Six surprising illustration trends for 2026

Every year since… ever!… creative mags and websites have gazed into their crystal balls and tried to predict upcoming aesthetic trends as the calendar is about to turn over. It’s fun, it’s whimsical, sometimes we’re right, and sometimes we’re not. However, as January 2026 approaches, the process feels increasingly urgent – especially in the field of illustration.

After all, commercial artwork is on its deathbed, right? Image-generating AI models are standing over it with a knife. Well, actually, things might not be all that dire. Against expectation, some artists and their agents thrived in 2025. Talking to seven artists’ reps and a handful of illustrators for this article, we discovered that illustration isn’t dying at all; it’s changing.

For some, the change can’t come fast enough. What surprised us was just the strength of their calls for invention and innovation. It’s time for artists to shed their inhibitions and strike out in new directions.

“One thing is certain, a return to handcrafted styles will come,” says Marie-Christine Brisson, co-founder of Colagene, Creative Clinic. That much we expected, but she adds, “And I hope to see many new forms of expression. We all need to be surprised again!”

Whisper it… that might even include using AI.

Hand-printed artworks

Hand-painted. Hand-drawn. Sketching. Craft. Just like last year, these words came up a lot in our conversations with illustration agents, so we expect the unique hand of the artist to shine through plenty in 2026. Hand printing is a process that combines several creative techniques as it involves design, drawing, engraving or cutting, the application of colour, and so on. It came as a surprise, but several of our industry contacts put forward artists whose focus is this discipline.

In 2026, the Central Illustration Agency (CIA) in London will sign a new Japanese woodblock printmaker to its books to deepen its offerings in hand printing. “Jonathan Gibbs recently collaborated with fashion house Burberry to create filmed content of him making a woodblock of their logo and then creating a print of that logo in his studio for a social media campaign,” says Jules Beazley, global strategist at CIA. “Another of our printmakers, Christopher Brown, has helped to distinguish Gail’s Bakeries from the numerous other coffee shops on the high street. We see the trend of printmaking, particularly to continue being popular into 2026, as certain brands purposefully turn to human-touch crafts to deliver a deeper connection with their audiences.”

The agency IllustrationX has also just contacted us with news that the linocut print artist Emily Robertson will join its roster for the new year. Represented by The Artworks, Chris Wormell is an artist who adapted to digital illustration for his children’s books but has since reverted to woodblock printing, which clients now want.

Bring your point of view

And what will the hand of the artist express in 2026? Hopefully, it will be their heart, soul, feelings, identity and lived experiences. These are all very human elements, and clients appreciate them just as much as the creative execution.

“The trend I see growing in is that talent will be commissioned to collaborate on projects with narratives that come from where they stand, adding their authentic points of view, from a place of belonging in the specific universe that clients are communicating within,” says Ana Bandarra, the IllustrationX rep in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Their real-life experiences and points of view matter a lot!”

Illozoo founder Mohamed Danawi agrees: “Clients and consumers are increasingly looking for real illustrations with intention, emotional resonance and human insight. As the market matures, the value shifts away from automated imagery toward work that feels authored, thoughtful and genuinely communicative.”

Ignore populist politicians. According to Amy Milligan at Illo Agency, illustration in 2026 needs diversity and visual variety. “We’re seeing a shift toward global themes in advertising, moving beyond traditional Western narratives to make connections worldwide,” she says. “This includes weaving in a variety of cultural viewpoints to address issues like health disparities and advocating for health equity through culturally resonant storytelling.”

Ing Lee, Henry Gonzalez and Yasmin Ayumi are three artists whose recent work has thrived on a unique point of view.

Realism plus

Being able to render a scene with real-world accuracy is a marvellous skill, but this is something AI models do particularly well. Consequently, artists from sketchers to CG wizards to oil-paint virtuosos need to find ways to surprise and delight the viewer through unique compositions, colourways, perspectives, attitudes, and atmospheres.

“Realism without concept is suffering the most,” says Mohamed Danawi. “For realism to survive, it must transcend accuracy. It needs to communicate – carry metaphor, deliver a message, evoke emotion, tell a story, or reveal a truth the camera cannot see. Without that conceptual core, realism will be overlooked, no matter how flawlessly rendered.

Adrian Ehrhardt is a French artist with the Colagene agency whose work is CG-based. “For me, one of the trends in 3D illustration will be the stylised realism, that blends technical precision with artistic freedom,” he explains. “We’re seeing the emergence of images that feel tangible, almost touchable, yet fully embrace their dreamlike dimension: materials that are too perfect, impossible colours, familiar shapes that are reinvented.”

Another artist advancing realism, this time through sheer pencil virtuosity, is Clara Encinas.

We NEED experimental aesthetics

Going even further than that, some of the professionals we spoke to are yearning for new looks to emerge – ones so different they blow us all away.

“There really needs to be something new and not seen before coming up through the ranks,” says Stephanie Alexander-Jinks, director and agent at The Artworks. “Over-digitalised art courses are causing a bit of a stagnation in terms of the waves of the new and exciting that used to come year after year. That’s not to say that it’s not still happening, but the experimentation is so often the spark that lights the flame and the less we do of it, the less diverse the outcomes will be if we are all singing from the same hymn sheet from the start!”

One of the agencies best positioned to capitalise on calls for new, experimental aesthetics is Pocko. While it values traditional skills, the company has also been nurturing a stable of digital artists whose entire focus has been on innovation and experimentation, leading to otherworldly looks that perfectly fit the bill. They include artists using VR, 3D, code, animation tools and AI to push their visuals beyond the normal boundaries of the human imagination.

“We fully embrace new technology and feel that AI can be an incredible tool for existing artistic practices, rather than a replacement,” says Pocko agent Olga Matsue Norman. “We feel that there is space for both and that some of the most exciting work might happen between tradition and new technology. Three artists to look for are Markos Kay, Chris Hoffmann and Nadiia Pliamko.”

And we NEED more positivity

That last section might have some illustrators chewing their lips. AI has undoubtedly been making things tough for many creatives. But looking at things more broadly, the last decade has been tough, with or without AI. Conflict, division, uncertainty – these are the watchwords of the decade. Illustration has the power to change that with a positive message.

“Things that are done with heart and soul have a magic and positivity in them for the current climate. Colours that reflect light and positive humour rather than serious doom and gloom. Images that celebrate the good things about life and people. Reassuring is the word we need – art still very much exists!” says Stephanie Alexander-Jinks.

Marie Christine-Brisson agrees: “More than anything, I want artists to use the power of their passion to show their strong uniqueness and surprise the world,” she says. “To catch our eyes and our human sensibility, to remind everyone that art will always exist and remain a key to successful communication.”

Sarah McMenemy is an artist whose work has a light tone and an uplifting feeling. For illustrator Silke Werzinger, 2026 will be about making people smile. “The trend for me is humour and a handmade style in these strange and stressful times,” she says.

Bright, popping palettes

Integral to the above will be an infusion of bright, loud, energetic eye-popping colours. To some, Pantone’s colour of the year for 2026, Cloud Dancer, is dialling in the wrong direction. It’s relaxing, yes, but it isn’t exciting.

Amy Milligan sees colours flooding the sky in citrus flavours: “Bright, poppy palettes are having a major moment,” she says. “Think vintage comics with bold, clashing combinations like purples and yellows, vibrant oranges, and electric greens. I’ve witnessed this colourful energy firsthand at comic festivals this year. It feels like the perfect time to don your Mystic Micro orange beanies and embrace all the zesty shades of orange, from tangerine to rustic sienna to neon citrus.”

‘Neon’ is a watchword for Ana Bandarra at IllustrationX: “This might be framed as a loud answer to the backlash generated by the Cloud Dancer colour of the year announcement by Pantone, but we might see a lot of projects using ultra vibrant colour palettes with neon colours combined with a lot of noise and grainy texture on the composition to create a really dynamic feel to imagery.”

Artists to watch include Denis Freitas, Andressa Meissner and Susie Hammer.