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Graphic design and illustration design are technically two different areas of work. But these two usually overlap each other in one way or another. Generally, a graphic designer tells a story or conveys his or her message through text and pictures, but they can also use illustrations sometimes to make the designs even more effective. Illustration means portraying a story, message, object, concept, etc. in a creative and attractive visual image format rather than just text or photographs. This is a beautiful way of art and it is highly demanding in every possible business sector. Because they are unique, attractive, universally appreciated, and give better message delivery, illustrations are always on the top of the list in global trends. Illustrations are like digital versions of paintings and drawings.
Anybody can need them in any sector regardless of their purpose and knowledge. In the article, you are going to see a number of beautiful picks of animal illustrations. Animal illustrations can be used for many different purposes like designing, logo creation, education, cartoons, campaign creation, etc. Let us take a look at our specially curated list of 13 amazing animal illustrations.
1. Funny penguin illustration:
This illustration is available on the Behance website and it is illustrated by the artist Diana NB. on this site you can check out the illustrations and you can hire the artist as well. Talking about the illustration, the artist has created this in a very creative yet funny way, there are another 5 animal illustrations created by the same artist under the name the usual suspect and they all are created in the same theme.
Here penguin is standing with a height measuring background in behind and the background is black and white where the animal is colorful. This is a great combination and thought. penguins are generally innocent and calm but here penguin is an aggressive expression which makes this illustration is a bit funny and unique.
2. Poster illustration of a lion:
This illustration is available on the Annagoodson website. This is a UK based illustration agency where you can check out the artists and hire them as well. This illustration is created by the artist andy potts. So coming back to the illustration, this one is a very attractive and classy illustration of the lion and it is presented in Lürzer’s Archive poster which is a Vienna-based magazine. Here illustration is based on a monochromatic theme and the lion is presented very differently.
He is injured and wearing a protective cone on his head which is having a design of the UK’s flag, his one leg is shown in bandages and he is looking very furious and angry. The color theme, animal selection, his illustration, and his style is easily giving out vibes of some tension or crisis. This is a perfect example for a graphic designer who wants to make a poster using an animal illustration and wants to portray some theme or concept through the appearance of that animal.
3. Single shape illustration of an Owl:
This illustration is available on the Behance website. Here you can check out artworks and hire the artists as well. This illustration of an owl is created by the artist Ambika Unny. Here this illustration is something different. It is beautiful and perfectly balanced. It is simple and very clear. Artist has created this by using only one shape and that is ‘circle’.
This is one of the oldest and finest techniques for designing. The whole shape of an owl is made by using different sizes of circles. Only for his beak, his eyes, and for branch she had used a different color otherwise, the complete illustration is in different shades of blue. This can be a great idea to make any animal illustration simple and attractive.
4. Rabbit Illustration Picture book type:
This illustration is available on the Instagram page of the artists ben and Elsa. You can contact them and follow them for more information and artworks. Here the illustration of the rabbit is very contemporary. We have generally seen rabbit as fluffy and cute animals they always have cute smile and innocent face with small teeth.
But here artists have created it a bit differently, rabbit is not white as you see normally in any picture or illustration. He is in blue shade and he is expressionless. The illustration is having pencil strokes and dull colors. It is very unique and a perfect inspiration to make illustrations for children’s books since it is very suitable for kid’s storybooks.
5. Colorful illustration of the fox:
This illustration is available on the Instagram page of the artist Orbendorfer Juliette. You can check out the artist and follow her for more information and artworks. The illustration of the fox is very eye-catchy you can see so many beautiful and vibrant colors here. the shape of the fox, leaves, small bird, and flowers are very sharp and pointed, which makes the whole composition even more dramatic.
This style is a favorite style of many illustrators since it can give a perfect attractive look and vibrant and dramatic vibes which can be used in so many things for so many purposes. It can serve as a great inspiration for animation storytelling and for attracting the younger generation’s attention.
6. Single Creepy illustration of multiple animals:
This illustration is available on the Instagram page of the artist Kelsey king. You can follow this artist and check out more of his work. This illustration of his is completely out of the box. It is so unique and mischievous. He had used a bit of a monochromatic theme and complementary style in color selection. In this single artwork there are so many animals and in that too in creepy style. There is a dragon, wolves, rats, and cats in this illustration; they all are oddly placed around each other.
The background is gradient and cats are presented as ghosts here, the color of the dragon, rats, and wolves are dull shades of green which is making it enough creepy. This is a perfect example of any horror theme based illustration. It can be used for ghost stories and Halloween concepts.
7. Easy LIama illustration:
This illustration is available on Envato tuts+ portal. This is an online learning platform by Envato. Various courses are available here along with designing. So this illustration is by Natalia dolotko and a complete tutorial is available by her which is completely free for anybody to learn. This illustration of the llama is very simple and cute. Llama is a very adorable animal and the illustrator has presented it in the same way. It is not having many complicated shapes or several colors. Just a simple technique to portray the simple animal along with some shapes of mountains and cactus in the background. You can learn this technique to make similar animals like a camel as well.
8. Watercolor illustrator of the Tiger:
This illustration is available on the place it by Envato. You can purchase various designs from here. This one is a t-shirt design template and it is a watercolor-based illustration. Here the background is in pale white and the tiger is in black strokes. It just looks like watercolor art but it is created digitally. This exhibits a very simple and beautiful design for T-shirt printing. Tiger is not created precisely here and hence the abstract look makes it a very cool and funky design.
9. 3D illustration of an Elephant:
This illustration is available on the Pixabay site, you can download it for free from here. This is a 3D illustration of an elephant. It has balanced colors to give out the impression of a place in a jungle. This has comic touch since the elephant is standing in the jungle as a carefree animal. That is only possible in imagination and that’s what only imagination can do. Nowadays 3D illustrations are playing a dominant role in the market and because they are more appealing they are more demanding and expensive as well. This idea of the illustration can easily be used in animation storytelling, comic, and cartoon designs.
10. Dinasour illustration in a Logo:
This design is available on the dribble website and it is by the designer Gert van Duinen. This site allows you to explore designs and hire a designer as well. Here the designer has used the illustration of a dinosaur in the logo of some wine company whose name is Jurassic wine. This is a very clear example of how graphic designer use illustrations in their work, the logo is very simple but the idea is so amazing. The older the wine better the wine that is why the name of this company is Jurassic wine and thus the logo is also containing an illustration of a dinosaur. Completely justifying the meaning and purpose. So that’s how you use illustration techniques in your graphic designing work.
11. Funny sloth illustration:
This illustration is available on the Instagram page of the artist Keigo. You can follow him for more artworks and details. This illustration is a perfect example of how illustration is an amazing art. Here the artist has created an illustration of a sloth who is very much a lazy animal by nature and he is ironing a shirt in this image. The best and funny part is it’s showcasing how lazy a sloth can be that he is ironing a cloth but scorching the same before finishing his first movement. It is such a creative and funny idea. Apart from the whole idea illustration is very simple and clean. No excessive effort is given nor was needed. That’s his style and that can also work, sometimes the portrayal of a message is so unique and amazing that the illustration does not require much of an artistic way. It is completely up to you what your creativity is and how you want to execute it. This is a great inspiration to promote the fact that how big the idea plays a role in art.
12. Dark illustration of a Wolf:
This illustration is available on Pinterest and you can save it to your collection from here. This illustration is not portraying a wolf as an aggressive, strong, and wild animal but it is showing the other side. This illustration is about the heart that an animal has, and that heart is broken which is why the wolf is looking above the sky with despair and sad eyes. What a beautiful idea and what a beautiful illustration! The composition of this illustration is with sharp and pointed shapes along with dark and dull colors. That is why this illustration looks dark, sad, and gloomy. That is how an artist has created it to showcase the emotional side of a wild animal. This is something you can’t see in reality that is something only you can only showcase in an art form. So that’s how illustrators use their imagination and creativity to showcase the hidden beauty of our world which is why this one is a perfect inspiration to create something unexpected, undiscovered, and unseen.
13. Funny illustration of a Panda:
This one is also by the artist Keigo and it’s available on his Instagram page. How simple and amazing illustration it is. Artist has shown panda here with very simple art, there is no background and no other element yet this is worth remembrance. Panda whose eyes are very small and complete black around the black circle is trying to curl his lashes but in the second image, he is disappointed because it still doesn’t make any difference his lashes cant be seen in any case! This one is another funny illustration with a simple technique. These kinds of illustrations very well opt for marketing purposes since they can make great campaigns. So illustrators and graphic designers should take some inspiration from these kinds of things to deliver perfect results.
Conclusion
Imagination has no limits and the only boundary of your creativity is only you. So if you are an illustrator or graphic designer, above mentioned all creations can help you to get inspiration and make your design amazingly creative. If you are looking at some of the best artworks of animal illustrations to get an idea about your design then you should not skip even a single illustration from the above list. We have captured great varieties of work from different artists and different perspectives into this small list for you to expand your range of imagination. Some of them you can use because they are available on free sites, for some of them you need to contact the artist so go accordingly if you want to use them for any kind of purpose.
