Creative Boom

DECEMBER 4, 2023

UK-based illustrator Emil Paun has channelled his childhood love of sci-fi novels into an optimistic series of images that imagine a more hopeful future for humanity. It's all too easy to be pessimistic about the state of the world. That's Emil Paun's approach in his illustration series Techno Optimism.

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Creative Boom

MARCH 17, 2022

After suffering from chronic pain for several years, Hong Kong artist Julie Lai used her creativity as part of her healing process, illustrating pivotal moments from her journey back to health. The resulting series, Chrysalis, is as though she is emerging from a cocoon. She remembers art was an escape at school to explore new ideas.

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Creative Boom

MAY 11, 2023

Georgia-based freelance illustrator Changyu Zou creates surreal, dream-like illustrations that harness the written language's powers and convert them into images that will transport you to another world. Originally from China, Changyu moved overseas to study an MFA in illustration at the Savannah College of Art.

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Creative Boom

MAY 8, 2024

Sheffield-based graphic designer Matthew J Wood has transformed his love of football into a series of wonderfully retro illustrated posters. As designer and illustrator Matthew J Wood puts it, they're the only near constant for fans to grab hold of. And they've even caught the eye of big-name clubs.

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Creative Boom

AUGUST 8, 2022

Taking inspiration from 1980s culture, Stephen King's book covers and "nasty video jackets", Brazilian illustrator Butcher Billy reveals all. And it's been a huge inspiration to artists and illustrators too, inspiring countless fan projects such as Xavier Portela's upside-down photographs. When and how did the job come about?

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Creative Boom

DECEMBER 17, 2023

It's been a whole year since we began chatting about Creative Boom and where it's heading. It's more about building on the existing identity. As part of the rebrand, a new series of illustrations has been introduced to Creative Boom to advertise our podcast and newsletter. The friendly demeanour. The cheeky eyes.

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Creative Boom

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

Illustrated by London printmaker and artist Paul Catherall , the packaging design strikes a happy balance between our love of Brutalism and bold linocuts. The company approached Paul Catherall earlier this year to come up with a series of gorgeous matchbox designs, the first featuring the Trellick Tower.

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Creative Boom

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

Armed with just his little, discrete Leica Q, Franck originally had no intentions of shooting a photo series, and it was the first time he took snapshot photos on the go without a tripod. "It In fact, Los Angeles' impact was so profound that he found himself wanting to tell a story through photos, and so the Angels series began.

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Creative Boom

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Peru-based illustrator Ximena Collado is known for her bright and bold fashion artwork, which depicts female body types rarely seen in the mainstream. We caught up with her to hear about how she made her first 1,000 followers and how a series of failures made her successful. That was the first thing that drew some people in."

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Creative Boom

FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Rhode Island School of Design student Cara Ziruo Wang has translated China's rich cultural history into a series of elegant and inspiring illustrations for the country's children's literary magazine October Kids. We caught up with her to learn more about how they were made and how they inspire different children worldwide.

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Creative Boom

AUGUST 29, 2023

At Creative Boom, we always like to keep an eye out for emerging illustration talent, and here's an artist everyone should know about. Based in Indianapolis, Shelley Hanmo is a self-taught illustrator specialising in paper collage illustration. After all, music is always around us.

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Creative Boom

MARCH 15, 2023

Either way, you can't believe your luck in getting them as a client, and they make a huge difference in making you feel good about your work and career. Maybe you've not yet reached that nirvana and are instead still plugging away with flaky clients who mess you around and keep changing their minds about projects. Or perhaps not.

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Creative Boom

APRIL 19, 2022

Illustrator, designer and author Aura Lewis creates joyful, colourful worlds where the personal is political. Renowned for her feminist-themed illustrations, Aura's work takes traditionally 'girly' visual elements and turns them into empowering statements. When did you first know that you wanted to be an illustrator?

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Creative Boom

MARCH 3, 2025

With a love for acrylic gouache, '90s nostalgia, and stacks of unfinished books, Fern Choonet turns everyday mess into art, proving that imperfection is where creativity thrives. For illustrator Fern Choonet, art has never been a neatly contained practice. A bit of foreshadowing since I really love doing murals now."

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Creative Boom

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Eastbourne-based illustrator Beth Tibbles specialises in creating colourful illustrations brimming with joy and humour. We caught up with her to learn more about her journey so far, how she looped back into illustration, and what it's like to go freelance. For Beth Tibbles, drawing has been a life-long passion.

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Creative Boom

MARCH 10, 2022

To shine a light on these often-overlooked figures, illustrator Sarah Walsh has brought them to life in Goddess: 50 Female Figures Who Have Shaped Belief. Published by Nosy Crow and written by Dr Janina Ramirez, Goddess is a children's book containing a biography of 50 deities and an accompanying illustration for each by Sarah.

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Creative Boom

SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Illustrator Dwayne Huang specialises in depicting the small and authentic moments of human fragility. And in his series The Doomsday, he seeks them out with images of an asteroid colliding with the Earth. What struck me most about this scenario was the sense of calm that pervades the world.

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Creative Boom

APRIL 3, 2024

Animation studio Yatta has brought Liverpool illustrator Luke McConkey's work to life in Slam Dunk, a new animated short that blends 2D and 3D techniques. I proper love to bring joy and tell stories with my work," Luke tells Creative Boom, and this approach is evident in Slam Dunk.

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Creative Boom

OCTOBER 3, 2024

The UK-based illustrator and animator shares how he developed his unique style, embraced the art of letting go and offers some top advice for emerging artists. I like a bit of chaos; it balances out the discipline of design and has started to influence my illustration work. I love to bring that sense of looseness into my animations."

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Creative Boom

MARCH 26, 2024

The author, illustrator, and podcaster spent a decade researching and writing his new book, The Creative Condition. But in our view, author and illustrator Ben Tallon has gone the extra mile and created something quite special. Throughout this time, his love of human creativity has grown exponentially.

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Creative Boom

JANUARY 29, 2024

London-based illustrator Georgia Salisbury pays tribute to museum and gallery gift shops in her latest series titled Enter Through the Gift Shop. Who doesn't love a little shop? To give gallery gift shops the attention they deserve, illustrator Georgia Salisbury has created a series of beautiful images which sum up their appeal.

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Creative Boom

MARCH 23, 2023

New York-based illustrator and visual storyteller Flora Bai takes viewers to strange and fantastical worlds in her trippy artwork. We caught up with her to learn more about her work and discover how her pet rabbit Judy inspired her favourite project. Before studying at SVA, Flora admits that she had no formal training in illustration.

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Creative Boom

OCTOBER 18, 2023

Orange County-based illustrator Raina Jia puts emotions first in her drawings, aiming to tell stories that connect with audiences from diverse walks of life. But as she grew older, she saw it would be more difficult than she first realised and decided to turn her attention to graphic design instead of illustration.

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Creative Boom

APRIL 20, 2022

During a spot of laundry a few years back, London-based Russian-born artist Helga Stentzel got the idea for a unique series featuring clothes on a washing line cleverly staged as different animals. I started doing creative photography on Instagram about six years ago. Smoothie © Helga Stentzel. © Helga Stentzel. Peace © Helga Stentzel.

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Creative Boom

MARCH 28, 2023

Tel Aviv-based illustrator Sara Laimon – also known online as Cookie Moon – has found a modern take on nude paintings by turning naked selfies into works of art that give agency back to the subject. Comprising 16 illustrations, Cookie's Send Nudes series takes photos submitted by users and reworks them into stunning digital paintings.

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Creative Boom

JUNE 2, 2024

Award-winning children's book illustrator Ian Morris reveals how he broke into the industry, why he prefers older artists, and what he keeps in mind when drawing for young audiences. Ian Morris's career as an illustrator has got off to an explosive start. My love for illustration was there from a young age," he tells Creative Boom.

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Creative Boom

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

If you're longing for Friday, this branding for PangPang Pusher, a fruity sour beer series made for PangPang, will have you willing away the rest of the week. Full of juicy type, bright colours, and fruity nods to the '90s and early noughties, it's the latest creative output from Swedish art director and designer Jens Nilsson.

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Creative Boom

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Since 2015, American designer and illustrator Tad Carpenter has taken time every Sunday to create artwork based on the sun. We've previously seen how he's made a book out of his sun-related artworks , but to round off 2023, he's made the leap from paper to vinyl by creating a series of gorgeous statuettes.

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Creative Boom

JANUARY 7, 2024

Illustration challenges are a great way to reboot your creative brain because they offer structure, motivation and a sense of community to help you out when you can't get motivated by yourself. Official illustration challenges 1. Food illustration challenge Love food? Love art?

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Creative Boom

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Professional Exploration Category Winner: The Governess by Trevin Wyant We reveal the winners of the World Illustration Awards 2023, and share their winning pieces. In both cases, we've got 22 pieces of illustration that you simply have to check out. Looking for visual inspiration? New Talent Overall Winner: FETCH!

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Creative Boom

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

Freelancing can be a lonely gig, however much you love it. But multidisciplinary artist Tegan Price has created her own solution for those days when you really need to bounce your ideas off a real live person: a series of creative workshops where anyone can get together and work on a themed project.

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Creative Boom

JANUARY 16, 2024

But how much do you really know about him and his art? Well, if you'd like to either learn about or experience more of the iconic pop artist's work, here's some great news. The Ads series Warhol explored the intersection between art and commerce like no other artist in history, an influence that remains strong to this very day.

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Creative Boom

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

Illustration by Mia Angioy for Creative Boom From viral hits to custom collaborations, we explore how independent creators leverage the music licensing platform to amplify their impact and reach new audiences. Recognising the deep emotional connection their audience had formed with Loving Caliber's music, Aphmau took an unprecedented step.

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Creative Boom

AUGUST 10, 2023

Bournemouth-based freelance illustrator Julia Jin combines oriental art styles with Western graphics to create unique artworks that tackle topics of nature and womanhood. We caught up with her to learn more about her creative process. I love to combine traditional oriental cultural features with Western styles," she adds. "I

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Creative Boom

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Folkestone-based illustrator Ben Gore has paid fitting tribute to the late, great rapper MF Doom in his upcoming cookbook titled Doom's Bistro. Packed with 60 recipes inspired by the masked musician's discography, it includes dozens of fun illustrations. Take his cult classic album Mm.

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Creative Boom

APRIL 11, 2023

The work of Anglo-Japanese multidisciplinary designer, artist and illustrator Miki Lowe is inspired by her multicultural background and love of literature. We caught up with her to learn more about her creative practice and how she finds poetry in everyday life. And it's mostly handmade, hand-drawn or painted. "It

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Creative Boom

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Manchester-based creative studio Dotto and Brighton's very own Buff Motion explain how they have brought a series of inspirational typographic prints to a new audience with the help of some energetic animation. I discovered Dotto a while ago and absolutely loved how dynamic their print work felt," Tom tells Creative Boom.

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