Thomas Barbèy grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, across the street from the “Caran D'ache” factory, the largest manufacturer of art supplies. He started drawing seriously at the age of 13, using black “encre de Chine” and gouaches for color. His influences were Philippe Druillet, Roger Dean and H.R. Giger. After living in Geneva for 17 years and designing posters for musical bands, he decided to move to Italy, where he lived in Milan for 15 years making a living as a successful recording artist, lyricist and fashion photographer.

Whenever we don’t have enough magic in our real life, we try to create it using our imagination. The cute characters created by Belgian illustrator Marie Breuer allow us to see the mystical world that resides within her mind. It is dark and adorable, enchanting and solemn. The thing that separates her drawings from the rest is the vivid colors and the bizarre huge, anime-like heads of her characters. The pictures that we liked the most were the ones where her characters wear different living animals like cloaks, with the mood of the characters being closely linked to the animal that they are wearing. (Photo by Marie Breuer)

The great vector artist OG Abel was a diamond in the rough. Growing up in violent surroundings, OG Abel found shelter in art. With an unsupportive father who always told him artist die broke, his only creative activity was strongly connected to religion. Having a church-going mother, OG Abel says he would spend hour drawing images from the Bible, his favorite pictures being those of animals, especially lions. He would also study the elaborate paintings in churches, the architecture, and/or the sculptures.

My name is Jakub and I’m a painter, illustrator & concept artist who lives and work in Poland. My speciality is dark fantasy, character design, concept art and portrait. Since several years I work and paint digitally, but I never gave up traditional drawing and painting. For me the most important in my work, is create unique atmosphere and tell some kind of story through my creations.

Trevor Olson, from Minnesota, dressed as the character “Joker”, poses for a photograph at New York's Comic Con convention, October 9, 2014, in New York City. The event draws thousands of costumed fans, panels of pop culture luminaries and features a sprawling floor of vendors in a space equivalent to more than three football fields in Javits Center. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

The time of selfies with duck faces is long gone and ridiculed, though some persist in doing it. Helene Meldahl, however, didn’t want to give up the trend, but had to think of a creative way to keep doing it. So she decided to create comical pictures by drawing over the selfies that she has made. Some people just can’t stop taking pictures of themselves. It makes you wonder, what they would do in an era before the existence of cameras… Oh, poor souls, they would definitely suffer greatly without the possibility of sharing on instagram their “stunning looks” and the pictures of food that they eat every 2 seconds. (Photo by Helene Meldahl)

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)