Alycia Rainaud’s Art Is a Psychadelic Dream

Looking for some added color to your Instagram feed? Careful what you wish for… Alycia Rainaud’s art might result in an overdose of color. The graphic designer launched her color project, named Malavida, in 2016, with the aim to explore life’s complexity through daily abstractions.

“Being a graphic designer in the first place, I’ve also always been drawn to abstract and experiments in general,” Rainaud explained in an interview with the Ohh Deer blog, talking about the thought process behind her project.

“As far as I remember, before creating Malavida, I started playing with textures and visual effects for my graphic design projects while I was in school,” she says. I truly wanted to, one day, be able to build my own identity, based on the things I like and the way I am as a person. This trippy yet dark vibe has always been a part of my life, so I guess that my style and designs had to convey these aspects, in order to stay as true to myself as possible.”

Each piece starts with a mix of different types of paints, inks, and materials to create a base movement and vibe. Next, Rainaud digitalizes the artwork through a scanner or a camera, after which comes her absolute favorite part: post-production. “This third step is all about movements enhancements and adding all these signature vibrant colors,” she says. “To achieve this effect, I usually work with algorithms, 3D software such as Cinema 4D and of course Photoshop.”

The result is something between an oil spill and a volcanic eruption. Whatever it is, we want in on the action.