Ryan Lake is a recent grad from the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD). His debut portfolio features some very nice paintings that also sport some interesting concepts.

Dreamy, flowy soft colors define Laura McCabe’s work. The Brooklyn based illustrator works with gouache, acrylic and inks to achieve her trademark look. Her blog sports some new updates and work.

Ali Douglas has some very sweet illustrations on her site. Her work spans across the youth and fashion scene. Apart from people, she does some very nice elements, like footwear and utensils (as shown above).

Maral Sassouni is our first ‘illustratot of the week’ for the new year at Illustrophile! That’s right – for this year, we’re going to feature folks for an entire week! We hope that the extended exposure will help the people we feature, and that it will give readers more time to appreciate their wonderful work.

Maral was born in the US but she has lived in the US and Europe, and is currently calling Paris home. She works in watercolor, ink, gouache and digital media, and her work has graced world-renowned publications like the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and the Washington Post. Check out an interview with her here.

Ric Stultz does a wonderful job marrying simple, almost child-like forms with just enough maliciousness that make you think twice about calling them ‘cute’. Check out his new work for an upcoming show at Open Space Beacon.