Whilst I was browsing looking for a photo of a tree... of all things! I came across some photography digital art which really made an impact on me. I find that it is dynamic and a little bit disturbing. One of the examples is below which, to me, connotates erotica, sex, fetishism and pain. Take a look at the other work:
http://www.hectik.com/photography/erotic-photography.htm
Courtney is a 23 year old graphic designer / illustrator from Detroit, Michigan. "My true love lies with the creation of graphic art and design" she says. "This media has given me the opportunity to accurately express my own personality and depict the elements that make this world so beautiful."
Courtney's illustrations are typically figurative, incorportating organic forms found throughout nature. She is constantly inspired by everything that surrounds her, and this reflects in her work. I love the organic feel that her works have and the contrast between photography and watercolour, reality and fantasy, hand-crafted and digital.
http://punkychicken.com/07/
After finding the works of Alberto Seveso and Caleb (http://calcreative.blogspot.com/) commented that I should check out the works of Neil Duerden... I found some fantastic photo illustrative works which are intricate and organic.
He's a mixed media artist who combines vector artwork with photography. The colours are vibrant but classy and capture the mood of the photograph. I love the way in one of the photo's below, how the flow of the illustrations work with the fabric but also against it creating some contrast. He obviously has a good eye for composition.
Gradient Mesh master Yukio Miyamoto has been using and abusing Adobe Illustrator since the 80's. Yukio's artwork has appeared in a number of books, from design books to manuals. Yukio has trained thousands of people in all areas of graphics for the Mac and Win.
When I first saw these, I couldn't believe that they were photos... it just goes to show that it's not impossible to create life-like illustrations.
I'm particularly interested in the Illustration / Photo juxtaposition, so I was rather amused when I stumbled across the stylish works of freelance designer Alberto Seveso, Rome, Italy.
It's good to see women being illustrated in a different way to those which we see on club flyers etc. The way in which the illustration isn't confined to the contour of the body, yet you still get the feeling of the figure being 3D and lifelike is interesting to look at.
He told Carpal Tunnel Magazine: 'My passion for graphics was born about fifteen years ago when I had an Amiga 1200 and Delux Paint that I loved so much. But I switched to PC when a friend showed me the potentials of photoshop. I was astonished when I understood the power of that software'.
His site is definately worth checking out and he has some other works which are a little more wacky, and if you like his stuff you can buy prints!
http://www.recycledarea.co.uk/index.php
Sophie Toulouse captures the beauty and uncertainty of life with her large-scale visual installations. Working from her studio in Paris, Toulouse is the quintessential digital artist, bringing lush graphic design to life on the stark white walls of galleries the world over.
Victorian style, punk, art deco and pop art are the sort of styles which influence and inspire her work.
I looked at her work last year whilst working on a brief and I find her work inspirational and intriguing. She puts a lot of attention to detail into the pieces and they work because the illustrative art is impacting and eye catching.
Rouzbeh is uniquely poised to elevate the merging of photography and graphics to new levels of artistry.His background is as an artist & designer who studied Visual Arts, Design, Illustration & Photography at the prestigious fashion school “Modeschule Hetzendorf” & University of Applied Arts “Hochschule fur Angewandte Kunst” in Vienna, Austria enhanced by his journeys across many countries.
He is an emerging artist whose photography and graphics inspire a new genre called “PhotoGraphix”.
His artistic style is an attempt at harmonizing various dimensions of perception, blending apparent opposites through the kaleidoscope of colors and a myriad of expressions that interconnects the outer and the inner, the physical and the metaphysical, reflecting the diversity and multiplicity of existence as an essential part of one reality. 
These pieces are inspiring because they convey so much emotion, yet they are so simple. I think many designers strive for the same reaction but try to hard and complicat things. For me, the eyes say it all in these pieces. This idea of 'PhotoGraphix' is the same sort of idea as Vault49. It's fantastic! The way that the two interact with each other it vital for a piece to work.
I also think that the design and impact of Rouzbeh's work is iconic and they form an identity.
Vault49 was founded in May 2002. Vault49 quickly emerged as one of the UK's leading and most innovative design companies, with a broad and professional portfolio which spans typography, illustration, and art direction. 
They have quickly developed a reputation for creating consistently innovative work for an international client list, and are achieving sustained coverage in the best of the UK and worldwide design press.
The spirit of collaboration is at the heart of all work produced by Vault49, and they firmly believe that the most exciting designs are not produced in isolation, but in the middle of a buzz created by many creative minds working together.
Vault49's clients include: Dazed & Confused; EMI; MTV; VH1; Greenpeace; Express; Orange; FUBU.
I like their work because of the collaboration between photo (reality) and illustration (imagination). The illustration interacts with the emotions of the photo and Vault49 really emphasis what it going on in the picture through use of colour and layout.
Part of the pieces remind me of Si Scott's work of whom I really admire.
I think that this is what contemporary art is about in the early 21st century.
