I Create Portraits Of Famous People Out Of Triangles

I’m Giselle Manzano Ramírez, a Colombian born, Brooklyn based graphic designer. My Illustration project “Low Poly/High Poly portraits: Artists” has received press from national and international media.

It transforms images of legendary, world renowned figures in the art world using the modern low poly technique, showing the before and after effect of adding an artful blend of colors to the triangles to create stunning artworks. Each image is reduced to a careful and complex arrangement of triangles in different shapes and sizes, before adding slightly different shades of color to complete the artwork and give the portrait life.

It is a geometric study of light and shade depending on the lighting of the artist’s image. I focus detail in the eyes and face trying to approach hyper realism while at the same time work with bigger triangles to maintain the low poly technique and near abstract art. I define my illustrations as “the complexity of Minimalism”.

We all are made of small particles that together make a whole. Each particle such as a molecule, atom or cell seems simple but inside is complex. This is the concept I have for each triangle that is of vital importance in the process of my work. Each triangle has different information such as light, shadow as well as tone of color giving life and volume to the portrait. The concept of complexity is to characterize something with many parts where those parts interact with each other in multiple ways. In other words it becomes hyper realistic through detail, a careful arrangement of triangles with light, shadow and volume creating a whole and giving life to such complex and simple beings in this case, humans.