Illustration – Commercial

Commercial illustration has a rich history that spans over 150 years, and there is no shortage of design posts and articles that showcase its evolution. From the ornate and intricate illustrations of the Victorian era to the bold and minimalist designs of the modern age, commercial illustration has undergone significant changes.

One can explore how technological advancements have influenced this art form, from the advent of lithography to digital tools like Adobe Illustrator. Additionally, one can delve into how societal changes have impacted commercial illustration, such as the rise of advertising and consumer culture.

By examining our selection of design posts and articles about commercial illustration, one gains insight into how this art form has shaped our visual culture over time. Whether you are a designer seeking inspiration or a history buff interested in visual communication, exploring the last 150 years of commercial illustration is sure to be an enlightening experience.

Hilda surprised by a goat behind her by Duane Bryers

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In: Art and Design, Curated Content, Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator, The Artist Designer

One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.Read More →

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In: Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Photography, Photography & Video | Books

Ansel Adams was one of the great photographers of the 20th century. Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco, and he began to take photographs in the High Sierra and Yosemite National Park, with which much of his name is permanently associated, he became a professional photographer in 1930.Read More →

Walter Molino shooting

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In: Art and Design, Design Inspiration, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Walter Molino was born in 1915 and died in 1997 at age 82. He began working professionally as an illustrator and caricaturist in 1935 for a newspaper and two children’s magazines, followed by a satirical magazine and several comic strip series.Read More →

The Most Magnificent Thing featured image

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In: Design Bookstore 📚, Design Shop, Home & Kitchen, Illustration - Commercial, Kids

Canadian author and illustrator Ashley Spires remind children and (big kids) about the importance of resilience.  Her illustrated Children’s book the Most Magnificent Thing is about a little girl who has in her mind a magnificent projectRead More →

Tom Ngo featured image

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In: Architecture, Decorative & Applied Arts, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

“Common sense and conventional practice prohibit the evolution of architecture.” This is the first quote you find reading Tom Ngo’s Master’s thesis: The Dinner Address, A Venture into Architectural Absurdity. Read More →

Stylish Hallucinations in Dane Nicklas’ Colorful Tattoos

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In: Curated Content, Illustration - Commercial

Dane Nicklas is a tattoo artist currently working in a private LA Studio.  This is an update from a blog post back in 2018.Read More →

Gerhard Haderer Illustration Shark Selfie

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In: Curated Content, Illustration - Commercial

Haderer had even gone to court over one of his works, “The Life of Jesus,” which sparked heated reactions across the country, particularly among Catholics. He was able to change the verdict a few months later, after being sentenced to a six-month ban.Read More →

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In: Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Cute illustrations of a traveling otter and his many adventures by Beijing-based artist Simon Lee . The style of the illustrations remind me of the woodblock prints (Ukiyo-e) of Ando Hiroshige (1797–1858). Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries.Read More →

Butterfly Illustrations featured image

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In: Art and Design, Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Dru Drury (4 February 1724 – 15 December 1803) was a British collector of natural history specimens and an entomologist. He had samples collected from across the world through a network of ship’s officers and collectors, including Henry Smeathman. Read More →

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In: Art and Design, Curated Content, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Matt Burt – a North Carolina-based graphic designer decided to do a new take on the classic Disney princesses by redrawing them as hard-working modern career women.Read More →

Alan Haser Twins

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In: Art and Design, Curated Content, Decorative & Applied Arts, Design Inspiration, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Within 15 Minutes – The average time between twins when they are born Alma Haser has always found identical twins fascinating, as do most people. It is the incredible realisation that there are two versions of the exact same person, hard to tell apart, unless they wear different clothes or hairstyles…Read More →

Jean Paul Langlois - pop and pulp art

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In: Art and Design, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

A selection of work by Métis artist Jean Paul Langlois from Vancouver Island, currently based in East Vancouver. Informed by pop and pulp culture, particularly Westerns, 70s sci-fi and Saturday morning cartoons, Langlois plays with ultra-saturated colours and motifs as a way of grappling with a sense of alienation from his own cultural backgrounds — both indigenous and settler.Read More →

Harua Koga featured image

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In: Art and Design, Curated Content, Decorative & Applied Arts, Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

. He dropped out of junior high school to pursue a career as a painter, and in 1912, he relocated to Tokyo. He studied at the Taiheiyoga-institute kai’s and then the Japan Watercolor Painting Society’s institute. Koga became a priest in 1915 and studied Buddhism at Taisho University. Read More →

Jeannie Phan Illustration

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In: Curated Content, Designers, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Jeannie Phan, a Toronto-based illustrator, is inspired by varied landscapes, plant life, and daily activities. After that, she applies a fantasy, delicate surrealism filter to her drawings, combining identifiable subjects and abstract perspectives for a skewed yet lively finish.Read More →

Dinotopia, A Land Apart from Time: 20th Anniversary Edition

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In: Curated Content, Decorative & Applied Arts, Design Bookstore 📚, Design Inspiration, Design Shop, Illustration - Commercial

Inspired by archaeology, lost civilizations, and the art of illustration, James Gurney’s children book Dinotopia creates an extraordinary place where humans and dinosaurs live in harmony.Read More →

Resplendent Trogon Bird

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In: Art and Design, Design Inspiration, Design News, Illustration - Commercial

These beautiful hand-drawn birds were taken from two books by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby; Beautiful Birds in Far-off Lands and Birds of Gay Plumage. Read More →

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In: Design News, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Charlotte Edey is a British printing, textile and embroidery artist & illustrator. Her interdisciplinary discovery of the intersections of identity and the spiritual reveals the symbolism and myth within her work. Womxn’s experience of colour is centred in her commentary on the politics of space.Read More →

Japanese Woodblock Prints featured image

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In: Design Shop, Illustration - Commercial

A picture is worth a million words… At least that is how people feel when viewing illustrations by a mysterious Japanese performer Avogado6 . The illustrator and movie editor doesn’t share many personal facts about his life. “I am a normal person who likes chemistry,” he writes on his Twitter profileRead More →

Andrew Fairclough Illustrations

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In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration - Commercial, Illustrator

Andrew Fairclough is an Australian illustrator, designer and art director based in Los Angeles. KINDRED STUDIO Illustration. Design. Art Direction.Read More →

Manuel Orazi - Loïe Fuller

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In: Design News, Illustration - Commercial

Manuel Orazi was a Spanish illustrator, a lithographer who contributed notable Art Nouveau posters of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He designed the 1884 Théodora poster for Sarah Bernhardt with Gorguet. Others of his posters were for Peugeot bicycles, the opera Aben Hamet and, in the form of an old torn manuscript, for the opera Thaïs by Jules Massenet.
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