Tim Colmant

Tim Colmant works the seam between illustration and surface design, which is why his pictures so often read as patterns — motifs that lock together, repeat, and refuse to sit still on the page. The Brussels illustrator and graphic designer builds images out of rhythm first and subject second.

That is a harder trick than it looks. Pattern-making forces every element to earn its place twice — once on its own and once as part of the whole — and Colmant’s work holds up under both readings: playful, but with the rigour of someone who has thought about how the thing will tile.

More of his work: timcolmant.com.