If you’re looking for creative inspiration, following digital artists is a great way to discover new styles and techniques. The online digital art community is thriving thanks to social media platforms like Cara and ArtStation which allow creatives to share their work, learn from each other and support upcoming talent.
To give you a taste of what’s out there, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite digital artists that should be on your radar. From fantasy artists to character designers, this diverse collection of creatives demonstrates how unique the digital art community can be. If you’re looking to kickstart your art career, take a look at our picks for the best budget drawing and digital art software to bring your ideas to life.
01. Zara H
(Image credit: Zara H)
Zara H is a freelance illustrator, MTG artist and book cover designer. She began drawing to bring the characters in her head to life, and is hugely inspired by games, horror and fantasy. She designs characters through the lens of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) people and culture.
Her piece above titled ‘Vampire’ is a contemporary take on the archetypal blood thirsty fiend. “As vampires are a huge inspiration, I created this original character in 2020 as an attempt at a vampire who didn’t adhere to the old legends and myths,” Zara explains.
02. Haiyang
(Image credit: Haiyang)
Haiyang is a concept artist from Beijing, China with a love for mysterious cultures. Curiosity for the world around him is his main inspiration, while he also likes to use elements of history in his magical worlds to make them more realistic.
Above is his piece ‘Ashiya Returns’. “Ashiya is the main character of my personal universe. She’s an Onmyoji from Harima,” Haiyang explains. “In the ancient East, the legendary nine-tailed fox is well known, and seems to have lived for nearly 1,000 years. Here Ashiya meets the fox for the first time, with a battle on the horizon.”
Pascal Blanché is a French Canadian artist and art director who has been creating digital art for over 25 years. He works as Senior Art director at game developer Behaviour Interactive, and as a freelancer he creates work that blends 3D and 2D elements.
Loish is a digital artist who has been drawing her whole life. Based in The Netherlands, Lois van Baarle does character design work for clients across the world. “When I was 15, I discovered digital art,” she explains on her website.
“We had a trial version of Photoshop which I liked to experiment with, and I also discovered Oekaki, a kind of online drawing program similar to Paint. I spent all my free time drawing and when I was in my senior year of high school, I had to face the fact that I loved drawing too much not to pursue it as a career.”
05. Heraldo Ortega
Click the icon in the top right to see the full-size image (Image credit: Heraldo Ortega)
Heraldo Ortega is an illustrator, graphic designer and musician. The Chilean artist uses Photoshop, Procreate, and Clip Studio Paint to create his art. From a young age he has painted using traditional media, but now works digitally, too. “I’m inspired by fantasy and try to create little stories,” he says.
“I created this warrior, who’s capable of creating fire with the single movement of his sword, for my personal portfolio,” says Ortega about his painting The Lord of Fire (above). The juxtaposition of the rain and fire is a nice way to highlight the conflict teased in the painting.
06. Małgorzata Kmiec
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Małgorzata Kmiec is a freelance artist based in Berlin, who specialises in stylised and colourful portraits. She believes anyone who thinks magic doesn’t exist has never heard of art, and aims to put a bit of magic into all her work.
“I’m often inspired by seasons and nature, and this painting is a tribute to early spring,” she says of Spring Spirit (above). “I wanted to surround my character with warm colours that reflect the spirit of the season.”
07. Rachel Walpole
Click the icon in the top right to see the full-size image (Image credit: Rachel Walpole)
“I’ve had a passion for art since I was a child,” says digital artist and illustrator Rachel Walpole. “I whisk myself away to huge floating desert islands, angels with a questionable amount of wings, and creatures larger than countries.”
The above painting appeared to Le Vye almost fully realised in her mind, and she began working on it before planning a concept or narrative. “As I painted it, the piercing eyes of the boy kept bringing to mind Peter Pan,” she says. “I imagined this ageless child living away from reality in his own world, kept company by natural wonders and his own shadow.”
08. Dan Volbert
Click the icon in the top right to see the full-size image (Image credit: Dan Volbert)
As a lead artist at Cooperativa Creativa, Dan Volbert has been driven to reach a harmony of colours and shapes ever since he entered the industry. “It’s a spectacular ride,” he exclaims.
There’s more ancient monsters in the work ‘Dragon Rock’. He says: “This is a piece of unused marketing art for a Viking tabletop game, which was illustrated in Photoshop.”
09. Jakob Eirich
Click the icon in the top right to see the full-size image (Image credit: Jakob Eirich)
Jakob Eirich has long been inspired by Japanese and Western media, and their themes and styles can be seen in his work. From fantasy to sci-fi and stylised to realistic, Jakob sees beauty in all artistic approaches.
His piece Knightfisher (above) is a stunning example of his detailed art style. “This is one of the many paintings I’ve been happy to make for Magic: The Gathering. Here I’m blending stylised and semi-realistic rendering to make the focal point stand out,” Jakob explains.
10. Alayna Danner
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Alayna Danner (formerly Alayna Lemmer) is a digital artist based in Seattle, Washington, who works mainly on video games, board games and CCGs.
“My favourite thing to paint is environments,” she says. “I love to draw people and characters too, but there is just something about painting wispy clouds and mountains. I am lucky enough to live in the Seattle area, which is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and the Puget Sound, so there is inspiration all around me.”
11. Lim Chuan Shin
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Lim Chuan Shin is now a successful freelance illustrator and concept artist, and regularly creates fantasy and sci-fi book covers and concept artwork for game companies. However, growing up in Malaysia in the ’90s meant art initially wasn’t a career option him. After several years as a pharmaceutical rep, he decided to take the plunge and chase his digital art dreams. “It’s been a tough fight but it’s all been worth it,” he says.
Mech Bay (above) was created using interesting silhouettes in a flat black. Shin changed the tone of the shapes to create the illusion of depth of field.
12. Alyn Spiller
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Alyn Spiller is a concept artist and illustrator who specialises in environment art. He’s been in the digital art industry for over six years, during which time he has worked with clients such as Cryptozoic Entertainment and Fantasy Flight Games.
He took inspiration from the Northern Lights when creating the colour scheme for his Northern Kingdom painting (above). “The sky lanterns were a late addition – I think they create a nice contrast of warm and cool colours,” he says.
13. Simon Cowell
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No, not that one. Originally hailing from Sydney, Australia, Simon Cowell first explored fantasy art in the original Half-Life’s world editor. Since then he’s tinkered in 3D and traditional art, and is now a freelance concept artist.
“From an early age I was fascinated with creating. As I grew I experimented with many means of creativity, ranging from sculpting and drawing to digital animation and graphic design,” Cowell says.
“I’d wanted to make a forest-style monster for a long time,” he says of Swamp Thing (above). “I imagined something perhaps created from the woods and foliage, and held together by magic.”
14. Vanessa Morales
Click the icon in the top right to see the full-size image (Image credit: Vanessa Morales)
Vanessa Morales is an illustrator who loves painting whimsical scenes inspired by nature, and as well as working digitally Vanessa also creates using traditional techniques like gouache, watercolour and pen marker. She plays with the energy of colour on dark backgrounds, inspired by the phrase ‘the rainbow looks better at night’.
Her piece ‘Crimson Spring’ (above) is inspired by the fleeting seasons and the flora it brings. “Every time the seasons change, inspiration flows again. In this case, as the name suggests, I was heavily inspired by tropical flowers.”
15. Lei Chu
(Image credit: Lei Chu)
Lei Chu is a freelance game artist with an interest in travel, which can be seen in his story about a magician who visits different places and sees amazing things. He likes to use simple techniques in his work and predominantly works in Photoshop and Blender.
The piece above is Lei’s original artwork titled ‘Mr Hama’. “The magician was travelling in the mountains, where he found the toad priest boiling medicine. I used Blender to make sure the shapes were correct, and then started to draw the lines and colours,” he explains.
