According to Shimoda, she would copy the drawings and, over time, taught herself how to draw cartoons. “In addition, since I was in high school, I like looking at illustration online — which was very important for me,” she notes. “All these pieces of pop culture are very familiar in my life, ones that give the most impact.”

Her work, both charming and alarming, portrays a world where cuteness and horror coexist, expressing modern-day issues in colorful and illustrative techniques. Often depicting starry-eyed children, Shimoda dresses her characters in superhero costumes, revealing problems and struggles in contemporary society.

“For me, this is my most effective means to convey my emotions and feelings to other people,” says Shimoda, “but they are not ‘human’ children. I like to use the example of magical girls (shojo) because they are inspired by human girls but they are characters.” The result is eerie and detached, albeit increasingly cute.

Naturally, Shimoda’s work tends to create quite a buzz both online and offline. Having held exhibitions in galleries worldwide, including Japan, the United States, Canada, and Europe, she has also amassed more than 95k followers on Instagram. Here are some of our favorite pieces by her:

The post Hikari Shimoda Paints Menacing (But Cute) Characters appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

An independent artist with no label, Trench has been playing the guitar for over 20 years. His instruments include the Acoustic, Electric and Classical Guitar, as well as Harp, Piano, Drums, Harmonica, Accordion, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Glockenspiel, Kalimba, Violin, and Cello. His loyal furry sidekick, Maple, sometimes plays along on the drums.

“I started with an electric guitar when I was about 8, but I didn’t take the instrument that seriously until I was 12-13 when I bought an acoustic guitar,” writes Trench on his personal website. “Aside from a few basic guitar/piano lessons, I’m self taught with all the instruments I play. I learned to read sheet music and would spend hours every day sight reading anything I could find online. Learning a lot of classical/flamenco music helped develop my Fingerstyle guitar techniques.”

While Trench decided to stay anonymous (“I never wanted to be famous so I prefer for the focus to be on the music, the instrument,” he writes), Maple – a mixed breed with part Border Collie, Golden Retriever and Shetland Sheepdog – is the real star of the show. More recently, the band has been joined by the newest addition to the family – rescue pup named Cherry. 

The post A Musician and His Dog Formed the Most Adorable Band appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“He loves balancing,” assured his owners, Jennifer Scott and Paul Lavery, in an interview with BBC News, “some people message saying that he looks sad… but that’s just his face! Its how they look! He loves it.”

According to the couple, this balancing hobby began with a toy chicken. After throwing around the toy for some time, Lavery decided to try and balance it on his pupper’s head – which turned out to work incredibly well.

According to Scott and Lavery, Harlso has “the flattest head.” “He can’t do any normal tricks, sit or anything. Balancing things on his head is the only thing he can do,” they note. “Its all a bit of fun, but if any of the readers want to suggest something, he’ll give anything a go,” they added.

You’re invited to follow his buzzing Instagram page for more balancing tricks.

The post For Our Next Trick, We’ll Need a Dachshund appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Named after other famous Norberts, including the dragon from Harry Potter, the American mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener, and Saint Norbert of Xanten, the San Francisco Globe crowned the Instagram star as one of the internet’s most popular therapy dogs; and Time Magazine added that “his cuteness is transcendent”.

Indeed, you need only see his pink tongue poking out to realize his undeniable charm. Part Chihuahua part Small Poodle, he was born with dark brown fur which had slowly changed to white over the first two years of his life. 

According to his owner Julie Steines, Norbert was adopted in 2009, when he was 4 months old. The only puppy in his litter, he was not in a shelter but needed a special kind of home due to his tiny size. Now a happy and healthy pooch, he volunteers at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and by special request.

But you can also follow him on Instagram (because… look at that face!):

The post Look At That Face! You’d Want to Follow This Pooch On Instagram appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Said to be the world’s littlest trendsetter (a fair description), Chewy works as both actor and model, featured in independent films like Humor Me. But when he’s not busy taking over the big and small screens, he likes dressing up and making appearances across North-America, hopping from one sunny patio to the next. 

“He’s very aware and also curious,” his owner shared in an interview with Hello Bark. “He can tell how the people around him are feeling and will act accordingly. He loves playing fetch and find the toy,” she added, noting some of his favorite pastimes.

But life wasn’t always easy on the now vigorous pup. A rescue from Northern Ontario, Chewy was born sick and skittish, and his owners didn’t even know if he was going to make it. His bad health also meant he was wary of other people and liked hiding under the couch. According to his owners, it took his quite a while and a lot of patience to build a bond of trust.

But look at him now!

The post Pom Pom Chewy Is Our Latest Instagram Crush appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“My style has also naturally evolved through embracing various mediums,” she explained in an interview with The Great Discontent. “I used to do a lot of printmaking with block prints, so I made drawings that catered to the process. I didn’t work digitally until three or four years out of college. It’s still a fairly recent thing for me, but when I learned it, I really embraced it. That gave my work a completely different look and feel.”

She notes that when you’re starting out as a professional illustrator, there can be pressure to make your work look cohesive, which can sometimes cause you to make decisions that are forced, purely for the sake of consistency. “I’ve found that the more I got away from that thinking, the more my style has strengthened,” she remarked.

With illustration now her full-time job, she makes sure to add an element of play and experimentation to her work, in an attempt to keep her creative spark. “Once you get in the cycle of doing job after job, you lose that sense of play,” says Wei. “I want to stretch myself. In order to do that I need to stop, make time, and take risks to do things I haven’t done before.”

Follow her creative journey through Instagram:

The post Jing Wei’s Illustrations Are the Epitome of Cute appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Named after Robinson Crusoe, the extraordinary pup has a deep sense of adventure, traveling around the world with his parents to places like the Bahamas, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico, as well as having toured all across the US and Canada.

Born in Montreal, he was raised near Mont Tremblant, Quebec for the first couple years of his life, but has since moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was shortly into the first year of his life that he had his first debut on television, having won “best trick” at an annual wiener dog event. He has since won a People’s Choice Award for Animal Star of 2018. Oh, and he also has a New York Times Bestselling book.

But being small also has its faults. In 2016 he had to undergo surgery on his back for a ruptured disc. His surgery followed months of rehabilitation, which he passed with flying colors, and is now back to his happy little self. We wish him the best of luck on his many adventures.

The post Named After Robinson Crusoe, This Pup is a True Adventurer! appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

According to her owner, the chocolate and fawn Pomeranian can be seen zooming around the house. “She will run around from one room to another and tire herself out,” said her owner in an interview with Hello Bark. “She can be stubborn at times too,” she admitted. “You know when she is not in the mood to do something. Her followers know this – sometimes when we are out for a walk and she doesn’t feel like walking any further, she will sit on her bum and refuse to move.”

A pooch with an attitude? What could be more adorable than that! Still, her owner assured that Mocha is also loving and affectionate. “She is always up for cuddles and always likes to be nearby (I will usually find her sleeping above my pillow at night!)” she says. “She also loves to play with her squeaky toys (the squeakier the better), going for runs and walks.”

A generally happy breed, Pomeranians also make for very Instagramable pups.”They’re always happy and smiling when family members come home,” said the owner about the breed.

The post Follow Mocha the Pomeranian’s Daily Adventures appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Before we adopted Sammie we had a difficult year,” her owners, Saray and Maor, recalled in an interview with Hello Bark recall. “We had a Golden Retriever puppy named Bailey, she died when she was only 1 year old from a genetic kidney failure although we did everything we could to save her. After a period of mourning and grief, we saw an ad for a puppy that needed a home and we instantly knew she was exactly what our broken heart needed.”

It turned out to be love at first sight. The next morning, they drove to the shelter and the fluffy pooch ran directly to them. “She really chose us as much as we chose her,” they remark. “We decided to name her Sam because it’s a combination of both our names – Saray And Maor.”

Based in Israel, Sam has a cult following both on Instagram and YouTube. One video of her in particular, where her owners boop her nose until she’s had enough, has gained thousands of views. You’d want to join in on the hype:

The post Sam is What Happens When You Mix a Golden Retriever with a German Shepherd appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Though Kitagishi has graduated from the Nihon Designer Gakuin Kyushu College with a degree in graphic design and has worked some time at a design studio in Fukuoka, she’s actually completely self-taught when it comes to her illustration.

In order to teach herself how to draw she came up with a challenge: posting an illustration a day on Instagram for a whole year. “I often draw characters like cats, owls, rabbits, girls with bobbed hair and men with mustaches,” says Kitagishi.

These playful characters aren’t restricted to paper. Sometimes, Kitagishi uses her nails as canvases. “I love drawing, and I draw on any blank space I can find,” she admits. “So one day, I l decided my nails were just a good a canvas as any.”

Here are some highlights from her Instagram page:

The post Cats, Owls, and Rabbits: the Playful Universe of Yumi Kitagishi appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

According to Shimoda, she would copy the drawings and, over time, taught herself how to draw cartoons. “In addition, since I was in high school, I like looking at illustration online — which was very important for me,” she notes. “All these pieces of pop culture are very familiar in my life, ones that give the most impact.”

Her work, both charming and alarming, portrays a world where cuteness and horror coexist, expressing modern-day issues in colorful and illustrative techniques. Often depicting starry-eyed children, Shimoda dresses her characters in superhero costumes, revealing problems and struggles in contemporary society.

“For me, this is my most effective means to convey my emotions and feelings to other people,” says Shimoda, “but they are not ‘human’ children. I like to use the example of magical girls (shojo) because they are inspired by human girls but they are characters.” The result is eerie and detached, albeit increasingly cute.

Naturally, Shimoda’s work tends to create quite a buzz both online and offline. Having held exhibitions in galleries worldwide, including Japan, the United States, Canada, and Europe, she has also amassed more than 95k followers on Instagram. Here are some of our favorite pieces by her:

The post Hikari Shimoda Paints Menacing (But Cute) Characters appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

An independent artist with no label, Trench has been playing the guitar for over 20 years. His instruments include the Acoustic, Electric and Classical Guitar, as well as Harp, Piano, Drums, Harmonica, Accordion, Banjo, Ukulele, Mandolin, Glockenspiel, Kalimba, Violin, and Cello. His loyal furry sidekick, Maple, sometimes plays along on the drums.

“I started with an electric guitar when I was about 8, but I didn’t take the instrument that seriously until I was 12-13 when I bought an acoustic guitar,” writes Trench on his personal website. “Aside from a few basic guitar/piano lessons, I’m self taught with all the instruments I play. I learned to read sheet music and would spend hours every day sight reading anything I could find online. Learning a lot of classical/flamenco music helped develop my Fingerstyle guitar techniques.”

While Trench decided to stay anonymous (“I never wanted to be famous so I prefer for the focus to be on the music, the instrument,” he writes), Maple – a mixed breed with part Border Collie, Golden Retriever and Shetland Sheepdog – is the real star of the show. More recently, the band has been joined by the newest addition to the family – rescue pup named Cherry. 

The post A Musician and His Dog Formed the Most Adorable Band appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“He loves balancing,” assured his owners, Jennifer Scott and Paul Lavery, in an interview with BBC News, “some people message saying that he looks sad… but that’s just his face! Its how they look! He loves it.”

According to the couple, this balancing hobby began with a toy chicken. After throwing around the toy for some time, Lavery decided to try and balance it on his pupper’s head – which turned out to work incredibly well.

According to Scott and Lavery, Harlso has “the flattest head.” “He can’t do any normal tricks, sit or anything. Balancing things on his head is the only thing he can do,” they note. “Its all a bit of fun, but if any of the readers want to suggest something, he’ll give anything a go,” they added.

You’re invited to follow his buzzing Instagram page for more balancing tricks.

The post For Our Next Trick, We’ll Need a Dachshund appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Named after other famous Norberts, including the dragon from Harry Potter, the American mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener, and Saint Norbert of Xanten, the San Francisco Globe crowned the Instagram star as one of the internet’s most popular therapy dogs; and Time Magazine added that “his cuteness is transcendent”.

Indeed, you need only see his pink tongue poking out to realize his undeniable charm. Part Chihuahua part Small Poodle, he was born with dark brown fur which had slowly changed to white over the first two years of his life. 

According to his owner Julie Steines, Norbert was adopted in 2009, when he was 4 months old. The only puppy in his litter, he was not in a shelter but needed a special kind of home due to his tiny size. Now a happy and healthy pooch, he volunteers at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and by special request.

But you can also follow him on Instagram (because… look at that face!):

The post Look At That Face! You’d Want to Follow This Pooch On Instagram appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Said to be the world’s littlest trendsetter (a fair description), Chewy works as both actor and model, featured in independent films like Humor Me. But when he’s not busy taking over the big and small screens, he likes dressing up and making appearances across North-America, hopping from one sunny patio to the next. 

“He’s very aware and also curious,” his owner shared in an interview with Hello Bark. “He can tell how the people around him are feeling and will act accordingly. He loves playing fetch and find the toy,” she added, noting some of his favorite pastimes.

But life wasn’t always easy on the now vigorous pup. A rescue from Northern Ontario, Chewy was born sick and skittish, and his owners didn’t even know if he was going to make it. His bad health also meant he was wary of other people and liked hiding under the couch. According to his owners, it took his quite a while and a lot of patience to build a bond of trust.

But look at him now!

The post Pom Pom Chewy Is Our Latest Instagram Crush appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“My style has also naturally evolved through embracing various mediums,” she explained in an interview with The Great Discontent. “I used to do a lot of printmaking with block prints, so I made drawings that catered to the process. I didn’t work digitally until three or four years out of college. It’s still a fairly recent thing for me, but when I learned it, I really embraced it. That gave my work a completely different look and feel.”

She notes that when you’re starting out as a professional illustrator, there can be pressure to make your work look cohesive, which can sometimes cause you to make decisions that are forced, purely for the sake of consistency. “I’ve found that the more I got away from that thinking, the more my style has strengthened,” she remarked.

With illustration now her full-time job, she makes sure to add an element of play and experimentation to her work, in an attempt to keep her creative spark. “Once you get in the cycle of doing job after job, you lose that sense of play,” says Wei. “I want to stretch myself. In order to do that I need to stop, make time, and take risks to do things I haven’t done before.”

Follow her creative journey through Instagram:

The post Jing Wei’s Illustrations Are the Epitome of Cute appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Named after Robinson Crusoe, the extraordinary pup has a deep sense of adventure, traveling around the world with his parents to places like the Bahamas, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico, as well as having toured all across the US and Canada.

Born in Montreal, he was raised near Mont Tremblant, Quebec for the first couple years of his life, but has since moved to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was shortly into the first year of his life that he had his first debut on television, having won “best trick” at an annual wiener dog event. He has since won a People’s Choice Award for Animal Star of 2018. Oh, and he also has a New York Times Bestselling book.

But being small also has its faults. In 2016 he had to undergo surgery on his back for a ruptured disc. His surgery followed months of rehabilitation, which he passed with flying colors, and is now back to his happy little self. We wish him the best of luck on his many adventures.

The post Named After Robinson Crusoe, This Pup is a True Adventurer! appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

According to her owner, the chocolate and fawn Pomeranian can be seen zooming around the house. “She will run around from one room to another and tire herself out,” said her owner in an interview with Hello Bark. “She can be stubborn at times too,” she admitted. “You know when she is not in the mood to do something. Her followers know this – sometimes when we are out for a walk and she doesn’t feel like walking any further, she will sit on her bum and refuse to move.”

A pooch with an attitude? What could be more adorable than that! Still, her owner assured that Mocha is also loving and affectionate. “She is always up for cuddles and always likes to be nearby (I will usually find her sleeping above my pillow at night!)” she says. “She also loves to play with her squeaky toys (the squeakier the better), going for runs and walks.”

A generally happy breed, Pomeranians also make for very Instagramable pups.”They’re always happy and smiling when family members come home,” said the owner about the breed.

The post Follow Mocha the Pomeranian’s Daily Adventures appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

“Before we adopted Sammie we had a difficult year,” her owners, Saray and Maor, recalled in an interview with Hello Bark recall. “We had a Golden Retriever puppy named Bailey, she died when she was only 1 year old from a genetic kidney failure although we did everything we could to save her. After a period of mourning and grief, we saw an ad for a puppy that needed a home and we instantly knew she was exactly what our broken heart needed.”

It turned out to be love at first sight. The next morning, they drove to the shelter and the fluffy pooch ran directly to them. “She really chose us as much as we chose her,” they remark. “We decided to name her Sam because it’s a combination of both our names – Saray And Maor.”

Based in Israel, Sam has a cult following both on Instagram and YouTube. One video of her in particular, where her owners boop her nose until she’s had enough, has gained thousands of views. You’d want to join in on the hype:

The post Sam is What Happens When You Mix a Golden Retriever with a German Shepherd appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Though Kitagishi has graduated from the Nihon Designer Gakuin Kyushu College with a degree in graphic design and has worked some time at a design studio in Fukuoka, she’s actually completely self-taught when it comes to her illustration.

In order to teach herself how to draw she came up with a challenge: posting an illustration a day on Instagram for a whole year. “I often draw characters like cats, owls, rabbits, girls with bobbed hair and men with mustaches,” says Kitagishi.

These playful characters aren’t restricted to paper. Sometimes, Kitagishi uses her nails as canvases. “I love drawing, and I draw on any blank space I can find,” she admits. “So one day, I l decided my nails were just a good a canvas as any.”

Here are some highlights from her Instagram page:

The post Cats, Owls, and Rabbits: the Playful Universe of Yumi Kitagishi appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.