Carlin Díaz’s work spans animation, illustration and collage, and combines vivid colours with organic shapes and round-faced characters.

The Venezulan-born, Paris-based creative graduated as a graphic designer in 2012, but turned to illustration in search of more creative freedom, and has since worked on music videos, LP covers and GIFs.

His work is inspired by graffiti, skate culture and surrealism, and he counts Magritte, Rousseau and photographer and painter Ed Templeton among his artistic influences.

“When I was around 15 years old, I started to be super interested in skate culture and graffiti and I remember seeing videos like Toy Machine’s Good and Evil. They used a lot of graphics and animation. When I saw that, I just fell in love with it – it opened my mind,” says Diaz. “That was something that really pushed me to look at the visual world as a career and not just a thing that kids do.”

Recent projects include a digital illustration to promote Matches Fashion’s Prada collection, a music video about a whirlind romance between a duck and a dog for Norwegian band Kakkmaddafaka, and Sun, Sol, Soleil – a mixed-media collage inspired by his love of the sun, created using colourful paper and glitter.

Díaz pays close attention to colour: after deciding on a palette, he often puts an image aside so he can revisit it with fresh eyes before completing a project.

“[It’s] super important that once I create the colour palette, [I] put it away for at least a day and a half and look it at it with fresh eyes, then I will see if it works or I have to change something,” he explains.

He enjoys working on LP covers and music videos – “those are projects that I really enjoy because it combines music and visual art,” he adds.

New Talent is part of Inspire, a partnership between Creative Review, Facebook and Instagram showcasing outstanding creative work across both platforms. More advice and inspiration for creatives using Facebook and Instagram is available at facebook.com/ads/creativehub.You can follow Carlin Diaz on Instagram (@carlindiaz) or see more of his work at carlindiaz.com