Computer Arts Gallery: September 2010

Ashwin Patel
Location London and Surrey, UK
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.gridlondon.com

"I work across all disciplines, but it must be said that I have an undeniable love for print," says this young graduate of the University for the Creative Arts. "There's nothing more rewarding than holding something you've made, feeling the stock, smelling the ink and turning the pages."

Having interned at Ink Publishing and SomeOne, Ashwin Patel now works at Bertie, a small design agency in Buckinghamshire. He also runs his own online portfolio called Grid: "This gives me direction and a sense of ownership. It's by no means a fully run studio; more of a presence for me and my work."

Employer Connections This brochure was made for Employer Connections, a company that enables social networking for businesses. "The core idea of the service is simple, so I wanted to create a minimalist identity made of grey dots to emphasise the idea of connection," says Patel. "This was used throughout the booklet - one of many tools used to get the start-up underway."

Ashwin Patel
Location London and Surrey, UK
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.gridlondon.com

"I work across all disciplines, but it must be said that I have an undeniable love for print," says this young graduate of the University for the Creative Arts. "There's nothing more rewarding than holding something you've made, feeling the stock, smelling the ink and turning the pages."

Having interned at Ink Publishing and SomeOne, Ashwin Patel now works at Bertie, a small design agency in Buckinghamshire. He also runs his own online portfolio called Grid: "This gives me direction and a sense of ownership. It's by no means a fully run studio; more of a presence for me and my work."

The Bare Essentials "I've been lucky enough to work with some great minds since I began my studies," Patel says. "Using this experience and knowledge, I thought it would be good to share what I believe makes today's graphic designer." This 700x490mm poster is the result, featuring pictograms and stereotypical must-haves for artists.

Miles Gould
Location Brighton, UK
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.milesgould.com

"Growing up in Somerset and having a dad who's a keen mountaineer means I have a real passion for travelling, the outdoors and experiencing new situations, cultures and the elements," says Miles Gould, a recent graduate of the University of Brighton. "I believe it's this interest in the outdoors and the environment combined with contemporary graphic design that makes my work unique."

With a university scholarship in graphic design awaiting him, Gould intends to take a short trip to Thailand before knuckling down to more study. His dreams of playing as a right-winger for Coventry City will have to wait.

"There are plans in place to eventually share a studio with a fellow graduate, Pete Dungey, and I also have a few projects in the pipeline with designer Joe Luxton, who I've worked with over the last few years," says Gould. "Ideally, I'd love to share a studio space with a diverse mix of artists who are all working in different fields."

Umberto Eco print series Part of a range of posters inspired by a quote from Umberto Eco. "The series illustrates and deconstructs the etymology of the words 'cretin', 'imbecile', 'stupid' and 'mad'," Gould explains.

Miles Gould
Location Brighton, UK
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.milesgould.com

"Growing up in Somerset and having a dad who's a keen mountaineer means I have a real passion for travelling, the outdoors and experiencing new situations, cultures and the elements," says Miles Gould, a recent graduate of the University of Brighton. "I believe it's this interest in the outdoors and the environment combined with contemporary graphic design that makes my work unique."

With a university scholarship in graphic design awaiting him, Gould intends to take a short trip to Thailand before knuckling down to more study. His dreams of playing as a right-winger for Coventry City will have to wait.

"There are plans in place to eventually share a studio with a fellow graduate, Pete Dungey, and I also have a few projects in the pipeline with designer Joe Luxton, who I've worked with over the last few years," says Gould. "Ideally, I'd love to share a studio space with a diverse mix of artists who are all working in different fields."

Umberto Eco print series Part of a range of posters inspired by a quote from Umberto Eco. "The series illustrates and deconstructs the etymology of the words 'cretin', 'imbecile', 'stupid' and 'mad'," Gould explains.

Bart Aalbers
Location Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Job Illustrator
Contact www.bartaalbers.com

Many artists will tell you - truthfully or otherwise - that they've been drawing ever since they were old enough to hold a pencil. Not Bart Aalbers; he's quite happy to admit that his artistic life began much later. "While I was studying web development, I started helping out friends who were in bands - doing their fliers, CDs and T-shirts," he explains. "I kept doing small projects, mostly music-related ones, and when I graduated, I decided to focus more on design and illustration than the web."

Three years later, he has washed his hands of online altogether, and now focuses solely on illustration. "I create designs for T-shirts, posters, characters and CD artworks," he adds. "In the future, I hope I'll get the chance to have my illustrations on a skateboard, and perhaps design for a children's book or two."

Rockin' Robin A T-shirt design that Aalbers created. "This one is actually part of some sort of 2.0 love story," he says, somewhat cryptically. "It has custom lettering and was all done in Illustrator."

Masha Chughtai
Location Yorkshire, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.mashachughtai.co.uk

Born in Minsk, Masha Chughtai doodled away her early years, to the horror of many of her teachers. Though she graduated with a diploma in teaching, she remained fascinated by art. "A year of private tuition from an amazing artist bought me a lucky ticket to the prestigious Minsk Art School - the place where I desperately wanted to be," she says. "I spent an amazing year sharing studios with a great bunch of talented people, busts of ancient Greek gods and philosophers, and weird life models whose ability to sit still for hours never failed to amaze me."

In 2006, she moved to the UK and is now a final-year student at Teesside University. "I love illustration and feel passionate about it," she adds. "Visualisation is my first language, which I use as a tool in interpreting emotional and contextual material. People and their stories inspire me - learning to understand what makes them smile, cry and love, and learning to respect audiences and clients, which sometimes means setting personal aspirations and ambitions aside."

Money Struggle "We've all experienced a situation when money just isn't there," says Chughtai of this conceptual piece. "Perhaps it happens even more often these days. The news is so predictable, and you feel you have to be even more sensible with how you spend your hard-earned cash. It seems that, no matter what, it all slips through your fingers." This image was hand-drawn, scanned into a computer and edited in Photoshop.

Masha Chughtai
Location Yorkshire, UK
Job Illustrator
Contact www.mashachughtai.co.uk

Born in Minsk, Masha Chughtai doodled away her early years, to the horror of many of her teachers. Though she graduated with a diploma in teaching, she remained fascinated by art. "A year of private tuition from an amazing artist bought me a lucky ticket to the prestigious Minsk Art School - the place where I desperately wanted to be," she says. "I spent an amazing year sharing studios with a great bunch of talented people, busts of ancient Greek gods and philosophers, and weird life models whose ability to sit still for hours never failed to amaze me."

In 2006, she moved to the UK and is now a final-year student at Teesside University. "I love illustration and feel passionate about it," she adds. "Visualisation is my first language, which I use as a tool in interpreting emotional and contextual material. People and their stories inspire me - learning to understand what makes them smile, cry and love, and learning to respect audiences and clients, which sometimes means setting personal aspirations and ambitions aside."

I Am Music This is a personal piece for Chughtai. "It's about harmony and integration with music - a single, inseparable union," she explains. "I aimed for a dynamic atmosphere, using contrasting colours to bring an extra flavour to the melody. It's about the special relationship that a musician has with a musical instrument; that unmistakable identity of the moment in time when music is being born."

Matthew Whiteley
Location Manchester, UK
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.itswhite.co.uk

"My background is simply a love for print-based media and concepts," says new graduate Matthew Whiteley. "Through university and college, I tried to explore every sector, both online and offline."

Having completed his education at the University of Salford, Whiteley jumped straight in at the deep end with various placements around the Manchester area, including stints at Creative Spark, Bliss and Code Computerlove. The experience certainly wasn't wasted; he believes he's learnt a lot from being on the job. "I managed to home in on how I develop ideas and answer briefs," he explains. "Now, it seems that I can never jump straight on to a Mac; something always has to be sketched out first."

Whiteley is now part of the design team at the digital agency Great Fridays, and intends to develop his skills across a range of disciplines. "Inevitably, my goals for the future are to expand on my existing skill set and begin to work more in 3D and motion," he says.

Howies This is the result of Whiteley's university course brief to produce packaging for Howies, the organic clothing company that has branched out with an organic food range. "I designed a character to promote the products, with visuals on items including tins, T-shirts, postcards and mugs," he says.

Thereza Rowe
Location London, UK
Job Graphic designer and illustrator
Contact www.therezarowe.com

"I particularly enjoy drawing deer, peacocks, chickens, foxes, bears and a few other imaginary friends," says Thereza Rowe, who graduated with honours from the University of Westminster and now employs her distinctive cut-out style as a freelance illustrator.

Rowe's work has been shown in selected galleries in London, as well as Amelia's Magazine and Amelia's Anthology of Illustration. "My favourite tools are colour, shape and imagination, and the combination of these makes up the backbone of my illustration work," she continues. "I daydream about magic clocks, flying fish, Bigfoot, sausage dogs, enchanted forests, tall hats, foxes' parties and more."

Fuelling this exotic menagerie is her obsession with strawberry milk, as well as her two rescue cats, Flash and Kitty Piccolina.

Amelia's Anthology of Illustration Created for Amelia's Anthology of Illustration, which features the theme of using renewable technologies to prevent catastrophic climate change. "I started the illustration by imagining how a town could be powered," Rowe explains. "Then I came across some solar-powered aeroplanes and was fascinated by how sleek they looked. The process of making the illustration was rather fragmented; I worked across a variety of media, using paper cut-outs, vectors and more."

Dean Zappy
Location Manchester, UK, and Helsinki, Finland
Job Illustrator
Contact www.deanzappy.com

When Dean Zappy graduated with a degree in graphic design from Salford University, he didn't particularly fancy the idea of a full-time job. "After two years of spending my days lazing around on various Australian beaches, I decided to take the plunge into the world of design," he explains. "Since then, I've been working freelance for a broad range of clients, and have loved every minute of it. I'm now considering taking on a full-time design position somewhere in the north west of the UK."

Zappy's also part of design studio MakeThatTwo, an international set-up, meaning he spends part of his time in Manchester and part in the equally chilly climes of Helsinki. "I like to combine a variety of styles and techniques to produce work that's fun, vibrant, and eye-catching," he says. "Colour is a very important part of all my work. I always try to inject some pinks and purples to brighten things up."

Buzz This was designed for issue 2 of AMMO, a contemporary illustration magazine. It initially grew from a sketchbook doodle of the guy on a stick at the centre of the image. "I built everything else around him," says Zappy. "Once I had the landscape set up, I began to add lots of crazy characters, all interacting with each other in some way. The cloud man in the sky just wants them all to chill out.

"It took me a long time to get the composition to work, making sure I had the right balance of characters without the image becoming too crowded. I used Illustrator for all the vectors and added lots of textures in Photoshop. This is one of the most enjoyable illustrations I've worked on because I didn't really have a plan for the outcome. It just grew and grew after plenty of doodling with my Wacom."