Istanbul-based Ali Gulec is a graphic artist with a difference. His surreal illustrations are like identikit drawings aiming to prosecute the material arts. Working on the margins of what is possible with his medium, Gulec's forms, figures, and situations are remarkable for their clarity and strength of purpose, and maintain an iconographic intensity that would make any rock band bereft of an album cover salivate with admiration.

99 Steps of Progress is an illustrated series of parodies created by the Paris artist collective known as Maentis that put a clever spin on the famed scientific March of Progress drawing. A new illustration is being released in this series every day for 99 days. T-shirts, prints and more of each design are available to purchase on RedBubble.

Ecuador-based illustrator and art director Javier Pérez has been posting a fun series of photo illustrations over on his Instagram account. The simple ideas mix everyday objects with line drawings, creating balloons out of grapes, porcupine quills out of nails, or light bulbs out of balloons

UK-based digital artist Dan Lester combines photography and illustration into clever and intriguing images that really make you question what you're looking at. Is it a photograph or a drawing? In actuality, it's both. The digital illustrator manages to bewilder his audience by merging the roles of model and artist into one entity in an innovative fashion. (Photo by Dan Lester)

A participant works on a laptop on the first day of the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3) – Behind Enemy Lines computer hacker conference on December 27, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Chaos Computer Club is Europe's biggest network of computer hackers and its annual congress draws up to 3,000 participants. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)

A Chinese stripper dances during a funeral in Handan city, Hebei province, China on March 2015. The Chinese Ministry of Culture has announced plans to work closely with the police to eliminate risqué performances, including strippers, at funeral. The aim of such entertainment is to draw more mourners to the ceremony. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Being able to look at this world in a different light is the main thing that distinguishes a true artist from a common person. We can clearly see that Lucas Levitan is a true artist despite the crude drawings that he makes. By hunting through thousands of photos that people post on Instagram, he finds the ones that might have a completely different, surprising, and comical theme. For example, a sensual photo of lady’s eyelashes is transformed into a scene in which a farmer is harvesting his crops. This is imagination at its finest, which is why the art works of Lucas Levitan are so interesting to look at. (Photo by Lucas Levitan)

French artist Thomas Lamadieu, also know as Roots Art, must really love looking at the sky. Every time he looks up, Thomas sees a potential canvas where the building rooftops frame the sky. He photographs it and uses the odd sky shapes to create whimsical line drawings. “My artistic aim is to show a different perception of urban architecture and the everyday environment around us, what we can construct with a boundless imagination,” says Thomas. (Photo by Thomas Lamadieu)