Lately we’ve really been digging the positive, pared-back work of Liana Jegers. She’s an artist and illustrator from Chicago, and also makes up one half of The Smudge, a rad monthly print newspaper we wrote about not too long ago. She also makes books, zines, risograph prints and silk scarfs from her wonderful collections of drawings which she sells in her online store.
Stumbling across her sparse pencil drawings on paper are a breath of fresh air in what can sometimes feel like a sea of loud and bold work. Perusing Liana’s sketches gives us a feeling similar to the feeling of inhaling a nice big gulp of fresh mountain air or feeling a cool breeze whip around your temples on a summer day. Armed with coloured pencils and a tight colour palette, Liana draws with a smidgen of naivety and a hefty dose of positivity. We’re sure it’s these elements that leave us feeling calmer and contemplative when we look at her work.
Liana has been filling notebooks with her drawings of everyday objects, places and moments since she was a kid. The combination of a strict palette with her loose lines are harmonious and tranquil. Her gaze often turns to nature, finding inspiration in botanicals, famers markets produce, floral arrangements, the leafy streets she traverses and having ‘happy times in happy places’. The results of these observational drawings in her humble materials are simply put, delightful and as one of her zines has been described, ‘100% pleasant’. And that is a 100% accurate description if we do say so ourselves.
See more from Liana Jegers —