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Nazario Graziano / Creation / Stay safe at home
Annick Poirier / Beauty and floral patterns / Creations
Zigor Samaniego / New / Chinese year and Les Gobelins
Steve Scott / Editorials / Robb Report
Oscar llorens / Posters / Nexus School
Giordano Poloni / Editorials / Le Parisien magazine
Stéphanie F.Scholz / Editorials / The Economist
Tonwen Jones / Editorials / CAA magazine
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Nazario Graziano lives in Milan, Italy, at the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic.  He created this powerful image.  He calls it, "Home".  He addresses that to everyone, saying, “Stay safe.  Stay at home”.  We were very touched by this image, so we are offering it to you and wish you to be safe and to stay healthy. Through this crisis, great things will be born or reborn.  Let's be united and patient.  We wish a peaceful confinement to all and let's continue to create together. The entire Colagene team is engaged from home, so don't hesitate to contact us.

In this series, Annick Poirier has expressed all of her great loves into illustration: portraiture, botany, nature and precious stones. She loves everything that shines: crystals, metals, jewelry, shiny objects;  it's her little obsession. In the past, she worked in fashion to create patterns, but she returned to complete this magnificent series.

Here is our twentieth Creative Capsule. This month, we invite you to meet Wearbeard. A Madrid based illustrator and painter specialized in what he calls conceptual illustration, which means that every image that he draws tries to deliver a home-cooked idea. He mostly works in advertising and editorial, specially in science dissemination, but also in purely artistic endeavors. On his spare time, he plays drums with his band and sculpts using ceramics. Also, he is a firm believer in self-teaching.

Question 1 / Describe your creative lab in a few words?
A little corner filled with a couple of Cintiqs graphic tablets (a small one for travels), the inevitable computer, a couple of hard drives, a lightbox, a lamp, pencils and pens, three rulers, a hanging plant, my almighty paper daybook and an ukulele to unblock inspiration when it does get moody.

Question 2 / In two sentences, how would you describe your work technique?
An absolutely excessive amount of brain work, a lot of sketching and composition (sometimes in my head, sometimes in paper and sometimes directly on the computer) and a final session of getting it done, normally on the Cintiq using vectors. First, I do a kind of broad key line, and after I work up all the thiner and, finally, color. That’s mostly it for commercial projects. Paintings, ceramics or drawings happen more naturally, though the overthinking part tends to be present too. 

Question 3 / What is the project of which you are most proud of?
Probably the series I did for El País Semanal illustrating a collection of articles by psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz. But I also really love one of my latest ones, the poster for a music festival called Canela Party.

Question 4 / What are your favorite colors to create?
I really have a thing for pastels. Color is a key element in my work which in fact vertebrates my style in a way. I do have some kind of ´color philosophy´, based on low saturation and the frequent exclusion of certain colors. Actually, for a long time I used to never use black. But I got over that.

Question 5 / Why did you become an artist?
In order to reach a level of self-realization that is just so hard to even match doing anything else. Anything else that you can support yourself by doing it, I mean. I guess I just wanted to try and be happy with every little thing I must do in my day, even a little proud sometimes.

Question 6 / In four words, how would you describe your style of illustration?
I’d say it’s simple, cryptic and kind with a little darkness hidden somewhere at times. I hope that four concepts count as four words.

Question 7 / What is the project of your dreams?
A graphic novel. A reasonably thick comic book. Maybe someday I will find the time.

Question 8 / What does a typical day in the life of Wearbeard?
Shower, breakfast ritual (most important of the day!) eaten while watching comedy, working, fruit stop. Working, grocery shopping stop. Cooking, eating watching comedy, reading, work, kefir bowl stop. Work… and okay, I need some air. On the coolest days, I get to go to a rehearsal space and play some drums, or even to a park to play tennis or basketball.

Question 9 / What inspires you?
The music I am constantly listening to, what I read every day (mostly books by dead people!), the darkly funny way in which the world keeps changing, standup comedy show, walking down random streets paying attention to the puzzle of architecture, my niece and my nephew… also, I love coming up with ideas for concerts, it’s such a mind trip.

Question 10 / What is your favorite blog or website?
Ironically enough, I’m pretty sure it would be allmusic.com. At least the most visited by far. I’ve been using it as my musical catalog reference ever since I was in the University.

Series of illustrations by Steve Scott for The Robb Report, an American luxury lifestyle magazine.

Zigor Samaniego, 3D artist, it was fun to reinvent the famous adored cat to celebrate this year's Chinese New Year. And, he was chosen by the famous French school of image Les Gobelins to create a visual representing their different disciplines taught.

Series of illustrations by Emmanuel Polanco for the article Electroconvulsive therapy: with ECT clinics closing nationwide, is the UK losing a life-saving therapy? published in the BBC Science Focus Magazine. And the last illustration is for The Economist of Hong Kong.

Emmanuel Polanco's illustrations for the novel cover of Peter Farris, Les Mangeurs d'Argile with Gallmeister editions.

Tonwen Jones created this illustration to accompany a text on independent cinema for the French weekly magazine L'Express.

Check out some of Owen Gent most recent collaborations for The Economist and Bath magazine.

Here is the cover of The Economist magazine as well as a series of illustrations by Stephanie F. Scholz illustrating the current global "lockdown" and non-existent personalized medicine today.

Life in 2050 imagined and illustrated by Giordano Poloni for Le Parisien magazine weekend.

Steve Scott and Giordano Poloni were asked to illustrate the Summer issue of the travel magazine, CAA.

Silke Werzinger shows her drawing skills for the Lehigh University Magazine which is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  She illustrates for an article on the international exchanges established by the President Trump while traveling abroad. And, she had the opportunity to do the cover for the Awards issue of Horizont magazine.

PlayOffice design company has chosen Oscar Llorens to illustrate some concepts for the entrance posters of this new and innovative school located in Madrid.  He eagerly took on this challenge to illustrate abstract concepts like: global mindset, curiosity, success, determination, reflection, creativity and care.

Working with Louise was a pleasure. Her concept sketches are clean, and I was able to envision the final product easily. She works very well with feedback and was able to complete the illustration far ahead of the due date. Louise delivered a final product that is creative, fun, and conveyed the concept perfectly. Hannah Brown, Art Director, Studio 141 inc. for Professionnally Speaking magazine, Toronto.

Stay home! Positive illustration of Lavilletlesnuages.