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Championing creativity

Advertising • Animation • Film • Graphic Design • Illustration • Photography •

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Work / Illustration

Illustrator Cécile Dormeau captures the humorous nuances of adult life

Words by Rebecca Fulleylove, Monday 23 January 2017

French illustrator Cécile Dormeau consistently depicts the tribulations of adult life in one neat, nuanced illustration. The Paris-based illustrator addresses a wide range of issues using her sharp wit to create work that is relatable and thought provoking.

We’ve shared her images countless times and in this latest portfolio update, Cécile uses a roster of female characters to express the universal insecurities and worries of so many people. The brilliance of her work however, is the way in which she reveals these vulnerabilities but celebrates them as well, bringing a sense of empowerment to the figures she depicts.

Her personal work sits seamlessly alongside her commissioned work, which includes clients like ASOS, The Sunday Times, and most recently Google, where she was commissioned by Anyways (part of the HudsonBec Group) to create a set of stickers for its messaging app, Allo.

www.cecile-dormeau.tumblr.com

Words by Rebecca Fulleylove, Monday 23 January 2017

Most Recent

Will Anderson on his Bafta-nominated animation, Have Heart 18 May 2018
Bonjour Garçon combines photography and graphic design to make "strong and delicate" work 18 May 2018
Friday Mixtape: Thomas Pratt curates a mix for a night out in the Bahamas 18 May 2018
The spontaneous, saturated and energetic portfolio of photographer Anton Gottlob 18 May 2018
Alexander Mourant's photographs trace a road-trip he took down the length of Africa 18 May 2018
Video artist Natalia Stuyk on crossing from the digital to the physical world 17 May 2018

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Work / Illustration Illustrator Fran Caballero on “living that not-awful-at-all freelance/bartender lifestyle”

Fran Caballero is a Glasgow-based illustrator whose playful drawings have pleased us for some time. This year alone, Fran has been featured in the latest Ladybeard issue, Popeye magazine and has created his first piece of homeware, the February Throw. It’s safe to say that Fran is, as he puts it, “living that not-awful-at-all freelance/bartender lifestyle”. That Fran followed a creative pathway comes as no surprise when the illustrator thinks back to his childhood. “I pretty much drew all the time as a kid but grew more interested and aware of illustration around secondary school, through Ed Banger Records LPs with artwork by So-Me. I bought my first graphics tablet around then,” the artist tells It’s Nice That.

Daphne Milner — 17 May 2018
Work / Illustration Subin Yang's joyful illustrations capture the fleeting and unobtainable moments in life

“Drawing started with my obsession for recreating something I saw that I couldn’t have in person. But by recreating it, I could somehow own it,” explains New York City-based illustrator Subin Yang. With a love for books, zines and any printed material, Subin’s joyful illustrations act as a means to capture the fleeting and unobtainable moments in life, all awash in a Lego-inspired palette of primary colours and pinks.

Ruby Boddington — 17 May 2018
Work / Illustration A return to the satirical surrealism of illustrator Alex Gamsu Jenkins

Since we last spoke to illustrator Alex Gamsu Jenkins two years ago, his work has ramped up a gear. Yes, the Camberwell grad still renders satire in grainy newsprint-like scenes. And Lordy, his work is still pretty gory. But the scale of his pieces has expanded to create more involved, more surreal narratives where the gag isn’t always obvious at first sight. You feel compelled to give his gruesome scenes a second take.

Laura Snoad — 11 May 2018
Work / Illustration Seungwhan Kim's sweet illustrations delve into inner emotions

Over in Seoul illustrator Seungwhan Kim sweetly illustrates the “paradoxical situations that we face in everyday life,” he tells It’s Nice That. Both a little strange but also relatable, Seungwhan’s illustration style picks up on life’s double-sided contradictions implying them in his work. He does this by noticing and drawing inner emotions, “jealousy, inferiority and dissatisfaction” for instance, as the illustrator finds “behaviours and situations associated with such emotions intriguing”.

Lucy Bourton — 10 May 2018
Work / Illustration Matthew Kramer's endearing illustrations made from swift line marks

For most comic artists, trying to cram in as much of an illustrative narrative as possible into a panel drawing is a very difficult task. However rather than pushing it to the maximum, illustrator Matthew Kramer creates an instantly digestible drawing with just a few swift line marks and always the same cream background.

Lucy Bourton — 09 May 2018
Work / Illustration From sex stories to dogs in space, Katja Gendikova’s illustrations tell the fantastical tales of real life

Describing her work as “playful, whimsical and a bit wobbly”, Berlin-based illustrator Katja Gendikova creates distinctive characters whose lanky limbs flow with movement. Switching between digital and acrylic paint, heavy black outlines and no outlines at all, Katja’s work is full of charm because of these unruly bodies. “I love odd looks – beautiful is regular, which means for me it is not of so much interest,” Katja tells It’s Nice That. “I also love bodies and body movements and mistrust faces a bit – in the end, a face is not much more than five holes.”

Laura Snoad — 08 May 2018

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Will Anderson on his Bafta-nominated animation, Have Heart

Fresh from a Bafta nomination and winning best short at the British Animation Awards, animator Will Anderson spoke about his much-lauded film Have Heart. In a captivatingly simple aesthetic, the animation tells the story of a weary animated gif stuck in a loop on the internet, on the cusp of an existential crisis.

It's Nice That — 18 May 2018
Work / Graphic Design Bonjour Garçon combines photography and graphic design to make "strong and delicate" work

The brainchild of designers Romain Fritiau and Pierre Tostain, Bonjour Garçon is a studio with a distinct visual language, despite having only started working together in 2017. With a portfolio that consists of photography and graphic design, Romain and Pierre produce work that merges the two in a series of considered and clean projects.

Ruby Boddington — 18 May 2018
Regulars / Friday Mixtape Friday Mixtape: Thomas Pratt curates a mix for a night out in the Bahamas

Thomas Pratt’s images of Cuba are ones we’ve kept coming back to time and time again. In November last year we caught up with Thomas after a recent trip to Santiago, photographing the musicians recording at a friend’s studio.

Lucy Bourton — 18 May 2018
Work / Photography The spontaneous, saturated and energetic portfolio of photographer Anton Gottlob

“My work is quite spontaneous,” London-based photographer Anton Gottlob tells It’s Nice That. “The initial excitement of an idea or project is always the most exciting time for me. I don’t like spending days creating mood boards.” This quick-witted approach to the medium is evident when looking at Anton’s portfolio. Full of saturated colours, unusual compositions and plenty of high flash, his images are full of energy, feeling more like stills from a video rather than photographs.

Ruby Boddington — 18 May 2018
Work / Photography Alexander Mourant's photographs trace a road-trip he took down the length of Africa

Odyssey is photographer Alexander Mourant’s awe-inspiring series tracing a road-trip he took down the length of Africa, from Cairo to Cape Town. “Odyssey was born through an editorial assignment titled Cairo to Cape Town: Africa’s Plastic Footprint with RAW Foundation. We set off to track and document Africa’s plastic footprint,” Alexander tells It’s Nice That. Camera in hand, Alexander’s aim was to shine a light on the enormous scale and wide-ranging reach of the plastic pollution problem while photographing the interesting individuals he met on the way. Once he returned home, the London-based photographer evaluated his shots, selecting and compiling his personal favourites into the final series.

Daphne Milner — 18 May 2018
Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Video artist Natalia Stuyk on crossing from the digital to the physical world

Natalia Stuyk is a video and digital artist who creates surreal, warping imagery in vivid saturated colours. Her commercial work often sees her collaborate with brands such as Kenzo, Nike and Stella McCartney, making fashion films, music videos and everything in between. Much more at home in the digital space, Natalia spoke at Nicer Tuesdays about her recent move into the physical space, collaborating on installations for Galeria Melissa in New York over the coming summer.

It's Nice That — 17 May 2018

Work / Illustration Illustrator Fran Caballero on “living that not-awful-at-all freelance/bartender lifestyle”

Fran Caballero is a Glasgow-based illustrator whose playful drawings have pleased us for some time. This year alone, Fran has been featured in the latest Ladybeard issue, Popeye magazine and has created his first piece of homeware, the February Throw. It’s safe to say that Fran is, as he puts it, “living that not-awful-at-all freelance/bartender lifestyle”. That Fran followed a creative pathway comes as no surprise when the illustrator thinks back to his childhood. “I pretty much drew all the time as a kid but grew more interested and aware of illustration around secondary school, through Ed Banger Records LPs with artwork by So-Me. I bought my first graphics tablet around then,” the artist tells It’s Nice That.

Daphne Milner — 17 May 2018
Work / Publication NXS magazine builds a network of contributors who reflect on "the self" in the digital era

“We came up with the idea of NXS while studying on our master’s programme at Sandberg Instituut,” recalls Monika Grūzīte, Juliette Lizotte and Florian Mecklenburg, the founders of the tall, skinny publication exploring “the self” in the digital age of technology. NXS, which stands for nexus, is true to its name with every issue building a network of contributors where each is asked to reflect and comment on a previous contribution.

Ruby Boddington — 17 May 2018
Work / Animation Morgan Powell's animated industrial finger machines will unnerve and hypnotise you

Merging the two disparate worlds of human and machine in a slightly gross but strangely hypnotic way is Finger Machines, a new animated film by Morgan Powell at Seed. Softness and tactility are “the direct opposite of what you’d expect from machines,” he explains of the animation’s conflicted visuals, which show dismembered digits on a mass scale, engaged in various mechanical processes. And it is the film’s materiality that makes it so unnerving – an apt application of Morgan’s plasticine-like, super-smooth and hyperreal animation style. You can see more of this on his hilariously naughty ident for MTV involving lewd balloons.

Jenny Brewer — 17 May 2018
Work / Photography Juno Calypso's eerie new series sees her posing inside Nevada’s plushest bunker

Imagine your average Doomsday prepper’s underground bunker; a low-ceilinged, dark, dingy room with a make-shift sofa bed and cupboards jam-packed with tinned food. Luxury and fallout shelter don’t seem like an obvious match. Juno Calypso’s latest surreal self-portraits, however, prove this assumption wrong. Her series What to do with a Million Years, which is currently on display at London’s TJ Boulting gallery, sees the artist posing inside Nevada’s — perhaps even the world’s — plushest bunker.

Daphne Milner — 17 May 2018
Features / Photography Elena Heatherwick captures the spirit of hope and happiness embodied by Liberian midwives

The act of holding a camera has a distinctive charm to it. It starts conversations, but it’s an opener before a word has even been spoken. It intrigues people to come on over, to ask why you have it, what you’re doing, who you are. These pleasantries and the inevitable conversation that follows is an experience every photographer has undoubtedly had, but the accounts photographer Elena Heatherwick has from a trip to Liberia are some of the most joyful, heartbreaking and life affirming ones we’ve heard.

Lucy Bourton — 17 May 2018
Work / Illustration Subin Yang's joyful illustrations capture the fleeting and unobtainable moments in life

“Drawing started with my obsession for recreating something I saw that I couldn’t have in person. But by recreating it, I could somehow own it,” explains New York City-based illustrator Subin Yang. With a love for books, zines and any printed material, Subin’s joyful illustrations act as a means to capture the fleeting and unobtainable moments in life, all awash in a Lego-inspired palette of primary colours and pinks.

Ruby Boddington — 17 May 2018

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Max Siedentopf explains why creative perfection is a dead end

Max Siedentopf is a creative working in advertising, who on the side creates a myriad of brilliantly oddball and original personal projects. But it is this eclectic output that can sometimes confuse people, he admitted at Nicer Tuesdays. “I’m pretty sure that no one here has any idea who I actually am,” he joked, and attempted to clear things up by telling us about his work at KesselsKramer – where he recently became partner – as well as his latest passion projects including a sticker book, gif series Instructions for World Peace, and Ordinary magazine.

It's Nice That — 16 May 2018
Work / Graphic Design Designer Can Yang's book visually presents ancient Chinese elixir recipes

Chinese designer Can Yang is currently studying graphic design at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Born in Shenzhen in southern China, Can moved to the US four years ago where she has been working toward her degree alongside her freelance work. “Most of my projects are situated between design and cultural communication and draw on brand identities, editorial and conceptual art,” says Can. “They are visually characterised by abstract forms and Chinese characters that signal a reflective and critical stance to global affairs,” Can tells It’s Nice That.

Daphne Milner — 16 May 2018
Work / Events From being bad to burping glitter: things we learned at The Adobe 99U Conference

Last week I was in New York at Adobe 99U, a conference which brings together a selection of the best creative leaders from the industry to share new ideas. The talks explored how to be a creative leader today, from the design process to directing a team and everything in between. It also, refreshingly, featured one of the widest ranges of creative voices we’ve seen at this type of event, which made for an inspiring, interesting and original few days. Below, we share a few learnings from the week on how to become a better creative leader and practitioner.
h3. It’s ok to be yourself at work

Ellen Turnill — 16 May 2018
Work / Graphic Design Benedikt Luft's identity for Lazy represents the joyful nature of a drunken outdoor party

Benedikt Luft has done it again! Over the past year, we’ve watched as Benedikt has crept into graphic design from the brilliant illustration home he’s crafted for himself. His latest project, Lazy, sees the two coming together with smile-inducing effects.

Lucy Bourton — 16 May 2018
Work / Interactive Gravient's adaptive typographic identity changes depending on where you look at it from

“When working, we’re always orbiting an idea. The concept has to ride everything,” explains Barcelona and New York-based design studio Pràctica. Founded by Albert Porta, Anna Berbiela, Carlos Bermúdez, Guillem Casasús and Javier Arizu, the studio recently collaborated with graphic and motion designer David Galar and coder Thomas Hoek to demonstrate its concept-first process.

Ruby Boddington — 16 May 2018
Work / Photography Cassidy Araiza's dreamy photographs touch on youth, camaraderie and sportsmanship

“I always knew I wanted to make work around baseball but I just never knew what it would be until I moved back to Tucson, Arizona,” photographer Cassidy Araiza tells It’s Nice That. “I grew up playing baseball in the desert and developed a strong love for the game. I have always thought that Tucson was a baseball players’ paradise as it stays warm all year around and has some of the best light during evening games.” As it turned out, Cassidy’s intention materialised through photography. In his latest series, inspired by his nephew’s sports enthusiasm, the artist captures the subtle interactions that take place during a children’s baseball game.  

Daphne Milner — 16 May 2018

Regulars / Nicer Tuesdays Marion Deuchars on how to make a great picture book

The idiosyncratic brushwork and hand-drawn typography of illustrator Marion Deuchars is instantly recognisable, and have charmed children and grown-ups alike in her many books. Recently, Marion has been both educating and inspirational in her books about the art world, particularly in Bob the Artist, which aims to teach kids about well-known artistic techniques while also encouraging individuality. The new follow-up Bob’s Blue Period is about expressing emotions through creativity, and is loosely based, she explains, on Picasso’s story of loss.

It's Nice That — 15 May 2018
Work / Photography David Kasnic  sees photography as a collaboration between artist and sitter

In his latest book Alpha and Omega, photographer David Kasnic turns his lens on a regional community church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and presents striking portraits of the local neighbourhood. The Chicago-based photographer spent his time getting to know the local families, engaging in local church practices, and asking his sitters how they would want to be photographed. It is this thoughtful approach that renders Alpha and Omega a unique insight into an otherwise tightly-knit community.

Daphne Milner — 15 May 2018
Work / Graphic Design Corentin Corneau gives "strength and substance to images and text" through editorial design

Specialising in editorial design, whether in the form of a publication or a poster, Corentin Corneau’s work places archiving at its heart. Working with found photography, video stills and texts, the French designer’s portfolio explores the possibilities of print: “shaping, ranking, cutting and publishing,” in order to “give strength and substance to images and text.”

Ruby Boddington — 15 May 2018
Features / Art Sound and vision: Parquet Courts' A. Savage on life as an artist and musician

A. Savage is an artist who is always walking the ledge between two creative worlds. The first is a musical one, where he throttles through songs playing in Parquet Courts. But the second is a slower paced painting career, where his enviable talent for building a narrative shifts from songwriting onto canvas. While he has no plans to settle in either camp permanently, his painting studio is “wonderful” the artist tells It’s Nice That. “It’s my favourite place in the world.”

Lucy Bourton — 15 May 2018
Work / Graphic Design Dayna Casey's book of university talks is derived from the act of sitting in the lecture theatre

Designing posters for a series of university lectures appears to be a right of passage for many graphic designers. But Dayna Casey, an Australian-born, Hague-based graphic designer has gone above and beyond the usual one page InDesign layout. A graduate of The Royal Academy of Art in the Netherlands, she has created a whole publication, Studium Generale: Transmission Lexicon, on her old university’s lecture series.

Lucy Bourton — 15 May 2018
Work / Publication Super Paper is the cultural journal with regular design overhauls by Bureau Borsche

Super Paper lives up to its name. The Munich-based magazine is both superbly designed and informative; it updates its readers on art exhibitions, music and club events in the local area; it offers insightful articles on wider cultural and social issues; and it entertains its readers with satirical essays on the Bavarian lifestyle. “Each issue introduces a young as well as an established design studio, photographer or painter who accentuates a specific theme. The spreads include articles on art, fashion, places to be, exhibitions, literature, parties, and a chronological calendar. Most themes appear up to four or five times in a row. The magazine will then get a complete redesign," founder Hubertus Becker tells It’s Nice That.

Daphne Milner — 15 May 2018

Work / Photography “An unstoppable force is spreading across our natural landscapes": photographer Zhang Kechun

Zhang Kechun is a Chinese photographer based in Chengdu, a city located in the country’s southwest. Zhang spends his days working as a freelance designer, which gives the artist an opportunity to travel across the country on the lookout for new places to shoot. His latest series Between the Mountains and Water is a result of Zhang’s extensive travelling and features grand landscape shots of large, expansive mountain ranges and immense, concrete bridges. “Ten years ago, I spent three years shooting my last series Yellow River. After completing this project, I decided to continue looking for remarkable settings. Instead of shooting the river shore like I did in Yellow River, I ventured inland to look for impressive natural phenomena and man-built structures,” Zhang tells It’s Nice That.

Daphne Milner — 14 May 2018
Media Partnership / Events 180 Creative Camp offers a week of creative collaboration with leading artists

Each year for one week in July, the Portuguese city of Abrantes begins to buzz with creative collaboration as the 180 Creative Camp takes over, shaping the city into a joyful, inclusive and international camp bursting with artists from all disciplines.

It's Nice That — 14 May 2018
Regulars / Monthly Brief “Create an image which sums up where you live” - George Muncey’s Monthly Brief

Each month we invite creatives from across the world to invent briefs which everyone, no matter your talents, can get involved in. At the end of week the best of the bunch are featured right here on It’s Nice That.

It's Nice That — 14 May 2018
Work / Photography Toxic masculinity, sexuality, gender and racial inequality: inside the portfolio of fashion photographer Max Hirschberger

San Francisco-born Max Hirschberger is a photographer who can be found working in the world of fashion, lensing editorials for the likes of V Magazine, King Kong, Document Journal, Interview magazine and looks for Saint Laurent.

Bryony Stone — 14 May 2018
Work / Photography “It was never a question of making a fashion story": Jules Moskovtchenko's honest depiction of London's pearlies

Jules Moskovtchenko may split his time between four countries — France, Switzerland, Hong Kong and England — but his latest series, The Pearly Kings, captures a tradition unique to London. The Pearly Kings and Queens are characterised by their mother-of-pearl-embellished clothes and lifelong dedication to charitable organisations. They formed in the 19th century and have since passed on these practices through the generations. “Novembre’s Georgia Pendlebury proposed I shoot a series about the pearlies. She got in contact with the Pearly Kings and Queens of Harrow, who showed an interest in posing for us. It was then up to me to find the right way to tell the story,” Jules tells It’s Nice That.  

Daphne Milner — 14 May 2018
Work / Art A closer look at Wong Ping’s sexually explicit animations

When it comes to the work of Hong Kong-born and based artist Wong Ping nothing is quite what it seems. Using the light-hearted facade of animation, Wong penetrates deep into the bitter heart of the society he sees around him. From politics to sexual repression, for Wong it seems, too far is never far enough.

Bryony Stone — 14 May 2018

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