Yasuo Hayakawa is an illustrator form Kyoto, Japan. I discovered his work a few weeks ago and had to share it and it’s actually what made me want to do this post. I’m obsessed with the colours and marks in his japanese monkey illustration in particular.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/28792179/Animal
Kelsey Oseid (@kelzuki) is an illustrator based in Minneapolis and I’m sure that a lot of you are familiar with her work. Her ‘Creatures of the order’ prints are wonderful and her illustrations are always the perfect combination of scientific and playful which I find to be really inspiring.
https://kelzuki.com
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kelzuki/
Edith Rewa (@edithrewa) is an Australian illustrator/textile designer I’ve followed for a few years now and she specialises in botanical illustration. I love her detailed line work and her colour palette is beautiful!
http://www.edithrewa.com
Ben Rothery (@brillustrations) is absolutely my favourite illustrator at the moment. His illustrations are so incredibly detailed and his love for wildlife shines through in all of his work. Ben has also created an online resource called The Bestiary with downloadable illustrations to colour in and information about each species which I highly recommend you look into if you are looking for something to occupy yourself or children over the next few weeks.
https://www.benrotheryillustrator.co.uk
The Bestiary project: https://www.benrotheryillustrator.co.uk/collections/free-colouring-images
Martyn Warren (@VelrcoCow2 on Twitter) is an illustrator I found through Twitter and he draws digitally focusing on insects and crustaceans - he’s lovely too!. The level of detail he is able to achieve is incredible and although they must take so much time and patience the end result is always stunning.
http://martynwarren.com
shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MartynWarrenPrints
Gabriel Ugueto (@SerpenIllus on Twitter) is a scientific illustrator and paleo artist who I also found through Twitter and highly recommend that you follow. His drawings of prehistoric animals are amazing and how he manages to draw so detailed with obviously limited reference makes them even more wonderful.
http://gabrielugueto.com
Claire Trotingnon (@clairetrotignon) specialises in collage. The first work of hers that I saw were her black and white landscapes and I initially thought that they were pencil drawings so of course I was intrigued as they had a really unique quality to them. I soon realised that they were all collages made up of tiny fragments and I’m fascinated by them.
https://clairetrotignon.tumblr.com
I recently found Jodie Howard’s work on Instagram (@Joddle) and her work always inspires me and makes me want to make better use of my sketchbooks and be more experimental. Jodie’s sketchbook pages are works of art on their own and the textures in her illustrations and colour palette are lovely.
https://www.jodiehoward.co.uk/illustration
https://www.jodiehoward.co.uk/shop
Emma Carlisle (@emmacarlisle_) is another one of my favourites at the moment and I particularly love her sketchbook work. Her work is so expressive and her mark making is beautiful.. I highly recommend you follow her on Instagram too!
https://www.emmacarlisle.com
Isabelle Arsenault (@isabelle_arsenault) is probably the artist on this list whose work I have followed for the longest. I wrote about Isabelle’s children’s book illustration as part of my dissertation and have followed her work ever since. There’s only so many times that I can say how much I love subtle colours and expressive mark making but she does both so so well.
http://www.isabellearsenault.com
Abel Rodriguez has a fascinating story and he draws from his memories of the Amazon rainforest. His botanical drawings have a really sentimental quality to them that I feel you could only achieve from personally knowing an area as well as he does.
https://www.documenta14.de/en/artists/13538/abel-rodriguez
https://baltic.art/whats-on/exhibitions/abel-rodriguez
I find that it’s quite easy once you have found a way of drawing that works for you to stick with it and lose the desire to experiment and play around with different techniques. All of the people I have mentioned constantly make me want to keep improving and also enjoy the work that I am creating.