Monster Riot are the collaborative talents of Catherine McDaid and Jason Ruddy. They make quite the duo; Catherine creates plush toys and Jason illustrates. Their styles work so well together, with their fun colours and simple shapes. It’ll be interesting where their brand will take them next! They have already exhibited in Berlin, San Francisco and Paris. Clients include Nike, Pictoplasma and Digital Artist Magazine.

Vero Navarro lives and works in Madrid, Spain. She works predominantly using coloured pencils on kraft paper, to great effect. She has also worked using digital media at times, and I found her hand-made clay puppet to be a really beautiful piece of work.

“I tend to focus on the human figure, nature elements and architecture, but I am always looking for new subjects to explore and have fun with. I really care about details and have this little ‘obsession’ to give every piece an evocative atmosphere which is what I think defines best my illustrations.”

If you like Vero’s work, her beautiful prints are available on Society6. To see more illustrations and keep up to date with Vero, visit her website.

Jodie and David have been working under the name of Peskimo since 2004. Since they started working together, the duo have created a series of toys for Kid Robot, their creations have appeared on t-shirts, billboards, in newspapers, magazines and more. Thier fun and friendly style has won over big clients such as Sony, Barclays, MTV, BBC and Vodafone.

Peskimo contacted us a short while ago to tell us about their ‘Special Brews’ prints.

“We have just launched a new set of fine art screenprints featuring illustrations of 4 different tea varieties. They all feature animals / creatures and the prints are hand printed in 4 and 6 colours. We are fascinated by vintage packaging and we thought that the range of tea varieties a great world in which to explore this.”

They look great, so thanks for getting in touch!

Tonia is an Italian jewellery maker and aspiring children’s book illustrator. I hope you find her work inspiring, despite the fact that the work I’ve selected to show here is not illustration. Tonia is inspired by Japan, and it shows in her work, which is an interesting blend of manga and western children’s toys. I’m sure there would be a sizeable market for her beautiful jewellery. I’m probably not her target audience (30+ male), but I can definitely appreciate what she does!

Visit the Angenia Creations blog for more information.

Wenqing Yan has an unusual mixture of work; from cute and fun, to despair and abstract, I find a lot of her work really captivating. The most interesting illustrations for me are the surreal works, full of imagination and fantasy. There is an excellent interview on The Daily Californian, if you’d like to find out more about her.

Sidenote: I Googled Wenqing Yan and it was interesting to find an ‘award winning artist’ copying one of her illustrations!

See Wenqing Yan’s Deviant Art page for more. You’re in good company, she’s had over 8 million page views and counting…

Federico Mariani is an Italian illustrator, toy designer and graphic designer. I like his minimalist toys, which use just simple shapes, nice colours and interesting facial expressions. His illustrations include infographics, maps, children’s books and more. Clients include Mondadori Ragazzi, Edizioni EL, Editoriale Scienza, Grani & Partners/Preziosi Collection, Big & Small Peluches, and Ellepi baby apparel.

I really enjoyed looking through Luna’s Flickr page. The bright colours and intricate hand-made patterns are a powerful combination. It seems that the world is her canvas; from bikes to bottles, shoes and hardhats, Luna has put her mark on all manner of things. Lots of fun…