American artist Matthew Woodson is another artist with a pretty impressive list of clients. He’s provided illustrations for several well-known publications and companies such as American Express, Penthouse, Wired, ESPN, and New York Magazine, among many others. He’s featured here because of his extensive work with UK experimental music label Type Records, having provided album artwork for artists like Xela, and Helios.

Woodson has a unique and very recognizable style. For the majority of his illustrations he starts with a hand-drawn pen & ink sketch and then uses Photoshop to paint and color different sections, provide further texture, and tweak the final appearance. The highly realistic images and sometimes surreal subject matter rendered with strong pen-lines and discontinuous colors and shading definitely give Woodson’s works a unique look. His illustrations also often also give the impression of capturing fleeting moments in time, with subjects sometimes in mid-motion or partially cut-off by the frame.

Woodson’s website at Ghostco.org contains a fairly extensive gallery of his illustrations, as well as handful of prints for sale. He also maintains a blog where he occasionally discusses techniques, inspirations, and random other aspects of his life. Check here and here for a few posts in which he describes some of the intermediate steps involved in creating his illustrations, giving some interesting insight into his artistic style and creative process.