Tanawat Sakdawisarak’s crisp illustrations reference pop music and video games
Thailand-based illustrator Tanawat Sakdawisarak has been a firm favourite of ours for a couple of years now for his cool, polished aesthetic. While Tanawat is still experimenting with his free form works, as seen on his Instagram, his commissioned work remains neatly constructed with fine linework and full of nuanced details. “I love to combine geometric shapes with form and pattern. I sometimes feel like my works have the same aesthetic as comics and video games I used to play,” says Tanawat.
Starting each drawing by hand and then finishing it digitally, the illustrator is inspired by the world around him and often plays with proportion to create interesting dialogues between characters and objects. As a result, he often switches up perspectives, going from close crops to wider landscapes, all laced in an earthy colour palette that’s inspired by a mix of “dreams, pop music and nostalgia”.
Tanawat’s recent commissions include a series of illustrations for GQ Thailand that demonstrate his imagination and attention to detail. “Most topics I covered for the magazine were about psychology and politics. So the hardest part of this is is about not making them too straightforward but making it so people can still understand how the illustration relates to the topic,” he explains.
Other projects include work for Udogse magazine and Dream, a series of illustrations that aim to get people thinking. When working on commissioned works, Tanawat likes to know as much as possible about the brief. “Sometimes what I like the most is not what they’re after. So for me, it’s best when I have a clear conversation with the client before we start working together,” he says. This need for clarity translates in to Tanawat’s images that, despite the touch of surreality, are instantly communicative.
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Rebecca Fulleylove is a freelance writer and editor specialising in art, design and culture. She is also senior writer at Creative Review, having previously worked at Elephant, Google Arts & Culture, and It’s Nice That.