I just can’t get enough of the work by illustrator Xavier Ramonède. His blog, sushixav, is filled with splendid illustrations, animation and a great step-by-step tutorial too! I really enjoy ogling his simple shapes and limited flat colours with a just a hint of tone. You can also see more of his work on his deviantArt page.

Green Screens by Sleeping At Last, a music video created by Javan Ivey. Whilst studying at Pratt Institute Brooklyn, Ivey created a wonderful short titled “My Paper Mind“. An animation where he actually created a new technique, which he called ‘Stratastencil’, strongly influenced by the Stratacut technique. See more of his work on his vimeo page.

I really enjoyed looking through Florent Remize’s blog. A great sense of humour and an amazing talent for character design is there in abundance. I think I like looking at the sketches just as much as the polished images…they are incredible! Look back through some of the older posts if you have time. It’s all great work and very inspiring.

Parisian illustrator Aymeric Kevin is yet another brilliant Gobelins graduate. It’s great to find such a talented manga style illustrator in Europe. You can see sometimes the European influence coming through, especially in his colours and sketches. Aymeric is an excellent visual developer and background artist, as well as having the vision to direct animation. I’m looking forward to see what he’ll do in the future. It would be great, in my opinion, to see some anime with a more European style of storytelling. East meets West; here’s hoping!

Maxime is a Gobelins graduate based in Paris, France. He’s a visual developer and character designer with a beautiful European style. You may remember us posting his brilliant student group project ‘Who’s Afraid of Mr. Greedy?’ Well, for more fantastic work visit his blog here, or his portfolio here. There is also an interview you can read with Maxime on the Character Design Blog.

Zar is based in North Hollywood, California. She is a Calarts ’09 graduate currently working as a character designer for Pixar. She creates some stunning ‘wood burning’ paintings, which you can find on her blog along with loads of other interesting visual knick-knacks. Well worth a visit. Oh, and for a little giggle check out her rant about wearing 3D glasses!

Zar has also been interviewed on the Chracter Design Blog, for those who’d like a little more insight.

Miquel Montlló is a Spanish freelance illustrator currently living and working in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in the videogame and animated movie industries, as well as a commercial storyboard artist for international companies such as Nike, Ikea, Real Madrid and Audi. I have personally had the privilege of working with Miki when he contributed to our book ‘100% Recycled Paper’ (soon to be published). He is a true professional, a wonderful talent with initiative and boundless creativity. He is one of those people who could probably turn his hand to anything and do it better than most. Not only that, but he’s one hell of a nice guy…so please do visit his excellent blog where he posts all manner of creative things. You can even see some of his process, which is a nice bonus!