Yearly since… ever!… artistic mags and web sites have gazed into their crystal balls and tried to foretell upcoming aesthetic developments because the calendar is about to show over. It is enjoyable, it is whimsical, generally we’re proper, and generally we’re not. Nonetheless, as January 2026 approaches, the method feels more and more pressing – particularly within the discipline of illustration.
In any case, industrial paintings is on its deathbed, proper? Picture-generating AI fashions are standing over it with a knife. Properly, really, issues won’t be all that dire. Towards expectation, some artists and their brokers thrived in 2025. Speaking to seven artists’ reps and a handful of illustrators for this text, we found that illustration is not dying in any respect; it is altering.
For some, the change cannot come quick sufficient. What stunned us was simply the energy of their requires invention and innovation. It is time for artists to shed their inhibitions and strike out in new instructions.
“One factor is definite, a return to handcrafted kinds will come,” says Marie-Christine Brisson, co-founder of Colagene, Inventive Clinic. That a lot we anticipated, however she provides, “And I hope to see many new types of expression. All of us must be stunned once more!”
Whisper it… that may even embrace utilizing AI.
Hand-printed artworks
Hand-painted. Hand-drawn. Sketching. Craft. Similar to final 12 months, these phrases got here up quite a bit in our conversations with illustration brokers, so we count on the distinctive hand of the artist to shine by way of a lot in 2026. Hand printing is a course of that mixes a number of artistic strategies because it includes design, drawing, engraving or slicing, the applying of color, and so forth. It got here as a shock, however a number of of our trade contacts put ahead artists whose focus is that this self-discipline.
In 2026, the Central Illustration Company (CIA) in London will signal a brand new Japanese woodblock printmaker to its books to deepen its choices in hand printing. “Jonathan Gibbs lately collaborated with style home Burberry to create filmed content material of him making a woodblock of their brand after which making a print of that brand in his studio for a social media marketing campaign,” says Jules Beazley, world strategist at CIA. “One other of our printmakers, Christopher Brown, has helped to differentiate Gail’s Bakeries from the quite a few different espresso retailers on the excessive avenue. We see the development of printmaking, significantly to proceed being common into 2026, as sure manufacturers purposefully flip to human-touch crafts to ship a deeper reference to their audiences.”
The company IllustrationX has additionally simply contacted us with information that the linocut print artist Emily Robertson will be a part of its roster for the brand new 12 months. Represented by The Artworks, Chris Wormell is an artist who tailored to digital illustration for his youngsters’s books however has since reverted to woodblock printing, which purchasers now need.
Burberry model artistic by Jonathan Gibbs.
Emily Robertson is a linocut wildlife professional.
Chris Wormell’s wooden cuts are again in style.
Convey your perspective
And what’s going to the hand of the artist categorical in 2026? Hopefully, it is going to be their coronary heart, soul, emotions, id and lived experiences. These are all very human parts, and purchasers respect them simply as a lot because the artistic execution.
“The development I see rising in is that expertise shall be commissioned to collaborate on initiatives with narratives that come from the place they stand, including their genuine factors of view, from a spot of belonging within the particular universe that purchasers are speaking inside,” says Ana Bandarra, the IllustrationX rep in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Their real-life experiences and factors of view matter quite a bit!”
Illozoo founder Mohamed Danawi agrees: “Shoppers and customers are more and more on the lookout for actual illustrations with intention, emotional resonance and human perception. Because the market matures, the worth shifts away from automated imagery towards work that feels authored, considerate and genuinely communicative.”
Ignore populist politicians. In response to Amy Milligan at Illo Company, illustration in 2026 wants variety and visible selection. “We’re seeing a shift towards world themes in promoting, shifting past conventional Western narratives to make connections worldwide,” she says. “This contains weaving in a wide range of cultural viewpoints to handle points like well being disparities and advocating for well being fairness by way of culturally resonant storytelling.”
Ing Lee, Henry Gonzalez and Yasmin Ayumi are three artists whose current work has thrived on a novel perspective.
Ing Lee’s expertise as a Korean Brazilian informs her artwork.
Colombian illustrator Henry Gonzalez brings a person perspective.
Yasmin Ayumi. The Brazilian artist was a pure companion for this undertaking.
Realism plus
With the ability to render a scene with real-world accuracy is a marvellous talent, however that is one thing AI fashions do significantly effectively. Consequently, artists from sketchers to CG wizards to oil-paint virtuosos want to seek out methods to shock and delight the viewer by way of distinctive compositions, colourways, views, attitudes, and atmospheres.
“Realism with out idea is struggling probably the most,” says Mohamed Danawi. “For realism to outlive, it should transcend accuracy. It wants to speak – carry metaphor, ship a message, evoke emotion, inform a narrative, or reveal a fact the digicam can not see. With out that conceptual core, realism shall be missed, irrespective of how flawlessly rendered.
Adrian Ehrhardt is a French artist with the Colagene company whose work is CG-based. “For me, one of many developments in 3D illustration would be the stylised realism, that blends technical precision with inventive freedom,” he explains. “We’re seeing the emergence of photographs that really feel tangible, virtually touchable, but absolutely embrace their dreamlike dimension: supplies which can be too excellent, inconceivable colors, acquainted shapes which can be reinvented.”
One other artist advancing realism, this time by way of sheer pencil virtuosity, is Clara Encinas.
Adrien Ehrhardt is will get ballsy with color, composition and realism.
Clara Encinas – capturing actuality and feeling.
We NEED experimental aesthetics
Going even additional than that, a number of the professionals we spoke to are craving for brand spanking new appears to emerge – ones so totally different they blow us all away.
“There actually must be one thing new and never seen earlier than developing by way of the ranks,” says Stephanie Alexander-Jinks, director and agent at The Artworks. “Over-digitalised artwork programs are inflicting a little bit of a stagnation when it comes to the waves of the brand new and thrilling that used to return 12 months after 12 months. That is to not say that it isn’t nonetheless occurring, however the experimentation is so usually the spark that lights the flame and the much less we do of it, the much less various the outcomes shall be if we’re all singing from the identical hymn sheet from the beginning!”
One of many companies finest positioned to capitalise on calls for brand spanking new, experimental aesthetics is Pocko. Whereas it values conventional expertise, the corporate has additionally been nurturing a secure of digital artists whose complete focus has been on innovation and experimentation, resulting in otherworldly appears that completely match the invoice. They embrace artists utilizing VR, 3D, code, animation instruments and AI to push their visuals past the conventional boundaries of the human creativeness.
“We absolutely embrace new expertise and really feel that AI could be an unbelievable instrument for current inventive practices, somewhat than a alternative,” says Pocko agent Olga Matsue Norman. “We really feel that there’s house for each and that a number of the most enjoyable work would possibly occur between custom and new expertise. Three artists to search for are Markos Kay, Chris Hoffmann and Nadiia Pliamko.”
Markos Kay pushes nature in new instructions utilizing expertise.
Chris Hoffmann makes use of AI and 3D software program to evolve new appears, new narratives.
An extremely detailed, completely distinctive aesthetic from Nadiia Pliamko.
And we NEED extra positivity
That final part may need some illustrators chewing their lips. AI has undoubtedly been making issues robust for a lot of creatives. However taking a look at issues extra broadly, the final decade has been robust, with or with out AI. Battle, division, uncertainty – these are the watchwords of the last decade. Illustration has the ability to alter that with a optimistic message.
“Issues which can be performed with coronary heart and soul have a magic and positivity in them for the present local weather. Colors that replicate gentle and optimistic humour somewhat than severe doom and gloom. Pictures that commemorate the nice issues about life and other people. Reassuring is the phrase we’d like – artwork nonetheless very a lot exists!” says Stephanie Alexander-Jinks.
Marie Christine-Brisson agrees: “Greater than something, I need artists to make use of the ability of their ardour to point out their sturdy uniqueness and shock the world,” she says. “To catch our eyes and our human sensibility, to remind everybody that artwork will all the time exist and stay a key to profitable communication.”
Sarah McMenemy is an artist whose work has a light-weight tone and an uplifting feeling. For illustrator Silke Werzinger, 2026 shall be about making folks smile. “The development for me is humour and a home made fashion in these unusual and aggravating instances,” she says.
They’re laughing at you… Silke Werzinger’s humour piece for FC Bayern.
Sarah McMenemy makes the viewer really feel higher about issues.
Vibrant, popping palettes
Integral to the above shall be an infusion of vivid, loud, energetic eye-popping colors. To some, Pantone’s color of the 12 months for 2026, Cloud Dancer, is dialling within the improper path. It is enjoyable, sure, nevertheless it is not thrilling.
Amy Milligan sees colors flooding the sky in citrus flavours: “Vibrant, poppy palettes are having a significant second,” she says. “Assume classic comics with daring, clashing combos like purples and yellows, vibrant oranges, and electrical greens. I’ve witnessed this vibrant power firsthand at comedian festivals this 12 months. It looks like the proper time to don your Mystic Micro orange beanies and embrace all of the zesty shades of orange, from tangerine to rustic sienna to neon citrus.”
‘Neon’ is a watchword for Ana Bandarra at IllustrationX: “This may be framed as a loud reply to the backlash generated by the Cloud Dancer color of the 12 months announcement by Pantone, however we’d see a variety of initiatives utilizing extremely vibrant color palettes with neon colors mixed with a variety of noise and grainy texture on the composition to create a very dynamic really feel to imagery.”
Artists to look at embrace Denis Freitas, Andressa Meissner and Susie Hammer.
Denis Freitas is revving up the neons.
Loud pinks and greens deliver power to Andressa Meissner’s work.
When is an apple not an apple?, ponders Susie Hammer.
