Fun, stylish, bright and friendly—Eric’s illustrations are all of these things. I love his characters made up of geometric shapes. Illustrations are naturally flat or two-dimensional by nature, so it’s interesting to see the way he embraces that in his work; everything feels unashamedly flat, with simple shapes fitting together to create exciting compositions. Find more of Eric’s work on his website.

Jing Zhang is an illustrator, typographer and designer from southern China and currently living in trendy London. Her infographics are exceptional, and her experiments with 3D illustrated type are very powerful. I cannot express enough how inspiring her portfolio of work is, so visit her website or Behance to drool over the rest of her portfolio.

Fantasy style manga illustrator Ippus has some nifty pin-up illustrations on her Deviant Art page. The digital colours are applied to good effect, and she pays a lot of attention to the clothing and accessories of her characters. See more here.

The label “Internet Famous” gets thrown about a lot these days, not always justifiably, but after amassing a huge fan-base on sites like deviantArt and Facebook, I believe Lois Van Baarle has definitely earned it. Born in Holland, Lois Van Baarle studied animation in Ghent, Belgium, then continued her studies at Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU). Lois is currently working as a freelance illustrator and animator with international clients including Channel 4, CBBC, and Centre National du Jeu. All the while self-funding and developing her animation project, Trichrome. Check out her website for more stunning work. Also her FAQ is a very useful read for those looking to to start a career in illustration or wanting to learn more about digital techniques.

Most illustrators I’ve come across use pencils to sketch with, so when I first saw Joe’s work I thought it was totally refreshing. Not only are his pencils finished pieces, he also animates using this method. Beautifully grotesque, Joseph’s work is an ongoing exploration of the absurd. In his own words:

“All my personal work is based around a long standing research project which focuses on the absurd and its relationship to visual and written communication. I am interested in How fantasy, nonsense and the inexplicable can take on the semblance of ‘normality’. The language of science is one element which I look at extensively in my work, exploring how this language can be used to represent the absurd and what effect this has on the narrative. I explore these subjects using narrative illustration and illustrative animation, creating printed books and short animations.”

Visit Joe’s website to see more of his excellent work.

Fernando Vicente is such a talented, versatile illustrator that it would probably take ten posts on The Lounge to cover his abilities. But to summarise, he specialises in fashion illustration, children’s illustration, pin-ups, technical illustrations, maps and caricatures. Some of his finest work depicts pin-up girls with segments of their inner anatomy displayed. Visit his website, or alternatively his Behance page to see more.

Schoolism teacher Jason Seiler is an award winning artist with a humorous style and sound technique. His portraits capture ‘that special something’ which makes them intriguing and engaging. Jason’s clients make for an impressive list and include Time Magazine, Penguin Group, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. To see more visit his excellent website and his agent’s, Richard Solomon. I love that Susan Boyle piece!