Category Archives: Illustration

18 July 1
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Paintings and illustrations by Valentina Brostean

Under - Art, Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Heavily inspired by urban culture and the pop surrealism movement, Valentina Brostean has developed a unique and very personal style.She has an eye for the strange beauty in the grotesqueries of life. Inspired by the relationship between dreams, natural world and the emptiness of consumer culture, she creates and brings unique characters to life from her imaginary world.

Her body of work is built of melancholy interaction between man-made status symbols and frozen moments of the utopian childhood memories. Strongly focused on figurative narration her characters simply reflect us – modern society without its masks, without the fake presentations that make us acceptable to whatever group we are a part of.

If look closely at her work, one might come to realize that her characters are really kind of self-portraits, set in a fantastical landscapes of imaginary world which echoes of her own… a bitter, yet sweetly coated prescription for modern life.

Valentina has been invited to participate in collaborative art projects all around the world in diverse solo and group gallery shows. She has more than ten years of experience with several agencies doing illustration projects, print and educational work. She is now working as independent artist focusing on her personal expression through painting and collaborating with talented people on various projects – anything where she can apply her creativity. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines for visual culture.

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Art, Design, dream, Entertainment/Culture, Human behavior, Illustration, Inspiration, Philosophy, Social psychology, surrealism, Valentina Brostean

30 June 10
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Watercolors by Minh Dam

Under - Art, Illustration, Inspiration

Minh Dam is a professional watercolor painter and amateur photographer. He was born in Hanoi in 1984 and has lived in Poland since 1991. He graduated in 2009 from the Architecture Faculty at Warsaw University of Technology and now continues with his Master’s studies there.

Besides teaching drawing and watercolour at Lineare, he is also a member of the founding committee of the Association of Polish Watercolor Artists and Vice-Head of the Scientific Group on Drawing at the Architecture Faculty of the Warsaw University of Technology. Minh Dam’s work has been displayed in many exhibitions across Poland and Europe.

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Art, Cityscape, Hanoi, Illustration, Inspiration, Landscape, Minh Dam, Poland, Visual arts, Warsaw, Warsaw University of Technology, Watercolor painting

19 May 2
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Alessandro Battara illustrating highs and lows of life

Under - Art, Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Alessandro Battara aims to strike hard on what’s negative around us such as a piece of news or a social/political situation through his work.

I believe what we saw and lived first hand in our lives is very helpful, the more things touched us, the more we have to say and express, even violently. I’m always trying to turn my illustrations into a sort of cinematographic manifesto; the situation or the fact that I’m illustrating becomes my own film, that I must summarize in a poster.

Alessandro graduated from the Dosso Dossi School of Art in Ferrara, Italy, and then went for a two year qualification in anatomical design.

Unfortunately there weren’t many job opportunities available at the time so I had to take every sort of humble job. I wanted to make money in order to start my own life. A few years later I got the opportunity to go back in the graphic design business. I took out my colours and dusty brushes and started drawing and working on my computer for hours because I felt a bit rusty and…you know what? I discovered I had so much to say! I met every sort of person. In a work environment like a factory, for example, you can meet nice people, desperate people and even the outcast. I haven’t spent my life inside a graphic studio and this helped me a lot, despite what I myself used to think, because having seen life as it really is and having experienced hard work that I profoundly hated I have now something to say.

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Alessandro Battara, Art, Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Italy

19 April 4
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Illustrations by Hugh D’Andrade

Under - Art, Design, Illustration, Inspiration, Typography

Hugh D’Andrade is famously indiscriminate about the uses of his art. It has appeared on book covers, magazine spreads, rock posters, Burning Man paraphernalia, board games, as well as the occasional t-shirt and skateboard. His greatest ambition in life is to project his mental images into the minds of innocent people everywhere.

A few of the places you may have seen Hugh’s art: rock posters for Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, the Avett Brothers and Joan Jett; book covers for Penguin, Houghton-Mifflin, and Harper Collins; illustration annuals from Communication Arts (on the cover!), American Illustration, Creative Quarterly and the Society of Illustrators.

Hugh also likes to hang his art on clean, white gallery walls when he gets a chance.

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Art, Communication Arts, Communication design, Design, Elvis Costello, Graphic design, Hugh D’Andrade, Illustration, Inspiration, poster, The Avett Brothers, Typography

6 April Share your
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Mariana Coan – discovering something new

Under - Art, Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Based is São Paulo, Brazil, Mariana Coan has been working as a professional illustrator for over 4 years now. All that started when she sold her first illustration to Capricho, a magazine very popular among Brazilian teenagers.

I wish I could tell that I was one of those kids who draw since kindergarten, but things were different for me. Of course I’ve always liked to draw, but, born on a really small town on the outskirts of Brazil, I could not imagine I could make a living out of it. So, in college I’ve studied Publishing. At first I thought I was going to spend the rest of my days editing text and copywriting books. But after some years doing that I was really fed up with publishing, and I tried to make some illustrations just for pleasure. Sometime later a friend of mine saw the images and told me they were worth something, and that I should show them to some designers and art directors. So I did. But it was only one year later that I got my first commissioned illustration; I had to wait some time to get things going for me. Since I have started illustrating, though, it became more than a merely job. I can truly say it is the best thing that happened to me, I love what I do! 😀

I don’t think I have a particular style, but I can say I like collage and drawing the most. On the last couple of years I started paper crafting, and soon I became more and more in love with that. If I had to define my style, I would say I like mixing techniques, mediums and everything else.

My inspiration and goal is discovering something new in every project – I mean, learning how to do something differently, even if it’s something really tiny. And, of course, there are a bunch of people I admire out there, and they inspire me also. Just to name a few: Fabiano Silva, Robert Weaver, Andy Potts, Benja Harney, Robert Sabuda, Pieatari Posti, and few more.