February 11 - NozomiYuki

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

~ Leonardo da Vinci, 1452.

NozomoYuki is a long time DeviantArtist, with over eight years active and hundreds of deviations (I'm learning the vernacular!) - she has art in her core and radiates it outward.

She is really really good at rendering things really really small, here is the 40x40 icon she came up with.  How is it even possible to do "cute and curious" with 40 pixels!?  (yeah yeah 1600 nerd ... but still)  This is amazing, or as a better man might have said - the ultimate in sophistication.

It's cute to think of this as the baby for all the other purple pig art out there. 
[+1 pig lore points]
Well now ...

February 10 - ReginaUtsika

“So be wise. And if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise and then just behave like they would. Now go, and make interesting mistakes. Make Interesting. Mistakes. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.”

~ Neil Gaiman, Art Matters

ReginaUtsika is a Russian student/artist from DeviantArt that was offering to do stylish cartoon drawings and agreed to participate in this month's project - she has a portfolio with a good number of styles and references so I was excited to see what she would come up with and really happy with what she did.  Though her bio says that she is learning to draw, I would hazard to say it's time to set the next goal ..☺

This is playful, I love the expression she gave -- I see a grandpa who just made everyone laugh themselves to tears because he sneezed and his spots fell off.  It's the "pants falling down" equivalent for pigs.

February 9 - WeirdSwirl

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”

~ E.F. Schumacher, 1911

WeirdSwirl is a Ukrainian professional traditional artist and member of DeviantArt for years.  She has a style and a portfolio that I have to admit made me a bit hesitant to contact her for something as frivolous as "purple pig art", but she was very receptive to the idea and delivered well beyond what I could have imagined.

It's elegant, it's precise, it's so good it's hard to come up with even the right words to describe it.

Personally I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but there is a lot this image can teach us about line shading, she has an uncanny ability to evoke texture and shadows and distance.  Not only does the pig have great shadows and form, but look at the texture of the near hills compared to the hills further back.  ... the mist in the air wrapping around the tree or the shape of the clouds.  There is a subtlety to her art that is used to so effectively.  I love it!

Here are some links to check out her other workspaces:
Behance
Instagram
Patreon
Twitter
YouTube

February 8 - Characterdesine

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

~ Pablo Picasso

Characterdesine is a freelance character artist I came across on Fiverr when searching for "character design".

... and I think he has chosen the perfect account name, this is beyond what I could imagine.  I really love everything about this image, the warped nose has a bit of a hairlip look, and the mouth being large enough to swallow you whole - it just works so well.

How does it work so well?  It violates some physical rules, but that's what I think separates the good from the great -- a great artist knows the rules and breaks them for effect.  Whether or not this is a real Picasso quote or not, the message is accurate.

This is the Big Bad Pig:

"Little Wolf, Little Wolf - let me in,
 I'll grind your bones, I'll eat your skin!
 You've huffed and you've puffed your very last breath,
 You came for my family now I come for your death."

February 7 - Virtualillusion1

“There is a poetic nature to minimalism that is about striking a balance between full and empty.”

~ Jennie C. Jones

Virtualillusion1 was not only one of the first artists I contacted on DeviantArt, but was one of the fastest to finish.  She is an artist from India that has only been active for a week - and commission was for a minimalist flat illustration.

To be perfectly honest, this wasn't entirely what I was expecting - but that is probably one of the most fun things about this months project,  she delivered something fantastic that I wasn't expecting - I really like this chunky fat dude!

I used the source asset to make it as minimalist as possible, which was really wasn't much more than a couple (digital) paint buckets of black.  I like how the ear behind the head still gives you the shape of the head.

February 6 - somni-sing

Have you seen the chart?
It's a hell of a start,
It could be made into a monster,
If we all pull together as a team.

~ Pink Floyd, Have a Cigar

With a gig entitled  "Creepy Commissions", you have already piqued my interest.

"somni-sing" is actually an art duo from the United States, a visual arts graduate and freelancer that have been around for a few months now (at least in this form) on DeviantArt.  I thought the sample images were really interesting, but this blows away what I even imagined they would do.

The art style reminds me of Pink Floyd animations in The Wall (hence the quote), I could easily imagine this walking ominously towards the camera to the music, mouth widening - a bit of drool as you realize the smile is more of a hungry desire.  "Big man, pig mahannnn - ha, haaa, charade you are!"  Creepy -- 100% check!

Check out their Etsy shop here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SomniSingShop

The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think,
Oh, by the way, which one's "sing"?

February 5 - Voidscreamz

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

~ Banksy

Thank you random universe ... or the creature that slumbers in eternal void outside time, whose dreams tell the tales of the universe, or really whatever it was that had me browsing the DeviantArt commissions pages when Voidscreamz (DeviantArt IG) was available for commissions.

Wow!  I love what he did with this pig!  Voidscreamz is a hobbyist from the UK, and like me he is new to DeviantArt.  He has a fantastic and terrifying portfolio, full of the stuff of nightmares.  It speaks to me ... and I'm scared.

This as the point in the tale when he is knocked out, perhaps thought dead - but it merely awoke the ancient evil buried inside.  I want to know what happens next!   (Brutal porcine justice ... it writes itself.)

I love that requesting commissions is such an easy thing to do, but with convenience comes a complete lack of research on my part.  The only thing I really know about these people is typically a brief bio description.