The one thing that I love about working for EK is that once in a while, I'll come across an artist who just creates art for the sake of art without taking themselves or their work too seriously (not to diminish their passion or body of work at all). Apollonia Saintclair creates unadulterated illustrations of adult nature without being shy about anything. You have to love that kind of free fun an artist is willing to run with.

[Photo by: Lauren Treece] The beginning is, in fact, finally here. After shifting through exactly 1470 posts for the entire 2012 calendar year, a dozen pots of coffee made, several holes punched in the drywall during heated deliberations, and several concussions suffered from office supplies hurled at each others' heads, we proudly present the third annual EMPTY KINGDOM TOP 100 Artists of 2012!

Don't you just love it when artists stay the exact same... but also get better simultaneously?

Italian artist Chiara Biancheri uses the help of Microsoft's Apophysis software, a fractal flame editor to create organic whimsical figures. She utilizes the effects of fractal flames, which are basically iterated images manipulated in tremendously sophisticated ways, and gives a whole new light to this geometric wonder. Pretty mathematical stuff!

Maria Surkova is an Illustrator based out of Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Viktor Miller-Gausa is an illustrator based out of Syktyvkar, Russia. His series 'Three Sleeping King' is drawn out with the traditional pencil and outlined with ink.

Kevin Margo is a VFX / CG extraordinaire currently working at Blur Studios in Los Angeles, California, who recently made his directorial debut with the sci-fi influenced short entitled GROUNDED. I had the opportunity to do a bit of Q&A with Mr. Margo about his latest endeavors, current career choices, and personal creative insights. Check out the full spread after the jump.

Ori Toor is an animator and illustrator based out of Tel Aviv, Israel. Whether it be a still or moving image, everything starts with a simple pencil stroke. The painstakingly meticulous nature of his works can be exemplified in his latest music video Evoking Spirits. A simple yet inspiring piece that gave me the initial push to find the brains behind the brushstrokes. Fortunately, Mr. Toor obliged my curiosity.

I first stumbled upon Randy Ortiz through his work with the previously featured Spoke Art Gallery where he paid tribute to the work of director Wes Anderson. His surrealism consist of a creative balance between simplicity, symmetry and painstaking attention to detail.

I don't usually look for hyper-realistic painters, but in the case of Taner Ceylan, I really couldn't resist. I'm a fan of everything this artist is about. On the surface, He has a range of mildly tame, but still scarily accurate portraits... until you journey deeper into the heart of his work, and you see where his true interests and fascinations lie. Be warned – it will shock you.

Los Angeles based artist Rob Sheridan was originally featured back in December 2010 by Konahrtist. Sheridan's new ongoing series of analog glitch art are offshoot visuals created for the How to destroy angels EP "An omen" and their forthcoming LP. These images were created by disrupting signals through analog tape and display equipment, not with Photoshop effects.

Illustrator Rory Kutz's recipe for awesome is a  masterful blend of realism and whimsical surrealism. He has lent his mad skills with the likes of Rolling Stone, ESPN Magazine and Bicycle Times.

Dutch artist Kees Veenenbos is one of the leading digital artist who creates amazing renderings of space and planetary landscapes. His work has been featured in National geographic on numerous occasions, as well as being used in several NASA's projects. In fact, majority of his Mars digital elevation models have been used by NASA depicing beautiful images of Mars, including creative concept renderings with water and ice present on the Martian surface.

Sainer, aka Przemek Blejzyk was featured on May 17th 2010. He makes his return on EK  along with Etam Cru, a collaborative project that combines the monstrous talents of polish of street artists Sainer and Bezt as well as other amazing occasional collaborators . The enormous pieces are a mind trip indeed.

The work of Uno Moralez is a brilliant juxtaposition between subject and medium, using 8 bit style, he creates  gritty, raw, original pieces. Makes me wonder, what if my video games looked like this growing up? Well played Moralez.

Having only been in the game since 2008, Cryptik's street art has evolved into a full-blown crusade. He calls it the "Cryptik Movement". What began as an outlet to share his thoughts and beliefs, has become a public diary of his personal spiritual journey.

Marjolein Caljouw is a full-time illustrator and artist hailing from the Netherlands, who is able to produce some beautifully empyreal drawings and paintings. Her use of paleness in juxtaposition with the warming pastel colours drew me into her work, which is usually the very same sort of quality that deters me, seeing as I'm very often and quite easily drawn to dark pieces of art, but maybe because I adore such beautiful depictions of the female form, and Marjolein's work provides a sustenance for that adoration, I can bear, and even marvel at the colour choices she makes.

Ever since I saw  Koralie and husband Supakitch on EK on November of last year, I've been wanting to do a post about them individually, so here goes! Though their work blends incredibly in a fluke of genius brought by street art super powers, Koralie's work stands alone with pure individual style. Her signature "doll" illustrations appear throughout her work, she blends a variety of different patterns, textures and various cultural influences that make each piece an intricate evolution from the last.

Andreas Nicholas Fischer begins with custom software that uses a swarm of particles to build an abstract visual composition. This creation is constantly in motion, varying infinitely over time. Schwarm is a series of captivating stills of that generative digital process. My mind is actually blown.