Antonio is a self-taught designer/illustrator from Brazil. He has several skills, including traditional and digital techniques and has a great handle on typography. His photo-manipulations are incredible and at times feel like illustrations. I love the way he manipulates foreshortening perspectives and exaggerates physical elements in his work. See more 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.

Christi du Toit is a graphic design student and self taught illustrator from Cape Town, South Africa. He creates some excellent illustrated CD skins. I like the humorous style, and a lot of his works are almost like very polished doodles; they are very playful with elements weaving in and out of each other. Take a look at his Behance page, or alternatively his Dribbble page for more.

Bob Case is an illustrator, designer, art director and animator currently working at The Lavidge Company. He often works in black and white, using his trademark perfect black lines to shade his work. There is something beautifully nostalgic about his illustrations, yet at the same time they appear so modern and punchy. View more on his website.

Shelsey Birch is a freelance graphic designer from Australia. Her illustrations are quite gentle in tone, often depicting women wearing fantastical fashions in nice detail. Shelsey’s experiments with type are ravishing and definitely worth a look. Visit her website to see more of her work.

Fernando Forero is a Columbian graphic designer working in Poland. He is a versatile creative, his talents spanning all kinds of things from corporate identity, typeface design and of course, illustration. His black books are a dark and absurd collection of characters from other worlds, so if you like a bit of fantasy art do have a look through these sketchbooks. I also really enjoyed his book covers, which bring together his experimental type layouts and illustrations.

Christina Jung lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA. She works in various styles, primarily using acrylics and screen-printing with a nice touch of hand-lettering thrown into the mix. Christina says:

“It has always made sense for illustration and graphic design to go hand in hand. A good illustration will be well-crafted and conceptually sound. A really great illustration will do all that and consider the placement of type.”

Good advice. See more of Christina’s work on her lovely website.