Illustration

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Illustration

Watercolor Paintings of Imagined Trash Structures Packed With Advertising by Alvaro Naddeo

Brazilian artist Alvaro Naddeo‘s watercolors imagine a dystopian world left in ruin by overconsumption and littered with the branding and logos of the past. Store walls, rusted out vehicles, and arcade machines gain new value as building materials and are combined with other objects and parts to form pop surrealist stacked structures.

Naddeo tells Colossal that he starts with a loose sketch by hand. He then uses 3D software to help define a plausible shape for his imagined constructions, and creates a reference composition in Photoshop. After years of practice, Naddeo shares that he is able to recreate the texture, color, and shadows of various building materials like brick and concrete from memory. He uses reference photos to help flesh out small detail items, which are similarly rendered in watercolor. As for the specific brands, Naddeo says that he pulls from his youth. “I think about the stickers and posters I used to have in my teenage room or the group of brands I used to like at a certain time. I also research at old magazines and look at the ads that shared a specific era. It’s a very fun and nostalgic exercise.”

In a statement on his website, the artist credits his career in advertising over the past 20 years as the inspiration for his work and for showing him the “duality” of such imagery, “both desirable and despicable.” To see more of Alvaro Naddeo’s work and to learn about his upcoming shows with Thinkspace Gallery, follow him on Instagram. (via Colossal Submissions)

Animation Design Illustration

Letters and Numbers by 36 Illustrators Come to Life in Alphabetical Animations by Albert Oriol

The popular 36 Days of Type challenge (previously) is an annual open call for designers, illustrators, and artists to bring the alphabet and numbers one through nine to life. For its sixth year, Barcelona-based motion designer Albert Oriol collaborated with 36 fellow creatives to animate individual letters and numbers. By tapping a wide variety of illustrators with unique styles, Oriol’s end result is a highlight reel of diversity in design. From a Bauhaus-ish B to a graffiti-inspired Y, the animated letters and numbers expand, bounce, pixelate, and evaporate. Watch the full sequence below and see more from Oriol on Behance and Instagram.

Colossal Design Illustration

Buggin’ Out: New DIY Insect Stamp Kits

Sorry to bug you, but we wanted to let you know about these just-released stamp kits from Princeton Architectural Press. Each kit contains ink pads and 25 stamps, ranging from wings and limbs to antennae and abdomens, designed by Hamburg-based illustrator Barbara Dziadosz. Use the component parts to form your favorite critter, or invent an entirely new one. See some examples below to spark your insect imagination, and find the DIY Bug Stamp Kit in The Colossal Shop!

Art Illustration

Solitary Worlds Explored in New Psychological Drawings by Stefan Zsaitsits

Solitary protagonists investigate, embrace, or hide from emotions in evocative new drawings by Stefan Zsaitsits. The Austrian artist (previously) depicts individuals in situations that balance relatable everyday moments with surreal twists. Sitting at a dining table, one subject snorkels into the tablecloth, while another inexplicably emerges on a ladder from the seat of a chair. Zsaitsits works in pencil on paper, using crosshatching for shading and white-penciled details for subtle emphasis.

The artist shares with Colossal that, following his participation in Drawing Now in Paris, his work in currently on view in a group exhibition in Munich, Germany at Størpunkt gallery. An upcoming solo show at Vienna’s Gallery Gans opens in May. Explore more of Zsaitsits’s drawings on Behance and take them home with his latest book, House Drawings.

Art Illustration

Swirling Patches of Multi-Hued Colored Pencil Compose Portraits by Linsey Levendall

Artist and illustrator Linsey Levendall constructs portraits by sketching hundreds of tiny patches of color, creating multi-hued landscapes that take the form of his subjects’ hair and skin. The prismatic works show a range of human conditions, capturing everything from deep introspection to pure bliss. Levendall shares with Colossal that his works are inspired by a wide collection of interests including Salvador Dali, animation, graphic novels, and Cubism. The artist grew up in Cape Town’s Cape Flats, however he now lives and works in rural Canada. You can see more of his portraits created in colored pencil and ink on Instagram and Behance.

Art Illustration

Mind the Gap: A Surrealist Exploration of London Street Life Seen From Above and Below Ground

Mind the Gap is a new complexly layered watercolor from the mind of illustrator Marija Tiurina (previously), which melds fictional scenes from above and below ground. The work is jam packed with both realistic and highly imaginative characters that exist in a parallel universe to North London. Cool colors denote what is happening above ground while reds and pinks towards the bottom right corner signal that the work has moved into the London Underground. The work was inspired by Tiurina’s daily commute on the Central line, which is one of the deepest and hottest lines in the city, and is known for its particularly heated rush hours during the summer. Take a peek at other rich watercolor works by Tiurina on her Instagram, Facebook, and Behance.

Design Illustration

Swirling Three-Dimensional Script by Designer Alia Bright

Portland-based designer Alia Bright creates interlocking text with bright gradient patterns that combine her background in illustration, fine art, and graphic design. The looping letters are formed from paper and glue, and are created with several different weights and stocks to add a visual texture to the graphic presentation. For Bright, the trick to a successful work is finding the sweet spot where the three-dimensional aspect of the paper highlights the lettering, and vice versa. “I feel a piece is successful when I achieve this, which requires a lot of restraint,” she explains to Colossal. I try to maintain the right level of stylistic simplicity while still creating visual interest through color, pattern, and shadows.” You can see more of Bright’s paper text on her website and Instagram.