Illustration

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Art Illustration

Nuanced Portraits of Women Merged With Abstract Environments by Sofia Bonati

Self-taught artist Sofia Bonati captures nuanced expressions and personalities of a variety of female characters while also integrating them into abstracted environments and patterns. Her illustrations most often feature solo subjects melded with thunderclouds, dizzying mazes, and floral patterns. Bonita renders the women’s features in graphite and she uses gesso, paint, and markers to add colorful accents and build their surroundings. The strong, distinctive expressions on each woman’s face suggests that the characters are in control of their environments, rather than being subsumed by them.

In a recent collaboration with Society6, several of the Argentinian artist’s works have been animated by glitch artist Chris McDaniel. You can see more of Bonita’s work on Facebook and Instagram, and find a variety of products featuring her designs on Society6. (via Visual Fodder)

Animation Design Illustration

GRIS: Explore a Surreal Watercolor Landscape in a New Video Game by Nomada Studio

GRIS is an new video game designed by Nomada Studio that leads users through a surreal landscape filled with crimson mountains, square trees, and overgrown ruins. There is no danger or death in the detailed watercolor world, but rather the opportunity for meditative exploration with the main character as she unlocks new worlds and abilities. The video game features an original score, which perfectly matches the tone of its soft, gestural graphics, created by Nomada Studio partner Conrad Roset.

The game design mimics the way watercolor pools on paper, with splotches of color often falling outside of the lines in the main character’s face or the hills she slides down or leaps over. “In our game the scenery is very important, and sometimes takes the spotlight over the main character,” says the studio.

GRIS is the first video game by the Barcelona-based Nomada studio, and will be released this December for both Nintendo Switch and PC. You can watch a demo of the indie game in the video by IGN below. (via Creative Review)

Craft Illustration

365 Days of Miniature Cut Paper Egrets, Sparrows, Pelicans and Other Birds

India-based cut paper artists Nayan Shrimali and Vaishali Chudasama have set out to construct 365 miniature bird species by the end of 2018. To form each work, the pair begins by cutting feathers, beaks, and talons from layers of paper and then using watercolor to produce further detail. Despite the works’ small size (some of the tiniest pieces measuring only 3/4 of an inch from head to tail), each bird takes four to six hours to finish depending on the extent of the bird’s colorful plumage. You can stay updated with the artists’ miniature project on Instagram, and buy tiny avian artworks by the duo on their Etsy Shop.

Illustration

Delicate Flowers Juxtaposed with Modern Dystopian Imagery in Tattoos by Lena Lu

Russian tattoo artist Lena Lu focuses her needle on monochrome tattoos that combine botanical and insect illustrations with modern objects such as jeeps, soda cans, and crumpled take-out bags. One piece in particular features a trompe l’oeil flower that appears to be secured to her client’s inner forearm with bits of electrical tape. The adhesive looks faded and raised at the points it crosses the thorny rose, and extra strips lay flat both above and below the three-dimensional flower. You can see more of the artist’s tattoo work on Instagram. (via Booooooom)

Art Design Illustration

A Pop-Up Homage to Caspar Henderson’s Book of Barely Imagined Beings by Maria Chernakova

Russian designer Maria Chernakova, who uses Mary Komary as her professional name, created a unique pop-up interpretation of one of her favorite books. The original beloved tome by Caspar Henderson, titled The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, is a comprehensive guide to the natural history of real animals that are so fantastic they seem to be a product of mythology. In Chernakova’s imaginative interpretation, pop-ups, hand-drawn illustrations, and charts and diagrams depict charming aquatic animals from the nautilus to the axolotl. She created just one copy of the book, which is divided into two volumes and contains a total of ten pop-up structures. You can see more of the St. Petersburg-based designer’s commercial and personal work on Behance and Instagram.

Animation Illustration

Vanishing Thoughts Explored in High Contrast GIFs by Tracy J Lee

Chicago-based art director, designer, and illustrator Tracy J Lee creates animated city scenes drenched in high contrast light and shadow with subjects who are lost in deep inner thought. In several of the GIFs the central character steps outside of their self as a ghostly doppelgänger that disappears almost as quickly as it enters the frame. The figure plays a duet next to its twin, or attempts to help himself up from a position on the floor. The last few GIFs were inspired by the South Korean boy band BTS, and feature interpretations of some of Lee’s favorite songs. You can see more of her illustrations on her Tumblr, Instagram, and Behance. (via The Art of Animation)

Illustration

Creative Lego Constructions Bring Fantastical Moments to Life

Creative constructions of Lego bricks spring to life in these advertising campaigns developed by Asawin Tejasakulsin, a senior art director at Ogilvy & Mather in Bangkok, Thailand. The two series, Imagine and Build the Future, amplify the childhood wonder central to the Lego brand, devising playful scenarios that successfully interact with reality. In Imagine, storybook animals come to life, while in Build the Future, children assemble the uniforms of their dream jobs, all using Lego bricks. You can see more work by Tejasakulsin on Behance.