Step Into A Playfully Disorienting Pastel Digital Art World

The bright colors in Blake Kathryn’s digital artworks draw you in first. The saturated colors make each piece feel futuristic— as if every work is a message sent from some other time  or a parallel universe.

“By no means did the palette I work with become intentional,” Kathryn tells The Creators Project. “I've always used bright, saturated tones on flat illustrations as they strike me as bold yet welcoming.”

Rendered in these colors, Kathryn’s work features images that interrupt reality: a basketball spliced in two, a compact mirror with Gameboy controls. Each image seems more disorienting than the last, and they’re all tied together by a playfully bold aesthetic.

Kathryn initially worked in a more "illustrative style," and found a niche in the design world. But a “nasty creative block” propelled her into a different direction. She decided to create a project called “100 Days of Dimension”— inspired by Elle Luna’s 100 Day Project — and started using 3D software for the first time. With these new tools, she found a way to merge her “2D aesthetic with more traditional fine arts movements (i.e. surrealism, pop art, geometric abstraction).”

Yet Kathryn still utilizes analog tools to keep track of her sketches and inspiration.

“Beginning on a physical sheet of paper really helps me separate inspiration from my own ideas and embrace something new,” Kathryn writes. “My sketchbooks have become a collection of notes written in every direction—puns, overheard quips, movie slogans… Once an idea pops up I usually block out an overall composition and write notes over it on potential materials, colors, and lighting. From there it's a sweet, digital dive into a blank canvas.”

Empty digital space becomes the canvas for her eye-catching colors— and her newfound love for metallics. She’s learned to embrace that love: “What can I say, I bleed rose gold.”

To find out more about Blake Kathryn, click here.

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