Ape on the Moon: Contemporary Illustration » Digital Illustration

Scratched Illustrations of Christopher Nielsen

moonape — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:25:18 +0000

Sydney-based illustrator Christopher Nielsen’s work is brimming with bold images in a fun, vintage style. I asked him some questions about his studio, his work process and his sources of inspiration.

Where are you based?

In a great warehouse studio in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. I think it was used to produce uniforms during WWII. I share the space with 4 other awesome illustrators (Nigel Buchanan, Jim Tsinganos, Stuart McLachlan and Lew Keilar) as well as 4 other creatives.

It’s a space where we can get instant inspiration, advice (and criticism), share contacts and hand on jobs to each other.

What’s your work process and the tools you use, especially how do you achieve your grungy/scratchy effects?

I’m the worst drawer in the world so the initial process is the hardest. With editorial work I start out with lots of really bad thumbnails on recycled paper just trying to work with shapes and come up with about 3-5 ideas.

Once they start taking shape I move on to refine the drawings on tracing paper which I can also use to transfer the art to the illustration board once I get a go-ahead on a concept.

I then paint with acrylics on to illustration board, building up lots of layers that I can dig into and scratch away at with just about anything on hand. I want to make the surface look like it has a history and a story to tell. It’s then scanned and I can tweak color and tidy up any marks that I don’t like in Photoshop on my Cintiq Wacom screen.

What inspired you most recently?

I’ve just put together a dummy for a kid’s book that was inspired by my 2 year old son and I’ve been looking at lots of vintage children’s book ephemera. I saw some hand lettering by a guy called ESPO done at Coney Island recently that was really cool.

I saw a talk online by designer Marian Bantjes which inspires me to keep doing what I love doing as opposed to following a trail of money.

As well as all the usual suspects like old medical/health charts, day of the dead imagery, vintage ad characters, battered and beaten hand signage.

What are you working on at the moment?

I just finished up an illustration of Moses handing down “5 things to ask your plan adviser” for PlanSponsor, a female Bigfoot with online customized shoes for Nett Mag, a rum drinking polar bear for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend and 2 Mexican Wrestling cards for an article on credit v debit cards for Money Mag.

Artwork of Julian De Narvaez

moonape — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:29:11 +0000

I was contacted recently by Colombian illustrator Julian De Narvaez and was hugely impressed by his portfolio, some of which I can show to you here.

His work process involves an ink drawing on paper, followed by acrylic and digital colouring. At the moment Julian is working on a series of oil painting illustrations, claiming it is ‘something I’ve always had respect for but not been able to concentrate on before‘.

Delectable Delicacy of Laura Pérez

moonape — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:42:22 +0000

Barcelona-based illustrator Laura Pérez caught my eye recently with a collection of illustrations that possess a highly pleasing feel that is both dynamic and light.

Despite only very recently completing an illustration course, her work has achieved a very high level of consistency and accomplished style. I asked her a few questions about her background and work.

What training have you had in illustration?

When I started my study of Arts in my city I didn’t have an illustration department, so I started learning illustration by myself. Three years later I went to an illustration College in Canada. This year I finished my degree in Barcelona.

How long has it taken you to develop your style?

I’ve been always drawing people and animals but I started to be more comfortable with this style while traveling and moving form city to city. At first I used to work with wattercolors but now I always prefer digital.

What materials do you use and what is your work process?

I start working on my sketchbook with a pencil or pen. Then I use Photoshop to finish it.

For personal work I like going to public places and take some roughs from people around me. For assignments sometimes I need go to specific places for referents. If I need to create some animal illustrations I could go to a park, pet shop or the zoo. I love looking for real references rather than photos.

What are you working on right now?

Right now I´m working on a cover book for Penguin Books.

Aaron Miller Character Illustrations

moonape — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:37:30 +0000

You’ve probably caught sight of UK illustrator Aaron Miller’s fun characters in several publications, especially frequent inclusions in Computer Arts magazine. I like the humour in his work, and the recognizable consistency within it. Here’s a peek at his characters!

Liz Sterry suggests Monkey Death Cult

lizs — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:28:35 +0000

Liz Sterry has suggested the work of Monkey Death Cult:

Ive been watching MDC’s art on deviantart for years. I feel he’s one of the few artists to have really push old school tattoo flash into a standalone art form. His work has the authenticity of Ed Hardy or Sailor Jerry. His work easily translates to a tattooable piece of flash but equality it can be admired as a work of art in its own right.

A Book, Posters and Stickers from Radim Malinic

moonape — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:56:20 +0000

**Winners Announced!**

Congratulations to all winners and runners up who each receive four posters from the Brand Nu studio. The winner receives the four posters, as well as a set of iphone stickers.

Winner
Oliver Hoff – Norwich, Norfolk

Runners up
Stacey Olsen – Fleetwood, Lancashire
Cameron Singh – London, Middlesex
Wayne Johnes – Southampton, Hampshire

It’s unlikely that you haven’t yet come across the creative, vibrant, highly technical and highly satisfying illustration and design work of Radim Malinic. Radim is an award winning art director, illustrator and graphic designer based in London, UK, operating under the studio name, Brand Nu.

Through his work on various household brands and key advertising campaigns, including the recent prolific London Film Museum brand identity seen all over London, Radim has become one of the most well known and successful commercial illustrators active today.

I was recently sent a copy of his recent book: ‘Book #Three by Brand Nu’, which is a sleek and inspiring account of much of the work he has produced over the last 18 months.

Beautifully designed and printed, the book offers a refreshing collection of illustrations that should not be absent on the book shelf of any aspiring and dedicated illustrator, graphic designer and student. Photographs of the book are further on.

Brand Nu has provided Ape on the Moon with an exclusive offer, giving away four sets of four A3 posters worth over £400/$575 in total to one winner (who receives a set of iphone stickers in addition to the four posters) and 3 runners up each receiving four posters. Photos of the posters are below.

To be in with a chance of winning the posters and stickers, enter into the ‘notes’ box the code apeonthemoon when you buy the new book (BOOK #THREE).

This offer is available on Ape on the Moon until June 16th 2010, when winners will be announced.

Information Graphics of Nicholas Felton

moonape — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:03:28 +0000

One area of design that I can’t help but get very excited about, especially coming from a geographical background, is information graphics.

The relevance of well designed representations of often highly complex and convoluted information in an information-rich world is now more than ever.

One of the heroes of this industry is New York-based Nicholas Felton, who has been profiled in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Creative Review and Wired. Nicholas found some time to respond to some questions after wrapping up a project designing annual reports.

Were you formally trained in graphic design, and if so, did you enjoy the process?

Yes, formally and informally. I attended the Rhode Island School of Design where I received my degree in graphic design. Prior to that, I scrimped and saved for a Macintosh in high school, so that I could start tinkering with Photoshop, Illustrator and Quark.

I helped some friends back then produce a comic book, doing sundry layouts and production work on the project.

How did you develop into specializing in data and information graphics?

It all began with my personal project The Feltron Annual Report. After a few years of producing them, I began to receive requests from magazines for similar assignments.

Since then, I have been able to experiment and hone my approach to information design through more professional and personal projects.

How do clients normally communicate to you the way in which they want their data to be graphically represented?

Typically, they give me the information and ask me to come up with the best way to present it.

What is the typical work process of your diagrams, graphics from brief to completion and what are the tools you use?

These days, my approach has become a little more high-tech. I like to use Processing to get a sense for the shape of the data I’ve been given, whether it be a mapping or a graphing assignment. By writing or adapting a little program, I can sketch out the data and then determine how bold or nuanced to make the keying or labeling.

If a project is highly typographic, it will be produced in inDesign, while more graphic layouts are produced in Illustrator.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on a graphic for Popular Mechanics, a few other magazine assignments and the Daytum iPhone application.

Win an A3 print and Toy from The Tree House Press

moonape — Thu, 06 May 2010 10:52:13 +0000

*Winners Announced!*

A huge congratulations to Katie Hanratty from Manchester, UK who has won the large print, toys and spoke cards!

Well done to runners up Craig Podd from Shropshire, UK and Laura Alvarez from Spain who won the toys and cards.

You will all be contacted soon.

Thank you to everyone who got involved!

–

Ok, it’s competition time at Ape on the Moon!

UK illustration studio ‘The Tree House Press‘ has some excellent limited toys and prints to give away.

The studio, run by illustrator Marc Aspinall, and who has worked with Computer Arts, Thunder Chunky and Digital Arts magazine, has produced a dashing 3-colour hand printed 210 gsm A3 print called ‘EastXWest‘, an A5 paper toy cat called ‘Nyan Nyan‘, and some fun bicycle spoke cards (available in the TTHP store).

The winner receives the A3 print, toy and cards, carefully packaged with sticker. Two runners up receive the limited toy and spoke cards.

The competition ends on Friday 14th May 2010. Winners will be announced here.

To be in for a chance of winning, simply write a comment below this post saying why you’d like the prize, or ‘tweet’ the following line on Twitter:

Win an A3 hand print and paper toys from The Tree House Press and @moonape http://su.pr/1fnKgt RT to enter giveaway!

Good Luck and may the force be strong with you!

Drawings and Digital Work of Stephane Tartelin

moonape — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:07:43 +0000

I first noticed Paris-based Stephane Tartelin’s ‘Lyrics and Type’ (below) work in an online print shop, and really liked his loose style. Stephane uses graphite pencils in combination with Illustrator and Photoshop to create some exciting work, with a unique, strong style.

Musically-Fueled Glow Graphics of Sakke Soini

moonape — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:43:35 +0000

Hello everyone. I apologise for my rather lengthy absence from Ape on the Moon, but I’ve been exploring distant lands, and getting back into the flow of things. Amy Henderson of design blog Aqua Velvet has done a super job of maintaining my site, introducing a couple of amazing talents.

Today I want to introduce to you the mind-melting graphics of Finnish illustrator Sakke Soini, whose passionate and fizzing work reveal strong influences from the look and feel of the airbrushed 1980s, music, fashion and horror, and taking it all to a whole new place. Have a look and enjoy.

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