Recently going through some of my old trading cards I stumbled on my 1994 Marvel Masterpieces set. All my love for The Brothers Hildebrandt came flooding back. I loved their short comment on the back like,

“We found that we literally had to develop a new style to paint this set, to convey the extremes of the intensity for the characters!”

Just the kind of stuff to get a young illustrator charged up! The brothers started painting professionally in 1959 and worked solidly since, illustrating for posters, books, adverts and, of coarse, trading cards. I was sad to read that Tim died in 2006, but the duo’s work will definitely continue inspiring illustrators for years to come. See more of their work on their website.

Presenting the expressive and surreal illustrations of Bagger43. His work is so lushly layered you just can’t help but be drawn into his paintings. You can check out more of Bagger43′s work on his website and blog.

For this weeks Manga Monday we are happy to present the stunning work of Ein Lee! She is quite simply a colour-wizz! Every single one of her pieces are so exceptionally coloured that you almost take for granted her skilled draftsmanship. She also has a brilliant tutorial on the website, so you too can colour just like Ein!

Anita Kunz is Canadian and has lived in London, New York and Toronto. She has contributed to magazines, book publishers and advertising agencies in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Holland, Portugal, France and England. Her clients include Time magazine, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, The New York Times, Sony Music, Random House Publishing and many others.

Today we have some incredible background art by Jonas De Ro, a Belgian/Portuguese concept artist based in Berlin. Whether he’s painting interiors, forests, local scenes or cityscapes, Jonas seems to get it all right. Backgrounds are incredibly challenging. There is of course perspective at play, textures, the mood and atmosphere, not to mention lighting from various sources to contend with; and that’s just the start! Jonas makes it look easy. Visit his DeviantArt page for more brilliant background art.

The work on Mike’s portfolio website is as vast as it is impressive. He has worked on over 2,500 films in various roles such as set design, character design and creating movie posters. He created hundreds of characters for Lucasfilms’ Shadow of the Empire. That must have kept him busy for a while! Mike has also taught character design and visual development to industry professionals and art students alike.

His client list includes practically every major Hollywood studio: Paramount, Warner Brothers, Universal, Disney, DreamWorks and LucasArts. Sounds like a bit of a pro to me..!

This week we have something a little different for our Manga Mondays post—Maruti Bitamin (I’m not sure what her real name is). She is based in Toronto, Canada where she creates these wonderful watercolour manga inspired illustrations. This effect would be incredible animated! The colours and textures are pure fantasy.