Creative Profiles

Get to know the background of illustrators, designers, and artists who use creativity routinely and get inspired by their creations

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  • Farewell to Willian Santiago, Illustrator of Vibrant Colors and Infinite Talent
    Illustration

    Farewell to Willian Santiago, Illustrator of Vibrant Colors and Infinite Talent

    We remember the life and work of the Brazilian illustrator and teacher, who died at the age of 30 Domestika deeply regrets the passing of Willian Santiago, a Brazilian illustrator, teacher, and member of our creative community. The artist's agent has announced his death. His strong artistic instincts are expressed through the work that he made, characterized by the combination of simple shapes and vibrant, uniquely Brazilian colors. Willian was primarily a digital artist, but he gave his work an artisanal and analog touch by digitizing old papers or mark making with chalk and splashed of ink.

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  • Meet Digital Artist and Photoshop Expert Harrison Kuykendall
    Design

    Meet Digital Artist and Photoshop Expert Harrison Kuykendall

    Digital artist and founder of HE–Studios Harrison Kuykendall on the magic of Photoshop Harrison Kuykendall is a digital artist living in Brooklyn, New York. He is the owner and founder of HE–Studios, a creative studio specializing in still and animated retouching for large-scale global advertising campaigns. He’s worked with clients such as Target, Stella Artois, Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs, Aveeno, Champion, and Diane von Furstenberg. Originally from Chicago, Harrison moved to New York after graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design to start a full-time role at 3.1 Phillip Lim. Harrison was in charge of the fashion house’s emerging e-commerce department. “In my senior year of college, I co-founded a magazine with a friend of mine who's a fashion photographer, and so that really led to an interest in art direction and creative direction for fashion and beauty.” After he left Philip Lim, Harrison went on to work full-time at different advertising agencies over three or four years before founding his own company. “I was either working as a video editor or a graphic designer or retouching a project. I was able to touch on all these different points of creativity and get comfortable with the 360-degree creative process.”

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  • Mia Winston-Hart Creates Vibrant Resin Jewelry
    Craft

    Mia Winston-Hart Creates Vibrant Resin Jewelry

    Meet the British jewelry designer crafting one-of-a-kind pieces with epoxy resin A graduate of the University of the Arts in London, Mia Winston-Hart (@miawinstonhart) is an educator and the founder and owner of a small accessories business in the south of England. She creates brightly-colored one-of-a-kind pieces with epoxy resin–a material that has no limits, allowing Mia to explore her creativity and work with an infinite range of shapes and colors.

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  • Designers of Unique Spaces: Ciszak Dalmas Ferrari Studio
    Design

    Designers of Unique Spaces: Ciszak Dalmas Ferrari Studio

    Matteo Ferrari and Andrea Caruso from Ciszak Dalmas Ferrari Studio share some of the milestones that have outlined their careers Ciszak Dalmas Ferrari (@ciszak_dalmas_ferrari) is an architecture and design studio founded in Madrid by Alberto Gobbino Ciszak, Andrea Caruso Dalmas, and Matteo Ferrari. The studio works across a range of disciplines including architecture, interior, product design, and art direction. Recent clients have included Bosa, Bitossi, Camper, Loewe, Max&Co., and Zara. The studio also founded contemporary furniture and interior design brand, La Clinica Design. Their work has been presented at the Biennale di Architettura in Venice, Salone del Mobile in Milan, Experimenta Design in Lisbon, and Design Ambassador in Hong Kong. Matteo and Andrea studied architecture and industrial design, respectively, in Italy. In Spain, they started running their studio with another designer (Alberto) and succeeded despite starting with few clients and resources during the economic crisis. ‘It wasn’t easy, but we worked very hard and… experimented every day.’ Let’s have a look at how they did it.

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  • Interior Designers React to Regular Homes
    Teacher Design

    Interior Designers React to Regular Homes

    Founders of interior design studio STUDIOLAV Loukas Angelou and Vasso Asfi react to the homes of members of the Domestika community Professional interior design can often seem like an unaffordable luxury. However, a few simple changes can dramatically improve the look and feel of a room. Loukas Angelou and Vasso Asfi, founders of international interior design studio STUDIOLAV, have had their work exhibited at London’s Royal Academy of Arts but their talents can also be applied to a regular home. We asked them to take a look at the homes of a few members of the Domestika community and to share a few simple tips on how to improve them.

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  • Self-Portrait Photography Filled with Emotion: Laura Zalenga
    Photography

    Self-Portrait Photography Filled with Emotion: Laura Zalenga

    Learn how to delve into your thoughts and feelings using photography with Laura Zalenga Laura Zalenga (@laurazalenga) is a German freelance photographer with a passion for creating self-portraits filled with emotion. In 2018, she was one of seven international artists selected for the Adobe Creative Residency. She has worked for Adobe, Artemide, Disney, Lufthansa, Sony, and many more and been featured in a Sky Arts documentary. In her Domestika course, Laura takes you on an intimate journey of self-discovery and experimentation through the art of self-portrait photography. ‘Self-portrait taught me everything I know about photography. It also taught me how to accept myself more and how important it is to spend quality time with yourself.’ She finds inspiration within her memories, moods, and emotions, other times in places, light conditions, and even everyday objects. Her style is defined by clear visual language, the power of telling stories, and showing raw, honest emotions. Let’s get to know her and her unique and emotional art.

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  • Meet Amy Pearson and Her Beautifully Illustrated Portraits
    Illustration

    Meet Amy Pearson and Her Beautifully Illustrated Portraits

    Be inspired by the unique style of her illustrations and her stunningly lifelike portraits Amy Pearson (@amypearsondesign) is a multidisciplinary artist and illustrator specialized in creating art that combines analog and digital techniques. At the heart of Amy Pearson’s work are beautiful images of women who display power and strength. She has worked with clients like The Beauty Effect, Nylon, and more. Her work has included magazine spreads, privately commissioned portraits, and other projects showcasing her unique creative style, and she markets her self-directed artwork through her website. In her Domestika course, Amy seamlessly combines graphite, watercolor, and Photoshop to create a stunningly lifelike portrait.

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  • Louis Bicycle Creates One-of-a-kind Embroidered Clothing
    Craft

    Louis Bicycle Creates One-of-a-kind Embroidered Clothing

    Louis Bicycle creates hand-dyed embroidered clothing, from hoodies to bucket hats Being forced to adapt to new circumstances can take us down unexpected paths. Louis Bicycle (@louisbicycle) was taking a break from tattooing and selling his hand-made screen prints and linoleum block prints at a street fair in San Francisco when the pandemic caused the fair to shut down. During those first few days stuck at home, he picked up a tote bag that he had started to embroider a tiger onto a couple of years before. He finished the bag and put it online. “It got a decent response, so I made another the next day. It just went from there.” Since then, he has put out a variety of clothing—unique pieces that sell out almost immediately. “I've sewn for a long time, even a small amount as a kid. As I got older, I fixed clothes. I had a little wave a few years ago where I made some little embroidered patches. I just did it for a month or so and set it down. I hadn’t done hoodies in the past, just patches and tote bags. I soon figured out a way to put a backing on the hoodies so I could embroider them in a way that it would stay flat.”

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  • Meet Game Designer Zach Soares
    3D & Animation

    Meet Game Designer Zach Soares

    Step into the Voxel art universe with Zach Soares and create a fantasy character made entirely of 3D cubes Zach Soares (@voxels) is a French Canadian self-taught Voxel artist now living in the UK. He has worked on freelance projects for clients such as Hipster Whale for almost a decade and is the creative director of his studio, Bunnyhug. Before concentrating on 3D animation and the game industry, Zach, who studied urban design, created 3D designs for cities. Zach started exploring game design on the side, which inspired him to look into game development through Voxel art. In his Domestika course, he teaches how to model, rig, and animate a character from scratch, using Voxel Art design.

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  • L’Abu Studio: Where Carpentry And Embroidery Come Together
    Craft

    L’Abu Studio: Where Carpentry And Embroidery Come Together

    L’Abu Studio produces a unique range of custom handmade wooden pieces featuring detailed embroidery Estela Botello grew up in Madrid, surrounded by a talented family of craftspeople. Looking back on her childhood, she recalls picking up her first needle around the age of six and learning to embroider and crochet with her grandmother (an expert at making intricate tablecloths). Since picking up her first needle, Estela has rarely put it down. Estela is the founder of L’Abu Studio (@labustudio), producing a unique range of custom-made decorative objects combining carpentry and other crafts such as embroidery and macrame–from unique wall hangings to embroidered furniture.

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  • José Rosero: The Infinite Possibilities of Illustration
    Illustration

    José Rosero: The Infinite Possibilities of Illustration

    Editorial is just one of the many fields in which José Rosero feels comfortable working as an illustrator José Rosero (@rosero) is a Colombian visual artist whose graphic talents are so varied, it’s impossible to list them all. While he has worked as a painter, in theater, teaching, management, and research, it is as an illustrator that he has achieved his highest levels of success and built up an impressive career. This choice of career path has never narrowed his work opportunities, in fact, it has done the opposite. He considers being an illustrator a bit like being a platypus–in that it's made up of different parts of other animals–since you have to be able to speak different languages, all at the same time. Here’s how Rosero has used illustration across different mediums:

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  • Fito Espinosa: 3 Creative Approaches
    Illustration

    Fito Espinosa: 3 Creative Approaches

    Be inspired by the work of this Peruvian artist and illustrator Fito Espinosa (@fitoespinosa) has been cultivating his prolific portfolio for 25 years in painting, illustration, and ceramics. In the last few years, he has also contributed to advertising campaigns, participated in collective and individual exhibitions, as well as a number of painting competitions, many of which he has won. He has published five books and collaborated on a number of other publications. Below, we present a collection of his vibrant and varied art.

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  • Elliot Tupac’s Street Art
    Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    Elliot Tupac’s Street Art

    Be inspired by the work and career of this graphic artist and printmaker from Peru Elliot Tupac (@elliottupac) is a Peruvian graphic artist and printmaker who channels his passion for screen printing, calligraphy, and lettering into creating pop art and marketing tools. His style–characterized by spontaneity and color–makes his work stand out; Elliot has redefined both a traditional art form and what it means to be a lettering artist in his native Peru.

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  • Ayo Vega: Meet the Multifaceted and Multidisciplinary Artist
    Illustration

    Ayo Vega: Meet the Multifaceted and Multidisciplinary Artist

    Be inspired by this Spanish artist’s versatility and learn how he has turned his creativity into a winning strategy Ayo Vega (@ayo_vega) is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in creating and overseeing digital content. His output includes illustration, photography, graphic design, and visual effects for different digital platforms, engaging lots of different audiences with his viral creations. Check out this overview of his work, which shines a light on Ayo’s personal passions and unique online social media presence. He delivers a unique strategy for markets that are hungry for original and quality content.

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  • Ale Rambar's World Is Made of Paper
    Craft

    Ale Rambar's World Is Made of Paper

    This Costa Rican architect and visual artist creates layered sculptures of portraits and human bodies. Ale Rambar (@alerambar) is a Costa Rican artist whose work is based on the topographic analysis of the human body. If you have ever seen a topographical 3D map, the kind architects use when creating the model of a building, you'll find his three-dimensional compositions made with layers of paper incredibly familiar, yet mesmerizing. Each piece is cut and assembled layer by layer, creating incredibly detailed scenes and portraits full of meaning. Topographies (2016) Topographies was Rambar’s first collection of layered sculptures made of paper. This innovative technique was inspired by his architecture studies. “After analyzing kilometers of topography, I began to remember how as a child, I imagined how the mountains of the Braulio Carrillo National Park had the shape of human figures. I then began to generate topographical studies using human beings instead of terrains,“ Rambar explains.

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  • Meet Illustrator Ulises Mendicutty
    Illustration

    Meet Illustrator Ulises Mendicutty

    The Mexican illustrator with a passion for pink, street culture, skulls and perreo Ulises Mendicutty is an illustrator, art director, and visual artist from Mexico who has been living in Barcelona for over a decade. Passionate about pink, street culture, unique anecdotes, traditions, cinema, the future, skulls and perreo (among many other things), Ulises loves to participate in diverse projects that push him out of his creative comfort zone and experiment with different formats: “I love to draw and see my strokes in magazines or blogs, but I am also a fan of seeing them on a wall or transformed into a ceramic object”. While he studied communication and philosophy at undergrad, art had always been his passion. A postgrad in illustration confirmed that he was destined to draw. He has been commissioned by the Spanish national newspaper El Pais, Slanted Magazine, Vips, and Penguin Random House and his work has been exhibited in Italy, Scotland, Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Here we share a selection of Ulises’ work, from portraits to murals. 365 Fuegos Ulises teamed up with author Bebi Fernandez to create this weekly 2020 calendar. Throughout its pink pages, you’ll find flaming illustrations by Ulises and sassy quotes written by Fernandez. The 2020 calendar was published by Motena under Penguin Random House.

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  • The Narrative Visuals of Siames Escalante
    Illustration

    The Narrative Visuals of Siames Escalante

    Discover the graphic world of the Mexican illustrator and designer Siamés Escalante (@siamesescalante) is from Merida, Mexico. Her illustration style is characterized by innocence and melancholy, with each piece telling a fantastical tale. Siamés recalls developing a love for illustration when she was a child; she was introverted and spent a lot of her time entertaining herself with coloring books and children’s books.

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  • The Amazing Letters of James Lewis
    Typography, Calligraphy and Lettering

    The Amazing Letters of James Lewis

    This British artist’s lettering projects certainly stand out, literally and figuratively If you are interested in typography and lettering, it is very likely that you have stumbled upon some of James Lewis' videos on Instagram or TikTok. This British artist has become one of the most viral lettering artists on social media thanks to his amazingly precise and totally hand-drawn 3D characters. Learn more about his work watching his Domestika Live chat. James (@jamesllewis) makes a live logo painting and also discusses the impact that working from home can have on creativity.

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  • Discover Karmen Loh’s Fantasy Portraits
    Illustration

    Discover Karmen Loh’s Fantasy Portraits

    Get lost in the dreamy world of independent illustrator, Bearbrickjia Karmen Loh, also known as Bearbrickjia (@bearbrickjia), is an independent illustrator and character concept artist from Malaysia. Loh uses her dreamy illustration style to explore fantasy worlds and femininity; her work channels tranquility and ethereal beauty. You will often find her portraits decorated with details from outer space, the ocean, and flora. She draws inspiration from Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki, James Jean, and Aykut Aydogdu. As a character concept artist, Loh has worked on video games such as Street Fighter V and Steel Circus, and collaborated with clients such as XP-Pen and the electronic music YouTube channel, “MrSuicideSheep”. Here we take a look at a selection of works that show off Loh’s dreamy aesthetic and unique versatility. Color portraits – personal work Loh’s personal work is an exploration of femininity and tranquility, both in male and female subjects. Her portraits capture mystical youth culture in a dreamy color palette, playing with fashion and fantasy. Her personal work often features elements of nature, outer space, and the ocean.

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  • Ralph McQuarrie: Star Wars' Concept Artist
    Film & Video

    Ralph McQuarrie: Star Wars' Concept Artist

    Remembering the work of Ralph McQuarrie, the visual genius behind the look of Star Wars Star Wars has captivated audiences over four decades. Its actors as much a part of popular culture as the characters they play and its creator George Lucas is already living history. To celebrate Star Wars Day, May the Fourth, we are revisiting at an artist who may not have George Lucas' fame but certainly played his part in the look and soul of Star Wars: Illustrator Ralph Angus McQuarrie who designed the concept art for the first three films.

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  • The Illustrations That Represent Marcos Chin
    Illustration

    The Illustrations That Represent Marcos Chin

    Get to know iconic illustrator Marcos Chin through the pieces that define his art Marcos has worked for everyone from Google to Ford, Rolling Stone Magazine to The New York Times. But, he didn't grow up in such grand circumstances. Civil war forced his family to leave Mozambique, where he was born, in the mid-1970s. From a humble background, Marcos has been working since he was ten. "I've been paying most of my significant purchases on my own since I was a kid," he told The Illustration Department. "Back to school clothing, books and supplies, my undergraduate education, rent and now my mortgage." Don't miss the opportunity to knoe more about Marcos on his . Here is a collection of the works that took him from there to where he is now. The first big job: Lavalife After working for magazines for a while, his big commission came from an online dating agency, Lavalife: "Where singles click." The company blew up and gave him the platform so he could too. "This campaign lasted for about nine years and it afforded me a life that I never knew could be possible for an illustrator."

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  • Cinema to Watercolor: The Work of Alex Hillkurtz
    Illustration

    Cinema to Watercolor: The Work of Alex Hillkurtz

    Learn how this visual artist’s love of cinema inspired his painting Alex Hillkurtz (@alexhillkurtzart) is a storyboard artist and watercolor painter specialized in architectural motifs. Originally from England, he grew up in California, where he has worked on storyboards for films like Argo, Almost Famous, and Captain America: Winter Soldier. Alex says painting and drawing help us to live at a more relaxed pace by making us aware of our space and what surrounds us. Don’t miss his live chat on Domestika Live. Watch him create a sketch and see his process in action. Let’s learn more about how he developed his artistic style.

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  • Fold-out Inspiration From a Pop-Up Book Creator
    Craft

    Fold-out Inspiration From a Pop-Up Book Creator

    Discover the pop-up books that inspired Silvia Hijano Coullaut to dedicate herself to them professionally Although modern pop-up book design might make us think that they’re a modern trend, the fact is that these fold-out publications have been around for centuries. Designer Silvia Hijano Coullaut, founder of the studio Libracos (@silvia_libracos), tells us about the books that have influenced her most, from stories that have come out in recent years to more surprising inclusions that are hundreds of years old. Ars Magna Generalis, by Ramón Llull The first pop-up books weren’t made for children, they were science books. This book, which dates back to 1306 and can be found in the El Escorial library in Madrid, is one of the greatest exponents of the earliest fold-out books. All kinds of calculations can be found inside and it even incorporates wheels that come out from the book itself in a slanted way, something that caught Silvia’s eye.

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