15 Illustration Projects from 2020: Editorial Art, Animation and Personal Work

Illustration in 2020 moved easily between commissioned storytelling and personal response. A selection assembled by Creative Boom included work recognized by the World Illustration Awards and 15 artists featured in the Directory of Illustration. Across book covers, magazine commissions, animated loops and self-directed projects, the pieces show how illustrators used distinct visual languages to give an idea a memorable shape.

The work ranges from calm, intimate scenes to dense conceptual images. Here are the artists and projects, with the original credits and descriptions preserved where provided.

Editorial ideas, made visual

Karolis Strautniekas — How It Feels to Float

His editorial work for The New Yorker and Forbes reflects a practice built on lively detail, contemporary lines and colour. Here, the book cover brings that careful, energetic approach to a story about a young person’s inner life.

Matt Chinworth — No Such Thing As Incognito

For The Washington Post, Tulsa-based Matt Chinworth illustrated a series about technology privacy, tracking software and ways to protect personal data. The subject invites visual explanation: the artwork turns an unseen network of observation into something readers can consider. Chinworth’s other clients include TED, The New Yorker and Vice.

Sam Peet — Strategist Skills

London-based illustrator Sam Peet made this piece for Chicago Booth Magazine, accompanying an article on the skills of a good strategist. The commission is a familiar editorial challenge: translate an abstract professional subject into an image that can hold attention alongside explanatory text. Peet is represented by George Grace Represents.

Tom Peake — Future of Music

Tom Peake’s ongoing series for Bentley Magazine includes an image about the future of music. The commission is described as conceptual and full of verve, a useful pairing for a subject that invites speculation and visual invention. Peake is represented by Meiklejohn.

Place, memory and personal perspective

Uijung Kim — Boats

South Korean illustrator Uijung Kim, represented by Central Illustration Agency, drew inspiration from Vietnam’s floating markets. The project turns a specific sense of place into a series of illustrations, centering boats and the activity gathered around them. Its appeal lies in observing a local scene with warmth rather than treating it as generic travel imagery.

Tania Yakunova — The Earth Has Music For Those Who Listen

Kyiv-based illustrator Tania Yakunova made a calendar and postcard series for Green Network Energy celebrating the natural world. Her work draws on twentieth-century avant-garde art and design, a reference point that gives these formats room for graphic interpretation. The same imagery can live across a calendar and a postcard while keeping the project’s central subject in view.

Shari Wolf — The Girl in the Striped Chair

Cleveland artist Shari Wolf works across painting, illustration, books and textiles. This portrait was painted in acrylic on canvas. The medium gives the striped chair a tangible role in the composition, while the title points attention toward the figure and her setting. Wolf’s practice crosses disciplines, but this piece keeps its focus on a single quiet encounter.

Lonnie Ollivierre — Kobe Bryant

Atlanta-based Lonnie Ollivierre was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where his father worked as a sign painter. After his family moved to Brooklyn, he taught himself to paint by studying the comic books he collected. His tribute to basketball player Kobe Bryant stood out among his work that year. Ollivierre, represented by Shannon Associates, says his everyday life, family and friends inform art intended to inspire, educate and uplift.

Darya Shnykina — Places I’d Love to Live In

Russian artist Darya Shnykina’s personal project gathers places she would like to live. Its calm, introspective mood reflects the quieter moments she draws from in her life. Shnykina also made a book cover for Margery Allingham’s Mr Campion and Others during the year, showing how a personal visual sensibility can serve both self-directed and publishing work.

Motion, detail and genre

An Chen — New Year GIF: 2020

Taiwanese illustrator An Chen’s animated GIF captures the optimism surrounding the start of a new decade, before the year’s events changed the mood. Its geometry and looping motion belong to a broader series of stop-motion pieces. Chen is represented by Rapp Art.

Bella Pilar — GIFs

Trained in fine art and fashion, Bella Pilar works across advertising, books, magazines and greeting cards. Her animated GIFs drew attention for carrying her signature style into motion. The format gives a familiar illustration language a time-based element, while the images remain recognizable as part of her broader work. Pilar is represented by Magnet Reps.

Musketon — The Last Supper

Belgian artist Musketon reworked Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper through the lens of the Covid-19 era. This self-initiated project took three months to complete, with enough detail to reward repeated viewing. Its scale and recognizable source image let the artist build a dense response to an extraordinary year. Musketon is represented by JSR Agency.

Christopher Bretz — Rosie the Rex Rider to the Rescue

Toronto-based illustrator and concept artist Christopher Bretz combines steampunk and science fiction in this pop-culture mashup. The piece’s expressive characters give the hybrid genre an accessible, playful energy. It’s an example of how a clear premise and strong facial expressions can anchor a world that draws on several visual traditions.

Gary Bullock — Coast Scene

UK illustrator Gary Bullock made this scratchboard coast scene for De Nure Tours. He works in packaging, advertising and editorial illustration, and this commission uses the scratchboard technique to give a travel subject a tactile finish. The image’s vivid colours are a defining feature of the piece.

Illustration with a public purpose

Jason Raish — FIT Black Student Illustrators Award

At New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where he teaches, Jason Raish created stylish prints for a fundraiser supporting Black students. Represented by Central Illustration Agency, Raish paired the conservative codes of vintage high fashion with rebellious self-expression inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e tattoos. The contrast gives the prints their central visual tension and connects their subject to their purpose.

Together, these projects show the range illustration can cover in a single year: careful editorial explanation, commercial storytelling, personal reflection and work made to support a community. The strongest examples give each subject a visual premise of its own, then carry that premise through the image, medium and format.