Jenni’s work matches the vibe of what she is illustrating, which she describes as “fun,” to which I’d agree — the hand-drawn quality she infuses in her work gives it a casual yet well drafted feel.

All images via her Flickr. Check out her blog and website.

The illustration and paintings of Sarah Williamson are simply wonderful, utilizing a few different techniques to bring forth her visual language. There is a major emphasis on the freedom of media (as she paints with wet-on-wet) and a love the figure and landscape. Inspired by what’s around her, the Brooklynite writes:

I used to work, but one day I picked up a pen and images came, I began to see all of the dreams the decay and the excess around me. Around all of us. I once read in a very famous book, “All things are full of labor, man cannot utter it…” But I don’t think of what I do now as labor. My work feels like a natural product of curiosity about our surroundings: people and things disintegrating, dreaming, living, not living. The world is full of color, I cannot utter.

All images via her website.

Lisette’s other illustrations (and animations!) share similar qualities to her GIFs. Stylistically, she uses a light hand with minimal line work to tell a story or describe a place. With colored pencil, graphite, or ink, Lisette communicates a feeling of introspection and a tinge of sadness.

All images via her website.

infra 6 from Thoka Maer on Vimeo.

infra 7 from Thoka Maer on Vimeo.

Laura’s own work utilizes simple, bold images and supporting text that’s often short and sweet. I especially liked this one:

Paper is also something that Laura explores in the three-dimensional sense, creating popup letters and hand cut and assembled. She curated an exhibition, Toy Shop where she made miniature houses to promote the show.

All images via her website.

Also, the lush, full color and full bleed illustrations are lush and extremely satisfying to view.

All images via Flickr. Check out his blog as well.

Last week, I visited the lovely studio (and home) of illustrator Yelena Bryksenkova. Yelena’s illustrations have gained traction since she has graduated from MICA, and she’s quickly becoming known for her elegant drawings of women and images adorned with patterns referencing Eastern European folk art.

Images via Yelena’s website.


Image via Yelena’s blog.

Yelena uses a combination of watercolor paint, gouache, and pen to create her illustrations. There is an emphasis on the handcrafted, as she lamented that her knowledge of how to navigate Photoshop is not as great as how to yield a brush. It is exactly this, however, that draws people to her work.

Watercolor paints that only Yelena can tell their color.

Yelena and I studied through the same department while at MICA — illustration. It was fun to hear about her experience in the program, and we spoke quite a bit about how she developed her style. Like myself, she found that her junior year was the hardest of undergrad — she couldn’t seem to create work that satisfied her. Studying abroad, however, was a turning point for Yelena. Living in Prague for five months, she took in the culture, the books, and the way in which folk art was preserved. It lead her to create sketchbooks of her time there, which helped push forward the style in which she works today.

Presently, Yelena works with clients and art directors, and enjoys the process of working commercially. She sees herself as a pragmatic person, and appreciates that illustration is part image and part problem solving. Working with an art director, she mentioned, can push her illustrations beyond what she might have first imagined.

Yelena’s space was a great complement to her work. Full of tiny details, she collects work from artists and illustrators she admires, in addition to books. She showed me a couple of books she picked up while in Prague, and has started a collection of children’s books from other countries. Her space is charming, with a beautiful view of downtown Baltimore. I used to live in Yelena’s neighborhood, and seeing the view made me miss it!

One of the advantages to working as a freelance illustrator is the ability to travel and relocate. Having little to keep her in Baltimore, Yelena expressed her desire to move and to travel, locations unknown. Through social media, she’s been able to connect with people around the world, making it seem not quite as large.

Thanks, Yelena!

All images via his website.

There is an amount of beauty and restraint to these pages that I love. Graphite is beautiful.

All images via his blog/website.

All images via his blog.

Rosie is an illustrator whose drawings are of objects, people, and places that have a familiarity to them. Aside from static 2D drawings, Rosie also creates animations, also very drawing centric.

All images via her website. All videos via Vimeo.