He’s achieved some special effects with these materials, including, in places, an interesting texture created through what looks like ink bleeding into water. Peter has been good enough to respond to my questioning on his work.

What got you interested in illustration using these materials?

Last summer myself and four friends drove from New York to San Francisco. When we returned with over 2000 photos of the journey it was really hard to decide which one photo would sum-up the trip, the journey and the experiences along the way.

Being a fan of Jack Keroauc and of course On The Road, I stumbled across some maps he had drawn to document his trips and it seemed a fitting way to document ours.

Originally I had planned on drawing the map and using pins to hold the cotton in place, but there was something really appealing and different about stitching the thick watercolour paper. The media combination worked well, the thread gives a 3d element to the illustrations and every viewing angle has a slightly different feel.

Describe the tools you use and the process each piece goes through

After finding a suitable subject – one that has nice lines and interesting details – the subject is either photographed, edited and traced in Illustrator or drawn freehand.

The vector lines are printed and placed over the watercolour paper. I then have to decide how the piece will be stitched and meticulously pierce every hole with a pin ready for the stitching, sometimes over a thousand holes. Finally using a needle and thread, stitch the illustration.

Do you think your full time job has an influence on your illustrations?

Definitely, as a product designer I need to be aware of line, geometry, form and structure so tend to look at objects in this manner. There is something incredibly pleasing about a well constructed product, a Dieter Rams radio, a piece of Bauhaus furniture. Items like this that make me consider the lines of a piece.

I live in London and am lucky enough to be surrounded by architectural masterpieces such as the Isokon Building, 2 Willow Road and many other great art deco buildings which are a source of constant inspiration.

What are you working on next?

At present I am working on an illustration of the Empire State Building, a detail of the transmitter masts just above the viewing platform. Its quite a complex piece but is coming along well. After that, hopefully some more architectural pieces and maybe some abstract geometrical patterns, experiments with colour and texture.

ⓒ Peter Crawley, 2009

Excellent, excellent stuff, thank you Peter

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I like the depth of the works and how light diffuses realistically on all the elements of each scene.

Irma shared with me her secret of floating objects in these pieces. That is to use wires to hold objects up before photographing the sets and digitally removing the wires. Nice!

His work demonstrates the visually effective outcome of combining a truck load of mediums including ink, acrylic paint, photography, screenprint and digital tools, while at the same time mixing up contemporary and vintage styles and imagery. Some of it is very reminiscent of the work of 20th Century master Sigmar Polke, if what I remember from art lessons at school don’t fail me.

Beto was kind enough to send over some of his recent stuff:

ⓒ Beto Shibata, 2009

Thanks Beto!

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I’m keen on the simple ‘neon’ characters French artist Céline Artigau brings to life in the form of les fantômes, or the ghosts. This series points to the potential for so many fun things one can do in mixing the two mediums.

Céline has responded to a few questions on her background and her techniques.

How did you get into illustration?

I’ve always drawn, but after studying graphic design and communication in Paris, I started a career as an Art Director in advertising.

The first years were really intense and I had less time for my personal work but it gave me the opportunity to discover and work with very talented illustrators and photographers.

Finally, I succeeded in finding some time for me and my own illustrations.

I start from a photo I have taken of a place that I like or that is meaningful for me. It can be my grandma’s garden in which I spent all my childhood, or the subway that I have to take every day to go to work.

These luminous characters are the souls of these places and ghosts of my childhood. They are like some lonely and abandoned imaginary friends that still follow me and haunt these places.

Concerning the process, I use Illustrator to create my character and then Photoshop to integrate it into my picture.

For my light effects, I use a mixture of layers and blur effects but the precise process is always different from one project to the next.

A basic black pen. My little camera too.

How did you get into the work you do?

‘I have always been interested in becoming an artist in some sort of way or another. I had a lot of interest in painting, drawing and printmaking in junior high/high school. I ended up taking some photography classes in school and really liked the immediacy of it, not to mention being able to play with lots of nifty gadgets. I was able to get the level of detail and texture that I could not get with my painting and printmaking. I spent a lot of time looking at magazines and time at the library researching artists. I ended up running across artists like Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Joel Peter-Witkin, Matt Mahurin, John Heartfield, Hans Neleman and comic works by Bill Sienkiewicz.   Something just sort of clicked’.

‘I started messing around with assemblage type work, building really crappy sets, abusing my friends as models taking pictures of them, printing them out, painting on them and then rephotographing them again. I had no idea how these artists were creating the work they did so i just started to experiment. I ended up winning some national arts awards in high school for some of my photo work. I thought it was a sign, so I went off to art school with some friends who were also attending.

It was more a commercial art school. I realized quickly that my work did not fit in with the school. I was told by a few of the faculty members that I should think about going to different school (might of had to something to do with the shellaced bird head attached to one of my pieces that I turned in, I spent a lot of time arguing with faculty and students whether my work was photography or not).

I actually learned a lot about using real studio equipment and camera’s at the school. At this time i got a chance to start doing photography and art directing for a snowboard clothing company.

I ended up ditching school to start working. We pretty much go free reign to do whatever we wanted to do and learned way more about the real world than I would ever had in school. I started experimenting more and more with assembled type work. I really started being influenced by vintage commercial type illustrators and design.

I really wanted to be a commercial photographer but would get commercial type jobs (I.e. shoot this one white seamless)  and just hate doing them. The idea that i was going up against these guys with huge studios with assistants and tons of really expensive gadgets did not seem feasible to me. I realized that i liked doing this illustrative type work. i was more interested in illustration/design than photography so I began to push myself in that direction’.

Can you describe your work process and tools used for your compositions?

‘It is hard for me to really pin down how I do my stuff. it really changes for each piece. Sometimes it could be toy cameras, digital, or large format (or all three), homemade lighting rigs, studio strobes, natural light, or just a plain flash light. This is not to mention all the props that need to be built and sourced, costumes made, backgrounds or sets made and so on.

My work process really varies. It really depends on money, time, the complexity of the idea, the props that I can find or build. Sometimes it might be completely done on the computer, other times I try to build the whole thing as a large set. if I spend too much time in front of the computer on one I will usually freak out and make myself do the next one completely by hand’.