Australia-born artist Laura McKellar fuses nature and humanity to create contemporary vintage-looking illustrations. The human and animal hybrid illustrations channel a different kind of art. The delicate pastel colored illustrations leave you feeling as though you are looking at a vintage picture but with odd modern touches. Laura McKellar's illustrations look like they have emerged from a children's fairy-tale book. Her art work is magically surreal and storybook-like.
The timeless drawings captivate viewers. Laura is a multi-faceted artist who fuses different techniques to create her masterpieces. She works with Photoshop, print, scanning, editing programs and free-hand illustrating. Laura uniquely combines embroidery with the technique of printing old photographs onto fabric pieces.
Laura McKellar's contemporary-vintage illustrations come to life with the fusion of photography and embroidery.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Hybrid Illustrations
- There is an opportunity to create hybrid digital/real-life installations, building on Laura's techniques of combining different art techniques.
- Contemporary-vintage Art
- There is an opportunity to explore the market for contemporary/vintage art for home decor, potentially using Laura's illustrations to inspire the direction.
- Surreal Storytelling
- There is an opportunity to leverage the power of surreal storytelling through a combination of traditional and digital media.
Where This Applies
- Art and Illustration
- Employing Laura's techniques to create contemporary-vintage hybrid illustrations for commercial purposes, including advertising and branding.
- Textile and Fashion
- Collaborating with designers to incorporate Laura's illustration prints on fabric, potentially with the techniques of embroidery printing.
- Storytelling and Literature
- Using Laura's artwork for book cover design or other literature-based projects, possibly with an emphasis on surrealism.
