Still a stu­dent liv­ing in the United King­dom, Sam Cald­well has really got him­self off to a great start. Cur­rently, his port­fo­lio is com­prised pri­mar­ily of por­trai­ture in the forms of draw­ings and paintings. Sam has given the sub­jects of his por­traits a some­what grotesque look to them, play­ing with the pro­por­tions of of fea­tures ...

Lizzy Stew­art is a Scot­tish illus­tra­tor whose clients include Paste, the Guardian, and Tiny Show­case. She also par­tic­i­pates in gallery show and books! Lizzy is really great at the por­trait. She cap­tures an essence to her char­ac­ters through few lines or color, and you feel for them-even when some have a blank expres­sion on their face. ...

Artist Sophie Alda uses gouache like a pro. She really plays up the opaque qual­ity of the medium, using it to cre­ate inter­est­ing shapes that really define her style. The char­ac­ters in Sophie’s paint­ings are rotund and a bit out of the ordi­nary. While they might appear to be human, some­times they aren’t really human at ...

Tom Edwards is an illustrator/graphic designer liv­ing in Brighton. While his port­fo­lio is all-around impres­sive, his drawings/collages are what I have really spent some time with. Tom’s draw­ing style is some­what naive, but that is not meant to be an insult. His work is charm­ing, engag­ing, and very inter­est­ing in its sim­plic­ity. I have included images ...

I want to visit the world that Torie Leigh has cre­ated. Upon first view­ing, I was instantly attracted to his sense of ten­der­ness and quiet subversion. The way in which Torie paints and han­dles the medium gives it a soft, feath­ered look with few hard edges. He cre­ates dream-like sce­nar­ios by aug­ment­ing char­ac­ters that come ...

I don’t know about you, but spring has finally sprung where I am. It is beau­ti­ful out­side, and so I thought I’d share an artist that is just plain fun: Kris Chau. I find Kris’s draw­ings and paint­ings so won­der­ful — they are light, breezy, and have gor­geous line work. I look at her paint­ings ...

For those of you that don’t speak Dutch (like me!), break out the Google Trans­late for Brecht Evens. He is a Bel­gium car­toon­ist and illus­tra­tor. He not only has beau­ti­ful paint­ings, but has put out quite a few comic books and graphic nov­els as well. Brecht’s com­po­si­tions are abstract in their orga­ni­za­tion of events and often ...

Jen Collins is an illus­tra­tor liv­ing in Scot­land. On a per­sonal note, I feel like we would get along swim­mingly; upon view­ing her web­site, you are (some­times ran­domly) pre­sented with a photo of a baked good, and she often com­ments how she loves tea (me too!). Her draw­ings have a con­fi­dent line to them with a ...

Let’s start Fri­day off with one of my favorite artists. Amy Cut­ler is a painter of exquis­ite gouache paint­ings. Her work is about women, and through it, Amy cre­ates a slightly askew uni­verse for these women to live in. Her work is inspired by fairy tales, dreams, sur­re­al­ism, and folk art. Amy’s nar­ra­tives leave her sub­jects ...

DJG Design (aka Danny Gib­son) is an artist/designer I’ve been admir­ing since I was in high school. He was the artist doing the show posters and local album cov­ers in my home­town and has since expanded his pop­u­lar­ity to more than just the mid-west United States. DJG’s media of choice really varies. He uses col­lage, ...