Illustrators Division

The Artistic Alchemy of Joy Ang

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From the Illustrators Division

I've been following Joy Ang's work for over a decade, when I first saw her cover illustration for The Anthology Project:

Since then she's become known worldwide for her distinctive and captivating style, particularly in the realm of illustration and character design.

Ang's art often exudes a sense of whimsy and playfulness. Her characters, whether they are humans, animals, or fantastical creatures, often have lively expressions and dynamic poses. I love it.

She doesn't post often, but when she does she always suprises me with where she takes things next. recently she posted these character designs for a personal project she's cooking up:

Really curious wha this is all about.

I'm not sure what alchemy she's using to make her art, but it sure is magical.

You can see much more of her work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter/X: LINK

-Jake​

The Wandering Wonder of Lee White

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From the Illustrators Division

Colorado based illustrator Lee White makes these wonder inspiring watercolor paintings that make me feel like a kid again.

What I love about his work is he's been able to straddle the fence that stands between decorative art and imaginative illustration. It's really a nice balance that works well for picture books and something like greeting cards or interior design.

Not only have I been a fan of Lee White for over a decade, but I've been lucky to call him a friend. We work together on SVS and the 3PP podcast so I get to talk to him almost every day.

You can find more of Lee's work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

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Lee also has a new water color brush set he just released. If you're wondering how he gets this lovely watercolor textures and looks it's from these brushes he custom made.

I've started using them for some experiments I've been doing privately and these brushes are some of the best I've ever used.

Get the brushes here: LINK

-Jake

The Insane World Building of Tanner Staheli

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From the Illustrators Division

Tanner Staheli is a Utah based artist who's built and incredible universe he calls "Immortalize." His world is as meticulously fleshed out as the hyper-detailed crosshatched drawings he's made for it.

The website he's put together has all the regions of the world with drawings and descriptions, dozens of characters, over a dozen different organizations, and even fauna.

But Staheli isn't just caught in the world building trap, he's begun writing a drawing stories for this world. You can get the first comic he's made here: LINK (sadly it's out of stock, but you can get a digital copy for $5.)

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Shop: LINK

-Jake

Emerson Tung's Tankhead

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From the Illustrators Division

Kindred spirit and formidable hard surface artist Emerson Tung has just launched his new book: TANKHEAD.

I've been watching Emerosn post these tank mech designs for close to a decasde now and it's exciting to see them collected in a world building book.

You can order the book here: LINK​

Check out the rest of Emerson's work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Artstation: LINK

-Jake

The Kinetic Ghibli Fan Art of Art Veider

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From the Illustrators Division

Art Veider is a St Petersberg based artist who excels in energetic action comic style art. His characters are typically drawn from the waist up in a dynamic pose that exude creative electricity. I've been a fan for years.

Recently he's drawn a trio of Ghibli fan art pieces that I love to death.

You can see more of his work here:

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK

-Jake​

Alex Braun's Magic Paintbrush

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From the Illustrators Division

Wanted to point your attention to a new up-and-comer I found on Twitter, then had the pleasure of meeting briefly at Lightbox: Alex Braun.

It was the gecko archer that initially caught my eye and I had to see more, and BOY was there more. I love the DnD world he's building out, the dinosaurs, the colors and rendering. I think he found a magic paintbrush or something, becasue his work is beautiful. Good stuff. Keep an eye on this guy.

Website: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Instagram: LINK

-Jake

Search for the Eagle's Eye

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​From the Illustrators Division

Cool new book alert. I love indie book projects, especially the world building kind that's going on with Search for the Eagle's Eye.

This is by Arizona based artist Tate Parker, who, if the last name wasn't a give away, is my son.

He was in California for a couple years doing missionary work and carried this little sketchbook with him everywhere he went. He'd do drawings in it inspired by what he saw and was doing. The result was this epic adventure of three kids as they search for the Eagle's Eye.

I love how raw and honest the book turned out. Tate's an empathetic Gen Z storyteller that makes me excited for this new generation of creators.

You can pre-order the book here: LINK​

Tate's Instagram: LINK

-Jake

The Primary Color World of Linzaoyu

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From the Illustrators Division

I'm just so charmed by these colorful, dreamlike, and enchanting drawings by Japanese artist Linzaoyu.

I would love to see this in an oversized coffee table book, with some kind of narrative in the margins. Seems like there's way more going on in these images than what the pictures show us.

Very little info about the artist online. They're mostly active on instagram. Check out A LOT more of this kind of thing there: LINK

-Jake​

Dream Quest by Alfred Liu

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From the Illustrators Division

Australian artist Alfred Liu is a master of miniature marvels. There's enough detail and story happening in each of his intricate illustrations to fill a book.

Here's his artist's statement:

In the land of dreams, portals open and close leading to different times and places throughout the universe.

Karzelek monks travelling through the east to spread the holy word; the Ixian gate opens; adventurers, creatures and familiars make their way to distant lands. A wise cat rides a donkey helping all those he comes across or playing tricks on them.

As these portals fade, another opens and a mysterious red robed figure beckons you to come in.

RAD.

You can see more of his work over on his website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

And at the Outre Gallery who is hosting a show of his until September 17: LINK

-Jake​

Adam Murphy's Tin Tin Indy Mashup

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From the Illustrators Division

This is great, because I heard it said that Spielberg's Tin Tin movie is the third best Indy film he's made.

After seeing Adam Murphy's Tin Tin and Indy mash up all I want now is some French publisher to hire him to write and draw an Indiana Jones bandes dessinée.

Murphy is a veteran of the animation world working for all the top studios, so no wonder this looks so pro.

Check out more of his work on Instagram: LINK

-Jake​

The paper magic of Guy Pradel

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From the Illustrators Division

Every once and while you see something that's such a genius idea yet so simple you wonder why you didn't connect the dots yourself.

French artist Guy Pradel didn't do it just once, but twice.

First, with this amazing choose your own adventure folded comic:

And second with this choose your own adventure map:

Pradel is one of those individuals with imagination AND work ethic. It seems like he's always coming out with a new zine, comic project, or some fun paper thing like what I shared above.

Please check out more of his work on his website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK​

Twitter: LINK

-Jake

Jean-Frédéric Waldeck's 19th Century Illustrations of Mesoamerica are phenominal

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From the Illustrators Division

I found some nice clean scans of an 1866 tome filled with illustrations by 19th century French artist Jean-Frédéric Waldeck.

I believe these are lithographs, which is a brilliant solution for mass producing art before their was photography and scanners. The Met has a nice breakdown on their website of how this was done here: LINK​

In my mid twenties my wife bought me a year pass to the Dallas Museum of Art and a few days a week I would go there on my lunch break and draw artifacts in my sketchbook.

I loved doing that so much that this kind of illustration always makes me stop and daydream about what it would've been like to travel to the jungles of central america and just fill sketchbooks with artifact and architecture drawings like these.

You can see more of Waldeck's illustrations from "Palenqué et autres ruines de l'ancienne civilisation du Mexique" here: LINK

-Jake​

The Risograph Radness of Wren McDonald

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From the Illustrators Division

Wren McDonald is an illustrator based in Hudson Valley, NY. As an educator at SVA's RisoLAB he has access to the unique Risograph machines that give his prints the texture and richness they exude.

Not sure what risography is? Here's a nice colorful explanation: LINK​

Wren's work drips with personality and playfulness. You can see more of his work here:

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK​

I just snagged an Akira zine and one of these stickers from his shop!

-Jake

Kevin Hong's Dragon Couriers

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From the Illustrators Division

New York based artist Kevin Hong is a Korean-American illustrator who seems to be dialed into drawing everything I love. I was thinking of just sharing a medley of his work here, but this Dragon Courier illustration series really caught my eye. Imagine Kiki's Delivery Service, but it's in a fantasy world and the girls ride dragons instead of brooms.

His style is a pretty straight forward western Japanese hybrid like you see in the European comics scene, but I think where he shines is his color and concepts.

There's another idea he has on his website that's essentially the dragon couriers but it's in the future and the fantasy is replace with technology and it just looks so well thought out and developed.

I'd love to see more of anything he makes. Hoping he does a comic or something someday!

Website: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Tumblr: LINK

-Jake

The Grungergetic comic art of Vlad Legostaev

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From the Illustrators Division

I've coined a term for this style of art that I see in Legostaev and his contemporaries: Grungergetic.

It's grungy, full of energy, and I love it. I'm always afraid to get a little sloppy with my inks in favor of keeping things tight. But I'd love to loosen up a little like Vlad.

Vlad Legostaev is a Ukrainian based comic artist and one to keep an eye on. I love how he draws the Turtles: LINK​

You can see more of his work here:

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK (Content warning, lots of grizzly Ukrainian war coverage)

Website: LINK

-Jake

Elizabeth Torque's Awakening of Wonder

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From the Illustrators Division

I only recently became aware of comic artist Elizabeth Torque on twitter where she's been posting these jaw dropping drawings. A quick search to find out more about this artist revealed an extensive back log of comic covers for Marvel: LINK. Her Marvel work is excellent, but also very much in line with what you'd expect on the cover of a Marvel comic.

The work she's been recently posting on Twitter though is a MAJOR leveling up. There's something unleashed and magical about these. Like she's really tapped into something personal. To paraphrase from one of her pieces there I'd call it an "Awakening of Wonder."

I love this new direction for her, and someone PLEASE hire her to draw a Labyrinth comic! If not Labyrinth, then I'd love to see her own comic project some day.

More on her Twitter: LINK

-Jake

The cute yet cool drawings of Concept Artist Ryo Yambe

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From the Illustrators Division

I've seen Yambe's work here and there on the internet and it has always stopped me in my tracks. I'm a sucker for combining cute with cool, and Yambe does it masterfully and seemingly effortlessly.

Back in October I had the surprise pleasure of meeting him in person at Lightbox Expo. I was excited to pick up a copy of his new book collecting all of these drawings. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the printer, or shipping, or something and he didn't have any books with him. I hope he's able to sort that out because as far as I can tell there's no way to get a copy right now.

Website: LINK​

Instagram: LINK​

Twitter: LINK​

-Jake