I’m not just a little late to that whole illustration game… For some absolutely inexplicable reason I’ve always been more fascinated by either photography or abstract art until it made click a few weeks ago. Now I can’t get enough of the different styles, the landscapes, the stories – and the personalities behind them. So here are five ladies whose sketches inspired me and made me dream big time.
Hallie Rose Taylor
In 2014, Hallie completed one drawing or painting ever single day. Imagine! I cannot imagine how much discipline that takes. The lady is from Austin, Texas, and specialises in watercolour, acrylic, oil among others. Her landscapes have that wanderlusty, independent feel to them and her beautiful flowers are somewhat mystical and a little abstract. At the moment she’s teaching herself hand-lettering and writing really raw and vulnerable blog posts about what it feels like to be an artist and what thoughts, questions and fears run through her head. I’m a fan, dear Hallie! See her Instagram and Website here.
Paula Bonet
I came across Paula’s stunning work during a recent trip in Valencia and bought a print, a calendar and a giant book without thinking twice. There’s something so wildly confusing and endlessly fascinating about the girls she paints. The piece I got shows a girl with a tree inside her head, below it reads “How difficult it is to come back, even for a short visit to the place where you have been so happy for so long.” She wrote these lines about her hometown Valencia after having left for Barcelona. Every artist I’ve met in Valencia knew Paula, or had a friend who had a friend, and now she’s really big in the industry and exhibits around the globe. I cannot believe it took me so long to finally find an illustrator whose works I want to stick on every single of my walls. It’s a match! Her website.
Erin Vaughan
Erin is a girl after my own heart. The freelance illustrator from Southern California captures stunning scenery in a way that preserves the beauty of American State and National Parks, hiking trails, lakes, mountains, you name it. Roadtripping through the American countryside made quite the lasting impression on her. By painting these scenes, she’s exploring whatever associations her head made with this place. “To start I usually do a really rough compositional sketch, then I draw the final out on watercolour paper in pencil. Then I will paint in my favorite medium gouache (a paint that can both be treated as watercolor and like an acrylic). I’ll start with the sky and background and work my way though the different layers of detail. At the end I usually finish the illustration off with a little pen outline,” she explains. Here’s her Etsy and Instagram.
Renate Groenewoud
Renate Groenewoud, the founder of Lutje Anna, is based in Groningen, Holland. Her art makes me want to be a child again and that doesn’t happen very often. The delicate illustrations show snippets of pure magic and innocence, a world so fragile and pure that it ultimately has to end at some point. Can someone please read me a bedtime story!? Now!? Check out Renate’s Instagram for a daily dose of childhood.
Martina Hoffmann
Martina is a Berlin based illustrator. Among calendars for children (so cute!), she also designs album covers (like Petula’s One Last Note Before The Rapture, you should definitely give him a listen!) and creates stunning line drawings and portraits in ink. When I asked her about how she ended up becoming an illustrator, Martina said: “Actually, I wanted to become a physicist that explores dark matter in a particle accelerator, but soon I realized that I prefer to draw and paint. So now I spend my life with watercolour, pencils and paper instead.” Pretty cool.
Who are your favourite illustrators?Â
The artists have the copyright to all illustrations. They may not be used without their permission.
1 Comment