WILL BARRAS

(UK)

Will Barras is an artist, illustrator, and animation director who lives and creates in London.

Barras grew up in Birmingham and moved to Bristol to study graphic design. He became one of a new crop of young artists working in Bristol's renowned street-art scene. He was a founding member of the Scrawl collective, alongside Steff Plaetz and Mr. Jago, thanks to his representations of fluid movement, unique narrative-driven composition, and line work. Scrawl published a seminal book in 1999 to document the new movement. 

As such, Barras traveled extensively, live-painting and exhibiting pieces throughout Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Though Scrawl slowed down, he continued to paint and furthered his technique, collaborating with Stolen Space and the Brussels-based HLP. He currently takes on commercial projects of interest and directs animation at Th1ng studio in central London.

Watch this video of Will in Oslo:

MARS-1

MARS-1 (aka Mario Martinez) is an artist who spends most of his time in the right side of his brain, communicating through a visual language. His unique imagery explores possibilities of otherworldly existence through highly developed, multi-layered landscapes. Often employing a fuzzy-logic aesthetic, Mars-1’s artwork has a sentient appearance, like a tulpa—which in mysticism, is the concept of a materialized thought that manifests into physical form. His unique style has been described as urban-Gothic, sci-fi abstracted, quasi-organic form.

Early inspirations include: graffiti, animation, comic book characters, ufology, extraterrestrials, unexplored life, mysteries of the universe, alternate realities and the abstract quality of existence. At the age of 13, Mars-1 began writing graffiti in his hometown of Fresno. He later attended Academy of Art in San Francisco, where he currently lives and works, remaining heavily active in the city’s contemporary art scene.

The true meaning of Mars-1’s imagery is ultimately left to the viewer’s interpretation. The artist feels this brings his creations full-circle, encouraging his audience not only to decipher the messages he wishes to convey but to receive thoughts and ideas of their own, as well.

Watch this video of his studio visit in San Francisco by Friends We Love:

KENJI HIRATA

(Nagasaki, Japan)

Kenji Hirata is a New York-based painter from Nagasaki, Japan. From public murals, and small canvases, to animated works for film, Kenji Hirata is an innovative member of the contemporary art and film community.

JUSTIN GABBARD

(California, US)

Justin Gabbard is an illustrator and letterer working out of his east bay studio.  His editorial client list includes The New Yorker, New York Times, New York Magazine, Wired, Afar, Scientific American, and many others. His work was most recently featured in Taschen’s Illustration Now volume 5. His works blends both hand drawn and digital media, including animation for such clients as Emirates Airlines and Microsoft. 

Justin Earned his MFA from the School of Visual art in New York in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program and his work has been recognized by American Illustration, 3x3, and Communication Arts.

ALEX PARDEE

(1976, California, US)
 

Visionary American artist, Alex Pardee, and pioneer in what he calls, "trans-media artistry", brings his unique style and aesthetic to all platforms, including numerous creative director credits for music, animation, and film projects. He is a freelance artist, apparel designer, and comics creator writer, best known for illustrating The Used's album artwork.

Pardee's self-proclaimed influences include 1980s horror movies, pop art, graffiti and gangster rap. Alex has been featured in magazines, gallery shows, and notably in the designs for the clothing company he co-founded, zerofriends.

Join Alex Pardee as he teaches you his methods to draw a monster by zerofriends.

AKO CASTUERA

(Claremont, US)

This painter, sculptor, and textile artist, Ako Castuera, is based in Los Angeles where she works as a writer/storyboard artist on the animated television show, Adventure Time. Ako has turned her focus to work on paper with a variety of media, primarily using watercolor and gouache. The works continue her ongoing interest in land, the life within it, and the life it sustains.

Her work is colorful and she likes to have the freedom to improvise and change. The materials she uses are an important part of that. Castuera tries to go for tools and paints that seem to have their own life and finds materials that she gets along with. Ako lets their characteristics influence her choices while she is working.The themes are often about the relationship between humans and our home planet.

"Suburban tracts sprawl over hills and are at once picturesque, parasitic, and fragile. They coexist with dinosaur like animal forms that suggest prehistoric life," she says. "Dinosaurs have always inspired awe and fed fantasies of the past. Their extinction forces contemplation of the future, of what's in store for the land, animals, and humans all."

Watch this interview by Giant Robot: