Most of the pieces are not pure black-and-white, a lot of them have a splash a tiny bit of color. While they feature some color they’re still perfect for the purpose of our study though and I’m sure they’ll get you’re creative juices flowing whether you’re a hardcore black-and-white buff, color lover or somewhere in between. Enjoy and be inspired!

I love coming across illustrators that blow me away at first contact. Joao Oliveira definitely falls into that category, I had never seen his work but the class and style of his pieces is very impressive.

Joao’s work is both classic yet modern at the same time. In the first two pieces Joao uses the extreme contrasts black-and-white allows combined with digital effects to attain a classic sci-fi look. The third and fourth illustrations look much more classical but still have digital elements that makes them very intriguing.

Multi-faceted designer and illustrator Pete Harrison loves to combine a black-and-white base image with colorful lighting effects. By using well placed lighting effects and strong contrast his pieces nearly pop off the screen.

Italy based Alberto Seveso needs no introduction in the illustration scene. Dark backgrounds with hues of gray and some color splashed in give Alberto’s work a modern look with a classic undertone.

Mike Harrison’s non-digital look immediately sets him apart from the general field. In the pieces below Mike uses deep dark backgrounds, black-and-white models and a soft splash of color to set the mood.

Alessandro Pautasso combines classic black-and-white photography with vector splashes, swirls and patterns to create a sexy marriage of extremes (classic looking photography with very digital looking elements).

In the pieces below Alessandro uses a gray on gray base to create low contrast between the background and the models. This makes the bright colors in his work really stand out.

Christopher Haines, located in Australia, has a very broad style to his illustration. In the Electro set below Christopher uses monochrome color bases that he then brings to life with “designery” purple.

Belgian illustrator Bram Verhaeren has a lighthearted open feel to his work. The pieces below have a soft look to them due to the fact that Bram uses little black and instead goes with subtle hues of gray.

I also feel that Flash’s good name has been spoiled mostly by designers who love making pretty sites but know or care nothing about usable, user centered web design.

See more of the awesome submissions to the Noir chapter on Depthcore.

So enjoy, be inspired and be sure to check out the source sites listed at the bottom of the post. While you do that I’ll decide if I should do a showcase on Vodka bottles - some are just so brilliantly creative. I would love your opinion on that by the way!

Source: These images came from the following sources - Packaging World, the Dieline and the Spoon Sisters.

Just like the in the dark illustration showcase you’ll notice that dark backgrounds allow the subject to really stand out. Colors will “pop” more and the use of lighting effects becomes much more dramatic than it would have been on a lighter background.

This showcase is divided in four parts. First up are the typographical illustrations that make good use of the dark background in respect to light and color. Below that are sections for typography made from light, metallic effect typography and typography flavored up through smoke.

The pieces below make great use of vivid colors and gorgeous light effects. If you want to see more from an artist just click the name to check the site out.

Craig Shields
Craig uses dark backgrounds and a black and white base to make his subtle use of color really stand out.

Alex Trochut
Alex’s Beautiful decay is colorful on any background but the pure black background makes it liven up like no other background color could.

Go Media
Funky colors get a bit more serious on a black background in this piece by Go media.

Kliment Kalchev
Kliment uses a fruity gradient in his logo and accompanying illustrations to set a playful yet serious mood.

Nicolas Alexander
This piece has a great sense of motion and creative use of typography.

Pablo alFieri
Pablo has so much great typography work he could fill a whole showcase by himself. Make sure to check out his other work!

Rodrigo Braga
A colorful an heavily detailed piece that gains grounding from a black background.

Theo Aartsma
Theo’s awesome work is so full of detail that these small size images don’t do them justice. Head over to his Depthcore page to see them full size.

ShinBinary
Nik shows that while vivid colors can really stand out on a dark background, you don’t always have to go that route to impress.

You can use lighting effects to liven up a typographic illustration, but why not simply turn the text into light? Some examples below.

Guilherme Marconi
Guilherme’s illustration has a neon effect on all of the type.

Theo Aartsma
Another one by Theo. This is probably a made up symbol but one thing is for sure, it’s a beauty.

Tony Ariawan
Tony’s light streak illustrated type has a magical feel to it.

Mark Mustaine
Mark Mustaine created these by hand using slow shutter photography. Very impressive!

What’s shiny and lends itself very well to being illustrated in combination with stylized light and reflections? Metallic substances of course!

Alex Trochut
Alex makes the gold 3d type really jump from the background in this piece.

Emeric Trahand
Trust the KDU? Maybe, I’ll trust Emeric though, that’s for sure!

Rodrigo Braga
Rodrigo doesn’t overdo it with the reflections and ensures the bottom illustration radiates pure class.

Lastly we have smoke effects. Smoke stands out very well on a dark background and can really set a mood. I couldn’t find that many smoke examples unfortunately.

Von
Von’s piece isn’t really smoke but has a similar look. The piece gives me an uneasy and eerie feeling (in a good way of course).

Daniel Gordon
Daniel combines smoke with a strange effect on the type to set a strong mood.

Thanks for stopping by. If you liked this post a Stumble or a Digg would be much appreciated!

Youri asked me if I would be interested to help him out for an article that demonstrates the various steps I pass through doing an artwork. First of all I would like to thank Youri for this opportunity . As I already said in the comments I was totally speechless seeing my artworks in his latest blog entry among all the other great illustrators.

When not working for actual clients (in my case mostly bands) I always try to realize my own ideas. On one hand it’s necessary to have them out of my head and on the other hand it’s always like a journey that brings new experiences. Most of my “free” artworks are definitely influenced by literature (Neil Gaiman, China Mieville), art (Caspar David Friedrich) or mythology. I like mixing “fantasy/mythology” elements with scenery that is more contemporary which is quite obvious in “Escape from Twilight Melangery”, the artwork I’ll use for the demonstration. In the next steps I’ll explain the main stages I do to achieve a characteristic “Season Zero” design.

1. Source image selection
The hardest part doing an artwork is finding the best matching source pictures. Rarely will you have the possibility to shoot every scene yourself and so you’ll have to rely on stock material. In my case I always have the composition in my head (seldom do I do a sketch first) and sometimes it’s really time-killing finding proper pictures that satisfy my inner imagination. In this case I wanted a street with old houses as main setting

2. Cleaning up
It’s never possible to use source images the way they originally are. In this case I had to remove all urban things like traffic lights, cars, signs and so on. I also flipped the whole picture to match my original idea.

3. A new sky and street
One very important thing for me is the choice of the sky. It has a real impact on the whole mood of the image. Normally I try to have a surreal, shady sky with nice clouds. In this step I also make some first color adjustments and added some street in the foreground to have more space and better proportions (keep the “golden section” in mind!). With this the whole artwork gets more depth.

4. Shadows and light effects
Now it’s getting fun. By using some galaxy/nebula images it’s quite easy to achieve great “magical” lightning effects. Combined with selective gaussian blur you’re able to get a nice smoothness. In this step I start adding a few props like street lamps and made some corrections concerning the shadows (as seen on the buildings).

5. Extra props and lighting
I simply added a few more props like tents and caravans to bring the whole scene to life.

6. Adding the creatures
Now we come to the main actors. Like finding good source images the next difficult step is to get images that fit into the picture without messing up the perspectives. The three creatures (a gryphon, black unicorn and a manticore) are put together from different animal pictures like bat wings. an eagle head and so on. After extracting and placing them into the street I always do the color corrections and adjustments on the contrasts right away.

7. Effects and shadowss for the creatures
Correct shadows make it so that everything blends together in a more realistic way. Sometimes I use blurred shapes to do the shadows or just draw them by hand with a soft brush. I added the horn to the unicorn and added a few brushed sparks with outer glow and some blurred shapes around it. Note that the light reflections on the horse and lion are important to give the effect a more natural feeling.

8. Color balance and contrast
Last but not least we reach the “post production” stage. Using color balance I push the whole color range in the desired direction. More contrast makes the artwork more atmospheric and again you gain a lot of depth. I always try to have a reduced color range in my artworks since that gives them a distinct mood and feel.

I hope you enjoyed this short explanation and I would be honored to have you as a guest on my website Season Zero.

Instead of doing the usual showcase I’m going to do one with less creatives but more of their work to let them really shine. Be sure to head over to Behance to check the rest of their work.

01. Adam Spizak | Adam Spizak’s site

02. Akimo Lee | Akimo Lee’s site

03. Matthias Bauerle | Matthias Bauerle’s site

04. Danny Ronald | Danny Ronald’s site

05. Maciej Robak | Maciej Robak’s site

01. Sean Rodwell | Sean Rodwell’s site

1. Hey Scott, nice to have you. Can you give the readers a short introduction?
I’m a designer/illustrator who lives and works in the United Kingdom and seem to spend most of my time designing characters of one kind or another. Surely not a job for a grown man.

2. When I look at your illustration work you seem to be able to produce the popular Japanese inspired cute style but also have pieces which have a more local feel to them. Is this duality a conscious decision on your part or something you just rolled into?
I think it’s a bit of both. It’s very important for an illustrator to have their own defined style but I have worked for a number of years at in-house roles and there is a great need to be very flexible when it comes to style. One day I could be working on specifications for a new product prototype and the next I may be asked to ghost the illustration style of a colleague far removed from my own.

In general life I have always been a bit of a Jack of all trades and I don’t like the idea of being a one trick pony. What I’m trying to say is I think I am the product of my past and it shows in my work.

3. I’m always curious what inspires cute character illustrators? Do you look at colleagues for inspiration or do you have less obvious source for feeding the creative furnace?
I’ve always been inspired by Japanese and American mascots that you’d find on packaging and I’m also a massive fan of the surf clothing label Mambo and the stable of artists they had a few years ago.

One of my most loved design books is a copy of Mambo’s “Still Life Through Franchise” and I’m very proud of the fact that Reg Mombassa who must be my favorite artist signed and doodled in it for me.

I’m hugely into character design and illustration and if I didn’t do it for a living then I would have it as a hobby so I am constantly checking out other designers work and I have a bookmark list of design portals that I check every day and I’m happy to list designfeedr amongst them.

I get a huge amount of inspiration from my contemporaries and I feel very lucky to have access via the web to such an amazingly rich source of influences which simply didn’t exist a number of years ago.

4. We often see character illustrators who’ve made a bit of name for them selves move into getting their work on apparel, prints, buttons and even toy lines. What makes this expansion so compelling for illustrators of this kind? Do you have any such plans?
I think the ultimate goal in a characters evolution is to be released from the constraints of a 2D world and to be applied to something more tactile which in a way is breathing life into a character, be it by applying it to a product, animation, t-shirt or the ever popular vinyl toys. In the past I used to make designs and illustrations for a lot of licensed products so I’m pretty used to seeing my work on all manner of things from lunch boxes to clothing and bed spreads. the most obscure thing was a toweling, hooded bath robe for a dog.

One feather in my cap was a range of little PVC characters that clipped onto your zipper called Zipper Pals. I designed them from the ground up a few years ago and apparently they sell around 14 million a year around the world.
Note to self: Next time agree on a royalty deal.

5. You told me that you’re planning to migrate to Australia, that’s a long way from home. Why the drastic change?
I’ve always had a thing about Australia since being a kid. I remember sitting in front of the TV being completely captivated watching Rolf Harris painting his outback murals.
A few years ago my now wife Claire an I were lucky enough to spend a few months traveling there in another love of mine, a 1973 VW Kombi called Cilla. We even secretly got married in Sydney.

I then discovered Vegemite and became even more smitten by the place. We’re in the process of applying for a Visa at the moment. If there is anyone out there who fancies employing and shipping over a slightly affected pommie designer, feel free to make my day.

6. How do you think clients respond when a freelancer they do regular business with leaves the country? Do you think you’ll be able to hang on to most of them?
I hope so. Almost all my clients are in other countries to myself already and one of the good things about what I do is that it’s not location sensitive in any way. The main thing for me is to have a reliable internet connection.
Since the internet came along and especially in the past few years there has been an emergence of the “location independent professional” with sites like locationindependant.com and anywired.com springing up to inform this new kind of remote worker. Although it must be wildly impractical, you must admit the idea of the beach being your workplace does sound nice.

7. What’s your take on the current character illustration scene? Is it friendly amongst the illustrators or much more cut-throat than the rainbow colored cuties might suggest?
I love the current scene and I really hope it’s popularity continues. There is so much talent out there and I don’t think a day goes by without me seeing something that makes me say WOW out loud.

I’ve gotten to know quite a number of other character designers and illustrators through sites like mojizu albeit in a long distance way and without exception they are all lovely people. I don’t think designing cute little characters for a living would appeal to egomaniacs or people that take themselves too seriously. Then again I may be wrong, I’ve never seen two of them in the same place at the same time. They may fight like cat and dog. That would be something worth seeing!

8. Anything you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t gotten the chance for yet?
Is there ever! I’m a complete make-a-holic and I don’t think a day goes by without me thinking about some project or another.

There are a few things I’d like to do. I have always wanted to design a t-shirt for Mambo, do a little animation and the obligatory vinyl toys.

There are one or two little things that I’m working on at the moment that I’ve wanted to do for a while. One being an Illustrator tutorial for yours truly and I’m also working on a flat-pack paper toy that I hope to make free to download via my site. I’ve always enjoyed sculpture and wood carving and I’m going to be getting the chain saw training and certificates to enable me to do some pretty big pieces.

Designfeedr thanks Scott for his time and wishes him the best of luck in Aussie land. Should you want more Scott Jackson character love then check out his site. If you’d love to know more about the process that happens in Scott’s head when he’s doing his craft then check back soon for the tutorial he is currently writing up for Designfeedr. As always eye candy below!

There’s no denying it, sex is hot these days. One might argue it has always been so, but lately it just seems to be embedding itself deeper into the mainstream. Just turn on MTV as an example. In a conversation with my girlfriend a few days ago about cute character illustration we ended up discussing the sexy character art that’s thriving at the moment.

In this article we’ll look at different styles, what clients commission this work, if by doing this work you lose the ability to work with more mainstream clients, when it’s time to tone the sexy-level down and see what the craziest thing is our participants have ever been asked to commission.

There are a lot of different types of sexy illustration, some easier to categorize then others. There’s the ever present fashion illustration, the (often Japanese influenced) cute characters, the more traditional illustration with references to pin-up and there’s even sexy graffiti art by the likes of Miss Van and Fafi. In this article we’ll focus mainly on contemporary sexy art, so classic pin-up, fantasy art in the vein of Luis Royo or Victoria Francés and what else is familiar ground will not be covered.

Fashion photography has always ventured close to art and thus isn’t afraid to show a nipple or two, just pick up a copy of vogue and look at the editorials. Even though fashion photography’s main purpose is to showcase the clothing, the women will often not be fully clothed. It’s no surprise then that fashion illustrations often follows this lead and presents women in various states of nudity. Illustrator Candybird is a good example of an artist working in this style with her artistic line-work, sparse use of color and slender characters that resemble fashion models with a slightly big head.

Illustrations by Junko Mizuno

When we go to the cuter side of this phenomenon we end up with characters that have smaller bodies and bigger heads. While creating characters in this style is very popular in Japan, I wouldn’t say that every artist that works with these proportions is heavily inspired by this. Western cartoon and comic characters with these proportions have been around for ages.

Once you start mixing this style with sexy-ness, you remove the childish innocence from the work, all of the sudden you have cute characters that are tailored to adults. In that situation I suspect that Japanse Manga and Hentai must have been a heavy influence for the founders of this style. Junko Mizuno, who’s work mixes innocent and cute characters with blood and nudity (Wikipedia calls it Kawaii noir) is a good Japanese example of this style. United States based Kukula is a good example of an artist who has similar proportions but has look feel Japan inspired because of her traditional painting and the Victorian reference.

One amusing fact about this type of work is that contrary to what you might think, there are a lot of women creating the art. From Russia’s Jarovich to Japan’s Junko Mizuno the women are well represented. “People who see my illustrations on the internet often think I’m a man, because I’m drawing nude girls.”Says Aleksandra with a smiley face at the end of the sentence. “Some people find it weird that a woman draws sexy illustrations.” She adds.

Sex sells, but who’s buying?
SKAFFS creator Luke Feldman says he’s done work for lifestyle magazines, fashion magazines and women and men’s magazines. He’s also done commissions for shops that want sexy installations. Apartment owners that want wall installations tend to ask for “sexy” illustrations as well according to Luke.

On the flip side Aleksandra Marchocka and Candybird both state that they’ve also worked on tattoo art. Candybird has even had an exhibition in a tattoo studio. Aleksandra ads that most of her work is for posters, games, books and magazines.

Liz Lorini however states she has a totally different type of client : “For sexy work I usually am commissioned by private collectors that want something a little different from my personal work. Normally the people are women aged twenty-five to thirty that contact me about doing the pieces. I think the fact that my style and color choices are very feminine is the main reason women predominately commission me and not men, although they do as well from time to time.” she says.

It’s hard to gauge how big the market for this type of work really is in comparison to less provoking illustration but as the above confirms there’s definitely a host of client types an illustrator can work for.

Is it all candy flavored then?
There are always narrow-minded people that confuse erotica infused art with porn. When writing this article one thing I was very curious of was whether the illustrators who create this kind of work sometimes get branded as perverts because of the sexy-ness of their work. I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the participants about this none of them have ever felt they were demonized for their work.

Illustration by Aleksandra Marchocka

“No, I don’t feel I get branded as dirty.” Says Candybird, who’s living in France. “My illustrations are sexy but they are not vulgar. Sex is present everywhere around us: on television, in advertisements, on internet and many other media. My work represents sexy and liberated girls that are sensual yet innocent. I feel it corresponds to our period.” she adds.

SKAFFS’s Luke Feldman feels the same. “The SKAFFS chicks are sexy and stylish. I think they bring a new and modern dimension to illustration and art in today’s society.” He says. “I have never felt that my work is vulgar and in fact it seems to be appreciated by all ages, and both sexes.”. The fact that the SKAFFS girls were used to promote Coca-Cola is as good a confirmation of this as any as far as I’m concerned.

As far as toning it done a notch goes all three realize that they can’t always have full freedom and need to conform to the brief and client like any other illustrator has to. “My work is not limited to the SKAFFS sexy chicks.” Says Luke Feldman. “I’ve spent many years in the Department of education for children and because of that a lot of my work is for children-targeted companies commissioning interactive education, book illustrations, animations and more. One of my animations “Who Saved the Moon” is targeted at all ages and is currently showing at the children’s Little Big Shots Animation Festival in Australia.”

Liz has also been asked to tone the work down on occasion “In fact I have a special order for a canvas piece this week that involves me adding a top to one of my pieces so they can give it as a gift to their daughter.” Liz Lorini shares. “Its an easy fix and I don’t mind toning down pieces from time to time for people because as I do know I have some younger fans that really don’t want to see bare breasted ladies on their walls!” Liz says with a laugh.

In the end we can conclude that if you do your craft tastefully and with style, there is no harm to your name or brand if you focus your portfolio on sexy art. You’ll obviously lose the ability to work for certain clients but gain the attention of others. Personally I’d say that you can just let it come down to what you love doing and which part of the pie you want to be eating from. And if you’re really in doubt there’s always the option of working under a pseudonym to keep your mainstream work separated from your sexy stuff.

How weird can it get?
When you do sexy illustrations every once in a while, someone comes up to you and asks you to do something crazy. To finish off I asked the participants of this article what the craziest thing was they were commissioned to create. “One publisher asked me to draw a nude sexy girl with her pubic hair shaved in a shape of Seat logo.” says Aleksandra.

“I have been lucky and have never gotten anything too nuts for a commission!” Liz tells us. “I do get odd requests from time to time, I had one person that found a lot of my contact info and spent 2 weeks trying to contact me online to do a foot fetish piece for him….after that experience I stopped listing my instant messenger accounts on my sites!”.

Candybird shared that the craziest thing she was commissioned to make was a stylized portrait of the client herself, for use as a tattoo on her husband’s body. As for Luke, he already spilled the beans on this one in the SKAFFS spotlight we did with him.

If you enjoyed this article and this type of work be sure to come back in a few days for a showcase of the cutest and sexiest character art around.

Designfeedr sends virtual cookies to Luke Feldman and pink chocolate flavoured donuts to the ladies Aleksandra Marchoka, Liz Lorini and Candybird.