William Trubridge - Freediver

There's something truly beautiful and yet terrifying about watching this docu-short of William Trubridge, a freediver. While there's an entire universe out there, the ocean is also commonly referred to as the Great Unknown, and Mr. Trubridge willingly dives to it's depths unassisted (well, as far as humanly possible). As he prepares for the dive, he takes his time on the water's surface relaxing. As any energy spent at the surface is needless and wasteful, he finds his sense of serenity and calm before taking his journey. Created by The Avant Garde Diaries.

Salience

Shot on a slow motion specialized Phantom Miro camera, Salience is a surreal short about ethereal, barely visibile spirits crossing into a forest opening before being assailed by bursts of colored powder similar to those used in the colorful Indian festival of Holi (Festival of colors). Via this act they are given form and shape in this peaceful and somewhat clever short film directed by Paul Trillo. Filmed at about 1500fps, you can check out the rather technical making of after the break, breaking down exactly how they composited these invisible forest inhabitants into their setting.

The Man Who Saw A Boat

Animator Henrique Barone created this very pleasant, and warm animated short entitled The Man Who Saw a Boat.  Self-described in the title, the story is about an apparent underwater-dwelling man (no, not a merman) who one day encounters something on the surface that he decides to explore. There's a simplicity, and a bit of a gentleness that ties together the very serene short.  While the colors are bright, and the lines angular, it's balanced out by a very tranquil sound design. A very lovely short that reminds us a change of scenery is occasionally all we need.

The Art Of Loish

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Loish (Lois Van Baarle) is a talented self taught illustrator based out of Ultrecht in the Netherlands. Despite having spent a few years studying animation in Belgium and her own home country, her illustration work has become her defining talent, featuring some wonderfully muted, serene pieces. If anything I really appreciate her interesting approach to saturation, with all her pieces containing a sense of control over any color getting too dominant.

Lois is currently a fulltime freelancer working in tandem with her fellow boyfriend animator, Arjen Klaverstjin. Check out more of her eye pleasing illustrations after the break!

The Serene Art Of Gelrev Ongbico

(Via)

Gelrev Ongbico is a humble illustrator from the Phillipines who caught our eye with his wonderfully serene illustrations of nature, a large source of inspiration for the artist. The self taught illustrator has embraced the 'less is more' mindset, creating wonderful scenes without getting too caught up in rendering and detail, instead relying on more graphic representations of his subject matter. He also couples that with a wonderful use of negative space, which helps draw the eye to where it counts.

As an aspiring magazine illustrator, I definitely think that Gelrev has a bright career ahead of him with his great aesthetics, which are somewhat reminiscent of classical illustrated children's books with a modern flair. Check out more of his excellent work after the break!