Unknown Prints Blog

Q&A - Darnyill

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m Darnyill (or Daniel Rautenbach) I’m 19 and from Cape Town, South Africa. I’m currently studying at the University of Cape Town (UCT) majoring in Art History and Mathenatics. Since I was a child I was drawing on anything and everything. I believe my love for Design comes from the combination of Art with a certain Mathematical element to it. I became interested in Graphic Design when I was about 17 and after school I took a gap year in South America where I did a 6 month internship with an agency in Buenos Aires. At the moment I’m just doing some freelance for various clients, but I’m hoping to return to Buenos Aires after UCT and study Illustration and Typography at the University of Buenos Aires.

How do you go about creating your pieces? 

Sometimes I’ll get an idea and know exactly what I want to do and I’ll just do it straight on the computer with the method all thought out (using Adobe Illustrator), but that doesn’t happen often and is usually just for those personal experimentation pieces. I usually try to sketch things out and then redraw them out on Illustrator, but not having a tablet is proving rather tricky. I try to keep a balance of spontaneity and structure with my work and I’m learning more and more everyday.

What single element, person, object or real life situation, do you think has influenced you the most throughout your artist career?

The thing that influences me the most to this day is the past me. As in, when I was a child. My imagination was just this factory churning out the most bizarre and fantastical ideas and I like to bring out my inner-child when I draw. The naivety and innocence it has is pleasing.
 
What is your best piece of art to date?

It’s very difficult to say. Each piece is good in its own way. But I guess the most significant piece so far was a 1.8x2m illustration I did when I was 17 (just as I got interested in Illustration and Design). You can see it here I went through a patch (a couple of years) of hating anything creative I made and so the process of creating this piece basically re-awakened my afore-mentioned love for drawing I had when I was a child. (There’s a longer story here). The drawing now takes up half my bedroom!

Any current projects/shows/releases you want to advertise?

Just my facebook page - Darnyill, or my tumblr filled with bizarre inspiration and my designs!

Darnyill’s print is available here.