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French illustrator Stephanie Hans has been painting some of the most striking covers of late for Marvel’s version of Neil Gaiman’s character Angela and other titles. Hans first started making a splash at Marvel with some of her Journey Into Mystery covers, that featured famed Thor/Avengers nemesis Loki. You can see the range that Hans has an artist with her interior line-work on the new Marvel Secret Wars crossover, 1602 Witch Hunter Angela. Hans’ strong painting skills and obvious appreciation of classic art is a welcome addition to today’s mainstream comics scene!

You can follow Stephanie Hans on her tumblr site here. There’s a nice painting process post on there, if you scroll down.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

If you’re a digital illustrator seeking a way to make work that looks handmade, you simply MUST check out this huge collection of digital brushes and tools from the great Nicky Laatz!

Equipped with just this pack – you will be an unstoppable watercolour design machine…without even picking up a paint brush :)

Get the pack here!

RIP BB

Mark Hammermeister Website >>

Dan Brereton broke into the comics scene in the late 80’s/early 90’s with books like The Black Terror from Eclipse, and The Psycho from DC Comics. His distinct painted art style stood out among the other comics being published at that time. In 1995 Brereton introduced his creator-owned series The Nocturnals to the world. The Nocturnals is a pulp style horror series about a bunch of supernatural crime fighters, starring a cast of colorful characters like Doc Horror, his daughter Evening AKA Halloween Girl, Firelion(a revived victim of spontaneous human combustion), and many, many more.

The Nocturnals are celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a special KickStarter campaign for their next graphic novel The Sinister Path. There’s less than 2 days left as I write this, so hurry over there, if you’re interested.

Other works of note by Dan Brereton are Giantkiller, Batman: Thrillkiller, Legends of the World’s Finest, and The Last Battle, just to name a few.

Brereton has been nominated for 5 Eisner Awards, and has won an Inkpot Award.

You can keep up with the latest Dan Brereton news, and browse more artwork on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

post by Heather Ryerson

Grace Helmer uses strong brush strokes to create her rich, ethereal oil illustrations. The expressive color progressions in her paintings give the work a delicate, transient presence; the viewer can’t help but be caught up in the joy and beauty of Helmer’s brief captured moments. Her style is used to especially great effect in her animated pieces. Constantly changing textures and shapes create a depth and dynamism that one might feel could easily be drunk from the canvas. Helmer graduated from the Camberwell College of Art in 2012 and is part of the illustration studio collective Day Job.

See portfolio | Watch an animaton

Post by Heather Ryerson

Holly Exley’s expressive, saturated colour palettes feel realer than life. Her food illustrations beg to be eaten; her watercolour paintings of British wildlife threaten to flit off the page. Since graduating from Middlesex University, Exley has worked with clients Marks & Spencer, Whole Foods, Topshop, Chronicle Books, BBC Wildlife and more. She lives and paints in London.

Visit her website and her blog.

In the midst of a world grounded in digital technology, sometimes we need a reminder that good things can still be grounded in reality. This is why we still go visit galleries and museums to see artwork in person (a habit I’m still trying to get better at). This is why we still give each other greeting cards, or why our desks seem to collect countless post-its over time. It can be as simple as opening a letter or unwrapping a present–interacting with real material still matters. 

On that note, I’d like to introduce you to Anna Bond, owner and creative director of Rifle Paper Co.–an inimitable force in the stationery field and beyond.

While Anna now lives and works in Winter Park, Florida, she has roots in New Jersey and received a degree in graphic design in Virginia. After working as an art director and freelance illustrator for a couple years, she discovered (or rekindled, rather) her love for stationery design while illustrating some wedding invitations. As mentioned in her feature on The Every Girl, stationery was the optimal combination of graphic design and illustration that she had been searching for, and so she pushed onwards.

While there’s something to be said for art directing at 21, I admire Anna’s honest and expressive way of dealing with her expectations, realities, and how to improve upon them. She’s spoken before about the first launch of Rifle Paper Co.’s website, detailing product disasters, website crashes, international shipping issues, and taking turns panicking with her husband. Without sounding cruel or spiteful, it’s incredibly comforting to know that someone as ambitious and driven as Anna has screwed up before. And to me, there’s no better way to recover than by succeeding.

Nearly all Rifle Paper Co. products feature Anna’s hand-painted illustrations, which are often nostalgic in style with a pastel palette.

Some of Rifle Paper Co.’s selected clients and collaborative partners: Anthropologie (their very first!), Kate Spade New York, Hygge & West, Chronicle Books, AMC Mad Men, and Penguin Books. I think it’s important to note that the variety of clients reflects Anna’s ability to design for both traditional and modern brands, which can be difficult depending on one’s personal style.

Follow along with Anna and her husband Nathan’s exciting ventures at Rifle Paper Co.’s website, and take a peek at Anna’s portfolio here. You can also find her on Twitter. I particularly enjoyed her Day in the Life feature on Design*Sponge as well.

Mary Kate McDevitt is one of the most successful hand-letterers and illustrators working today. A graduate of Tyler School of Art, Mary went on to work at a design studio in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After 2 years, she moved out west to pursue a freelance illustration and design career in Portland, Oregon before ultimately settling in Brooklyn, New York, which is where she presently resides. While she previously imagined that she would work as an illustrator, dabbling in some lettering on the side–but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Her ever-growing client list includes Chronicle Books, CMYK Magazine, Fast Company, and the United States Postal Service.

She is specifically inspired by vintage type and techniques, including the ones of her own family. As a teenager, she discovered a plethora of handwritten letters that her mother and aunt wrote to her grandmother during college. She used this inspiration for her Your Handwritten Letters project, a daily hand-lettering exercise. Mary would hand-draw a letter of the alphabet and mail the original to a unique participant each day.

You can follow along with Mary Kate McDevitt on her website, blog, Instagram, Dribbble, and can also purchase prints through her Etsy shop. She also has two online classes on Skillshare that can be found here and here. 

From the editorial submissions:

Artist: Massimiliano di Lauro is an italian illustrator who just published his first book with OQO Editora, “Mi primer viaje“. His work is very painterly, scratchy and textured. Here he shows us how to paint Pinocchio with a woodblock.

View more on his blog.