New Illustration / Michael Camarra

January 9, 2009 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

If you’re a sucker for good strong figurative work with a flair for the unexpected, you’ll like the work of New York illustrator, Michael Camarra for sure. I’ve known Camarra since our days back at Pratt, when he still painted with a brush and a tube of paint. Now that Camarra has moved on up into the realm of digital painting, I’m amazed at how, incredibly, the digital paintings lose almost none of the raw spontaneity his traditional paintings possessed but instead introduce a somewhat cleaner edge overall, which lends itself to his cleaner graphic sensibilities. Read more

New Illustration / Tomer Hanuka’s recent work

December 24, 2008 | New Illustration | by Yuko Shimizu |

I have been following Tomer Hanuka’s career since, well, pretty much since he was in college. (No, I am not a stalker!) I always admired his work, but I am especially in love with his recent work, where he builds his own fantasy world with weird creatures. Read more

New Illustration / Matt Hollister

December 13, 2008 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

For the longest time I was an enormous admirer of the loopy, distinct line drawings of Brooklyn-illustrator Matt Hollister. Having seemingly lost track of his work for a couple of years (who knows how that manages to happen), I was shocked to stumble across his work yet again recently while perusing the New York Times. I had to check out his website immediately, and from there I wandered into his blog. The best part was that you could almost watch a new style emerge chronologically, beginning with the old drawings and then a small experiment, a mono print and then, more and more, mono prints and experiments, less and less loopy drawings. Even the subject matter seems to have changed and become much quirkier to accommodate the new style. I’m certainly feeling that staying abreast of Hollister’s work should now prove pretty inescapable.

New Illustration / Mario Hugo

December 4, 2008 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

In the beautiful work of New York City-based illustrator, designer and typographer, Mario Hugo, finely rendered faces and figures intermingle with various abstract patterns and shapes to create some seriously refined, surreal, and mysterious work that’s all that, and then some.

New Trends / Another smokin’ hot New York illustrator

November 22, 2008 | New Trends | by Fernanda Cohen |

I met Caroline Thaw at Brooklyn’s Third Ward in one of the courses I taught. The first time I saw samples of her work, I was happily overwhelmed by her diversity of styles, her cute yet twisted characters, the radiant and infinite beauty in every piece she made, her delicate line, and her strong sense of style and scenographic space. Part of her work’s charm comes from her experience in theater design designing sets and custumes for productions that traveled around the world (she is from England, originally), and her tremendous love for kids.

New Illustration / Christopher Neal

November 21, 2008 | New Illustration | by Zolton |

We asked New York illustrator Christopher Neal about the inspirations behind his work: ‘Each job is different. Sometimes looking through old books and artist monographs will spark something. Other times, its just putting pen to paper until I get an idea. Things like music videos, movies, trips to the museum all seep in and resurface later in my work. For my personal work, a lot of it comes from my sketchbooks’. Read more

New Illustration / Sam Weber

November 20, 2008 | New Illustration | by Zolton |

There’s some awesome new work up on New York-based illustrator, Sam Weber’s website, including this one above which is did for the Soulpepper Theatre. We asked him a little while back about what his studio workspace was like: ‘I am fairly particular about where I like to work, and what sort of stuff I like to have around me. There are things that I look at often — a book of Max Ernst collages, one on Yoshitaka Amano, and a big stack of clippings from magazines and the Internet that I will periodically leaf through to get inspired’. Read more

New Illustration / Victor Kerlow

November 18, 2008 | New Illustration | by Zolton |

The loose linework and watercolors that mark the illustration of Victor Kerlow bring to mind several other well known editorial illustrators, but Kerlow is clearly doing his own thing. I love his White Sheik illustration, which he did for the New Yorker, in particular. The New Yorker, yes. It’s hard to believe this guy is only just about to graduate from SVA. We will most certainly be seeing more of him in the years to come. Read more

New Illustration / Matthew Langille

November 9, 2008 | New Illustration | by Kate Barnett |

Matthew Langille is a talented New York-based illustrator and graphic artist. Not content just to work on paper, he’s also successfully made the leap to textile designer. He sells designs for apparel, footwear, bags and sunglasses, landing big name clients like Marc Jacobs and Victoria’s Secret.

New Events / Marcos Chin leads a class at NY’s Society of Illustrators

October 22, 2008 | New Events | by Zolton |

The talented New York-based illustrator, Marcos Chin, [responsible for the Lavalife drawings on the subways], ‘will demonstrate digital coloring techniques incorporating traditional media’ at a workshop put on by the Society of Illustrators. As part of the class, ‘a line drawing will be taken, step by step, to a fully rendered final — including shading, layering, patterns, shadows and texture. He will also discuss how to build a consistent aesthetic for advertising campaigns and how to balance commercial and personal work’. The workshop, which is on between 6.30-8.30pm next Wednesday night [October 29], will be followed by a print signing. Registration details are on the Society of Illustrators website. Read more

New Illustration / Phillip Fivel Nessen

October 11, 2008 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

I declare New York-based illustrator Phillip Fivel Nessen one of the most chameleon-like illustrators I have ever come across. In many cases, for someone working as an illustrator, this sort of quality tends to be seen as a negative. Nessen commands each style so effortlessly, though, and with such originality, that we can hardly complain? Despite the wide range of styles, I find I can easily pin it down as having come from him each and every time. I love everything in his portfolio, from the illustrated type (which seems to be his latest obsession), to his colourful print like illustrations, to his moody, scratchy older work, to his trippy Milton Glaser-like works, to his amazing alter ego, Abe Twist. And I wait in anticipation for his next whim.

New Illustration / Max Bode

September 7, 2008 | New Illustration | by Ilana Kohn |

Though most know Max Bode as an art director over at the ubiquitous New Yorker, he is in fact quite an illustrator. Creating bright, clean illustrations, in a style at times reminiscent of old video games and cartoons, Bode work is a real treat, especially when stumbling across one of his illustrations in the New Yorker.

New Illustration / Christopher Neal on life after art

August 26, 2008 | New Illustration | by Zolton |

One of our favourite illustrators, the New York-based Christopher Neal, just happens to share a studio space with Sam Weber. Oh man! To be a extra large fly on that wall. It would be so tempting to attach a canvas to your back and just buzz on out of there! Read more

Cool Travel / Inside the studio of Yuko Shimizu

August 26, 2008 | Cool Travel | by Zolton |

I’ve worked with the brilliant New York-based illustrator — and Lost At E Minor contributor — Yuko Shimizu remotely for some years now. But despite the fact that we live in the same city, we’ve only met up once — at a group exhibition that she was a part of at a Chelsea gallery. Read more

New Illustration / Jacob Thomas

August 13, 2008 | New Illustration | by Kate Barnett |

Painting ships and designing logos while working for the Maryland Coast Guard is an unusual start into the world of illustration. However, New York-based artist Jacob Thomas has gone on to win a swag of awards, including the cover of Communication Arts. His illustration style is perfect blend of art meets communication and has attracted the attentions of big name clients such as The New Yorker and L’Oreal.