We are setting up a retrospective with the best designs of our recent shows, being on display February 8th to February 28th 2010. On this occasion you will have the chance to see again great artworks by Cuypi, the whole Blood Sweat Vector community, Martin Krusche and selected laFraise contestants.

Further the second edition of the Vector Lounge Graphic Battle took place last week on wednesday – the perfect date to enjoy a night full of creativity and celebrate our anniversary :) Thanks again everyone for passing by & Super thank you to the great artists who’ve been here.

We’re now open from Wednesday to Saturday, 14:00 to 19:00. Also, our second room is now open too!

Sweet Nightmare

Hey Rubens, nice to meet you! Would you like to introduce yourself? Like who you are, where do you live, what are you doing?
I’m just an ordinary guy from Genoa – Italy. I’ve always been involved in visual arts, but it became a work in 2007, after my degree in Industrial Design, when I started working as an art director in an advertising agency. Besides that I’m a freelance illustrator and graphic designer.

Tell me a little bit about your connection to Blood Sweat Vector. How do you became a member, what does it mean for you to be a part of the community?
I already knew Jared Nickerson (BSV co-founder) ’cause we had a collaboration together. One day I just asked if I was good enough to join BSV and I became a member :)

Collaboration with J3Concepts

What’s your working process like? And what’s your source for ideas? What inspires you?
For digital works I have mainly 2 workflows, well, 2 ways of starting a work: from a sketch on paper or directly on computer, depending on complexity and rush. For traditional works it depends on the media but usually there’s a sketch before.
My inspiration comes from many sources: foreign cultures, especially asians and american; movies, comics, videogames, cultural icons, nature…

Your work is referring strongly to different asian cultures, japanese culture in particular. Seems that’s one of your loves…
Yes definitely. I was already a Japan lover before going there, and after that my passion became bigger and bigger. Such a great country and people! So different from european and italian (so much!) cultures.

Ganesh

I like all those round shapes you use, everything has an organic and kind of bubbely touch…
Thanks :). Yes, I use mainly round shapes, I think they just come to me more naturally. It’s just a matter of following my most natural trend.

Your trademark character is this ‘bubbely’ nacked asian girl – how did she become a part of your visual world ?
One day I sketched my first chubby geisha on my sketchbook, I was pretty satisfied with her proportions and soft looking, and she was cute, funny and ‘provocative ‘ at the same time. I also found that chubby shapes came so natural to me and I decided to go on with that theme as a distinctive style.

You are also running a very nice online magazine called KOIKOIKOI featuring a lot of interesting stuff around visual arts…
Yes, koikoikoi is another creature I love. I founded it with my friend and colleague Danilo in summer of 2008. We used to share interesting links about designers, illustrators, tutorials and stuff on messenger while at work, so one day we thought it could be a good thing to make a blog to share them with others and to have an archive for us at the same time. That’s the simple idea behind koikoikoi.
That’s cool, I really like this approach. Share what you love… :)

Is this your first gallery exhibition? Or did you have any before?
This one at West Berlin Gallery is the first exhibition I’m in. All my stuff is pretty new, I just started spreading it around on last January so for most of the things happening to me it’s the first time :). Before that time I was not completly satisfied with my works and style, so I decided to wait until having a website and then posted my things around the web.

Thank you very much, Rubens, and  good luck for the future!
Thanks to you for your support to BSV and its first exhibition and for this opportunity.

Find more chubby bubbely girls and other nice works on Rubens’ website and check also koikoikoi for more creative input.

Hey Chris, nice to meet you! Would you like to introduce yourself? Like who you are, where do you live, what are you doing?

Hi Jelka! Thanks for interviewing me. I’m an illustrator and designer based in Los Angeles California. My primary artistic mode of attack is vector art via Adobe Illustrator. I live with my lovely wife, Adriana, and our seven-month-old super baby, Sonja.

Tell me a little bit about your connection to Blood Sweat Vector. How do you became a member, what does it mean for you to be a part of the community?
Basically, I checked my portfolio site’s incoming links one day and noticed that I was being linked to from Blood Sweat Vector. Brad Mahaffey, one of the co-founders of BSV, had seen and liked my work and was kind enough to do a write-up on me for the site. I contacted him to say, ‘Thank you,’ and he invited me to join the crew. It’s an invite-only site, so it’s an honor to be featured along side all of the other incredibly talented BSV artists.

In a Clearing

What’s your working process like? And what’s your source for ideas? What inspires you?
I think my approach to vector art is a bit different from a lot of other artists. Unlike a lot of vector artists, I don’t do a lot of conventional drawing to prepare for a new piece. I draw a few rough reference sketches, but that’s about it. I also don’t trace. A great majority of vector artists scan their artwork into the computer and trace it using Adobe Illustrator. I prefer to draw my work entirely without guides in Illustrator. I usually start with a rough sketch/idea, start drawing it in Ai, and it sort of mutates and grows from there. I basically draw outlines of all of the major objects, fill in the details, add shading, and finally, add textures. I try to work the whole composition all at once. I feel like focusing too much on the minutia and fine details of one particular element can be frustrating, tedious, and can lead to an unbalanced composition.
As for the source of my ideas, different things trigger them. Sometimes I see an object, like a tree or a clock, and it sets me in a certain direction. One of my favorite things to do is to look at photos of animals and try to exaggerate or alter the animal’s physical make-up in a way that wholly changes what it is. I often just start drawing strange, twisted shapes and see where it takes me. I try to inject some humor into my work because I like to keep things from becoming too serious, pretentious, or morose.
What inspires me? I love nature, especially remote places like deserts and forests and I think for this reason, the majority of my work is comprised of outdoor scenes (but they’re usually a bit twisted!). I’ve got books of art by artists like Tim Biskup and the great illustrator Jim Flora, and looking at how they deal with shapes and colors really helps me when I’m stuck for ideas.

The way your designs rely on patterns and textures is really interesting and highly recognizable. It seems that as well as creating absurd and bizarre characters you also create rooms and space with the same features…
Yeah, I like to take complex textures that occur in the real world and simplify them into repeatable objects. It’s certainly not a new idea, but I think every artist who does something like this creates their own set or style of patterns that distinguish their work. One of the nicest aspects of working in Adobe Illustrator is the ability to create custom brushes, which basically allow you to apply duplicated shapes in a variety of methods. I’ve created stipple effects, brush strokes, and hair textures, for example, and the custom brushes allow for great control over how you’d like to repeat the pattern. That said, texture and patterns are really the only time I use duplicated objects within my art. I try to avoid using copied and pasted items in order to create art that has a bit more of an organic feel to it, even though it’s digitally created.

At the break of day

Your biography told me that you’ve worked in the film industry – as video editor and motion graphics designer, but you also directed a documentary about Jack Nance, who starred David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’.
I’ve got two questions : First, do you see any influences of a filmic view in your work as illustrator ?
And second, do you have a general interest in things ‘apart the norm’, in a certain aesthetic of absurdity ?
I’d have to say that any influences on my artwork as a result of working in the film industry would be limited to how I arrange items compositionally. I have a tendency to view each piece almost as if it’s a photographed scene, so I crop out a lot of things and use Illustrator’s art board, or paper size, as a lens of sorts. I always draw outside the bounds and let the art board chop the edges off.

I’m definitely very much drawn to strange, absurd things. I have been ever since I was very young. For instance, I remember seeing ‘Eraserhead’ for the first time. I didn’t have any idea what it meant, but I was blown away by just how odd it was, so I watched it again! More than anything, I think the playfulness and the humor in bizarre art, movies, music, and books is what draws me in. It makes my mind work. Funny thing is, aside from my love of the bizarre, I’m a relatively normal, subdued guy. I dress fairly conservatively, don’t really like to party, and try not to stand out in a crowd. I guess I get all of my craziness out through my art. If I didn’t, I might be dangerous!

Is this your first gallery exhibition? Or did you have any before?
This is my first show outside the US, but not my first show. I’ve had a bunch out here in Los Angeles. My most recent show was a great digital art at the Hibbleton Gallery in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. I also recently showed art at a small gallery within a bookstore that was crushed by a runaway truck. It was pretty crazy. The truck lost its brakes and busted through the front wall, smashing about half of my prints! Luckily, no one was hurt, but it was pretty surreal.

Wow, that’s indeed surreal – but propably will make your exhibition unforgetable for all participants. Not bad at all…

Repairs

So, thank you very much for your in-depth answers, that’s pretty cool. And good luck for the future!
Big thanks for the interview and for hosting the BSV show! I hope to come to Berlin someday and visit the gallery for myself.

Sneak over to Chris’ website for more of his works!

For even more pics try our flickr…

Hi guys, let’s get straight to the core: what’s the idea behind BLOOD SWEAT VECTOR?
To create a community where artists could communicate and gain publicity through a combined public medium. The artists at BSV were specifically invited to participate, with adding their news, updates, and other general vector news because of the respect they garner in the international vector community.

As BSV is strictly based on invitation, how do you choose the members?
We selectively invite members based on work history, popularity, and our personal taste.

How many artists are involved at the moment?
We currently have 36 artists participating.

I really like that there are so many diverse styles at BSV, you get a really good impression of how different artistic expression can be exhibited within vector design…
Definitely. We try to select artists with many varying styles so we have a little something for everyone to enjoy. What remains consistent is the quality of the artists and their work, which is reflected by the BSV exhibition.

This is the first exhibition in a gallery that shows your community as a group – what plans do you have for the future? Are there more exhibitions or other collaborations in the making?
We definitely hope so! Immediate plans for the future include a possible exhibition in Vancouver, CA. As for collaborations, we have some upcoming vinyl toys and playing cards planned with a few selected BSV artists.

And what are you two doing apart from BSV? Tell us a little bit about your daily business…
Brad: Apart from my BSV activities, with Vanillagreen I specialize in graphic and web design/development work, independently contracted with clients on a case-by-case basis. I also run Zidalgo, a premium wordpress theme outlet.
Jared: I run my own design studio, J3Concepts, based out of Seattle, WA. I’m also the art director for laFraise. I also like long walks on the beach, and vigorous hand-jobs.

You are in Berlin at the moment and will attend the opening of the show – are you excited?
Of course! We are very pleased so far in the preparation and promotion of the exhibition. It will run for a whole month, and should be great exposure for everyone involved, as well as the BSV platform.

Thanks a lot, Jared and Brad, we really appreciate to have you here at West Berlin Gallery!
And you all don’t miss the chance to talk to Brad and Jared in person, meet them tomorrow the ‘WEST BERLIN GALLERY presents BLOOD SWEAT VECTOR’ opening. See you there :)

123Klan: We got the skills to pay the bills
Based on geometric variables like points, lines and curves and their composites in form of polygones, today computer generated vector graphics are an essential part of visual communication and illustration. Blood Sweat Vector, founded 2008 by the designers Jared Nickerson (aka J3Concepts) and Brad Mahaffey as a platform for news, portfolios, recommendations and artistic exchange, is today one of the biggest networks for vectordesign. Some of the most important international vector artists are among the members. Blood Sweat Vector sees itself as an open channel for communication which encourages instant feedback and allows for interaction between likeminded designers.
All Blood Sweat vector members are highly regarded international and can look back on several cooperations, doing design for vinyl toys, skateboards, video games or fashion. In their portfolios you will find clients like Louis Vuitton, Kid Robot, Eastpack, MTV, Adidas, Sony, Artoyz and publications in magazines like Modart, WAD, Juxtapoz and many more.

Tokyocandies: Sweet Nightmare

In assembling an international selection of multifaceted styles the exhibition provides an overview of contemporary artistic vectordesign. The exhibition features works of more than 20 renowned artists, among them such staple names as Niark1 (France), 123Klan (Canada), Cuypi (France), Sheena Aw (Singapore), Maria Vittoria Benatti (Italy), J3Concepts (USA), Loungekat (Melbourne), Sublevel (Munich), Keuj (France), Tokyocandies (Italy), Charuca (Barcelona) and many more…

Niark1: Dead End

Join us for the Vernissage on Thursday, November 12th, starting 19:00. Some of the artists will be around, as well as Blood Sweat Vector founders Jared Nickerson and Brad Mahaffey.
42Below will care for excellent cocktails again and for the first time we will have DJs spinning, West Berlin Gallery’s own Guillaume aka DJ One (also founder of Vinyl kills MP3) back to back on the decks with Tatjana.
We are looking forward to see you on thursday, in the meantime also link up to the Facebook event :)

Blood Sweat Vector is an online artist community which brings together some of the highest regarded vector artists in the world. Founded in 2008 it serves as a platform for news, recommendations, portfolios and artistic exchange.

West Berlin Gallery is very happy to show a group exhibition with an international line-up of artists like Sublevel, Niark1, Sheena Aw, 123Klan, Short, Maria Vittoria Benatti, J3Concepts, Tougui, Cuypi, Loungekat, Keuj, Los Fokos, Tokyocandies, Charuca and many more…

Watch out for more infos coming soon…

Would you like to introduce yourself? Like who you are, where do you live, what are you doing?

Hi Jelka! I’m Keuj, 24. I’m a freelance illustrator since a few months and I live in Paris. Before that, well it’s a bit shady, I went to University and studied webdesign. From what I can remember I’m just going to say I taught myself!

‘Legends’

Do you have something like a regular working process?

I have no real work plan. It’s pretty messy up there you know and it’s pretty much the same for my creative process!  I start with looking for inspiration in a big folder on my computer with hundreds of pictures collected all over the web (old vinyls sleeves, artworks from artists I like, t-shirts, retro posters, stamps… my sources of inspiration are really diverse), then I do a lot of drawing in my sketchbook, and finally rework my sketches in Illustrator.

‘Babylon Circus’

Your work often shows ornamental-like structures, which reminds me very much of a 60s/70s style. Even the characters could have come out of the yellow submarine.

As I said previously, 60’s and 70’s are my favorits periods of design so far. I remember the day I watched the movie ‚Yellow Submarine’ for the first time, it was a huge graphic and culture shock for me. It was totally different from everything I watched or knew, that’s why today I can’t stop to try to improve my style in this way. The hardest and most interesting thing is trying not to just use this style, but to bring something new and personal to this psychedelic aesthetic.

And what else do you use as a source for inspiration?

A lot of my inspiration come from retro artworks I collect everywhere. But it can also come from a conversation with some mates or a song. As far as I’m concerned, the 60’s, 70’s and the whole anglo-saxon psychedelic culture is a gold mine. It’s something we seldom see today.

A lot of artists inspire me too: Milton Glaser, Heinz Edelmann, Alan Aldridge, Jeremyville, Aubrey Beardsley, Marcus Oakley… I’m also really inspired by freaks, eccentric things. I’ve never really been interested in reproducing reality. I’ve always thought of monsters as more appealing, expressive and – weirdly enough – more human!

Another remarkable feature seems the well balanced proportion of black-white and coloured parts?

It’s a pleasure to hear that, because to me, the balance between black & white and colour choices are the part in designing I try to improve so much! Choosing a good colour palette is the thing I spend most of my time on when I do an illustration. It’s always really hard to find a good combination.

‘Good Boy’

It seems that you are doing a lot shirt design? What do you like about that? And is there any difference between doing a design for shirts and other works?

I like designing T-Shirts for many reasons. First, I seriously began illustrating with laFraise and T-Shirt design, so it’s the first medium I learned to work on. This explains that today it’s the kind of work I feel the most comfortable to do. In addition, I would say that I love shirt design because it’s one of the most interactive mediums I know. Contrary to an artwork on a canvas that you can just see on a wall, in a unique situation, T-Shirt  designs are a fantastic way to show your art wherever you go, to share it with people you meet. Finally, the fact that people can wear my designs and appropriate it to their own context, live good moments of their life with one of my designs on their shirt is pretty exciting. And of course, I think that T-Shirt design is much more restrictive compared to other kinds of work, because you have to think much more about the composition and the balance between design and free space to make something wearable. You also have to think a lot about colour palette on a T-Shirt. A design for a canvas or a magazine can be full of colours, with a lot of little details, whereas regarding T-Shirt designs you must never forget that your design has to be wearable by various people.

‘Life is a poison’

And was this your first exhibition in a gallery?

I started with professional illustration 3 years ago, and I’m still learning and working on my style today. So I’ve never tried before to show my works in an exhibition, because I thought I had to be better and increase my skills before trying to show it. So the 15k exhibition was my first opportunity to have artworks in a gallery, and it was really exciting! Thanks to Jared and Blood Sweat Vector I’ll again have the chance to show my works at West Berlin Gallery, together with other great artists from this collective. I’m really happy about it and try to take advantage of this opportunity! My next target is to plan a solo exhibition, that’s one of my main goals for the next year.

As you already mentioned, you are part of the ‘Blood Sweat Vector‘ collective. Can you tell me about what that means for you or your work?

At the beginning, I was really surprised when Jared asked me to join BSV, because there were only established artists in this collective like Hellofreaks, Niark1, Cuypi or Charuca to name a few! So being able to talk about my work with talented people is a real opportunity to progress and get great advices. For example, Jared led me to find my own graphic style and encouraged me in this psychedelic aesthetic. That’s why I’m really thankful toward him today.

Thank you very much, Keuj, and  good luck for the future!

Thank you so far Jelka for this interview, and keep up the great work with West Berlin Gallery! I hope I’ll be able to come to Berlin soon to finally visit your gallery!

You are always welcome, Keuj! And you, folks, are always welcome as well to come around the gallery – maybe in November to check out more of Keuj’s work in the ‚Blood Sweat Vector’ group exhibition. And if you don’t want to wait that long, check out his website and his blog.

Hello Niark, nice to meet you! Please introduce yourself – where do you live, what are you doing?

Hey there! I’m Niark1 but you can call me Seb. I’m a freelance Graphic Designer / Illustrator based in Paris (France). I do graphics for a lot of different clients all around the globe like communication agencies, music labels, street wear brands, etc…

What are your sources of inspiration?
I have a lot of inspiration sources.
Living in Paris I have many opportunities to see exhibitions in galleries and museums. This allows me to examine the work of ‘others’ and that gives me some motivation. Of course the internet is the most important source of inspiration for me since the time I spend behind my computer screen ;). Furthermore I find some cool stuff in art books, street arts, mags, movies, video clips, documentaries, etc… Music has a big role in my life too and is a big source of inspiration for sure.

Wallpainting

And can you describe your working process?
I don’t follow a specific working process. It depends on my inspirations, the client, etc… I can start with some sketches, drawings or paintings and rework the graphics on my computer or I start directly ton my computer. There is not just ONE good way to make art.

Your work is often based on plane, strongly colored elements and geometric patterns– does this feature have its roots in graphic design?
For some time I have been changing my style, trying to create graphics with simple shapes, but complex in their accumulation. I am very inspired by logos and vector illustrations. I like the potential impact of simple shapes and limited color choices. Obviously sometimes I work with textures, especially in my paintings. Colors have an important role in my compositions and are an essential element in most of my work. I spend a lot of time to find the right color combinations although mostly black is the one that predominates.

‘Run 4 ur life’

I was wondering about the many aliens in your work. Are these aliens dangerous for the mankind? Can we trust them saying ‚We come in peace’?
The monsters that I represent in my illustrations are not really different from us after all. They are rather what we are on the inside. Whether things really dark, vices, or the madness that it is in us and in our thoughts, what the one wants to hide. They are not really dangerous because they are only pictorial representations, but I can not say the same for the human race. Finally they are not come in peace. But this is just a stupid message like ‘this is the end’ that I like to write on my artwork ;).

There’s a lot of character design in your portfolio, you’ve even designed Toys.
I have already been contacted by industries that manufacture toys. I would love to have a lot of my characters in volume. That would be great! But this requires hard work and the selection is pretty rough. However I have several times been invited to produce designs on existing toy shapes or make some hand-made customs for exhibitions.

You are part of the ‚Blood Sweat Vector’ collective. Can you tell me about what that means for you or your work?
‘Blood Sweat Vector’ is a good way to make connections with other artists and see or discover their work. It also helps to show your new work, while having some feedback and advice. I love the concept and I think I will send from other visual pending future upcoming events organized by Jared aka J3Concepts.

Just to let you know, folks: We will have a big ‘Blood Sweat Vector’ group show here at West Berlin Gallery in November!! And Niark will take part of course. Watch out for more informations coming soon!

I suppose the laFraise 15K exhibition is not your first show at a gallery. Where did you show your work before?
Yes I have already taken part in some gallery exhibitions before for collective shows. Recently I participated in a group show called ‘Battle’ at the Gallery Chappe in Paris with some guy from the 9eme concept crew and other artists. And I have already done some other exhibitions in Paris (with C215 at the Heart Gallery, at Artoyz with my buddy Bunka, Dadawan Madturnip, …) and in some other places in France with Customania. Also I had group shows in Belgium, UK, Australia, Singapore etc…

Thank you very much, Niark, and good luck for the future!
Thanks to you and for your interest in my work!

Take your time and browse through Niark’s portfolio and blog until there’s the next chance to see his works in living colour at West Berlin Gallery ;)