Milan-based designer Andrea Minini’s abstract portraits of animals feels not-so-abstract thanks to his well-executed use of lines. This beautiful series illustrates an owl, gorilla, cobra, and more, all drawn in a minimalist style. The impressive works started out with only a few lines using Adobe Illustrator, and grew to the complex images that we see here.
Minini achieved this elegant look using a moiré pattern, which is a visual interference caused by overlapping lines in different thicknesses. The result of the intersecting marks creates depth in the work and contours the animal’s body. Spacing is also important, and the moiré distance between each line creates a larger visual plane and less detail.
The use of the morié pattern feels appropriate for illustrations of animals. Given how active these creatures are in real life, the vibrating lines convey their feathers, fur, and most of all, movement. You can almost see the cobra start to slither away in Minini’s eye-catching design.