Computer Arts Gallery: Summer 2009

Ashley Colbeck
Location Leeds
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.vorm.co.uk
Software Photoshop, InDesign

"My influences are varied," says Ashley Colbeck, who's also known by creative nom de plume Vorm. "I enjoy browsing through fashion magazines - not for the editorial but for the typography and layout. I have a passion for typography and have recently started creating my own typefaces."

A recent graduate of the London College of Communication, Colbeck says he likes to produce work that's uncomplicated, from identity and branding to print and web design. He believes he's lucky to be currently working as an intern at Thompson Brand Partners in Leeds: "Graduates are having a tough time at the moment and experience is now more relevant than ever."

Folio A self-promotional project, which Colbeck feels is vital in the current climate, where competition for work is fierce. "I designed and printed a number of books; each promotional portfolio book contains 10 selected projects. They were packaged in metallic black bubble envelopes and sent to friends and potential employers."

Ashley Colbeck
Location Leeds
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.vorm.co.uk
Software Photoshop, InDesign

"My influences are varied," says Ashley Colbeck, who's also known by creative nom de plume Vorm. "I enjoy browsing through fashion magazines - not for the editorial but for the typography and layout. I have a passion for typography and have recently started creating my own typefaces."

A recent graduate of the London College of Communication, Colbeck says he likes to produce work that's uncomplicated, from identity and branding to print and web design. He believes he's lucky to be currently working as an intern at Thompson Brand Partners in Leeds: "Graduates are having a tough time at the moment and experience is now more relevant than ever."

Love Hate Colbeck's identity and branding work for event management company Love Hate: "In the final design I tried to incorporate elements of the words 'love' and 'hate' within the logo by using the forms of the letter H and the shape of a heart.

Fernando Leal
Location London
Job Illustrator, animator
Contact www.fleal.com
Software Adobe Creative Suite

Brazilian by birth, Fernando Leal moved to London in 2006 for an MA in animation at the Royal College of Art - but he already sported an impressive track record of work before that. After stints as an art director and graphic designer, in 2002 he struck out on his own as a freelance illustrator and designer, with clients including Red Bull, Playboy, Globo TV and various Brazilian magazines.

Another change of direction came in 2005 with his job as an in-house senior motion designer for MTV Brasil, designing animated spots and logos for the 2005 music awards. Nowadays he produces work for clients as diverse as New Scientist magazine, Air Canada and Gestalten.

Panic Syndrome Commissioned by Brazilian magazine Diálogo Médico to illustrate an article about panic attacks. "I was proud of coming up with a simple and striking image instead of a big, flash composition," Leal says. "The skeleton is a cut-out made from punchcards and the man is hand-drawn on graph paper." These elements were assembled in Photoshop, together with other scanned layers.

Fernando Leal
Location London
Job Illustrator, animator
Contact www.fleal.com
Software Adobe Creative Suite

Brazilian by birth, Fernando Leal moved to London in 2006 for an MA in animation at the Royal College of Art - but he already sported an impressive track record of work before that. After stints as an art director and graphic designer, in 2002 he struck out on his own as a freelance illustrator and designer, with clients including Red Bull, Playboy, Globo TV and various Brazilian magazines.

Another change of direction came in 2005 with his job as an in-house senior motion designer for MTV Brasil, designing animated spots and logos for the 2005 music awards. Nowadays he produces work for clients as diverse as New Scientist magazine, Air Canada and Gestalten.

New Scientist Superimmune Illustration for New Scientist to accompany a feature on breakthrough scientific research aiming to achieve better immunity. Leal says: "The art director liked the illustration I have on my website of a snake curled up around a house, as if it was protecting it, and asked for something similar - so I did this dragon protecting a cell."

Kode Abdo
Location Melbourne, Australia
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.dabosslogic.com
Software Photoshop

Born in Syria, Kode Abdo moved to Australia with his family aged one, where he started drawing - and he hasn't really stopped since. In fact, his love of art was so overwhelming that his schoolwork suffered and he eventually dropped out. "I found a job here and there but was never happy," he says. "I felt like I should be doing something I love."

Not long after, a friend introduced Abdo to Photoshop, saying: "This is where the modern-day da Vinci works." Unsurprisingly, he became hooked and immediately transferred to digital art, initially producing images for free. "I'm so proud of my first payment," he adds. "I still have it to this day - an old $20 bill."

Nowadays, Abdo is trying to grow his studio, Bosslogic, and has also taken up photography, "so I can get the image I want to manipulate and get the outcome I want."

Gamble "The Ace card is dead," Abdo says of this image. "Graphic design and art in general is like poetry - it may rhyme and flow all together or it might not. All it needs is a valid point."

Kode Abdo
Location Melbourne, Australia
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.dabosslogic.com
Software Photoshop

Born in Syria, Kode Abdo moved to Australia with his family aged one, where he started drawing - and he hasn't really stopped since. In fact, his love of art was so overwhelming that his schoolwork suffered and he eventually dropped out. "I found a job here and there but was never happy," he says. "I felt like I should be doing something I love."

Not long after, a friend introduced Abdo to Photoshop, saying: "This is where the modern-day da Vinci works." Unsurprisingly, he became hooked and immediately transferred to digital art, initially producing images for free. "I'm so proud of my first payment," he adds. "I still have it to this day - an old $20 bill."

Nowadays, Abdo is trying to grow his studio, Bosslogic, and has also taken up photography, "so I can get the image I want to manipulate and get the outcome I want."

Room to Breathe An image inspired by Abdo's childhood dreams. "In my old house, in my old bed staring up at my old ceiling, thinking all my old thoughts… I sit up and put on my old shoes… all I notice is that I'm starting to fall, as if I tripped over my feet, so why am I falling off Everest's peak?"

Sam Oyelowo
Location London
Job Illustrator
Contact www.samoyelowo.com
Software Photoshop

Sam Oyelowo's education was a case of getting it right first time, but not actually realising it. At the age of 19, he took his Illustration BA at the University of the West of England, then promptly went on to try both IT and gaming degrees - "but I was utterly uninspired by them," he says. Nowadays he's a full-time illustrator, and has exhibited in both the UK and US.

While studying illustration, Oyelowo worked exclusively with 'raw', traditional materials, and these methods have remained with him despite the move to digital. "I tend to incorporate elements of mixed media, such as scanned oil-painted paper, to form the background of a piece," he explains. "Lines in my work are either applied with pen and paper or using a Wacom. Even though I'm using Photoshop brushes to create these lines, I stroke the drawing tablet in exactly the same way as I would a sheet of paper. Photoshop's dry brushes work best for an organic-looking piece, so the grainier the brush the better."

Oyelowo is far more impressed, he says, by someone who has full command of a watercolour set than someone who's a maestro with art software. "My attitude now is that technology is there to aid me, so rather than trying to learn an entire software package I pick out its key tools."

Opposites Attract "This was influenced by a lifestyle magazine section that featured an unlikely couple who had met via mutual friends," Oyelowo explains. "Initially they had very little in common, but remained together and [at the time of interview] had been in love for 10 years. The lady dresses up in 1950s rock 'n' roll chic, while her partner has the appearance of a 19th century circus performer - an unlikely perfect match."

Mister Meat
Location London
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.mistermeat.co.uk

Mister Meat is the illustration arm of 25-year-old designer Stew Deane. "I'm obsessed with logos," he says. "I think their ability to communicate an idea or set of values is something to be celebrated and my Mister Meat moniker is a way of exploring this whenever I can."

Although he initially studied advertising at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Deane began searching for work in graphic design as soon as he graduated. At the moment he's a designer at Purple Creative, where clients have included the likes of Glenfiddich, CMC Markets and British American Tobacco. Meanwhile, in his spare time he's building the Mister Meat portfolio with an eye to producing much more illustration work, as well as screen-printing some of his designs in preparation for making prints available.

"I admire the work of designers and illustrators such as Swifty, Hort and Jeremyville," Deane adds, "but I think it's the little subtleties that make the best subject matter, and the things around us are the best source of inspiration."

Things I Did That No One Wanted A somewhat self-explanatory title for this smorgasbord of designs and typography. "This is basically all the work that never gets seen in my day job," Deane explains. "I decided to give them all the light of day and in doing so realised that a lot of the connotations associated with them had been lost, and new ones formed."

David Mascha
Location Vienna
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.davidmascha.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

Any creative who holds the venerable Stefan Sagmeister as a paradigm of design finesse is setting their standards high. Luckily, fellow Austrian David Mascha is showing signs of the kind of creative talent it takes to achieve such an iconic status.

"Maybe in some way it's my diversity," says Mascha, explaining the myriad of styles he works in. "I always try to push the boundaries of my technical and aesthetical skills; I don't try to stick with one particular style." This is evident from his portfolio, which displays a multitude of artworks, all strung together through his experimental approach to colour.

"But there's not always a special concept behind my work - sometimes I just try to create something beautiful which captures the viewers' attention," says Mascha.

Adhesion Mascha's personal work is often experimental, such as this three-dimensional composition. "I really like the clean and polished style I ended up with. I also like the way photo and illustrative elements harmonise with each other."

Josh White
Location Brighton
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.breakandassemble.com
Software Photoshop

A recent graduate of Brighton University, Josh White designs under the name Break & Assemble. "The name derives from my love of breaking apart the constraints of design briefs and assembling them into beautiful, thought-out and intricate solutions," he says.

White's passion for typography in particular has led to a variety of projects, including identities, editorial, posters and artwork for the music industry. "In my first year of uni, I was lucky enough to work with my design hero, Michael C Place at Build," recalls White. "Other historical influences include Dieter Rams and much of the German Bauhaus design wave, which has inspired my angular and often geometric style." White's other enthusiasms include screen-printing, German typography, guitars, the films of Stanley Kubrick and tea.

BFI Film Festival poster Created for the 53rd festival, White says of this poster: "I particularly enjoyed thinking of film as a projection of light and creating abstract light refractions with one of the images I shot in a dark room. The type was then worked around these images to push the photography while informing the viewer."