illustration

WILL BARRAS

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(UK)

Will Barras is an artist, illustrator, and animation director who lives and creates in London.

Barras grew up in Birmingham and moved to Bristol to study graphic design. He became one of a new crop of young artists working in Bristol's renowned street-art scene. He was a founding member of the Scrawl collective, alongside Steff Plaetz and Mr. Jago, thanks to his representations of fluid movement, unique narrative-driven composition, and line work. Scrawl published a seminal book in 1999 to document the new movement. 

As such, Barras traveled extensively, live-painting and exhibiting pieces throughout Europe, the U.S., and Asia. Though Scrawl slowed down, he continued to paint and furthered his technique, collaborating with Stolen Space and the Brussels-based HLP. He currently takes on commercial projects of interest and directs animation at Th1ng studio in central London.

Watch this video of Will in Oslo:


USUGROW

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(Japan)

Usugrow began his own artistic activity by creating flyers in underground punk and hard core music scene in early 90's. Since then, he has been involved in various album cover designs for bands and musicians regardless of genre, art directions and merchandises, and also collaborating with lots of skateboarding brands and fashion brands.

Usugrow expanded the range of his activity and done several solo exhibition at art galleries in Japan and overseas since 2005, and published his first monograph. In addition to his solo exhibition, he has been curating the group exhibition and book projects with Japanese artists since 2009.

He currently works on mainly illustration, painting and calligraphy as well as live painting, collaboration project with other artists and three-dimensional artwork.

Watch this video:


TODD KURNAT

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(1973, Great Lakes State)
 

Todd Kurnat grew up tracing Iron Maiden album covers and drawing Jim Phillips graphics on his bedroom wall. Fast forward to the current day and you’ll find that Todd’s visual work is predominantly done using ink and paint on re-purposed materials. Often finding inspiration in nature, wildlife, typography, fantasy and sound.

Todd is a self-taught artist who briefly attended the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in the late 90s where he pursued courses in illustration and graphic design. Upon his move to San Francisco in the early 2000s, his art took a back seat to his graphic design successes.

In 2012, wanting more out of life than a paycheck, he began to pursue his art again. Reborn and with intent, Todd’s recent work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout San Francisco.

STANLEY DONWOOD

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(UK)

Stanley Donwood is an enigma. His work on Radiohead's albums and all associated artwork has gained him worldwide recognition. Since 1994, having designed all artwork from the second album ‘The Bends’ onwards, his evocative and haunting imagery has helped to create one of music’s most distinctive brands. In 2006, the release of Thom Yorke’s ‘Eraser’ record brought Donwood’s very distinctive artwork ‘London Views’ into the public eye once again.

As an artist he veers from propagandist graphics to introspective illustrations, but a consistent strength is its combination of deep personal and political emotions with modesty and humor; weighty subjects examined not entirely seriously but certainly respectfully. Notoriously reclusive, Donwood himself doesn't pander to the disingenuous media trend for grandeur, and like many intelligent creatives operating in such a conceited sphere, cannot resist underselling himself.

Stanley Donwood is recognized as one the UK’s ‘popular contemporary’ artists and has exhibited his gallery art to an international fan base, including galleries in London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Rotterdam.

Watch Stanley explain how he creates art for Radiohead and Thom Yorke's solo album:


SANER

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(Mexico City)

Edgar “Saner” Flores is an urban artist, illustrator and graphic designer. Raised by his parents in Mexico City and surrounded by rich color and tradition, Saner developed an interest in drawing and Mexican muralism early on. He began expressing himself on paper and through graffiti art, later going on to earn a degree in graphic design from the Universidad Autónoma de México. His creations are influenced by Mexican custom and folklore, color, mysticism, masks and skulls. A mix of these lifelong interests and passions has led him to become the artist he is today.

Saner’s work has been featured in galleries in Mexico, the United States, London, Berlin and Barcelona. He has collaborated with Kidrobot, Vans, G-Shock, HQTR Canada, Pineda Covalin, Persigna Store, Bacardi, Adidas México, Televisa, and many others.

Watch Saner give a tour of Mexico City and talk about other muralists by MOCA:


NATE VAN DYKE

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Nate (N8) VanDyke is a prolific artist and illustrator who began drawing at the age of two. His medium of choice ranges from: pencil, ink, marker, watercolor, gauche, acrylic and oils. Regardless of what medium he picks up, his signature style can be seen in the contrast of his thin and thick lines in his pen and ink work and the high sheen contrast in his mixed media pieces.

Nate's heavily detailed illustrations feature his heavy metal humans and his well-known future primitive apes with dark menacing personalities. His color work features studies of animals (apes, elephants, giraffes) against lustrous backdrops.

He recently took a job as a senior concept artist at NCsoft working on City of Heroes/City of Villains. Just prior, he finished creating concept art and storyboards for the Sega video game, Iron Man. His work has also been featured in several magazines such as JUXTAPOZ, XBox, PlayStation and Heavy Metal. Over the years N8 has attracted clients such as Converse, Levi Strauss, Scion, EMI Records, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Burton Snowboards, Slayer and Wired. N8’s work has been commissioned and showcased internationally.

Watch N8 in his studio:

NATE VALENSKY

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Dream Chaser Ride On, To all those who have not yet warmed their feet next to the warmth of Nate Valensky’s forest fire; I can only wish that one would feel the feather of bliss flying down a steep hillside after a glass of fine tequila and dried bananas. Nate will inspire one to find wealth in the release of what is not important, enabling the light of what is to shine through. Comparable to walking through a freshly burned pine forest in the Upper Cascade range looking for worms to feed your sick friend the mountain lion. Creating flow like a fresh rattle snake bite, Nate can be the one that sells you your ticket to board the bus to freedom. Whisking ones feet away with the dance of his brush and the flowering of unique color that lathers the mind with a creamy butter of goodness and purity. Approach Nate Like a bubbling stream you may come upon during a journey into a beautiful new world, dip your feet in, cleanse the soul, and fill your moose blatter to the brim, because it could be many moons before you come across something this good again. - Jonathan Oliver Stein -

Watch art life and all that freshness:

 

MR. JAGO

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(1972, UK)

Duncan Jago is considered a veteran of the urban art and design community. He has been described as a pioneer of the Scrawl Movement. Growing up in the small village of Eye in Suffolk, Jago had an intense interest in graffiti, which led him to study illustration in Bristol.

He graduated from the University Of The West of England in Bristol in 1998. It was there that Jago met Steff Plaetz and Will Barras, which led the way to the start of the now renowned Scrawl Collective agency. Mr. Jago’s skills lie in everything from painting and illustration to creating artwork and designs for some of the biggest international brands.

Watch this interview by BBC Blast:


MIKE GIANT

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(1971, New York, US)

Acclaimed worldwide for his prolific work in graffiti, illustration, design and tattoo, Mike Giant is one of the most complete artists of his generation.

As a child he moved to Albu­querque, New Mex­ico, where he stud­ied archi­tec­ture and later he landed in San Fran­cisco, where he was offered a job as a graphic draw­ing artist at Think Skate­boards. Even when he was very young, he worked as a writer in the world of graf­fiti and skate sub­cul­ture, becom­ing at the end of the nineties a tat­too artist, motor­cy­cle and bike cus­tomizer and, lastly, cre­ative mind of the lifestyle brand REBEL8. 

Mike Giant, who defines him­self as an “old hip­ster”, is known inter­na­tion­ally for the extreme pre­ci­sion and rig­or­ous black and white of his lines, that is affected by the influ­ence of pop­u­lar Mex­i­can art and Japan­ese illus­tra­tion. In his pro­duc­tion, that mixes styles and sym­bols of dif­fer­ent nature, we see a con­ver­gence of reli­gious iconog­ra­phy and death alle­gories, tribal sym­bol­ogy and Bud­dhist doc­trine, let­ter­ing and old school ele­ments, in a con­tin­u­ous inter­sect­ing of sacred and pro­fane, love and death. Seduc­tive pin ups and wink­ing femme fatales, BMX bikes, skulls, snakes and Cal­i­forn­ian urban visions pop­u­late his work, all made with extreme care, regard­less of the sup­port, whether it’s leather, paper, metal or cement. His draw­ings and mul­ti­ples have been shown in numer­ous spaces and gal­leries all over the world, from WDWA Gallery in New York to Mis­an­thropy Gallery in Van­cou­ver, to Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris to Mon­ster Chil­dren Gallery in Aus­tralia. Fur­ther­more, his works have often been used by lifestyle and cloth­ing brands, among which the bike com­pany Cinelli and the brands Tribal Gear and Upper Playground.

Watch this video by LandOfChrome:


MICHAEL SIEBEN

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(Austin, Texas, US)

Michael Sieben is a professional designer and illustrator whose work has been exhibited and reviewed worldwide as well as featured in numerous illustration anthologies. He recently took over the managing editor position at Thrasher Magazine and has a monthly column in Juxtapoz Magazine. He is also a founding member of Okay Mountain Collective in Austin, Texas, as well as the cofounder of Roger Skateboards. He lives and works in Austin, TX with his wife Allison, son River, and daughter Eve.

Watch Michael Sieben's Internet Shack Episode 1 by Volcom:


MARIO WAGNER

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(1974)

Mario Wagner lives and works as an artist and illustrator in Berkeley, USA.

His work has been published in renowned anthologies, including 3x3 Magazine and Illustration Now! He also contributed work to advertising campaigns for clients such as ABSOLUT VODKA, Cheerios, IKEA and his work regularly appears in publications such as the New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal and WIRED Magazine. His fine art has been shown in numerous exhibitions in Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London, on art fairs like SCOPE, NADA and Art Basel Miami.

Watch this video of Mario Wagner making an art installation:

MARCO ZAMORA

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(1981, California, US)

Marco Zamora received a BFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2004. His work is inspired by the working class, the chaos of city life, and personal discomfort.

He uses photographic reference for the landscape in his paintings and afterwards improvises figures. The desired result is ‘a beautiful and complex tension between humankind and the urban landscape,’ he says.

Zamora currently lives and works in Los Angeles California. His work has been exhibited across the west coast and in Barcelona, Miami, and Copenhagen.

Watch this video by Converse:


LISEL ASHLOCK

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(Northern California, US)

After graduating with a BFA from California College of the Arts in 2002, Lisel Jane Ashlock exchanged West for East, moving to Brooklyn, New York where she currently lives and works as an illustrator & designer. 

Painting on birch panel, drawing with pencil and watercolor or working digitally, each project is executed with a sensitivity and celebration of the natural world. When she's not busy on an illustration project, Lisel can be found designing, photographing, styling, hand-crafting and creative directing for Moomah the Magazine. 

Lisel has received several illustration awards and accolades and her work can be seen in various national publications, books & advertising projects. She received her MFA from School of Visual Arts in 2009.

LAUREN YS

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(Colorado, US)

Lauren YS' work seeks to translate chaos into visual terms, combining graphic and painterly styles to populate various dream-worlds of her making. After receiving her BA from Stanford in English and Art Practice, Lauren moved to San Francisco to become a freelance illustrator, muralist and artist. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Bay Area and in Europe, including a solo show and artist residency in Vienna, Austria.

Watch her paint a mural in this video by Street Candy:

KOZYNDAN

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(Los Angeles, US)

Kozyndan are husband-and-wife artists who work collaboratively to create highly detailed paintings and drawings for both illustration and fine art. 

The pair met while majoring in illustration at California State University, Fullerton. Since then, their projects have included CD covers for bands such as Weezer and The Postal Service, clothing (including lines of illustrated shoes), and posters for companies such as Nike, Inc.

Kozyndan care deeply about the topic of shark finning. In December 2012, Dan Kitchens posted a controversial statement about finning to accompany an Instagram photo of shark fins for sale. He referred to those who engage in the practice of finning as "Chinks" due to Chinese consumption of the shark dorsal fin.

Watch this timelapse video of them painting:


JESÚS BENÍTEZ

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(1985, Mexico City)

Jesús "Dhear" Benítez's style is a mixture of illustration, painting and graffiti, which dominates all disciplines, practices and mergers. His works often represent animal and plant organisms that curious abstraction, without losing its essence of fantasy.

Watch this video by adidasoriginalsmx:


JEREMY FISH

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(1974, New York, US)

With a degree in painting and a focus in screenprinting Jeremy Fish's education and work experience has lead to a career as a fine artist, and a commercial illustrator. Finding a balance between exhibiting his work both across the US, and internationally in galleries and museums. while maintaining a presence designing skateboards, t-shirts, vinyl toys, album covers, periodical illustrations, murals, and sneakers. The artwork is mainly about storytelling and communication, told through a library of characters and symbols. With an emphasis on finding a balance with the imagery somewhere between all things cute and creepy. Jeremy is based in North Beach aka little italy, and has lived in San Francisco for the last 20 years.


ERICAILCANE

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(Bologna, Italy)

Ericailcane is an Italian artist, street artist, illustrator, draftsman and sculptor. He makes graffiti worldwide. According to the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, Ericailcane "belongs to the new generation of European street artists that have revolutionized how to design public space".

The works of Ericailcane are characterized by scientific precision. The artist presents different variations of disturbing animals human-like, in strange contexts, sometimes charged with a social or ecological significance. He often depicts majestic, unpleasant or monstrous figures resembling the Middle Ages. These aquatic or terrestrial animals are often drawn fighting in more or less hostile or adverse environments. The same iconography is used in its refined drawings in his books, in his collages, in her videos and installations, such as the huge puppet presented in 2009 in Bologna for traditional Vecchione, traditionally burned at midnight December 31 in the Maggiore plaza.

Watch this video of the making of a mural in Bastardilla:


EMILY J. MOORE

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(South Dakota, US)

Emily is an artist and illustrator currently residing in Denver, Colorado.  She was born in a small town in South Dakota and grew up with her parents and younger brother in the suburbs of Kansas City, MO.  Emily moved to Colorado to pursue her art at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in 2009.  She graduated in the spring of 2012 with a BFA in Illustration. She works in a variety of mediums, both traditional and digital.  Her figurative mixed media work is deeply personal.  She likens each piece to a journal entry and a brief visual representation of a moment in time.