Riley Rossmo
http://rileyrossmo.com/Surely one of the most distinctive visual voices working in comics today, Riley's unique drawing style screams with ink splattered energy. Named the 2012 comic artist of the year by USA Today, Riley is best known for creator owned series such as Proof, Green Wake, Cowboy, Ninja, Viking, and Bedlam.
His next series coming this November is titled Drumhellar, a paranormal detective comic book inspired by rural Aberta and written by fellow albertan Alex Link. Riley and Alex have worked together before, on a zombie themed series titled Rebel Blood.
In a change of pace Riley recently illustrated a Superman one-off issue for DC Comics.
Find out more about Riley's adventures on a couple of recent interviews: USA Today and Bleeding Cool.
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Joy Ang
joyang.caJoy's next picture book Petey and Pru and the Hullabaloo has already received a starred review from Kirkus, and based on the glimpses that can be found on Joy's website I am excited to see what the Hullabaloo is all about.
Joy has been on a roll of late with Mustache Baby written by Bridget Heos garnering more than a few looks earlier this year. And her illustrations soar on the covers of the bestselling Wings of Fire young adult book series written by Tui T Sutherland.
Joy is from Edmonton and was the driving force behind the independently published Anthology project.
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Janine Vangool
uppercasemagazine.comIn celebrating the illustrators we mustn't forget the promotors of the illustrated medium such as Janine Vangool who has been a big supporter of Alberta illustrators and have given many of them their first opportunity to appear in print.
Janine's Uppercase Magazine is nearing 20 issues and I am pretty certain a big part of every issue has been packed with as as many illustrations as she can safely include. Janine's patronage of illustration has moved world wide but several local illustrators do live and work in her latest edition of Work Life, released just a few weeks ago.
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Rick Sealock
ricksealock.comAnd now for something completely different?
How to describe Rick ... the Monty Python of illustration perhaps? As this image from a series of illustrations for Maisonneuve magazine suggests, even with fatherhood and over 20 years of working as an illustrator Rick's work continues it's feverish and unapologetic visual assault.
Maybe the best way to describe Rick is through his own words:
This brash and nicely maturing upstart illustrator with a flair for the wild, wicked, and woolly has been entertaining Daddy-o Designers, Art Wranglers and Hi-Fi Art Directors since graduating from ACAD in 1986. His Good, Bad and Uber Ugly images have garnered over 300 awards and have been recognized by American Illustration, Applied Arts, Communication Arts, Society of Illustrators NY, SILA and other illustration annuals. His "Hell bent for Leather" and "Push it to the Edge" attitude has delighted editorial, advertising and publishing art directors. Though an apology to those who have gotten into trouble or fired for using his work...hopefully it won them an award.