Computer Arts Gallery: March 2007

ERY BURNS
LOCATION Leicester, UK
JOB Illustrator/designer
CONTACT www.eryburns.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Ery Burns is a 24-year-old illustrator and designer who grew up in an old farmhouse in Leicestershire. "I used to spend so much time drawing, my parents thought I was autistic," she remembers. "I collected dinosaur toys and loved The Twilight Zone and Terry Gilliam films, such as Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - anything with real vision."

Burns graduated with an HND in Surface Pattern in 2005, and two years later screen print and repeat pattern design remain a serious passion for her. "I love creating colour, patterns, bold black lines that flow organically, and the idea of machine versus nature, which is a theme that runs through most of my work," she says. "I really believe you can find beauty in anything if you look hard enough, which is what I aim to do with my illustrations."

As well as recently designing an advert for Ten4 magazine, Burns has also worked for website Blowback and hopes to make fanzines and set up her own T-shirt label in the future. "I'd also like to get into fashion or pattern design and make a pattern for a Converse shoe," she says.

BEE LEAF "I used muted colours to create a vintage cigarette-stained effect. This is an early illustration that I created about 18 months ago."

ERY BURNS
LOCATION Leicester, UK
JOB Illustrator/designer
CONTACT www.eryburns.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Ery Burns is a 24-year-old illustrator and designer who grew up in an old farmhouse in Leicestershire. "I used to spend so much time drawing, my parents thought I was autistic," she remembers. "I collected dinosaur toys and loved The Twilight Zone and Terry Gilliam films, such as Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - anything with real vision."

Burns graduated with an HND in Surface Pattern in 2005, and two years later screen print and repeat pattern design remain a serious passion for her. "I love creating colour, patterns, bold black lines that flow organically, and the idea of machine versus nature, which is a theme that runs through most of my work," she says. "I really believe you can find beauty in anything if you look hard enough, which is what I aim to do with my illustrations."

As well as recently designing an advert for Ten4 magazine, Burns has also worked for website Blowback and hopes to make fanzines and set up her own T-shirt label in the future. "I'd also like to get into fashion or pattern design and make a pattern for a Converse shoe," she says.

DOLPHINSCAPE "I drew this while on a bus to France, which is why it's so busy. I had hours to kill! I like its energy, movement, humour and colour. It looks like a multi-coloured dolphin soup exploding on the page."

BEN SUMMERS
LOCATION Leeds, UK
JOB Student
CONTACT www.benishere.co.uk
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Ben Summers is currently studying Graphic Arts and Design at Leeds Metropolitan University. The 22-year-old's eye-catching work is heavily influenced by David Hockney, Tez Humphreys, Seripop and 1985 Mac drawings.

"Drawing is the foundation of most of my work," he tells us. "I love drawing - the whole process from brain to paper, and why different people draw like they do. I'm also totally fascinated by the evolution of computer-aided illustration, and how trends grow."

So what are his plans after graduation? "My plans are to keep pushing my work on, hopefully collaborating with anyone who shares the love."

DANCE123 "Combining hand-drawn stuff with photos can be really difficult to get right. I was pleased with the balance in this poster design, and also with the spontaneity of the work."

BEN SUMMERS
LOCATION Leeds, UK
JOB Student
CONTACT www.benishere.co.uk
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Ben Summers is currently studying Graphic Arts and Design at Leeds Metropolitan University. The 22-year-old's eye-catching work is heavily influenced by David Hockney, Tez Humphreys, Seripop and 1985 Mac drawings.

"Drawing is the foundation of most of my work," he tells us. "I love drawing - the whole process from brain to paper, and why different people draw like they do. I'm also totally fascinated by the evolution of computer-aided illustration, and how trends grow."

So what are his plans after graduation? "My plans are to keep pushing my work on, hopefully collaborating with anyone who shares the love."

DOUBLE HOT HOT WATER "This is my favourite piece. I like the colour balance, and the fact that, although the piece would have been impossible to create without the computer, it looks naturalistic."

PHIL DUNNE
LOCATION Dublin, Ireland
JOB Freelance illustrator and graphic/web designer
CONTACT www.lovetherobot.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop, Illustrator and FreeHand

Phil Dunne is a 26-year-old freelance illustrator from Dublin who graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2003 with a BA (Hons) in Visual Communications. Since then, he's been steadily building up his portfolio and work experience through a variety of projects and clients.

"My work is quite diverse, highly detailed and has a traditional style of illustration as its basis," he says. "However, I'm not keen on being labelled or noted for having a particularly single or identifiable style. I'd like to branch out and try different things: pixel art, vector art, watercolour… I don't want to be doing the same thing over and over again."

When asked about his plans for the future, Dunne has plenty to say. "It's my desire to have a successful career in illustration, for people to remember my name and my work and to work with creative people who I have great respect for," he reveals. "I have several dreams at the moment: one is to get my book projects published, another would be to work on a major illustration job for a big fashion label, such as Dolce & Gabbana or Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B."

SPLIT "This illustration is about the complex emotions and situations we face when a relationship comes to an end. Sometimes I use Photoshop CS in a very basic manner, using it to enhance the colour and clarity of my hand rendered work, or to combine and edit different elements."

PHIL DUNNE
LOCATION Dublin, Ireland
JOB Freelance illustrator and graphic/web designer
CONTACT www.lovetherobot.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop, Illustrator and FreeHand

Phil Dunne is a 26-year-old freelance illustrator from Dublin who graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2003 with a BA (Hons) in Visual Communications. Since then, he's been steadily building up his portfolio and work experience through a variety of projects and clients.

"My work is quite diverse, highly detailed and has a traditional style of illustration as its basis," he says. "However, I'm not keen on being labelled or noted for having a particularly single or identifiable style. I'd like to branch out and try different things: pixel art, vector art, watercolour… I don't want to be doing the same thing over and over again."

When asked about his plans for the future, Dunne has plenty to say. "It's my desire to have a successful career in illustration, for people to remember my name and my work and to work with creative people who I have great respect for," he reveals. "I have several dreams at the moment: one is to get my book projects published, another would be to work on a major illustration job for a big fashion label, such as Dolce & Gabbana or Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B."

REQUISITION "It's very important for me to step back from the computer and work in more traditional media. This image happened by accident. I was messing around with some ink and watercolour paper when I began to see an interesting structure in the random splashes. I created a collage in Photoshop with different scans, some from my sketchbook, others from a very old dictionary, and sketched in some lines with my Wacom tablet."

DANIS SIE
LOCATION Singapore/East Java
JOB Student/ graphic designer
CONTACT www.denzmixed.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator

Danis Sie was born in Indonesia in July 1987 and has been working as a freelance designer since he was just 17 years old. "Back then I was just doing a few design projects - book designs, banners, posters and outdoor advertising using Photoshop and Illustrator," he remembers. "Now I'm studying Visual Communication at the Raffles Design Institute in Singapore."

Sie takes photographs for reference with his Canon 350D and then uses Photoshop and Illustrator to add effects. "The most important thing for me is the concept. It must be visually attractive," he says. "I'd like people to see my work and say, 'Wow!'"

VALHALLA - ANDROMEDA CLIFF "This is an experimental project to visualise heaven. The actual meaning of this weird-looking promotional ad is just: 'Heaven is on earth, which is inside your soul'. The small village represents my home town."

DANIS SIE
LOCATION Singapore/East Java
JOB Student/ graphic designer
CONTACT www.denzmixed.com
SOFTWARE Photoshop, Painter and Illustrator

Danis Sie was born in Indonesia in July 1987 and has been working as a freelance designer since he was just 17 years old. "Back then I was just doing a few design projects - book designs, banners, posters and outdoor advertising using Photoshop and Illustrator," he remembers. "Now I'm studying Visual Communication at the Raffles Design Institute in Singapore."

Sie takes photographs for reference with his Canon 350D and then uses Photoshop and Illustrator to add effects. "The most important thing for me is the concept. It must be visually attractive," he says. "I'd like people to see my work and say, 'Wow!'"

666 REVELATION "I created this poster on 6 June 2006. Everyone was talking about 666 being the end of the world, so I decided to create an illustration of what should have happened that day, which is also meaningless and destructive."

KYLE DETELLA
LOCATION Illinois, USA
JOB Graphic designer
CONTACT www.mediagrafiek.net
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Kyle DeTella is a 22-year-old designer from Lockport, Illinois, who, after attending university for a short period of time to study English, realised that his passion was really for aesthetics and the way the world around him was designed.

So he picked up a copy of Photoshop and taught himself how to use it. "I learned the function of design, and then started making a couple of websites for friends and small businesses," says DeTella. "I soon moved in a more expressive direction."

So what's he up to now? "Since getting involved in design, my work has progressed every single day," he says. "I organise the files on my hard drive by month and date, so that I can track my progress. I've now enrolled on an advertising degree course and when I graduate I hope to get myself noticed."

THE BENCH "This piece began with a photo of a bench and a concrete background. Now the bench looks as if it's been placed into a different scene. I created the textures from collages of flowers, fabric prints, vector shapes and hand-drawn elements."

KYLE DETELLA
LOCATION Illinois, USA
JOB Graphic designer
CONTACT www.mediagrafiek.net
SOFTWARE Photoshop and Illustrator

Kyle DeTella is a 22-year-old designer from Lockport, Illinois, who, after attending university for a short period of time to study English, realised that his passion was really for aesthetics and the way the world around him was designed.

So he picked up a copy of Photoshop and taught himself how to use it. "I learned the function of design, and then started making a couple of websites for friends and small businesses," says DeTella. "I soon moved in a more expressive direction."

So what's he up to now? "Since getting involved in design, my work has progressed every single day," he says. "I organise the files on my hard drive by month and date, so that I can track my progress. I've now enrolled on an advertising degree course and when I graduate I hope to get myself noticed."

THEATRE LEGS "I created the leg tattoos by collaging photos of flowers, scans of drawings and vector shapes in Photoshop and Illustrator."