Based in Senica, Slovakia, Matej Il?ík is an artist and graphic designer whose work shows a clear preference for midcentury design aesthetics. Unlike a lot of people who end up working the visual arts as adults, Matej didn’t really take any art courses as a child. While he certainly enjoyed art and drawing, as most kids tend to do, he actually studied political science in college. Creative purists like painting and art history were things he explored completely on his own time.
Eventually, he took a two-year course in painting and ultimately began working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. His illustrative style is distinctive and given the world’s love for all things vintage, his work is in high demand.
Matej established Guerillacraft as an online source for graphic tools and assets that other designers can use, particularly since he is always searching for ways to optimize his own workflow. Guerillacraft provides brushes, graphics, actions, and textures that enable graphic designers to craft era-based illustrations with relative ease. While the studio has released numerous tools specific to midcentury design, its collections offer something for just about every era from the early 1900s to the 1980s.
One of Guerillacraft’s more recent releases through YouWorkForThem is Inkers – 84 Ink Brushes for Adobe Photoshop. Matej worked on this project for a considerable amount of time. “It took me over 500 hours of work to get it together, but I am really satisfied with the final result,” he said. He actually uses them regularly for his own illustration work – they’ve become a core set of brushes that he didn’t have on hand until he created them himself.
Inkers – 84 Ink Brushes for Adobe Photoshop offers a wide range of brush types and styles, including whisper thin ink nibs to “raggy” and dirty ink roller brushes so digital illustrators have everything available in one must-have tool kit. These pressure sensitive brushes were made with real inks so their texture and flow are just like what you’d get if you were working directly on paper. They’re great for line art, shading, and adding texture – making them perfect for comic artists, hand-letterers, graphic designers, and illustrators.
Inkers – 84 Ink Brushes for Adobe Photoshop is an incredibly diverse brush pack, one that works beautifully for midcentury style illustrations and for sharper, more contemporary comic art. They’re also well suited for lettering projects of all kinds, including signage and displays, product packaging, logos, merchandise, apparel, website graphics, publishing, and social media imagery.
This collection offers 84 pressure sensitive brushes, including brushes for drawing and for dynamic texturing, and it also provides a quick-reference cheat sheet with each brush stroke and its name so you can find what you’re looking for easily. These brushes were designed specifically for use with Adobe Photoshop.
Guerillacraft currently offers 46 products through YouWorkForThem. Their portfolio is packed with useful design assets that include brushes, patterns, textures, effects, and styles that will shave hours off of your workflow. Particularly if you find yourself working regularly on projects with a strong midcentury aesthetic, you’re going to want to keep Guerillacraft in mind for your next project!
