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

Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition

There’s still time to participate in this year’s Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition.

Here is the project I have submitted.

“Alphabetical order” is a self-initiated project, an exploration of the concept of order and its importance in some instances. Illustrations were rendered in pigment ink pens and markers and finished in Adobe Photoshop.

Sometimes the order is really important. It helps us to create and decode messages and organize information. Anagrams help to illustrate how changing the position of one letter can dramatically affect the word and its meaning.

Alphabetical Order, Ampersand

Alphabetical order, Chaos

Alphabetical order, Who Is Who?

Alphabetical order, Wired

Alphabetical order, Weird

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.

Kitchen Table Mini Film Festival

I’ve just taken a class on stop motion animation with Kara Kramer called Kitchen Table Animation. I had so much fun and learned about using storyboards, animating simple movements, and various emotions. All students were invited to participate in the Kitchen Table Mini Film Festival, and here is my entry:

Stop motion film by Regina Kareev

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

Illustrators Virtual Wall is now live

The Illustrators Virtual Wall is a part of the Bologna Children's Book Fair Online Special Edition this year.

Usually, it's an actual Illustrators Wall covered with posters, drawings, and photographs, where illustrators can live their contacts and promotional materials like postcards or stickers for art directors, agents, and potential clients.

This year it's entirely virtual with 2,500 participants from 5 continents and will be accessible to all online for four days (4 - 7 May).

Every illustrator was allowed to submit only one image (illustration or poster) in advance. Here is my poster among the illustrations of other artists.

BCBF’ 2020 Illustrators Virtual Wall

Abstract Seascapes featured in the UPPERCASE magazine

Three watercolor paintings from my Abstract Seascapes series are featured in the current issue of the UPPERCASE magazine.

In December I painted a little series of abstract seascapes in response to a call for submissions from UPPERCASE magazine. The theme was “fluid, floating, watery and oceanic“. I love everything about water and we are currently living in the Bay Area between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, so this theme felt really close to my heart.

I see Ocean as something constant and ever-changing at the same time. It’s always there, but every time you come to the shore it will be different. I tried to capture these impressions in my watercolor paintings.

Abstract Seascapes, UPPERCASE magazine, issue 45, page 72

These seascapes are painted without using brushes, just by pouring watercolors on paper. I mixed the colors I needed in little ceramic bowls and then poured those mixtures on paper at different angles trying to capture seaside scenes I envisioned.

The UPPERCASE magazine is always a great source of inspiration for me, and I am honored to see my watercolor seascapes featured on its’ pages.

UPPERCASE magazine, issue 45, cover

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.

Tropical Peacock home décor collection

This month I’m taking the Home Décor Plus class at Make Art That Sells. It is taught by an art agent Lilla Rogers and art director Margo Tantau. They share a wealth of knowledge and insights about creating home décor collections.

This course was focused on ceramics and tropical theme. Here is my proposal for a small ceramics collection.

Tropical Peacock tableware collection proposal

No Time For Salad illustration for They Draw & Cook

It’s a friendly reminder for myself (and possibly others) to make room for healthy daily routines, like cooking from fresh produce and having healthy snacks.

With all the distractions these days there can be no time left to cook or even to eat your salad...

No Time For Salad illustration

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