Deco Creative

No Idea

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend last night. We were talking about designers we know personally and how each one of them has a distinct style. Most designers have a style that is unique to them or that simply screams out that a piece was made by them. Others do not. This is what she said about my work. She started telling me about how I don't have a marked style and that it's not obvious my work is mine when she sees it. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Retro Pop Collage

Amebas?

Proteccion Visual de Basura

Artists try to master a theme or style. With time those that are very determined take that style and make it their own, taking it to another level in the process. Every now and then artists develop a style so much that it leads people to think they actually gave birth to it and everything anyone else does is nothing but a homage to it. In my eyes, Adhemas Batista is one such artist. He takes his style and prepares a million flavors of it in such a way that you think it's a whole different style.

You've probably seen his work but don't know it. He has done work for Coca Cola,  Microsoft Zune, and some other really popular brands and products. This time around.. i'll do something different and let the images do all of the talking. Come up with your own opinion :). I dare you to try and replicate his work with such majesty!

Coca Cola Side of Life

Challenge

Zune Ad

Photo-realism is something not anyone can achieve. Not only does it take years of experience and learning tricks in Photoshop (or whatever software you prefer), but it also takes patience and mastery of photography. Photography is a challenging art in and of itself, but some people take it one step further and create situations most people would never think of. Imagining out-of-this-world scenes isn't that hard, creating them is hard, but how about taking real-world situations and blurring the line between those and fantasy? 

Super?man

Shopping for Heads

Head Room

I get challenged every single day at work. Creating breathtaking designs is hard enough, but making them functional enough to be displayed as a full-blown magazine article is even tougher. Most people think being a graphic designer is simple. They think it's about sitting down and just making figures and putting them together on Illustrator. They forget the fact that it takes a lot to be a graphic designer.. a good one at that. A big part of being a graphic designer is mastering the tools you have. Photoshop, Illustrator and software such as those are no simple applications. 

Yes, the simple stuff is easy to make.. but anyone can do beginner stuff. Creating beautiful artwork requires years of mastering the application and learning tricks and techniques on how to accomplish certain looks, effects and visualizations. THAT is the easy part. The hard part is taking those skills and creating original work. Using your imagination is not that hard. Almost anyone can be creative, but how many people can be creative enough to think of something no one else has done? It's hard.. really hard. Then apply that to functional designs and real-world applications. Taking beauty and making it functional is a very large challenge. I get written articles every day and making artwork that not only portrays what they writer is trying to say but that also looks amazing is one of the hardest things I've had to do. Sometimes I get lost and run out of ideas. That's why I now dedicate at least one hour every morning to looking at other artists' work. Other designers, illustrators, photographers, painters are priceless sources of inspiration.

Last week I stumbled upon the photography of Tony D'orio. The first photo I saw was one of a man shinning shoes. The man was Donald Trump (yes.. the multimillionaire-apprentice-hiring-casino-owning Donald Trump). Curious enough.. that wasn't what caught my attention; It was the quality of the work and the original style to it. D'orio developed his own look making it look modern with a retro touch to it. And THAT is my favorite kind of art. I love modern designs... but when an artist hints at vintage or retro.. they instantly gain me as a fan. 

This kind of work is not simple. It takes amazing lighting to create a scene for a great photograph.. but it takes exceptional lighting to get this high-quality work. Not only is the setup and scene incredible.. but the vibrancy of the colors and shading is very unique. I have no idea how he gets these kinds of tones without losing color or saturating the picture.. but if I ever reach this level of mastery, my designs will be that much better and I will be able to die a happy man :D

Trump Shine

Movie-Set Fire

Wifehouse Display

YouTube has finally gone widescreen... oh all that space!!!!! No more squishing of widescreen videos to make them fit. This is something I've been waiting for the longest time. I don't have to work on videos and cut them down to make them fit better. This will surely make youtube much better. Also.. they have a "high quality" link too! When you upload videos to youtube, their quality gets reduced so that it loads faster and puts less stress on the server; But now you can watch the video in full quality. It's a great addition!

Ws youtube