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25 Digital Portrait Artists You HAVE To Follow on Instagram (2018)

Cover image by Julia Razumova

Every month we bring you a selection of mind-blowingly beautiful digital paintings for your inspiration!

So why not turn this idle time into “Inspiration Time”?

We’ve gathered 25 INCREDIBLE digital portrait artists whom you can follow for inspiration. With their frequent posts, paintings, and process videos, your Instagram sessions can now fuel you with ideas for your next painting session!

Pssst… learning digital painting? Make sure to give us a follow for weekly inspiration & tutorials like this one:

01. Eric-Anthony Johnson

Eric-Anthony is a self-taught illustrator and portrait artist based in Germany. Since he started his professional career in 2010, he has already worked for clients such as HBO, Vice, and Jägermeister. Make sure to give him a follow for lots of beautiful portraits, sketches, and WIPs.

A post shared by Eric-Anthony (@ericanthonyj) on Apr 6, 2018 at 12:31pm PDT

02. Jacqueline E

Don’t miss this up-and-coming talent! Jacqueline has been posting some beautiful portraits recently that have really caught our eye. With her skilful use of lighting and color, she creates beautiful portraits guaranteed to inspire your next painting!

A post shared by Jacqueline E (@jac.draws) on Dec 9, 2017 at 4:08pm PST

03. Bo Feng Lin

Bo Feng Lin is an artist and illustrator who creates stunning painterly and caricature-style portraits. Bo initially planned to study architecture, but after realising that he had no passion for the course, he decided to become a full-time artist instead. Lucky for us all, because we now get to enjoy his amazing portfolio, full of bold colors and beautifully stylised portraits.

04. Janice Sung

Janice is a Toronto-based illustrator and designer who works for fashion magazines, luxury brands, and media influencers on a freelance basis. She creates gorgeous portraits using pastel colors, and blends a slightly feminine style with lots of geometric shapes and angles. Check out her wildly successful new book on Kickstarter!

A post shared by Janice Sung (@janicesung) on Dec 9, 2017 at 2:16pm PST

05. Julia Razumova

One of the biggest names in the digital art scene, Russia-born artist Julia Razumova (aka. bluesssatan) has painting a staggering number of beautiful portraits! She often uses dramatic lighting, gloss effects, and exaggerated proportions to give her portrait paintings character and emotion. We love her work so much we even featured it in a recent blog post.

06. Mel Milton

With 20 years of experience, Mel Milton is a true veteran of the art industry. His experience shows in the quality of his portraits, and the range of styles that he is able to explore—painterly, caricature, and realistic. Be sure to check out his two books (which were wildly successful on Kickstarter), on his store ‘Mel Made “Dooks”.’

A post shared by melmadedooks (@melmadedooks) on Jan 11, 2018 at 11:56am PST

07. Laia López

Laia is a Spanish illustrator and character designer who has won over art fans from all over the world with her charming, cartoon-style paintings. With over 800,000+ followers on Instagram, she inspires many aspiring artists with her process videos and regular updates about her current projects.

08. Diego Fernandez

Diego is an artist and illustrator from Argentina. Through strict attention to detail and skillful application of textures, he creates digital paintings that appear to be made from traditional media. His portraits combine realist and surrealist elements to great effect.

A post shared by Diego Fernandez (@diegoidef) on Mar 11, 2018 at 7:52am PDT

09. Rene Gorecki

With his lifelike digital portraits, Georgian artist Rene Gorecki brings out the best in the human form. His works have a beautiful, dream-like quality to them – stunningly realistic and flawlessly rendered.

A post shared by Rene Gorecki (@goreckirene) on Nov 10, 2016 at 7:26am PST

10. Mandy Jurgens

Mandy Jurgens is an American artist and illustrator best known for her captivating work on female portraits. She has a captivating traditional look to her work – and you would be forgiving for mistaking many of her portraits for oil paintings. She’s a master of lighting, and each painting is a true gem that captures the mood and emotion of her subjects.

A post shared by Mandy Jurgens (@saonserey) on Apr 20, 2018 at 7:30am PDT

11. Ross Tran

Ross Tran – probably the most entertaining person in the digital art scene! You may already know him from his wildly successful YouTube channel – but make sure to follow him on Instagram, where he posts behind-the-scenes updates and close-ups of his latest artwork. Ross is an incredibly talented painter, and his artwork is as vibrant as his personality.

A post shared by Ross Tran (@rossdraws) on Mar 19, 2018 at 10:54am PDT

12. Alice X. Zhang

Known for her high-contrast palette of fiery and cool tones, the very talented Alice Zhang creates mesmerising portraits that should be a welcome addition to anyone’s Instagram feed! Watch out for your favourite TV and movie characters to get featured in one of her works!

A post shared by Alice X. Zhang (@alicexz) on Mar 13, 2017 at 3:31pm PDT

13. Sam Spratt

New York-based illustrator Sam Spratt translates his classical oil-painting training well into the digital world. He has worked on concept and cover art for some of the biggest brands in publishing, games and music, such as Universal, Warner, Variety, Angry Birds, and Tomb Raider. Recently, he also did the cover work for Marvel Comics’ Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows.

A post shared by Sam Spratt (@samspratt) on Nov 2, 2017 at 4:20pm PDT

14. Charlie Bowater

UK-based illustrator, Charlie Bowater describes herself as a “tall, book loving-Illustrator-artsy-type-person”. Fond of using thick sketch lines and bright colors in her illustrations, her work can be described as feminine and dreamy. Her Instagram also gives a glimpse to her laidback artsy lifestyle, with her sketches, books and her dog.

15. Aykut Aydoğdu

Akyut Aydoğdu is a freelance illustrator and master of surrealism from Istanbul, Turkey. Both his vivid imagination and perfect technique are equally as impressive. Though he dwells on otherworldly subjects, his works are perfectly polished and vivid, you’d have to look twice to decide if it’s a touched-up photo or a painting.

A post shared by aykutaydogdu (@aykutmaykut) on Mar 14, 2018 at 8:59am PDT

16. Aaron Griffin

Aaron Griffin is an illustrator and concept artist based in London. His work has a beautifully textured and expressive style to it, and many of his beautiful portraits could easily be mistaken for oil paintings! He also has a set of free brushes, which are some of the best we know!

17. Jana Schirmer

One of our favourite fantasy illustrators, German freelance artist Jana Schirmer is also a master at painting beautiful portraits! She’s an incredibly prolific artist, and regularly posts striking sketches, ink paintings and polished digital masterpieces to her Instagram – so make sure to give her a follow for a big boost of inspiration!

18. Guweiz

Guweiz is a freelance digital illustrator from Singapore. His portfolio showcases his incredible artistic range, where he seems to effortlessly switch from Manga-style fantasy art to realistic, oil-on-canvas style paintings.

A post shared by (@guweiz) on Apr 30, 2017 at 10:32pm PDT

19. Tara Phillips

Now here’s an artist that deserves many more followers! Sydney-based freelance illustrator Tara Phillips is a master at digital art and portraiture. Her characters are flawlessy rendered, and she’s got a great eye for composition. Make sure to give her a follow on Instagram for a steady stream of WIPs and close-ups from her finished paintings.

20. Yasar Vurdem

Yasar is a Turkish artist and illustrator who is getting recognized in the art world for his stunning surrealist portraits. The mixing of inanimate objects on skillfully-crafted portraits give his paintings a whole new dimension. Not only do his paintings please the eyes, they also leave the viewer with something to think about.

A post shared by Yasar Vurdem (@yvurdem) on Mar 1, 2018 at 7:39am PST

21. Ilya Kuvshinov

This artist takes manga-inspired art to a whole new level. Ilya is a Tokyo-based Russian artist who creates anime-inspired portraits and character designs, and elevates them with cinematic effects, such as dramatic lighting and atmosphere. Recently, some of his best work were compiled in a book, “MOMENTARY: The Art of Ilya Kuvshinov”, which is a must-have for all art fans.

22. Laura Brouwers

Known as Cyarin to her fans, Laura Brouwers is a digital artist who hails from the Netherlands. Using both traditional and digital art, she creates adorable portraits and character designs, mostly of female subjects. Using feminine contours and bold colors, she imparts a youthful vibrance to her work, which makes it very popular on social media.

A post shared by Laura Brouwers (@cyarine) on Apr 19, 2018 at 9:57am PDT

23. Alexis Franklin

Alexis Franklin is a young videographer from Texas who loves to paint in her free time, and does an incredible job at it! She often paints surreal and expressive subjects, with a style that bears very close resemblance to oil on canvas. A traditional art enthusiast, she takes inspiration from her favourite oil painters, and then recreates a similar mood and texture with pixels. We like her style so much that we recently featured her in one of our blog posts.

A post shared by Alexis Franklin (@alexis_art) on Jan 13, 2017 at 10:55am PST

24. Loish

Lois van Baarle, known as Loish to her fans, is a digital artist and animator from the Netherlands. Her gorgeous and instantly recognisable style, use of vibrant colors, overstated lines, and expressive characters have all earned the admiration of digital art fans from all over the world, making her one of the most iconic and legendary names in digital painting! In 2016, she published the Kickstarter-funded compendium of her best paintings, The Art of Loish.

A post shared by loish (@loisvb) on Mar 5, 2018 at 12:08pm PST

25. Daniela Uhlig

Daniela is a German character artist and illustrator, and a fantastic digital painter that belongs on everyone’s feed! She creates soft, airbrushed portraits of female characters, often involving mature themes and surreal elements. Make sure to give her a follow for plenty of behind-the-scenes sketches & artwork!

A post shared by Daniela Uhlig (@daniela_uhlig) on Mar 12, 2018 at 11:48am PDT

26. David Belliveau

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4 thoughts on “25 Digital Portrait Artists You HAVE To Follow on Instagram (2018)”

  1. I’m looking for digital portrait artists that use a non-painterly style, that doesn’t borrow as much—especially texturally—from oil portraitists. Can anyone send me in right direction? CAN ANYONE SEND ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?

    Thank you.

    Reply

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