38. Abstract #1

Abstract work made of a composition of letters.

Techniques: Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

37. Louder #2

A reinterpretation of the first sketch trying to create more impact with colours, type size and contrast.

Techniques: Adobe Photoshop.

36. Insomnia

Inspired in a friend's problem.
Experimenting with transparency, shape and colour.


Techniques: Adobe Illustrator

35. Type

A visual result of some of my graphic design study about type.

Techniques: Adobe Illustrator

34. Try Harder

Experimentation with type size, repetition and textures.

Techniques: Adobe Illustrator.

33. My soul in and out

Finally another illustration.
 I've been reading some graphic design books and I wanted to put some of the things one of the authors talked about into practice. Namely two of the four principles of graphic design: alignment and contrast, being the other two proximity and repetition, according to Robin Williams.
I tried to align the elements between each other and I tried to explore the contrast possibilities between different fonts regarding form, direction, weight, size and colour. I've made four different illustrations with small differences and the one I was more pleased about was the one above, but bellow you can see the other three.

32. Walk

It's been a while since my last illustration. I'll try to catch the rhythm again as soon as possible.
Don't know why, I was thinking about Beatles's Abbey Road picture and that inspired me to create this.

Technique: Illustrator and Photoshop.

31. Anger

Talking about anger on the previous illustration. Here's another kind of it, another origin.

Technique: Photoshop.

30. Trust issues

This illustration and the previous two were all created at the same time. They're about those moments when you can't control what's happening and the entities or things you think are suppose to protect you just don't. In moments like those you start questioning things and when there are no answers you have to turn your back and stop feeling the anger.

Technique: Hand drawing.

29. Fear

Technique: Hand drawing.

28. Louder

Technique: Hand drawing.

27. Character

Typographic experimentation with basic shapes and gradients.

Technique: Illustrator and Photoshop.

26 - Any better

Inspired by Incubus's song, "Adolescents", and by dark cloudy days.

Technique: Photoshop.

25. What if

Technique: Hand drawing on Illustrator.

24. Woman

Woman is about every women, with all their qualities and all their defects, because we are made of all these and much more and that's what make us unique and fantastic. :)

Technique: Adobe Illustrator.

23. Bad Choices

We live on the trial and error basis, every time we have to make a decision, specially the important ones, we think about it, choose one of the options and hope for the best because we all know that bad choices... yeah, they do.

That's what I tried to illustrate here, the freedom to make mistakes, the easiness in which what seemed right suddenly proves to be wrong, the trial and error.

Technique: Free drawing on Illustrator

22 - Stop being selfish

I've already started this one before I've started this project because the selfishness among people is a subject that really bothers me. Not that I'm not selfish too, but watching the way some people act, without caring for anyone else besides themselves, always trying to get what they want by taking it from other people instead of earning it, annoys me.
When I started I was just trying to warn people about the dangers of just thinking about themselves being blind to all the rest, but now, as I was finishing the illustration, after my bar's robbery and all, I think I was looking for some kind of poetic justice where the selfish people are punished one day.

Technique: Hand drawing, Vectorial drawing, Illustrator and Photoshop.

21 - Found "A"

Finally I caught up with the illustrations, at least for now. This one was a found one, I only took the photos. By the time the bar was under construction the carpenter had this rack with all the drained paint and varnish drops and it's shape forms two "A", one at each extremity. I loved the rack's texture and shape, so I took several photos to use one day, and that will be today. :)
Technique: Photography.

20 - If you drink

This is yesterday's illustration again. It was a pretty tough weekend at the bar and I didn't have the time to do the illustrations. Yesterday when I was taking photos at the shot glasses filled with some drinks, this illustration came at my mind, so I decided to do it today.
Technique: Photography and Photoshop.

19. Shot

This is yesterday's illustration which I only had time to create today. Since I own a bar, I have access to all sorts of drinks and glasses and they have lots of creative possibilities, so this time I used shot glasses with different drinks, took several photos and change the colors in Photoshop to add a night club's ambient.

Technique: Shots, photography and Photoshop.

18. Air

This one was one of the results I've came out with after reading a Photoshop tutorial by Per Gustafsson, at Creative Masterclass: Photoshop Essentials magazine.
Technique: Photoshop.

17. Smile

 I want to try some new textures and materials to illustrate with and today I chose my toothpaste. The worst part was to put the toothpaste back into the tube :)

Technique: Toothpaste, photography and Photoshop.

16. The Elephant's Fall

Sometimes when we pass by some places or stare at clouds we imagine animals or comic characters. When I saw this place I immediately imagined the elephant in my mind. It came out exactly as I wanted and that feels nice :)

Here you can see the original image.

Technique: Photography, Illustrator.

15. "S" of Get Set

This one has been started at a Superexpresso workshop at Get Set Art Fest, an art festival that happened in Oporto last Autumn, so it is inspired by Superexpresso's work. The goal was to illustrate the words "GET SET", so each one had to choose one letter and draw it. My letter was "S" and I decided to draw the objects that caught my attention at the festival besides the art presentations, to capture the festival's spirit.
Technique: Hand drawing, Vectorial drawing, Illustrator and Photoshop.

14. Orchidea

A random illustration, just experimenting with textures and composition.
Technique: Photoshop

13. Bubbles

After a boring day, I started today's illustration just because I had to. Initially I wrote the word "Boring" but I started enjoying the process of creating all the circles and it made me feel better, so I changed it to "Bubbles". Then I added a sharp background to add more contrast to the illustration.

Technique: Illustrator

12. Retro Type: 80's

Technique: Drawing a retro type with only one line in Illustrator. Effects in Photoshop.

11. Imagine

After some desperating time, thinking about what to illustrate today with no results I came up with this. Imagine it's better than it really is ;)

10. Crisis: No Internet

Yesterday's illustration posted today because... I had no Internet.

9. Follow the Dots

Finally I've used the suck UK message tape I've bought in Tate Modern some years ago. I've liked the final result :) It's a funny tape to use.

8. Scream

Because sometimes we have to.
Technique: Quilling and Photoshop.

7. Have fun with ice cream

Technique: Chocolate topping, photography and Photoshop.

6. Music

Not much to say about this one. I was just wondering about what to illustrate today and I got inspired by my headphones.
Technique: Photography and Photoshop.

5. R of Super Bock

This image was created as a response to Super Bock's (a Portuguese beer brand) briefing for the "A nossa imagem é tua!" ("Our image is yours!") competition. The challenge was to illustrate one of their logo letters per month, showing the brand's spirit - drink appeal, trendy/urban character, sense of community and friendship. This month's letter was "R". Now let's hope I win... :)
Technique: Drawing, Illustrator and Photoshop

Here you can see some of the stages of the creative process. First the hand drawing and then the vectorial drawing with Illustrator.

4. Hot

After an excellent barbecue with very good company, I decided to explore one of the pictures I've taken to create my illustration with type of the day.

Technique: photography and Photoshop.

3. Dream

Digital composition about a sweet, colourfull dream.
Technique: Illustrator and Photoshop

2. Keep believing

Because we all need to. Work developed after a Quilling workshop.
Technique: Quilling - wrapping paper strips

1. Selfish

Picture taken at dawn with shattered glass from my bar's door after it was robbed. Since there was nothing I could do at 5 A. M. besides talking to the police, and that I had decided to start this project today, I figured that I might as well grab the opportunity to start my project talking about the selfish world we all live in. Yeah, people really like to take what doesn't belong to them...
Technique: Broken glass and photography