You just can’t look away once you’ve seen one of Nigel Sussman’s isometric mural illustrations. There’s so much going on – dancing horses, dinosaurs serving in a restaurant, people running in hamster treadmills… The detail is incredible and it’s all done with a lighthearted sense of humour that keeps you looking, and smiling.
So it’s no wonder that Nigel has worked for both hugely innovative brands like Google and Redbull, as well as picking up more traditional print projects with the likes of Popular Mechanics and Time Out. With a musician father, creativity was encouraged as Nigel grew up and aside from drawing his passions include playing bass guitar (and illustrating his band’s album covers), Dungeons & Dragons and going for long walks with his wife. The destination is usually an eatery where tasty food is served… but not by dinosaurs.
There’s all kinds of activity going on in Nigel’s work and it’s no surprise to find that his influences include Martin Handford (creator of Where’s Wally?), MC Escher and the computer game SimCity. At home in Berkeley, California, he lives with his wife and a cat called Fidel Castro.
Training
Nigel spent two years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, before crossing the country to the California College of the Arts to complete his degree in Illustration.
Approach
Today Nigel works on his drawings using a Wacom Cintiq tablet, but he has a good grounding in traditional media. He used to love working in pen and ink, and acrylic paints.
Style
Bold, bright and complex, Nigel’s signature style uses isometric line art and a striking but simple colour palette. He loves creating seek-and-find type drawings, as well as illustrations that feature complex fantasy architecture and/or imaginary machines.Client list
Clients
Google
VMWare
Paypal
Bosch
ARUP
Redbull
New Scientist
Popular Mechanics
Peel.tv
Robinhood
Backpacker Magazine
Capital New York
Time Out magazine
The Fillmore SF
Say Media
Rubrik
Readwrite
Biography.com
Dogster/Catster