Nick Volkert

Illustrator & UX/UI Designer

Greater Chicago, IL

Fall Shark|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!

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.

It's time to learn!

Back to School

Some cute, some total punkasses, it's a collection of characters that know it's time to go back to school and learn!

A small smiling lunch box, with glasses and braces, walks to class.

Created: August, 2015 | Role: Illustrator

Just an awkward but happy little lunch pail heading to school!

Captain Pancake smiles at the viewer as a younger version of himself, with braces a book bag and holding his books with his lunch on the ground at his side.

Created: September 27th, 2021 | Role: Illustrator

Captain Pancake was once an awkward little dude too! Here he is with braces and book bag, ready to go back to school just like you!

A shark peeks out of the water wearing a spinning helicopter hat with all of his books and school supplies in disarray floating in the water.

Created: September 29th, 2021 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sharks are not real nuts about going back to school, but they do love taking a bite out of their school supplies!

Beep bop boop.

Robot Series

Robots of all types, useful, useless, wildly questionable, cute, totally epic and sometimes scary.

A robot wrapped in a giant pair of white briefs.

Created: September 8th, 2019 | Role: Illustrator

No one expects the Uber UnderwearBot!

A wooden robot regrows it's leaves and roots as it hosts a family of small song birds.

Created: April 7th, 2020 | Role: Illustrator

A wooden robot gets a second wind and returns to his roots and blooms!

A robot toaster is ejecting two toasted robots.

Created: January, 2016 | Role: Illustrator

The Toasterbot is ready for breakfast!

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.

A small robot that's is a high five with another hand waiting for a high five and also a clamp hand holding a high five waiting for your high fives!

Created: September 18th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

A robot built to handle all your high fives! It's the High Five Robot! If you see him out in the wild be sure to give him a high five! NO LOW FIVES.

A sharks peaks out of the water with ice cream on its face, surrounded by floating half-eaten ice cream sandwiches.

Created: August 1st, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sharks are known to totally manhandle a box of delicious ice cream sandwiches.

A shark peaks out of the water dressed as an ice cream man, surrounded by an assortment of ice cream cones in the water and sprinkles.

Created: July 23rd, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

FACT: Sharks have taken up jobs as ice cream men and are serving up soft serve ice cream cones...with sprin-kills...sorry...sprinkles!

A blueberry is on a skateboard skating by, while its headphones wires whip in the wind.

Created: June 25th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Who loves skateboarding? Little blueberries of course. They also love listening to their Summer jams!

A dachshund in a chicago dog style hot dog costume zooms by on top of a skateboard!

Created: June 19th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Chicago Dogs in Chicago Hot Dog costumes LOVE to go skateboarding, of course!

A jar full of bones and skulls trots by for Halloween.

Created: Ocotber 16th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Skull jam is definitely a pretty grim form of jam, but hey, it's full of calcium!

A jar full of candy corn trots by while carrying a large ear of actual corn, while wearing bib overalls and a straw hat!

Created: October 15th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Corn jam is probably the lesser known of the jams, but still down home and as Midwestern as they come!

A figure with a head of a jack o'lantern is behind a group of jack o'lanters set up as a drum set.

Created: September 24th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

Solos, mad steady beats, The Pumpkin Drummer has your back to keep the spooky tunes moving along in perfect time!

A chicken is at the wheel of a monster truck with a chicken mascot on the hood.

Created: September 17th, 2022 | Role: Illustrator

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. Are you ready for four-wheel monster truck action with The Chicken Monster Truck? It's ready and rearing to get down and dirty in the MUD.

Join the Danger Huskie Danger Team

Danger Huskie

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

A friendly dachshund in a stocking cap with the colors of the Chicago flag and also sporting a costume with the toppings of the Chicago-style hot dog!

Created: June 27th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Windy City what's up!? This little weiner dog is decked out in Chicago-style hot dog toppings and touting the city's flag. A true fan of all things Chicago!

A friendly floating ghost holding a hockey stick that's taped up, and hockey gloves, all while keeping warm with a stocking cap!

Created: June 20th, 2023 | Role: Illustrator

Who says you need to quit being a Chicago Hockey fan after you die? Da Chicago Hockey Ghost says it's clearly not da case.

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!

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!

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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.

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Created: October 12th, 2020

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