Came across these lovely illustrations by Gracia Lam and was really taken aback by how calming they are. The subject matters are quite varied for each piece, but I like that they all have a similar set of aesthetics and a common color palette. I want to say they almost have a zen-like quality to them; there’s just something so soothing about these pieces that makes me want to sit and stare at them.

Found through It’s Nice That

Bobby

Wow! The drawings of the Beijing-based artist Na Zhao are just incredible. The detail in which she works is difficult to comprehend, and it’s hard to imagine the scale that these images exhibit in real life. Apart from the pure craftsmanship of what she does, Na Zhao’s work also looks incredible. Her images are surreal and beautiful.

The two pieces of work above are particularly mind-blowing. Both entitled Come With Me, they feel as fantastical as they do profound. Both show a girl and a large herd of animals as they stand in transit upon a short moving walkway. Na Zhao’s gentle pencil work and delicate use of color, create powerful images that will no doubt stun and amaze.

Philip

Daniel Danger is an illustrator and printmaker from New England, and he’s got a really rad style. I love the amount of detail and depth he puts into his pieces, the complex line work and hatching is stunning. I also love the themes he chooses to create, these really spooky, sort of supernatural scenarios which are awesomely weird. The finishing touch to these pieces though are the colors he applies, which certainly help to bring a mood to each piece. My personal favorite is the second one above, the blend of purples, reds, oranges and yellows are beautiful.

Bobby

Bloomberg Businessweek is hands down one of the finest publications out today, both the physical and digital versions. One of the best things they do is use talented illustrators and designers to create graphics for their stories, and now they don’t go to waste. They’ve recently started a a blog called Bloomberg View Art which showcases the images created for ,the op-ed stories that Bloomberg runs. It’s a great idea which shows off the illustrations and designs created while still linking to the stories they were created for.

What you see above is work from Tim Lahan, Mikey Burton, Labour and Kiji McCafferty, all favorites of mine. Click here to start diving through all the great work.

Bobby

Violeta Lópiz is an illustrator who comes from the Spanish island of Ibiza. Her beautifully textured work is filled with personality and playfulness, and her illustrations have appeared in newspapers and children’s book.

Her most recent book (pictured above) is called Les Poings sur les îles. It is a collaboration with the French author Elise Fontenaille and it is filled with Violeta’s own unique style; combining rich colors and lush and delicate textures to create some pretty amazing looking illustrations. The way in which these images are constructed really give the work an organic feel and I can imagine that it’s a style that would really appeal to children. Check out more of Violeta’s work online here.

Philip

The work of Belgian artist and illustrator Sam Vanallemeersch is just incredible. Each of his images are filled with a crazy amount of energy and spontaneity. His work often leaves you dazed as you attempt to take in everything you’re looking at. After browsing through his portfolio(s) I was left feeling both overwhelmed and in awe.

The Antwerp-based artist also has an interesting approach to how he works – creating illustrations in two very different ways. Sometimes he works under the name of Kolchoz – working digitally and with gouache to create graphic-based illustrations with sharp lines and beautiful colors. Other times, he can be found working as Sovchoz – a looser and wilder version of himself, like an illustrator trapped in some coffee-soaked acid-trip. Both approaches to his work are amazing and envy-inducing. I’d thoroughly recommended you take the next half-hour off and simply gorge yourself on this mans incredible work.

Philip

Last weekend I visited some friends in London and managed to catch the excellent Cut & Run show at Shoreditch’s Kemistry Gallery. The exhibition features work by British illustrators Jack Teagle, Ryan Chapman, Matthew Dent and Matthew Bromley. I’m a big fan of all their work so it was great to see the exhibition.

I thought I’d share these great paintings by Matthew Bromley that feature in the show. I love how fun and playful Bromley’s crude and quirky style is – and his portfolio is filled with weird looking illustrations of strange creatures, goblins and bat-like creatures. They’re just plain fun to look at.

Folk in London should definitely try and catch Cut & Run before it closes this Saturday.

Philip

While digging around Kevin Dart’s new Tumblr to get more info on the Persol video he recently did, I found this new minor project he’s working on called Colouroid. It’s a simple idea where he illustrates an everyday something from his life, be it food or scenery. He’s only done seven so far, but the results are pretty great. I love that each of these are made up of pretty simple shapes. They’re kind of like high level sketches, but I doubt most of us could make our sketches look so great. Here’s his description of the project.

“I am starting a new exercise which I hope to do at least once a week. My plan is to take photos of little scenes whenever I am out around the city, and then bring them home to do small color study paintings. I’m hoping it will improve my sense of light and color. They will all be done in a square format to limit the number of things I have to worry about.”

You can see the full selection of images by clicking here.

Bobby

The illustrations above are from the talented hands of Katie Scott. You can find a few recurring themes in her work: plants, crystals, plants inside crystals, and a novel approach to human/marine biology. The illustrations above were commissioned by the New York Times, and I love imagining how the insides of these athletes would work. Maybe if my inner giblets looked like this, I would be a better athlete and not worry every time I pass a ball game that the ball will go out-of-bounds and everyone will watch me try to throw or kick it back.

Alex

When I started watching the video above, I immediately thought to myself, “This is like a cartoon version of Monocle.” Well sure enough, I wasn’t too far off. This new spot for Persol sunglasses was put together by an A-list team put together by Winkreative, with Tyler Brûlé heading things up as creative director alongside the boys of Fleet Street Scandal, Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham, for direction and design. The color, light and sound of this pot is perfect and idyllic, making the brand seem like the perfect sunglasses for an extraordinary life. Kevin Dart did fantastic job at directing the spot, you can see some of the behind-the-scenes work he did over on his blog, and the backgrounds created by Chris Turnham are also quite spectacular to see. To see a full list of everyone who worked on the spot, click here.

Bobby