Trending illustration styles—from retro revival to AI magic

Illustration trends are a fundamental part of our visual world because they reflect our time. With new digital drawing tools, software, and AI-powered image generators, the illustration landscape is constantly being reshaped, inspiring artists to explore new techniques, styles, and subjects.

Illustrations are not just images; they tell a story that can connect with customers and strengthen a brand’s identity. So, staying up-to-date with illustration trends is about more than just following the latest fad. It’s about understanding and adapting to our current cultural attitudes and beliefs.

Want to know what’s next in illustration? Dive into the biggest illustration trends of 2025! Discover the latest trends, why they resonate with audiences, and how to incorporate them into your creative work.

This year, we’ve witnessed a fascinating trend in marketing. Brands are tapping into our emotional connection to the past, using nostalgic aesthetics and retro illustrations. These styles evoke a comforting longing for the ‘good old days’ and have significant potential to engage consumers, drawing inspiration from a world of vintage charm.

Nostalgia aesthetics and retro illustrations, with their warm color palettes and familiar subject matter, bring back memories of boom boxes, rock music, disco culture, beloved cartoon characters, rubix cubes, and expressive typefaces.

An excellent example of nostalgia-core and retro-style illustration can be seen in Walt Disney World’s 2025 Marathon Weekend posts, which embrace vintage aesthetics with a twisted addition of nostalgic Disney, bringing in that old-school flair.

Digital illustration styles with a nostalgic core feel cozy because they’re like a warm hug from the past. They tap into the familiar comfort of our childhood memories and emotions.

Nostalgic illustrations focus on building a sentimental connection that makes us yearn for those simpler, carefree times. It’s not just the visuals that appeal to us but also the smells, sounds, and experiences they carry with them from that time in our past.

Nostalgic and retro art helps brands connect with us on a deeper level. It’s an illustration trend that brings back tradition and family values. You may notice the nostalgic and retro style trend on product packaging, websites, or brands that target families, Gen X, and Millennials.

The latest set of collector’s edition cups from McDonald’s is a prime example of leveraging the nostalgia-core trend to build brand authenticity and trust. It brings out those cherished moments associated with specific products or experiences, creating a sense of familiarity and reliability that resonates with its customers. The collection features souvenir cups with graphics from the 90s and 2000s. The six souvenir cups highlight iconic eras like Shrek, Sanrio, Coca-Cola, Barbie, Hot Wheels, and more.

When looking to blend nostalgic illustration styles into your design, think about the best way to express those ‘good old days’ and bring out that comforting feeling of belonging:

Nostalgic or retro illustrations may include classic movies, toys, childhood objects, old-fashioned music, vintage-style clothing, or techniques.

Adobe Illustrator is an excellent tool for creating clean and scalable art to fit Art Deco and mid-century retro styles. Photoshop, however, has tons of vintage-inspired brushes, textures, and filters on Envato that you can download to achieve those authentic retro looks.

One of the most striking recent art trends is the rise of AI-generated art. AI generators and platforms use text-to-image algorithms to create digital art, offering a wide range of illustration styles, fonts, icons, and more, all at the touch of a button. You need to enter a text prompt, and AI will allow you to generate diverse art.

The Starburst “Different Every Time” campaign is an excellent example of generative AI used in an ad to deliver viewers a cycle of surreal scenes and alternative illustration styles.

The campaign features two people who eat a Starburst and are thrown into different illustrative styles, from geometric, anime, and fantasy to futuristic landscapes. This showcases the product’s unique qualities, which bring you endless adventures with every experience.

If you’re wondering why AI generative art is hot right now, it’s simple: AI tools and platforms are much more accessible than before and are very user-friendly. Anyone can access and use AI-powered generators, and with the click of a button, you can create high-quality images at speed, making it a real game-changer.

AI generators are no longer a novelty tool but have become a mainstream asset for designers. Although this art technique cannot replace human creativity, it does lend a helping hand in several tasks. It allows designers and artists to create custom artwork, generate new ideas, create design elements, and save time and effort in the creative process.

In this example, the English Pop band Tears for Fears used AI for their new album cover. They wanted to create artwork that blends sci-fi, which feels otherworldly and different, with something more familiar, like sunflowers.

AI generators can be a powerful tool for creatives. They can spark new ideas, serve as a starting point for creative explorations, and generate sketches or concepts. AI can also help build backgrounds, character designs, and unique visuals. By combining your own skills and AI, you can create stunning, innovative, and AI-generated illustrations that can blow the audience away.

Depending on your needs and level of expertise, many options are available for creating AI-generated illustrations. Envato Labs has introduced Envato AI ImageGen, an exciting new text-to-image tool that lets Envato subscribers produce high-quality AI visuals directly from the web browser. Other standard text-to-image generators include Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E 2.

Adobe also offers several software solutions that incorporate AI to help artists and designers in their creative workflow:

Also, the art of 3D is making a comeback in the illustration scene. 3D art is a digital illustration technique that involves creating three-dimensional objects in a virtual space and applying perspective, texture, lighting, composition, and animation to those elements. 3D illustrations no longer follow the hyper-realistic styles of the part. They’ve taken on a whimsical twist of depth and lightheartedness, transforming everyday objects into unexpected, joyful elements that excite your curiosity. 

Twitch’s new brand identity introduced quirky 3D illustration motifs and abstracts, complementing its refreshed and energetic feel, making it more interactive, and matching the vibrant brand style.

Interest in 3D as an art form is booming as brands look to immerse viewers in realistic and virtual worlds through 3D illustration. With technological advances and easy access to free or affordable 3D software, artists can experiment with this medium like never before. 3D digital art styles are heavily used in fields like film, gaming, advertising, and animated video content.

Touchland’s collaboration with Hello Kitty perfectly blends cute and futuristic. Their visual campaign seamlessly integrates 3D art, bringing the iconic Hello Kitty character to life vibrantly and playfully. 3D modeling and animation allow for dynamic and engaging visuals, capturing the attention of Kitty lovers worldwide.

3D illustrations can add depth, fun, and interest to your digital content. They can also add personality to apps, websites, marketing campaigns, and social media posts.

Creating a friendly, welcoming environment is an excellent way to connect with people and showcase ideas and concepts. This McDonald’s ad is an excellent example of how to incorporate 3D art in video.

We hope you enjoyed this look at the latest illustration trends. We’re excited to see more digital art styles in the design scene and discover how designers and illustrators can get creative with them. Expect to experience nostalgic vibes, retro trends, and 3D playfulness in illustration styles as we witness the transforming role of technology. Whether you’re designing for a website, brand, or ad campaign, these trends can help you connect with fans in fun new ways.

Envato has a wealth of creative assets to help you, from 3D models to vector illustrations and retro styles to an AI image generator, no matter which trend you want to experiment with. You’ll find plenty more inspiration here on the blog, with articles on 3D icon trends, collage art, and much more.