Marian Bantjes

Alright, can someone please tell me why haven't I heard of Marian Bantjes before?

I came across her site following a random link from a flickr set of cool business cards. Her stuff is head-meltingly good; ornate and loss-of-eyesight-inducingly intricate in the vein of Si Scott. She works in lots of different media; hand-drawing (!!) a lot of it, but also working in lace. embroidery and plain ol' vector art too. She's been in the business for about 23 years and has recently collaborated with Sir Sagmeister, and Alessandro Tomassetti, and has appeared in Eye and Step magazines. She now teaches at the Emily Carr institute in Vancouver, and writes for the website Speak up, while simultaneously pursuing her own projects.

She's so good she makes me feel like I'm really not trying hard enough. Felt exactly the same way the first time I saw/read Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library, and weirdly, the gold embossed pattern on the hardcover looks like Bantjes' work. WTF?