illustration Archives - PlayJunkie PlayJunkie Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:22:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Beautiful Illustrations Show Humans and Their Creature Companions https://playjunkie.com/beautiful-illustrations-show-humans-and-their-creature-companions/ Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:51:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=40328 Even if you don’t recognize the name of artist Yael Nathan, there is a good chance that you have already seen some of her works. Nathan worked as an illustrator for the Star Wars comics series and has a number of other popular projects to her name, including webcomics ELComics and Serpent. When she is […]

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Even if you don’t recognize the name of artist Yael Nathan, there is a good chance that you have already seen some of her works. Nathan worked as an illustrator for the Star Wars comics series and has a number of other popular projects to her name, including webcomics ELComics and Serpent.

When she is not creating artwork for comics, Nathan creates beautiful illustrations of humans and their creature companions. She frequently shares these on her social media and makes them available as a free download online collection.

These Disney-like illustrations draw inspiration from real life, fantasy, and history. They capture a unique bond between an array of human characters and real-life animals or fictional creatures like dragons. The humans and their creature companions are usually shown sharing tranquil moments or engaging in playful behavior.

“I love exploring the shapes, emotions, and relationships between humans and animals through my illustrations,” Nathan wrote in a blog post shared on Bored Panda. “I also enjoy crafting their stories through drawing; whether they’re real or fantastical, serious or funny, current or from history.”

Continue scrolling to check out more of Nathan’s beautiful illustrations and visit her social media to see other projects from this talented artist.

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Lauren Martin Transforms Foods Into Cute Cartoon Characters https://playjunkie.com/lauren-martin-transforms-foods-into-cute-cartoon-characters/ Sat, 30 Nov 2024 16:59:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=40087 Ever wondered whether your food has a personality? Lauren Martin, an NYC-based illustrator, has made it her mission to answer that question—by giving strawberries, toast, and other everyday objects faces, feelings, and a whole lot of charm. Her whimsical style turns inanimate and seemingly mundane items into expressive, cartoon-like characters that seem to leap off […]

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Ever wondered whether your food has a personality? Lauren Martin, an NYC-based illustrator, has made it her mission to answer that question—by giving strawberries, toast, and other everyday objects faces, feelings, and a whole lot of charm. Her whimsical style turns inanimate and seemingly mundane items into expressive, cartoon-like characters that seem to leap off the page, ready to brighten your day.

Martin’s career has blossomed with collaborations, including designing apparel for Only NY and creating eco-friendly packaging for Eat.Me.Do, a food-inspired fashion brand. She has also partnered with Uniqlo USA to create a range of T-shirts.

Martin’s work is inspired by nature. She draws creative energy from the changing seasons, wildlife, and natural elements around her, particularly the park near her home in New York. This way of seeing the world is central to her art, with her sketches often capturing the comedy and whimsy of her surroundings. She is determined to always find the humor and magic in the everyday.

A powerhouse of creative energy, when Martin isn’t working on illustrations, she plays synth and guitar in the band Frankie Cosmos. Check out more of her quirky illustrations below.

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Illustrator Creates Alternative Covers for Popular Books and They Are Amazing https://playjunkie.com/illustrator-creates-alternative-covers-for-popular-books-and-they-are-amazing/ Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:58:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=39983 Illustrator Andres Moncayo recently shared a project he did for a client in which he created a series of alternative covers for popular books. Judging by the reactions of social media to Moncayo’s works, the project was a resounding success. While designing the covers, Moncayo’s aim was to keep them minimalistic while also trying to […]

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Illustrator Andres Moncayo recently shared a project he did for a client in which he created a series of alternative covers for popular books. Judging by the reactions of social media to Moncayo’s works, the project was a resounding success.

While designing the covers, Moncayo’s aim was to keep them minimalistic while also trying to sum up the story of the book into a single visual. This made it a challenging task but one that Moncayo solved with flying grades.

For example, his design for Stephen King’s The Shining shows a silhouette of a man holding an axe, inside of which is a kid sitting in a hallway and looking at a half-open door of a hotel room. If you read the book, you realize that Moncayo managed to sum up all the key points of the book.

“I find book cover design incredibly challenging and rewarding,” Moncayo explained in a recent chat with My Modern Met. “The ability to condense the essence of an entire story into a single visual is a fascinating exercise in creative problem-solving. It’s a perfect blend of art and communication.”           

Moncayo also created covers for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein, and many more. Check out more of them below.

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Natalie Shilo’s Illustrations are Full of Positivity https://playjunkie.com/natalie-shilos-illustrations-are-full-of-positivity/ Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:01:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=39199 Natalie Shilo is a Warsaw, Poland-based artist who creates illustrations that will captivate you with their unusual style and charm you with their positivity. Full of vibrant colors and unusual elements, these illustrations capture the moments of enjoyment in everyday life. The subjects seem careless, enthusiastic, or just unbothered by anything else besides wanting to […]

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Natalie Shilo is a Warsaw, Poland-based artist who creates illustrations that will captivate you with their unusual style and charm you with their positivity.

Full of vibrant colors and unusual elements, these illustrations capture the moments of enjoyment in everyday life. The subjects seem careless, enthusiastic, or just unbothered by anything else besides wanting to embrace the moment. They dance, pick flowers, play musical instruments, and invite the viewer to be a part of their activities.

Shilo creates her artworks using digital tools but still manages to make them unique. This is in part thanks to her commitment to making every element fit together perfectly.

“I am constantly searching for the perfect combination of shapes, colors, and textures,” Shilo said in a recent chat with Colossal.

Shilo is a versatile artist whose creativity goes beyond illustrations. Aside from having experience in artistic photography, she is also involved in the fashion industry, creating graphics for one Polish clothing brand. She is also interested in animation and weaving while planning to get involved in mural design and ceramics.

Shilo shares her newest illustration works on Instagram while also offering prints through her Etsy shop. You can check out more of them below.

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This Illustrator is Inspired By Thai and Chinese Cultures https://playjunkie.com/this-illustrator-is-inspired-by-thai-and-chinese-cultures/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 08:02:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37586 Ploypisut Chueobchoey, known simply as Ploy, integrates Thai and Chinese cultures into her art, creating illustrations and patterns that are steeped in flora and fauna. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Ploy was born and raised in a Thai-Chinese family. “I began drawing when I was very young,” she shared with Lake. “During my childhood, I was surrounded by […]

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Ploypisut Chueobchoey, known simply as Ploy, integrates Thai and Chinese cultures into her art, creating illustrations and patterns that are steeped in flora and fauna. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Ploy was born and raised in a Thai-Chinese family.

“I began drawing when I was very young,” she shared with Lake. “During my childhood, I was surrounded by Chinese and Thai decorations. My grandpa used a Chinese ceramic bowl and teapot, and my grandma wore a Thai motif textile cloth. I thought I absorbed a lot from my childhood environment. My parents always encouraged me to continue my creative path.”

“I am into traditional Chinese painting,” she adds. Inspired by wall paintings in Chinese temples, as well as Thai textiles, Ploy says she enjoys the complexity of natural shapes and animals in folk tales. “I am so thrilled to see illustrations and patterns come to life,” she says.

Using mainly watercolor, but also gouache and ink, Ploy’s selected clients include Samsung, Design House Greetings x Trader Joe’s, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “Social media is a huge part of my career as a freelance illustrator and designer,” she says. “Clients have found me through social media, especially Instagram. I use them to share my work and connect with other people. I can’t imagine living without it.”

Enjoy some of her work in the gallery below:

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The Soft, Romantic Illustrations of Mateja Kovač https://playjunkie.com/the-soft-romantic-illustrations-of-mateja-kovac/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 08:00:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=36779 There’s an undeniable softness to Mateja Kovač’s illustrations and paintings. Colored in light, pastel colors, her art tends to center around women, but there’s also an abundance of floral patterns—a feeling of springtime and romanticism and a sense of ease that’s come to be characteristic of her work. “I believe that the ambiance in my […]

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There’s an undeniable softness to Mateja Kovač’s illustrations and paintings. Colored in light, pastel colors, her art tends to center around women, but there’s also an abundance of floral patterns—a feeling of springtime and romanticism and a sense of ease that’s come to be characteristic of her work.

“I believe that the ambiance in my work is much more important than the content,” she remarked in an interview with Viva’s. “I could even say that my choice of motives and color is made considering the ambiance I’m trying to achieve in my illustration.”

Having graduated with a master’s degree from the School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Kovač’s style has developed over time and with much trial and error. In 2014, she began collaborating with international clients, and over the years her projects have ranged from social media marketing campaigns to packaging and stationery.

“The projects I work on are varied and they all demand a different emotion,” she reflected. “You could say that I tend to surround myself with sources of inspiration that awakens a necessary emotion in me, depending on the project I’m working on.” She explains that while working on a fashion editorial, her inspiration might come from the old masters of fashion illustration; if she’s working on an illustration of a city, on the other hand, then she might turn to old photos or vintage postcards for inspiration.

When illustrating women, she finds that the challenge is greater. “On the internet, I often find very caricatured and grotesque illustrations of the female figure whose sexuality is shown in a very explicit way or just the opposite a very infantile way,” she says. “It is always a challenge to represent a woman’s sensuality without highlighting her sexual attributes. I’m not sure if I have succeeded in it but that was the main guidance thought.”

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These Illustrations are Flat Out Wonderful https://playjunkie.com/these-illustrations-are-flat-out-wonderful/ Sun, 27 Mar 2022 10:35:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37627 Justyna Stasik’s illustrations are distinctively flat, based around organic shapes and limited color palettes. The result— cartoonish, vibrant, and all-around playful—cuts to chase, translating complex ideas into bite-sized solutions. According to her bio, as a teenager in Poland, Stasik avoided doing her homework in favor of making collages and doodling. She continued this hobby throughout […]

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Justyna Stasik’s illustrations are distinctively flat, based around organic shapes and limited color palettes. The result— cartoonish, vibrant, and all-around playful—cuts to chase, translating complex ideas into bite-sized solutions.

According to her bio, as a teenager in Poland, Stasik avoided doing her homework in favor of making collages and doodling. She continued this hobby throughout university (surprisingly, not art school) experimenting with a Wacom tablet. But it was only when she landed an internship at a game tech startup that she really honed her craft.

“I never went to art school and I’m 100% self-taught,” she stressed in an interview with Sense of Creativity. “At some point I’ve landed an internship at a small Polish tech startup creating iOS games for kids. I was offered a full-time position there and that’s how my career started.” According to Stasik, being the only creative on board she had to learn a bit of everything including illustration, animation, and graphic design.

But after some time she found she needed a change of scenery, moving first to France and later on to Canada. Now based in Montreal, Stasik works as an illustrator full time, with clients that include giants like Apple, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Sony. “I don’t think it’s about learning the creativity itself but more about figuring out how to access what’s already inside,” she says. “And that is definitely something you can learn later on in life.”

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Illustrator Depicts Modern Day Problems In a Contemporary Way https://playjunkie.com/illustrator-depicts-modern-day-problems-in-a-contemporary-way/ Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:46:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37269 Vicki Ling is a Chicago-based visual artist and illustrator with a strong eye for detail. In her latest project, Hanging By a String she draws a red string that she wraps around different objects, exploring the fragility of modern life. “Contemporary lifestyles tend to obscure various crises that spontaneously erupt, from privacy invasions to public […]

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Vicki Ling is a Chicago-based visual artist and illustrator with a strong eye for detail. In her latest project, Hanging By a String she draws a red string that she wraps around different objects, exploring the fragility of modern life.

“Contemporary lifestyles tend to obscure various crises that spontaneously erupt, from privacy invasions to public health issues and from climate change to personal emotional disorders, etc.,” the artist told Colossal. “Often our preoccupations are so overwhelming that they lead us to conceal our anxiety in oblivion. I’m interested in surfacing that sense of tension and insecurity and raise these issues to our collect(ive) consciousness.”

Ling got her Masters of Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London back in 2013. Meanwhile, she publishes her work online, she is currently available for commissions and collaborations as well.

We really enjoyed browsing through her Instagram profile, and we believe you will love it, too. Keep up with her by work by pushing the ‘follow’ button.

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This Illustrator Encourages You to Draw Every Day https://playjunkie.com/this-illustrator-encourages-you-to-draw-every-day/ Mon, 08 Jun 2020 06:34:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37388 Chances are you’ve seen a Mike Lowery illustration without even realizing it. An illustrator and author based in Atlanta, Georgia, his work is featured on everything from greetings cards to dozens of children’s books to gallery walls all over the world; with his illustration clients including giants like Scholastic, Hallmark, and Random House. His signature style […]

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Chances are you’ve seen a Mike Lowery illustration without even realizing it. An illustrator and author based in Atlanta, Georgia, his work is featured on everything from greetings cards to dozens of children’s books to gallery walls all over the world; with his illustration clients including giants like Scholastic, Hallmark, and Random House.

His signature style is more of a doodle, with added witty remarks and comics-like speech bubbles. Some of his illustrated series include random facts and illustrated one-star reviews of well-known landmarks. According to Lowery, his very particular style has developed over time through daily practice.

“When I was little, I had a grandmother who was an artist and she encouraged my brother and me to keep sketchbooks,” he recalled in an interview with Travel Channel. “Later, I had a college professor who required we draw in one every single day. It really forced me to draw a lot. I used my sketchbooks as a place to experiment with how I draw, what I draw and what materials I use to draw.”

According to Lowery, he still keeps practicing daily in his sketchbooks. “Even when I’ve been drawing for clients all day, it’s that important to me,” he notes. “It was in these daily sketchbooks that I really found my voice.”

“My biggest bit of advice is to make a point to draw for at least 30 minutes a day,” he says. “For some, that seems really tough (it seemed impossible for me at first), but I think it’s incredibly important. You’ll find your voice and figure out how you like to work and draw. It’s also a great way of recording your progress as an artist.”

Take note!

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Laura Blythman’s Art is an Instant Mood Lifter https://playjunkie.com/laura-blythmans-art-is-an-instant-mood-lifter/ Mon, 01 Jun 2020 05:24:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37373 Designer and illustrator Laura Blythman is driven by a strong passion for color. Her work is a playful collection of dreamt and imagined landscapes, flora, fauna, and magical places. The result — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — is all but boring. “I’m drawn to color because it just makes […]

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Designer and illustrator Laura Blythman is driven by a strong passion for color. Her work is a playful collection of dreamt and imagined landscapes, flora, fauna, and magical places. The result — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — is all but boring.

“I’m drawn to color because it just makes me so happy, it never fails to lift my mood,” explained Blythman in an interview with Kids Gifts and Toys. “When I’m creating new work I decide on a color palette first. Always. At present, I can’t get away from neon pink and peach.”

Her process, which more often than not includes paper collage techniques, involves covering big sheets of watercolor paper in a variety of delicious colors and copper or gold leaf. Blythman then cuts the sheets up only to put them back together again as new artworks. “I often add my signature hand-drawn and painted detail too,” she says.

“When I was young I always loved to cut, paste and layer paper and as a teen I would spend days drawing detailed illustrations of my teen idols,” she recalled. “So I guess in some form or another I’ve always been doing exactly what I still do now,” she adds. “Drawing, cutting + pasting, creating, making things.”

Her recognizable aesthetic has garnered her a legion of fans and a super happy portfolio of work with clients ranging from start-up businesses to high profile Australian and International brands. Here are some of her more eye-popping creations:

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ersion="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> illustration Archives - PlayJunkie PlayJunkie Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:22:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Beautiful Illustrations Show Humans and Their Creature Companions https://playjunkie.com/beautiful-illustrations-show-humans-and-their-creature-companions/ Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:51:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=40328 Even if you don’t recognize the name of artist Yael Nathan, there is a good chance that you have already seen some of her works. Nathan worked as an illustrator for the Star Wars comics series and has a number of other popular projects to her name, including webcomics ELComics and Serpent. When she is […]

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Even if you don’t recognize the name of artist Yael Nathan, there is a good chance that you have already seen some of her works. Nathan worked as an illustrator for the Star Wars comics series and has a number of other popular projects to her name, including webcomics ELComics and Serpent.

When she is not creating artwork for comics, Nathan creates beautiful illustrations of humans and their creature companions. She frequently shares these on her social media and makes them available as a free download online collection.

These Disney-like illustrations draw inspiration from real life, fantasy, and history. They capture a unique bond between an array of human characters and real-life animals or fictional creatures like dragons. The humans and their creature companions are usually shown sharing tranquil moments or engaging in playful behavior.

“I love exploring the shapes, emotions, and relationships between humans and animals through my illustrations,” Nathan wrote in a blog post shared on Bored Panda. “I also enjoy crafting their stories through drawing; whether they’re real or fantastical, serious or funny, current or from history.”

Continue scrolling to check out more of Nathan’s beautiful illustrations and visit her social media to see other projects from this talented artist.

The post Beautiful Illustrations Show Humans and Their Creature Companions appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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Lauren Martin Transforms Foods Into Cute Cartoon Characters https://playjunkie.com/lauren-martin-transforms-foods-into-cute-cartoon-characters/ Sat, 30 Nov 2024 16:59:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=40087 Ever wondered whether your food has a personality? Lauren Martin, an NYC-based illustrator, has made it her mission to answer that question—by giving strawberries, toast, and other everyday objects faces, feelings, and a whole lot of charm. Her whimsical style turns inanimate and seemingly mundane items into expressive, cartoon-like characters that seem to leap off […]

The post Lauren Martin Transforms Foods Into Cute Cartoon Characters appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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Ever wondered whether your food has a personality? Lauren Martin, an NYC-based illustrator, has made it her mission to answer that question—by giving strawberries, toast, and other everyday objects faces, feelings, and a whole lot of charm. Her whimsical style turns inanimate and seemingly mundane items into expressive, cartoon-like characters that seem to leap off the page, ready to brighten your day.

Martin’s career has blossomed with collaborations, including designing apparel for Only NY and creating eco-friendly packaging for Eat.Me.Do, a food-inspired fashion brand. She has also partnered with Uniqlo USA to create a range of T-shirts.

Martin’s work is inspired by nature. She draws creative energy from the changing seasons, wildlife, and natural elements around her, particularly the park near her home in New York. This way of seeing the world is central to her art, with her sketches often capturing the comedy and whimsy of her surroundings. She is determined to always find the humor and magic in the everyday.

A powerhouse of creative energy, when Martin isn’t working on illustrations, she plays synth and guitar in the band Frankie Cosmos. Check out more of her quirky illustrations below.

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Illustrator Creates Alternative Covers for Popular Books and They Are Amazing https://playjunkie.com/illustrator-creates-alternative-covers-for-popular-books-and-they-are-amazing/ Tue, 12 Nov 2024 08:58:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=39983 Illustrator Andres Moncayo recently shared a project he did for a client in which he created a series of alternative covers for popular books. Judging by the reactions of social media to Moncayo’s works, the project was a resounding success. While designing the covers, Moncayo’s aim was to keep them minimalistic while also trying to […]

The post Illustrator Creates Alternative Covers for Popular Books and They Are Amazing appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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Illustrator Andres Moncayo recently shared a project he did for a client in which he created a series of alternative covers for popular books. Judging by the reactions of social media to Moncayo’s works, the project was a resounding success.

While designing the covers, Moncayo’s aim was to keep them minimalistic while also trying to sum up the story of the book into a single visual. This made it a challenging task but one that Moncayo solved with flying grades.

For example, his design for Stephen King’s The Shining shows a silhouette of a man holding an axe, inside of which is a kid sitting in a hallway and looking at a half-open door of a hotel room. If you read the book, you realize that Moncayo managed to sum up all the key points of the book.

“I find book cover design incredibly challenging and rewarding,” Moncayo explained in a recent chat with My Modern Met. “The ability to condense the essence of an entire story into a single visual is a fascinating exercise in creative problem-solving. It’s a perfect blend of art and communication.”           

Moncayo also created covers for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein, and many more. Check out more of them below.

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Natalie Shilo’s Illustrations are Full of Positivity https://playjunkie.com/natalie-shilos-illustrations-are-full-of-positivity/ Wed, 28 Aug 2024 16:01:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=39199 Natalie Shilo is a Warsaw, Poland-based artist who creates illustrations that will captivate you with their unusual style and charm you with their positivity. Full of vibrant colors and unusual elements, these illustrations capture the moments of enjoyment in everyday life. The subjects seem careless, enthusiastic, or just unbothered by anything else besides wanting to […]

The post Natalie Shilo’s Illustrations are Full of Positivity appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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Natalie Shilo is a Warsaw, Poland-based artist who creates illustrations that will captivate you with their unusual style and charm you with their positivity.

Full of vibrant colors and unusual elements, these illustrations capture the moments of enjoyment in everyday life. The subjects seem careless, enthusiastic, or just unbothered by anything else besides wanting to embrace the moment. They dance, pick flowers, play musical instruments, and invite the viewer to be a part of their activities.

Shilo creates her artworks using digital tools but still manages to make them unique. This is in part thanks to her commitment to making every element fit together perfectly.

“I am constantly searching for the perfect combination of shapes, colors, and textures,” Shilo said in a recent chat with Colossal.

Shilo is a versatile artist whose creativity goes beyond illustrations. Aside from having experience in artistic photography, she is also involved in the fashion industry, creating graphics for one Polish clothing brand. She is also interested in animation and weaving while planning to get involved in mural design and ceramics.

Shilo shares her newest illustration works on Instagram while also offering prints through her Etsy shop. You can check out more of them below.

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This Illustrator is Inspired By Thai and Chinese Cultures https://playjunkie.com/this-illustrator-is-inspired-by-thai-and-chinese-cultures/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 08:02:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37586 Ploypisut Chueobchoey, known simply as Ploy, integrates Thai and Chinese cultures into her art, creating illustrations and patterns that are steeped in flora and fauna. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Ploy was born and raised in a Thai-Chinese family. “I began drawing when I was very young,” she shared with Lake. “During my childhood, I was surrounded by […]

The post This Illustrator is Inspired By Thai and Chinese Cultures appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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Ploypisut Chueobchoey, known simply as Ploy, integrates Thai and Chinese cultures into her art, creating illustrations and patterns that are steeped in flora and fauna. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Ploy was born and raised in a Thai-Chinese family.

“I began drawing when I was very young,” she shared with Lake. “During my childhood, I was surrounded by Chinese and Thai decorations. My grandpa used a Chinese ceramic bowl and teapot, and my grandma wore a Thai motif textile cloth. I thought I absorbed a lot from my childhood environment. My parents always encouraged me to continue my creative path.”

“I am into traditional Chinese painting,” she adds. Inspired by wall paintings in Chinese temples, as well as Thai textiles, Ploy says she enjoys the complexity of natural shapes and animals in folk tales. “I am so thrilled to see illustrations and patterns come to life,” she says.

Using mainly watercolor, but also gouache and ink, Ploy’s selected clients include Samsung, Design House Greetings x Trader Joe’s, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “Social media is a huge part of my career as a freelance illustrator and designer,” she says. “Clients have found me through social media, especially Instagram. I use them to share my work and connect with other people. I can’t imagine living without it.”

Enjoy some of her work in the gallery below:

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The Soft, Romantic Illustrations of Mateja Kovač https://playjunkie.com/the-soft-romantic-illustrations-of-mateja-kovac/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 08:00:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=36779 There’s an undeniable softness to Mateja Kovač’s illustrations and paintings. Colored in light, pastel colors, her art tends to center around women, but there’s also an abundance of floral patterns—a feeling of springtime and romanticism and a sense of ease that’s come to be characteristic of her work. “I believe that the ambiance in my […]

The post The Soft, Romantic Illustrations of Mateja Kovač appeared first on PlayJunkie.

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There’s an undeniable softness to Mateja Kovač’s illustrations and paintings. Colored in light, pastel colors, her art tends to center around women, but there’s also an abundance of floral patterns—a feeling of springtime and romanticism and a sense of ease that’s come to be characteristic of her work.

“I believe that the ambiance in my work is much more important than the content,” she remarked in an interview with Viva’s. “I could even say that my choice of motives and color is made considering the ambiance I’m trying to achieve in my illustration.”

Having graduated with a master’s degree from the School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Kovač’s style has developed over time and with much trial and error. In 2014, she began collaborating with international clients, and over the years her projects have ranged from social media marketing campaigns to packaging and stationery.

“The projects I work on are varied and they all demand a different emotion,” she reflected. “You could say that I tend to surround myself with sources of inspiration that awakens a necessary emotion in me, depending on the project I’m working on.” She explains that while working on a fashion editorial, her inspiration might come from the old masters of fashion illustration; if she’s working on an illustration of a city, on the other hand, then she might turn to old photos or vintage postcards for inspiration.

When illustrating women, she finds that the challenge is greater. “On the internet, I often find very caricatured and grotesque illustrations of the female figure whose sexuality is shown in a very explicit way or just the opposite a very infantile way,” she says. “It is always a challenge to represent a woman’s sensuality without highlighting her sexual attributes. I’m not sure if I have succeeded in it but that was the main guidance thought.”

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These Illustrations are Flat Out Wonderful https://playjunkie.com/these-illustrations-are-flat-out-wonderful/ Sun, 27 Mar 2022 10:35:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37627 Justyna Stasik’s illustrations are distinctively flat, based around organic shapes and limited color palettes. The result— cartoonish, vibrant, and all-around playful—cuts to chase, translating complex ideas into bite-sized solutions. According to her bio, as a teenager in Poland, Stasik avoided doing her homework in favor of making collages and doodling. She continued this hobby throughout […]

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Justyna Stasik’s illustrations are distinctively flat, based around organic shapes and limited color palettes. The result— cartoonish, vibrant, and all-around playful—cuts to chase, translating complex ideas into bite-sized solutions.

According to her bio, as a teenager in Poland, Stasik avoided doing her homework in favor of making collages and doodling. She continued this hobby throughout university (surprisingly, not art school) experimenting with a Wacom tablet. But it was only when she landed an internship at a game tech startup that she really honed her craft.

“I never went to art school and I’m 100% self-taught,” she stressed in an interview with Sense of Creativity. “At some point I’ve landed an internship at a small Polish tech startup creating iOS games for kids. I was offered a full-time position there and that’s how my career started.” According to Stasik, being the only creative on board she had to learn a bit of everything including illustration, animation, and graphic design.

But after some time she found she needed a change of scenery, moving first to France and later on to Canada. Now based in Montreal, Stasik works as an illustrator full time, with clients that include giants like Apple, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Sony. “I don’t think it’s about learning the creativity itself but more about figuring out how to access what’s already inside,” she says. “And that is definitely something you can learn later on in life.”

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Illustrator Depicts Modern Day Problems In a Contemporary Way https://playjunkie.com/illustrator-depicts-modern-day-problems-in-a-contemporary-way/ Mon, 22 Jun 2020 06:46:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37269 Vicki Ling is a Chicago-based visual artist and illustrator with a strong eye for detail. In her latest project, Hanging By a String she draws a red string that she wraps around different objects, exploring the fragility of modern life. “Contemporary lifestyles tend to obscure various crises that spontaneously erupt, from privacy invasions to public […]

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Vicki Ling is a Chicago-based visual artist and illustrator with a strong eye for detail. In her latest project, Hanging By a String she draws a red string that she wraps around different objects, exploring the fragility of modern life.

“Contemporary lifestyles tend to obscure various crises that spontaneously erupt, from privacy invasions to public health issues and from climate change to personal emotional disorders, etc.,” the artist told Colossal. “Often our preoccupations are so overwhelming that they lead us to conceal our anxiety in oblivion. I’m interested in surfacing that sense of tension and insecurity and raise these issues to our collect(ive) consciousness.”

Ling got her Masters of Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London back in 2013. Meanwhile, she publishes her work online, she is currently available for commissions and collaborations as well.

We really enjoyed browsing through her Instagram profile, and we believe you will love it, too. Keep up with her by work by pushing the ‘follow’ button.

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This Illustrator Encourages You to Draw Every Day https://playjunkie.com/this-illustrator-encourages-you-to-draw-every-day/ Mon, 08 Jun 2020 06:34:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37388 Chances are you’ve seen a Mike Lowery illustration without even realizing it. An illustrator and author based in Atlanta, Georgia, his work is featured on everything from greetings cards to dozens of children’s books to gallery walls all over the world; with his illustration clients including giants like Scholastic, Hallmark, and Random House. His signature style […]

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Chances are you’ve seen a Mike Lowery illustration without even realizing it. An illustrator and author based in Atlanta, Georgia, his work is featured on everything from greetings cards to dozens of children’s books to gallery walls all over the world; with his illustration clients including giants like Scholastic, Hallmark, and Random House.

His signature style is more of a doodle, with added witty remarks and comics-like speech bubbles. Some of his illustrated series include random facts and illustrated one-star reviews of well-known landmarks. According to Lowery, his very particular style has developed over time through daily practice.

“When I was little, I had a grandmother who was an artist and she encouraged my brother and me to keep sketchbooks,” he recalled in an interview with Travel Channel. “Later, I had a college professor who required we draw in one every single day. It really forced me to draw a lot. I used my sketchbooks as a place to experiment with how I draw, what I draw and what materials I use to draw.”

According to Lowery, he still keeps practicing daily in his sketchbooks. “Even when I’ve been drawing for clients all day, it’s that important to me,” he notes. “It was in these daily sketchbooks that I really found my voice.”

“My biggest bit of advice is to make a point to draw for at least 30 minutes a day,” he says. “For some, that seems really tough (it seemed impossible for me at first), but I think it’s incredibly important. You’ll find your voice and figure out how you like to work and draw. It’s also a great way of recording your progress as an artist.”

Take note!

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Laura Blythman’s Art is an Instant Mood Lifter https://playjunkie.com/laura-blythmans-art-is-an-instant-mood-lifter/ Mon, 01 Jun 2020 05:24:00 +0000 https://playjunkie.com/?p=37373 Designer and illustrator Laura Blythman is driven by a strong passion for color. Her work is a playful collection of dreamt and imagined landscapes, flora, fauna, and magical places. The result — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — is all but boring. “I’m drawn to color because it just makes […]

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Designer and illustrator Laura Blythman is driven by a strong passion for color. Her work is a playful collection of dreamt and imagined landscapes, flora, fauna, and magical places. The result — a little bit of this, a little bit of that — is all but boring.

“I’m drawn to color because it just makes me so happy, it never fails to lift my mood,” explained Blythman in an interview with Kids Gifts and Toys. “When I’m creating new work I decide on a color palette first. Always. At present, I can’t get away from neon pink and peach.”

Her process, which more often than not includes paper collage techniques, involves covering big sheets of watercolor paper in a variety of delicious colors and copper or gold leaf. Blythman then cuts the sheets up only to put them back together again as new artworks. “I often add my signature hand-drawn and painted detail too,” she says.

“When I was young I always loved to cut, paste and layer paper and as a teen I would spend days drawing detailed illustrations of my teen idols,” she recalled. “So I guess in some form or another I’ve always been doing exactly what I still do now,” she adds. “Drawing, cutting + pasting, creating, making things.”

Her recognizable aesthetic has garnered her a legion of fans and a super happy portfolio of work with clients ranging from start-up businesses to high profile Australian and International brands. Here are some of her more eye-popping creations:

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