YELO

Yelo is a typography artists based in Toronto. Using bold colours and shapes, they have a free flowing vision of their growing style and dreams to collaborate with Nike and Burberry.

Have you been doing art since young or is this a newer passion?

"Art is something I’ve been doing for years. When I was really young, I would always make drawings and paintings, sometimes I would even make picture books. Art was always one of my favourite classes in school. In the few years leading up to high school and in high school, my passion and creative vision started to grow much more. In grade 9 art class I was given a typography project. We were to create a typography portrait of ourselves and use words that describe ourselves, family, interests, etc. This really catapulted typography into my passions."

Would you say where you grew up has an impact on your art style at all?

"I think it did. All the street art I see when I go into the city. The graffiti on the walls of buildings and under bridges. I was also intrigued with skateboarding when I was younger and would go to the skatepark with my mom before school when I had half days of school — while I was there I always acknowledged the graffiti on the sides of the park and the ramps."

I like the choice of your colours; you tend to choose very vibrant colours. Where did the choice of these colours come from?

"I like how much they stand out, it catches the eye of the audience. I’ve always been attracted to bright colours. I like to stand out with my art and style — my favourite colour is pink. I know I don’t use it very often in my posters but it’s definitely prominent in my wardrobe."

You specialize in typography, how and why did this become?

"I loved typography for while I was growing up, it was my go-to, I found I was naturally better at typography compared to other forms of visual art. When I got to grade 9, one of the assignments we had was a typography project — this was my most favourite art project in all of school and is where my passion really grew from. I believe that it is one of the best styles of visual art to express emotion."

How do you know what shapes you would like to draw in the typography, some of your work is quite bubbly and curved whilst others are sleek and sharp?

"I don’t really have a clear cut way of knowing what fonts to use, it’s just what comes to my head at the moment when I brainstorm a rough draft. Sometimes it’s based on recent styles I’ve done, other times I’ll take in different aspects such as the word I’m using, the space I have, style of the picture or the topic of the picture (the person or brand in the picture)"

What advice would you give to other people looking into or are in the creative industry?

"I’m still trying to figure out my way into the industry, so my advice won’t go that far, but I’d say if you have a vision and you are really passionate about it, just go for, everyday work hard and when the success comes, keep pushing for more."

Is there anything new coming up that you would like to promote?

"I keep my cards close, so I guess you’ll just have to find out."

FOLLOW YELO ON INSTAGRAM HERE