::chelsea cardinal::

Great pen and ink, watercolor illustrations by Brooklyn artist, Chelsea Cardinal.

Cardinal, an illustrator by study, works as a designer for GQ magazine, creating beautiful art at night. I'm really inspired these days by the laying down of an image via ink combined with the looseness of watercolor.

I think those of us who are 'illustrators' can, pretty easily create art that looks like the subject. That's just what we do. But the real talent comes in with "what you do with it"; how you make it come alive with personality. It may be through the line weight {am I getting too technical?} or even the humor of the line laid down {too esoteric?}

My own work has always been so tight and when I've tried to be less so, I'm never happy with my results {perfectionist in me}

An approach like this combines both the exactness that I like but with an unpredictability {the hand lettering aspect is fantastic as well}

her paintings are pretty great too:

She sells prints.917-804-7992

along the same line:

sujean rim

caitlin mcgauley