Kim Johnson is a Connecticut based illustrator and animator who transitioned in her primary career from graphic design to animation to illustration.
She works in vector illustration, with a nice use of gradient color, inventive composition and a keen sense of value relationships. Her animation background shows in her springy, lively shapes and whimsical approach.
Johnson is represented by Lindgren & Smith, Illustrator and Artist Representatives.
Forms in Nature is an animated short film (2 minutes) in which natural and man-made forms are compared and contrasted within a carefully constrained and artfully orchestrated set of design parameters.
Largely focused on a central circle, the most basic of geometric forms, the images follow one another, often in shared screen transitions, in a way that encourages thoughtful and pleasurable re-viewing.
The vector art is beautifully realized and the entire animation is a visual and intellectual delight.
Intended as part of what I hope is a larger series, the production is credited to “Chromosphere“, a collaborative effort by Kevin Dart, Stéphane Coëdel, David Kamp, and Nelson Boles.
You can see more of their work here.
There is an extensive page devoted to the making of Forms in Nature on Motionographer.
[Via Cartoon Brew]
Doug Panton is a Canadian designer and illustrator whose long and impressive client list includes The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Barron’s Weekly, US News & World Report, The Boston Globe, The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, Oxford University Press, HarperCollins, MacMillan’s, McGraw-Hill and Scholastic.
Panton’s imaginative, beautifully finessed and often richly textural vector illustrations use the capabilities of the medium to advantage, blending precision and detail with a freewheeling approach to his subjects.
His website is unfortunately restricted by small image sizes and somewhat awkward navigation, but his Behance portfolio is easier to look through, and includes detail crops and a number of preliminary sketches, which I particularly enjoy seeing from artists who work in vector illustration.
[Via The iSpot]
Marie-Laure Cruschi is a French illustrator and designer, who often goes by the name of her Paris studio, Cruschiform.
Cruschi’s work crosses the boundaries of her two areas of expertise, veering from vector illustration to design — and back again; the two inextricably intertwined in many images. Her strengths are obvious in those elements that are most strongly shared by the two disciplines: subtle color relationships and composition.
There are a variety of projects on the Cruschiform website and Behance galleries.
Of particular interest are her striking series of vector illustrations for Taschen’s Cabins book (images above, top two and bottom); you can see selections on both the website and Behance.
There is also a Cruschiform blog (FR), on which you will find more projects and additional images.
There is an article on her process on Creative Bloq.
[Via Eric Orchard]
Illustrator and character designer Orlando Arocena is from New York, where he studied at the Pratt Institute.
Arocena works primarily in vector art, creating his striking illustrations in Adobe Illustrator with a Wacom tablet.
His Behance portfolio features lots of process step-throughs, showing the paths in both line and fill mode. You can also find a process article on the Wacom site.
The best way to quickly get a feeling for Arocena’s work, however, is through his portfolio on the site of his artists’ representative, Richard Solomon.
His Behance presence also includes some of his sketches in ballpoint and marker from museums, jazz clubs and public transit.
Alex Mathers is a Danish-born illustrator now living in London, whose clients include The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, Sony, Google, Saatchi & Saatchi Penguin and others.
He studied geography, and brings a love of that subject to his vector based illustrations, maps and info graphics. He has a style that is crisp and richly colored, but also often manages to be atmospheric.
When looking through his online portfolio, be aware that many of the large images are linked in series to others.
Mathers also runs a site for creatives called Red Lemon Club, and an illustration platform called Ape on the Moon.