Artist of the Day: Takao Nakagawa

Japanese illustrator Takao Nakagawa produces character-centric artwork that is published in magazines and books and painted as murals.

The quirky illustrations have a naive childlike quality in part lent from the materials used. Line art appears to be drawn in a waxy crayon, although it is becoming increasingly harder to tell when something is produced with a digital tool and when with a traditional one. These drawings are digitally colored and designed with a retro-print quality that has generally limited, flat color areas. Digging back in Takao Nakagawa’s Flickr collection of artwork, you will also find sections of work drawn in pen-and-ink washes painted onto canvases.

See more illustrations and art at Nakagawa’s portfolio website.