Adobe Stock Remix Live Interview: Kyle Wilkinson

At this year’s Adobe Stock Remix Live event, we caught up with Kyle Wilkinson, an award winning designer with an ability to turn his hand to anything, from design to illustration and typography.

We invited Kyle to take part in our online event and challenged him – alongside two other guest creators – to produce works of art in real-time, inspired by Adobe Stock’s latest visual trend Creative Reality. The trend explores how artists and innovators are responding to anxious times with visual representations of escapism inspired by images of nature.

We caught up with Kyle to learn more about his creative process, which you can watch on demand below.

The full event is available to watch on our YouTube playlist. You can also learn more about the Create Reality trend here.

Fancy creating your own remix? Try the Adobe Stock trial for one month and get 10 free Adobe Stock standard assets: https://adobe.ly/2O2fly9

A: Tell us a bit about yourself and what it is you do?

K: I’m a big believer that our skills and creativity are transferable, and if we put our minds to it we can design anything. This approach has led to me designing a variety of different things such as brand logos, illustrations, restaurants, fonts, trophies and even furniture.

My work tends to be quite inventive and explorative, mixing different mediums with both digital and analogue techniques. I’ve been lucky enough to work with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, The New York Times, Adidas and Adobe.

A: What made you want to go freelance and focus your efforts on your design practice Wilkinson&Co?

K: I ran my own agency for seven years, up until last year when I wanted a new adventure and to be challenged. My vision was to create something nimbler, something that would allow me to be more creative for my clients, rather than focusing on day to day logistics and running of the business.

A: How did you mastermind the piece you made during Adobe Stock Remix Live? What inspired you?

K: I thought the Creative Reality angle was really interesting; it allowed me to explore so many different directions. I wanted to juxtapose the natural world with something that felt futuristic without using psychedelic and clashing colours, but whilst still exploring the Creative Reality feeling.

A: How do you find working to tight deadlines, such as the 20-minute time frame you had to create your artwork during Adobe Stock Remix Live? Do you have any tips to share?

K: Relax! And try not to panic. Try and arrange the job at hand into digestible chunks so you can work through things almost like a tick list. That way you can use your time effectively rather wasting time worrying about what needs to be done.

A: How has Adobe tools helped with your past projects?

K: I literally couldn’t do my job without Adobe tools, they’ve been completely instrumental in my career to date.

A: Do you think working with Adobe Stock helps ease the creative process?

K: I think it allows you to try different angles for example if you don’t capture the right shot, or you couldn’t go down the photography shoot route. This way of working allows you to experiment and explore different avenues quickly and efficiently whilst giving you infinite possibilities in what you can create.

A: Who or what would you say inspires you? Past or present?

K: It’s so cliché, but you can find inspiration in everything and you should strive to find it everywhere – a road, a pattern, a market stall, the possibilities really are endless. But I suppose, to name 3 inspirational figures in my career who have led to my varied approach, it would be Thomas Heatherwick, Paul Smith and Zaha Hadid.