Parra - Interview

PARRA

Text: Ramsey Dau
Photographers: Johnny McMillan

Thirty-two-year-old Dutch artist, Parra, is a rising star in both the commercial and fine art worlds. His bright colors and mastery of illustrated fonts, combined with his wit and cynicism make his work a treat, not only to the eyes, but also to the dark little side of us that finds pleasure in the misfortune of others.

What's an average day consist of for Parra?

It’s very laid back, just like Amsterdam. I’m not a morning person; I wake up around 11, check email and stuff, cook up some breakfast and start drawing. If there’s commercial work to do, I try to get that sorted, and if not, I work on my own art all day, read some books, and watch some stupid movies to get inspiration. In the evenings, I go out…a lot. That’s basically every day. When you work for yourself, you don’t really have weekends, and with international clients, the clock is always [running].

How does your creative process work?

It all starts out with pen and paper, and some useless information, like music lyrics. I watch a lot of really bad TV and old movies. I’ll watch stupid 80’s clips on YouTube for hours. Then something will spark me – I’ll have an idea, a funny sentence or something ironic, and I’ll start drawing. Then I scan it into the computer and do the colors. The thought process is much longer than the actual drawing.

How did you develop your style?

I was doing graphic design when I first moved to Amsterdam (around 1997) – mostly flyers. I got bored with the rules, like what fonts you can and cannot use. So I started to draw everything, to have more freedom. I gradually went from tracing fonts and using photos, to eliminating the pictures all together and just drawing everything. Well, it’s really hard to draw actual people, and if you draw someone with eyes and a nose and face, it is quickly typecast. I needed something anonymous. So I created this weird beak-faced character with a human body. It’s the same character every time, whether it’s a guy or girl or animal or whatever.

So how did you break out from being a local artist doing flyers in Amsterdam, to reach the level you are at today?

This art director literally picked a flyer I had done up off the street and tracked me down. Amsterdam is really small, so he found me in a day. Back then, everybody was into design, and everything was nice and straight, and I had done this weird flyer with hand-written fonts, so it stood out for that period. He was looking for an illustrator to do a campaign for a sneaker store. He dragged me in and that really gave me a push. So I just started drawing more and more, and began to be able to live off my work. After I had a solo art show in London, I got picked up by the agency Big Active and everything went easier from there.

Your work features bright colors and humor; it seems happy and whimsical. Is this a reflection of your personality?

My name, Parra, is short for paranoid. I want to be light and happy, but I’m not. I’m never positive. But I’m a worrier more than a dark person. If you view my work, and don’t know what it’s about, it appears happy. It has happy colors and is easy to digest. Someone from 8 to 80 years old might like it. But deeper in, most of my work has something dark. Irony is my favorite stuff. Some of the most crappy stuff in life, I find amusing.

You work predominantly with Giclé prints. How did you come upon this medium, and are you worried that, as a fine art medium, a digital print may have less intrinsic value than an original drawing, lithograph, or even screen print?

When I had the opportunity to do my first solo show, I needed something fast and I figured that Giclé posters would be easy. And I kind of stuck with it. The thing is, I draw on paper. I could easily do bigger sketches and frame them and they’d be more valuable. But deep down, I still love graphic design so much - printed matter, and I really love color in a big way, and you have to be a damn good painter to get it that tight, and I still want to learn that one day, so for now, it’s posters mainly.

I think the silk screen was the Giclé of that time period. It was intended to reproduce an image. Now, [silk screen prints] are seen more as an art form because there is more hand-work involved. But I don’t care if there’re hundreds of prints out there. I usually only do 10-15 prints of a piece, and they’re all signed and come with a stamp of authenticity from my agency. Last year (2007) I did 7 shows, and I showed almost all new work at each show, with only a few of my favorite pieces shared between shows. So that’s not many prints.

What do you have lined up for the rest of 2008?

I’m talking to some book people about doing a book. New collections for Rockwell. Collabs with some apparel people. Some shoes coming up. Collabs with Patta, a local sneaker shop here in Amsterdam. I’m drawing a lot, but I’m only going to do one show in Paris at the end of the year. I cancelled a bunch of stuff in order to focus on that. I think I might work on some sculptures too.

What do you think of your hometown scene, here in Amsterdam?

It’s so small out here. You get noticed pretty quick if you do something different. I was lucky to be doing something weird at a good time and I got accepted. Delta was a big inspiration for me to work on my own stuff. We’ve got a nice cozy, little scene here, with musicians and art people and the fashion peeps. I couldn’t do without it. It’s really nice out here. Except the weather…

Interview taken from:
http://anthemmagazine.com/story/Parra

Definition of Vector Art - Research D/C Product

Vector art is a form of digital illustration and its use is increasing every day. Vector art can be seen in almost every part of print, online and televised media. Knowing how to use vector-based illustration is a prerequisite for almost every graphic design job due to its many applications in commercial media. Vector-based artwork is entirely dependent on computers because it is driven by complex mathematical equations. Though it is relatively new, many beautiful illustrations and compelling advertisements have been created with vector art.

Definition

Vector art is any digital artwork in which the shapes in the art are represented by mathematical equations within a computer. Geometric shapes like lines, waves, single points and curves are placed together by the artist to create an illustration while the computer keeps track of each item's location, curve and relative proportion to the other shapes.

Advantages

The biggest advantage of vector art is that it is infinitely scalable. Unlike raster art, which uses pixels to create digital illustrations, vector-based artwork can be enlarged over and over again without losing any of the picture's quality. Another advantage of vector art is that, unlike raster art, the work created always takes up the same amount of memory in your computer. This means that you can create images as large as you want and still not have it affect the file size of your digital illustration. With raster artwork, larger images mean much larger file sizes.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage with vector art is that it is simply unsuited for creating highly detailed art or illustration. Adding elements like light or shadow spilling over an arm or clothed leg, for instance, is extremely difficult to do with vector art. While raster- or pixel-based artwork can have shades and effects applied to it to lighten or darken an area, each vector shadow or effect needs to be drawn individually with a new shape. The process of changing each centimeter of your vector illustration makes advanced effects too time-consuming or impossible to attempt.

Primary Uses

Due to the distinctive properties of vector art, it is applied to very specific types of illustration. Creating logos and text are the most common applications for vector art. These images often need to be scaled up or down in size in a wide variety of ways for publication and marketing purposes. This necessitates the ability to zoom in or out without losing any image quality.

Identification

It is relatively easy to identify vector-based artwork just by looking at it. Typically vector artwork is simpler than raster or bit map digital art, and it has cleaner lines and edges than traditional pen-and-ink drawings or paintings. Crisp, simple lines are usually a dead giveaway that vector art has been used. Due to vector art's inability to mimic photo realism, illustrations of faces, for example, will appear-cartoon like or look like a simple illustration as opposed to a painted portrait.

What is vector art? - Research D/C Product

What is vector art?

Vector Art is a technique, not a style.

Perhaps a better term would be "vector-based art," meaning art created in a vector-based program. Vector art consists of creating paths and points in a program such as Illustrator or Freehand. The program keeps track of the relationships between these points and paths. Vectors are any scaleable objects that keeps their proportions and quality when sized up or down. They're defined as solid objects, and can be moved around in full, or grouped together with other objects. Vectors can be defined by mathematical and numeric data. So vector art is anything that's created in Illustrator, Freehand, Corel Draw, Flash or other "vector" illustration programs.

(Vector programs: Illustrator, Freehand, Corel Draw, Flash, etc.)

The other side of the coin is raster art. Raster art consists of pixel information, where every pixel is assigned a RGB or CMYK value. This can create smoother and more detailed images for photos and paintings, but if the image is scaled, the program has to create new information resulting in that distorted look.

(Raster programs: Photoshop, Painter, Fireworks, MS Paint, Gimp, etc.)

What is not vector art?

Just because something is "cell shaded" or "flat colored" does not make it a Vector. The use of filters (cutout, etc.) creates a raster-based image and thus is disqualified from ever being considered a vector image. Only a vector program such as the ones mentioned above can create a vector image.

A vector takes time to create. The artist makes decisions on how much or how little detail to include. The artist makes decisions on colors to use. These are the same decisions one makes before sitting down with conte crayons, pastels or oil paint.

I understand that these days there is some program overlap. Photoshop has some vector tools and Illustrator has some raster tools, but if you use the lasso and the paint bucket, you are not creating vector-based artwork. If you run a filter you are not creating vector-based artwork.

What does vector art look like?

Long story short: Vector is not a "style" like Anime, but a "medium" like charcoal. Asking what vector-art looks like is like asking what an oil painting looks like. It could look like Rembrandt, Picasso, or a fifth grader's fingerpainting.

Vector doesn't automatically mean flat shaded, just like "painting" doesn't mean high detail. Vector-based programs include tools for use with gradients and meshes, and thusly can be used to create high detail illustrations.

Information taken from:
http://news.deviantart.com/article/12990/

Vector Graphic - Research D/C Product

Unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector graphics are not made up of a grid of pixels. Instead, vector graphics are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. A path can be a line, a square, a triangle, or a curvy shape. These paths can be used to create simple drawings or complex diagrams. Paths are even used to define the characters of specific typefaces.

Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, they can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality. If you blow up a raster graphic, it will look blocky, or "pixelated." When you blow up a vector graphic, the edges of each object within the graphic stay smooth and clean. This makes vector graphics ideal for logos, which can be small enough to appear on a business card, but can also be scaled to fill a billboard. Common types of vector graphics include Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and EPS files. Many Flash animations also use vector graphics, since they scale better and typically take up less space than bitmap images.

Information taken from:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/vectorgraphic

Vector vs. Raster - Research D/C Product

VECTORS VS RASTERS

Vectors and Raster Images is what every designer or graphic artist regularly uses. This leaves us with a question, which among these techniques is better to use? And when do you use vector or raster in your designs? This is a tough question for a designer or a graphic artist. There were even a confusion of what is vector and raster. In this post I would explain each technique? with their examples and the advantages of using one from the other.So let the battle begin and decide for yourself!!

**What is Vector?**

The word “vector” is a synonym for line. They are composed of mathematically-defined geometric shapes—lines, objects and fills. When creating a vector image in a vector illustration program, node or drawing points are inserted and lines and curves connect notes together. This is the same principle as “connect the dots”. Each node, line and curve is defined in the drawing by the graphics software by a mathematical description. They usually are easily modified within the creating application and generally are not affected detrimentally by scaling (enlarging or reducing their size). If the image is increased in size, the equation is recalculated accordingly resulting in the image increasing in size with no loss of data or detail. A vector object will have a “wireframe” underneath the colors in the object. In a vector object, colors are like clothes over the top of a skeleton. They’re defined as solid objects, and can be moved around in full, or grouped together with other objects.

Programs or Software

Vector Graphics is most commonly done in programs such as Illustrator, Freehand, Corel Draw, Flash, Inkscape, Fireworks, or other “vector” illustration programs. Vectors in these programs (at the hands of skilled artists and draftsmen) can achieve a nearly photo-like quality or be beautifully abstract.

Resolution

Vector images are defined by math, not pixels. They can be scaled up or down without any loss of quality. When an illustration (drawing) program sizes a vector image up or down, it simply multiplies the mathematical description of the object by a scaling factor. For example a 1″ square object would need to be multiplied by a factor of 2 in order to double in size. The math is simply recalculated to produce an object twice the size of the original. Because vector images scale up or down without the loss of image quality, they can be output at any resolution that a printer is capable of producing.
DWH Logo when zoomed in a Vector Program. The image is still whole and without the loss of quality.

Color

Since vector images are composed of objects not pixels, you can change the color of individual objects without worrying about individual pixels. Coloring vector objects is similar to coloring with crayons in a coloring book. A drawing program will enable a user to click inside an object and define its color. A drawing program will also enable a user to define the color and width of lines. Coloring vector images is much easier than coloring bitmaps.

File Size

Vector images do not need to keep track of each individual pixel in an image, only mathematical descriptions. For this reason vector files are very small in file size. Vector files are composed of long mathematical descriptions dictating every aspect of the graphic. A 2-inch by 4-inch vector based logo will be the same files size as a 2-foot by 4-foot logo. The file size is the same because the only difference in file is one number defining the size of the file. A raster image file would need to keep track of a whole bunch of additional pixels as the file increases in size. Most vector-based logos are going to be under 100k (.10 megabytes). For this reason, vector files are ideally suited for transfer over the Internet.

File Formats

Common vector formats include EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), WMF (Windows Metafile), AI (Adobe Illustrator), CDR (CorelDraw), DXF (AutoCAD), SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and PLT (Hewlett Packard Graphics Language Plot File)

**What is Raster?**

A raster image is a collection of dots called pixels. Each pixel is a tiny square with assigned color value. They are created using a grid of pixels to define the image. When you attempt to increase the size of an image created in a raster based program, the pixels defining the image can be increased in either number or size. Increasing the number of pixels or making the pixels bigger in an image results in the original data being spread over a larger area. Spreading the pixels over a larger area causes the image to begin to lose detail and clarity. When an image is scanned, the image is converted to a collection of pixels called a raster image. Scanned graphics and web graphics are the most common forms of raster images.
(It can be a beautiful photograph)

Programs or Software

Raster-based image editors, such as Photoshop, GIMP and other raster programs, revolve around editing pixels. When an image is rendered in a raster-based image editor, the image is composed of millions of pixels. At its core, a raster image editor works by manipulating each individual pixel. Most pixel-based image editors work using RGB color model, but some also allow the use of other color models such as CMYK color model.

Resolution

Raster graphics are resolution dependent. They cannot scale to an arbitrary resolution without loss of apparent quality. The resolution of a raster image or scanned image is expressed in terms of the dots per inch or dpi. A printer or scanner’s resolution is also measured in dots per inch. Typical desktop laser printers print at 300 - 600 dpi. Image setters are capable of printing over 2,500 dpi. Printers with higher dpi ratings are capable of producing smoother and cleaner output. The output quality of a printing device is dependent upon the resolution (dpi) of a bitmap or scan. A 300 dpi raster image will output at the same quality on a 300 dpi laser printer as on a 2,500 dpi image setter.
Take a 300 dpi bitmap and increase the size in a graphics program, and presto - you have created a bad case of the “jaggies”. The only thing that happened is that the tiny pixel squares got bigger and created jaggy edges on your image. Decrease the size of your image and the squares get smaller. The image retains its original edge definition without producing “jaggies”. In other words, raster images do not scale up very well. The quality of an imprint produced from a raster image is dependant upon the resolution (dpi) of the raster image, the capabilities of the printing technology and whether or not the image has been scaled up.
DWH Logo when zoomed in a Raster Program. The image is getting pixelated and jaggy edges are showing.

Color

With any scanned color image, a large number of colors will be required to render a raster image reproduction of the original source artwork accurately. If scanned at 24-bin color depth (16 million colors), most human eyes could not tell the difference between the original image and the scanned raster image. Now if you scan the same image using the palette of 256 colors, it would be impossible to accurately reproduce the original colors because you have a smaller color palette to choose from. To get around this, scanners use a process called dithering to approximate colors that don’t occur in the current color palette.
Dithering produces a distinct dotted pattern that approximates the original color in the image. Dithering will deteriorate the quality of the scanned raster image. Now take all this complexity of colors and try to change colors, and you can see the biggest disadvantage of editing and manipulating raster images. In order to change colors in a raster image you must be able to isolate a specific color or range of colors and tell your software to change the color. This can be quite a challenge for even experienced Corel PhotoPAINT or Adobe PhotoShop users.

File Size

In order to accurately reproduce a raster image file, your graphics software must keep track of a large amount of information, including the exact location and color of each pixel in the collection of pixels. This results in huge file sizes for raster graphics. Higher resolutions (dpi) and greater color depths, produce bigger file sizes. A typical 2″ by 3″ 150 dpi black and white raster image logo will be less than 70k (.07 megabytes) in file size. The same file saved as a 300 dpi 24-bit (millions of colors) raster image logo might be 100 times larger (over 7 megabytes). When creating and scanning raster images, file size becomes a real issue, as big files tend to make your computer processor and hard drive work overtime. Transferring big files (over 1 megabyte) over the Internet requires a high speed Internet connection on both ends for timely uploads and downloads.

File Formats

Common raster image formats include BMP (Windows Bitmap), PCX (Paintbrush), TIFF (Tag Interleave Format), JPEG (Joint Photographics Expert Group), GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) , PNG (Portable Network Graphic), PSD (Adobe PhotoShop) and CPT (Corel PhotoPAINT).
Judgment: Vectors

The Pros

Saved file sizes are smaller.
Conversion from vector to raster is easy.
Resolution independent.

The Cons:

Vector files do not support photographic imagery well and often can be problematic for cross-platform exchange.
Judgment: Raster
The Pros
Raster files handle the subtleties of photographs very well as a general rule.
Raster can handle other effects very well and much easier.
The Cons:
Resolution Dependent.
Raster files can be very large if there is a large amount of detail and pixels in an image.
Raster conversion to vector is much more difficult.

When to use Vector?

When you are developing something for scale or sending to a printing company that demands it.
Usually this boils down to business identity print work, logos, promotional posters, and major illustration artwork.
When you want clean-cut and clearly defined shapes - vector is the only way to go.

When to use Raster?

We use raster in photographs and images done in a raster program.
We use it when we put an effect on image, or editing and manipulating them.
It’s when we’re adding a defined texture and accent on our created designs.
If you want textures, fills and other effects, you use raster.

Information taken from:
http://designwashere.com/design-battle-vector-vs-raster/

Damien Weighill - Interview

INTERVIEW ONE:

Interview with Damien Weighill about his multiple-faced blog & some more -

Q1: How did you get into illustrations in the beginning? Are you now a full-time illustrator?
A:
I studied graphic design at uni which involved a fair bit of illustration. From the work I exhibited at our degree show I was lucky enough to pick up my first commission and got approached by an agent. After that I worked as graphic designer for 3 years working on illustration projects on the side. So far I've been making my living solely as an illustrator for just over a year.

Q2: Are there any particular influences throughout your artistic career, e.g. other artists, certain types of music, certain social phenomenon etc.?
A:
I'm inspired by so much it would be impossible to single any one artist out but I guess the most consistent influence would be the people I spend most of my time with. I'm lucky enough to have a group of friends all pursuing various creative paths. There's no way I could sit back and see what they create without attempting to keep up.

Q3: Your 'yourfaceblog' started in Jan 2007 and I guess it's been doing quite well from all the people sending photos and various comments received. How the process work? How do you develop the character of each 'face' based on just a single photo people sending in? Do you ask them what they would like to 'look like' in your illustration?
A:
Some people tell me a little about themselves and others send a blank email with photo attached but I usually just draw the first thing that comes into my head that amuses me. That could be inspired by something they wrote or maybe some little thing in the background of the photo but I don't really do requests. I think if I was just drawing from people's requests then I would have got bored of this project before it even got into double figures. There would also be a lot more portraits involving cats on the blog (and a lot less portraits with abundant facial hair). I get a frightening amount of emails from people telling me they like cats.

Q4: Of your commercial commissions, which one(s) do you enjoy the most in terms of overall experience, or final outcome?
A:
There are a lot of commercial projects I've enjoyed working on but two recent projects come to mind first.
A book I worked on for Conqueror paper - Coming up with ideas is the part of illustration that really interests me so this job was perfect. I was given a number of broad themes like Nature or Transport and then was given room to fill the book with hundreds of ideas.

Then there's the Giggle Party music video. Almost all of the time I'm working on projects on my own so it was really great to have someone else to throw in ideas into the ring that I would never have come up with and to take things in new directions (co-director and animator Stephen Wake). The music throws up some pretty crazy scenarios so it was a lot of fun getting together to try and match that in the visuals.
Q5: A more technical question - how much time (proportionately) in general you spend between hand-drawing and computer-illustration on your works?
A:
90% Hand-drawing. 10% Computer. I keep my work in my head and sketchbook as much as possible. I mainly like to colour illustrations digitally because of the flexibility it allows and the fact it means I can spend less time colouring and more time focusing on the ideas.
Q6: Any future plans? What's next?
A:
I've got superhuman powers when it comes to making plans, plotting and scheming so I'll stick to the most immediate ones. Next is salad - Most likely involving mozzarella and pine nuts. Then I've got a bit of an obsession with ideas for birthday/greeting cards. I just printed a couple (http://damienweighill.com/2009/09/thinking-of-you/) and intend to print more as soon as I can. Oh, and portraits of course. Lots more portraits.

Interview taken from:
http://londonart.posterous.com/?tag=damienweighill

INTERVIEW TWO:

art on atcn: damien weighill

Damien Weighill is the artist, illustrator and man responsible for turning me into a snake wielding, voodoo heart wearing, bone through the nose, Witch Doctor. Pretty fetching image as you can see. I caught up with Damien for a little chit chat.

Hi Damien, London is trying to snow, I don’t like it, how are you?

It seems London succeeded in snowing. I’m sat doubled over my sketchbook, in my fingerless gloves trying to warm myself with the glow from the monitor, like a scene they left out of Scrooge.

‘Your Face’ is such a great idea for a blog and i’m very happy to have, a version of, my own mug showing. I’ve happily perved through the entire back catalogue of faces. Professional procrastination at its very best. ‘Patric (face 158)‘ (click) made me giggle, ‘Jesus Hide and Seek’ (click) is also AMAZING. For those that don’t know, tell us a little about the blog, what you do, and how it came about.

It all began with the idea that I would improve my somewhat lacking portrait drawing skills by asking people to send me their photo with the promise that I would draw them and post the results online. I expected to have to force my friends to send me photos and then that would be that. It turns out that quite few people not only visit obscure blogs but are also more than happy to send photographs of themselves to a stranger on the other side of the internet.

So far my portrait drawing has shown no signs of improvement but I do have a bulging inbox to work on and my confidence in creating inaccurate and possibly offensive renditions of people’s features is sky high.

What is your favourite piece of art that you’ve ever done?

My favourite is always the one I’m going to think of next. When they’re still in my head they’re a whole lot funnier and better looking than when I get them down on paper.

If I have to pick something that already exists then I’ll go for Live Fast, Dye Young. I really like ideas that just appear in my head from nowhere fully-formed and that I almost feel like have no ownership over whatsoever – this is one of them.

How did you find art at school? I hated the fact they made me draw fruit arrangements and dead fish, when I really wanted to draw monsters and triangles.

Art at school was all about painting with awful brushes with bristles that were apparently made from toughened diamond filaments. I always knew where I stood with a pencil but those brushes were the reason I never really got into painting.


You’ve clearly got a vivid imagination. That must make you a really good liar. If not, you’re wasting a talent. What’s the best lie you’ve ever told?

I’m an awful liar. I’m not good in those kind of pressure situations. Try telling your Maths teacher that a dog ran off with your homework and that’s fine but use the same tactics when you forget your PE kit and that guy’s really going to expect to see some photo evidence of an alsatian parading around in short shorts. That’s when my confidence would desert me and I would panic and admit the truth.


Haha, i’m a really good liar … honest… but that’s another story. Here at ATCN we’re a little obsessed with the cult classic that is ‘Come Dine With Me’, if you were on that show, what would you cook?

If Jimmy Osmond was coming round for tea I’d probably bake a sponge cake version of the Grease posters that are all over the tube right now, including a pink icing jacket and creepy white marshmallow smile.


Tell me anything about upcoming work, exhibitions, places to buy your stuff. I for one, really want to know.

I’ve just finished screen printing a limited edition of Live Fast, Dye Young so they should be available from Soma Gallery in Bristol and Red Door Gallery in Edinburgh as soon as the Royal Mail do their bit. I’ve got an exciting book project that I’ve been working on with the splendid fellows at Blast that I wish I could show you and I may even finally finish my first music video this month for a fine new band called Giggle Party.

We’ve had a conversation about Ian Stevenson before, who has also been featured on ATCN. Who in the art world has been impressing you recently?

I recently discovered Graham Roumieu’s work and I’m totally blown away by his ideas and how prolific he is. I also just realised he has a series of books about bigfoot which is an obsession I wholeheartedly agree with.

Last but not least, how did you know I like snakes? The bone through the nose is my favourite bit. Without knowing, you truly captured my inner Witch Doctor.

I wish I knew why I draw these things. I’ll ask a therapist and get back to you.

Thanks Damien, therapy sounds good.

Interview taken from:
http://blog.atribecallednext.com/2009/02/art-on-atcn-damien-weighill/

MASA/Miguel Vásquez - Interview

Mexico City – Masa



"Masa is Miguel Vásquez, born in Caracas, Venezuela and educated in his hometown at PRO Diseño Visual Communication School. However Masa is on the move and currently setting up his new studio in Mexico City, a distance of over 2200 miles from Caracus. This is an interesting move for Vásquez – ‘I began in Caracas as a self-taught designer, starting out by designing posters and flyers and very influenced by my late father, always himself involved painting, drawing and design, but Mexico is a great place for new opportunities, for a good quality of life, awesome people and a huge amount of local talent and new ventures going on’ he enthuses.

Masa, initially a ‘playground for creative ideas’ has grown to become a truly vibrant studio with high-standing industry status reflected by the global client list of impressive companies, for whom the studio creates visual solutions that have a strong emphasis in Latin American pop and contemporary street culture. ‘I work to blend forms and ideas and produce crossovers between urban and folklore references,’ explains Vásquez, and it is from the street that many of these references emerge.

Mexico City has street culture positively rising up from the dusty streets of the capital itself – the economic, industrial and cultural centre of the country; it is home to almost 19 million people, making it the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the Americas and the 3rd largest agglomeration on the planet. It is one big, bustling centre of culture – home to more museums and theaters than any other city in the Spanish-speaking world.

Masa’s ability to move seamlessly between self-generated underground apparel projects, influenced by his surroundings, and then resurface to produce graphics for Adidas, Burton, Nike or any other high profile brand is certainly paying dividends creatively. Whether it be the intense colour treatments or the use of radical and vibrant patterns or simply Vásquez’s unique drawing ability – there is a vibe within the studio’s output that is impossible to pin down to a ‘house’ style, yet the work exudes Latin style, passion and ethos. ‘Work in the things you like the most and love,’ enthuses Vásquez, ‘be the best and be happy with it, and by doing the best everything else will follow as a consequence.’ It is this lust for life that provides the lifeblood and inspiration for the Masa brand; self-expression meets self-determination and a creative outlet fast taking Mexico City by storm."


Interview taken from:
http://www.zeegen.com/index.php?id=107

Thirty Conversations on Design

Taken from:

http://thirtyconversationsondesign.com/miguel-vasquez

"Created in 1997, Masa is the brainchild of Miguel Vasquez. Operating out of Venezuela, MASA (Vasquez) has been internationally know for his graphic style, one that fuses both urban and folklore graphics. Vasquez has received many awards for his print work and motion and has been exhibited in Tokyo, Barcelona, Madrid, Copenhagen, New York, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Masa has worked with clients like Nike, Volkswagen, GQ Mag, Absolute Vodka, MiniCooper, Miramax Film and many more. Check out his website for more samples of his print and motion work."


Interview taken from:

http://sozadesigns.wordpress.com/2009/06/

Taken from:

http://phase02.org/2008/08/masa/

"MASA is the solo work of Miguel Vasquez. This portfolio is an insane display of talent… a mixture of illustration and fine art all intertwined with a clean urban street feel. You may have seen the work before, but it’s worth another review. Today! Right now! Go!"
Taken from:
http://www.fairspot.com/2008/02/05/i-love-masa/

OFFICIAL MASA WEBSITE AND ONLINE PORTFOLIO:

"Venezuelan artist and designer Miguel Vasquez, aka MASA, does art direction, illustration, and motion graphics for entertainment, music, fashion, ..."
Taken from:
http://www.masa.com.ve/website.html

Masa's De La Soul work was the first I'd seen by him. As soon as I saw it I knew this was the style I wanted to strive to. It's so expressionate, free, fluid and bold. It isn't necessarily complex, but yet so effective. The different weights of line fascinate me and the way he plays with it is just beautiful. What I like most however is that he can work very delicately and also really boldly like above with the afro characters and yet keep his own very distinctive style. Another influence which I have noticed is that he seems to take inspiration from music and sport and reflects this in his work too. Also great interests of mine. It's rare that I find a style of vector illustration that really makes me tick and instantly pulls me in, but the work of 

Miguel Vásque really does this for me. He is definitely someone that I keep my eye on for 

inspiration with my own projects.

Book Cover Design Inspiration

Book Logo

http://www.penguin.co.uk/

Book Cover Design

http://bookcoverarchive.com/