Computer Arts Gallery: November 2009

Peter Root
Location Guernsey, UK
Job Illustrator/graphic designer
Contact www.peterroot.com
Software SketchUp, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects

"My work experience includes a variety of professions such as architecture, contemporary media production and education," says Peter Root. "These jobs have always been very supportive of my life as an artist, and have all had a massive impact on the type of artwork I create."

Root's initial work, following his graduation in 2000, focused on highly repetitive techniques and algorithmic procedures. Since then he has become increasingly inspired by architecture, particularly in terms of the traditional technical drawing skills that it entails. He now spends part of his time lecturing in art and digital media at Guernsey College, and recently exhibited an installation at The Guardian's Newsroom Gallery in London.

Level 1 A personal piece, pencil on paper. "I spent ages trying to find graph/grid paper that was more heavyweight than the usual thin stuff used in schools," says Root. "In the end I decided to create my own grids in Illustrator and print them onto beautiful, thick watercolour paper."

Richard Sarson
Location London
Job Graphic artist
Contact www.richardsarson.com
Software Illustrator, Photoshop

"Shapes make me tick," says Richard Sarson. "I love shapes, the feel, smell and taste of them; the sharpness and sweetness of them; the disappointment of their abstract personality; the delight at their ability to surprise and translate what we cannot put into words."

Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2006, Sarson has been creating those shapes for clients such as The New York Times and idN, and doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. "I want to play with shapes forever, or at least for a very long time," he says. "I like small shapes, big shapes, complicated shapes and simple ones. I want to show people how wonderful they are through the work I do."

No-one This piece is part of a digital series of new work for 2009. "'No-One' is an experiment with shapes, pattern and repetition," Sarson explains. "Clues are left within the piece as reference points to some classic designs that I love, both obscure and obvious. I hope you read it as 'Ozone' or 'Zoo' or 'One'. We all read something different while looking at the same thing."

Leigh Pearce
Location Brighton
Job Illustrator
Contact www.leighpearce.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

Brighton born and bred, Leigh Pearce is a mutant hybrid borne of two very different parents - or, at least, his illustrative style is. "In my formative years, I watched an abundance of zombie films and spent time in the company of graffiti artists," he says. "This might go some way to explaining my fun, clean but morbidly humorous style."

Although he classes himself as a self-taught illustrator, Pearce also studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins and has gone on to produce work for the likes of Vodafone, Nokia and Virgin Atlantic. His particular niche is creating characters from the depths of his imagination and designing them as pen and paper sketches before working them up in Illustrator and Photoshop. "I'm currently concerned with the excessive amount of doodling I do," he admits.

Bacon Ears "Bacon Ears is a Vietnam veteran who had the misfortune of losing both ears in combat," Pearce explains. "If that wasn't unlucky enough, he then went on to fall foul of a short-sighted surgeon who grafted streaky bacon in place of his ears. There are a few more characters from his platoon that haven't yet been drawn up, such as Hamda, a panda with a hock of ham for a leg."

Leigh Pearce
Location Brighton
Job Illustrator
Contact www.leighpearce.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

Brighton born and bred, Leigh Pearce is a mutant hybrid borne of two very different parents - or, at least, his illustrative style is. "In my formative years, I watched an abundance of zombie films and spent time in the company of graffiti artists," he says. "This might go some way to explaining my fun, clean but morbidly humorous style."

Although he classes himself as a self-taught illustrator, Pearce also studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins and has gone on to produce work for the likes of Vodafone, Nokia and Virgin Atlantic. His particular niche is creating characters from the depths of his imagination and designing them as pen and paper sketches before working them up in Illustrator and Photoshop. "I'm currently concerned with the excessive amount of doodling I do," he admits.

Character sheet "I have quite contrasting influences," says Pearce. "I love Ronald Searle's loose, sketchy pen and ink work but I also love the sharp, clean symmetrical shapes of Charley Harper." These influences can be seen in this character design sheet, which showcases some of Pearce's creations.

Alastair Temple
Location Edinburgh
Job Engineering student
Contact www.alastairtemple.co.uk
Software Photoshop, CINEMA 4D

Originally hailing from a small village just outside Aberdeen, Alastair Temple is currently studying engineering at Edinburgh University. Art, though, is the passion that consumes most of his spare time, and in 2008 he founded an international art collective called The Luminarium, in collaboration with Jorik Dozey and Alex Fralin (www.theluminarium.net). More than just a personal portfolio site, The Luminarium aims to be a community-led home for artists of all types.

Much of Temple's work involves 3D objects created in CINEMA 4D. "I love the use of abstract forms," he explains. "I feel they can be used to express yourself in a way that is very definitely your own. Also, it always surprises and delights me that others can see things in abstract pieces that you don't originally see yourself - that sort of viewer participation is great."

As is evidenced in his work, Temple also admits to being a big admirer of heavily-textured backgrounds. "I love to create something that you can imagine reaching out and touching," he adds.

Jewels A collaboration with Nicolas Baroille for the Scene 2.5 artpack released by ActOneArt, this piece was created, says Temple, "after playing around with a new style of render in CINEMA 4D involving Boolean objects and HyperNURBS. I felt that the texture this gave the object reminded me of cut jewels and crystals. Nicolas added the Illustrator shapes and made some compositional adjustments before returning it to me for some final touch-ups."

Rodrigo Francisco
Location Goiânia, Brazil
Job Illustrator/graphic designer
Contact www.runandshout.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

19-year-old Rodrigo Francisco has just started his second year at the PUC Design School in his native Goiânia. Although he was always interested in drawing and illustrating, it was getting to grips with digital art that turned these hobbies into a passion. "Now I'm bringing typography and design into my everyday life," he says. "I'm mostly influenced and inspired by people such as Adhemas Batista and Alex Trochut - not only because their work is colourful and appealing, but because of the way they carefully produce it and are passionate about what they do."

While studying, Francisco is also working as a freelancer, "so my intention is to keep sharpening my eyes and skills to anything design-related, and to produce both appealing imagery and unique solutions for every project."

Spectrum An illustration created for Evokeone.com. "To start with, I created forms randomly until I found a good level of complexity," Francisco explains. "With the Live Paint Bucket tool in Illustrator, I was able to manage colours and forms to make them look bold, but also look soft and calm with the use of pink and blue-ish tones - a mix of tones and channels."

Rodrigo Francisco
Location Goiânia, Brazil
Job Illustrator/graphic designer
Contact www.runandshout.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

19-year-old Rodrigo Francisco has just started his second year at the PUC Design School in his native Goiânia. Although he was always interested in drawing and illustrating, it was getting to grips with digital art that turned these hobbies into a passion. "Now I'm bringing typography and design into my everyday life," he says. "I'm mostly influenced and inspired by people such as Adhemas Batista and Alex Trochut - not only because their work is colourful and appealing, but because of the way they carefully produce it and are passionate about what they do."

While studying, Francisco is also working as a freelancer, "so my intention is to keep sharpening my eyes and skills to anything design-related, and to produce both appealing imagery and unique solutions for every project."

Freedom "Illustrator to the core on this one," says Francisco of this self-initiated piece based on the concept of freedom of expression. "I tried to illustrate the idea that guidelines are there to be followed, but breaking them can lead you down great paths. That's how I think about life - and also about geometric forms… With that in mind I tried to appeal to the viewer by using the 3D-like shapes and gradient fills, adding a bit of depth to the piece."

Jeremy Little
Location Los Angeles
Job Art director/designer
Contact www.oxeth.com
Software Photoshop

Jeremy Little leads the classic double life of a designer and illustrator. In his day job, he directs and designs storyboard for agencies, commercial and broadcast clients such as National Geographic, music site Fuse and HBO as part of Oxeth, his motion graphic studio. "My ultimate concern is to communicate strong branding with inventive messaging," says Little. "At the moment you can find me continuing my ongoing explorations combining motion, composition and concept. I have a strong belief in the importance of concept-driven design, and that the idea should be the determining factor in how a job is created and dispersed to the public."

At night, though, Little says he is a "kitch-mystic in training," dealing with subjects that pertain more to spirituality and "the workings of sentient and celestial systems." In this persona, he imbues much of his work with a nostalgic, retro feel inspired by the likes of Philip K Dick, old encyclopedias and New Age aesthetics. "Looking through the chaos to find the underlying patterns has become second nature in my illustrations", he adds.

Forever Revealed In Little's own words, "This illuminating environment depicts earthly objects as they break through and connect to their heavenly counterparts. The pyramid is a symbol of man's higher awareness, and their placements correspond to cosmic cycles. These structures are most recognised with man's desire to correspond with a force beyond our own understanding."

Dan Alexander
Location London
Job Illustrator
Contact www.dansalexander.co.uk
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

"I tackle challenging briefs with strong ideas, dominant figures and fonts which have an impact and can carry a message," Dan Alexander says of his illustrations. "My inspiration comes to me in a variety of ways, from song lyrics and obscure blogs to art movements like Bauhaus and current world events."

His clients have included Adidas, Nike, Carhartt and The Times, but it wasn't always that way. "When my teacher caught me drawing pictures on my desk in primary school, she made me clean all the desks in the classroom," he says. "I'm still bitter to this day…"

Da Crew Commissioned by Adidas.com to form part of a poster campaign promoting its Style Essentials range. "The client brief asked for something urban, gritty and socially aware - something that didn't scream their logo but presented a real life snapshot of characters that represented the brand," says Alexander. "I spent several days looking at and sketching tower blocks, urban areas and council estates as well as streets in areas including Shoreditch and New Cross. Once complete, this enabled me to take my pencil/ink sketches in the studio and create an environment for my characters to live in."

Dan Alexander
Location London
Job Illustrator
Contact www.dansalexander.co.uk
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

"I tackle challenging briefs with strong ideas, dominant figures and fonts which have an impact and can carry a message," Dan Alexander says of his illustrations. "My inspiration comes to me in a variety of ways, from song lyrics and obscure blogs to art movements like Bauhaus and current world events."

His clients have included Adidas, Nike, Carhartt and The Times, but it wasn't always that way. "When my teacher caught me drawing pictures on my desk in primary school, she made me clean all the desks in the classroom," he says. "I'm still bitter to this day…"

Acceptance A personal piece to commemorate Barack Obama's election as President of the United States, drawing on classic images of John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King for inspiration. Alexander adds, "I used typography as a way of projecting the impact of events, and to be able to deliver the kind of impact I'd been looking for. So after initial sketches and the extensive testing of fonts, I created a background made up of [Obama's presidential acceptance] speech in full. Each and every word had to fit and fit well, without distortion and without dominating the illustration."