Computer Arts Gallery: October 2011

Owen Davey
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Illustrator

Freelance illustrator Owen Davey kick-started his career with a commission for the Guardian in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He’s worked with a variety of prominent clients including Orange, The New York Times, Persil, Jamie Oliver, the BBC and End of the Road festival – to name but a few. He also has two children’s books available through Templar Publishing and is working on his third at present. A Brighton boy at heart, Davey is currently based in Bristol in the UK.

End of the Road Shindig
Inspired by snowy holidays in Austria, Davey’s ‘End of the Road Shindig’ poster features tree shapes drawn on paper, then scanned and coloured digitally in Photoshop

Owen Davey
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Illustrator

Freelance illustrator Owen Davey kick-started his career with a commission for the Guardian in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He’s worked with a variety of prominent clients including Orange, The New York Times, Persil, Jamie Oliver, the BBC and End of the Road festival – to name but a few. He also has two children’s books available through Templar Publishing and is working on his third at present. A Brighton boy at heart, Davey is currently based in Bristol in the UK.

Leisure Society
Album artwork for indie band Leisure Society. Davey drew inspiration for the latter from modernist artist Charley Harper’s elegant animal works

Owen Davey
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Illustrator

Freelance illustrator Owen Davey kick-started his career with a commission for the Guardian in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He’s worked with a variety of prominent clients including Orange, The New York Times, Persil, Jamie Oliver, the BBC and End of the Road festival – to name but a few. He also has two children’s books available through Templar Publishing and is working on his third at present. A Brighton boy at heart, Davey is currently based in Bristol in the UK.

Leisure Society
Album artwork for indie band Leisure Society. Davey drew inspiration for the latter from modernist artist Charley Harper’s elegant animal works

Owen Davey
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Illustrator

Freelance illustrator Owen Davey kick-started his career with a commission for the Guardian in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He’s worked with a variety of prominent clients including Orange, The New York Times, Persil, Jamie Oliver, the BBC and End of the Road festival – to name but a few. He also has two children’s books available through Templar Publishing and is working on his third at present. A Brighton boy at heart, Davey is currently based in Bristol in the UK.

In My Good Books
Davey created these book covers for a post about classic novels, for Orange’s The Feed site

Owen Davey
Location: Bristol, UK
Job: Illustrator

Freelance illustrator Owen Davey kick-started his career with a commission for the Guardian in 2009, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He’s worked with a variety of prominent clients including Orange, The New York Times, Persil, Jamie Oliver, the BBC and End of the Road festival – to name but a few. He also has two children’s books available through Templar Publishing and is working on his third at present. A Brighton boy at heart, Davey is currently based in Bristol in the UK.

Orange and Poke
Orange and Poke commissioned Davey to create 35 plates after royal wedding memorabilia flooded the internet

Lauren Gentry
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Lauren Gentry was introduced to digital design while studying illustration at the University of Dundee, which brought a whole new dimension to her hand-drawn and painted work. She combines refined graphics and hand-rendered textures, using digital media to strip back detailed pieces into their simplest form.

Gentry uses a mixture of Photoshop and Illustrator alongside graphite drawings, screenprinted and charcoal textures. A self-confessed “image-hoarder”, she takes a note of anything that grabs her attention and could be used in her work, from shop signs to film stills and matchboxes.

In terms of influences, she lists illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli for her fearless use of colour and shape, and Carl Kleiner for his colour combinations and structured layout.

Deeply Sexist
Gentry created this piece after reading about an employee at Harrods who refused to wear make-up. “I used traditional Geisha make-up to question whether women in a liberal Western society still had to present themselves in an explicitly feminine manner to be successful in their career.”

Lauren Gentry
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator

Lauren Gentry was introduced to digital design while studying illustration at the University of Dundee, which brought a whole new dimension to her hand-drawn and painted work. She combines refined graphics and hand-rendered textures, using digital media to strip back detailed pieces into their simplest form.

Gentry uses a mixture of Photoshop and Illustrator alongside graphite drawings, screenprinted and charcoal textures. A self-confessed “image-hoarder”, she takes a note of anything that grabs her attention and could be used in her work, from shop signs to film stills and matchboxes.

In terms of influences, she lists illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli for her fearless use of colour and shape, and Carl Kleiner for his colour combinations and structured layout.

AOI Competition 2011
Gentry’s poster advertises the River Thames as a “sophisticated and relaxed” mode of transport in London, and was created for this year’s Serco Prize. “I used a very simple palette and modern style to appeal to a contemporary audience,” she says.

Cristian Vargas
Location: Bogota, Columbia
Job: Graphic designer

Columbia-based Cristian Vargas first delved into the design world as a graffiti artist in 1996. He later undertook a degree in graphic design, before working in branding and strategy for various companies while illustrating on a freelance basis. In 2009 he set up his own design studio, Typozon, to focus on branding, design and illustration.

Vargas derives inspiration from all aspects of ‘real life’ including: “films, graffiti, colour, meeting new people with new perspectives on the world” – and even the smell of paint. He works in a range of disciplines from fashion to product design, and while he has great respect for designers who specialise in one area, he also appreciates the benefits of taking a multidisciplinary approach to understand different design techniques and perspectives.

Lobo
Devised for an exhibition and without a brief, Vargas enjoyed the freedom to explore shapes, colours and forms – positive and negative – without any external direction or restrictions.

Cristian Vargas
Location: Bogota, Columbia
Job: Graphic designer

Columbia-based Cristian Vargas first delved into the design world as a graffiti artist in 1996. He later undertook a degree in graphic design, before working in branding and strategy for various companies while illustrating on a freelance basis. In 2009 he set up his own design studio, Typozon, to focus on branding, design and illustration.

Vargas derives inspiration from all aspects of ‘real life’ including: “films, graffiti, colour, meeting new people with new perspectives on the world” – and even the smell of paint. He works in a range of disciplines from fashion to product design, and while he has great respect for designers who specialise in one area, he also appreciates the benefits of taking a multidisciplinary approach to understand different design techniques and perspectives.

Haiti
This was a fund-raising collaboration between PechaKucha Night and Architecture for Humanity to raise funds for Haiti following the earthquake. “It’s an analogy between humans and animals,” explains Vargas. “The birds create a perfect example to follow with their consistent nature.”

Jason Ruddy
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator, writer and director

After graduating in 2006 with a first class degree in animation, Jason Ruddy began work as a digital designer. He went freelance in November 2010 and says he has never looked back: “Being a freelance designer means I get to work on a lot more personal enterprises and I can collaborate with friends,” he says. “So far the future is looking bright.”

Ruddy works with a range of materials and software – including pencils, pens, paint, Photoshop, After Effects, Flash and Final Cut Pro – to produce his art. Aside from having a short animated film in the pipeline, Ruddy would also like to start writing and illustrating children’s books. “I can’t think of a better feeling than seeing your words and artwork in print,” he says.

Super Change
This piece was originally a submission to the Society 6 Superhero SF exhibition. “I’m fond of the ‘Britishness’ of the piece and feel that it works with such an American superhero,” he explains.

Jason Ruddy
Location: London, UK
Job: Illustrator, writer and director

After graduating in 2006 with a first class degree in animation, Jason Ruddy began work as a digital designer. He went freelance in November 2010 and says he has never looked back: “Being a freelance designer means I get to work on a lot more personal enterprises and I can collaborate with friends,” he says. “So far the future is looking bright.”

Ruddy works with a range of materials and software – including pencils, pens, paint, Photoshop, After Effects, Flash and Final Cut Pro – to produce his art. Aside from having a short animated film in the pipeline, Ruddy would also like to start writing and illustrating children’s books. “I can’t think of a better feeling than seeing your words and artwork in print,” he says.

Astro Dogs
Created for the Space exhibition at the Cardiff Design Festival 2011, ‘Astro Dogs’ was inspired by the idea of the first dog in space. Ruddy challenges traditional assumptions about space by using bright colours to lighten the mood.

Bruce Usher
Location: Leeds, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Recent graduate Bruce Usher learned his craft at Leeds University, where he studied graphic design and was introduced to some inspirational figures including Joe Gilmore from Leeds-based studio Qubik, and the team at Nous Vous. “These guys often made me look at what I was trying to achieve from a different perspective,” he explains.

With a tendency to become easily bored and a constant desire to learn new things, Usher’s portfolio of skills is broad, incorporating a variety of creative processes.

“My style seems to jump from here to there depending on the project I’m working on and the processes I’m interested in at the time,” he says.

His current interests include textile patterns, printing processes and typography. “I use what’s appropriate for the piece – sometimes paints and pencils, sometimes a camera, and sometimes the computer,” he adds.

Golden Trash
In this poster for Birmingham event Golden Trash, Usher was keen to find an image that communicated the team’s ethos: “I needed something authentic, which came from a charity shop near the venue. The image justified itself simply by how it was found,” he explains.

Bruce Usher
Location: Leeds, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Recent graduate Bruce Usher learned his craft at Leeds University, where he studied graphic design and was introduced to some inspirational figures including Joe Gilmore from Leeds-based studio Qubik, and the team at Nous Vous. “These guys often made me look at what I was trying to achieve from a different perspective,” he explains.

With a tendency to become easily bored and a constant desire to learn new things, Usher’s portfolio of skills is broad, incorporating a variety of creative processes.

“My style seems to jump from here to there depending on the project I’m working on and the processes I’m interested in at the time,” he says.

His current interests include textile patterns, printing processes and typography. “I use what’s appropriate for the piece – sometimes paints and pencils, sometimes a camera, and sometimes the computer,” he adds.

Time
Briefed to picture time, Usher used wire to hang a variety of objects. “Each one was shot separately,” he reveals.