David McLeod

Dave’s studio is located in the lower part of Manhattan and only a short distance away from both his apartment and go-to-cafes, Dimes and Cafe Henrie. Born in Ipswich, Queensland, Dave grew up in Kiama, New South Wales and made his way to New York five years ago when he made the shift to computer-generated imagery (CGI) illustration. Previously a freelance developer and web designer in digital advertising, Dave’s dedication to illustration led him to work on personal projects with 3D digital imagery and eventually landed him a position at a design studio in New York.

As a visual artist and multi-disciplinary illustrator, Dave has built relationships with a range of clients, advertising agencies and brands. His work incorporates a magnitude of colour, shape and depth. It emulates grades of texture, buoyancy and movement, articulating a degree of dynamism and emotion where objects feel like they are completely autonomous beings. With agents in New York and Europe, Dave describes his attraction to this kind of work because of the new challenges each project brings. “There’s quite a lot of variety in what’s required from job to job. This means I’m always learning something new, which I enjoy.”

With a studio located between Chinatown and the Lower East Side, Dave shares his space with five other creatives that work in publication and branding design, strategy and fine art illustration. With three out of the four walls being windows, Dave tells me he got lucky finding a studio in Manhattan since they mostly exist in Brooklyn or further out.

The studio consists of a series of white utilitarian desks and a few framed hanging prints. Dave’s area features draped shelves holding a few carefully chosen design and illustration books and a wooden puzzle. “I like to work in a space that helps me think clearly. Plenty of natural light and high ceilings definitely help with this. I like when a space feels airy and minimal whether that be in an apartment or work studio.” When I ask Dave about his space he tells me he likes to keep it pretty stripped back with only a few pieces of art and not a lot of things.

When I ask Dave about his work he explains how being commissioned to work on a brief allows him to create work that pushes what a client may be comfortable with. “That is probably the most challenging part of some projects – finding a balance between what the client envisions and at the same time pushing the work into areas that interest me.” Over his five years in New York Dave has worked with clients such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Droga5, Canon, Calvin Klein, Wired, and many others. Dave tells me about his recent work for Nike’s launch of the new Vapour Max, a work that was projected on the Centre Pompidou in Paris. “The work was to highlight the sole of the shoe and they asked twenty artists to put forward their visual interpretations. The brief was completely open ended so I took it as an opportunity to elaborate on a few visual directions I had been exploring at the time. The final product was a collage of all the interpretations into a single animated piece that was used for the launch event on Air Max Day. It was a fun project to be involved with because Nike gave almost complete freedom to the artists involved.”

Dave likes to produce work that is challenging to read, provokes response and creates tension by mixing elements that can feel both visually familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. “Omega approached me to create a series of “teaser” videos leading up to the release of a new diving watch at the Baselworld watch fair. They wanted to highlight the new materials of the watch without showing the watch itself. I thought a nice solution to this would be to create a visual based on fluid to reference the ocean, but to texture the fluid in the different materials used on the watch – carbon fibre, rubber and steel.”

When he is not working on commercial projects, Dave likes to spend his time developing personal projects. “Right now I spend about three quarters of my time on work for clients but ideally I like when its fifty-fifty.” He explains his enjoyment for learning new software and ‘finding different ways of simulating or rendering something so it evolves into a different concept.’ Dave currently uses Cinema 4D and is learning Hoodini on the side. Dave’s personal projects led to him being commissioned by Diesel, work that existed mostly on their social spaces.

When I ask Dave about the future he states that “New York won’t be forever, but it’s a great place to be for right now.” Dave can see himself enjoying the lifestyle in Europe and producing his work from there and possibly spending a little time back in Australia.

Thank you Dave, for the insights into your work and your studio. It was a pleasure to speak with you.