WILL BARRAS

(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:

TODD BRATRUD

(1975, Minnesota, US)

Todd Bratrud is an illustrator and artist born on the same day as the wreck of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. He is the owner of Send Help skateboards, previously known as The High Five skateboards. 

He is currently living in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota until he moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1999 to become the art director of Consolidated Skateboards. 

He has created hundreds of graphics for skateboards, stickers, advertisements and apparel for companies like Consolidated Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Birdhouse Skateboards, Enjoi Skateboards, Black Label Skateboards, Creature Skateboards, Real Skateboards and Volcom. He is also an illustrator and blogger for The Skateboard Mag. Examples of his skateboard graphics can be found in the book Disposable, published by Ginkgo Press.

Watch this video of Todd presenting his book:

SMITHE

(Mexico City)

Smithe has been making art since he was 12 years old. Born and raised in the streets of Mexico City, he got an appreciation for the street art around his neighborhood and it developed into a full time lifestyle / career. 

Art has opened doors for him and allowed him to travel to different countries and practice his passion. With art shows in England, Belgium and Germany, Smithe has already made quite a name for himself in the international street art and graffiti scene. His talents don’t stop with a spray can either, Smithe is a fantastic illustrator and sculptor and he plays in a band in D.F., “Punto Stendal”.

Watch this video of Smithe's battle for the big apple by All City Cavnvas:

SHEPARD FAIREY

(1970, South Carolina, US)

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News.

Fairey's first art museum exhibition, entitled Supply & Demand (as was his earlier book), was held in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art during the summer of 2009. The exhibition featured more than 250 works in a wide variety of media: screen prints, stencils, stickers, rubylith illustrations, collages, and works on wood, metal and canvas.

As a complement to the ICA exhibition, Fairey created public art works around Boston. The artist explains his driving motivation: "The real message behind most of my work is 'question everything'."

In July of 2015, Fairey was arrested and detained at Los Angeles International Airport, after passing through customs, on a warrant for allegedly vandalizing 14 buildings in Detroit. He subsequently turned himself in to Detroit Police.

Watch this video of OBEY:

SAN

(Spain)

Born Daniel Munoz Rodriquez, San is an internationally recognized and commissioned illustrator, painter, and street artist. Born in a small Spanish village near the Portuguese border, San currently works and resides in Madrid. His artwork is influenced by magical realism, graffiti, and culinary arts. San has shown his fine art internationally, as well as his street art in cities across Europe.

NYCHOS

(Austria)

Nychos is a renowned Austrian Street Artist. One of the most prolific of the European scene. His style is characterized by pop surrealist and often has a sordid and critical content, particularly on media and society. He is a wonderful illustrator and he dissects and disembowels animals that fill his compositions to put them better into light.

He was born into an Austrian hunting family in South Africa and spent much of his childhood seeing things which many ‘normal’ people would consider cruel or even brutal. For Nychos though, it was a fascinating world. At seven he was bitten by a boar while he was playing in the forest close to home. Just a little while later he had boar meat for lunch. In another instance he saw a dead baby lamb being consumed by maggots the same color as its fur. Instead of being horrified, he was fascinated. He studied the hidden insides of animals and noticed the way life often grows from other life. At the same time he was also a child of the 80s, growing up watching cartoons and being influenced by their flashy bright colors.

Nychos has done collaborations with international giant urban art scene as Roa, Aryz, Satone, Zedz and Wany.

Watch this video by Hypebeast:

NATE VAN DYKE

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:

MUNK ONE

(US)

MUNK ONE is a contemporary American Illustrator, Poster Artist, Political Cartoonist, and Fine Artist from California. He is well known for creating Artwork for major label musical acts and world renowned brands, recognized for their creativity. His fine art has gained much attention through many galleries both at home and abroad. He was previously the official Juxtapoz Art Magazine editorial Illustrator. He is also owner and Creative Director of the Invisible Industries Brand.

His artistic style may seem serious and even dark at first glance, filled with undertones of mortality, religion, or politics but his work can also be full of movement with bright, and fun colors and ideas with a sense of humor. These elements seem to coexist and mix throughout much of his work both commercially and personally. Proficient in both traditional and computer media, he is comfortable using whatever methods his projects may call for.

Working within the apparel and merchandise industries since the mid 90s, much of his knowledge and technical expertise has been gained from hands on experience. In 2006 he decided to focus on creating his own style of art while using his website as the vehicle to share this creativity with the world. During the 2008 election He created a striking portrait of the then Presidential candidate Barack Obama that was to be used for prints, stickers, t-shirts and also ran at bus stops all over the state of Pennsylvania. In 2009 Munk One was featured in Juxtapoz Art Magazine issue #96. That year he also began to work on limited edition screen printed posters and has since worked on prints for Pearl Jam, Blink 182, 311, Soundgarden, City and Colour and More.

Watch this interview:

JUSTIN GABBARD

(California, US)

Justin Gabbard is an illustrator and letterer working out of his east bay studio.  His editorial client list includes The New Yorker, New York Times, New York Magazine, Wired, Afar, Scientific American, and many others. His work was most recently featured in Taschen’s Illustration Now volume 5. His works blends both hand drawn and digital media, including animation for such clients as Emirates Airlines and Microsoft. 

Justin Earned his MFA from the School of Visual art in New York in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program and his work has been recognized by American Illustration, 3x3, and Communication Arts.

JEREMY FISH

(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.

HAJIME SORAYAMA

(1947, Japan)

Hajime Sorayama is a Japanese illustrator, known for his precisely detailed, erotic hand painted portrayals of women and feminine robots. Using brush, pencil and acrylic paint, airbrushing only finishing details, he creates memorable images in a hyper-realistic style. He is often referred to as the contemporary Vargas by those familiar with his pin-up style works, and is respected by artists and illustrators for his perfect technique.

In retrospect, Sorayama's work has been remarkably prescient. Beginning in the 1970's and evolving into the 21st century, the futuristic aura of the robotic, mythic and fantastical figures in his art have always been ahead of their time.

Watch him at his studio here:

DETH P. SUN

(San Diego, California, US)

Deth P. Sun is a painter/illustrator currently residing in Berkeley, California. He studied for two years at San Francisco State University, until he transferred to the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he received his BFA in 2002 in Painting and Drawing. 

He exhibits his work about ten to twelve times a year, usually in group shows, but sometimes he takes up a solo exhibition. His work has shown throughout the U.S. and abroad (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Seattle, Detroit, Portland, New York) for the past few years and he's done illustrations or have contributed stuff to (among other things): Chronicle Books, Giant Robot, Tiny Showcase, Urban Outfitters, Fantagraphics, Poketo, Park Life, The Exploratorium, The Howard Hugh's Medical Institute, The LA Weekly, and Nylon Magazine.

Watch this video of Deth P. Sun's studio in Oakland by Bay Area Vintage Base Ball:

ANTHONY LISTER

(1979, Brisbane, Australia)

Lister is a painter and Installation artist whoes work presents us with a grimy fusion of high and lowbrow culture with influences from a number of areas and genres, including street art, expressionism, pop art, and contemporary youth culture, often drawing from television and the "misguided role models" that result. Revelling in the "spirituality", and the "heritage" of Western popular culture he takes this joint legacy and remoulds it into something equally alluring and grotesque, a perfect representation of the society he seeks to depict. 

Taking influence from the dirtier and rough techniques of "Bad" Painting and merging it with the spirit and practices of graffiti art Lister has embraced an explosive, scratchy, scrawling form of figurative art using a variety of mediums from painting, drawing and installation to film and music.

Lister uses comic book imagery for his own means, redirecting popular culture for personal expression. Heroes and villains are taken out of the panel and placed in a new space, devoid of the usual storyline, dialogue and scenery. His paintings are not controlled by cartoon contexts. Rather, the figures in these portraits are reinvented through the artist’s hand. His mixed media technique, involving layers of ink, spray and brushwork, allow his paintings to simultaneously have soft ethereality and a garish, raw energy.

Watch his interview by We Love Street-Art:

ALEX PARDEE

(1976, California, US)
 

Visionary American artist, Alex Pardee, and pioneer in what he calls, "trans-media artistry", brings his unique style and aesthetic to all platforms, including numerous creative director credits for music, animation, and film projects. He is a freelance artist, apparel designer, and comics creator writer, best known for illustrating The Used's album artwork.

Pardee's self-proclaimed influences include 1980s horror movies, pop art, graffiti and gangster rap. Alex has been featured in magazines, gallery shows, and notably in the designs for the clothing company he co-founded, zerofriends.

Join Alex Pardee as he teaches you his methods to draw a monster by zerofriends.