Review of the Year 2023: Top 25 Illustration

Our top 25 for illustration this year shows us that all you really need is some nature, food and a pet. Oyow captured you all with his showcasing of relationships featuring huge leaves, tall grass blades and stems; Steph Hardy with ethereal drawings of plants; and you even loved microorganisms, soaking up Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez’s Let’s Become Fungal.

When it came to food, Tarn Susumpow not only illustrated some of the meals shared with her family, but the small details like the texture of crumbs or steam rising from a pan. Neuhyo’s illustrations similarly share the joys of sharing and preparing meals, and Steffen Kern’s misty and hyperreal drawings feature a block of kaas (cheese) and meat cooking in a pan. But, outside of huge themes, you also loved legacy illustrators, characters and events, from Marina Esmeraldo’s tarot deck taking inspiration from Succession’s media dynasty to Sebastian Onufszak’s designs for MTV Music Week and our article exploring Tove Jansson’s Moomin.

And lastly, the age-old cat versus dogs conversation was in the air this year, with our top spot being taken by Maisie Cowell’s The Bad Thing, a hilarious blue-hued comic following a dog, as he kills birds and repeatedly apologises. But, cats made a statement with Gomatsu’s grainy illustrations that make a case for their love, playfulness and loyalty, and when it came to the work of Shiori Tamura, the feline embodied all that is endearing.