Celia Jacobs’ Illustrations Cut to the Bone

Growing up in Portland with a mom who painted and a dad who played the piano, there was no escaping Celia Jacobs’ artistic fate. Now based in Los Angeles, Jacobs’ interests include nature, music, and social issues. Her weapon of choice? Illustration.

“I knew I wanted to be an illustrator when I was a kid,” she would later admit in an interview Catapult. “I kind of forgot about it, but when I got older and started needing to make decisions about my life, I realized that drawing had always been all I ever wanted to do and that illustration would be a good way to keep doing it.”

Working for various brands and publications, her clients include top tier publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as brands as big as Google and TED. “I think it’s important to not just focus on the aesthetic of your illustration work, but consider what kind of content really interests you and how you can bring in your other interests and hobbies,” she notes. “It leads to more honest and personal work and I think that’s how you get people on your side.”

Honesty is to be expected in her work (with her illustrations often cutting to the bone), but also – color. Working from her home studio, which she shares with a black and white dog named Archie, Jacobs illustrates with sensitivity and California technicolor. Below you’ll find a collection of her work.