Françoise Nielly is a french painter specializing in portraits that combine elements of cubism and abstract painting. Beginning with a subject and colour palette in mind, Françoise begins her her process by applying ubiquitous slabs of colour with her palette knife.

This technique sounds like she would be creating abstract art, but as the colours overlap, the portrait begins to reveal itself. Then she just follows the cues to focus it into a collage of amazing colours.

To view Françoise’s complete gallery and view a demonstration of how she begins her process work visit www.francoise-nielly.com.

I was scanning for some reference shots I could use and came across a site called 500px.com. For anyone unfamiliar with this site, it’s a great source of inspiration. Photographers from around the world upload their work, I think cropping them to 500px. I was first drawn to Konstantin’s profile by his ‘Dancing Among’ photograph. After exploring the rest of his collection, I had found 18 shots that I now had to arrange for today’s post.

When I look at his shots, I feel a sense of isolation in the mass. Konstantin combines many elements to create a sense of desolation. Most photos are of an isolated person or a mass of people walking in formation. The grainy film gives off an imperfect quality to the shots. The scenery is always at night with low light in the middle of snowstorm. In a world without any light, sun or colour: there would be no life. And in this world, the life that does exist is either suffering, or are drones marching in formation.

You can see Konstantin’s complete collection at http://gross.500px.com.

With an extensive library of impressive vector work, it’s easy to forget that James White of Signalnoise is also an accomplished artist. I was initially drawn to James’ work by his collection of skull composites. Relying on traditional technique is a great way to ensure that your designs will be unique and keep you from falling into design trends. The technique in these pieces if very impressive, walking the line between hard and soft (soft textures, hard lines, whispie greens contrasted with deep reds).

Connect with James at signalnoise.com or by his twitter and facebook.

Tara is a fashion designer in Montreal and painter in her spare time. She was always a gifted illustrator, but she only began painting about 8 years ago while still in design school. Since then, she’s developed her skills and put together an impressive collection of work. Her paintings depict strong women in beautiful backgrounds. From a distance the colours draw you in, but then it’s the patterns and textures she’s meticulously created in her pieces that leave you speechless.

You can view more of Tara’s work on her website.

I’ve had a collection of Mitch’s work in my inspiration folder for months now. His talent at capturing the heroic comic characters of our generation creates a rotting, boiling, green jealous-monster in my belly. His talents with the digital tablet are truly very impressive.

I chose to highlight more of his spot illustrations as they have a certain vintage quality and character to them that I love. His polished works are truly amazing. But the imperfections of what look like marker lines is what sells me on these pieces. I would love to see a lot more in this style.

Visit mitchbreitweiser.com and Mitch’s DeviantART page to see more of his work.

I grew up in South Porcupine Ontario Canada. It’s a small town known mostly for gold mining and subjecting us to Shania Twain. Ya, that was us. Like a lot of kids growing up in northern Ontario, I was in love with playing hockey. Goaltending to be specific. I’ve been a goalie my entire life and as a kid the one thing I wanted more than anything else in the world was a crazy cool airbrushed goalie mask. Eventually many years later I would order my first professional paint job. I drew out a precise sketch in colour of what I wanted and sent it away. About a month later, I received my mask almost line for line to what I’d asked for. I was truly impressed and decided to learn how to do this for myself.

A few years later, it’s time to change the green monster because I clash with almost every jersey. I wanted something with more neutral tones that could compliment most jerseys. So this time I went ahead and painted the adapted Monster myself. I went with a neutral whites and greys for the skin and as an accent I painted the gums a mix of dirty blond to chocolate brown. Now this helmet could match no matter what colour my jersey happened to be.

*Funny side-note: Immediately after altering the green helmet, I was recruited to play for a team wearing classic green North Stars jerseys.

This was an exercise in improving the value (Black and white contrast) in my drawings. I found an interesting collection of models covered in black greasepaint. The light would reflect off the black grease to a give extreme white reflections. Perfect for drastic light and dark values. I like to give myself exercises or projects in my sketchbook. I’ve heard from multiple designers and artists in a variety of different medias from graphic design to painting that everything stems from drawing. So work at it.

How cool is this axe?! I mean, this thing is amazing!

Toronto designer and artist Andrew Burling really put a lot of work into this Strat. This was done with traditional paint brushes and acrylic paint. One continuous design piece encompassing every inch of the guitar to create an art piece that I would love to have on my studio wall. Bravo Andrew, now do another one!

Frustration, oh the frustration in airbrushing a goalie mask. I painted my first goalie mask 2 years ago and I’ve painted a few more since then but let me tell you, it is a tedious process. I enjoy it, but I don’t promote it. It’s more of a hobby for me. I really just enjoy doing it for friends and my own goalie mask.

There is just too much effort that goes into making a good looking helmet that won’t be destroyed with one slap shot. Constant sanding to make sure every inch can grip the paint, mixing and layering your colours. Add the challenge of painting on a 3d object with a wavy shape and then hoping you don’t muck it up at any point and you’re done.

This helmet was for a friend that I met playing local pickup hockey. He asked for a mayan statue on both sides and some space on the chin for a future team logo. I drew up the sketch as a guide after I prepped the helmet for work. I don’t normally go into that much detail on a sketch, but I was waiting to receive his helmet and had time to draw. It’s always a great idea to map out where you’re going before you start a project, you’ll save so much time and hassle that way. I was a massive culprit of designing on the fly when I was student in college.

I first came across Jeremy’s work about 6 months ago and fell in love with it. His technique is incredible but the concept behind the work speaks louder that his brush. When I look at these cosmonauts, I see someone who took a chance.

Home had nothing for you. You took a chance hoping to find a new world, where you make sense and belong. Now millions of miles away from home, you question: Will I survive in this new world? My resources are limited, how long can I survive out here alone? Anyone trying to make their mark in the creative world can relate to the feeling of isolation and being lost in a strange new world. Floating up and down, unsure whether you’ll find salvation or be swallowed up by the dust. Glued to your screen, struggling for air and hoping for that big opportunity to get off your rock and be with the stars.

To see more of Jeremy’s work, click here.