I decided to put together an archive of some of my favourite contemporary and commercial graphic artists and designers. I figure that this could be a useful reference for students of design and anyone with a general interest in art and design.
This archive includes a wide range of artists and designers, from those that I particularly like, through to those that have made a name for themselves and have produced work for well known brands. I have also included some artists and designers that I think are perhaps lesser known and some that work in more traditional forms of media. In all cases these artists and designers have developed their own unique and inspiring styles, and if you haven’t heard of them already you might want to check out their work.
Romain Trystram
Based in Morocco Romain Trystram is an absolute master of his vector / modern vaporwave style digital illustration. Romain has produced work for many well known brands including Volkswagen, Adobe and Toyota.
https://romaintrystram.myportfolio.com/
Olly Moss
Olly Moss is a brilliant graphic artist / designer / illustrator who has produced a wide body of work for many well known brands. His work is an excellent reference in terms of concept development, composition, typography and use of a colour.
Jared Tuttle
Specialising in illustration, branding, and packaging, Jared Tuttle has an elegant refined style and design aesthetic. I am a big fan of Jared’s work.
Andrea Preis
Andrea Preis is based in Berlin and specialises in hand drawn illustration. He has created work for a wide range of well known brands. His work features a combination of zentangle-esk abstraction, colour, and pattern.
Emil Kozak
Based in Barcelona Emil Kozak is another brilliant graphic artist / designer who has produced an impressive body of work. I like to show my students the work of Emil Kozak as a great example of how graphic artwork can be applied to apparel and product design. I also really appreciate that Emil prints his work using traditional techniques such as ‘Serigraphy’. To me this takes his work to another level of refined craftsmanship.
https://www.instagram.com/emilkozak/
Joshua Davis
Around the year 2000 when I was working as a Flash designer in San Francisco, I remember looking at Joshua Davis’ Praystation website every day for inspiration. Back then Joshua Davis was a master of Flash, exploring new grounds in interactivity and I guess what I would describe as a kind of scripted / programmed algorithmic creation of digital art. To me he was one of the first artists working with code in this way.
Maxim Zhestkov
When I first stumbled across the work of Maxim Zhestkov I was very much inspired by his early animation and 3D modelling work. The minimalism, negative space, and predominantly black and white tone based work is a style that really resonates with me. I also think that Maxim combines his animation work with the auditory experience masterfully, and his work is also very impressive from a 3D modelling / technological perspective.
Maria Grønlund
Maria Grønlund is a danish graphic designer whose work makes a very strong impression for her use of colour, shape, and vector forms. I also think there is a high level of technique that shines through her work.
https://www.behance.net/MariaGroenlund
Martin Sati
Martin Sati is a graphic artist, digital illustrator, painter, designer and graphic sculptor based in Seville, Spain. Martin’s work is very impressive and he is another great example of an artist who has developed his own unique style.
Patrick Seymour
Patrick Seymour has a distinctive vector / line based style of illustration and has also created some beautifully ornate typefaces.
https://www.behance.net/patrickseymour
Marta Cerdà Alimbau
Marta Cerdà Alimbau is a multi-faceted Graphic Designer currently based in Amsterdam. Marta has produced a wide body of fantastic work for a range of clients and in her own words her work is ‘focussed on the boundaries between typography and illustration’. I think Marta’s work is absolutely brilliant and is another excellent example and source of inspiration for students of design.
Otherwise, I hope this archive was useful for you. There are of course many, many more amazing graphic artists and designers out there and these are just some of my favourites. If you like the same kind of stuff that I do you might want to checkout some of the collections I’ve put together on Behance, or some of my Pinterest boards 🙂
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