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Illustration Trends 2019

Brilly

Full article: https://contributors.gettyimages.com/Article.aspx?article_id=6246

It seems you can’t open a magazine, shop online, or watch a commercial without seeing
innovative illustrations. From inspiring ads to cutting-edge smartphone apps and
whimsical pop art, the world is recognizing that Illustration creates a uniquely
imaginative design element that can’t be achieved with a photograph. Like last year, it
will continue to make its mark for years to come.

We’re excited to show you our 2019 Illustration trends. From 1980s-inspired color
combos and trippy 3D shading, to amusing glitches and quirky flat figures, these are
the creative styles and techniques we know customers are looking for to tell their
stories in 2019.

2019 Illustration Trends


New Retro Wave Color Palette
Flat and Funky Figures
Hyper-Realistic Shading
Warm Meets Cool
Isometric Perspectives
Fluidity
Not-So-Flat Design
Metallic Textures
Pearlescence
Glitch

New Retro Wave Color Palette


Heavily inspired by the new wave of 1980s films, videogames, cartoons, and TV, the
New Retro Wave color palette is a combination of bold ultraviolet shades graduating to
hot pinks, neon oranges, and buttercup yellows. It’s bold, super saturated, dramatic,
and eye-catching. We're seeing these color palettes on everything from abstract
backgrounds to highly detailed isometric cityscapes.

New Retro Wave Color Palette


jamielaw ton

IkonStudio
Galina Timofeeva

Aleksandr Durnov
Darumo
1/ 9

Flat and Funky Figures


There are so many ways to draw a figure. From highly exaggerated cartoon styles to
realistic proportions. Lately we’ve seen a fun trend towards a more organic, naive style
of figure drawing that we call, ‘flat and funky’. Characterized by chunky proportions,
loose and rubbery limbs, flat colors (reminiscent of stamps or screen printing), this
style of figure drawing is charming, whimsical, and a lot of fun.

Flat and Funky Figures

Anna_Isaeva
Egor Shabanov

Jelena Zivkovic
SpiffyJ

Anna Sidorova
1/ 10

Hyper-Realistic Shading
Tools for realistic shading effects in vector editing software are getting more
sophisticated, and illustrators are taking advantage. We’ve seen a surge in hyper-
realistic, almost 3D render quality shading in vector illustrations. Last year’s trend of
cutout and layered paper styles really started to showcase how subtle and clever vector
shading can create an optical illusion of depth on an artboard, and artists keep pushing
the limit using complex shading techniques like Gradient Meshes and Blends. The end
results look as though you could reach into your computer screen and pick up each
object on the artboard!

Hyper-Realistic Shading
TAW 4

TAW 4
VPanteon

TAW 4
Rogotanie
1/ 10

Warm Meets Cool


Contrasting warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) with cool colors (blues, greens,
grays) has long been an effective technique to build visual contrast in a composition.
For example, by placing a warm-colored character onto a cool-colored background, you
can instantly draw a viewer’s eye to the main subject of your illustration.

Illustrators continue to explore this color contrast today, using a more modern color
palette. The contrast is subtler, often playing off pastel versions of colors. For
example, instead of a cyan blue and saturated orange, illustrators may now use a pale
teal with a subtle coral pink. The results are sophisticated but impactful illustrations
with a modern twist.

Warm Meets Cool

grivina
molotovcoketail

elenabs
grivina

Tanya Syrytsyna
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Isometric Perspectives
An isometric projection is a representation of a three-dimensional object in two
dimensions and is most commonly used in technical and engineering drawings. The two
front sides of an object are drawn in an isometric perspective will be an equal angle, so
that they can be flipped interchangeably to the left or right.

Isometrics have always been common, particularly on diagrams and breakaway


drawings of technical objects. But recently we've been seeing the isometric perspective
applied to everything from landscape drawings to interface icons.

Isometric Perspectives
aurielaki

mathisw orks
Bigmouse108

miakievy
Irina_Strelnikova
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Fluidity
Liquid effects are everywhere. We see shapes melting into each other, droplets
breaking away to hover in midair, or objects dripping and flowing. Often achieved using
hyper realistic shading techniques, liquid effects break down geometric and rigid shapes
and give a sense of movement to a composition. These surreal effects work as abstract
backgrounds as well as icons and isolated subjects.

Fluidity

layritten
venimo

v_alex
smartboy10

Greens87
1/ 9

Not-So-Flat Design
Flat design, which is characterized by graphically simplified flat colored shapes, with little
to no shading, detail or perspective, has been the go-to style for mobile apps and
interface designs.

However, as screen resolutions have improved, we are seeing a shift away from
traditional flat design. Illustrators are now pushing the boundaries of this style by
incorporating gradient shading, subtle textures, more detail and even perspectives
(particularly isometrics).

Color palettes have also evolved from vintage inspired to more bold, bright and
saturated colors, particularly rich deep blues and violets juxtaposed with bright punchy
neon’s like orange, pink and yellow. The result is a much more visually engaging and
cheery style that we can't wait to see more of.

Not-So-Flat Design

grivina

aurielaki
miakievy

kfilonov
Macrostore
1/ 7

Metallic Textures
Adding metallic effects to an illustration convey glamor and luxury. Gold, silver, bronze,
and platinum colors make a sparkly attention-grabbing accent color to any palette.
We’ve seen this evolve with metallics being incorporated into textural elements like
glitter, paint, marble and foil. This brings a tactile and textured feel to normally cold and
slick metallic surfaces, while still adding a bit of glitz to a composition. Look for colors
outside the typical warm and brassy gold: Rose golds, white golds, and even green
golds are a fresh new way to bring a metallic color into a design.

Metallic Textures

discan
~Userba9fe9ab_931

invincible_bulldog
Vik_Y

cienpies
1/ 10

Pearlescence
Pearlescent is a multi-dimensional color that reveals different colors depending on the
angle it’s viewed. Think about what a pearl looks like: It’s typically a pale cream color
but as you rotate it, you will see other colors like pastel pinks, blues, yellows and
greens ripple across the surface as the light hits it from different angles. It’s a
mesmerizing effect and can add movement and interest to what would otherwise be a
flat color in a composition.

Pearlescence
Aliaksei_7799

Vanzyst
Fosin2

olga_hmelevska
Maxger
1/ 8

Glitch
As technology evolves, it’s fun to look back at its early days and appreciate just how
difficult things were back when personal computers and internet were in their infancy
experiencing technical glitches. TV screen images vanished, replaced by ‘snowy image’
as cable lost its signal; radio signals disappeared to the crackling of white noise; the
internet required you dial-up your connection via a landline phone, and computers
crashed and displayed a confusing mess of colored pixels on screen.

Adding glitchy effects to clean, slick and modern vector illustrations adds character and
visual interest and creates an amusing nostalgic throwback to the earlier days of
technology.

Glitch

solarseven
solarseven

Egor Shabanov
octomesecam

miakievy
1/ 8

Keep up to date with the latest trends


Now that you know what we’re predicting, you can create content that customers
want. Sign up to receive our creative briefs via email or browse our latest briefs. Join
our comprehensive forum group, Illustrations We Need.

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