This is another interesting interview with a talented artist. Jamie Jasso is a veteran matte painter who has worked on some popular projects that we’ve all either seen or played first hand. To name a few, he has worked on games such as “Halo Wars” and “Prototype.” This master matte painter gives the readers some advice, as well as some insight on why he chose this artistic route. Let’s get to know this master matte painter.

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

My name is Jaime Jasso I’m from Guadalajara Mexico and I’m the Lead Matte Painter at Blur studio in Los Angeles, California. Since I was kid, I was always fascinated by sci-fi and art, starting in comic books and traditional painting techniques such as oil, pencil, air brush, inks, and later found out that the computer was the ultimate tool. I tried it and of course fell in love with technology and how quickly you could get results with no stains on the floor or on your clothes.

2. For our readers that are not familiar with Matte Paintings, please tell us exactly what a matte painting is. Give us your own explanation of what you do also.

Matte painting are an old VFX technique used since the early days of cinema. It was an environment or set extension painted in glass with a matte or “alpha” that helped blending with the real scenario more believable. Nowadays it’s completely digital and well sometimes helped with assets such as photos, miniatures, 3D renderings and actual 2D painting. My work at blur is to create highly detailed matte paintings, that most of the time are projected in 3D geometry to allow the camera to give life with animation.

3. What exactly do game and movie developers do with the breathtaking scenery shots that you paint for them?

New video game cinematics are evolving into a new era, where the actual game has an incredible amount of detail and effects. The new cinematic has to always be the pre-rendered story teller and get the gamer into the game with realism and fantasy. This is where studios like Blur are implementing film VFX techniques in the pipeline to make the cinematics look awesome. Matte painting was used in Film before but now is a common tool for cinematic studios, due of course to the fast and high detailed results it gives, rather than trying to model and render big 3D Environments

4. Its a must for all painters to have a tablet, so give us a visual of your workspace. What are your tools, and why do you prefer your equipment over everything else?

My main tools in software is Photoshop, for me the best and most fun program ever. For 3D my main tool is 3dsmax and I use Terragen, and Vue as well when I try to get a custom landscape asset. I use Fusion and After Effects when I do my last composite. I have a Mac which is my main computer for Photoshop just cause I think adobe works better on Macs, and PC for all my 3D work, of course my Wacom tablet that is a must !

5. Your painting of a futuristic Japanese city is one of the best paintings in your portfolio. Please walk us through the initial idea and how you built upon it to create the piece we see now.

That image in particular was a personal challenge. I did a first version almost 9 years ago. I liked the concept and composition so much that when I felt I was getting better at matte painting techniques, I decided to work again in the same image, but with all that I had learned through the years, and that’s how the image was created.

I used 3D modeling for the foreground and middle ground elements, which later I had to texture and composite in Photoshop all together with the background skyscrapers. I’m a fan of blade runner and Japanese manga and their view about our future cities. That was my main inspiration to create it.

6. Your scenery paintings range from futuristic cities, to serene mountain ranges. What would you say is your favorite type of scenery to paint and why?

My favorites are futuristic cities because there’s so much detail you can work with and too many textures and materials that make it so fun to work with. I love the night shots, playing with light is great because it not only makes it look cool, but helps you with visual composition, effects, materials, and overall mood.

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Rubens Scarelli, also known as Rusc, is an illustrator and graphic designer from Sao Paulo, Brazil. It seems like there is something special in Brazil’s air, that it produces some amazing designers and illustrators.

Ruben’s illustrations are crafted with clean linework and attractive colors that are perfect for t-shirts. He creates some fun, expressive, and engaging characters through his illustrations. In this interview Ruben talks about his creative journey, his passion for t-shirt designs, his future goals and inspirations.

1. Hello Rubens, to start, could you tell us a little about yourself, about your formal education and about your design and illustrating background? When did you first feel a calling to be an artist?

Hi, My name is Rubens Scarelli, a.k.a. Rusc. I’m an illustrator and graphic designer from Brazil. I’m 44 years old and my background is in advertising, but I drew as a child and my first job was to design a comic book for Nestlé in Brazil in 1987, when I was 21. I had just left the family business, a small clothing industry in Sao Paulo. The agency hired me specifically for this project, but I ended up staying for a few years.

I liked the comics and later went to create my own. It was all very magical at the time and the comics were a great foundation for me to develop my side as the designer.

2. You do a lot of t-shirt designs. When and how did you get interested in designing for t-shirts? Why do you think t-shirts make such a great medium for designers and artists?

In my 17 years I was developing my designs for t-shirts. One of the goals of the company of my family was to have a street wear brand. But unfortunately my father put other ideas in front and I ended up leaving the firm.

For many years I worked in advertising agencies and drawing comics, but that idea of t-shirts never left my mind. When I began to spread over the internet, contest sites for creating t-shirts, I decided to send, unpretentiously, a drawing.

I did not win in the first one, but I received many comments of encouragement and just in the second attempt I was an approved designer. I think that this interaction was the point that it encouraged me to become a t-shirts designer. In this manner, I became more known and I made excellent friendships.

3. Could you describe your typical workflow for an illustration? How long does a piece take to complete?

I still do not live solely on t-shirts, I do my job and freelancing. My time to develop the projects are short and irregular. There are complex jobs that can take a week, but there are others that I do in a day. But all are drawn on paper, scanned and vectorized node to node with my tablet. Some will say it’s crazy, a boring job, but I say I am very fast with my tools (Hahaha!). I am studying and in the near future I intend to test new techniques.

4. How long have you been designing and illustrating? What are your tools of the trade?

I am a professional illustrator for 23 years and the stuff I’m working on is now reduced. I replaced a good part of my arsenal as watercolors, gouache, acrylic by an iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 24 inch screen and a Wacom 6×9.

Where before I drew with pencil on paper. Incidentally, I finish art using brush (marten fur) or disposable pens. To trace I use three programs: Photoshop, Illustrator and Vector Magic.

5. Which T-shirt is your bestseller? Do you have any personal favorite t-shirt design you have created and why is it your favorite?

My best seller is the Vox Populi. Even today people talk about it.

I do not have a favorite, I always say that my favorite is the one I’m working today.

6. What are you currently working on? Any interesting project that you would like to plug?

I have some unfinished projects that are making me lose sleep. I have dozens of projects that I want to put into practice in 2010 and one that is well under way that has the theme "zombie" (innovative, is it not?). I just finished its details and I can only say that it is something quite different than I’m used to doing.

7. How would you describe your design and artistic style? Do you have any specific plans for the future direction of your artwork and illustrations?

I’m a humorous person and I try to pass that into my drawings. The cartoons are the best way to express it, although I have a more academic training.  I define myself as someone who has likes to have fun, and who use my creations for that purpose.

I intend to continue with the t-shirts, but on a more regular basis. I like the retro line and intend to accent this in my designs, blending styles with a strong graphic appeal.

8. Who, if anyone in the world, would you like to design a t-shirt for?

Hmmm! This is the most difficult! I think for Brian Johnson of AC / DC and say: “Uses only this in your world tour!” Hahaha!

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Anthony Giacomino is an extremely talented designer who has already designed art for big names such as Allen Iverson, Randy Moss, and other big name athletes. He is only 22 and is attending school. Anthony currently freelances and in our interview we talk about the pro’s and con’s of exactly that. We also discuss his design style and how he creates some of his stunning artwork. So lets get into another great interview with this talented artist.

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Thanks for the opportunity.  My name is Anthony Giacomino and I am a digital artist and designer based in the United States.  I started using Photoshop 7 in early high school as a hobby.  I’ve always been into art and I was interested in trying a new medium and it escalated from there.  I continued to learn and practice a variety of design software and after years of hard work it is finally starting to pay off.

2. What are the pro’s and con’s of going to school to study designing? Some artists would rather be self-taught and believe that is the best way to become a better designer. What is your opinion on this? 

I definitely think there are positives for doing both.  If you have the opportunity to attend a design school, you will be able to learn the formal elements and teaching of design, receive critique from instructors and peers, and also have valuable time to practice specific projects and design programs.

While being self-taught might take more dedication and time, it gives designers the ability to study what they want and perfect it.  Many art institutions and the instructors have distorted views on art and design, so not having the limitations and rules of an art school can help designers explore their ideas and creativity to a full extent.  Some of the most talented freelance designers today are completely self-taught.

3. A lot of your art deals with abstract imagery, like shapes and 3D figures. Why do you prefer this over other types of images?

I really enjoy a mixed-media abstract style right now that will show in some of my upcoming works.  I love abstract overall because it does not always paint a clear picture of what I am trying to convey. People have a chance to look at pieces and analyze the details of it and construe their own meanings as well.

4. In your portfolio you state that you have worked for such clients as Randy Moss, Amare Stoudemire, Allen Iverson, and more. How have you been able to land such high profile clients, and what do you suggest other designers do to build up a strong client base.

I have been able to get a few clients to work under who manage the athlete’s websites, and create a couple designs for some of these people.  Some of the work has died down a bit, but hopefully I will be able to impress some bigger companies as I continue to progress in design.  I would advise designers to keep working hard and do not be shy about contacting people that might be interested in affordable freelance designers.  It all comes down to how you compare with the competition too.

5. “Artificial Supernova” is an amazing abstract illustration with some great colors. Please walk us through how you created it, and what this piece means to you.

Artificial Supernova is a more retro style abstract work and the idea was just an abstract laser beam shooting an asteroid.  I started by creating the mass of shapes at the bottom and rendered the asteroid in Cinema 4D.  It all came together after I did some detailing and worked on the background.  It was originally a horizontal piece but at the end I decided to rotate it and I am pleased with the result.  This piece was made for the international art collective Intrinsic Nature’s 6th exhibition.

6. As a designer what would you say is your favorite piece of art? Classical or Modern, and why?

It’s really hard to narrow it down to one particular piece, style or art movement since it is all such varied and great work. I like early 1900’s modern surreal works a lot like Salvador Dali
and abstract works from Wassily Kandinsky. Being a digital artist, I love seeing new fresh ideas and pieces from designers today.  The styles of art have changed a lot over the year,s but the talent has always been there, and that is why I cannot say I have one favorite artist, since I love it all.

7. From your perspective what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a freelance designer?

Positives are undoubtedly that you can work on your own time and schedule in the comfort of home at your own work station. That is a huge plus of freelance as long as you keep coming to clients for work and vice versa.  Negatives are that it can be very slow and unsteady income.  You are your own boss, and this can be a negative if you tend to procrastinate.

8. Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

No problem, thanks again! Just keep looking out for my work at my site. Also Intrinsic Nature’s 7th exhibition has been released so be sure to check it out. There is also the possibility of tutorials for Psdtuts in the future.

Where to find Anthony on the Web

• Anthony’s Portfolio
• Anthony’s DeviantArt

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Chris Leavens is a talented vector artist born and raised in Pennsylvania who now resides in Los Angeles. He graduated with a BA in film and video and initially worked in the film industry. Later Chris decided to take a break from the film biz and began working as an illustrator, graphic designer, and web designer, focusing primarily on educational material for children.

Chris creates vector art entirely in Adobe Illustrator including textural elements. Chris’s work incorporates absurdity, anthropomorphism, and a healthy dose of humor. For those who don’t know he has also written a tutorial for Vectortuts+ .

In this interview he talks about how he got started in the design industry. He gives an insight into his creative process, talks about the awesomeness of vector art and Adobe Illustrator and much more!

1. Hello Chris, give us a background bio on yourself? What is a typical day is for you as a designer?

Hi, thanks for interviewing me!

I grew up in a pretty culturally-isolated, rural area in east-central Pennsylvania, USA. We lived (and my parents still live) in a nice house on a dirt road with very few neighbors. Basically, this forced my brothers and me to entertain ourselves with our imaginations and, as a result, all three of us ended up pursuing careers in the arts.

I doodled through much of school and that helped me sort out what I liked to draw: strange, hybridized creatures, anthropomorphs, and surreal scenes, often drenched in bizarre humor. I’ve been very fortunate to have people notice my work and guide me in the right direction, leading me to my current career as an illustrator and designer here in Los Angeles.

As for a typical day, it’s not too exciting from an outsider’s point of view! I wake up, exercise (usually running), spend time with my baby daughter Sonja, work on projects, spend some family time with my wife and daughter, work some more and go to bed. Lately I’ve been working seven days a week, so things have been a little crazy, but in a good way. I’m not super social nor am I a big party guy, so spending time with my art and my family suits me just fine!

2. Where and how did you learn all this design craft? Did you take any formal education or are you self-taught? How long have you been working as a designer? Tell us about your first design job.

The one and only design-related class I’ve ever taken was a basic Photoshop class I took during my senior year studying film at Penn State University. It was a digital art class, so neither design nor technique were pushed very hard. More than anything, it introduced me to the idea of digital art. After I moved to Los Angeles and started working in the film industry, my tiny bit of Photoshop experience started to land design-oriented jobs in my lap. I basically used these jobs as an excuse to teach myself Photoshop and After Effects, which eventually led me to Illustrator.

I learned Illustrator completely on my own, no books, no classes, no websites. Every time I had a new project, I tried to use and figure out a new tool. I applied my knowledge of the other Adobe programs and tried to figure out methods for replicating common conventional drawing and painting practices. The art’s the important part, right? So I tried to create art first, and figure out the technical bits second. Anyway, my first attempts at vector art looked pretty simplistic and were a bit sloppy! I’m pretty meticulous about things now that I’ve got a solid mastery of the tool set. When creating any kind of art, it’s really important that the tools don’t act as an obstacle. You should almost forget they’re there!

I guess my first design job was probably tied in with my time at a small film production company here in LA, back in 1998 or 1999. I created motion graphics and print ads for a local career college. Very glamorous! Joking aside, it was a great opportunity to learn and get paid at the same time.

3. I noticed that you initially worked in the film industry what made you switch to design and illustration? Was it an easy decision?

I can’t say it was the easiest decision. The film industry’s pretty rough, especially for an outsider with no connections. It’s truly more about who you know than what you know. I was fortunate very early on, however, and was hired to direct a feature documentary detailing the life of actor Jack Nance. I was 23 or 24 when we finished it and I was still pretty naïve.

I had a hard time dealing with the egos, the cynicism, the shady business dealings, and I still didn’t really know how to take criticism. All of those factors in addition to a nasty break-up I was going through at the time made me feel a bit disillusioned about the film industry, even though I’d been moderately successful. One freelance motion graphics job I had ended and I was presented with an opportunity to do some print-design work for the education market, so I did it. I soon found that it was a better fit for me and I really enjoyed the process.

4. What is it about the vector medium that fascinates you? What tools and applications do you use to create your vector arts and what does your workstation looks like?

For me, the awesomeness of vector art and Adobe Illustrator is really based in its extreme flexibility. You can create in a way that’s almost infinitely mutable and non-destructive. Want to change a color? OK! Want to change the shape of a face? Sure! Shuffle objects around and change the composition? No problem! Illustrator is the ultimate yes man.

As for my tools, I use Illustrator CS4 almost exclusively to create my art. I’m not a big plug-in guy; AI works pretty well for me as is, although there are a few minor things I’d love to change about it.

As for hardware, I’ve got a Mac Pro, a nice, big LCD, and a Wacom Intuos4 tablet. I place my Wacom tablet to the right of my keyboard, which some folks seem to think is odd, but I use the keyboard a lot while I’m drawing, so it works great for me. Really, there isn’t a right or wrong way to do things, so whatever helps you create faster and better is the right way.

5. As you said you would love to change few things about Adobe Illustrator, what would it be?

Adobe Illustrator can only address 2GB of RAM and that needs to change. When you’re working purely with vectors, it’s usually not too big a deal, but when your vectors have tons of anchor points or you introduce any raster graphics or effects to the mix, RAM starts to disappear. Most of my issues with RAM come into play when I’m exporting my artwork as a JPEG or a TIFF. The RAM fills up and poof! The export is canceled. I’ve also run into trouble when I’ve used complex custom brushes to create textures. There are too many points for AI to render a preview and it shifts me to outline view, which is virtually useless. Upping the max RAM would solve these issues.

Also, on the topic of exporting art, there’s a limit to the size you’re allowed to export at and it’s not as big as I’d like. I’m not sure what the physical limitation is, but as an example, I had to export an 90 x 90 cm piece of artwork at 300dpi for the recent Blood Sweat Vector art show and Illustrator wouldn’t let me do it. I had to open and rasterize the image in Photoshop, which is pretty ridiculous.

Another bizarre issue, which I’m guessing was a bit of an oversight, is that the SWFs exported by AI use Actionscript 2 instead of AS3. Seems weird to me that they don’t even give you an option, but they don’t! A client I’m working with needs me to deliver AS3 SWFs for technical reasons and there’s absolutely no way I’m drawing in Flash (I’m not a masochist!), so I have to copy the artwork from AI and paste it into Flash in order to produce the proper SWF file, which is an extra step I’d rather not monkey with.

Another great change would be to shift the art redraws that occur in the layer thumbnails and the navigator panel to another core. AI doesn’t use multi-core processors really well at the moment, and I think shifting the redraw processes to an alternate core could help speed up performance, especially when you’re dealing with complex art, which I often do. I’m sure I could think of other changes I’d like to make, but that’s what comes to mind at the moment!

6. Walk us through the creation of a typical artwork. How much of your creative process takes place using traditional methods? What is the first spark that triggers you to start on a piece?

Ideas just sort of seem to pop into my head. Sometimes (very rarely!) they’re very vivid and I’m able to draw a rough idea of my thoughts, but most of the time it’s just a tiny piece of idea that gets me started and it often morphs into something else. I tend to start out with a super-rough reference sketch, but sometimes I just jump into Illustrator and start creating.

I know a lot of vector artists draw a complete sketch conventionally, scan it in, and trace it with vectors, but I don’t trace. Personally, I find tracing incredibly tedious, like busy work. I’m not saying I think tracing is bad or that people who trace aren’t talented or anything like that. I’m just saying it’s not for me. Some of my favorite and some of the best vector artists out there trace their sketches and come up with terrific results. I like the freedom and spontaneity of drawing with vectors without being encumbered by a previously-set guide.

Once I start creating within Illustrator, I start by building basic, flat shapes and I arrange the composition. During the beginning stages I also try to pin down some basic color choices because color so often dictates the feel and mood of a piece. I use a lot of layers and label the heck out of everything! After I finalize my basic composition, I start to add details like faces, clothing, decorations, etc. Next I move on to shading and I end with textures, because they seem to be the most taxing on my computer. When I’m done, I either post the art to the Internet or send it off to a client for approval. Then I cross my fingers and hope for the best!

7. What is your favorite Illustrator tool, trick or technique? Is there any special effect that you usually use or any tips you might want to share?

I love clipping masks. They’re fast (Command + 7), flexible, and most of all, non-destructive. If you want to add elements into a clipping mask or move an item within a mask, it’s super easy. I use a lot of gradients as well. For shading, I tend to use feathered objects nested within clipping masks. I’m not a fan of gradient mesh, mostly because working with it seems pretty slow and cumbersome to me. Of course, it’s hard to deny the awesome power of the plain old pen tool, which is what I use most of the time in Illustrator.

One tip I’d share, which may be obvious, is to use the multiply and screen blend modes for quick shading and highlighting. It’s great because you can use an objects inherit color, draw a shade object on top of it, set it to multiply, and you’ve got some pretty nice-looking shading (you can always add a little black to the color if it’s not dark enough!). Do the same with screen for highlights. For me, it’s a real time saver and it produces some great, often rich-looking color blends.

8. What would you say has been the highlights of your career so far? What projects in your career have given you immense creative satisfaction?

I guess for me personally, it’s that over the past two years my artwork has been invited to be shown in galleries and art shows. It’s great to be able to make money from your art via design work, but it’s really satisfying to have your artwork on display along with other great artists producing artwork across a large spectrum of media.

My art at my last two LA shows sold out, which was both surprising and great! I just took part in the Blood Sweat Vector show in Berlin, and word is it was a big success, which says a good deal about the rise of vector art as a legitimate medium for art. Also, being invited to take part in Göoo Magazine and being featured in their 2010 calendar were both really nice honors!

9. What are you working on currently, any interesting or exciting projects that you would like to talk about? Is there any dream project you would like to work on? What would it be?

Oh, there’s a project I’m working on right now that I’d love to say more about, but I can’t because I signed an NDA. I will say it’s a computer game and that it’s a huge project, but that’s about it. It’s pretty awesome because the people behind it contacted me and basically just asked me to create artwork with very little direction or limitations, not something that happens every day, especially when pay’s involved!

As for a dream project, I’d love to create a line of children’s books and eventually extend it into animation. In a lot of ways, I feel like I was born to create art geared toward kids. I think for all of its strangeness, my art is generally fairly positive and free from violence and morose themes. When kids do see it, they tend to love it, which is a high compliment!

10. Your illustrations are very detailed, filled with fun, fantasy characters. How would you define your style and what would you want your viewers to walk away with when they see one of your pieces?

Fellow vector artist Julian Dorado, whose work I like quite a bit, once wrote a comment on one of my pieces posted to Flickr that said something about my artwork being hard to describe and unique, and I took those words as an extremely high compliment, not only because of the artist they were coming from, but because I really try to elude categories.

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Caramelaw (aka Sheena Aw) is a motion graphic designer and illustrator from Singapore. She majored in animation back in school, but ventured into broadcast design when she started working. She has done design work for MTV Asia, Sony International, DC Comics, and many others.

She loves drawing fun and crazy candyart. She finds herself immersed in her little world of candies, rainbows and mushrooms. Caramelaw is a big nature lover and it plays a big part in her art creations. Through her art she hopes to reach out to the world and bring joy to those who love her art.

1. Hello Caramelaw, give us a brief bio, tell us where you’re from. Is Caramelaw your real name? Who is the person behind Caramelaw?

Hello, my name is Sheena Aw and I’m the girl behind Caramelaw’s art. I’m based in Singapore. I’m a motion graphics artist/video editor by day and candy land super hero by night. I love doing crazy illustrations and customizing toys in my free time.

2. How did you get started in digital arts. Did you take any formal training in this field? How was your first brush with vector illustrations? What programs or software do you use to create your vector artworks?

I studied Interactive Media Design in Temasek School of Design (Singapore) and graduated with a diploma. Majored in animation back in school but ventured into broadcast design when I started working.

My first introduction with vector would be with the use of Macromedia Flash (back then it was still known as MF). I did flash animations back in school and fell in love with the distinctive and clean style of vector art. Flash was a breeze to use to create vector work and it soon became my favorite tool. It never left me since then. After which I’ll do lots of touch ups and composition layouts in Photoshop.

3. Walk us through the creation of a typical image for you. How long does it take to create? What is it about vector the medium that fascinates you?

It usually starts with a handy sketchbook. I go out, I get inspired, scribble them down, bring the treasure home and start to do more constructive sketching. Honestly I have no idea how my artwork would turn out to be when I start making them into vector illustrations. It just takes on a life of its own as I make progress.

Its fascinating coz’ I never know what to expect. But the results are always satisfying.

4. What are you working on currently, any interesting or exciting project? Tell us about your job as broadcast designer.

I’m currently working on some character designs with DC comics and also working on the next Depthcore Pack. More customized toys in the making. Exciting times!

I do video editing and motion graphics during my day job as a broadcast designer. I used to make on air promos for MTV Asia a few years back, but now I’m trying out corporate videos. I wouldn’t say its exciting, but it certainly gives me a different set of challenges!

5. Your illustrations are full of fantasy characters, creatures and candies, what is the first spark of imagination that triggers you to start on a piece? How would you define your style. What do you want your viewers to walk away with when they see one of your pieces?

Cute + Morbid. That sums it up perfectly.

I’m also a big nature lover. Be it trees, animals, flowers, mushrooms, rainbows, raindrops…anything! It plays a big part in my art creations. I love how beautiful and perfect mother nature is. I think the world should learn from its beauty and not take anything on earth for granted. I tend to reflect that in most of my artwork.

Whenever I create art, I hope it brings a smile to those who look at it. The colors, the characters and the love that is put into it.

6. I notice that your illustrations have a typical color palette; you seem to use similar colors for your illustrations. Why do you like to use those colors?

I think my color scheme plays a big part in my art. I once did an artwork in black and white. It just didn’t seem quite right. Though the characters, the story and everything else goes according to plan, but with no color, it just doesn’t work at all. Made me really frustrated coz’ I didn’t like it. My art NEEDS to have color! Lots and lots of color. Caramelaw style. The more the merrier!

So yes, I always apply lots of colors to my art and most of the time keep to similar color schemes coz’ its my favorite! Makes me want to throw in more ideas when I see the colors I love to work with.

It’s like a child being attracted to bright colors.

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Cyrill Clunev is a Russian designer with a very impressive abstract design style. This unique artist talks about why he likes creating abstract illustrations, and walks us through one of his best works. On top of all that we discuss how bad artwork inspires Cyrill to create amazing artwork. So lets get into another great interview.

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Hello everyone! My name is Cyrill Clunev (aka dualform), and I’m a 24 year old designer and art director from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. About five years ago I found
deaddreamer on the net. I got a massive dose of inspiration and decided to get into art. So cyber punk was my first influence. Shortly after that I quit studying business in the university and started practicing really hard.

In a year I got my first job as a graphic designer in an agency. It was a big victory because I didn’t have any art education and my portfolio contained some crazy cyber photo manipulations and one ugly vector girl. So I got into vector design and continued on studying Photoshop. I’ve been working for different studios as a graphic artist and even motion designer for a few years, and now I’m the founder and owner of Goatelier design studio in Saint-Petersburg.

2. In a few words how would you describe this abstract style of yours? Why did you decide to go with this specific style over others?

Well, lets call it a “super-future-plastic-sex.” I’m actually a big architecture and modern furniture lover. I think making designs like those is a way of being an architect myself in some way because I’m pretty confident I won’t ever get into it.

3. Most of your art incorporates simple 2D and 3D shapes. Why does incorporating shapes appeal to you? And what do you think they bring to your art that you wouldn’t be able to get with anything else?

Incorporating shapes is the result of experimenting. I love shapes as the stand alone elements and I just make compositions to show the uniqueness of simplicity. Clean and sleek shapes bring aesthetics and fresh air to art. I suggest there are many ways to make it, but my method is the one I really feel.

4. You are also talented in designing typographic pieces like “Unitype.” Do you approach a typographic illustration different from your abstract pieces? If so how does it differ?

Actually, “Unitype” was a single experiment that turned out pretty nice. Honestly I don’t think I’m that good at typography so I don’t work with it even if I want to. It’s very different from the random abstract illustrations I usually make. Typography is a unique way of expressing emotions and information. If you want to be good in it, you have to practice hard in typography only.

5. “Magen-ethic” is one of your great illustrations, it has some amazing color combinations that light up the canvas. Please walk us through how you created it and what inspired you to make it.

First of all I have to admit it was a collaboration with Simone Magurno. He sent me the “wip” and I reorganized the composition a bit and continued on adding details. So we then worked on it for a while and finally got that cosmos bubble burst.

First color combination was really amazing and original. Blue, green purple and other colors that even shouldn’t work together at first sight. But Simone had a great feeling for it. Step by step we added new colors and overall it turned out messy in my opinion. So I started experimenting with it and got a few versions. One satisfied both of us and now you can check it on our websites.

6. When you are low on inspiration where is a common place that you turn to?

First place I turn to is Google with “ultra modern architecture” or something similar to that. I also have an inspiration folder on my PC where I collect unique and impressive designs. I’m a big fan of Ari Weinkle, Nelson Balaban and some other talented artist. If I need inspiration I check those guys for updates. But the most powerful thing is bad design. When you see badly executed abstract art you really think you should change the world and make a good one.

7. What do you think your biggest challenge was in terms of designing? Have you overcome this obstacle yet? If so tell us how.

I think I’m never 100% satisfied with my work. We always see designers that can make illustrations much better than our own and it really de-motivates me. But finally I figured out one clever thing, and it’s that I should take my own place in design and life. I don’t mean you should stop expanding your skills to the next level but just remember not to jump over your head.   

8. Thanks again for providing Psdtuts+ with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

Thank you too, it was a pleasure to me. I wish everyone to keep the good things coming! And don’t forget to buy my prints to make Cyrill damn rich!!! Kidding, I don’t sell prints.

Where to find Cyrill on the Web

• Cyrill’s Portfolio
• Cyrill’s DeviantArt

Zodiac

Glenn Robinson is a California native and an extremely unique designer. He has an impeccable, incomparable style of perfectly blending many different elements. But on top of that, unlike most designers, Glenn only does this as a hobby, and his work is arguably better than some full-time designers. In this interview Glenn shares some of his wisdom with us about proper blending, and some of his work among other things. So lets get into another great interview!

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Thanks for the invitation to be interviewed, first of all!  My name is Glenn Robinson.  I’m a native and current resident of Sacramento, California USA.  I got started with digital art back in June of 2006.  One evening while at home I was searching for some Photoshop tutorials online and I happened to stumble upon a “GFX” community website called ParallelFX.  They had a tutorial section on their forum showing people how to make forum signatures and tags.  After hanging around that community for a while I learned that there was actually a worldwide culture of digital artists producing a wide range and variety of artwork, and this very much intrigued me.

I went from making small forum signatures to working on larger canvases sometime in 2007.  Since my childhood, art has always played an important role in my life.  So now, even as an adult, it was no strange occurrence to find myself being attracted to a new, powerfully expressive medium such as digital art.

2. There are so many different elements that you incorporate in your art, from 3D to photo manipulation. How do you blend all these styles in a harmonious way?

Three things are most important in meshing various elements together: (1) composition, (2) lighting/shading, and (3) blending.

The placement of the various elements is going to make or break a piece: this is where composition comes in.  Even though your objects are totally unrelated or created using different media, you can place them with, on top, or around other things in a way that looks good.  The trick is trying to figure that part out.  Experimenting is key, but as a general rule you want your composition to point to some main focal object.

Lighting and shading help all of your pieces make sense with each other.  Making sure all of your objects have the same direction of lighting and corresponding drop shadows brings a sense of realism to your piece that is crucial.

Blending is often times such a nebulous term thrown around by digital artists.  What I personally mean by blending is taking the time to balance out the brightness and contrast, levels, and tones on each individual object layer to make sure it all looks like it belongs on the same canvas.  I usually take my blending cues from my main focal object, striving to make every other element blend with it.  Sometimes blending means texturing, smudging, or soft brush erasing certain parts (or all) of the other elements to make them fit, too.

3. You are the Administrator and Creative Director of Intrinsic Nature, which is a graphic design community. Please tell us a little more about the site, and what sets this apart from websites like depthCORE and slashTHREE.

Yes, I am one of the administrators of the art group Intrinsic Nature. I gotta give a quick shout out to the other admins Sander Abbema, Dan Maglasang, and Anthony Giacomino because IN is definitely a family and we could do nothing apart from the contributions of every staff member and active artist of the group!

IN was created in early 2008 as a project between Dan Maglasang and myself.  Ironically, Dan and I first made acquaintance on the ParallelFX forum community back in 2006.  Since we were both California natives, we would chat every now and then and kept in touch.  Our dream for an art group emerged in December of 2007 with the idea to form a team of artists that took a completely “freestyle” approach to online art exhibitions, as opposed to themed exhibitions like depthCORE or slashTHREE.  We wanted to stress the creative, experimental nature of our work so we termed each of our subsequent releases “Experiments.”

Since then, we have been able to accumulate a remarkable array of talented international artists and produce high quality art exhibitions utilizing many different forms of media.  This past August we unveiled our 6th Experiment (IN6) and we are currently in the developmental process of creating IN7 which will showcase on Tuesday, December 22nd.

4. “Haywire” is one of your newer designs, it has some amazing imagery so can you please walk us through how you created it and what is the meaning behind the design.

Thank you for the compliment! ”Haywire” was a collaborative effort between my friend Guilherme Damasceno and me. Guilherme created the abstract shapes using strictly Photoshop and I took them and mashed them together with a funky model stock to make the image you see.  By mashing, of course, I mean all the things I explained in question #2.

Honestly speaking, there really is no static meaning for this particular piece.  I think instead of trying to present a concept I was simply trying to capture a mood, an emotion.  What feeling comes to mind when you look at this piece?  Yeah, that’s what this piece means!

As a cool note: the white colored elements in the background are actually scanned images of a watercolor “painting” that my 2 year old son recently did.  I had to work it in somehow!

5. You stated that you were a self-taught designer, why did you decide to teach yourself how to design instead of going to school for it? What are the pros and cons to your decision?

I’m self-taught because I actually picked up this work as a hobby.  At my stage of life it wouldn’t have made sense to go to school to learn digital art; further, I don’t think I am either willing or desirous to shell out that kind of money toward schooling that this type of work would require.

First and foremost I am a husband, a father, a pastor, and a school teacher.  To me, digital art is an enjoyable hobby, so it makes all the sense in the world to have simply taught myself.  The only negative I can see in doing it this way was the much more difficult and longer learning curve.  So much of it becomes trial-and-error and ultimately wastes time.  That’s why when you’re teaching yourself it’s best to find a mentor or two who will help you along the way with critical advice and tips.  I’m thankful for all the people who took the time to help me out back in the day!

6. A lot the art in your portfolio like “Soul of the city” and “Tree of knowledge” have a very dark feel to them. What inspired those two pieces and the rest of your dark themed illustrations?

The inspiration for “Soul of the City” and “Tree of Knowledge” is simply this: trying to push myself to greater limits of artistic expression.  I wanted both of those pieces to exemplify hard work, detailed craftsmanship, and innovative design.  I truly feel that a large portion of the success of those pieces is directly attributed to the artist team at Intrinsic Nature.  Many of those guys and gals gave helpful and consistent critique on both of those works, forcing me to expend diligent effort and care on each of those pieces to make them the best they could be.

The dark themes create a great context for the contrast of light. I think that on the dark canvas the brilliance of light and color can be seen and appreciated best. In both “Soul of the City” and “Tree of Knowledge” the parts I like the most are the portions which are accented with color and gleam with radiant lighting.

7. If you could go back in time and tell your old self one bit of advice concerning design what would you say and why?

I would tell myself to stay as far away as possible to conforming to trends.  Trendiness kills identity. When you’re trendy, you aren’t being true to yourself; you’re being true to the crowd. Stay original. Stay unique. Stay fresh.

There’s nothing wrong with inspiration—we ALL take inspiration from other places, other people, other art.  But may the inspiration you find simply help to bring out the “intrinsic” creativity that resides within your own soul.  Give THAT to the world and you share with them something that is truly meaningful.

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Peter Nowacki, AKA Velendil, is a 21 year old designer from Warsaw Poland. He is currently attending an arts university and is studying to become a more well-rounded designer. To achieve this goal he is studying 3D art to compliment his already amazing 2D work, as well as motion graphics and animation. In this interview, Peter discusses his inspiration for most of his work, as well as shows off one of his great free fonts. So check this interview out!

1. Welcome to Psdtuts+, please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you’re from and how you got started in the field?

Hello there, my name is Peter Nowacki and I’m from Poland, now studying in Warsaw, born 21 years ago. Graphic came to me in a really amazing way because everything started from fantasy books and games which I used to play with my cousin when I was young. I’m the only child so in my opinion fantasy was my way of escape to magic worlds in my imagination.

A few years later, I decided to set up a private fantasy forum. I started learning HTML and PHP and of course I had to make a design for that site using PaintShop Pro. This is the way everything started, next step was using Photoshop and creating logotypes.

Hope