A_P_I133_2015_

EYE ON DESIGN PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW

BE AMAZED BY ALEKSEI KOSTYUK’S INCREDIBLE

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POWERFUL VISIONS

Aleksei Kostyuk

http://www.visio-art.de

G

erman artist Aleksei Kostyuk’s work is

sometimes disturbing, sometimes

humorous, but always arresting and

stunningly executed. His Photoshop

visions harbour religious undertones, looking to a

utopian future as well as offering us his own take on

current issues and how he sees the world. For

Kostyuk, Photoshop is the core tool in his substantial

arsenal – but the artist is also an accomplished

photographer (as you can see in his work) and is

busy experimenting with 3D in both Photoshop and

the powerful modelling tool, ZBrush. Whether it’s

close-ups of disturbing or beautiful characters or

atmospheric vistas, Kostyuk can do it all. We caught

up with him to talk style, ideas and what Photoshop

has done for him.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND AS AN

ARTIST. WHERE DID YOU STUDY AND HOW DID

YOU GET INTO DIGITAL ART?

It all started back when I was in the seventh grade

and I had to do an internship. I decided to go on a

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–Iamadamantthatyoushouldnotalwayssettleforthe

‘next best’ image and make sure you spend some time to find

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placement at a graphic design agency. And it was

there, for the first time, that I came into contact with

Photoshop and started using it. It was great, I did not

know what I was doing but it was huge fun. Since that

moment I knew that I would do [it] for a living. So I’ve

now spent a lot of time with Photoshop. My degree in

graphic design at the Macromedia Akademie in

Munich furthered my skills and made me as an artist.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR STYLE? AND

HOW HAS IT DEVELOPED OR CHANGED OVER

THE YEARS?

It’s a very good question, and I have no ‘name’ as

such for my style – mainly because I’m trying not to

commit to a certain style and [I] experiment

constantly. That said, my style has definitely

changed over the years. At the start of my career,

many of my images had a hand-drawn or painted

look. Then I started to be little more photo-realistic

in my work. At the moment I’m trying to learn 3D

and mix this with Photoshop. But in the end

everything is mixed together, and it always comes

out as something new.

WHAT’S YOUR PROCESS? HOW DO YOU START

A PIECE AND WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE OR

MOST COMMONLY USED TECHNIQUES?

First, I obviously need a rough idea. Then I begin to

think about the concept and start to develop a

moodboard. For this I often hunt around Pinterest,

Pump up the Color: “A mix of 3D modelling

and Photoshop,” says Kostyuk. “The colour on the page comes to life”

All images © Aleksei Kostyuk 2015