Haley Tippmann's 'bold and loose' illustrations of modern people around the world

Taking inspiration from artists such as David Hockney, Charley Harper, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Gauguin, it's the mundane everyday life occurances that inform much of her illustrations: "I usually look through photos I’ve taken recently and sometimes mesh the people in them together to make one bigger crowd scene. Sometimes, I pick just one person from a picture and focus on that person as their own character. A lot of my illustration work is from my environment. I start by sketching on the iPad, then colour, and final outlines."

Travel features heavily, too. She tells Creative Boom: "I try to take a lot of reference pictures when I am on a trip, so when I come home, I can draw the people and places I've seen. It is a nice way to remember the city I was in by drawing its unique characters and landmarks."

Tippman admits that she also draws her husband a lot and takes cues from modern life: "I like to draw people as they really are now in the year 2019: with cell phones."

Originally from Rochester, New York, Tippmann today lives and works in Koblenz, Germany. She is represented by Oskar worldwide and 2 Agenten in Europe, and has clients all over the world (New York Times, The New Yorker, Thread).

How did she become an illustrator? "I have never really imagined being any thing else besides an artist. I was always drawing, since I could pick up a crayon. I chose to study graphic design in college, mainly because I wanted to learn design programmes. One day, my art professor showed us illustrations in different newspapers, and explained how artists get paid to do them. I kind of decided then that’s what I wanted to do and how I could apply my artistic abilities best. I made it my goal that year to get my illustration work in a magazine/newspaper."