within a team of creatives. It's always important to accept feedback and to learn from it."

Cheesecake This is a personal design by Cirpici inspired by the packaging and shapes of the eponymous Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavour.

Paul Beckers
Location Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.kwestievanlef.nl

Beckers is the perfect example of it never being too late to begin a career in the creative industry. Now 30 years old, he first began learning Photoshop and Illustrator 10 years ago. "I was studying communications and management, but I wanted to do something more creative," he says. "So I began my own portfolio and decided to go to an art academy instead."

This led to him setting up a company, Matter of Guts, and in 2008 he founded his own clothing label. "We customised sneakers in a sick way. The web shop we opened in 2009 is our big success story, and in 2010 we began digital textile printing, so anyone can make their own clothing prints," he adds.

Design, he says, is an addiction that can't be stopped. "I often work 16 hours a day; I design all the prints and my girlfriend handles the sales and finances."

Maniaxc World 7 "A world of tubes where lots of stuff is going on," is how Beckers describes this design, one of many in the Maniaxc World series. "Every week I try to make a new world with new characters. The theme of this particular one is 'tubes and holes'. During the design process, I preview the progress on Twitter, so that people can check it out and give suggestions." Other 'worlds' in this series focus on bubbles and the jungle, all inhabited by similar Maniaxc characters.