5 Wildlife Artists

"The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?" - David Attenborough

Wildlife is a major source of inspiration across all arts. We take so much from animals daily- they are nearly always the protagonist of a children's story, we copy their patterns for our bedsheets, art and clothes and we study them for film and TV. To remind us of the constant vibrancy and diversity they bring to our lives, I've put together a list of my favourite wildlife artists from around the world, from graphic designers to traditional ceramics painters.

Baba Wagué Diakité (Mali) Baba Wagué Diakité is a storyteller, illustrator and ceramics artist who lives between his birthplace of Mali, and his home in Portland, Oregon. His varied mediums and traditional colour palette make for such a classic final piece in whatever he is applying his hand to, and with a creative portfolio totalling around 30 years he has achieved many awards for his talents. He is also the founder and director of the Ko-Falen Cultural Center in Bamako, Mali, which is a project that enables artists and travellers from other countries to live, meet, study and collaborate with artists of Mali. See more here: https://babawague.wordpress.com/gallery/ Or get in touch: babawaguediakite@yahoo.com

Micah Lidberg (Alabama) From white and red monkey fur layered on a vibrant blue night sky, to orange snakes wrapping themselves around the tails of stalking leopards, intricate design and unusual use of colour are what makes Lidberg's wildlife illustrations so unique. He currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri working with his agency Hugo & Marie, and has honestly an unbelievable amount of work in his portfolio, which stretches back over 10 years. See it all over at his website or get in touch: http://www.micahlidberg.com/ heythere@micahlidberg.com @mrlidberg "I'm really interested in science, biology and philosophy and I'm bringing them back in a narrative way on the page. They're sort of a world within a world. I try to build as many little stories as I can." - Micah during an interview with his agency, Hugo & Marie

Essi Kimpimäki (Finland) Essi is an illustrator and printmaker who is from Finland, but now lives and works in Glasgow, Scotland. Many of her wildlife artworks explore humans relationships with and understanding of animals through time, which she explains alongside her artwork on her site. Essi says that her work is a combination of her imagination and far away places she dreams of seeing one day- I think this says a lot about the natural world, that we can be spellbound by wildlife, their habitats and far away places before we have even seen them in the flesh. As well as wildlife illustration and prints, she has lots of work based on people and places, that you can see in her online portfolio here: http://www.essillustration.com/Illustrationor Or get in touch with her for a commission: essi@essillustration.com

Dieter Braun (Germany) Hamburg based digital designer Dieter approaches his wild animal prints with a simplistic, clean vector technique with a focus on his subject's facial expression. His wide-eyed lemur families and regal, wise cheetahs really capture the characteristics and personalities of the species his is illustrating. Find him online at: @DieterBraunIllustration http://www.brauntown.com/

Yasushi Muraki (Japan) Yasushi was born in Tokyo, but his artwork has travelled across the world, with books printed in English, Spanish, German, French, Basque and Korean. Using very basic facial expression, rigid structure and soft colouring, these designs sort of leave it in your hands to attach characteristics to each of the animals. I love his Japanese pink and purple colour palette for the cranes flying at sunset over Mount Fuji.Find out more about him here: https://www.behance.net/yyasum3838