Having studied in Shantiniketan and Baroda, graduating with a master's degree in Fine Arts, Indian artist Piyali Ghosh's drawings is a meditation on the nature of fables and folklore often shown through the lens of autobiography. The narrative structure of the works takes the viewers through a plethora of tales where animals morph into a range of characters. The scenes that are portrayed take small town stories and blow them up to large scale fantasies.

Ghosh's canvases are filled with desire: it seems to be the engine for the narratives that the artist employs. In these tableaux animals and human cavort in fantastical landscapes, filled with iridescent yellows, blues and greens. The art historical references which inform Ghosh's work are plentiful. Mughal and Rajasthani miniature influences are apparent in the manner in which she builds up her landscapes, especially in the detailed brush work that hints at water, diaphanous material, trees and foliage. Her extensive use of tempera roots Ghosh's work firmly in an indigenous locale.

By unveiling a multitude of fabulous fables, Piyali Ghosh has presented the art scene with a new and fresh voice whose distinctive vocabulary is likely to become a force to be reckoned with among India's emerging painting scene.

Read her interview with Art Concerns.

[Info via Chatterjee & Lal]

Jing Quek, a Singaporean photographer who graduated with a BA in Fine Arts (Photography) from the SVA, School of Visual Arts, New York, takes truly amazing group photos. Every single person in his photos have a specific purpose and all his shots are incredibly composed and choreographed.

With shiny-eyed optimism and close interaction with everyday people, Jing combines his eye for subtle gestures and expressions with a tropical color palette and the classical formality of the tableau, instilling the colourful character of his subjects in his images. Utilizing a healthy dose of kitsch and humor to disarm viewers' expectations, Jing explores the social instinct of people to form communities and identities, exploring cultural quirks and cultural stereotypes along the way. Jing's appreciation of cultural references and authentic environments, coupled with strong conceptual direction, help to create contemporary mythologies, fictions and urban social narratives.

Born in Shanghai, China in 1983, linchen is an illustrator who primarily draws using Photoshop. Check out his beautiful drawing of robots and futurustic cities.

Luke Chueh (pronounced as Chu) is a Chinese illustrator born in Philadelphia. His works are famous for mixing cute animals with ill-fated situations which balances cute with brute - as he says so on his website.

Not only did Luke Chueh inspired the world with his whimsical and emotional/dramatic illustrations on prints and digital artworks, he has utilized other mediums such as t-shirts, posters, wallets, skateboards, and vinyl toys for his exhibitions and collaborations. All of them of course, can be bought on his website.

His great success has lead him to having a following of fans who sends him fanarts, inspired toys/merchandise, and tattoos inspired by his artworks. 

He has also been featured regularly on magazines and design portals. 

Soa Lee is a pretty 3D illustrator from South Korea who digitally draws amazingly beautiful artworks of women. Her works have been included in EXOTIQUE, EXOTIQUE 2 and EXPOSÉ 4.

From an unknown Korean traditional animator, to a highly-prized 3D artist, Soa Lee has been consistently creating breathtaking pieces of digital illustrations even since she won the first prize at the Korea Computer Art Association, only 6 months after she took a 3D course.

Ever since her university days, Soa Lee had been curious about the workings behind a good animation model. At first she wasn't interested in computer art at all, being more a traditional cell animator, and thoroughly ensconced in the 'ink and paint'; Later on, 3D animation in Korea became very popular, as did the uptake of online game play. Anyone working within the 3D realm in Seoul was deemed to be using the technology as an adjunct to bringing the model into an animation later on.  This was her ticket into this exciting field. Soa Lee decided she had to be a part of this industry wave.

Soa Lee feels that the computer is just a means to an end. At present, she spends time experimenting with 3D spacial techniques. "I am always reminding myself that 2D and 3D software are all just tools to create great images," she says. “I always strive to produce the best images using any techniques.  I’d only use 3D software as simply a tool to create better animations.”

Soa has always been attracted to the human characters as her favorite theme. Depending on the area of the job she is doing, Soa changes her creative methods. "Faces are usually drawn by referencing," she explains. "I combine different pictures that have the facial shapes I'm looking for. I then create images from these and refer to them continuously. I take similar steps by combining various pictures in Photoshop. The images from these processes become a great sketch and these become the foundation of the 3D production. I draw manually for the detailed elements and patterns."

Read more about Soa Lee from her interview with CGSociety and CG-Node. Also see more her works in her CGPortfolio.