What is it with all of those wonderful Dutch artists who manage to nail utter simplicity and emotion all at once? Maybe it’s got something to do with growing up amongst homegrown modernism and design superstars like Mondrian and Dick Bruna, subconsciously passing on a baton of aesthetic greatness.
Leonie Bos is an illustrator who we rank pretty high in this pool of contemporary talent in the Netherlands. Based in Amsterdam, Leonie is an illustrator who creates drawings of architectural views, interiors and exteriors in precise lines and tasty colour-blocks. She lists an obsession with buildings and architecture as inspiration, and we also couldn’t help but notice she’s got a soft spot for fancy 20th century modernist furniture! Her style is informed by traditional print-making, so much so that you could be forgiven for mistaking one of her drawings for a risograph or even woodblock print from decades gone by.
Taking cues from modernism greats in architecture and design, Leonie’s illustrations are a beautiful melding of pattern, shadow, grids and texture. Despite their analogue appearance, she uses Photoshop, Illustrator and Google Sketch Up to create her carefully composed images. She works within a limited colour palette of subtle shades and tones, utilising the negative space of her off-white digital canvas in a way that is smart and sophisticated. Building up layers of textural and gritty colours and lines, Leonie recreates the charm of misprints and off-registered screen prints in her final illustrations, taking the edge off what could be cold, not-so-emotive vectors.
Leonie’s architectural worlds of subtle colours and minimal approach feel like spaces we would like to dive into.
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