{"id":8867,"date":"2026-10-26T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8867"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T18:51:00","slug":"dreamy-digital-illustrations-by-rebecca-zwanzig-tap-into-art-history-and-nostalgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=8867","title":{"rendered":"Dreamy Digital Illustrations by Rebecca Zwanzig Tap into Art History and Nostalgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dreamy<\/p>\n

From the atmospheric tones of the Pacific Northwest to Victorian-era textile patterns to antique dishware designs, Rebecca Zwanzig\u2014the artist behind High West Wild<\/a>\u2014draws on a wide range of influences. \u201cI grew up in the bluegrass state of Kentucky, and some of my earliest visual memories come from going to auctions and estate sales with my grandma in rural Kentucky,\u201d the artist tells Colossal. \u201cI was always drawn to the patterns on old plates, the embroidery on tablecloths, vintage textiles, and all of these little objects and keepsakes that had clearly belonged to someone and had a life before they ended up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently based in Portland, Oregon, by way of Washington\u2019s mountains and Nevada\u2019s desert, the artist draws on this nostalgia in her digital works. Reminiscent of late 19th and early 20th-century motifs, her botanicals emerge from associations with landscapes she has lived in and influences from the not-so-distant past.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cAnna-Marie\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved vintage textiles and illustration, scientific botanical art, folk art, and the groovy typography and design from the \u201960s and \u201970s,\u201d Zwanzig says. \u201cMy colors tend to come from that same place, too. Lots of earthy 1970s tones\u2026I love anything dark and moody, but I also love really bright, saturated color, so I tend to move between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zwanzig\u2019s illustrations often incorporate symmetry and the satisfying repetition of patterns, evoking Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement exemplified by the likes of William Morris<\/a>. Portraits of insects, crystals, and shells, and other natural phenomena also bring to mind natural history tomes such as Lorenz Oken<\/a>\u2019s Allgemaine Naturgeschichte F\u00fcr Alle St\u00e4nde<\/em> or The Hudson Transparencies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her practice developed around early interests in graphic design and oil painting, which she still turns to occasionally to explore the texture of the analog medium. Even her digital pieces created in Procreate or Adobe Illustrator are derived from sketches she first makes by hand to compose lush gradients we associate with oil.<\/p>\n

Clients including Starbucks, Marine Layer, Anna Sui, Free People, and more have licensed Zwanzig\u2019s work, and she\u2019s currently in the midst of a personal project of designing a complete tarot deck<\/a>. If you\u2019re in Seattle next month, you can see Zwanzig\u2019s work at the Renegade Craft Fair<\/a>, which runs from November 20 to 22. Follow updates and see more from her on the High West Wild Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cUnnamed\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cPamela\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
\u201cMeadow Serpent\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cCosmic Crystals\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cGarden Bouquet\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cDebbie Lynn\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cSeashells and Mollusks\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cNelly\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Dreamy Digital Illustrations by Rebecca Zwanzig Tap into Art History and Nostalgia<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the atmospheric tones of the Pacific Northwest to Victorian-era textile patterns to antique dishware designs, Rebecca Zwanzig\u2014the artist behind High West Wild\u2014draws on a wide range of influences. \u201cI…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}