Sam Glynn's innovative shapes and textures from "hundreds" of layers

Date
22 June 2015

Sam Glynn is behind some very smart editorial illustrations, and they’re not a style we post about too often. The complex surface appearances are gorgeous, and created through a painstaking process of sketching, adding geometric shapes in Illustrator and finally building up layers of texture in Photoshop – sometimes as many as hundreds of them. These layers are taken from scans of “print rollers, brush strokes, inks or anything that makes a mark on the page,” as Sam told Ape on the Moon.

Sam’s background is working in television, and this motion graphics aesthetic is evident in the slick, communicative feel of his illustration work. Using clean lines and unusual framing shapes for his innovative landscapes, it’s little surprise Sam’s work is being snapped up by the likes of Icon magazine, and his Center Parcs images for the publication are irresistible.

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Sam Glynn: Editorial illustration for Icon Magazine on the architecture of Center Parcs

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Sam Glynn: Editorial illustration for Icon Magazine on the architecture of Center Parcs (detail)

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Sam Glynn: Pyramid

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Sam Glynn: Raptor

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Sam Glynn: Road Circle

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Sam Glynn: Road Swoosh

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Sam Glynn: The Adventure

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About the Author

Emily Gosling

Emily joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in the summer of 2014 after four years at Design Week. She is particularly interested in graphic design, branding and music. After working It's Nice That as both Online Editor and Deputy Editor, Emily left the company in 2016.

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