Nick Volkert

Illustrator & UX/UI Designer

Greater Chicago, IL

St Patrick's Day Chicago Dog|View Work

Hard work and belly laughs

Introduction

My name is Nick Volkert, an artist and creative living in Northwest Chicagoland.

I'm a classically trained illustrator and painter, receiving a BFA in Illustration and an MFA in Painting from Northern Illinois University. I currently illustrate digitally, converting pen and ink illustrations to prints and tee designs.

In my off-hours I like to paint, create comics, attend way too many concerts, play drums, and, in addition I'm a diehard White Sox fan.

I have a lot of comics, illustrations and art to view, hope you find something you like!

Break out the cake!

Happy Birthday Designs

Make your bday a special day with one of my birthday themed designs!

A shark emerges from the water with a half eaten cupcake, frosting on its face, and presents in the background.

Created: July, 2016 | Role: Illustrator

Fact: Sharks love birthdays more than you could ever know and are always hungry for some sweet birthday cake!

A shark enjoying a birthday party in the water.

Created: April 24th, 2020 | Role: Illustrator

Fact: Sharks love birthdays.

A lady shark is surrounded by presents and birthday cake.

Created: April 23rd, 2020 | Role: Illustrator

Fact: Lady sharks love birthday parties.

Love is in the air

Valentines Day Designs

Just some sweet, love-filled designs for all the couples out there!

A shark dressed as a cherb peeks out of the water to spread some lovin.

Created: February, 2015 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Cupid Sharks are just here to spread some loving for Valentines Day to all the hopeless romantics! (And also probably eat you).

Captain Pancake is dressed like a cherub and is holding a bow and arrow and a box of chocolates in the shape of a heart

Created: February 5th, 2019 | Role: Illustrator

Captain Pancake is ready to fill someone's heart with love as Cupid Cakes!

A shark peeks out of the water covered in kisses and wearing an arrow through its head headpiece.

Created: February, 2015 | Role: Illustrator

Fact: Sharks love LOVE, Valentine's Day, chocolates, flower and candy. And also those headbands with the arrows thorugh 'em. The best!

From Ireland with LOVE

St Patrick's Day Designs

Just a few designs filled with the luck of the Irish!

A Chicago Dog is dressed in green for St Patrick's Day.

Created: March 16th, 2021 | Role: Illustrator

A little Chicago, a little dog, a little green.

A shark dressed in festive St Patrick's Day attire enjoys donuts, sweets and festive drinks to celebrate the holiday.

Created: March 29th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sharks love to live it up, every single day of March for St Patrick's Day and enjoy all the treats, sweets and minty flavored drinks!

Captain Pancake is decked out in St Patricks day gear and is clicking his heels

Created: March 14th, 2019 | Role: Illustrator

St. Patrick's Day is here and your lucky pal Captain Pancake is spreading luck and good cheer while head to toe in his green gear!

Pen, Ink, and Cintiq!

Illustration

I love making personal works that I use as a vehicle to explore to constantly learn the programs I use on my day to day, and push my artistic abilities.

Captain Pancake is bringing the love and is hugging an oversized teddy bear with little hearts popping up above their heads for Valentines Day!

Created: February 19th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Captain Pancake is back to celebrate Valentines Day with his oversized teddy bear pal! Why not give them both a huge bear hug to show them some love!

A happy robot in the shape of cup of coffee walks by the viewer while carrying a pumpking and smiling with its robotic jack o' lantern face!

Created: February 18th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Another updated robot! A bit out of season when I'm posting this, but the Pumpkin Spice Latte Bot is all steamed up and ready for the Fall!

A robot on the verge of losing its balance is quickly en route to serve hot beverages to cold customers!

Created: January 24th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Cool temps call for speedy robots that serve up coffee! The Latte bot is en route to serve up some tasty drinks to keep you warm and toasty! Beep Boop!

A cute watermelon robot walks by on its robotic legs while its robotic arms hold and eat a tasty slice of an actual watermelon!

Created: January 22nd, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Beep, Blop, Zort! When you're a cute little robot watermelon is it a totally bad move to also enjoy a slice of a tasty and fresh watermelon?

Santa is smiliing while sporting a giant oversized red cowboy hat with a dash of holly on the headband, to compliment his big fluffly white beard.

Created: January 14th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

A Merry Christmas, a HO-HO-HO, and a giddy up little partners! Santa's here with a big ol' cowboy hat delivering gifts and joy to all the good little boys and girls. YEEHAW.

Santa stands proudly in front of a large pile of chopped logs with his leg on another chopped log, wearing a plaid shirt and a green stocking cap.

Created: January XXth, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Life at the North Pole isn't just about toys and spreading joy. You have to chop some wood to keep Mrs. Claus and all the elves and reindeer nice and cozy!

A shark peeks out of the water wearing facepaint as a skull, surrounded by scores of Halloween candy.

Created: October 31st, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sharks will eat your current and past Halloween candy plunders with reckless abandon because they love them some crunchy, sweet, and gooey candy!

A sharks that has become a jack o'lantern peeks out of the water surrounded by a small group of pumpkins with jack o'lantern faces carved in them and lit up!

Created: October 27th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: If sharks spend enough time with jack o'lanterns in the water on All Hallows Eve, they become one themselves!

A shark covered in pieces of pumpkins peeks out of the water to assess all the pumpkin destruction!

Created: October 25th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Don't get in the water and between a shark and it's appetite for some October pumpkin destruction this Halloween!

Join the Danger Huskie Danger Team

Danger Huskie

Vector works that a fun, cute, scary, and a bit dangerous!

A friendly dachsund decked out as a chicago-style hot dog wears a festive St. Patrick's Day themed top hat and presents a luck four leaf clover!

Created: March 16th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Happy St. Patrick's Day! What's luckier than a festive dachshund in a chicago-style hot dog costume that is giving you a four leaf clover? I can't think of anything!

A smiling little dachshund is wearing green for St Patrick's Day in addition to a full sized Chicago-style hot dog costume!

Created: March 13th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

A little dachshund in a bowler hat is all decked out in green, beyond the green toppings of a tasty Chicago-style hot dog, to wish you a Happy St Patrick's Day!

A mullet stands proudly showing off his leafy and lush mullet!

Created: December 14th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

The 80's never died in the forest, as you can clearly see with this log sporting a luscious and majestic leafy mullet! Totally gnarly bro!

I write jokes too

Comics! (Eventually books)

I used to pay the bills as a cartoonist at the Northern Star during my Undergraduate and Graduate studies at Nothern Illinois Univeristy. I've always loved comics and was an illustation major to be a comics illustrator (that old cliché). Nonetheless and when the time allows, I love to write and draw works for my friends and social media followers. Big things in the works!

Mondays are the worst

Monday Comic

Just a weekly comic I started celebrating everyone's least favorite day of the week.

A middle aged Midwesterner learns about not wearing gloves in the cold has tragic repercussions.

Created: February, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

That last cold snap really cashed my hands out to oblivion.

A young man disappears into a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up.

Created: September 5th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Fall update of my retreat to hoodies comic earlier this year. Huzzah!

A man embraces the new mustache on his face with some pals from the forest.

Created: September 5th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Oh, you all saw Top Gun this Summer too? Sweet, me too.

Comics about a wonderful future gal pal

Dear Future Girlfriend

Another weekly comic that started as a series of smart-assed Facebook posts and grew into a comic!

Dear Future Girlfriend: You go all and bust out all your best smash dancing moves for your favorite genre of music: FALLCORE.

Created: October 8th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Aint no smash dancing like the smashing of pumpkins, smash dancing.

Dear Future Girlfriend: You'll make sure I'm not sleeping through my alarm clock with that new Texas Chainsaw Massacare chime.

Created: October 4th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

You'll make sure I'm up for work on time, albeit with an accelerated heartbeat, during cool weather sleepy season.

Dear Future Girlfriend: If things were to unfortunately fizzle out, we'll always be united in our undying hatred of pants.

Created: July 17th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

If it doesn't work out, we'll at least have this in common, forever.

A helpful little arachnid

Helpful Spider

Always helpful!

Helpful Spider is at the ready with a flamethrower and an axe in case he needs to keep the New Year in line!

Created: June 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Helpful Spider noticed the weather has warmed up and is ready to be helpful for the rest of the year!

Helpful Spider is at the ready with a flamethrower and an axe in case he needs to keep the New Year in line!

Created: January 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Helpful Spider is on the ready in case things get weird, which they probably will, so yeah.

Helpful Spider is on top of a totebag with a checklist making sure all the back to school supplies are in there!

Created: August 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Helpful Spider is can't believe it's August already either! In any case he's manning your back to school list and making sure you have all your supplies!

Comics usually on Thursdays

The Thursday Treat

Ongoing comics that are sometimes funny, of various amounts of panels, subject manner, and typically on Thursdays, not on a more funner day like Friday.

The Thursday Treat puts you in the drivers seat of a successful trip to the dealership and behind the wheel of a wildy un-aerodynamic taco-shaped car.

Created: September 28th, 2017 | Role: Illustrator

Can the taco not only be a great delivery vehicle for meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream, but also a wildly un-aerodynamic car?

The Thursday Treat supposes a paradigm that a TRex is a drummer and a rocker, and is playing for an up and comic garage band.

Created: July 6th, 2017 | Role: Illustrator

A tale of a TRex drummer that has a heavy kickdrum style, but lacks a bit on hi-hat and snare rhythms.

A wide variety of helpful tips to stay warm during a cold and frigid winter from The Thursday Treat.

Created: February 5th, 2016 | Role: Illustrator

The Thursday Treat is a well of knowledge of helpful, albeit questionable, tips on keeping yourself warm during a frigid Winter.

You Can at least buy some stickers!

Visit my Shops

Nearly all of my personal work is available as prints, tees, stickers and more. Let me clothe you! (Or maybe let my designs hang out as a sticker on your laptop or print on your livingroom wall).

Reading, it's for your eyeballs!

Related Blogs

Tips, tricks, work stories, short stories, and random musings.

Note book and drawing tools of a UX Designer.

Created: January 16th, 2021

A few tips for JR UX Designers out there looking to gain more skills and be a more proficient UX Designer

A sleepy bear hunkers down for the Winter.

Created: January 2nd, 2021

It's cold, miserable, the roads are dangerous, so it's time to get creative while you're huddled up in your warm home.

A blog promoting the relaunch of nickvolkert.com

Created: October 12th, 2020

A two year effort crafting, JSON, SASS, REACT and CDNs finally live!