Each month we invite a creative from Behance to curate our social feed for a week. This month’s Guest Curator is self-taught lettering artist and graphic designer Huston Wilson.

South African artist Huston Wilson’s creative journey has been one of constant discovery and experimentation. “​​Ever since I can remember, I’ve been interested in art and knew that this was a career that I aspired to have. In my younger years, I drew what was interesting to me, such as cartoons and pictures of famous people.”

Typography by Huston Wilson

Before he discovered his current niche in illustrative typography, Huston immersed himself in photography. “I used to volunteer at my local church as a part of the media team. It helped me become more curious and even buy a camera to learn on my own time. One day, I uploaded my photographs to Unsplash, and next thing I knew, they were trending.”

The positive reception encouraged Huston to continue learning and expanding his creative skills, and he credits photography for helping him develop the necessary skills for graphic design: “Photography has helped greatly when it comes to working on design compositions and adding a visual tone to my designs.”

Huston Wilson for Peloton

These days, Huston combines the creative disciplines and lessons of his past to create bold statement typography that delivers a message of positivity. “Voices can be heard with typography,” he shares. “Each typeface, as well as each piece of lettering, has its own unique appearance with the great joy of understanding its shape.”

A pivotal project that helped Huston define his style and focus was 36 Days of Type. “Over the years I felt all over the place and didn’t know where I stood. This project really helped me grow every day. Colors, textures, shapes and shadows were just thrown together as I went with the flow. This ultimately led to what I do now.”

36 Days of Type by Huston Wilson

Color plays a vital role in all of Huston’s designs: “I love working with colors in personal projects, and I am happy to do so when dealing with clients.”

The first step is to define the mood of the project, and from there, Huston begins a fluid process of trial and error. “I start with random colors that don’t really work and start adjusting them as I go. My highlights, mid-tones, and shadows are displayed in these colors, and I continually change them until I choose the right one.”

Juneteenth illustration for Facebook by Huston Wilson

Whenever Huston gets stuck, he takes a step back. “My habit is to make small thumbnail sketches,” he explains. “Whatever the project, getting rough ideas and seeing what works and what doesn’t always provides something that will come in handy at some point in the future."

Illustrated type by Huston Wilson

For Huston, Behance has been a source of inspiration as well as a way to connect with the larger creative community. “Adding a project to Behance and showcasing your work to the world is a great feeling, knowing that you can inspire others through a platform where every creative person shares knowledge and ideas as a community.”

See Huston’s moodboard on Behance

For his moodboard, Huston looked for projects with vibrant colors that caught his eye, like these cosmic illustrations by Romanian artist Alina Bohoru. “This project gave me a fuzzy feeling when I was going through it. I like how these abstract shapes have a symmetrical noise buzz to them,” he shares.

Illustrations by Alina Bohoru

Another project that Huston highlighted in his moodboard is a series of animated geometric figures by Mikey Dowdle. “I was impressed by Mikey’s use of color, texture, and motion to create characters, using geometric shapes on a glassy background.” Mikey created these abstract figures inspired by his fellow commuters on his way to work.

People by Mikey Dowdle

Follow us on beInstagram this week as we share more projects from Huston's moodboard and give you and inside look at his creative process. You can see more proejcts by Huston on BehanceBehance.