Jan Oliehoek + Craig Shields

Jan Oliehoek is a photo manipulator now located in Leiden, Netherlands. Jan’s works always surprise people by showing unexpected and interesting combinations. This Dutch talent is also an expert of combining work with fun, something we can learn from besides his awesome Photo Manipulations techniques.

When asked where he gets his inspiration from he said: 'Here I have to give some credit to the website worth1000.com. Almost all of the images you’ll find on my website were originally entries to photoshop contests on Worth1000. They run daily contests that have themes, like ‘create your dream house’, or ‘integrate a celebrity into a famous painting’.

The advantage of these contests is that you always have a starting point: the theme. From that starting point, I just start brainstorming and typing a lot of search terms into photography stock sites like www.sxc.hu. I really let the source pictures take me by the hand. Sooner or later I will stumble upon a photograph that gives me a great idea and from that point on it becomes a sort of landslide. The photographs take me into a certain direction, but along the way this direction might change several times, depending on the next source picture I find.

So I guess you could say my main inspiration comes from random photographs I see on the web that somehow trigger my brain. Over the last year I’ve been trying to force myself to take the opposite route: start with a detailed plan, perhaps even a rough sketch, and assemble the image piece by piece until the outcome matches the original plan. I must admit this is a lot harder (at least for me), but it also gives a lot more satisfaction when it’s really finished and turned out exactly how I wanted it too.'

Taken from an interview: http://thedesigninspiration.com/articles/awesome-photo-manipulations-by-jan-oliehoek/

He uses photoshop for his work.

I love how the stripes are seamless on this picture, you could really believe that this was real.

This photograph is really interesting because I don't think I would ever thought to make a fish a candle.

I really like Jan's work it is very creative and makes you stop and think. I will give it all a 9/10.

Craig Shields

He has worked for clients such as: Coca Cola, Sprite, Schweppes, Avenue A Razorfish, Digital Arts Magazine..etc.

These are very graphic design oriented.

http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-uk-artist-craig-shields/

'Hi, my name is Craig Shields, I’m 22 years old and I live in the city of York, UK. I’ve always had an interest in art, since an early age. My mum was an artist, and her mum, and her mum before that. It runs in the family I suppose.
It was natural for me to pick up a pencil and draw something eye catching. I used to get in trouble for always doodling in my books at school though. I was obsessed with making my own little characters and art became more of a habit than a hobby, I only did it because I was bored in class.'

I like his art but it's not my favourite so I will give him a 7/10.

It is all very very creative and very different I really think he does have talent.