Celebrate Diversity in Design—Volume 15

Welcome back to our Diversity in Design series on Envato Tuts+. Discover four talented artists with inspiring styles you’ll love.

4 Artists You Should Know: Diversity in Design

Celebrate
the work of these extraordinary artists. Each with their own unique
background, they draw inspiration from their culture and surroundings to
create phenomenal designs.

Magtira Paolo

Let’s begin with Magtira Paolo, a talented illustrator from Quezon City, Philippines. With colorful 2D scenes that automatically draw you in, his work includes powerful illustrations full of emotion and complex details.

See more his portfolio, and follow him on Instagram.

Liryo Cover

I’m just a regular person who happens to have some proficiency with
portraying visual narratives.

I’m painfully boring; I prefer that my
work speaks for itself without the need of wholly attaching my persona.

Commission

I primarily draw from my personal experiences, along with other visual work and literature that deal with dark and emotional themes.

Tired

Render

I look up to Japanese Mangakas that portray a high level of emotion
and visual narrative in their works. Mainly my idols are Inio Asano, Shūzō Oshimi and Hideo Yamamoto.

Phathu Nembilwi

Next up is Phathu Nembilwi, an amazing graphic designer and illustrator based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her vibrant illustrations feature a simple style bursting with joyous energy. Check out these inviting illustrations of everyday life.

See more in her portfolio, and follow her on Instagram.

Tropical Holiday

I was born and raised in South Africa in a small town called Thohoyandou in
Venda.

Then I moved to the big city of Johannesburg to pursue my dreams of becoming a graphic designer.
I graduated a few years back, and I am currently working full time as a graphic designer/illustrator.

My Kitchen

I love color, which makes sense coming from a rainbow nation that prides itself with Ubuntu (meaning humanity) and togetherness.

The sun shines even through the winter. There are different traditional dishes to
choose from, and the diversity in the culture and music gets you moving.
I wanted to show this beauty in my work.

One With Nature

The Weather

I follow a lot of amazing Instagram accounts for inspiration. I love @bodiljane and @oamul because their styles are both unique and beautiful.

Simeon Elson

Based in London, UK, is our next incredible artist, Simeon Elson. An Adobe certified expert and freelance illustrator, he brings his expertise into impeccable illustrations of fan art, movie posters, and electric sports graphics.

See more in his portfolio and follow him on Instagram.

Pacific Rim Uprising – Movie Poster Art

I am a Londoner who loves sports. I love to play sports more than watching them
and try to be as active as possible playing tennis, football and even Latin
dancing often. I believe that my body is my temple so I am very much into
healthy eating too.

Janelle Monáe

I first started freelancing as an illustrator and graphic designer
back in 2005 shortly after finishing my HNC in multimedia. I bought two
bumper tutorial magazines, one for Adobe Photoshop and the other for Illustrator.

I
was hooked from then on and took to creating vector portraits and
illustrations like a duck to water. I swiftly gained a monthly gig creating
illustrations and designs for a flyer distribution company and have grown steadily from there.

K.D. Special

Adidas Originals Tribute

My clients have included Microsoft, Diesel, Brother, and Advanced
Photoshop magazine, among many others.

My work is inspired by sports, music and movies, and I love to add a
sense of energy, motion and drama into my work. My process usually
starts in Adobe Illustrator creating the vector illustrations first, then
crossing over into Photoshop where I create the compositions, add
effects, and include mixed media elements I created all myself.

Ophir Sheriff

Last, we have the phenomenal work of digital artist Ophir Sheriff, from Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Featuring gorgeous visuals of concept art and diverse characters, his work is inspiring and super original.

See more in his portfolio and follow him on Instagram.

Sky Map / Awakening

I was born and raised in
Tel-Aviv, Israel. I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember even though I have no idea how I managed to make this lifelong
hobby into my profession.

I worked for a couple of years as an artist in
the video games industry in Israel, and now I work as a freelancer. Just this summer alone, I’ve worked
on a TV show, a robotics design project, two small video games, a
number of illustration works and a personal comic book project. It’s a
lot of work, but honestly, I love it!

Algorithmic Episode

My inspiration changes constantly. For my
personal work, I believe the major factors behind it are my dreams and
nightmares, as well as a deep love for my local Israeli roots. A
lot of my works have motives that first come to me in my sleep, and are inspired by the Israeli desert scenery and
fantastical and surreal themes.

As for my professional work, it varies
from project to project. I always try to explore new styles in order to find a unique fit for my clients.

Imitation / Desert Dwellers

Fear is the Mind Killer

My biggest inspirations are both Moebius and Hayao Miyazaki. The
two of them are just so endlessly creative, and they have such a unique
way of looking at things.

Besides them, I really adore Asaf and Tomer
Hanuka, and have a
lot of inspirations from the traditional art world, such as Gustav
Klimt, René Magritte, and Caspar David Friedrich.

Fear Is The Mind Killer — Fear is the Mind Killer

Celebrate Diversity! Send Us Your Favorite Artists!

Help us find more incredible artists from different backgrounds to share with our audience! Tweet me your recommendations at MelloNieves or use the hashtags #artforall and #tutsplusdesign on Twitter and Instagram. You never know, we may just feature you in our next article!

Love this selection? See more from this series:

I’d
like to extend a warm thank you to all the artists who participated in
this feature. Feel free to see more of their work in the links below: