This will be another post with very little commentary from yours truly. There are so many talented artists to showcase, it again makes sense to let the visuals speak for themselves. Before we dive in, I’d like to give a big thanks to all of the artists for allowing me to showcase their work!
Note that I opted for a fairly wide resolution to show off the details of these gorgeous illustrations. Medium will of course scale down as expected for mobile devicies, but, you may want to consider viewing these on a large screen if possible.
Chris Koehler (aka @ckoehlerart on Instagram) — an award-winning artist and illustrator working out of San Francisco, teacher of Comics Programs at California College of the Arts, and co-owner of Sketchpad Gallery — has been featured in The NYT, The Atlantic, and Popular Science and recognized by Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, and more.
Brian Stauffer (aka @staufferstudio on Instagram)—who’s illustrations are well known for their conceptual take on social issues — has contributed to the likes of: The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, The Nation, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, and over 300 others worldwide.
Amongst his many other published contributions and awards, Robert Hunt (aka @rhuntstudios on Twitter) was awarded the Hamilton King Award (2015) and the Distinguished Educator in the Arts Award (2017) from the New York Society of Illustrators.
Sophie Diao (aka @snowpeasnow on Instagram), is an artist/illustrator living in San Francisco, California. There’s a magical narrative to her works:
Alice Lee (aka byalicelee on Instagram) is an independent SF-based illustrator & designer who loves drawing and telling clever stories. Previously at Dropbox as the second illustrator on the team, and also the one who did many of those lovely Slack illustrations you’ve been seeing of late, her current areas of focus are working on (1) illustration branding and (2) editorial projects.
Yoshi Yoshitani (aka @yoshiyoshitani on Instagram) is a freelance illustrator inspired by cultures, mythologies, and patterns from around the world…
Illustrator and sometimes designer Fanny Luor (aka @fanny.luor on Instagram) currently illustrates at Dropbox and is based in San Francisco.
Brandon Land (aka @brandonland_ on Instagram) is a Designer/Illustrator at Facebook, previously at Dropbox.
Pascal Campion (aka @pascalcampionart on Instagram) is a prolific French-American artist, illustrator, concept designer, character designer and animator whose clients include: DreamWorks Animation, Paramount Pictures, Disney Feature, Disney Toons, Cartoon Network, Hulu, PBS.
Leonard Peng (aka @pengtagram on Instagram) currently resides in San Francisco where he works as a Brand Illustrator for Uber…
Jennifer Hom (aka @jhomdraws on Instagram) currently resides in San Francisco and works as Art Director and Illustrator at Airbnb…
Anna Hurley (aka @itsannahurley on Instagram) is a designer and illustrator out of San Francisco.
Meredith Schomburg (aka @meredith_schomburg on Instagram) is a designer and illustrator based in San Francisco, currently working at Airbnb.
Joel Berroteran (aka @mgfxdesigner on Instagram) is a freelance designer, illustrator, and animator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Below is his personal project that was inspired by a road trip he and his wife took to New Mexico for their second year anniversary:
…from the south of New Mexico traveling to the north where they were able to see the desert, Carlsbad caverns, Taos Pueblo, and a Windows of the Earth cave sanctuary. These are little scenes he created of the most memorable places they visited.
Emily Dove (aka @emilydove on Instagram) is a freelance illustrator and artist, and also a certified California Naturalist working in the San Francisco area. In addition to editorial work, and authoring her own books, Emily enjoys using illustration as a tool to educate about science and inspire others to fall in love with the natural world.
Jessica Hess (aka @jessicahessart on Instagram) is an Oakland based hyperreal landscape painter and graduate of RISD illustration class of 2003.
Roman Muradov (aka roman_m on Instagram) is an illustrator currently living and working out of San Francisco.
Shannon May (also on Tumblr) is an illustrator living in San Francisco, CA.
Sophia Foster-Dimino (aka @hellophia on Instagram) is an illustrator & cartoonist living and working in San Francisco. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2010 with a BFA in illustration.
Krystal Lauk (aka @krystallauk on Instagram) is an illustrator and designer living and working in San Francisco. Krystal has worked with clients such as Google, Facebook, Uber, and Fast Company and her work has been recognized by American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators, and 3×3 magazine.
Ric Carrasquillo (aka @squilloillo on Instagram) is an illustrator, cartoonist and animator living and working in San Francisco.
Dennis (Bagger43/Bags) Brown (aka @bags43 on Instagram) lives and work in San Francisco where he draws, paints, and illustrates.
Dominic Flask (aka @dangerdom on Instagram) specializes in Illustration & Icons for Digital Products.
Chris Bjerre (aka @chris_bjerre on Instagram) is a Danish Art Director and Motion Designer based in San Francisco with over a decade of experience in the Motion graphics industry.
Winter Boar (aka winterboar on Vimeo) is a freelance Art Director, Designer and Animator specializing in Cinema 4D, X-Particles, OctaneRender and Redshift in San Francisco.
Abby Rocha (aka chica_artista_illustration on Instagram) is based out of Oakland where she creates illustrations, comics and murals often with political/social commentary about Latino culture as well as the world around her.
Dylan Casano (aka @dylancasano on Instagram) is a Motion and Graphic Designer based in Oakland, CA. I’m featuring static illustrations here, but consider viewing his site to see how the works incorporate motion.
Arley Cornell (aka @arleycornell on Instagram) has worked for international non-profits, the US government, local businesses, and a variety of ad agencies and studios all along the West Coast. Currently based in the East Bay where he freelances in motion graphics, illustration.
Alec Cummings (aka @arreckprz on Instagram) is an illustrator and motion designer based in San Francisco.
Carlos Tsoi—currently based in San Francisco—is a multidisciplinary Art director and motion designer (Cinema 4D, After Effects and ToonBoom Studio) that enjoys collaborating and doing what it takes to tell a good story.
Mackenzie Schubert (aka as @mackenzieschubert on Instagram) is a multidisciplinary designer, illustrator, drawer of comics and more.
Jordon Cheung (aka @jordon.cheung on Instagram) is an illustrator in San Francisco currently working at Uber.
Michael Jeter (aka poolsf on Instagram) is a San Francisco Designer and Illustrator that is currently the Creative Director at Dropbox, runs the online commercial art magazine www.TheBlackHarbor.com, and is also the founder of creative agency POOL in San Francisco.
Whitney Sanford is an illustrator that uses a combination of techniques from painting to paper cutouts, and gains inspiration from abstract structures and various architectural styles tending to work with a reduced palette to deliver her visual narratives.
Even living here in the Bay Area myself, I honestly had no idea just how many talented illustrators we had in terms of contemporary illustration — and these are obviously just a subset! I apologize to anyone I missed due to article length, but feel free to leave comments with links to other Bay Area illustrators and I hope you go away feeling inspired by the amazing illustration we’ve seen above!
Previous in series: Japanese Illustrators. Also, you may like one of my other illustration teardowns.
Rob Levin is a freelance illustrator. Portfolio: https://roblevin.myportfolio.com/ For illustration work enquiries, collaboration, or to say hi: roblevinillustration@gmail.com.
Also, you may like to read more of the illustration teardowns articles.
