I’ve been needing more light-hearted content in my life, so this week it’s all animals, all the time. Today’s theme: Super Awesome Artists™ who make amazing animal-inspired art in different mediums.
Art by Andoni Bastarrika 
Art by Shannon Holt
Sand Sculpture Artist Andoni Bastarrika – If you’ve visited a local Basque beach in northern Spain, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Andoni Bastarrika’s artwork. His sand sculptures are so incredibly detailed and lifelike that you might think you’ve stumbled upon a real animal that washed up to shore, especially when those creatures really could have come from the water (like this sea turtle, this shark, this hammerhead this octopus, this crocodile, or this ???). Follow Andoni Bastarrika on Instagram @andoni_bastarrika_artista.
Body Paint Artist Shannon Holt – Florida-based artist Shannon Holt has been a professional body painter since 2009. In 2014, she placed runner-up on the first season of the body paint competition series Skin Wars. Her incredible Florida Wildlife Series transformed models into the native fauna of Florida, including a heron, monarch butterfly, great horned owl, red fox, and a mama and baby alligator. Check out her website and follow her on Instagram @shannonholtart.
Art by Tina Kraus 
Art by Chloe Giordano
Paper Artist Tina Kraus – Freelance paper artist and illustrator Tina Kraus works in Münster, Germany. In addition to designing pop-up books, stationary, and paper toys, she creates astonishingly detailed and lifelike crepe paper sculptures. Her paper fauna have included a damselfly, cicada, and crested gecko, while her paper flora features a ghost orchid and venus flytrap. Visit her website and Society6 shop and follow her on Instagram @faltmanufaktur.
Embroidery Artist Chloe Giordano – U.K. artist Chloe Giordano has been creating freehand embroidery art since 2011, using sewing thread and hand-dyed fabrics. Her work is exquisitely detailed and has included such forest creatures as fawns, hares, foxes, and rabbits. In 2019, she published a book, The Embroidered Art of Chloe Giordano, which walks readers through her design process and features hundreds of photos of her work. Visit her website, buy from her Etsy shop, and follow her on Instagram @chloegiordano_embroidery.
Art by James Doran Webb 
Art by Sean Kenney’s Studio
Driftwood Sculpture Artist James Doran Webb – Born in the U.K., James Doran Webb grew up in Europe and later settled in the Philippines where he established his studio. He started designing driftwood furniture in the mid-1990s and then began experimenting with animal sculptures. Most of his large-scale sculptural work features a stainless steel armature with “long dead hard as nails welded and bolted on” to provide structure. His dynamic sculptures include a galloping thoroughbred, a leaping hare, battling Cock pheasants, a landing owl, and a jumping stallion. Visit his website and follow him on Facebook.
Lego Brick Artist Sean Kenney’s Studio – Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects series of life-sized (and larger-than-life-sized) animal and plant sculptures began touring the world in 2012. His team of artists designed and built more than 50 nature sculptures for various themed exhibits that have featured everything from an 8-foot dragonfly to a life-sized zebra and wildebeest and a family of baby pandas. The studio’s work has had a particular emphasis on endangered wildlife, including polar bears, the Formosan Clouded Leopard, the Chinese Pangolin, and the Slow Loris. Visit the studio’s website and follow on Instagram @seankenneyart.
Art by Akie Nakata 
Art by John Lopez
Stone Artist Akie Nakata – The Japanese artist Akie Nakata takes the meaning “rock pet” to a whole new level. Since 2010, she has used acrylic gouache and tiny paint brushes to transform ordinary rocks and stones into vibrant, intricately detailed pocket-sized animals. Her stone paintings includes birds, sea creatures, dogs, cats, and wild animals like cheetahs, gorillas, and hippos. When Akie posts that a new original design is available for sale, it is sold within minutes. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram @akie_2525.
Hybrid Metal Artist John Lopez – In South Dakota, bronze sculpture artist started experimenting with scrap metal art in the 2000s, debuting his sculpture Triceratops Cowboy (a cowboy riding a Triceratops) in 2008. Since then, his incredible iron and bronze metal sculptures have included a bison, moose, longhorn, Northern White Rhino, and of course—a tyrannosaurus rex. Intrepid roadtrippers can even seek out his work on public display in the United States on this John Lopez Sculpture Tour. Visit his website and follow him on Instagram @johnlopezstudio.