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"Off Duty"
Monsters have errands too.
Off Duty is a series about the things we’re told to fear, caught on their days off. A creature made of mouths waits for its laundry. Something with a vertical mouth eats ramen next to a guy on his phone. A girl with hands in her belly irons a shirt under a bare bulb. They’re grotesque, and also completely ordinary: tired, a bit bored, getting through the day like the rest of us.
Made with Recraft for the Recraft × Contra challenge.
Some of the images I created
they don't mean to scare you
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I fell for Japan as a teenager, visited many times, then lived there for seven years, long enough to know the konbini (convenience store) is a cultural institution: open 24/7, constantly rotating seasonal products, and locked in a friendly rivalry over the best coffee and sweets.
My other obsession is Taisho and early Showa graphic design, and while searching for inspiration, I found the work of Sugiura Hisui, whose lithograph posters announced Mitsukoshi’s new spring collections a century ago. So I thought: how would Hisui create ads for today's convenience stores?
I turned his posters into a Recraft V4 Style and launched the Spring 2027 range of Hinata Mart, a fictional convenience store. The series pairs today’s bestsellers (fruit sandwiches, fried chicken, iced drinks, oden) with modern fixtures like the ATM and the self-serve coffee machine.
Hope you'll like it!
This intro already pulled me in — 7 years in Japan is the real credential for a konbini story! They're truly a cultural institution.
I can already feel the seasonal packaging + coffee rivalry angle. Did you use Recraft for the illustration style? Curious to see how you captured...
Project Title: Surreal World 🌀✨
Description: Hey everyone! Here is my submission for the Recraft Challenge — a poster series called "Surreal World"! 🎨
For this project, I dove deep into the Public Domain Image Archive and gathered vintage 18th and 19th-century illustrations from various talented artists of that era — think old-school book engravings, scientific botanical plates, and classical etchings.
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I wanted to give these historical artworks a fresh, weird, and fun twist by mixing them with modern surrealism, bold colors, and psychedelic vibes. With Recraft, I blended classic cross-hatching textures and aged paper looks with funky symbols, neon contrasts, and dreamlike patterns.
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Hope you enjoy this little trip where history meets surreal imagination! Let me know what you think! 👇✨
i love these!
7:30 a.m. First coffee. Same ritual, every single day.
Some people have a sweet tooth. I have a coffee tooth. And while the kettle boils, I usually catch myself daydreaming about the same place: Japan, a trip I’ve wanted to take for years.
For this challenge, I brought the two together. Digging through public domain archives, I found Japanese woodblock prints with rolling waves, round windows, cherry blossoms and graceful women drawn in a few calm, confident lines. I turned them into a custom Recraft Style and gave it a brief no Edo-era print shop could have imagined: a modern café, with takeaway cups, delivery bags, loyalty cards and an ordering app.
The café is called Mado, “window” in Japanese: a small window to slow down in a busy day. Its barista, also Mado, wears an indigo wave apron, a round-window hairpin and wireless earbuds. She remembers your oat milk order, protects the window seats from video calls, and believes every laptop should close when the cake arrives.
Old prints, new rituals. My entry for the Contra × Recraft Archive Style Challenge.
This is beautiful Sofiia! Love how you turned your daily coffee ritual + Japan daydream into a full brand concept. The MADO packaging with that Japanese illustration style is so warm and nostalgic. Coffee tooth is real! ☕️ Hope you get to Japan soon!