Multidisiplinary illustration collective Magictorch recently celebrated their studio’s 20 year anniversary with the opportunity of a lifetime. When the studio was asked to develop the January 2020 cover of National Geographic, they couldn’t imagine a more exciting way to start off the new year. As this special edition of the magazine focuses on the subject of pain, Magictorch used CGI editing techniques to create this stunning image of a close-up glass head wincing in pain while multicolored electricity bolts fire off from a central point.

After experimenting with various different stylist versions of the design (where a few samples of the alternative illustrations they came up can be seen to the left), the team dialed in their finalized vision with the image below. They even produced the animated version of the image (embedded at the bottom of this article) to use on social and digital editions of the magazine as an added bonus!

As Magictorch is always looking to “try something new, keep things fresh, and move things forwards,” we can see why they were ideal for the job. Their studio truly knows how to take an innovative approach to visual project development, where their portfolio demonstrates an all-encompassing expertise in designing both still and motion pieces for a wide range of clients hailing from all corners of the globe.