Interview with Johann Brangeon, the winner of Hidden Treasures of Creativity

Our Hidden Treasures of Creativity #MunchContest recently finished. The contest, in collaboration with the Munch Museum and Kyle T. Webster, challenged artists worldwide to digitally recreate a 5th version of Edvard Munch’s iconic masterpiece “The Scream” using brushes which had been digitally recreated and made available in Photoshop and Sketch.

We’ve now sat down with the winner of the competition, Johann Brangeon, to find more about how he created the winning piece and tell us more about himself, his live and his work. Read more below!

**1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
**I am a soon-to-be 34 year old graphic designer and illustrator from France, and have lived and freelanced in a co-working creative studio with a fellow freelancer in a town near Angers since 2010. Most of the work I do consists of posters and cultural programming in partnership with festivals that I work with throughout the year.

**2. How did you first get drawn into creative design? What is your creative background?
**I got in to creative design at quite a young age; I have always liked to draw. When I was 16 I got a CAP diploma in arts and crafts, learnt the basics of graphic design and then did a graphic communication Baccalaureate where I discovered Adobe tools. Finally, I did a BTS in applied arts at LISAA Nantes. I started working in several design agencies while continuing to develop my personal sense of creativity, I used a variety of different ways to work in a more enriching manner, taking inspiration from different design areas such as: packaging design, cosmetics, brand images, tourism communications and web design.

**3. What was your inspiration for the piece you submitted for the Hidden Treasures Munch Contest? Is there a particular style that you use across your work?
**My inspiration was Edvard Munch’s piece itself. I really tried to study it and reinterpret the vigour of the scream. I tried to treat it like in the original version, making the face the main focus, with geometric forms, a composition of colour and shading that emulates the original piece. I’m currently going through a phase where I enjoy creating a visual diary using simple geometric shapes and different textures in the composition. I tried to capture this in the piece that I designed.

**4. What is your previous experience with Creative Cloud? Have you used it for your job before or for creating your own projects outside of work?
**I have been using Creative Cloud professionally for a number of years after having used Creative Suite. I like the fact that Creative Cloud is updated frequently and I use the Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign trio daily. I still have some gaps in my knowledge when it comes to managing some of the interactions of the cloud, but I think that I am going to learn a lot in the sessions I will attend at Adobe MAX.

**5. What was your experience like with working with the Munch brushes? How do you foresee yourself using these for future projects?
**Kyle T. Webster’s work was incredible; he was able to beautifully recreate the textures of Edvard Munch’s brushes. I found being able to use replicas of Munch’s brushes, that are over 100 years old, quite unique. Looking at all of the other participants’ pieces, it is really noticeable that so many different things can be done with the same tools! I plan on using these brushes in the future as I felt comfortable using them and, not to be superstitious, they brought me good luck!

Find out more about Johann here:
Online portfolio: http://www.johannbrangeon.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johannbrangeon/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/johannbrangeon/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrangeonJohann
Behance: https://www.behance.net/johannbrangeon

As part of his prize, Johann will get his work exhibited in the Munch Museum in Oslo and travel to MAX in Las Vegas, Adobe’s Creativity Conference in Las Vegas, October 18-20. We’ll be following him during his travels so stay tuned!

There’s still time to download Munch’s brushes for Photoshop and Sketch, you can do so here.