Known as Dangiuz — real name is Leopoldo D’Angelo — this Italian digital illustrator has envisioned a cyber-world inspired by “Blade Runner”(1982) and “Ghost in the Shell” (1995), where bio-engineered humans live in a dystopian society. Defiant characters (“Freerunners”) seek justice of this oppressed nation controlled by large corporations, and yes, there are hints here […]
Category: Futuristic
2020 A’ Design Awards: Last Call for Entries
This is your last chance to enter the A’ Design Awards — deadline: February 28, 2020. In this article, we share with you some of last year’s like the thrilling “MonoPunk” project (above), and “Symphony #7” chairs (below). Submit your own creation to this competition that highlights outstanding works in a wide array of categories, […]
Darkly Elegant Digital Skull Art by Billelis
Billelis is a Brighton-based 3D illustrator and art director. Peruse his portfolio and you will quickly see his fondness for skulls, depicted in a hyperrealist style described as a “dark-yet-elegant romantic fusion.” In the series “Blossom,” flowers erupt from bones, signifying the eternal dance of life and death; elsewhere, as in “Prototype,” his fascination for […]
Alone in a Dystopian Landscape: Concept Art by Simon Stalenhag
Working in the field of concept art, Simon Stalenhag has conceived a whole world. Using his homeland of Sweden as a backdrop (and more recently, California), Stalenhag merges reality with fantasy, turning coniferous forests and snow-shrouded fields into the sites of alien encounters, apocalypse scavenging, and bloody cyborgian crimes. He spent a lot of time […]
Atmospherically Charged Fantasy/Sci-Fi Concept Art by Axel Sauerwald
Axel Sauerwald is a freelance illustrator and concept artist based in Soest, Germany. His vast, atmospheric imagery is an impressive blend of fantasy and science fiction, with elements of magic and surrealism instilled seamlessly into historic-looking scenes. Two of his cited influences are Ilya Repin and Ivan Shishkin, Russian realist painters who captured landscapes and […]
Elegant, Colorful Chaos in Zeen Chin’s Digital Paintings
Zeen Chin is a self-taught artist living in Kuala Lumpur. Drawing upon a mysterious well of horror films, memories, and mysticism, his digital paintings are wildly elegant and unpredictable; scrolling from one image to the next, you can never predict (nor comprehend) what you will see next. Anime-like characters parade with cartoonish, folklore-inspired beasts, and […]
10 Visually Stunning Cosmic Horror Films
In regards to the fear of the unknowable, there is no writer more influential today than H.P. Lovecraft. His stories saw humankind come into contact with beings older than time: sinister masses of tentacles whose very existence could drive someone completely mad. This was the birth of “cosmic horror”—that is, horror rooted in the idea […]
Experimental Remixes by Anxo Vizcaino Create Alternate Worlds
Welcome to the pristine dream-visions of Anxo Vizcaino, an artist based in Lugo, Spain. After working as a graphic designer and illustrator for many years, he switched gears to embark on a more artistic journey. His recent personal creations involve experimental remixes that allow him to focus his “concerns and passions related to reality, outer […]
Pop Culture Dystopias: Digital Art by Filip Hodas
Filip Hodas is a 3D artist from Prague who uses computer software to render stunning, hypermodern landscapes (he was part of our “Amazingly Complex 3D Art” feature). In this new series, using Substance Painter and Illustrator/Photoshop, Hodas has been producing incredible pop culture dystopias; from Coca-Cola to Pac Man, big-name brands and recognizable cartoon characters […]
Discovering the Dystopia in Our Selves by Andrew Fairclough
In spring of 2017, Andrew Fairclough, aka Kindred Studio, had his first solo exhibition titled “Total Control” in Sydney, Australia. It featured portraits of men and women whose faces are multiplied, their bodies hollowed out, and heads fused with architecture. “The works,” he writes, “explore themes of introspection, confusion, duality and impulse control viewed through […]