About
Background
Chris Xavier
I was born in 1981. I grew up travelling back and forth between my mother in Sweden and my father in Spain. As a young boy I played soccer, built tree houses and engaged in snowball fights whenever I got the chance. I also loved to draw and play with Lego – a combination that eventually led to illustration and design.
Occupation
Studies & Work
I've studied Economics and Marketing as well as Industrial Design at Lund University. Currently living in Stockholm where I work with marketing and advertising as a Digital Marketing Manager at Telenor – a mobile telecommunications company.
Hobby
Illustration & Design
On my spare time I try to find some room for my favourite passion – drawing. Lately I've been experimenting with the possibilities of digital media in combination with traditional. I'm also very fond of photography and this is a field I'm intending to explore further. Besides my interests I love doing sports, playing board games and spending time with my friends and family.
Quote
Short & Descriptive
"I'm like most people most of the time. But when I'm not, I'm brilliant!"
Gallery one
Me
This gallery contains a variety of photos of me. Most of them quite silly. But then again - it's my homepage.Gallery two
Friends
This gallery contains a variety of photos of friends. Just an awesome bunch of funloving people.Gallery three
Family
This gallery contains a variety of photos of family. I have the best family and I love them all dearly.Gallery four
Others
This gallery contains a variety of photos of others. Some random celebrities and other fun people.The way I work
The time spent on each illustration depends mainly on three factors:
If I just have the idea in my head it usually doesn't take me more than a couple of hours to get it all on paper. If I need to gather reference material and make preliminary sketches this adds some time though. But if I'm not counting the time spent on thinking up the subject matter or any other preparations it takes me around 3-6 hours to finish an illustration. Thorough drawings can take up to seven or eight hours and sometimes even longer depending on the level of detail I'm going for, the size of the paper and how enthusiastic I am about the motif.
I have a Wacom tablet for digital drawing and I mostly use Photoshop. Occassionally I use other graphics programs such as Painter, Illustrator, Draw and Freehand. Depending mostly on the choice between pixel graphic and vector graphic, I consider Photoshop to be best suited for a digital painting and Illustrator for logotype design.
When I'm not sitting by the screen, painting digitally, I like to draw the traditional way using one or two good pencils and a rubber. This is still the best way of being creative in my opinion. Pen and Ink is also a fantastic medium for drawing and so is colored pencils although I hardly ever use them. Drawing with Markers is something I've just started with and I think that in time I'll come to appreciate it. Unfortunately I hardly ever have the time to paint in a traditional way, other than the occasional watercolor sketch, so I can't really make any comments regarding those tools.
- If it's a personal or private work.
- If the subject matter is simple or complex.
- The workload I face at the time.
If I just have the idea in my head it usually doesn't take me more than a couple of hours to get it all on paper. If I need to gather reference material and make preliminary sketches this adds some time though. But if I'm not counting the time spent on thinking up the subject matter or any other preparations it takes me around 3-6 hours to finish an illustration. Thorough drawings can take up to seven or eight hours and sometimes even longer depending on the level of detail I'm going for, the size of the paper and how enthusiastic I am about the motif.
I have a Wacom tablet for digital drawing and I mostly use Photoshop. Occassionally I use other graphics programs such as Painter, Illustrator, Draw and Freehand. Depending mostly on the choice between pixel graphic and vector graphic, I consider Photoshop to be best suited for a digital painting and Illustrator for logotype design.
When I'm not sitting by the screen, painting digitally, I like to draw the traditional way using one or two good pencils and a rubber. This is still the best way of being creative in my opinion. Pen and Ink is also a fantastic medium for drawing and so is colored pencils although I hardly ever use them. Drawing with Markers is something I've just started with and I think that in time I'll come to appreciate it. Unfortunately I hardly ever have the time to paint in a traditional way, other than the occasional watercolor sketch, so I can't really make any comments regarding those tools.