Artist Highlight: Vincent Trinidad
Posted by East End Prints on 15th Apr 2020
Bold wall art can transform any space, and the dynamic Japanese-inspired prints by Vincent Trinidad @vincenttrinidadart are impossible to ignore. A modern take on traditional Japanese iconography, his collection features pop culture references, Geishas, tigers, landscapes and (our fave) stormy bowls of ramen. We caught up with the artist, graphic designer and illustrator to find out how he works and where it all began.
My top 3 favourite artists are... Sargent, Rockwell and Hokusai; the simplified brush of Sargent, humour and likeness of Rockwell and the abstraction and use of space by Hokusai.
Tell us about your journey into the art & design industry… I did a Fine Arts degree with a major in advertising and have been working in the industry for 15 years; 5 years designing for advertising, 5 years illustrating for video games and 5 years as a freelance artist working on book covers, album covers and posters. Now I mostly do T-shirt designs and illustration projects.
I get my inspiration... from anywhere! You should always be on the lookout for inspiration and identifying the things that keep you inspired. Recently I’ve been inspired by 80s retrowave and vaporwave aesthetics. Japanese art also inspires me after I went to the Kansai region.
To help me focus on my work... I listen to audio books, just listening to the stories allows me to catch up on recent pop culture phenomena.
Tell us about your studio and how you like to work... I mostly work on my Cintiq. Sketching for me is king. Sketching over and over again, making it as accurate as possible to the real thing, changing and improving it every time until you are satisfied.
Sum up your style of work in 3 words… rad, simplified, realism.
What media do you use to create your art?
It starts with many ideas that I capture using my trusty notes on my phone. I start to sketch and then refine these sketches using Photoshop. When I'm satisfied with the design I finalise the colours.
The last book I read was…The Silver Way by Stephen Silver which is a character design book.
When I was younger I wanted to be... an artist, nothing more.
A place, person or object that truly influences me… Japan and right now an artist called Zao Dao.
Thank you to Urban Outfitters for lending us the interview content, you can view the piece on UO Culture here.