With that signature, enormous red-gummed mouth, a piece by U.K. illustrator Lumps is easy to spot in both its inventiveness and eccentricity. Lumps is the working name of artist Sam Drew, who balances both a personal and commercial practice with his recognizable style. With his involvement, an everyday object can come alive with a mischievous set of chompers or a fantastical machine can be examined.
“Covering elements from the weird to the grotesque, the sublime to the ridiculous; the twisted vision of Lumps provides a contemporary take on the form,” the artist says, in a statement about the agency produced from the Lumps brand. “We have received an influx of positive responses from an audience consisting of musicians and record labels; which has led to collaborative work with clients from around the world.”
See more work from Lumps below.
Spanish street artist Fabio Lopez, aka 
Though the creatures of Claudio Romo are bizarre and at times, frightening, the illustrator’s distinct linework gives each a certain elegance. The Chile-based artist has produced a number of books carrying his strange monsters and plantlife (among them, the beautifully titled “The Book of Imprudent Flora”). Through often carrying no specific timeline, his practice has also extended into the futuristic, as evidenced below.
Iranian painter Ali Esmaeillou reveals haunting parallel universes beneath the pleasant facades of everyday life. In each series of paintings, Esmaeillou explores the psyche of specific archetypes, such as warriors, or digs into the personalities of the characters that compose a particular story, like the great 10th century Persian epic, the Shahnameh.
Born in Hong Kong, raised in Vancouver, educated in Denmark, and currently residing in Berlin –