I love the sense of mystery and adventure in Australian artist Louisa Jenkinson’s illustrations: it’s fantastical in scope without ever weaving into outrageous fantasy in themes. [Discover more Australian artists on The Colour]

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It’s windy, cold, and raining out. On days like this, looking at the intricate work of artists like Kristopher Ho feels like re-reading an old book that you loved as a kid but forgot about in your more cynical adulthood.

Berlin-based comic book artist/illustrator FuFu Frauenwahl has a classic style that really appeals to me. They remind me of the Tales from the Crypt and Heavy Metal comics I used to read late at night when I couldn’t sleep. His Mollusk Head character is pretty gnarly too.

There is something almost apocalyptic about the intense black and white decimated, chaotic landscapes that French artist Didier Blondeau lovingly depicts.

Brooklyn-based illustrator Lisa Ramsey creates fantastic and elaborately themed comics, many of which are very tongue in cheek but always beautifully drawn.

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I’ve been admiring the work of Portland illustrator John Klassen for a while now. I’m irrepressibly drawn to his muted, textured landscapes, in all their mysterious glory. No coincidence then that a Coraline section should have recently appeared on his site. It just makes me want to see the movie even more.

Best for reading in the warm glow of an existential crisis, Dorothy Gambell’s Cat and Girl is a brilliant online comic series. It’s my daily fix of clever puns, political satire, pop culture references and biting wit, lovingly rendered in cute black and white drawings. Cat and Girl are housemates and best friends, and like all best friends, they can talk about anything: from literature, to the economy, to the perils of playing ping pong with a rotten egg. Sure, there are arguments, but most are resolved by Cat’s unwavering sense of surreal humour that balances out Girl’s eternal pessimism. ‘How do you stay warm in the cold shadow of death?’, she asks him, pleadingly. ‘Fireworks’, he replies. Gambell will also draw a personalised comic for you if you make a donation to her site via Paypal. Mine is framed and on my wall at home.

The most dense and intricate structures emerge from the hatch marks of Spanish illustrator, Vasco Mourao, who constructs entire cities swaying tenuously from the edge of cliffs and dangling from balloons in the sky. They are stark black and white worlds, possessed entirely of themselves.

I love the depth of detail and the boldness of the lines in Tatiana Roulin’s artwork. She’s an artist and graphic designer from Boston whose work has been featured in exhibitions in America, Brazil, Austria, Britain, Spain and Germany.

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Wow, here’s some work that just made my Friday all the sweeter. Finnish artist Ville Savimaa creates the most clean, beautiful, and bizarre images, filled with chunky, abstract characters and creatures, as if viewed through an old fashioned grainy, black and white lens. It feels a lot like the trippiest noir film you never saw. Even when colour occasionally comes into the mix, Savimaa manages to gracefully maintain that sculptural sensibility, leaving the viewer feeling as suspended as the characters themselves.

UK illustrator Izzie Klingels creates the loveliest, delicate black and white stippled drawings that she seems to find a myriad of endless applications for. Most interestingly, Klingels appears to do quite a large amount of work within the fashion industry, something of a minor coup for an illustrator in this day and age.

British artist Stephen Wiltshire is known as the ‘human camera’ for being able to render images of entire cityscapes in uncanny detail after only viewing the real scenes once. Wiltshire’s abilities stem from his autism, but his pieces are no less stunning. Perhaps Wiltshire’s condition isn’t truly a disability, merely evidence that our species is still evolving.

Some beautiful illustration work from Tim Lee — sensual, moody yet unerringly optimistic, they are little story-book tapestries of another time and place.

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I love art that scares me a little. Erica Eyres somehow manages to make subtly unnerving drawings of distorted figures using nothing more than a ballpoint pen and a piece of paper. She renders shockingly realistic hair, yet skews the proportions and features of her subjects, exaggerating their expressions and making them look monstrous.

I’m keeping a sharp eye on Florida illustrator Francis Vallejo. Upon first glance, you’d never realize that he is about to enter his senior year at the Ringling School! Vallejo has the draughtmanship and expressive brush work of a top tier, seasoned professional. Having already busted out work for clients such as Vibe and grabbed awards from the Society of Illustrators among many others, he is onto great things.

Obsessive, impossibly intricate art can sometimes veer off into self-congratulatory messes, overwhelming viewers while not having any real substance. Vasco Morao’s Escher-esque line drawings are rather simple, however, and have a gorgeous, meandering, and meditative quality about them.

Tom Giesler’s My Anatomy series is a playful take on the anatomical charts you might find in a high-school biology lab. They have a boyish, frat boy quality to them, as if its subjects are cheekily showing off their insides to a room of drunken onlookers.

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Hogie McMurtrie spends a lot of time thinking about imaginary cityscapes – his intricate line drawings resemble set-design drawings for Metropolis, Blade Runner, or Indiana Jones.

I recenly came across the illustration work of Seattle student, Tyson Roberts. It’s very cool line drawings with a distinct sense of expression and an inherent sense of vulnerability. I asked him a few questions about his inspirations: ‘The places I draw are locations around me. Sometimes I draw outdoors looking at the subject and other times I will draw from a photo or memory. I enjoy the raw results of ink on paper. Drawing in black and white is quite honest and exposes ones abilities and creativity completely. I usually work to silence and the sounds living around me. Other times, I throw on some headphones and listen to music. At the moment, I’m really digging stuff by architects and architectual drawings and, more specifically, the work of Frank Loyd Wright and Frank Gehry. I also love the creative of Gregory Euclide and Armsrock. As far as bands go, right now I am into Yeasayer, The Dodo’s, El-P, and Damian Marley’.

Melbourne really is one lucky city. Filled to the brim with talented people, and now with another space to play in. Gorker is the newest gallery space to grace Melbourne’s creative realm with its inaugural 40 Thieves show packing out the venue. Rumour has it upcoming exhibitions will be just as captivating, so keep your eyes glued to their website for more details.