I'm Ali Gulec, illustrator, graphic designer, and co-owner of Ikiiki Design Studio based in Istanbul. I design T-shirt prints for a living, which is a fun job to do but sometimes the fast fashion industry can put too many pressures on you. When I feel exhausted, I give a break and do what pleases me most and create pieces for my digital art project "The Message". I use digital and traditional photo collage, painting, photography, and sometimes all of them in one piece.
Although I illustrate many subjects with a little touch of humor, human skulls are my most known and appreciated ones. I believe people like my skulls because the contradictions such as life and death are much more obvious and visible in these unique artworks. Also, I have observed through the years that, people are excited to see creative ideas resembling death doesn't need to be scary and can be appealing for any person, even for my grandma :). I have seen my skulls artwork tattooed on so many people from teenagers to seniors, from doctors to musicians and it's really amazing how they interpret my works adding their personalities.
I made this collage from a selection of doodles I drew while I was talking on the phone over the past 5 years.
