Manuja Waldia’s illustrations are having a party, and everyone’s invited. Manuja is an illustrator and designer based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and while she has a couple different styles she works in (the vector work on her book covers for the Pelican Shakespeare series is stunning), I find myself gravitating towards her festive scenes rendered in built-up strokes of color. Her humans and anthropomorphized animal characters are living in a land of eternal garden parties, and I want to hang out with them.

An ode to pizza, which Manuja says “incidentally is also my therapist”.

Part of a series of greeting cards

Chocolate bar illustration for All Things Chocolate

Ok, so maybe it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. I do also like Manuja’s comics “originating from the depths of [her] despair”, particularly this gif of a frustrated person fiddling around in Illustrator or a similar program:

Same, girl. Same.

Do I want to eat cheese with my BFF in an idyllic garden? Yes.

See more illustration and design work by Manuja (and a photo of the most fabulous cat) on her portfolio and blog.