Posts Tagged ‘watercolor’
Building cityscapes out of pen, ink and watercolors, Gabriel Campanario can be seen throughout the streets of Seattle capturing the city’s subtle nuances and familiar landmarks both in the pages of his sketchbooks and in his Seattle Sketcher column for the Seattle Times. Even more inspirational is Gabriel’s dedication to the art of sketching. Seeking artistic community and a place to share and celebrate ideas, he spearheaded the Urban Sketchers movement, created to connect artists the world over through the art of sketching. With a network of sketch groups in over 30 countries around the globe, urban sketchers draw on location, immortalizing their cities through lines and colors, and visually sharing their adventures with each other and the world online.
Sketch by sketch, Urban Sketchers has grown and gained momentum, with the latest project resulting in a book filled with over 500 illustrations by artists of all backgrounds. The book not only showcases artists’ sketchbooks, but also discusses each artist’s inspirations, drawing process, and techniques. Inspired to grab her pen and watercolors and start sketching on the spot, Culture Vixen’s Gayle Wheatley caught up with Gabriel to find out more about his illustrated life.
As a watercolor artist, I love to incorporate watercolors into my graphic designs. French graphic designer Fabien Barral’s work introduces a similar artistic vein. I was most struck by the ethereal element expressed in his clean, art-inspired designs, which feature watercolor paintings created by his wife.
These lush mixed media illustrations by self-taught Brussels-based illustrator Raphael, aka My Dead Pony, are influenced by fashion, street art, and graffiti. Raphael mixes digital techniques with more traditional art forms like drawing and watercolor. The result is a stunning world of ethereal illustrations filled with splashes of color.
Charlotte Hudders is a talented fashion designer who creates not only visually inventive designs, but exciting costumes as well. Hailing from the UK, Charlotte also spends time abroad in Bali drawing inspiration for her designs. The way she translates her ideas into illustrations and watercolors before ultimately transforming those into fabric is fascinating to observe. Culture Vixen had the chance to talk in depth with Charlotte about her work.
Gayle Wheatley (GW): How did you decide to pursue design and how did you get started as a designer?
Charlotte Hudders (CH): I was always very passionate about art and design at school. My parents encouraged my brothers and I to be creative. My mum is an artist and trained as a dressmaker. She would make us wonderful outfits and costumes growing up. I think that is probably where my passion for fashion and costumes began!
After leaving school I studied art foundation for a year before going on to study theater and performance design at Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.
Although I was drawn to studying fashion and textiles, I still wanted to expand my knowledge in other areas of design. The course enabled me to explore a range of different design opportunities: costume, fashion, set design, and prop making. Being able to learn these different disciplines has really enabled me to push the boundaries of fashion and costume design by using unconventional techniques and materials.
GW: What is the craziest costume you’ve ever designed?
CH: I love designing costumes that incorporate prop making into them. I designed a costume based on the character ‘Silky’ from the Enid Blyton book The Magical Faraway Tree where the theme was to design it as though Terry Gilliam directed the screen version. Instead of having beautiful silky hair like the story suggests, the costume depicted a much darker side to Silky’s nature. Her skirt suggests that she has come out of a cocoon and that she was originally a silk worm! The organic nature of her costume reflects her natural environment, dried out cabbages are sewn into the corset with elements of hand painting and burnt out organza (pictured below).
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Love this catchy watercolor graphic design. It was created for the Los Angeles folk festival.
[ via lafolkfest.com ]
Emily Weil is a talented artist based in Oakland, California who creates stunning large-format watercolors. Her mixed media Abstract Series (pictured here) combines watercolors with varied materials such as charcoal, ink, pencil, pastel, and even some good old “French dirt”. In addition to her work as an artist, Emily is also the founder of Red Eye Design, a graphic design studio with an impressive client list that includes Bon Appétit, UC Santa Barbara, and Sony Entertainment.
Culture Vixen caught up with Emily to find out more about her creative process:
Culture Vixen: How did you get started as an artist?
Emily Weil: I’ve always had a pencil in my hand, it seems, since I was little. Went to art school (CCAC), studied graphic design. Along the way I took various watercolor workshops, loving that medium. A year and a half ago I stumbled upon the artist and gifted teacher, Leigh Hyams, teaching an art workshop at Esalen, on the central California coast. She encourages her students to toss out the rules, and things learned at school, and be true to the feelings and passions that move us as creative humans, using our own powerful, personal voices. I try to express myself authentically and honestly. I certainly work best when I am not worrying about the final product, or what someone more talented than I am might think about my work!
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Sophie is a talented illustrator who has a wide portfolio of beautifully illustrated children’s books and editorial work. She describes her artistic influences as:
“Japanese woodblocks. Chinese packaging design. Old photographs. Maps. Scientific diagrams. Jellyfish. Moby Dick. Iridescent feathers. Train journeys. Figs. Postage stamps. Foxes and giant anteaters and sea otters and pipe fish. Anatomical drawings. Poems and pieces of string. Clouds and shadows. You know, that sort of thing.”
(Click here to see more of Sophie’s work…)
Aline Yamada is an artist and illustrator living and working in Columbus, OH. You can check out her work on her blog, and buy her prints at littlepaperplanes.com.
(Click here to see more of Aline’s Art…)
The lovely illustrations seen on DailyCandy.com are drawn by a talented illustrator by the name of Miss Capricho. She works in pen, ink, & watercolor to create wistful illustrations of fashionable girls, cute animals, and sleek skylines.
