2021 was a year of hope and moving forward. Our artists have submitted outstanding work from advertising, newspaper, editorial, and a few personal projects for our Best Of: 2021. Before we say farewell to 2021 for good, take a moment to reflect, celebrate, and find inspiration for 2022!
We have four categories for our Best of 2021: Advertising/Personal, Newspaper, Magazines, and Books. Scroll through one, some, or all of the posts to find work that strikes your fancy!
Advertising/Personal
An Chen designed a Christmas parade for a personal project.
Aldo Crusher collaborated with George Dickel Bourbon to promote their new Bourbon.
Daniel Diosdado was commissioned to design and illustrate the key art for print and animation for the Pacifico Beer campaign in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.
Jordi Ferrándiz created a portrait of Joaquin Phoenix.
Matthieu Forichon illustrated a personal memory of his trip to NYC.
Bruce Morser provided an illustration of The Mars Rover for National Geographic.
Shaw Nielsen illustrated delicious ice cream packaging for Publix, in honor of a limited edition flavor New Orleans Caramel Praline.
Egle Plytnikaite illustrated for NerdWallet.
Jean-Francois Podevin illustrated and animated a festive snow globe depicting Purdue University as a winter wonderland.
Chiara Vercesi partnered with the Lincoln Park Zoo to raise funds for endangered species for their The Price of Extinction coalition.
Hylton Warburton partnered with Makers Company to illustrate the actions NGO’s are doing to help the water crisis.
Newspaper
John S. Dykes provided the cover for the Wall Street Journal Review section on “The Efficiency Trap”.
Phil Foster was commissioned by The Wall Street Journal to illustrate “Coping with the COVID pandemic, and the balance of necessary mandates/laws and their imposition on our freedom”.
Kathleen Fu illustrated “Toronto Ravines” for The Globe and Mail.
Robert Neubecker created this cover art for The New York Times Sunday Business section.
Pushart’s illustration for The New York Times depicts the new travel fees that are being imposed due to the pandemic.
Fatinha Ramos created an illustration for The New York Times chief classical music critic, Anthony Tommasini’s, last essay about what shouldn’t change in classical music.
Magazines
Stuart Briers provided artwork for the cover of John Hopkins University Arts & Sciences magazine.
David Brinley illustrated a portrait of the new New York Governor, Kathy Hochul for the cover of City & State NY Magazine.
Nigel Buchanan created portraits for Golf Digest to illustrate several Olympic golfers for their summer issue.
Taylor Callery illustrated a Scholastic cover story on Teens Helping to Beat the Pandemic.
Valerie Chiang created an illustration for Oberlin College’s alumni magazine.
Traci Daberko illustrated the cover for the Seattle Metropolitan Magazine.
Stephanie Dalton Cowan created this image for Macalester College university magazine.
Daniel Hertzberg was asked to find a human interest story in Warren County, NJ, and produce an illustration about it for a special edition of The Washington Post Magazine, called “The Lost Local News Issue.” For this assignment, Daniel went to the Warren County Farmer’s Fair over the summer and spoke with many of the organizers. One of their stories, “A hot air love story,” stood out.
Gwen Keraval illustrated the cover for Deloitte Magazine.
Jessie Lin’s illustration for Madison Magazine was accepted into the Society of Illustrators.
Loe Lee worked with Scholastic to create the cover of their December/January Storyworks issue.
Greg Mably provided an illustration for the article Lovable Cities for Deloitte.
Richard Mia illustrated for Rotary Magazine.
Chanelle Nibbelink illustrated “10 ways that we can help the homeless community,” for Ohio State Alumni Magazine.
Dan Page illustrated for Shopify, “How To Make And Sell Stickers Online In 2021”
Zara Picken was commissioned by Journey Group to illustrate a series of articles in the “Perspectives” section of Independent School magazine, exploring ideas related to different education insights.
Jon Reinfurt was commissioned by Virginia Living to illustrate the cover and seven interior illustrations for their special annual issue, “Best of Virginia 2021.”
Jeffrey Smith was commissioned by The PennStater to illustrate their article about Muhammad Ali’s visit to Penn State in 1969, “The Champ is Here.” This illustration has now been selected to be part of the Society of Illustrators.
James Steinberg provided art for a TIME article about climate change anxiety.
Eva Vázquez illustrated a story for a Madrid magazine titled, “Japan, A Story of Love and War”.
David Vogin was commissioned by American Educator to illustrate the cover and interior images of their Spring 2021 issue. This project was art directed by Jennifer Berney.
Sjoerd van Leeuwen illustrated for Shopify’s article, “Kid-Powered Businesses: 12 Ideas for Future CEOs”. This article encourages parents to have conversations with their children about finances, money management, and how to take their interests and hobbies and turn them into profitable opportunities.
Nicole Xu was commissioned by Walrus Magazine to provide an illustration for an article about zoom court trials.
Kotryna Zukauskaite illustrated a series for Scholastic. These illustrations accompany an interactive interface where children can “Tour the Brain” and discover concepts like “What’s the difference between consciousness, sleep, and unconsciousness?”
Books
John Jay Cabuay created the cover art for Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna.
Anna Godeassi was commissioned by Running Press to provide cover and interior illustrations for the book, Potions: A Guide to Cocktails, Tinctures, Tisanes, and Other Witchy Concoctions.
Pete Lloyd created this cover for The Hiddenseek.
Yuta Onoda illustrated a book cover for Kelly Barnhill’s The Ogress and the Orphans, commissioned by Algonquin Young Readers.
