Phophoto- It's you.. In Cartoon

If you haven’t yet heard of Phophoto you will definitely be hearing about them a lot in the future. Phophoto is a company that transforms your photo into personalized digital art by doing Vector Portraits and also Manga Caricatures. Vector graphics are extremely popular and widely used in graphic design, art, movies and many other forms of multi-media. Phophoto’s unique style amplifies characteristic details with clean sharp lines and colours but it’s not a caricature. Manga is Japanese style comics and cartoons that have been around for almost two centuries and although every portrait Phophoto do is unique typically their Manga Caricatures will be drawn to exaggerate and distort the subjects features in very specific ways. The hair will usually be brightly coloured and pointed and the eyes with be disproportionately big with a small discreet nose and mouth. Every portrait is digitally drawn by hand and inked by an experienced graphic artist. It is digital yet organic.

Nathan Muntner built, maintains and does all the art work for Phophoto:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what made you want to start Phophoto?
Me and my company are out of the innovative yet small town of Boulder, Colorado USA. I have always loved art and photography. Digital photography and software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and Painter opened up a whole new world to me, and enabled me to express myself in new and exciting ways.
I do free-lance graphic and web design work but my main passion right now is that I love to draw digitally and love to draw people.


What are your main inspirations?
I would say my biggest inspirations for doing Vector Art was the movie A Scanner Darkly, and my inspiration for my Manga Caricatures stems from my love of Jap Anime.


What do you do when you’re not doing portraits?
When I am not indulging in my photography and art I am mountain biking in the summer and snowboarding in the winter (it's why I love Colorado)


Phophoto is a very distinctive company and with every order from Phophoto you get a PDF, a large and small JPEG, and a PC and Mac icon file, and unlike other companies, there is no water mark therefore you can have any text/logos you want printed on your portrait. So If you want something a little exclusive and fun to add to your myspace profile, business cards or even your portfolio then Phophoto are the best people to help you. (FU has already requested a portrait, So look out for that on the site)

For more info on Phophoto including prices etc go to:

http://www.phophoto.com/

http://www.myspace.com/phototoavatar

Sasha Rae

After being asked to model for the front cover of a local magazine Sasha Bennett aka Sasha Rae decided to get some new pictures done and with a little persuasion from friends and family she began pursuing modelling on the side and hasn’t looked back since.
This hardworking young lady is not only on her way to becoming a successful model, she is also at Greenwich University studying towards a BA honours combined degree in English and Drama, She works weekends as a Librarian and is the gossip and entertainment features writer for her local magazine Southwark Young People's Magazine Project-which has run for 5 years. In addition to this Sasha Rae is a keen actress,
“I have a immense love for all things theatrical and drama based” - Sasha Rae
It was her love of drama and writing which promoted her to do a combined honours degree so that she could pursue both of her passions simultaneously. It also encouraged her to join up with her old drama teacher and ex students to form a drama company called -In Translation. They have already received rave reviews for their performance of DNA and are now filming a documentary which Sasha Rae is excited about.
Although Sasha Rae admits it has been hard to find the right representation she still remains optimistic and tries to keep her face out there by entering competitions such as the face of the Urban Music Magazine-Touch, where she placed in the top 3. She has also been honing her catwalk skills by doing fashion shows for designers House of Georgie and Danielle Raffa. In addition to this Sasha Rae is receiving positive feedback via her Myspace page and feels that it’s only a matter of time before she gets the right team of people to manage her.

What makes you so unique
It might sound cliché, but what I feel makes me considerably unique is a combination of 3 vital components:
1: I am educated and continue to educate myself, away from University I am also using the time off university to train as a Gym and exercise teacher. I live and breath education and I believe that an educated mind will eventually take you places.
2: I have very unique features. All my life I have been given comments about my nose and its pronounced shape. It is very pronounced and many have believed that my nose is not real, but I can assure you, it was the nose I was born with. I have a very unique and defined face and no one looks like me and vice versa- I look like no one either.
3: There are many strings to my bow. I want to construct a career that is not only double edged but triple edged!. I want to act, model and be teach exercise in between. I am my own upcoming business enterprise.

Who I would like to work with in the future
The goals I have created for myself are endless. I hope to act in some more amazing plays, get a showreel done of my work. I would love to model in hair shows or in my favourite magazine, Pride. I would love to star in a few short films and music videos, to model lingerie and bikini's as I look really good in a bikini!! On a serious note, I would like to work with people who can see my potential and want to work with me to create something amazing. Being in a magazine, modelling sleek makeup or being in a advert are all things I would like to do, and it would be a dream to work with people who could make that happen. I’ve just entered a bikini competition run by a company called Toby Girl and I’m waiting to see where that will take me.

For more info on Sasha Rae go to:

http://www.myspace.com/_sashaben