Alan Dalby's charismatic animal illustrations are an absolute treat

If the internet can be praised for one thing alone, it has to be the way it’s raised the profile of the animal kingdom. Before we got ourselves online there were creatures like the platypus and the lemur that lived their lives in complete obscurity. Now, thanks to universal connectivity, we can enjoy these rare beasts in their natural habitat from the comfort of our desks, and laugh at their bug-eyed stares and furry beaks.

Manchester illustrator Alan Dalby is one man benefitting from this raised online profile as it’s allowing him to forge a career rendering all manner of strange beasts in his signature geometric style. Alan constructs his animal images from tessellating geometric shapes, giving them a polished appearance on first examination. But he imbues each with a personality that’s entirely their own; the sloth looks like he’d be a great drinking buddy, the walrus appears perpetually lost and you wouldn’t trust the lemur as far as you could throw him. Lovely stuff!