drawing
Posts tagged
with drawing
Animation Art Illustration
Everyday Objects Swirl in the Dizzying Choreography of Alain Biet’s Elaborate Animation
Items you might find on a shelf in the garage or packed away in the basement—like wrenches, your old MP3 player, key fobs, or spare light bulbs—become stars in their own right in Alain Biet’s mesmerizing animation. “Grands Canons,” which translates from French to “Big Guns,” opens with a close-up of the artist drafting a realistic, green pencil in watercolor. Once the rendering is complete, we meet another pencil, and another, as a “visual symphony” of thousands of precise drawings unfolds.
Biet’s intricately detailed illustrations highlight everyday objects we might find in a junk drawer, a closet, or even destined for the trash, emphasizing a variety of styles and how items have evolved over time. His survey of technology and tools stokes a tinge of nostalgia, too. Remember that old Discman, SLR camera, or Nokia brick? The gang’s all here in a dizzyingly choreographed sequence, accompanied by an original score that responds to the rhythms and movements of the drawings as they skitter and whirl across the surface.
Find more of the artist’s work his website and Instagram.

All images © Alain Biet
Share this story
Art Illustration
Vintage Ephemera Backdrops Mark Powell’s Intimate Ballpoint Pen Drawings

All images © Mark Powell, shared with permission
From playing cards and posters to envelopes and postcards scrawled with notes, the untraditional canvases holding Mark Powell’s artworks are tapestries of memories and experiences past. The Brighton-based artist (previously) sutures scraps of vintage ephemera and draws in ballpoint pen, rendering intimate portraits, birds, and scenes brimming with emotion in realistic detail. Some of his most recent works include monochromatic etchings that capture a heron’s fine, wispy feathers and a diptych of hands, two softly grasping a tulip and another wrapped taught in a rope.
Powell shares glimpses into his process and studio on Instagram, and you can find originals and prints in his shop.
Share this story
Workshops
Join Us for A Colossal Workshop on Playful Character Drawings with Mattias Adolfsson
Grab a pen and paper, and join artist Mattias Adolfsson (previously) and Colossal on March 11 for a virtual workshop on small character illustrations. In this one-hour session, Adolfsson will teach students how to draw a few of his signature quirky characters in ink and color and how to utilize those principles to keep sketching.
Register here, and if you’re a Colossal Member, be sure to use the code in your account for $5 off. Ten percent of the proceeds for this workshop will benefit Chicago Books to Women in Prison.
Share this story
Art Design
Shantell Martin’s Signature Lines Grace a Meditative Limited-Edition Candle Collection

Photo by Eli Schmidt. All images courtesy of Shantell Martin, shared with permission
The ever-optimistic artist Shantell Martin (previously) brings her meditative, joyful line drawings to a collection of limited-editions candles. Minimal faces, birds, flowers, fish, and pithy affirmations like “You Time” and “Relax” grace the glass and ceramic vessels made in collaboration with Joya Studio. With burn times of 3,000 and 8,7000 minutes respectively, the candles release uplifting, stimulating scents with notes of shaded green tea, ocean air, heliotrope petals, and vanilla flowers.
Both designs are hand-poured in Joya’s Brooklyn studio, and the porcelain edition contains layers that emit different fragrances after 10, 30, or 60 minutes, making each piece both a timekeeper and a source of warm light. “My wish is that these candles can burn in the background during your creative process, much like a playlist, invigorating your senses and bringing you back to self,” the artist says.
Shop the collection on Joya’s site, and follow Martin’s latest collaborations on Instagram.

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Joya Studio

Photo by Eli Schmidt

Photo by Joya Studio
Share this story
Art
Leaves, Insects, and Human Anatomy Converge in Delicate Pencil Drawings by Amahi Mori

“Papilio ulysses,” pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, 22.7 x 22.7 centimeters. All images © Amahi Mori, shared with permission
Through veins and hybridized beings, Japanese artist Amahi Mori connects life across the plant and animal kingdoms. Various circulatory systems blend together in seamless compositions with leafy greens emerging from a blue morpho or cloaking an elongated human hand. Rendered in graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor, Amahi’s delicate works center on the vibrancy of life conveyed through brilliantly patterned wings and supple leaves. Many of the drawings are also tinged with the otherworldly and surreal, particularly as human skin stretches to account for a growing stem.
Amahi has a solo exhibition slated for this May at Ginza Getsukoso Gallery. Until then, find an archive of her fused creatures on her site and Instagram.

“Daydream,” pencil and acrylic gouache on paper, 33.3 x 24.2 centimeters

“Papilio xuthus,” pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, 15.8 x 22.7 centimeters

“Sasakia charonda,” pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 22 x 27.3 centimeters

“Metamorphose into leaf veins,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 22 x 27.3 centimeters

“Papilio machaon,” pencil and watercolor on paper, 14 x 18 centimeters

“Shining,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 27.3 x 22 centimeters

“Hello, see you,” pencil, watercolor, and acrylic gouache on paper, 27.3 x 22 centimeters
Share this story
Art Illustration
Detailed Illustrations Brim with Manic Mayhem in Mattias Adolfsson’s Exuberant Sketchbooks

All images © Mattias Adolfsson, shared with permission
In Mattias Adolfsson’s meticulous illustrations, organized chaos is the name of the game. Drawing inspiration from a recent trip to Japan, the Swedish artist has recently filled his 41st Moleskine notebook with science fiction-inspired scenes of sushi bar mayhem, urban piles, and travel woes. Redolent of Where’s Waldo, Adolfsson often incorporates a caricature of himself into each scene; his face peeks out from advertisements, food, and anthropomorphized objects. His characteristically frenetic drawings fill each spread from edge to edge in a finely-tuned balance of order and insanity, encouraging the viewer on an endless seek-and-find journey that reveals more peculiarities, details, and twists the more one looks.
Explore more of Adolfsson’s fantastical worlds on Behance and YouTube, where he pages through completed sketchbooks. You can also find more work on his website and purchase prints on Etsy.
Share this story
Editor's Picks: Animation
Highlights below. For the full collection click here.