Written by Kat George
kat-george.com @kat_george
If you want to inject your Instagram feed with some serious creative inspiration, you should flick through and follow these artistic queens pronto. Their works are creative, dynamic and vibrant, bringing their own twisted magic to the table in some seriously dazzling artwork. With designs that have been heavily popularised by Dazed, MTV, Vogue, Willow Smith, Miley Cyrus and even Poppy Lissiman herself, these are ten serious power illustrators that deserve your attention.
If you’re into badass femininity and pop art colours, Laura Callaghan’s illustrations of buxom women with full lips and IDGAF expressions are for you. It’s modern, colourful girl power at its finest, as Callaghan’s women seem to growl straight off the screen with their blazing glazes that just ooze attitude.
Jen Stark’s psychedelic art will make your mind bend in new ways. Her dripping, fluro coloured patterns are reminiscent of the magic eye paintings of the ‘90s, but much more exciting as they adorn walls, planters, and provide a fitting background for Miley Cyrus’ VMA ads.
Heavily endorsed by Willow Smith and Amanda Stenberg, the artistic sisterhood started for artists of colour, Art Hoe Collective, promotes a range of wonderful illustrations with powerful messages. Celebrating artists that might otherwise have their voices silenced by the mainstream media, Art Hoe Collective will open your eyes to a diverse crew of hyper-talented creators.
Hattie Stewart’s colourful doodles will bring you absolute joy. Her “doodle bombs”, where she draws on top of iconic magazine covers from the likes of Dazed & Confused and Vogue, will make you wonder why she isn’t commissioned to make these covers for a living--they’re so much more fun than the originals.
What could be better than these sweet designs? Hattie Stewart joining forces with us to create some seriously happy clutches, which are saturated in bright drool-worthy motifs that are bound to prompt a smile or three.
Limited stock remaining for the exclusive Poppy Lissiman x Hattie clutches.
Shop now: Hattie Heart clutch, Hattie Smiley clutch
Introspective water colours with strong feminist messages are what you’ll find at Ambivalently Yours. But what’s soft, delicate and cute at first glance, is powerful and empowering on closer inspection.
If there's anyone who can create an adoring 2D hybrid between fashion and art it's Pippa McManus. With her dreamscapes of vibrant pastels layered beneath delicate brushes of charcoal and paint-pens, this fashion fiend skilfully endows gorgeous women in florals and luscious garments that captivate crowds the world over.
Polynor draws women and devils, often in hyper-sexual situations. Her comic illustrations are celebratory, embracing female sexuality and youthful womanhood with a sense of humour and gentle honesty.
Jess Johnson creates idiosyncratic patterns with her illustrations, blending elements of the surreal with strong graphic design. She’s even collaborated with Romance Was Born on their new collection, an expressive range that’s unlike anything else you’ll find.
Maria-Ines Gul is a London based artist whose drawings remind us of Madeline and childhood dreams, but with naked breasts and cigarettes. Elegant in their rushes strokes, her illustrations are brooding and thoughtful.
Kristen Liu Wong’s colour palette will remind you of a time when you were a child and wore a hyper coloured t-shirt and imagined that the insides of a computer were made of fluorescent lights. But then her images of brazen female sexuality will bring you back to adulthood, casually marrying your present with your once imagined future.
