xavier's blog

Interview: iLK

xavier — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:36:24 +0000

iLK (www.ilkilkilk.com), is a french graphic designer who has a really unique and creative style. I discovered his work thanks to an article of Computer Arts, and then immediately added his website to my bookmarks! He accepted to share with us his experience.

To see more of his artwork, visit his website: www.ilkilkilk.com

1) First, welcome to Abduzeedo iLK! Glad to see you here.
Would you tell us a bit of you? Where are you from, when did you start drawing, for example?

I was born in 1982, in the Seine Saint Denis (in the northern suburbs of Paris). I have been drawing since I was a child, because of "Club Dorothée" (a french programme of the 90's, where were broadcasted mostly mangas such as Dragon Ball Z, or Ken the Survivor, for instance)

2) How did you find your own style, full of strange characters, monsters, and above all full of bright colors? Do you first draw your pictures before working in your computer?

I don't know precisely where all this stuff comes from... From the music I listen to, I think, which is not very cheerful : Metal, Hardcore, Death, Hip Hop... I'm also a great fan of Tim Burton. Probably the one explains the other!

Almost all my illustrations are hand drawn with felt-tip and paper!!! Then I scan the drawing and I colorize it with my computer.

3) How do you work? What is your typical day of working? And what websites do you usually visit for daily inspiration?

I start working as soon as possible, often about 8 a.m., and i usually stop between midnight and 4 a.m when I'm late in my work. I work with many agencies, in particular Pubicis Net (a huge french communication agency), but also with a lot of different customers. Every day is another adventure!

My Netvibes is full of interesting websites, including the excellent www.glltn.com , www.cpluv.com , www.badbadblog.com ...
Too long to mention them all!

4) What are your tools of work?

A mac, a graphic tablet, and above all paper, felt-tips, rules, etc...!!!
The software I use are the well-known Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, ...

5) What is your best / worst memory in your career?

I don't have any particularly bad or good memory. Each project is different, with its good and bad sides, its doubts and its successes. But finally, there's only good times.

6) Is your work changing or influencing the way you live, or the way you see the world around you?What is graphic design bringing to you personally?

Maybe a kind of serenity, maybe i'm more open-minded. Working with so different people forces you to be tolerant, and to be interested in the project and people who have it, in order to lead the work to his final result in the best way you can.

7) What pieces of advice would you give to someone who want to be a graphic designer?

I think working first in an agency is indispensable, to know that the workflow is many more important than they tell you at school... It's the end of your xBox360 afternoons with your friends!

Being a freelance is a dream for most of us, but it forces you to be well organized, to take care of the bunch of papers, to pay an accountant for your annual balance sheet : working as a freelance is not always very funny!

I advise to the future graphic designer to try to find their own style, and not to try to mimic what they see in the web. With a huge proportion of motivation, and it will be ok.

Thanks again for the opportunity to have you here in abduzeedo. And keep the good work!

For more information visit his website at www.ilkilkilk.com

About the author

I'm a 24 years old apprentice graphic designer. I learned most of what I know thanks to internet, so i'm glad to participate, sharing what seems to me great to share!

Great Design Resources

xavier — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:08:39 +0000

When you have a poster, a flyer or even a website, the dimensions of those documents or the layouts are defined by the customer. So you just enter the sizes in your favorite software, and that's it, you're ready to design.

However, there are some projects which are a bit more difficult to work on. Cds, Dvds, cd covers, lettres or postcards have particular standard sizes, even for the web, there are some sizes for banners, screen resolutions, font-sizes, form elements, and much more.

Because of that, it's always good to know these standards, and the Designertoolbox is a great place to find them. In this website, you can download for free the templates you need to design all type of printed materials, of any sizes, and any shape. From CD labels, covers, to Foldings, all of them with templates to be downloaded.

Now, if you are a web designer, there are very useful things on their site. You can downlad form elements of the major browsers in PSD. Also there are artilces like Standard Online Banner Sizes and Understanding Fonts on the Web.

Designertoolbox is definitely a site to have in your bookmarks. Just download the template you've chosen, and begin to work.

About the author

I'm a 24 years old apprentice graphic designer. I learned most of what I know thanks to internet, so i'm glad to participate, sharing what seems to me great to share!

Interview: Alessandro Pautasso

xavier — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:46:56 +0000

For this week’s interview we have Alessandro Pautasso, aka Kaneda, a photographer, graphic designer, and illustrator based in Turin Italy. Kaneda is specialized in vector art, artist of the Graphola Collective, and has some really cool works on his site nosurprises.it.

1- The Abduzeedo team really loves what you do. So, tell me a bit of how did you start and discover that you wanted be a designer?

I've discovered that I want to become a designer\illustrator since I was a child, when I saw an illustration book about the beatles by Alan Alridge.

Then my father bought me an old secondhand mac...and later I frequented an art istitute....that's all :)

2- How do you come up with those great drawings and illustrations? Tips on how to create those pictures?

To create my illustrations I use only a graphic tablet (Wacom Intuos3 or a Wacom Bamboo), I draw my curls/swirl only with the pencil tool of Adobe illustrator.

3 - Tell us a bit of your career?How did you learnhow to draw?

I'm 25 years old and I'm a graphic designer for a little agency in Turin-Italy, I started to draw since I was a child (my mom was a painter) then I'm signed up to an art institute and the passion began something real.

4 - Who are the designers you like and inspire you? And what sites do you visit, or what do you do to get inspiration?

I love very much designers and it's too hard to choose some of them. let's start with the master artists: Alfons Mucha, Gustav Klimt, Edward Munch and Egon Schiele, are those that influenced me a lot, I love the Expressionism and the Liberty/Art Nouveau.

About the contemporary artist I love the Alan Aldridge works (the illustrator of Beatles illustration book): http://www.alanaldridge.net the Malleus poster art. http://www.malleusdelic.com/ and the works of Jasper Goodall http://www.jaspergoodall.com/

5 - Tell us about the apps you use? How long have you been using them?

I use every day only Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop my first personal computer was a mac LC475 with Adobe Photoshop 2.5/3, and I use Adobe illustrator since version 7.

6 - What about your hardware?

I use a Mac. I have a PowerMac G5 1,6ghz, 3GB of RAM + Wacom Intuos 3 + Lacie external HD 250gb, and a Macbook Pro 2,4ghz, 4gb of RAM + Wacom Bamboo + external hd Wester Digital 500gb FW800

7 - Again, thanks for the opportunity of talking to you. One last question: Any advice for designers out there, who, like me are willing to improve their skills and become a master?

Just believe and have a lot of passion, what is important is to go on experimenting new things everyday, enriching your mind reading new books (die-gestalten.de or victionary.com is better) or watch sites like www.cpluv.com, drawn.ca, flickr.com and obviously abduzeedo.com ;)

Some works

More Information

Website: http://www.nosurprises.it/
Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/kaneda99/

About the author

I'm a 24 years old apprentice graphic designer. I learned most of what I know thanks to internet, so i'm glad to participate, sharing what seems to me great to share!

xavier's blog

Interview: iLK

iLK (www.ilkilkilk.com), is a french graphic designer who has a really unique and creative style. I discovered his work thanks to an article of Computer Arts, and then immediately added his website to my bookmarks! He accepted to share with us his experience.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Great Design Resources

When you have a poster, a flyer or even a website, the dimensions of those documents or the layouts are defined by the customer. So you just enter the sizes in your favorite software, and that's it, you're ready to design.

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Interview: Alessandro Pautasso

For this week’s interview we have Alessandro Pautasso, aka Kaneda, a photographer, graphic designer, and illustrator based in Turin Italy. Kaneda is specialized in vector art, artist of the Graphola Collective, and has some really cool works on his site nosurprises.it.

Some works

More Information

About the author

Sponsored Links: