Brian Rea is probably hands down my favorite illustrator / designer / maker. He was an illustrator for the New York Times Sunday Styles column "Modern Love" and worked closely with Chris Silas Neal. Together they had some of the most stunning illustrations I have ever seen. The drawings were so loose and pure that I couldn't quit staring at them.
He also works with hand drawn typography a lot and installed a mural at the Joan Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain that explored visions and fears. I am particularly drawn to his honesty in his fear pieces. I am sure that we all share some of his fears and it's great to see someone unfiltered.
He most recently completed work on the Malcolm Gladwell Collection which includes 3 of Malcolms most known works: Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers and was design by Paul Sahre.
Head over to Brian's website and take a look through his work. I think you will find it inspiring. 
Juliette Hell (@Juju) / 03/20/2012 @ 4:32pm /
I like the "avoid this" section on his homepage!
Sam LaValley (@Magic Purple Cat) / 03/21/2012 @ 3:57pm /
These are so very pretty! :DD And deep! Excellent (:
Alex Summers (@nzuriel88) / 03/23/2012 @ 3:39pm /
i like the concept of this portion. pretty amazing!
Wilmer Murillo (@wilmermurillo) / 03/28/2012 @ 11:25am /
I love these.