“Colored Party”

A: All my life, since I was little I have been drawing and this has somehow made my personal and professional life easier. Arguments at school would often end when I decided to draw a caricature of my adversary. “A picture paints a thousand words.” Imagine what it is like to have a pen in your hand and know how to use it. I have always been fascinated by observing. I am obsessed with watching people in the street. It surprises me how everyone is individual even though they came from the same beginnings. I like the singularity of things. When I found out that in the olden days painters painted by candlelight to generate an atmosphere (as the source of light in that era, it was the only way it could be done) I realized that to create an atmosphere was as important as doing the drawing that you want to make. Atmosphere is the key to transmitting sensations. I studied graphic design but I didn’t even graduate. I decided to do an internship with an advertising agency and well, that was 17 years ago and I have been working since then. Of those years, I spent 14 working at Leo Burnett, Chile retouching images and the last 3 years I have worked for my own company “Salamagica”.

“Roboc”

A: I am an observer; I think that life offers us much more to observe than what we generally observe. For example, with a simple visit to the local market, you can find the best idea for so many things, from a horror movie to a child’s toy. Inspiration is in the details. I have always referenced the details used and demonstrated by “El Bosco” in his work, which were important for his era. People could say he was crazy but to me he was very lucid.

“Ocean Hawaiian”

A: Hand drawings, photography, illustrations, Photoshop, Painter, Zbrush and Cinema 4D.

“Armado Fondo1”

A: I try to make all the projects stand out. In general at this time of year (from March to April} we concentrate on working towards competitions, especially for Cannes, and the majority of them allow a lot of freedom. I try to take projects where I can add a lot of value to art direction. A project which gave me a lot of satisfaction was the campaign comprising of 3 ads for Landrover, my client, for the agency Y&R Latin America because I felt that the art direction team and the creative team in charge worked well together.

“61 A M E R I C A N I N O”

A: I believe in talent and then comes hard work. Talent is priceless and this is nothing to do with the amount of hours you spend at work. Effort and work without talent generates casualties. But effort with talent generates a tidal wave of success. Talent without effort means a good idea is never realized. True talent is not in the hands or the eyes but in the mind, it is how we receive and organize everything we see and create with our hands.

“62 A M E R I C A N I N O”

A: Look at everything, be observant. Be self-critical and don’t conform. defy your pride be your own enemy. Be your own biggest challenge.

63 A M E R I C A N I N O

56 A C T I V E L I F E

57 A C T I V E L I F E

60 A M E R I C A N I N O

Grandmas

Botella Espiral alta

Crocodile NUEVO alta

Dinobaja

Baja

Car

Penciltips Gorilla

Dusk

Eyes Covered

Body Party

Indios alta

37 C I T R O E N

Melting Polar Bear

Reading Ant

How it is Actually Made…

A Spider’s Business

Detailed Universe

…and Things Came to Being1

…and Things Came to Being2

…and Things Came to Being3

Before Death

Jump

Mechanisms

Bear Mask

Fit

Tribal

Original Fake

Oso Final

MOSCA 7-ok BAJA

Love in the Air

Boxing

Evil

Puzzle

…and Things Came to Being4

Hope

27 S T E L L A

Busy Streets

Goodyear

Stinky Job

A Good Drink

Sustained1

Sustained2

Just Another Day

Odd Pile1

Odd Pile2

Banco

Rise the Flag

Nazca

Lights

Overgrown

Author: Giulia Giulia is a 25 year old girl from Romania. She runs a blog dedicated to cute animals on furrytalk.com . She's also an amateur photographer and has a passion for Photoshop.

Howdie stranger!

If you want to participate in our photoshop and photography contests, just:



LOGIN HERE or REGISTER FOR FREE

Ricardo Salamanca is the founder of Salamagica – a photo retouch studio, where a devoted team of designers specialized in retouching photos. We have found their art work amazingly detailed and constructed in a perfectionist manner, so we dug into it and tried to find out more about the secret behind it. Mr.Ricardo shared some thoughts with us, in an exclusive interview, that is for sure worth reading. Along the way 60 of Salamagica’s most beautiful creations can be admired.