I spotted this book while in Barcelona and fell in love with it straight away.
It's a kids book written in French (I have a very limited grasp of the language) so I don't exactly represent the target audience, but it's just a dream book for any designer.
The illustrations are so simple but at the same time beautiful and (for a non-French reader) they totally tell the story. Saying that, the typography used throughout the book is also a treat.
In what seems like an unusual move for a kids book, the story is set in big sans serif type (Futura bold condensed I think, but feel free to correct me) rather than a handwritten or script face that I would imagine would be the norm for an illustrated kids book.
And saying that the Yeti is an admirable creature is always going to sound better in French that it would in English!
From what I can make out (limited French remember) the book it written and illustrated by Fabrice Houndry. You can buy it here.
Mcbess (pseudonym of Matthieu Bessudo) first came to my attention through Kitsune Noir's super Desktop Wallpaper Project.
He creates wonderfully busy illustrations that stylistically remind me of the early Popeye cartoons but have so much going on in each picture that you are just drawn in to the surreal world that spills from Mcbess' mind on to his pad.
Check out more of his fantastic illustrations here.
I like this fellows work a lot. Raymond Biesinger is a self-taught illustrator from Edmonton, Canada. His images are minimal, often using only one or two colours.
On his info page, Beisinger talks of using "pens, computers, inks, acrylics, photos, rubber stamps, photocopiers, printers, blades, typewriters and Letraset" to help create his work.
This hands on approach coupled with his unique, self taught minimal style creates a wonderfully dark feel to his illustrations. See more of his work here.
Patrick Leger's work has been featured on a ton of design blogs recently, gaining the attention for the fantastic vintage style he has crafted for his illustration work.
I really like his use of minimal, washed-out colours, it gives the work a real feel of 60's comic strip illustrations.
As mentioned on Made In England, a lot of designers are choosing a vintage look for their work at the moment, which is possibly a reaction to the "too perfect results of using a computer". An interesting point.
See more of Patrick's work at his site. You can buy a print of After The Heist here.
Burst Of Beaden is the pseudonym of Jon Klassen, an illustrator and designer who comes from Niagra Falls (exciting to come from there).
The thing that I really like about Waterfall is how Klassen has managed to create a very distant and eerie feel with such a simple illustration.
There are many other beautiful illustrations to be found of the Burst Of Beaden site. A couple more of my favourites are Beach House and Dayton, Ohio 1903. You can buy a print of Waterfall here.
Great combination of beards and birds going on here. Kind of puts me in mind of the sort of creature Roald Dahl would have created; two parts hilarious, one part horrifying!
You can see more of Marc Johns work at his site, his blog and on Flickr. You can buy a print of Beard Bird here.
