Inio Asano is probably best known for her highly acclaimed manga ‘Solanin’, which was turned into a feature film starring actress Aoi Miyazaki in 2010. Asano’s work ranges from realism to psycho-horror, and is very character driven. Of course we are all about illustration here on The Lounge, but I guess I can’t write about Asano without mentioning she is transgender, as it is such an interesting fact about the artist herself. You can visit her page on Anime News Network to find out a little more.

Anja Kroencke was born in Austria. Since moving to New York in 1994, she has enjoyed working as a full-time illustrator, finding inspiration for her work in ‘The Big Apple’. Her elongated silhouette style figures and clever colour combinations gave her a lot of recognition in the late 90s, inspiring many other fashion illustrators along the way. Anja has collected numerous awards from The Society of Illustrators, The Art Directors Club New York and many more. Clients include British Airways, Estee Lauder, Givenchy, Harvey Nichols, Mattel and Seiko.

Award winning Irish illustrator Steve Simpson creates visuals that are so rich with type and colour it hurts.

“Steve takes an organic approach to his projects, blending the disciplines of design and illustration. He spends a great deal of time on construction, shape and problem solving at the pencil stage. Continuously re-drawing until a balance of aesthetics, key brief considerations and client satisfaction have been realized.”

Every piece of work in his portfolio leaves me stunned with amazement, so head on over to see more…

Clever, exciting and amusing; Marcos Chin’s work definitely exudes all of these. He is a multi-award-winning illustrator, with honours from The Society of Illustrators New York, and Los Angeles, as well as the Society of Publication Designers. His understanding of illustration is such that he also lectures throughout the US and abroad, and he currently teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Clients include The New Yorker, Playboy and the Financial Times.

Award winning illustrator Emiliano resides in fashionable Milan, Iltaly. He has an intelligent approach towards illustration and is full of good ideas. But also, he has a nice visual style full of grit and interesting line work. His use of repetition and negative space to convey his messages are a real highlight.

Emiliano’s clients include major publications such as Le Monde and The New Yorker. He has also worked for United Airlines, Saatchi & Saatchi and Penguin Books to name a few.

Claire Wendling is a multi-award winning illustrator from Montpellier, France. She is an incredibly talented character designer, with a real handle on how to use shapes to bring about interesting body and facial features. In my humble opinion she is one of the best visual developers around. But Wendling is much more than just a character designer; her comic book work is beautiful. Even in simple black and white, the quality and originality of her line-work is something to behold.

You can visit Claire’s website here, but the best way to sample her work is to see it in print. I’d recommend purchasing any of her sketchbooks. They are packed full of various types of work and are worth every penny. I own many sketchbooks and visual development books, but I have to say that Claire’s are my favourites.

The 2012 Serco Prize for Illustration is underway! Here’s the excerpt from the AOI website:

London Transport Museum, in partnership with the Association of Illustrators (AOI), is delighted to announce that submissions are now welcome for the 2012 Serco Prize for Illustration. This year the theme is Secret London. Entrants are asked to create an illustration that explores a hidden side to the city. Entries can depict little known or unusual aspects of the Capital’s history, culture, characters and communities – past or present. This is an exciting challenge for artists to celebrate a vibrant, multi-layered London in a way it has never been seen before.

The competition is open to students and illustrators throughout the world. The top 50 entries selected by a panel of judges will be displayed in an exhibition at London Transport Museum that will open Tuesday 13 November and run until Monday 10 December 2012. The winners will be announced at a private award ceremony on the evening of Monday 12 November 2012.

The winning entry will appear on Transport for London services as a poster and prizes will be awarded in three levels:

First prize: £2000
Second prize: £1000
Third prize: £750

The deadline for entries is 5.00pm on Friday 6 April 2012. 

The Serco Prize for Illustration continues Transport for London’s legacy of design that dates back over 100 years. The Museum’s collection of graphic art is one of the best in the world and includes over 5,000 posters and artworks by famous artists including Man Ray, Paul Nash and Edward McKnight Kauffer.

This is the third year that Serco, who operate the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, Docklands Light Railway and the Woolwich Ferry, has supported the competition. All these transport modes provide an opportunity to discover some of the Capital’s ‘secrets’.

Enter the competition here.