Taxidermy is one of those art forms which can be quite controversial, both as a question of taste and for ethical reasons ranging from animal rights to conservation. However, it’s hard to dislike these charmingly imaginative characters by sculptor Carl Turner. Channeling the spirit of the late, great Dr. Seuss, he’s created an animal menagerie of mostly cute animals – which look much more filled with life than stuffed for preservation. [Read more...]
Japanese culture is famous for its highly unique character design… from the iconic Hello Kitty, to artistic manhole covers and sometimes totally weird product mascots. To many eyes, these characters don’t even make much sense with what they are selling… but that’s a big part of the charm. Taking his cues from this unusual design sense, Argentinian artist Juan Molinet is creating an entire series of fake Japanese characters marketing equally fake products. The colorful figures are quirky and completely spot-on. [Read more...]
When it comes to inventive character design, from robot-like people with antlers to squiggly squidboys, Harry Nesbitt has serious game. His figures pop off the page with loads of endearing, quirky personality, all while creating solid identities for his clients. As far as his craft is concerned, one word comes to mind: polished. His crisp, line heavy illustration style is perfect for web based media, garnering him a lot of praise and some seriously cool clients in recent years. [Read more...]
If you want to add some sunshine to your long day, look no further than the clever, entertaining and even cute illustrations of Randy Otter (aka Aaron Jay). Each of his images treats us to a laugh as soon as the underlying meaning jumps out and tickles our brain… from the subtle to the overt, these are sure to entertain, if not make you think a little. [Read more...]
Nearly everyone growing up in the 1980′s had a few Star Wars action figures… and if you didn’t you wished you did. Now an artist going by the name Sillof has re-imagined a huge array of figurines based on the original trilogy, but not quite so long ago. The images featured here are from his series World Wars 1942, but be sure to swing by sillof.com and sillof.deviantart.com for his excellent wild west and medieval (!) versions. [Read more...]
These melancholy characters look as if they’ve been swallowed up by the trees of the forest, right along with all the animals. Playfully illustrated by Portland, Oregon based artist Jason Graham, each was created using a combination of India ink, watercolor and a touch of house paint. See more (including an grand mural on the roof of a schoolbus) at behance.net. [Read more...]
Josh Holland says he got his artistic start drawing Sesame Street characters from memory, creating “Crayola caked” notebooks in the process. It’s good to see young enthusiasm pay off. His vibrant illustrations play with pop culture references and often center on catchy character design. You can see more of his 2D work, along with giant size plush sculptures at art.josholland.com
