At the Zoo

This week's theme is "At the Zoo" and while browsing through the web I came across the work of Eva Galesloot, a Rotterdam (I think) based illustrator with an exciting portfolio filled with whacky animals, and whimsical illustrations. It's all super cute and to die for, especially these animals, which brings me full circle to my original point, this week is Zoo week. Do it up guys!

At The Zoo Inspired by Mark Meyers!

Mark Meyers is a slammin' illustrator working out of Utah! His animals are to die for! Check out his website for many more (and particularly his lovely pigs. The pigs are my favorite...but they didn't seem in keeping with the zoo theme)

Fantastic Zoo! Shawn Nielsen!

Shawn Nielsen is super-hip Colorado illustrator whose color palettes are bright and refreshing. His work is for kids and adults alike, and makes me smile. See more of it here and some bloggy things here

Wunderbar!

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Justin Volz took on Alyssa Nassner's sketch of super awesome, totally rockin' Alice Cooper for this week's pop culture portrait.

Bowie in Space

Guest artist Gigi Gray took on the sketch of Justin Volz to create this second awesome Bowie portrait.




Gigi Gray is an illustrator born and raised in NYC. She recently graduated from Parsons and is pursuing her freelance career in illustration. She has a vast collection of old photographs and draws inspiration from the candidly shot images. Gigi sees these people as character's in a time immortalized by pictures, giving them new life in a new world. Visit Gigi's website here.

Quest Love

It might be a bit of a stretch (or more than a bit) but this week guest artist Shannon May took on Rachel's portrait of Quest Love from the band the roots to create this final piece. Not what I expected at all, but an awesome final piece regardless. More about Shannon below.




Shannon May is an illustrator living in San Francisco, CA. She spent her childhood on the coast of southern Connecticut amongst ruins of the Revolutionary War and monk parakeets. She is fascinated by the promise and aesthetics of science and loves exploring, being uncomfortable, books, clouds, and geometry. Visit Shannon's website, blog, and shop.

Maybe Baby

When I think about Buddy Holly the first thing that pops into my head is the Weezer song of the same name. This week I took on Jordan Sondler's portrait of Mr. Holly to create this final piece.

David Lynch

If you don't know who David Lynch is (I didn't) he is a very famous film maker, and television director known for his surrealist films, and especially for his television show Twin Peaks. The sketch for this piece was done by guest artist Gigi Gray and the final piece was created by Rachel Dougherty.

Ziggy Stardust

This week two of our guest artists swapped to create this beautiful "Bowie in space" type piece. The sketch was done by Shannon May, and the final piece was completed by Jordan Sondler. Read more about Jordan below.




Jordan was born and raised in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and spent her childhood collecting shells and drawing. As a BFA Candidate in Illustration and Book Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Jordan's interests predominately concern geometric patterns, autumn, hand lettering, and of course, cute boys. Visit Jordan's website here.

Jaco Hassbroek

I lied - one more quick post! Enjoy this pop culture alphabet by the talented Jaco Hassbroek.

Rihanna

Rachel - this one's for you! Here's a super sweet portrait of Rihanna to conclude this week's inspirational posts. Jacqui Oakley is an awesome illustrator with an enormous portfolio, you can also find portraits of Connor Oberst, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg (among others) in the portraits section. Stay tuned - tomorrow our sketch swaps go live on the blog!

Stan Chow

Yessss! Dexter fan art / Michael C. Hall portrait - my life is complete! This killer (get it?) portrait is part of the portfolio of illustrator Stanley Chow. Stan has an awesome collection of portraits ranging from Dolly Parton, and Bill Murray, to Star Wars characters, and sports icons. Check out more of Stan's work here, and his flickr here.

Woody Allen

I dedicate this post to all the hardcore Woody Allen fans out there, how could we celebrate pop culture portrait week without an illustration of everyone's favorite neurotic guy in glasses. Illustration by the talented Pablo Lobato, check out more of his awesome celebrity portraits here.

Florence + The Machine

For pop culture inspiration this week I present you with a portrait of Florence Welsh, front women for British rock band Florence + The Machine. The artwork is by Heather Gatley, a UK illustrator who boasts lovely portfolio featuring amazingly detailed line work paired with loose watercolor washes. You can view her work online here, as well as visit her blog here.

Pop Culture Week!

This week's theme is POP CULTURE portrait! Any person / thing / character from pop culture goes! Clearly in honor of the theme I had to post some Lost fan art. Yes, I know, Lost is done and everyone is disappointed with the ending. I DON'T CARE! This time last year I was happily enjoying (and debating theories on) the ending of the series. This week's inspiration post is the work of Lauren Gregg - coincidently an older sister to an old friend - Stephen. Her work is fun, colorful - and we all know I like me some noodle arms. You can find some more of Lauren's work here, and this particular image was taken from the LOST Underground Art Show web page - tons of treasures there if you're interested!

Recipe for Success

Second-time guest illustrator Niv Bavarksy, and all around awesome dude took on the sketch of Will Bryant this week for this delicious combo.

Colossus Burger

This week we had the honor of superstar guest illustrator Will Bryant participating in our sketch swap. Here is Will's interpretation of Niv Bavarksy's 'Colossus Burger'. More about Will below.




Will Bryant makes stuff as a freelance creative and is a member of Public School, an Austin based collective comprised of designers, illustrators, and photographers. He's known for surfing the internet, crackin' smiles, and holding hands with his wife in public. He enjoys drawing letters, being wacky, browsing record stores, basketball, and bike rides. Visit his him around the web: website, blog, twitter.

Rachel's Noshery

What's better than a bagel breakfast? How about a bagel breakfast sketched by Rachel Dougherty, and finished by guest illustrator Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi. Find out more about Ariyana below.




Yet another graduate of MICA, Ariyana is an illustrator currently based in Baltimore, MD. With one visit to her website it's clear why we asked her to participate in this week's swap. Check out her site, shop, and blog.

Key Lime Pie Monster

Alyssa Nassner finished the sketch of Kyle Fewell for this adorable, and delicious piece of pie artwork.

Real Love is Baked

Guest illustrator Kyle Fewell took on the sketch of Kristin Hughes to create this both gross, yet somehow adorable final piece. More about Kyle below.




Kyle Fewell is another graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. He's also originally from Houston, TX - he likes death metal, and he really likes kittens. Check out his site here, and follow his blog right here.

Good Burger?

Rachel took on the sketch of Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi this week to create this delicious final piece.

Batter Up

Guest illustrator Kristin Hughes took on Alyssa's family recipe (aka Betty Crocker) for homemade pancakes. For more about Kristin see below.




Kristin Hughes is a recent graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, and a native of rural Connecticut. Kristin's passions lie in book cover design, typography, and illustrating food. She also love printmaking, painting, and messing around with D.I.Y. projects. Check out her website here.

Zara Picken

I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with the illustration work of Zara Picken by now, but just for fun I wanted to share this little number as part of our food/recipe week inspiration. Distinctive by it's retro color palette and texture, Zara's work has a unique style with concepts that are refreshingly clever. For more on Zara's work you can visit her blog, as well as her online shop.

Strawberries and Cream: Dicky Bird

Here as an illustration by the ever-so-awesome Dicky Bird plucked from the Dessert Girl Blog. It's a recipe for "Eton Mess" or more commonly called, strawberries and creme. Aside from illustrating recipes (or just one recipe) Dicky Bird has a great collection of stationary featuring bold, and fun graphics. You can shop Dicky Bird here, or follow their blog.

Jungyeon Roh

Holy Crapoly! I just came across the work of illustrator Jungyeon Roh and I'm wickedly impressed. Her work is as colorful as it is awesome (so as you can see, it's very colorful!) Jungyeon is from Seoul, Korea and a graduate from SVA, and now resides in New York. She's worked for clients such as Playboy, and the New York times, and has a whole bunch of vegan propaganda in her portfolio (which is where I plucked this beauty from). To see more of her work visit her website, and blog.

Food Network

This week is all about FOOD. Inspired by the blog They Draw & Cook, our love of both eating, and preparing food is the basis of this week's illustration theme. Above is the work of illustrator Claudia Pearson. You might recognize her work from some of her awesome tea towel designs, featuring screen printed illustrations of seasonal fruits and veggies, circulating throughout the internet. Claudia's work can be found online here, and you can shop her awesome collection of products here. Bon Appetit!

Faceless and Racy

Our last but certainly not least guest illustrator this week was Bryan Ische! Bryan is a freelance illustrator & designer currently living and operating out of Minneapolis, MN. He graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD) in 2009 with a BFA in Illustration. He went to final on Babs Tarr's saucy minx below, and it looks rad!

Pretty Duo

Sorry mine is a bit late, and maybe a bit weird. I was away this week in Minneapolis visiting the talented, and wonderful Paper Bicycle folks as well as Bryan Ische - the artist who did the sketch for this post. I also played around with coloring techniques tonight, just for kicks, so if it sucks that's why. So without further ado here is Bryan's sketch as realized by Alyssa Nassner.

Waterlilies

We were also lucky to have Babs Tarr this week! She took Justin Volz's water nymph (or whatever you'd like to call her...masked mermaid? lady in the water?) sketch to final. More on Babs under the lovely lady.




Barbara (aka Babs) grew up in the sunny and beautiful Charleston, SC. After braving 12 years of catholic school she migrated north for college to attend the Maryland Institute and College of Art in Baltimore. Now, with her recently completed BFA, she has settled west in San Francisco,CA where she is living the dream working as a full time illustrator and artist! She is always looking for fun projects, especially ones including sexy ladies. She spends her free time at the movies, reading smutty romance novels, doodling, and melding into the couch while play video games.

Clowning Around

This week Rachel Dougherty took a stab at painting Danny Brito's placid carnival girl.

Dancin' with Herself

This week we were also graced by the dazzling skills of Justin Volz! He brought his magic to Rachel Dougherty's sketch this week. More about Justin after the bump and grind!





Justin was born in Houston, TX where there are no tumble weeds unfortunately. He is currently a graduating senior at Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, FL. He likes bikes, coffee, and sarcasm.

Adorable Barista

Kicking of this week's theme of Pretty Ladies we have fabulous guest illustrator Danny Brito! He took Alyssa Nassner's barista sketch to final, and it looks fantastic!






Danny Brito was born and raised in Miami, Florida and currently resides a little house in a little room where he has more art supplies than clothes. He likes to illustrate girls in either cute dresses or nothing at all, monsters, and anything that pops into his head. When he's not drawing he likes to be at the sewing machine, at a thrift store, or cuddling with his puppies in bed.