The work of British illustrator Steven Wilson seems to be everywhere these days, with a client list that includes such heavyweights as Virgin Digital, MTV, Neiman Marcus, Levi's, Wallpaper, Pathe Films and most recently, Coca Cola. And no wonder, given the consistently fresh, colorful, energetic work that he's currently producing. But despite all these big-name clients, he harbors a soft spot for music albums, such as the illustration above for musician Sam Sparro.

While freedom is a wonderful thing, sometimes the constraints of a medium or the circumstances in which work is created can serve as the springboard to something remarkable. Just think of Michaelangelo's frescos in the Sistine Chapel, one of the most demanding of media. While he had no choice but to work quickly on a large scale before the pigment-impregnated plaster dried, a contemporary French artist has chosen to paint tiny portraits within the space of a few minutes... on Paris subway tickets.

Has the domination of Photoshop completely killed vector illustration? While Illustrator remains a graphics application that's difficult to love, the use of vector-based imagery has been making something of a comeback. Fueling this are a number of boutique content creators, amongst them Kapitza.

Italian Graphic Designer Simone Legno has made more than a mark for himself in the Pop Art world recently with his Japaneseque, Tokidoki brand.

If the above illustration seems strangely familiar, this is probably because it was created using the mathematical principles of tessellation, most famously employed by M.C. Escher. And yet this, and the other images in The Symmetry Artists series, are the work of German illustrator, character creator and package designer Henk Wyniger.

German Design group Jung von Matt brings us probably the most worth while work shirker I've seen. The Spam Recycler.

So, today I've been trying to find out more about German artist Stephan Lomp. Not a lot of luck.

When the uncommonly hip and powerfully creative minds of Alexandra Fisher and Kevin Johnson smashed into each other sometime in the late 90s the result was a somewhat understated "big bang" for designers and consumers alike. IMHO.

Cool little music vid from Sweden's Peter, Bjorn & John. I thought it might be a new discovery - a great unknown band who makes it on You Tube (something like OK Go's infamous treadmill video for Here It Goes Again), but apparently they've been around a while and are touring all over the world and have already been seen by everyone else on Conan Obrien's stage. I am slipping in my old age.

Regardless, I love the sound (you will be whistling this tune for the rest of the day) and it's a great illustration/animation that really fits the song. Or maybe it just reminds me of the toons from when I was a kid. Who cares? I like it.

I caught a clip of this piece from Animusic on PBS last night. The image quality on TV was obviously a lot better, but you'll get the idea from this YouTube clip. Cool stuff. There's a bunch of them to check out.

You can buy the Animusic DVDs on their website, and they feature a whole bunch of different fantasy musical instruments and machines, with special features like multi angle shots, split views of the animation etc. Great digital art, well executed.