“What Can We Do To Save Ourselves In This Difficult World?”: The Obsessive Sketchbook‑style Drawings By Isamu Gakiya

Isamu Gakiya aka Guinea Mate is a Japanese illustrator and draughtsman known for dense, surreal pencil and pen drawings that sit between portrait, creature design, and psychological vignette.

His works often merge human faces with masks, animals, and mechanical or organic growths, balancing beauty and discomfort in scenes that feel like stills from an ongoing inner narrative or dream. He regularly shows yearly drawing series such as “CHILLDIE,” publishes drawing collections (including a book focused on his guinea pig Simon), and is featured by illustration and fantasy‑art platforms for his intricate, emotionally loaded line work.

More: Instagram

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to Design You Trust Facebook page.

More Inspiring Stories

Cartoonist Smartly Illustrated Eternal Fight Between The Brain And The Heart

Naive, Super: Lovely Paintings by Angela Smyth

Powerful Award-Winning Photos From The All About Photo Awards 2025

Artist Illustrates The Most Famous Funny Cat Memes In Her Watercatlor Series

Cyberpunk Gangster: Stunning Works by Korean Artist Gharliera

"The Endless Beyond": Superb Fantasy And Creative Inspirations By Adrian Chesterman

'The Collectivity Project' by Olafur Eliasson

The Superb "Everybody Loves Kitty Cats" Series Shows That Even Monsters Need Emotional Support

Street Messages - A New Book By Nicholas Ganz

This Artist Creates Tattoos That Look Like Holographic Stickers

Surreal And Dreamlike Manipulations By Herri Susanto

"Modern Lost Dreams": The Connected Children Of Kristian Jones

German Graffitist Creates 3D Optical Illusions Over The Urban Landscape

Illustrations That Reveal Our Weird Social Media Lives

Artist John Bisbee’s Makes Of Sculptures With Only Nails – “Only Nails, Always Different.”

Artist Cosmo Draws Emotional Acid Portraits in Anime Style

Human Builds A Dragon-Shaped Cardboard House For His Cat In Order To Please His Master

Amazing Vintage Photos That Show How Life Before AutoCAD Looked Like

Spectacular Underwater-Winning Photos From The 35 Photography Awards

Michael Pederson’s Miniature World Of The Unexpected: Artist Uses Skill And Humour To Enlarge Small, Everyday Things

Shortlist Images from the 2025 Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year Awards

Illustrator Paul Blow Creates Simple‑looking but Idea‑rich Artworks, With Restrained Palettes and Clean Lines

Japanese Instagrammer Performs Bicycle Tricks On One Wheel

Digital Self: Artist Made 100 Digital Portraits In Support Of Ukraine

Miss Tuning Calendar 2016

World's Biggest Tomato Fight at Tomatina Festival 2013

Kane + Associates

This Artist Creates Detailed Psychedelic Tie-Dye Patterns on T-Shirts

This Artist Makes Funny And Heartfelt Illustrations That You Might Relate To

This Is How NYC Central Park Would Have Looked Based On A Rejected Design From 1858