My sources of inspiration…
First up are Rich Stow and his gingerbeards. Rich Stow is an artist with a huge portfolio full of fun. Apart from being a beard lover myself, I love his sharp sense of humor. The looseness of his drawings and the non-perfection of it all (of course!), the rough hand lettering, the coloring outside the lines bring a smile to my face every time.

Next up in the beard department is Kelly Lasserre, whose bearded print I actually have hanging on my wall. Next to graphic images like the one shown here, and her pen and ink drawings, she also manages to compile powerful images out of strong combinations of planes of color, sometimes also adding different textures. There’s also some more detailed work out there, but to me she’s most impressive in this rough kind of work.

Another person that can be considered an expert at coloring is Sophie Alda. This woman manages to not put in any line in her illustrations! The forms and colors in her work completely come together and are able to bring alive the most playful, sometimes edgy, characters.

If you visit the website of David Fullarton you already are surprised by the creativity and the dynamic nature of his opening page. It’s so much fun seeing this explosion of lines, colors and words instead of all the plain structured black and white that is out there. This page completely reflects his work. He seems to be strong in every kind of media that is out there. He can throw around words as easily as pen and ink and pencils and is incredibly amusing doing it.

Last but absolutely not least, the world of Jenni Saarenkyla manages to touch me everytime that I enter. Her work is so delicate, her coloring amazing. No words, just let it fill you up…