IllustrationComicsAbout

Nick Volkert

Illustrator & UX/UI Designer

Greater Chicago, IL

Pumpkin Hot Air Balloon|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!

Getting real spooky up in here

Halloween Designs

A selection of my most frightful designs from over the years. Pen, ink and a little bit of spooky!

A jar of jam dressed in the theme of Halloween with candy corn contents and a jack o'lantern face.

Created: October, 2018 | Role: Illustrator

The best jam for your buck this Halloween!

Captain Pancake is dressed as a vampire!

Created: September, 2018 | Role: Illustrator

Happy Halloween! The spookiest time of the year! Our friend Captain Pancake has his most frightful costume on and is in the Halloween spirit!

A donut made up of pieces of other donuts that resembles Frankensteins monster

Created: October 13th, 2018 | Role: Illustrator

Pieces of various delicious pastries brought back to life!

Crisp air and crisp leaves

Fall Series

Time to cozy up in your warm jackets blankets and pumpkin flavored things!

A log with a mustache walks by.

Created: December, 2013 | Role: Illustrator

Logs often patrol the forest in the Fall showing off their wooden mustaches!

A scarecrow shark pops out of the water to shoo away the crows.

Created: December, 2014 | Role: Illustrator

The best way to scare away crows is the apex predator of the sea!

An isolated shark dressed as a lumberjack holding an axe.

Created: August, 2014 | Role: Illustrator

An isolated version of my 'Lumberjack Shark' design.

Jars full of sweet things

Sweet Jams

A few sweet jams for your entertainment!

A jar that looks like a witch flies by with her cat on her broom.

Created: October, 2017 | Role: Illustrator

Up, up and away! The skies fill with a cackle of laughter as the Witch Jam takes flight to cast potions and spread fright during Halloween night!

A jar of jam rides a comet with

Created: September, 2017 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: The universe began when the jar that contained it decided to joy ride on a comet, and the cosmic contents leaked out.

A jar dressed as a scarecrow carries around a bunch of fallen leaves.

Created: September, 2017 | Role: Illustrator

Fall Jam: Best enjoyed during brisk weather!

Pen, Ink, and Cintiq!

Latest Illustrations

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.

A little robot gal is off to school with her books and a big smile! Stickers are an added flare to her lunch box frame and books!

Created: September 14th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

The joys of back to school! A new year of learning, connecting with friends and gaining new data, err, knowledge! This little robot gal is pumped!

A little bummed out robot lunch pail has his backpack on, is ready for school, but his enthusiasm is at an all-time low.

Created: September 8th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

BACK TO SCHOOL. The heck to all that noise! While all decked out in his interests and seemingly equipped to learn, this little lunch pail robot is completely disinterested in school!

A great white shark emerges from the water with a full red, white and blue outfit detail as independence day fireworks light up the night's sky!

Created: August 22nd, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Some sharks can in fact grow hair and let that salt and pepper flow rock out in tandem with some sweet patriotic gear FOR AMERICA.

A shark with a small lighther between its sharp teeth with a small flame flickering in the night is surrounded by an emptied crate of fireworks!

Created: August 20th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: You might want to be careful with any crates of fireworks and misplaced lighters around any sharks near the, the situation might become a spectacle!

A heroic squirrel in a bomber jacket and leather goggle hat runs with an acorn in tow like it's a football running back!

Created: August 24th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Sweeping into action, this daredevil squirrel with a sweet bomber jacket and goggle hat, grabs a tasty acorn to store at his home base!

A lady chicken in a sweet derby hat holds her coffee.

Created: May 4th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Spring has sprung and so has this lady chicken! She's out and about with a coffee to keep toasty and a sweet derby hat to show of her sense of fashion!

A shark pops up out of the water into a bouquet of spring flowers and a few bees.

Created: May 3rd, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Rain, wind, cold, warm days breaking up the cold, and of course the flowers starting to peak out of the ground. Who loves Spring? Well this shark does.

A cicada equipped with a stack of speakers let's its droning go full blast.

Created: April 30th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

The cicadas are back and they seem to be way louder than usual, and ah yes, a huge sound system on their back would be the reason why. Splendid.

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!

Join the Danger Huskie Danger Team

Danger Huskie

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

A Chicago-style hot dog is wearing a red white and blue top hat while carring a large waving American flag.

Created: July 20th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Happy national hot dog day! This Chicago dog is repping the red white and blue, not of the Chicago flag but of the stars and stripes of the American flag!

A mummy wrapped in gauze lunges at the viewer!

Created: April 18th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

This terrible and evil mummy has escaped its tomb, its sarcophagus and is on the prowl to reclaim its throne in the modern world!

A giant set of pointy and menacing vampire fangs attached to a small body, wearing a cool cape, lunges at the viewer.

Created: April 14th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Oh no! The horror! These pointy vampire fangs have arisen from their slumber and are on the hunt for fresh victims! And fresh blood!

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.

Canadian geese aren't very likely to kill you, but they just may be able to, as this Monday comic suggests.

Created: July, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Always keep your head on a swivel when amongst the geese of CANADA.

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!

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 mean heavy and menacing kickdrum style, but lacks a bit with rhythms on the hi-hat and snare.

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!

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Created: January 16th, 2021

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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!