His flat, vintage-inspired style often evokes the paired-back look of screenprinting, while more details drawings take on a retro feel. His clients include everyone from New York Times to HSBC. One of our favorite retro and vintage illustrators is children’s book artist Ralph Cosentino.

Learn how to draw a retro illustration in Illustrator using vector brushes and a solid workflow, which uses a photograph as the basis for creating a vintage style artwork. Using vector brushes you can add loads of style, such as paint splatters, vary the vector linework, and layer the coloring.

Vintage illustrators played pivotal roles in defining and shaping Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the Golden Age of Illustration. Their work is synonymous with these movements, which set the stage for historic illustration artists to leave a timeless impact on art history.

Explore similar styles to help you narrow down your search for the right illustrator. Retro style illustration is well-loved because of its power to evoke bygone decades, sparking a sense of nostalgia as it takes us back to the 1950s, 60s, 70s or 80s by effortlessly capturing the style of the period in question.