Nuno Feio got his start in hyperrealistic art by custom painting on the likes of bikes, cars, and helmets. “It was a great help for my tattooing skills,” he tells me. “You must have a steady hand when you’re painting details with an airbrush or with a pinstripe brush.” This technique translated to putting ink […]
Author: Sara Barnes
Tragic Heroines and Ghoulish Creatures by Memorial Stitches
Carrie Violet, aka Memorial Stitches, creates delicate drawings in thread. Completely self-taught, her embroidery is the culmination of her studies in fashion design and illustration. The small scenes, stitched only with black floss, feature macabre women, ghoulish bats, and are inspired by the “Victorian sentiment.” In an interview, Violet explains, “I’m drawn to both the […]
Stuck in a Moment: Paintings by Jordan Kasey
“My childhood was kind of boring,” artist Jordan Kasey explains. “I barely even played outside. There weren’t neighborhood kids and there wasn’t nature accessible from where I lived. There were many hours of boredom and watching TV—excruciating boredom.” This feeling of listlessness is palpable in her paintings. Large, often-faceless figures sit idly by, waiting for […]
A Little Bit Strange, Surreal, and Sensual: Tattoos by Trobbies
Illustrator and tattoo artist known simply as Trobbies draws on skin and paper in The Hague, Netherlands. His minimalist line art features portraits of half-faces and hands, with each of them folding into one another like knocked-down dominoes. Fractured and split, it’s hard to make sense of what kind of story Trobbies is trying to […]
Take a Look at Jess de Wahls’ “Big Swinging Ovaries”
Artist Jess de Wahls currently stitches an ongoing embroidery project called “Big Swinging Ovaries.” Of it, she writes, “Over the past years I have been using my art increasingly to explore and incorporate feminism, gender equality as well as recycling.” Her hoop art collection features a stylized version of the female reproductive system that’s used as […]
A Conduit for Sadness: Ethereal Paintings by Owen Gent
“I’ve always found something beautiful in melancholy,” illustrator Owen Gent explains. Films, music, and artwork that has affected him the most has had this quality, and it’s a sentiment that he produces in his own illustrations. The ethereal images depict characters confronting something within themselves, for better or for worse. Some appear enlightened, as if […]
The Fantastically Fragile Natural World of Zoe Keller
Inspired by the natural world, illustrator Zoe Keller creates compelling combinations of plants and animals in an intricate detail. Her fascination began as a young child, and she conveys that same love in her work. With it comes a twinge of sadness for the state of our world, which happened well before the Trump became […]
Skeleton Embroideries Full of Life by Tinycup Needleworks
Britt Hutchinson, aka Tinycup Needleworks, has helped usher in embroidery’s renaissance over the past several years. Although the medium is commonly associated with the likes of bucolic blossoms, Hutchinson takes a darker turn and focuses on skeletons. The miniature embroideries feature intricately-stitched portraits of the bones as they interact with the land of the living. Hutchinson’s […]
Dystopian Illustrations with an M.C. Escher Twist by Rune Fisker
Danish illustrator Rune Fisker draws chaotic scenes that feel like a single moment out of a larger story. The figures often occupy these compelling-yet-confusing spaces with the distinct feeling that they’re being watched. Part dystopian novel with an M.C. Esher-like approach to composition, we can’t help but wonder what Fisker is trying to say about […]
Breaking Free to Find What’s Real: Tattoos by Andrea Raudino
Tattoo artist Andrea Raudino, aka Nemo, finds himself inspired by everything. The bold works have an airbrush-style feel to them, as the black edges diffuse with a fine splatter to them. This style is informed by the world around him, particularly other forms of pop culture. After beginning tattooing at age 17, he modified his […]