The career of Russia based designer Kesa started, when his friends asked him to make visuals for their CDs and parties. “I set up Photoshop for the first time and started messing with it, quietly studying. I watched all possible tutorials in all languages of the world on YouTube”, he tells us about his early beginnings. After getting better and better in Photoshop, he then started to experiment with videos and motion design. “For a very long time I could only create covers and posters, since there was practically no way to render animations. My computer was just too weak, I rendered some videos for months.” In the last years, Kesa has worked on several projects and collaborations, among them his work “Yikes” with fellow designer Charles Quirouard.
Before dedicating himself fully to the world of graphic design, Kesa worked in the business of alcohol trade. He soon decided to quit his job and began working in a publishing house in order to learn more about print and the design programs. “In my time off, I began to study Cinema 4d to make exclusive 3D content for covers, and with each passing month I realized that I like more the RGB than the CMYK”, he tell us, “I soon left the printing house and began my career as a freelancer.” Constantly developing his own style, Kesa’s work is always a game of reflections, light and shadows and has a strong focus on chrome objects and typography. “I am one of the first designers who began to animate chrome fonts. It is more than just a font, it is like an object that can be complemented with animation“, the designer explains. “In fact, I’m constantly looking for new ways to experiment with animation, by playing with light, energy rays, lightning and fire.”
One of his most recent projects, “Yikes”, has been created in collaboration with Charles Quirouard who designed the expressive custom typeface for the animation. “I’m not really good in custom type, so I am very glad I met Charles. I like his style in fonts, he is a very cool designer. I think we will have many other projects together”, Kesa tells us. The animation “Yikes” shows a dark and futuristic CD-Box, with an animated cover design of an alien-like head. The 3D-model of the box is put together of different elements and textures, with a lot of love for details. “I came up with the idea, when I imagined how cool it would be to hold such a box in my hand. To actually touch the iron font and see the animation instead the usual static print cover”, Kesa explains, “It seems to me that in the future there will be similar things, like animations on the cover of a magazine, animated postcards or badges. I wish, I could transfer the design from the screen to the real life, to make it portable.”
In the last couple of months, the duo has worked on several objects based on this idea of animating a real-life product, like a memory card for their project “CWM”. Just like the CD-box, the card also consists of very detailed elements and fancy textures, with an animated front made out of graphical forms and a 3D face model.
With Kesa focusing on 3D-modeling and experimental animations and Charles contributing characteristic typefaces for each artwork, the duo seems to enrich each other very well and draw a lot of energy and motivation from their collaborations. “I like to unite ideas. Each of us is individual and can add something to a project, a piece of his soul”, Kesa explains. “If more people work on a project together, the result can be much better. Everyone will give a hundred and ten percent and concentrate on their special skill. There is always someone who does something better than you, and vice versa. That’s why you need to unite and make content better.”
kesa.exe
@kesa.exe
Charles Quirouard
@charl.qfd
