Anatolij Pickmann is a Ukranian artist for whom drawing has been a life-long occupation. Having moved to Germany as a teenager, he left the country’s suburbs for bustling Berlin where he started working in an advertising agency while studying Communication Design at the University of Applied Sciences. After completing his studies, he decided to start his freelance career as an illustrator. “In my advertising job, one of my main duties was to create illustrations for diverse projects,” he told Cluster, “and after twenty years in the business, though my work has not changed, I have learned how to illustrate more precisely, quicker and in a much larger variety of styles. And yes, I am still learning.”

Inspired by classical engravings and etchings, as well as modern street art and graphic novel artists as Robert Crumb and Jamie Hewlett, Anatolij’s illustrations have a flattened, graphic style. They are reminiscent of early computer games, and show a component of digital collage. “It started with a couple of illustrations I made for the German newspaper Die Zeit. l liked that simple style so much that I decided to do more with it,” he explained, “The two basic influences for this style are the great works by Italian artist Olympia Zagnoli and British illustrator Owen Davey.” Though it’s not the only style Anatolij dabbles with, he often enjoys creating more haptic, fluid works.

When approaching a new piece, regardless of style Anatolij likes to mix techniques, though usually each starts with a hand drawn image made with pencil, liner, aquarelle or ink. Next, he adds colour and finalises the piece in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. “I often use different references like photos, but also try to add something out of my imagination to make the pictures I create as unique as possible,” he added. With Cluster, Anatolij hopes to find an open creative space from which to express himself as an artist outside the confines of commercial projects. Currently, he is working on a piece for an exhibition at Neverland Gallery, Hamburg, which will take place this month.

Elen Winata is an Indonesian art director and illustrator based in Singapore. She works across multiple mediums from illustration to digital design and advertising. After studying for an Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of New York City, Elen started working as a Junior Art Director at a design house in Singapore, Kintec before going on to an Art Director role at Tribal Worldwide.

Her work flirts with flatness and dimensionality and similarly to Anatolij, some of her pieces also resemble the visual language of computer games with their graphic edge. Through clean lines and vibrant colours, she layers up motifs to explore simple but thought provoking ideas.

Her works are known for their clean lines and vibrant colours, which are held together by simple but thought provoking ideas. In one piece, she depicts a busy space filled with people working, lounging, drinking coffee and playing music - a stark reminder of the pleasures we forwent in the throes of lockdown.

Elen creates most of her work digitally. “With the rapid rise of technology, it’s an exciting time to be an artist,” she told Cluster, “Unlike the past, artists are no longer confined to where they live, and are instead able to share their works with a global audience.” Right now, she is particularly interested in trying to bridge the gap between traditional and digital art. For Cluster’s recent ‘Still in Motion’ exhibition, she created an interactive AR poster that can be viewed in multiple ways. She currently works independently on a freelance basis, with an impressive roster of clients such as Airbnb, Harper's Bazaar, Uber,  Starbucks, Google  and National Geographic.