IllustrationComicsAbout

Nick Volkert

Midwestern Creative Dude

Greater Chicago, IL

Sandy Beach Shark|View Work

Hard work and belly laughs

Introduction

My name is Nick Volkert, I'm 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 both from Northern Illinois University. I currently illustrate digitally, converting pen and ink illustrations to prints and tee designs.

During the day I'm a UX/UI, Logo, Branding and Icon Designer creating experiences that meet user needs and meet business goals for my company Volkert Design, LLC.

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 created a TON of comics, illustrations and art for you to check out, hope you find something you like!

Beaches, ice cream and sharks?

Summer Series

Summertime is here and gotta get out and enjoy that sunshine, but also stay cool!

A friendly octopus with a mustache helps some young kids in rain coats wash a red car

Created: July 29th, 2019 | Role: Illustrator

Car washes are best when a friendly octopus helps!

A shark emerges from the water a bit too far inland

Created: February 21st, 2019 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sometimes sharks swim pretty close to the shore. However this shark may have broken the surface a BIT too far inland. Just a bit.

A merman is drinking a tropical drink, wearing wingies and a Hawaiin shirt.

Created: April 9th, 2020 | Role: Illustrator

While all the vacationers are in quarantine, the mermen are free to invade the nation's pools and party their asses off.

For America!

Patriotic Designs

A growing collection of designs for my home, AMERICA.

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 little weiner dog is wearing a Chicago-style hot dog costume while carrying a huge waving, red, white, and blue American flag for Flag Day!

Created: June 14th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

What batter way to celebrate Flag Day than with a tasty Chicago-style Hot Dog and a big ol' waving red, white and blue American Flag!

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!

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 large grizzly bear appears to be super annoyed to wake up from its hibernation to find a sweet Spring-themed hat on his head built by the local birds.

Created: March 2nd, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Mr. Bear has awoke from hibernation and to his surprise, the local birds have made his head their home with a Spring flowers and budding branches!

A full faced grizzly bear wears a stocking cap with a pompom and dreams of a slice of pizza.

Created: February 23rd, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Bears always have pizza on the brain!

A sweet jar of jam filled with love hops along to spread some love all over Valentine's Day!

Created: February 9th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Love is in the air during the week of Valentine's Day! This little jar is full of hearts, sweets and love as spreads loves throughout the day!

A burly bear in a pom-pom stocking cap enjoys a baker's dozen of donuts and a hot coffee!

Created: January 25th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

During the cold season, bears like to bulk up with a couple donuts and a hot coffee! It's going to get chilly out there, why not treat yourself!?

A large bear in a red and blue stocking cap is packing up snowballs for a snowball fight!

Created: January 20th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Snow and cold doesn't affect this chonky bear, instead he thinks it's a great time to pack up a slew of snowballs for a snowball fight!

A large grizzly bear sneakily sneaks off with a large pizza and a slice in its mouth.

Created: December 27th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Now that Christmas is over and all the wonderful holiday treats have been eaten, we can officially get back to eating and enjoying pizza...right?

A grizzly bear is all tuckered out in a patch of grass while a red cardinal is perched on its back.

Created: December 26th, 2024 | Role: Illustrator

Christmas is over, the holidays are nearly done, and this grizzly bear is all tuckered out and ready to hibernate yesterday, but still has to muscle through to New Years! If he can do it, you can too!

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!

Join the Danger Huskie Danger Team

Danger Huskie

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

An unsuspecting Dodo bird doesn't realize the fate of his species as he works as a middle manager at a corporation.

Created: February 23rd, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Is the fabled DoDo bird actually extinct? Or just rocking a sweet gig in middle management? Looking for your TPS reports? Climbing the corporate ladder?

A dachshund in a Chicago style hot dog costume rings in the New Year with a top hat and a monocle. So fancy!

Created: January 1st, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Happy New Year! This fancy little dachshund in a tux and a Chicago hot dog costume is here to help you ring in the new year in the fanciest way possible!

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!

Spooky works of unspeakable horror!

Ghost-Eyed Cat

It's my Halloween project of unspeakable horror! The Ghost-Eyed Cat! Tread with caution!

A mischevious ghost hauls off with a jack o'lantern than is full of stolen candy on Halloween night!

Created: February 9th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

A ghost's singular purpose on Halloween is to steal as many Jack O'Lanterns and as much sweet candy as possible, oh and scare as many people as they can!

A vintage Halloween skul with dayglow magenta eyes stares with jaws clenched at the viewer with it's terrifying gaze!

Created: February 9th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

The terrifying gaze of this vintage skull is one to take you back in time to the simpler but way more spookier days of Halloween nights!

A large and proud pumpking with a top hat tips his hat to the viewer over a small pumpkin patch on a windy night!

Created: February 9th, 2025 | Role: Illustrator

Mr. Pumpkin is a proud, fancy and ginormous animated pumpkin man standing proud amongst his small patch of pumpkins on a windy and cool October night!

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, but not on a more fun 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).

Abstract works on canvas and board

Abstract Art

Check out work I made in pursuit of my MFA in Grad School at NIU, and beyond.

An abstract work that has a prominent green paint that has deep purple streaks on the bottom of th work with hints of yellow and orange peeking through the green.

2005

A piece that ended up looking like the side of an actual boxcar, or maybe a vintage refrigerator, that I was able to preserve in time with oil paint.

Oil on wood panel

24 in. x 24 in.

available|$1,750

An abstract work on a square board with layered shades of orange with a dominant application of black.

2006

A spooky vibe came over me when I created this work. Using orange and black to make a layered abstract work that feels right at home during Halloween.

Latex acrylic on wood panel

24 in. x 24 in.

available|$1,700

An abstract painting on stretched canvas with dominant use of red with shades of blue and white with touches of yellow.

2006

Meant as an homage to our veterans that last their lives in service, this piece has a frantic application of red white and blue and yellow on canvas.

Latex acrylic on wood panel

48 in. x 48 in.

available|$2,200

Reading, it's for your eyeballs!

Related Blogs

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

Nick Volkert, Chicagoland illustrator and creative, lists his favorite artworks from his career so far.

Created: January 13th, 2025 | Role: Author

Check out a few of my favorite works since starting in the tee design game in the late 2000's.

Note book and drawing tools of a UX Designer.

Created: January 16th, 2021 | Role: Author

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 | Role: Author

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