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Femmes Recline on Furniture in Sultry Minimal Illustrations

Ladies lounge on armchairs, couches, and stools in these pen-and-ink meditations on the female form.
Instagram via @earth_to_monica

It's a simple formula: a chair and a woman stretched out across it. But Bay area-based illustrator Monica Johnson's's minimal illustrations find infinite variation in that combination. Her simple black-and-white line drawings distill the tradition of artists painting babes in boudoirs that stretches back to the invention of the boudoir.

Johnson is as fascinated by different designs, styles, and trends in furniture as her human subjects. "I like the structural aspect of it," she tells Creators. "It's much more gratifying than the babes. The babes are much more frustrating." She omits faces from her figure drawings, but is publishing a parallel series of personality-driven portraits. She draws faces completely separated from their bodies, usually accompanied by song lyrics that create a surprisingly detailed picture of the subject's mood and personality. A blue-and-red color scheme that evokes old school 3D glasses helps them literally pop off the page.

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Working by day as a dog groomer, the 30-year-old artist has posted her self-taught work to Instagram since she picked up drawing last summer. "The last time I took an art class was in junior high school," she says. Her style has become so distinct that she's now overloaded with commissions, but found time this Easter weekend to pump out a bunny for Playboy. Check out her work in the Instagrams below.

Follow Monica Johnson on Instagram or visit her store here. Check out Creators on Instagram to find your next favorite artist.

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