Mattias Adolfsson

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Workshops

Join Us for A Colossal Workshop on Playful Character Drawings with Mattias Adolfsson

Image © Mattias Adolfsson, shared with permission

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.

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.

Art Illustration

Sprawling Pen Illustrations in Sketchbooks by Mattias Adolfsson Incite the Wild and Absurd

All images © Mattias Adolfsson

Mattias Adolfsson’s (previously) impeccably detailed illustrations demonstrate his propensity for a controlled frenzy that borders on the chaotic but never quite passes the threshold. The Swedish artist creates fantastical drawings of city blocks, bizarre collections of writing utensils, and intricate menageries of deceased animals that merge science fiction, whimsy, and the absurd. While some of the muted artworks feature a central narrative, like the sea-bound ship below, each of his incredibly intricate pieces are impossible to consider with a single glance, in part because they cover the entire sketchbook spread. For more of Adolfsson’s sprawling illustrations, visit Instagram or Behance, and head to Etsy to add one to your own collection.

 

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A post shared by Mattias Adolfsson (@mattiasink) on Apr 13, 2020 at 7:19am PDT

Art Illustration

Mattias Adolfsson’s Wildly Intricate Sketchbook and Doodle Artworks

Like a mad hybrid of Where’s Waldo meets Dr. Seuss—with healthy doses of absurdity and science fiction—Swedish illustrator Mattias Adolfsson (previously) fills his sketchbooks and canvases edge to edge with his manically dense drawings of… well, just about anything you can imagine. Around the framework of a known destination such as a small village or the interior of a church, the artist populates nearly every square inch with bands of unruly characters, Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions, and overly complex spacesuits. The purpose of everything seems to be a mystery, but the time spent trying to understand it all is always rewarding, a first-glance view can turn into minutes of exploration as each piece slowly unravels like a story.

Adolfsson is as meticulous in the documentation and sharing of his work as the subject matter itself. You can follow his process and peek inside numerous sketchbooks on his website, where you can also find many of his drawings gathered into a series of books. He also shares prints and a few original watercolor works in his Etsy shop.

Illustration

Mattias Adolfsson’s Manically Detailed Sketches and Doodles

Exploring sketches and artworks by freelance illustrator Mattias Adolfsson (previously here and here) is an exercise in discovery with a twist of insanity. The pieces are almost impossible to take in all at once and represent a collection of bizarre stories, exaggerated characters, and maniacal devices, all byproducts of Adolfsson’s uniquely dense imagination. Collected here are some posters and sketchbook spreaders from the last year or so, but you can see plenty more in his Flickr stream. He also has prints and other items available in his Etsy shop.

Art Illustration

Incredible New Sketchbook Illustrations from Mattias Adolfsson

Within the sketchbooks of Swedish artist Mattias Adolfsson (previously), strange comic book robots are seen running amok, fantastic steampunk-esque machines sputter to life, and airplane pilots find themselves facing interfaces encumbered with thousands of switches, dials, and tubes. It’s a world that is absurdly complex and meticulously drawn using only a finely controlled pen and a few brushstrokes of color.

Above are just a few of my favorites among Adolfsson’s prolific outpouring of work which you can follow on Flickr and Behance. He also has a number of original works available on Etsy including a new accordion fold picture book, and some of his larger drawings are now available as giclée prints over on Arte Limited.