Marco Rea, an italian based artist creates disturbing portraits pulled from his person dreams, loss of intimacy and overall ailments of mental illness. Each portrait is a familiar figure but distorted into something from a beautiful nightmare.
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In the Clouds by artist Yang Cao
Artist Yang Cao mixes portraits with clouds. The variety includes from stormy to sunset pink. The people featured in the portraits match their clouds, and like people they are something ever-changing and unpredictable. “I like the unpredictability of the cloud. It’s shapeless and changes all the time, it follows the wind and never stays in one form and place. Somehow I find this as a resemblance to our human nature and mind.” -Yang Cao
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Paintings by artist Michael Reeder
American artist Michael Reeder creates striking impressionist portraits that combine strange, surreal elements with layered symbolism. His work plays with proportion, distortion, and color to produce imagery that is both visually arresting and conceptually rich.
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Paintings by artist Ali Cavanaugh
Cavanaugh’s technique draws inspiration from classical fresco methods, resulting in soft, glowing surfaces that feel both timeless and contemporary. Each portrait centers on subtle gestures and expressive eyes, allowing the viewer to connect deeply with her subjects. The compositions feel tender, refined, and quietly powerful.
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Illustrations by Lucy Salgado
Brazilian artist Lucy Salgado brings a whimsical, slightly surreal energy to portrait illustration. As a self taught creative, she blends imagination and emotion into works that feel intimate, playful, and visually striking.
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Sheer Paper Portraits by artist Yoo Hyun
Korean artist Yoo Hyun crafts delicate and intricate portraits of iconic figures by hand cutting large sheets of paper. The technique creates a sheer, translucent effect that captures both likeness and ethereal texture. The series features luminaries such as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Jim Morrison, and more
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Sunburn Photography
A more artist and personal approach to the crazy tacky “tantoos” that usually feature lips, cherries and starts. In this series artist Thomas Mailaender places photographic images using UV lighting negatives and sun sensitive skin to create images burnt onto the body. You can see these photographs and others in his latest book Illustrated People.
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Collage Portraits by artist Rocío Montoya
Madrid based artist Rocío Montoya creates mixed media portraits that merge collage and photography into striking, experimental works. Each piece transforms a conventional portrait into something entirely unique, exploring texture, layering, and visual rhythm. It is beauty reinvented through fragmentation and imagination.
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Portraits by Malcom T. Liepke
Tastefully sensual oil portraits by artist Malcom T. Liepke explore the human body and their raw, expressive and very beautiful sexuality.
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Edgy Mod by photographer Sebastian Kim
This Vogue Germany editorial leans hard into mod energy, then deliberately scuffs it up. Think sharp silhouettes, heavy eyeliner, and that slightly reckless confidence that defined the best kind of 1960s cool. Photographed by Sebastian Kim, the story delivers a version of mod that feels unruly, imperfect, and very much alive.
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Double Vision Portraits by artist Alex Garant
Alex Garant creates painted portraits that immediately grab your attention through a striking visual technique: the eyes. In her Double Vision Portraits series, each subject appears to have multiple eyes layered carefully on the face. The effect is both mesmerizing and slightly disorienting, like looking through a kaleidoscope or catching a reflection in fractured glass. This signature distortion gives the paintings a surreal energy that lingers long after you first see them.
