I'm a young Portuguese designer and developer; I created the studio/brand Complica (also based in Portugal), which explores the conjunction of Risography, design, and creative coding. I love experimenting with methods and trying something new when my creative output is near zero. Furthermore, I love combining these methods to create something that frequently clashes with itself but shows some level of uniqueness. With Complica, a lot of what I have experimented with is animation through Riso printing. After being a purely digital creator for years, Riso printing struck me with the physical aspect of creation. From zines, prints, and animations to a lot of editorial design, Riso made me explore a lot of new ground and allowed me to meet new people, connect with different communities, and put myself out there in ways I would have never done without this studio.

@complicastudio

Process

All my processes revolve around the Riso machine. Either through code, motion, design, illustration, 3D, photography, or other mediums of artistic expression, I create an original image which is then altered for Riso printing and further altered in the final result. Much of this methodology requires the combination of various art forms and the combination of the digital realm with the physical. For example, through coding I can create a shader or a very strong visual image, which is then separated into the various colors with which I desire to print, which is later scanned and sliced into frames (for example) to create an animation that has traversed through a computer, a stencil-making duplicator, and a scanner. Riso printing is the physical aspect of the print, not only from the last print or publication result but also from the actual physical activity of removing a drum and replacing it with another. It is a digital monotony being a tiny bit broken up.

Influences

Being Portuguese, I also looked at the competition and what the other studios near me were doing. The biggest one (for me), which also did design like myself, was the studio Desisto. Another Riso studio, in this case, for illustration, was Mago Studio. They both were a big inspiration and also a big help as I contacted them and annoyed them several times for some insight into this business and having an actual Riso machine by yourself. Sometimes I take inspiration from things I see online or from social media. Other times I create using random images from games, books, music and other interactive media. And most of time, I just conjoin vastly different methods until I make something weird and cool.

Challenges

The biggest challenge is having a Riso machine by itself, being forced to learn how to open the drums and fix any error. The machine is very unstable and drums break. Another big challenge was making the studio itself and the constant doubt of "am I doing the right thing, will this work out?". Even while being a designer and a developer, and as such having access to other possible projects in those areas, making a brand out of the blue and going full freelancer will always leave a bit of doubt in my mind. Building the brand is the challenge, as is the hunt for clients; getting work is hard and sometimes the clients are the hard part, as people don't understand how this technique is used and require perfection in an imperfect machine.

Reflection

I'm building this brand; changes and feedback are here. I'm experimenting with more techniques and further getting out of my comfort zone. In the future, I would invest in more drums to achieve more colours. I'm meeting new people and putting myself out there. I would advise, as I have done with Complica, to experiment as much as you can, to join as many methods as you can. Failure will come; creating something beautiful and having no feedback is frequent, as is wasting hours on something that gets deleted or forgotten. Keep experimenting and keep joining people and doing activities as a community.