Computer Arts Gallery: June 2012

Jamie Mitchell
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Jamie Mitchell initially trained as an architect, but after spending a year in the business he realised that it didn’t allow him enough time for hand-drawn illustrations and wasn’t the job for him. During that year he set up Ohh Deer – a platform for creatives to sell their work, and a brand that he describes as his creative highlight. He’s currently busy producing a new Ohh Deer range of alternative greeting cards for London’s Design Museum, as well as working with Goodification on a project for Pepsi.

All Out War
‘All Out War’ was hand-drawn and finalised in Photoshop. “This is really all about revisiting my childhood toys,” smiles Mitchell

Jamie Mitchell
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Jamie Mitchell initially trained as an architect, but after spending a year in the business he realised that it didn’t allow him enough time for hand-drawn illustrations and wasn’t the job for him. During that year he set up Ohh Deer – a platform for creatives to sell their work, and a brand that he describes as his creative highlight. He’s currently busy producing a new Ohh Deer range of alternative greeting cards for London’s Design Museum, as well as working with Goodification on a project for Pepsi.

Bob the Polar Bear
Originally designed for a set of Christmas cards for Ohh Deer, ‘Bob The Polar Bear’ is one of Mitchell’s favourite pieces. “He’s taken on a life of his own, and people seem to love him,” he laughs. “I think that it’s the hat.”

Jamie Mitchell
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Jamie Mitchell initially trained as an architect, but after spending a year in the business he realised that it didn’t allow him enough time for hand-drawn illustrations and wasn’t the job for him. During that year he set up Ohh Deer – a platform for creatives to sell their work, and a brand that he describes as his creative highlight. He’s currently busy producing a new Ohh Deer range of alternative greeting cards for London’s Design Museum, as well as working with Goodification on a project for Pepsi.

Valkyrie
A one-off vinyl sleeve of Florence + the Machine’s If Only For One Night, ‘Valkyrie’ was created for Universal Music’s Secret 7” competition

Jamie Mitchell
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Jamie Mitchell initially trained as an architect, but after spending a year in the business he realised that it didn’t allow him enough time for hand-drawn illustrations and wasn’t the job for him. During that year he set up Ohh Deer – a platform for creatives to sell their work, and a brand that he describes as his creative highlight. He’s currently busy producing a new Ohh Deer range of alternative greeting cards for London’s Design Museum, as well as working with Goodification on a project for Pepsi.

Baby Dictator
‘Baby Dictator’ illustrates a poem in Popshot. “The idea was to show that even a dictator is completely vulnerable at some point in their lives.”

Lee Skinner
Location: Nottingham, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Hailing from Luton in the UK, 20-year-old Lee Skinner is on the cusp of finishing a BA in graphic design at Nottingham Trent University. He reflects on how this experience has helped him develop as a designer: “It’s been such a great environment to work in. The benefit of having over 100 other designers all willing to offer suggestions and critique has proven so useful time and again.”

Skinner maintains an open-minded approach to his work: “I keep being told to specialise, but I continue to ignore this,” he muses. “It’s not due to stubbornness – it’s just an urge to experiment. I don’t want to shut any doors at such an early stage in my design career.” Skinner does, however, have a particular soft spot for street art: “I’m amazed at its ability to inject creativity and wit into otherwise dull surfaces,” he says.

Skinner ultimately aims to set up his own studio with other young designers, collaborating with local design talents to give the project a continuous source of fresh, unrestricted talent. “I’ve always been working toward a career in design. This is really where it all starts. I can’t wait.”

Dexter Wildman Outback Pack Field Guide
Skinner created this piece for a university brief entitled ‘Make the mundane magnificent’. He explains: “Dexter Wildman embodies a young, environmentally conscious audience, recycling cheap, accessible items and creating stylish outdoor gear.”

Lee Skinner
Location: Nottingham, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Hailing from Luton in the UK, 20-year-old Lee Skinner is on the cusp of finishing a BA in graphic design at Nottingham Trent University. He reflects on how this experience has helped him develop as a designer: “It’s been such a great environment to work in. The benefit of having over 100 other designers all willing to offer suggestions and critique has proven so useful time and again.”

Skinner maintains an open-minded approach to his work: “I keep being told to specialise, but I continue to ignore this,” he muses. “It’s not due to stubbornness – it’s just an urge to experiment. I don’t want to shut any doors at such an early stage in my design career.” Skinner does, however, have a particular soft spot for street art: “I’m amazed at its ability to inject creativity and wit into otherwise dull surfaces,” he says.

Skinner ultimately aims to set up his own studio with other young designers, collaborating with local design talents to give the project a continuous source of fresh, unrestricted talent. “I’ve always been working toward a career in design. This is really where it all starts. I can’t wait.”

Dexter Wildman Outback Pack Field Guide
Skinner created this piece for a university brief entitled ‘Make the mundane magnificent’. He explains: “Dexter Wildman embodies a young, environmentally conscious audience, recycling cheap, accessible items and creating stylish outdoor gear.”

Mark Dearman
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Design director

Mark Dearman is design director for digital marketing agency True, and has always been interested in creative pursuits: “Being dyslexic, I was attracted to creative activities like making music, photography and art from an early age,” he begins. He studied a BTEC in graphic design, which led him to the University of Falmouth. Following a move to Bristol, he’s since worked for clients including Peugeot, Nokia, Dolby and Orange.

“I use Cinema 4D to bring my ideas to life,” he says, “experimenting with dynamics, materials and lighting to create a minimal and synthetic look. I’m very inspired by the juxtaposition of nature and technology.”

Over the coming months, expect to see Dearman directing social media and mobile campaigns, alongside a new image launch for his ongoing Diamonds & Dust project. Despite his success, Dearman is the first to admit that he’s always learning: “I don’t think you can ever claim to be the finished article,” he says. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Grace
This female torso sculpture was inspired by Jean-Paul Goude and Grace Jones. “I wanted the image to be low-key,” says Dearman, “It was a real balancing act with the lighting to make sure it had the right amount of reflection and back lighting to stop it bleeding into the background,” he admits.

Mark Dearman
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Design director

Mark Dearman is design director for digital marketing agency True, and has always been interested in creative pursuits: “Being dyslexic, I was attracted to creative activities like making music, photography and art from an early age,” he begins. He studied a BTEC in graphic design, which led him to the University of Falmouth. Following a move to Bristol, he’s since worked for clients including Peugeot, Nokia, Dolby and Orange.

“I use Cinema 4D to bring my ideas to life,” he says, “experimenting with dynamics, materials and lighting to create a minimal and synthetic look. I’m very inspired by the juxtaposition of nature and technology.”

Over the coming months, expect to see Dearman directing social media and mobile campaigns, alongside a new image launch for his ongoing Diamonds & Dust project. Despite his success, Dearman is the first to admit that he’s always learning: “I don’t think you can ever claim to be the finished article,” he says. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Insectapop
Inspired by a set of entomology illustrations – which were a birthday gift from his wife – ‘Insectapop’ was a challenging piece, but Dearman is proud of the result. “Getting the gold to look hyper-real was tricky, but I was really pleased with it.”

Jason Dowd
Location: Galway, Ireland
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

Jason Dowd has been drawing for as long as he can remember. “I spent a lot of time drawing during school and had little interest in most of my subjects,” the 22-year-old admits, “so I decided to do a one-year art portfolio course at college, where I developed an incredible passion for it.”

Despite enjoying “the whole fine art thing,” it was during his time at college that Dowd became interested in graffiti. This led him to illustration, and he would draw and paint characters influenced by tattoo culture, psychedelic and lowbrow art.

Dowd later studied graphic design at university, which influenced him irreversibly: “It was here that I first learned to appreciate typography, and I discovered Illustrator and Photoshop, which changed my style enormously,” he explains. “I was always a big fan of very clean, crisp and colourful characters, so from then on, I’ve always sketched my characters and coloured them digitally.”

Calypso Mondays
Dowd was commissioned by a club in Galway to design a poster after they discovered his illustrations online. “I was going for a carnival, Day of the Dead-style illustration, which would still suit a nightclub,” he says.

Jason Dowd
Location: Galway, Ireland
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

Jason Dowd has been drawing for as long as he can remember. “I spent a lot of time drawing during school and had little interest in most of my subjects,” the 22-year-old admits, “so I decided to do a one-year art portfolio course at college, where I developed an incredible passion for it.”

Despite enjoying “the whole fine art thing,” it was during his time at college that Dowd became interested in graffiti. This led him to illustration, and he would draw and paint characters influenced by tattoo culture, psychedelic and lowbrow art.

Dowd later studied graphic design at university, which influenced him irreversibly: “It was here that I first learned to appreciate typography, and I discovered Illustrator and Photoshop, which changed my style enormously,” he explains. “I was always a big fan of very clean, crisp and colourful characters, so from then on, I’ve always sketched my characters and coloured them digitally.”

Fried Eggs and Dubsteppe
Dowd designed this poster for a gig organised by his friends: “I wanted to create a fun, eye-catching design. Most of the posters were ripped down and stolen well before the gig.”

Francisco Park
Location: Toronto, Canada
Job: Illustrator and animator

“I always try to incorporate humour into my work, as I think that it’s the most effective way to communicate a message,” says 24-year-old Canadian illustrator and animator Francisco Park. Currently based at Guru Studio in Toronto as a design intern, Park is a big fan of incorporating real-life observations into his work: “I show interesting aspects of life that I’ve observed,” he says. “Talking to people is such a huge learning experience.”

A traditionalist at heart, he started out in mixed media, but now works fully digitally. “It’s amazing what digital media can do for creating art,” Park admits, “but I’m a firm believer that you can’t beat the hands-on approach.”

Having graduated in 2009 from OCAD University in Toronto, he is busy developing his freelance work and dreams one day of having his own comic series. Watch this space.

Sacrifice
This work formed part of Park’s thesis, looking at elements of physical comedy. “I was attempting to find out why certain aspects of slap-stick comedy make us laugh,” Park says. “This piece is about sacrifice, and the feeling of pleasure or superiority from somebody getting hurt.”

Francisco Park
Location: Toronto, Canada
Job: Illustrator and animator

“I always try to incorporate humour into my work, as I think that it’s the most effective way to communicate a message,” says 24-year-old Canadian illustrator and animator Francisco Park. Currently based at Guru Studio in Toronto as a design intern, Park is a big fan of incorporating real-life observations into his work: “I show interesting aspects of life that I’ve observed,” he says. “Talking to people is such a huge learning experience.”

A traditionalist at heart, he started out in mixed media, but now works fully digitally. “It’s amazing what digital media can do for creating art,” Park admits, “but I’m a firm believer that you can’t beat the hands-on approach.”

Having graduated in 2009 from OCAD University in Toronto, he is busy developing his freelance work and dreams one day of having his own comic series. Watch this space.

Follow Me
A personal project, Park challenged himself with this piece. “I wanted to draw as many people in one scene as possible, which is something I always find difficult,” he says.