Beyond the Music: Ill-U-Straight-ing Artists through Graphic Design

Two brothers, Mikias and Marcus, share a common passion for representing musicians through graphic design. They have teamed up to construct Ill-U-Straight Designs, using a combination of photos and graphic software to create masterpieces of their own.

It started with the idea to produce art that portrays the musicians they respect and feel inspired by. After creating some fan art for Snails, the vomit step king himself reached out to Ill-U-Straight to compose his fall 2016 tour flyer. Their two eccentric styles fit perfectly with one another, and Snails is very receptive to their ideas. Since the connection with Snails, they have done multiple promotional edits for him while featuring other artists such as Mija, Skrillex, Griz, and Marshmello.

Reaching further than electronic music, they’ve done features for rappers, models, bands, and other artisans. There are no limits to their designs, for they have done multiple pieces for Danger Kids, a pop punk group. Scrolling through their Instagram, you’ll find countless edits of talented beings. Coming up with the idea for each contrasting photo is the hardest part of the process, but they keep their minds open to new ideas and styles.

“We mainly draw on photos using graphic software. The concept is simple, but it’s a style that is fairly untapped and has a lot of potential. We believe that graphic edits are a strange yet creative method of combining photography and graphic design. Every photo that people send us is different, so finding the right design for each picture can be a challenge.”

So if you’ve fallen in love with their artwork and would like a photo of your own edited, Ill-U-Straight is always willing to take on new clients. Also, make sure you follow their Instagram to keep your feed full of their engaging edits.

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