Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

Today is the birthday of Ida Bell Wells-Barnett who, according to the Wikipedia, “was an American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the civil rights movement”.

Portrait of Ida B. Wells

Entering JIA Illustration Award

Call for entries is open from April 1 to June 30. So there’s still one week left to enter Japan Illustrators’ Association Illustration Award.

Here is my Mermaid illustration

Mermaid illustration

Mapping this moment for They Draw & Travel

Nate and Sally at They Draw & Travel have asked artists, illustrators, and other creatives to document our life during the quarantine and create an illustration that represents how our world and everyday life has changed these last few months.

I went for creating this multi-paneled comic narrative depicting some scenes from our everyday life. In other words – our Quarantine Routine. Life during quarantine gets tricky sometimes, but we are trying to stay positive.

Quarantine Routine illustration

This illustration has partly evolved from my Macro Map of Micro Commute.

Macro Map of Micro Commute

New York Times Travel has asked readers to illustrate maps of their immediate world during the lockdown. We've been staying at home for 7 weeks, and my Macro Map of Micro Commute shows how our world has narrowed down these days. I hope you can relate, and maybe it will even make you smile.

Macro Map of Micro Commute

Susan B. Anthony

It’s the birthday of Susan B. Anthony today. She was an American social reformer and women's rights activist, who played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement.

Portrait of Susan B. Anthony

MATS Manifesto Competition

Make Art That Sells is running a Manifesto Competition for the chance to win a free spot in their raved-about course – Assignment Bootcamp.

Here is my entry:

Artist’s Manifesto illustration

Dressed Herring Salad illustration for TDAC HandPicked Design Challenge

There is a new HandPicked Design Challenge at They Draw & Cook. This time the topic is Global Cuisine and it's Curated by Joy Aquilino, an Editorial Director at Quarry Books and Rockport Publishers.

Here is my entry:

Dressed Herring Salad illustration

It's holiday season already, and I wanted to illustrate a recipe for traditional Russian salad that is still a must-have for New Year's dinner in my family.

It's a layered salad that is usually arranged on the platter in a certain order. Pickled sliced herring is laid on the bottom of the platter, and covered with layers of grated ingredients: fresh onion, boiled potatoes, carrots, eggs, and beets. Salad is dressed with a mixture of sour cream and mayonnaise and decorated with grated egg yolk.

I was born in the Soviet Union and decided to bring that atmosphere to my illustration.

Alphabet Pasta Chicken Soup illustration for TDAC HandPicked Design Challenge

Nate and Salli from They Draw & Cook have created the HandPicked Design Challenge for artists, designers, and illustrators. Current challenge Favorite Food Memories is curated by Lynne Shlonsky, the Creative Director at American Greetings.

Here is my take on this assignment:

Alphabet Pasta Chicken Soup illustration

Alphabet pasta chicken soup was my favorite during childhood and I have sweet memories about pulling the letters to the rim of my plate to make up words and phrases.

Hats Off to Relationships, graphic novel for Assignment Bootcamp

In May our MATS Bootcamp assignment was to make up a story, and illustrate it in a form of graphic novel. We were provided some reference images to use as a starting point.

I did came up with a simple story, which kept me busy for two weeks.

This is the first illustration I made in the Procreate app. So it was a huge learning curve for me.

Hats Off to Relationships, graphic novel proposal