Hey all! I'm excited to be sharing some great illustrators and projects on Doodlers Anonymous this month as a guest blogger. To start things off, I'd like to tell you about the work of Kelly Lasserre!

Kelly and I were both Illustration majors at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) several years ago. It's great to see how her work has grown since then. Much of her work includes text, and Kelly's hand lettering is in harmony with her drawing and painting.

Overall, I find Kelly's illustrations really amusing, but also informative (I now know how to make a Bloody Mary), and reveal some sad-but-true things about life in general.

Check out: Kelly's website and her Tumblr.

As a kid, did you ever have one of those posters on your bedroom wall with the letters of the alphabet? What did yours look like? It's been a few years (I mean, ahem... quite a few years) since I mastered my ABC's, but I still love seeing all the letters of our alphabet lined-up together. And since I'm pretty sure that my first alphabet poster was in plain old Comic Sans, here's something a bit more playful for today's letter-learners... and alphabet-enthusiasts!

Above image by Jing Wei.

And now for the rest of my selects:

I think I'm obsessed with the doodles, drawings and hand-drawn type of Stephanie Kubo. It's hard to describe her work because it seems she can do almost anything.



She doodles beautiful and colorful hoops, loops and circles with an almost infinite compulsion.



Then you'll discover she draws women wearing the most fascinating and intricate head wear.



The best part, her control of eye-popping hand-drawn lettering that look as if they were enhanced in high-definition. And it doesn't just end there either, visit her site for everything else. Big love Steph.

Drawn words are (by far) what fill the pages of my sketchbook more than any thing else. I love the lines, curves and detail that go into making each letter form. It's something that I will always lean on, especially on the days where I have a creative block with what subject matter to draw. So to get the momentum going I just pick a letter from the alphabet and bring it to life.

Mary Kate McDevitt does this with phenomenal skill. She's a full time illustrator whose done work for some big time clients, and now has a daily project where she draws one single letter from the alphabet. You'll do yourself a favor to check her site often for inspiration. Below are letters Y, Q, C, G, and U drawn by Miss McDevitt.

One look through Maia's website; Lettering Daily, and you'll quickly grasp that she has a healthy obsession with fonts, type families, script and random thoughts in doodle form. The hand-drawn series is perfectly swirly, feminine, romantic and inspiring all at the same time.

A few weeks ago, we did a giveaway where I asked you guys to submit a quote that speaks of who you are. I picked two winners and drew them incorporating their quotes. Without further ado, I would like you to meet two friends of DA, Josh LaFayette and Ellie (aka comfits). Josh's "favorite hobby is breakfast." And Ellie is "like an octopus on roller skates."

Take a look at the process, from the initial pencil drawing to pen to watercolor and collage.

Josh and Ellie, check your mailboxes soon. I think I may now know your faces better than you do. :)

I bought a book by Sabrina Ward Harrison titled "Spilling Open" a few years back. It transformed my approach to art. The book is, I believe, the first of a few of her published art journals. It is filled with loose, colorful, scribbles, doodles, paint strokes, hand lettering, photos, found objects and more all collaged together, forming very striking, energetic eye candy. More than pretty pictures, she bares her soul on every page with brutal honesty. Freeing inspiration spills out of her. Sometimes it is driven by triumph and other times, painful insecurity. Either way, the result is a more beautiful world. I highly respect her bravery as well as her talent.